Game on!

Welcome to the second half!

Hoboken took no time to get back in the swing of things, opening up with a giant-sized can of Whoop-ass® on Arkansas. The Cutters crushed the Falcons 11-4 in the first game thanks to a huge game from Hanley Ramirez (5-6, 4 runs) and Chris Duncan (3-4, 6 RBIs, HR). Jarrod Washburn notched his 10th win of the season. Game 2 featured more of the same, as the Cutters pounded out a 9-5 victory. This time it was Geoff Jenkins with the big game (3-4, 4 RBIs, 2 HRs).

D.C. and Las Vegas made a trade yesterday. D.C. parted with Matt Holliday, prospect Alex Gordon, and their first round pick in 2008 for reliever Chris Ray, first baseman Derrek Lee, and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. It's a bit of a strange trade. D.C. already has one of the better pens in the league with Papelbon and Nathan both having great years, so it's unclear how Ray will fit in there. Zimmerman is an upgrade over Mike Lamb on that side of the platoon, but Esteban German has been crushing lefties this year. Derrek Lee, who will miss the 2007 DMBL season, will probably be an upgrade over Overbay next year, but how much? Lee's power numbers seem down in rehab so far. Holliday seems like a large price to pay for a deal that only marginally upgrades D.C. this year and only marginally upgrades them next year. Meanwhile, Las Vegas still believes in struggling prospect Alex Gordon, who can't seem to get on the right side of the Mendoza line in AAA.

Because of the special All-Star This Week in DMBL, there will be no edition this week. Next week's installment will feature players of the week from the two week span. New editions may possibly come on Sundays instead of Mondays from now on.

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!

One-run Madness!

It was a tense day for most of the teams in the league - five of the six games were decided by one run yesterday.

C.C. Sabathia outdueled Nate Robertson to give Hillsborough a 2-1 victory yesterday. Sabathia improved to 7-2 on the season by limiting the Gang to only five hits over eight innings and striking out six. If Sabathia didn't miss almost a month due to injuries earlier this year, he might have been up there with Santana in the wins department. Robertson is still looking for his first win of the year, though he's far from Brett Myers territory at 0-4.

Jose Contreras also was impressive in helping New Jersey upset the Sugar Bears 3-2. Contreras has been very solid for the fledgling franchise and in fact earned himself a spot on the Hanover Division All-Star team. Contreras foiled an otherwise solid DMBL debut for Newark's rookie lefty, Joe Saunders. Saunders pitched seven innings and allowed only three runs on seven hits, but it wasn't enough. Mike Piazza hit his 14th home run this season and is now sitting at 398 for his career. Also with his 1961st hit, Piazza moved past Tony Gwynn for seventh all-time.

Johan Santana picked up win # 11 on the season by shutting down the Cutters. Santana was actually in line for the loss, when Adam Wainwright failed to hold the lead in the seventh. Wainwright began the inning after Scott Kazmir had pitched six strong innings, but the first two batters reached base and two sac flies later, the lead was gone.

The Straphangers won in similar fashion against the Rat Pack. With a 3-1 lead entering the eighth, newly-acquired George Sherrill had just pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and was trying to preserve the lead. But Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Crede both started the inning off with doubles and Kevin Youkilis tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Finally with two outs, Willy Taveras drove in the winning run and Akinori Otsuka retired the Rats in order in the ninth. Tom Glavine earned the victory and also reached 1500 strikeouts for his career.

Meanwhile Carolina and D.C. ran a marathon game that lasted 16 innings. "It's not Sunday is it?" asked Grady Sizemore, referring to the doubleheader day. D.C. had a 4-0 lead until the sixth when Carolina cut the lead in half. Carolina actually took the lead in the eighth after Travis Hafner and Johnny Estrada homered. Brian Fuentes couldn't hold the lead in the ninth so it was off to extra innings. Finally in the 16th, Richie Sexson came through with an RBI single to score Sizemore and the game was over.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the biggest All-Star snubs.

Reyes = triple threat

D.C. pounded on the Sugar Bears and suddenly the defending champions seem almost mortal. The Bushslappers won by a 13-4 score. Jose Reyes was 4-5 with another triple and 3 RBIs. Reyes now has a Deion Sanders-esque six triples in his last seven games and is now second in the league with 11 triples. Marietta's Wes Helms still leads the league with 13 three-baggers.

Honolulu and Vancouver slugged it out and the Sharks came out victorious with a 13-11 victory. Former Iron Fist Torii Hunter was 4-4 with 3 home runs and 6 RBIs. Both starters were chased early and Vancouver lost reliever Brian Sweeney for two weeks to injury. Kenny Rogers recorded his first career save after the Honolulu pen was spent. While the Sharks were scoring aplenty, the top of the order went a combined 0-17.

Carolina edged Sardine City 5-3 yesterday, but they lost starting second baseman Jose Vidro for two weeks. Mark Grudzielanek will take over. Rocco Baldelli hit his 18th homer of the season - easily a career best. In fact, Baldelli had 19 career homers in two years in the DMBL entering this season. Brian Fuentes picked up his 16th save.

