All-Star Preview?

In a possible sneak peek at next month's All-Star Game, the Morris Division stomped all over the Hanover Division tonight! The seven Morris teams played the seven Hanover teams, and in each game the Morris Division triumphed! Even more surprising was the fact that the best Hanover teams faced the worst Morris teams, and yet Big Mo came through every team.

The wildest game of the night was played in Blue Ridge, where the Bombers jumped out to an early lead over the Rat Pack thanks to a four-run 2nd inning. But the Rats came back with two in the 3rd, one in the 4th and one in the 5th to tie it up, and then took a three-run lead in the 8th behind a solo home run by Jim Thome and a two-run shot by Jayson Werth. But the Bombers rallied in the bottom of the 9th against Trevor Hoffman. Prince Fielder tied it up with a three-run blast, then Jeremy Hermida ended it in dramatic fashion with a two-out, walk-off home run against his former teammates, giving Blue Ridge an 8-7 win.

In a battle of the Landsmen, Jamie's O-Bombers edged David's Mighty Men, 7-6. D.C.'s Felipe Lopez delivered the game-winning hit with a two-out, two-run double in the 8th off Hong-Chih Kuo.

The Hired Hitmen out-lasted the Ant Slayers in a 13-12 slugfest. The Ant Slayers had 12 runs on 18 hits and 10 walks, but left 14 men on base; the Hitmen scored 13 runs on 13 hits, but left just five men on base -- thanks to four double plays turned by the Ant Slayer defense! The two teams combined for 25 runs, 31 hits, 4 errors, 14 walks, and 15 pitchers. Ryan Theriot ended it with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th.

The Iron Fist and Buddahs also had free baseball. The thrilling pitcher's duel between Kevin Slowey (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) and Ben Sheets (8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K) finally ended in the bottom of the 11th on an RBI single by Omar Infante, giving the Fisters a 2-1 win.

In other action, the Golden Falcons doubled up the Sugar Bears, 4-2; Philadelphia put away Sardine City, 8-5; and the Mudcats downed the Cutters, 6-2.

Frustrated Fist fall to Buddah

The 2009 DMBL All-Star Ballot has been posted. The game less than a month away, so get those votes in!

How the heck did Vancouver lose to New Jersey yesterday? Vancouver outhit Team Buddah 17-6, yet still lost 4-3 in extra innings. The Buddahs got on the board quickly with a first-inning Fernando Tatis home run. The Fist got in trouble with some walks and a passed ball, leading to another run. Vancouver quickly tied it up in the 2nd with a pair of runs. Vancouver took the lead in the 7th on a Troy Glaus single, but Buddah tied it up the next inning. Buddah finally won it in the 10th on a hit by Casey Blake. So how do you get 17 hits and score only 3 runs? Well, let's examine that 7th inning, which should have been a huge inning for Vancouver. Jerry Hairston led off the inning with a single, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Vancouver followed up with back to back singles. Adam Jones smacked a liner for a base hit, but Chase Headley was thrown out trying to score. The next hit finally scored a run, but Victor Martinez struck out to end the inning. The club left 13 batters on base and also hit into a double play in the later innings.

The day's other extra inning affair was an offensive battle. Sardine City built up ay 7-3 lead on Philadelphia but Jimmy Rollins hit a grand slam in the 8th to tie it up. Raul Ibanez then hit a 2-run shot in the 11th to give the Sardines a 9-7 lead, but Mark Teixeira came through with a 2-run double to tie it up. Marco Scutaro gave the Straphangers the lead for good in the 12th when his base hit scored Stephen Drew. The Sardines had 20 hits in the game, including Carlos Quentin (4-6) and Raul Ibanez (3-6, 4 RBIs). Quentin has been on a bit of hot streak lately, hitting .340 in his last 12 games with a 1.154 OPS.

Hillsborough won their 3rd straight and took a 1/2 game lead in the Morris Division. The Hitmen edged the Ant Slayers by a 6-5 margin. Shin-Soo Choo was 4-4 with 3 doubles and Freddy Sanchez was 3-5 with 2 RBIs.

