Here come the Bombers

Watch out for the Blue Ridge Bombers! Yesterday's 5-4 win over Arkansas was the team's 4th straight, bringing them to 3 games under the .500 mark. Edwin Encarnacion and Carl Crawford each had 3 hits. Crawford, in fact, only needed a home run to hit for the cycle. The club broke a tie with Arkansas to move into 5th place alone.

Vancouver's Ryan Spilborghs was 2-4 yesterday, bringing his league-high hitting streak up to 14 games. Spilborghs, who is now batting .333 for the season, led the team to a 5-3 win over D.C. Jeff Clement and Jerry Hairston each were 2-3. The Fist suffered a blow though when starter Hiroki Kuroda, in only his second DMBL start, tripped over a blade of grass in the second inning. "They cut the honorable grass to high!" said Kuroda through an interpreter. This opens the door for the return of Vancouver legend Greg Maddux, who announced that this will be his final season in the DMBL. Maddux has already accepted a part-time role as pitching coach for the team.

Denard Span and Mike Napoli each had 4 RBIs in an 11-2 clubbing of Amityville. Span hit a two-run double and Napoli capped the same inning off with a grand slam in a 4th inning that saw the Cutters score 7 runs. Jeremy Guthrie limited the Ant Slayers to 4 hits in 6 innings of work to even his record at 3-3.

Las Vegas got revenge against Newark with a 9-3 victory, pounding Randy Johnson for 7 runs in 2.2 innings. Jeff Keppinger (3-5, 2 RBIs), Chris Davis (3-5, 2 homers, 3 RBIs) and Richie Sexson (3-4) led the Rat offensive and Tim Lincecum improved to 4-1. The Sugar Bears remained in a 2nd place tie with Marietta, who lost 6-5 to New Jersey, but both teams lost a game to the Rats in the standings.

Vegas reeling after 12-3 rout

Las Vegas dropped their sixth straight yesterday - a 12-3 shellacking by Vancouver. Greg Maddux moved into a first-place tie with Tom Glavine for most career starts. Maddux, who has had a bit of a rejuvenation this year, won his 5th game and lowered his ERA to 3.46 after a six-inning, one-run effort. David Ortiz was 3-3 with 3 doubles and Chase Utley drove in 3 runs to power the Fist's offense.

Doug Davis, spot starting for the injured Adam Wainwright, held New Jersey to two hits and one unearned run over six innings yesterday. It was Davis' first win in two starts this year. Prince Fielder had two homers and 5 RBIs and Garrett Atkins also had two homers and drove in 4.

D.C. and Sardine City battled for 14 innings before D.C. pulled out with a 6-2 win. D.C. led the game 2-1 early on, but the Sardines tied it up in the eighth. Jonathan Papelbon and Joe Nathan shut down the Straphangers for the next five innings and Akinori Otsuka and Matt Capps did their best to keep up from the other side. But in the 14th, things quickly got out of hand for the Straphangers. Edgar Gonzalez gave up a leadoff single and then walked the next two batters. C.J. Wilson then came into the game and gave up a grand slam to Jeff Kent.

Marietta's Daniel Cabrera (8 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 9 K) outduelled Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia (CG, 7 H, 1 ER, BB, 7 K) to give the Mighty Men a 2-1 victory. Derek Jeter's RBI double in the seventh gave the Mighty Men the lead and Mariano Rivera shut down the Hitmen for his 7th save. The loss drops the Hitmen into a fifth place (overall) tie with D.C.

Cutters cuttin' it up

The Hoboken Cutters have rocketed up into the sixth overall spot with a four-game winning streak. Jarrod Washburn improved to 12-6 with a win over the struggling Las Vegas Rat Pack yesterday. The Cutters thumped the Rats 12-4, behind Player of the Week Ian Kinsler's 3-4, 3-RBI night. The Cutters had a decent 13 hits in the game, but racked up 12 walks.

Joe Saunders' luck ran out last night, sort of. Saunders only threw eight pitches in the game, but after a lengthy rain delay, Don Mattingly decided it would be best to pull the youngster. And though the Sugar Bear pen was solid, only allowing two runs in the final 8 2/3 innings, it was enough to stick Saunders with the loss. Roy Oswalt, fresh from a recent DL stint, pitched brilliantly for Honolulu, allowing only one unearned run in six innings, while striking out four. The shaky Tom Gordon pitched the final two innings for his 15th save.