Today are the last games before the All-Star Break. Rosters will be announced later today.

Hit the road, Eck

Today is your last chance to vote for the All-Star game. If you haven't voted yet, what are you waiting for?

Hoboken's Vicente Padilla was impressive in a 4-hit shutout of the South Boston Gang. Padilla improved to 8-2 and lowered his ERA to 3.93. Padilla also struck out 9 in the game. Also impressive yesterday was Carolina's Roy Halladay, who also 4-hit the Straphangers. Halladay only managed a mere 5 strikeouts.

Philadelphia activated David Eckstein off the disabled list and promptly handed his walking papers. After trying to trade the shortstop over the weekend and getting no bites, Eck was sent packing. Eckstein was batting a respectable .287, though somewhat empty (.693 OPS), but became superfluous when the club acquired Jimmy Rollins from Newark.

Newark blew a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the ninth when Cla Meredith gave up a three-run walk-off home run to Frank Thomas. In the game, Newark also survived a 6-run seventh inning that chased starter Chien-Ming Wang from the game. Newark felt that someone had to be "punished" for this embarrassing loss. So who would you think paid the price? Wang for giving up 7 runs? Meredith for blowing the lead in the final inning? Nick Johnson or Marlon Anderson for each going 0-5? Nope, it was obviously Tim Wakefield's fault! Wakefield was cut to make room for former Sugar Bear Alex Cora. "What the-- I wasn't even on the active roster?" reacted Wakefield after receiving the news. "It's not Tim" said GM Butch Garretson after the game "we just wanted to get Alex on the team again. That guy is a real sparkplug!"

The Myers Hex is over

Brett Myers finally broke the curse Sunday by shutting out the Sharks for seven innings and earning his first win of the season. Myers has actually been pitching fairly well over his last three appearances, lowering his ERA from 9.87 to 7.73. It may not seem like much, but after the way his season began, he probably feels like Cy Young right now.

D.C.'s Frank Thomas passed Gary Sheffield for the 12th spot on the home run list with 341. Thomas has only seven homers and is batting .221 in a part-time role. Ken Griffey of Sardine City also hit a milestone Saturday by passing Jeff Bagwell for the number four slot in career hits, his 2048th.

Friday Night Blog Bits: Johan Santana is now two strikeouts away from 1000 on his career. He would be the 23rd player to achieve the goal...Albert Pujols hit home run number 200 and Manny Ramirez his home run number 400 in their careers. Manny is now sixth all-time, while Pujols has some work to do - he's only at #37...Tom Glavine is only four strikeouts away from 1500 in his career.

Duncan Responsibility

First off, a reminder. The All-Star game is rapidly approaching, so if you haven't voted yet, make sure you do it soon! Now on to the games...

Chris Duncan possibly cost the Cutters their game against the Sugar Bears yesterday. In the first inning, Duncan bobbled a ball in the field when Chipper Jones yelled out "Mine!" from the infield. The gaffe cost the Cutters two runs in the first inning. Then in the second inning, Duncan fell for the same trick again Jones yelled "Ha!" from the dugout and Duncan, spooked again, let the ball fall in front of him, scoring Mark Teahan. Two more runs would score that inning and soon the Cutters were down 6-0, all unearned runs. Duncan tried to make up for his bloopers in the sixth with a solo home run, but in the seventh, Chipper would make Duncan pay for it. On a high fly ball from Nick Johnson, Jones yelled "Yabba Dabba Doo" and Duncan let the ball fall out of his glove. Luckily for Duncan, no runs scored that inning, but he was left feeling very embarrassed. "That was not cool at all" said Duncan after the game. Cutters manager Wally Backman called Jones "Bush League" and Cutters GM/owner Mark Hrywna was seen throwing furniture around in the owner's box. "Hey it's all part of the game" Jones stated in the post-game press conference.

Jermaine Dye had a huge night for Honolulu. The Shark outfielder was 3-5 with 3 home runs, leading the Sharks to an 8-2 spanking of the Rat Pack. Dye now has 29 homers on the year and is tied with Ryan Howard for the league lead. In the game, Jason Schmidt secured his 10th win of the season.

Brad Penny held the Straphangers to only three hits over seven innings to improve to 7-6 as the Buddahs shut out Sardine City 8-0. Team Buddah, despite being eight games under .500 actually has a positive run differential now (352 for, 346 against).

Marietta and D.C. both parted with two of their prospects yesterday. D.C. gave up on Phillip Humber and signed up DMBL veteran Matt Morris. Meanwhile, Marietta was less calm about releasing disappointing Kei Igawa. After Igawa was torched in AAA, an irate David Landsman was rumored to have issued a hit on Igawa. Igawa was taken into protective custody just in case, though Landsman denied the charges. In a video taken by a fan's cell phone, Landsman appears to say "put a bullet in the back of his head", but the video is a bit grainy. Nevertheless, Igawa was issued his walking papers and Paul Byrd was welcomed back to the Mighty Men clubhouse.