Manny Ramirez was 3-4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs to lead the Sugar Bears to an 8-4 win over archrival Arkansas. The Sugar Bears scored 4 runs in the 8th to break a 4-4 tie and even the series at one game apiece. Yadier Molina was 3-3 with 2 doubles in a losing cause.

Hamels, Galarraga battle in classic duel

Now that's what I call a pitchers' duel! Sardine City and Amityville battled it out to a 1-0 finale, with the Sardines taking the win. Cole Hamels, starting for the Straphangers, got into some early "trouble" when he gave up a double to Ryan Garko. It would be the only hit he would give up. Hamels subsequently walked Jason Kubel, but struck out Torii Hunter to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Quentin hit a solo home run to give the Straphangers the 1-0 lead. Miguel Montero would get a double in the third inning, and that was all for the two teams' offenses. Okay, well Raul Ibanez would also walk in the 4th, but the bats would go silent after that. In fact, Hamels would retire 24 straight batters before he allowed Johnny Damon to reach base in the 9th on his own error. Taylor Buchholz came in to strike out the final batter and earn his 9th save. Hamels ended the night pitching 8.2 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk and striking out 7. Armando Galarraga, taking a tough loss, fell to 2-9 on the season, despite giving up only one run on 2 hits in 8 innings. Galarraga walked 1 and struck out 8.

Darren Oliver is up to his tricks again. Vancouver and Hillsborough, knotted at 3 ended up in extra innings again. Oliver, who had already pitched 2 shutout innings in the matchup, took the mound in the 10th. Sure enough, Oliver surrendered a home run to Mike Lowell, giving the Hitmen a 4-3 lead. The Fist went down in order in the bottom of the inning, sealing the fate of Oliver, who lost for the 4th time in 5 games - all to the Hired Hitmen. Vancouver's series with Hillsborough is now over, but the club has already announced that the next time the two clubs face each other, Oliver will be banished for the series. "We know Darren's got an illegitimate family living in Hillsborough" said bullpen coach Gregg Olson, "so we want to make sure his emotions don't get in the way of his pitching." Clubhouse cameras also caught Oliver accepting a package from a shady character wearing a Hillsborough baseball cap. Oliver denied any charges of impropriety.

Gordon discombobulates in extra-inning loss

Marietta topped Las Vegas 3-2 in a 12-inning marathon yesterday. Josh Beckett had pitched the Rat Pack to a 3-1 lead after 8 innings, but the Mighty Men came back. With 2 outs in the 9th, Kevin Youkilis reached base when Alex Gordon tripped over his untied shoelaces. This opened up the floodgates as the Mighty Men rallied to tie the score and head into overtime. The Rats got in trouble again when Gordon committed another error in the 12th. While fielding a grounder from Derek Jeter, Gordon's hat fell off his head, leaving the third baseman, temporarily blinded. Gordon threw the ball at the pitcher, who swatted it away into left field. Jeter advanced to second on the miscue. Milton Bradley came through with an RBI single after Jeter was sacrificed over to third. After the game, Alex Gordon, sporting a Bobby Valentine disguise, tried to sneak out of the complex, but several fans were waiting for him. Gordon narrowly escaped the melee when he tricked the crowd by pointing behind them and yelling "Godzilla!"

Nate McLouth was 5-5 with 2 RBIs in Blue Ridge's 9-4 defeat of the first-place Mudcats. McLouth had a double and a home run in the game.

Vancouver broke their 5 game losing streak yesterday with a 3-2 victory over the Hired Hitmen. Greg Maddux pitched 8 solid innings to improve to 2-1 on the season and Billy Wagner picked up his 13th save.

Joba is Hott - Manny is being Manny

There was a lot of hype surrounding Sardine City rookie Joba Chamberlain, even as he was drafted as an ineligible prospect with the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft. The Sardines eased the rookie into a starter role last year in the minors, first starting him out as a reliever, then giving him some starts. Now thrown into the DMBL, Chamberlain hit a few bumps in the road. Despite starting out 2-6, Chamberlain showed some glimmers of a bright future. This week, Chamberlain began by losing a heartbreaker to Vancouver in which he only gave up 2 hits and an unearned run while striking out 10. Chamberlain rebounded with an even better effort against Amityville where he earned a win for pitching 8.2 shutout innings, striking out 11. That's a total of 21 strikeouts in 15.1 shutout innings this week! Joba takes this week's Joe Loves Crappy Movies Pitcher of the Week Award and will no doubt enlighten us with his review of the new Star Trek movie.