David Ortiz's two homers gave Vancouver a much-needed victory over Sardine City yesterday. Ortize drove in six runs while hitting his 29th and 30th homers of the year. Vancouver is now sitting on the outside looking in from seventh place. Greg Maddux pitched a strong game to improve to 8-4 on the season.

A 4-run eighth inning propelled the Buddahs to a 7-3 victory over Marietta yesterday. Austin Kearns and Yuniesky Betancourt both hit homers in the inning. Kearns was 3-3 and Nomar Garciaparra had a 3-run homer in the contest.

Dicey deal

Las Vegas is busy on the trading block. This time the Rats surrendered highly-touted pitching prospect Daisuke Matsuzaka to Sardine City in return for their second round pick that they traded to the Straphangers earlier this year. Sardine City sent Cameron Maybin packing to make room for Dice-K on the farm team. Interestingly the trade was made while the two teams were playing each other on the field. Sardine City beat the snot out of starter Oliver Perez, who could only record one out while surrendering seven earned runs on five hits and three walks.

Greg Maddux was hanging on to a 4-3 lead against the Falcons when it all unraveled in the eighth. Maddux started off by giving up a hit to Lance Berkman, then walking Justin Morneau. Barry Bonds then launched his fourth homer in the last three games, giving the Falcons a 6-4 lead. Bob Wickman held down the fort in the ninth for his sixth save and 100th career save. Wickman became just the tenth player all-time to reach the mark.

Honolulu and Marietta began the first of their key divisional series. Marietta came back from a 7-3 deficit to tie the game up at seven with a four-run seventh inning, only to watch Honolulu grab the lead back after a Jason Giambi solo shot. Tom Gordon, who squeaked out of a jam in the eighth, could not hold it together for another inning. After giving up a leadoff double to Todd Helton, Gordon walked the next four batters, including walking in the tying and winning runs! Derek Jeter with the...um...walk-off walk? Did Gary Carter fall asleep in the dugout?
John Smoltz won his 150th career victory yesterday against Team Buddah. Smoltz held the Buddahs to one run on six hits over eight innings. Smoltz also struck out five.

New Did You Know? coming later tonight.

All-Star Snubs

Well, not everyone's going to make the All-Star teams, and if these guys made it, another worthy player might have to be taken off the list, but these lists are still fun to make. Here's a look at the top five snubs from each team:

Morris Division

1) Justin Morneau, ARK - Morneau fell victim to Albert Pujols' equally impressive 2007 season and his popularity, but Morneau had a bit of a claim to the spot as well. Morneau is seventh in batting average (.333), ninth in slugging (.633), tied for sixth in RBI (66), tied for seventh in home runs (25) and ninth in OPS (1.024). Of course it didn't help him that Pujols was on top of him most of those categories, but maybe Morneau will be better remembered next season.

2) Erik Bedard, PHI - Bedard was *this close* to making the team this year. A tiebreaker sent D.C.'s Derek Lowe instead, but Bedard was just as worthy. Bedard is 8-3 (10th) with a 3.40 ERA (5th) for the first-place Endzone Animals. His 87 strikeouts in 98 innings is not too shabby either.

3) Greg Maddux, VAN - The old man can still pitch. Maddux is having a bit of a resurgence this year, but his lack of decisions has hurt his chances. Maddux is only 5-2 in 13 games so far this year, but his 3.39 ERA is good for fourth in the league and he's only allowed 11.3 runners per 9 innings (4th) and he leads the league in walks per nine innings (1.2). Maddux is also fourth in quality start percentage (.692).

4) Rocco Baldelli, CAR - Throughout his career, Baldelli has struggled to stay healthy, but now that he has, he is fulfilling the promise that many saw for his career. Baldelli is batting .310 on the season with 18 homers, 52 RBI, 58 runs scored, 6 steals, and an .868 OPS.

5) Scott Proctor, PHI - These guys always get overlooked, but Proctor, along with D.C.'s Joe Nathan and South Boston's Brandon League could have easily found a spot on the roster. Proctor may have been the best of the bunch. The Philly righthander has allowed only 32 baserunners in 50.1 innings and struck out 41, while compiling a 1.61 ERA. Proctor also has a 7-0 record, good enough for fourth on his team in victories!

Hanover Division

1) Mark Teahen, NWK - Newark is certainly well-represented on the team, but Teahen could have easily been another candidate. Teahen is batting .324 with a .988 OPS, 20 HRs, 66 RBIs and 62 runs scored. We won't feel too bad since Newark has eight representatives, we wont' feel too bad about it.

