DMBL Freaks N Geeks

You all should be getting an invite to the new DMBL Freeks N Geeks Ning community. It's a good way to get some league discussion and trash talking going. Sign up and play around a little. You can post messages on other owners' pages - accuse Butch of cheating, he likes that! You can start or participate in discussions. There's already one going on about rule changes that could go into effect for the 2008 season. Feel free to start any topics you want - players on the trading block, venting about how player X didn't perform up to par last year, your pitch for why we should vote for Bengie Molina for MVP, or whatever. Doesn't even have to be DMB-related. Post your latest movie review or your predictions for the MLB World Series (that "other" league). Post an invite to a Yahoo league you are starting. Or brag about how well you did in that other league you signed up for in 2007 - even though we all know that no other league's championship can compare to winning the DMBL Series! There is also a blog feature, so you can start your own blog about the Hoboken Cutters or the Anti-Golden Falcons blog. Finally, you can upload pictures, so you can share photos of your favorite player or pictures of your kids or photos from your latest trip to Transilvania.

And when you're done playing with that, don't forget to vote for the Mitchell, McDonald and Listach awards!

DMBL Mirror League wrap-up

There are already some rumors of potential new owners swirling around the DMBL office. There could be an announcement as soon as this week. Speaking of announcements, some of the league awards will begin to be announced this week. You may already know the winners of the Eck and the Rintel awards - look for the write-ups shortly, as well as the Gold Gloves. Make sure to get your votes in for the other awards.

This year the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen won the DMBL Mirror League. Vancouver was second, with Newark and D.C. following? Does this bode well for the fortunes of these teams in 2008? And what does this say for Team Buddah, the Sharks, and the Cutters who brought up the rear?

In 2006, Hillsborough also won the Mirror League, with Newark and Vancouver in second and third, respectively. Newark of course went on to win the 2007 DMBL World Series, but Hillsborough and Vancouver both narrowly missed the playoffs. How did Series runner up Marietta do? They finished ninth! The last place team, the Hoboken Cutters, was the fifth seeded playoff team in '07. Honolulu, the fourth seed, finished 12th! Ok, maybe that's just an aberration.

In 2005, Vancouver finished atop the Mirror League, with Hillsborough second and Newark third (same three teams, huh?). Vancouver and Newark met in the '06 World Series and the Hitmen finished just outside the playoffs again. Westwood finished in last and weren't competitive in '06, but the Arkansas Falcons finished 13th in the ML and ended up making the playoffs. Other playoff teams: Carolina (4th) and Marietta (6th) were the top seeded wild cards. The '05 ML had a better track record.

In 2004, Newark, Philly, and Arkansas headed the ML standings. Arkansas and Newark won their respective divisions and met in the World Series and Philadelphia made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. In fact, five of the top six ML finishers made the 2005 DMBL Playoffs. The sixth, Honolulu, finished seventh in the ML, so 2006 is looking more and more flukey by the minute.

Finally 2003, the year the Mirror League was first put to use. Newark took the ML in '03 followed by Stanhope, Carolina and Hillsborough. Newark, of course, began their historic four-season championship run in 2004 and Carolina and Stanhope both made the playoffs. Hillsborough, however, finished dead last in the league. Two playoff teams, Honolulu (12) and Tijuana (11), finished in the bottom four of the ML standings.

So what's it all mean for 2008? Probably not much, really. Newark, Hillsborough, and Vancouver probably stand to be in good shape come draft time. Expect some competition from D.C., Vegas, and whoever takes over South Boston. Honolulu, who doesn't have a great ML track record is always a wild card, blatantly disregarding the ML's prognostication powers. As the saying goes, "That's why they play the games!"

South Boston franchise up for sale

After two seasons in South Boston, the Gang is being put up for sale. Owner Paul Barbosa stated in a press conference yesterday that his heart wasn't in it any more. After three playoff appearances between Kentucky and Tijuana in six seasons, the move to South Boston didn't bring any success in 2006 or 2007. The Gang finished in 10th overall in '06 and then slipped to 11th in '07. Barbosa retires just shy of 1000 career wins (981). Barbosa was one of the original founding members of the DMBL - back in the Microleague days - as the owner of the Newark Crimewave. In 1992, he moved the team to Tampa Bay and renamed them the Sweat Sox. The Sox gave Barbosa his first winning season in 1993, but fell short of the playoffs. After the strike, the Sweat Sox were disbanded, but Barbosa came back with an expansion franchise in 1997 - the Lisbon Diabos. The Diabos would become the Philadelphia Eagle Wings in 1998. Barbosa gave it one last hurrah in 2000 when he purchased the Toledo Mutthens and moved them to Kentucky. The Hillbillies made the playoffs in the first season of their existence, then moved to Tijuana in 2002. The Banditos snuck into the playoffs in 2002 and in 2004. In 2004, despite posting an 79-83 record in the regular season, won a one game "play-in" game and advanced all the way to the second round, where they were just one game away from upsetting the Golden Falcons and reaching their first DMBL World Series.

Sugar Bears win fourth straight

Congrats go out to the Newark Sugar Bears, who won their fourth consecutive DMBL championship Friday. The Sugar Bears completed a historic run, breaking all sorts of offensive records and becoming the winningest regular season team to win a championship.

The Mighty Men could not do anything against Chien-Ming Wang, Friday's starter for Newark. Wang pitched seven innings, holding the Mites to one run on five hits and two walks. Marietta's A.J. Burnett was keeping things close until the floodgates opened in the sixth inning where the Sugar Bears scored four runs to blow the game wide open. Bobby Abreu and Jim Edmonds each had three hits and Carlos Guillen drove in three RBIs to lead the offense. The series MVP will be revealed shortly, or as soon as Sugar Bear owner/GM Butch Garretson is done partying and drinking champagne out of the league trophy.

Now that the series is over, trading is once more allowed, so hopefully we'll see some action on the Hot Stove coming soon. Don't worry, the blog won't be going away. We'll be taking a look at the upcoming awards announcements and do some reviews and previews during the off season.

Critical Weekend

By the time my next entry is written, we will have a champion. Will it be the Sugar Bears winning an unprecedented fourth straight title? or will it be the Mighty Men winning their second championship?

The Mighty Men have thought long and hard about going with a tired Francisco Liriano in game six, but opted to go the safer route with A.J. Burnett. Liriano has never pitched so many innings in his pro career, so who knows if this will have any effect for next year. Liriano was already complaining of various aches and pains after his last start. Owner David Landsman was questioned about overworking the phenom. "I didn't trade a first rounder for the kid to sit in the dugout during games" said Landsman. "He's going to pitch when he's told to and that's that."

The Sugar Bears, meanwhile, will toss their Wang out for game six after showing their Johnson in the previous game. "Personally, I'd rather see Bush than either of those" said Landsman. He added "I feel like I'm playing one of those crazy 'theme teams' of Garretson's."

Sugar Bears roar to 3-2 lead

Game five was all Sugar Bears as Newark jumped out to an early 7-4 lead and never looked back. One bright spot for the Mighty Men was the work of their bullpen. With the exception of Rafael Betancourt, the other four relievers held the Sugar Bears to one unearned run over 4 2/3 innings and struck out eight. With the Mighty Men facing a choice of once again going with a tired Francisco Liriano or A.J. Burnett, the bullpen may play a big factor in game six.

Meanwhile, it was the bottom half of the order that lifted the Sugar Bears yesterday. The 1-4 hitters combined to go 3-17 in the game, while the bottom five went 14-22. Manny Ramirez has been one of the few low spots in the Sugar Bear lineup. Since opening the series with a 2-4, 3 RBI night, Ramirez has gone just 2 for his last 16. Mark Teahen finally broke out of his 1-13 slump with a 3-5 night.

Look for a new Rookie Watch article later tonight.

Mussina-Johnson set for game 5

Mike Mussina, the only pitcher to have beaten the Sugar Bears at home so far this post-season, will try to repeat the feat against Randy Johnson, who pitched well in game one. Mussina has not fared well at the Cereal Bowl in the regular season. While Mussina pitched two solid games against Newark in Marietta, Mussina was roughed up in two other regular season starts. In a combined nine innings, Mussina has given up 21 hits and eight earned runs (2 unearned), though he does have nine strikeouts and escaped a decision in each outing. Johnson, meanwhile, has only faced Marietta once in the regular season and the results were similar to game one: 6 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts and a victory. Of course with the Sugar Bear offense, they won't need much more than that.