2) Josh Bard, HBK - Bard is having a great season as Hoboken's catcher/DH. So far, Bard has a .321 average, 50 RBI, and a .850 OPS. Bard would have liked to back up starter Joe Mauer, but Bard will have to wait one more year.

3) Gary Matthews, SAR - Matthews is the heart and soul of the Sardine City offense. So far he leads the team in average (.319), runs (41) and triples (5). Matthews also has 35 RBIs, 18 doubles, and a .832 OPS. Given the way Sardine City's offense has started though, it's understandable that the voters might have overlooked Matthews.

4) Jeff Francis, HON - Overshadowed by the more successful Jason Schmidt and the hot prospect, Jered Weaver, Jeff Francis has been having a great year for the Sharks and is one of the reasons the team is successful this year. Francis has accumulated a 10-3 record to go along with his 3.87 ERA. His low K total might turn off voters (49 in 109.1 innings), but you can't argue with the results.

5) Mike Mussina, MAR - Along with Scott Kazmir from Hoboken, these two are likely victims of poor win-loss records that voters love. Mussina, who is only 6-6 for Marietta, has a decent 4.06 ERA, but he has 98 strikeouts in 104 innings and has excellent peripheral numbers (1.6 BB/9, 11.5 R/9, 5.2 K:BB) indicating Moose may be in for a strong second half.

Plenty of more All-Star news and info is coming in a special edition of This Week in the DMBL tonight!

Liriano-no? Almost

Yesterday was a light day - there were only four games.
Brett Myers was solid again yesterday, only allowing one earned run in 6.2 innings, but still lost, dropping to 0-12 on the season. That sort of thing tends to happen when your opponent almost throws a no-hitter against you! Francisco Liriano held the Rat Pack hitless over eight but, after walking the leadoff batter in the ninth, manager Graig Nettles pulled Liriano for specialist Chad Qualls, who promptly gave up the first hit of the game to Marcus Giles. Mariano Rivera came in to shut the door, but gave up a three-run homer to Ryan Zimmerman. Suddenly the lead was very shaky, but Rivera retired the next three batters in order. Liriano was upset that he didn't get to go for the no-no, but after 118 pitches and a DL stint recently in his past, Nettles wasn't going to take any chances. Liriano finished the night 8 IP, 1 ER, 0 hits, 3 walks, and 11 Ks.

Randy Johnson mowed down the Mudcats, limiting them to two runs over six innings and striking out nine. Johnson improved to 7-2 on the season and is now only 27 strikeouts away from 3000 and seven wins from 200 for his career.

D.C. edged Philadelphia after dropping the first two games against the Animals. Alfonso Soriano was 3-4 with two homers and three RBIs. Adam LaRoche had four RBIs in a losing cause.

The Sharks pounded away on Cole Hamels and the Straphangers. Hamels was not pitching badly, but left with an undisclosed injury in the fifth. Hamels picked up the loss and is now 2-10 on the season, but will miss at least two weeks. No word on who his replacement will be. Meanwhile, Kenny Rogers had a solid outing after returning from AAA to replace the injured Roy Oswalt. Rogers pitched 8.2 innings while surrendering only one earned run.

Blog Bits: In case you missed it, Greg Maddux's last start put him over 3000 innings for his career... Mike Piazza passed Edgar Martinez (1949) for eighth all-time on the hits list. Piazza now has 1950. Tony Gwynn is next with 1960.

First-place trade

Big trade yesterday between the two first place teams. Newark gave up Jimmy Rollins and Brandon Lyon and Philly gave up their second round pick and Rafael Soriano. Rollins immediately took over for the injured David Eckstein and started contributing: 1-3 with a stolen base in game one and 2-4 with a homer in game 2. Eckstein may return from the DL and find that he has no job left. In fact Eck's locker was temporarily moved to the janitor's closet when Rollins arrived. "They got no respect for me. Don't they know that I'm a scrappy fan favorite?" said Eckstein.

Pedro Martinez shutout Vancouver this morning on three hits, beating fellow legend Greg Maddux. Pedro improved to 9-3 on the season. Maddux and Pedro rank #1 and 2 on the all-time wins list. By the way, the loss was Vancouver's fifth in a row, sending them into fifth place overall.

Manny Ramirez's double in yesterday's game against Vancouver was his 400th, becoming only the sixth player in DMBL history to reach the feat. He is only a few behind Jeff Bagwell (406) and Larry Walker (407), both retired, so expect Manny to climb ahead to fourth by the end of the year. The all-time leader is Edgar Martinez (493).

Don't forget, we'll be off for the weekend and return Monday with a doubleheader.

Mighty Michael Young

The Mudcats ended Newark's 11 game winning streak yesterday behind the power of Rocco Baldelli. Baldelli hit two homers and drove in four to help the Cats stop the Sugar Bears 7-4. Starter Carlos Zambrano was shaky despite the 6-2 lead handed him. Zambrano walked nine in 4.2 innings, though he only allowed two hits. The bullpen, which had been so awful just one night earlier, proceeded to shut down the Sugar Bears. Almost all of the culprits from Tuesday's debacle contributed to the victory - David Weathers got the W and Scott Linebrink got the save, while Fuentes had to settle for a hold.

Vancouver's Michael Young decided to put his team on his back and carry them to victory singlehandedly. Young was 2-4 with 2 homers and drove in all 6 runs for the Fist, including a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to give the team the lead. "I'm sick and tired of these chumps not hitting" said Young after the game. Vancouver only managed five hits in the game. Starter Greg Maddux, who pitched seven solid innings but got a no-decision, now stands at 2991 innings in his career.

Things got wild in Hoboken yesterday as the Cutters eked out a 12-11 victory over New Jersey. The Cutters got off to a quick 8-0 lead after three, but the Buddahs were not done. Team Buddah scratched and clawed to bring the lead down to 8-7, but the Cutters scored three more in the bottom of the seventh to open up an 11-7 lead. The Buddahs then rallied in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 11. After holding the Buddahs in the top of the ninth, the Cutters looked to be in position to win the game after two straight singles to lead off the ninth. But Mike Cameron hit into a double play, clouding the chances for the Cutters. Omar Vizquel came through, however, and singled in the winning run. Ichiro had his second straight 4-hit game and Mike Piazza also had four hits and moved into ninth place all-time with his 1942nd career hit.

Golden Falcon golden achievements

Arkansas' Barry Bonds became the all-time leader in career at-bats Sunday. Bonds passed Roberto Alomar on the all-time list and is now sitting comfortably in first. Since Alomar and Bagwell - the two closest behind him - are retired and Pudge Rodriguez is more than 400 ABs behind Bonds and also an oldster, he may be there for a while. If he wasn't the all-time walks leader, he might be at a 1000 by now (hmmm not to self, who are the top plate appearance leaders?). Bonds also holds the career records for home runs, hits, RBIs, and on base percentage.

Congratulations to Pedro Martinez on his 200th career win against South Boston Saturday. Martinez pitched eight innings surrendering three runs on eight hits and striking out 10 Gangsters.

Greg Maddux had a great pitching line in Sunday's game: eight innings, two hits, one unearned run allowed, no walks, seven strikeouts. Good enough for a win, right? wrong! Carolina's Clay Hensley outdueled the veteran, allowing only two hits and four walks in six innings. Two costly errors in the second inning did Vancouver in and the offense couldn't hit its way out of a wet paper bag.

Philadelphia has officially put Magglio Ordonez on the trading block. Ordonez has lost playing time to younger outfielders Reed Johnson, Vernon Wells, and Michael Cuddyer. The oft-injured star has only hit .163 in 43 at bats this season.

Throwing Fuel on the Fire

The Sharks had a bit of a comeback yesterday against the Buddahs. Team Buddah had just gone up to a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Starter Jose Contreras was finally showing signs of fatigue and gave up a couple of runs in the bottom, making it 5-3. After Eric Chavez doubled in the eighth, Contreras was removed for the closer, Bob Wickman. Now Wickman had been anything but good up to this point. Though he had a strong spring, Wickman had already blown two saves and was sporting a 5.68 ERA. Well the Human GasCan was called in to shut the door on the Sharks, but instead gave up three straight singles followed by the crowning moment - Johnny Damon's three-run shot over the right field wall. Jersey manager Matt Nokes was livid after the game, tossing bats and Gatorade bottles all over the locker room. For the moment, Wickman has been demoted as the team's closer, replaced by Todd Jones.

Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson each moved closer to their 200th victory yesterday. Clemens, who notched the win against Las Vegas is now at 193 career victories and Johnson, who beat the Mighty Men, is at 189. Arkansas' Pedro Martinez will try for win #200 Saturday. The only pitcher with more than 200 wins pitched his first game this season yesterday. Vancouver's Greg Maddux recorded the win against Philly by limiting the first-place Endzone Animals to one run and four hits over eight innings.