Other top pitchers this week: Vancouver's Chad Billingsley also didn't get a lot of love from his team's offense (1-0, 1.17, 0.78 WHIP, 16 K in 15.1 innings). Other notables: Marietta's Ervin Santana (2-0, 2.12, 0.76) and Jon Danks (1-0, 1.23, 0.95), Amityville's Chris Volstad (2-0, 1.20, 0.73) and Roy Oswalt (1-0, 2.81, 0.81, 19 K), Hillsborough's John Lackey (1-0, 2.25, 0.88), and Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum (1-0, 2.35, 1.04).

This week, we have to make a special mention of the Anti-Pitcher of the Week, Darren Oliver of Vancouver. Oliver felt it was his duty to personally lose all three games of Vancouver's series with Hillsborough over the weekend. First, Oliver gave up a run in the 10th Friday to lose the first game, then topped himself by giving up TWO runs in the 10th Saturday. Finally, to shake things up, Oliver gave up a run in regulation time to break a 5-5 tie in the 7th inning of yesterday's finale.

The Sugar Bears offense set several records last year as they blew out opponent after opponent. After custom stadiums were abolished this year, Newark's offense has fallen back a bit, but it's still one of the most potent. This week, one of the Sugar Bears takes the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize - Manny Ramirez. Manny hit 4 home runs this week with 12 RBIs, 6 runs scored, while batting .407/.452/.926 for the week. Some of this teammates noticed that Manny had an extra "spring in his step" this week and others eyed him suspiciously when he got a special delivery of Flintstones vitamins. "Sure he's got a stash of 'vitamins' and 'health foods', but that's just Manny being Manny" said one clubhouse official. Others noted that Manny seemed to be watching the Lifetime Channel a lot lately and kept trying to get teammates to go see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with him this week. Well, anyway, Manny can enjoy his case of cigars while curling up with a good book.

Other top hitters: Philly's twin killers this week - John Baker (.476/.522/.810) and Mark Teixeira (.438/.514/.813), Amityville's Garrett Atkins (.464/.464/.821, 3 HR, 11 RBI), Carolina's Mike Aviles (.464/.500/.714), Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.406/.424/.844, 5 2Bs), and part-time hero Joe Crede (.529/.526/1.118, 3 HR, 7 RBIs in 17 AB).

Could It Be... Santana?

The Marietta Mighty Men took their second in a row against their Hanover rivals as Ervin Santana this afternoon shut out the Rat Pack, 5-0. The right-hander allowed just five baserunners -- three singles, a double, and a runner who reached on a dropped third strike. No Rat got as far as third base, however. Santana fanned five in the complete game effort to improve to 7-4 on the season. Josh Hamilton led the Mites on offense with a two-run double and a two-run homer. Las Vegas is now in 7th place, a half-game out of the post-season.

The win kept the Mighty Men a half-game up in the Hanover Division as the Newark Sugar Bears won their fourth in a row by beating New Jersey, 7-3. The game was closer than it appeared; it was scoreless for the first four frames before the Sugar Bears came up with a run in the 5th and two more in the 6th. But sloppy play in the bottom of the 6th allowed the Buddahs to tie the score on two singles, a walk and two errors. J.D. Drew's RBI single in the top of the 7th put the Sugar Bears ahead again, and they iced it in the 9th on back-to-back home runs from Manny Ramirez and Mike Fontenot.

The Carolina Mudcats are still tied with Marietta for the best overall record as they won their fourth straight, a 6-3 win over Blue Ridge. Rookie Mike Aviles had two hits, including a home run, and Carlos Zambrano rejoined a tie for the league lead in wins at 8-2 with Marietta's Mike Mussina and Newark's Chien-Ming Wang. The Bombers have lost three straight.

Hillsborough kept pace with the Mudcats by winning their third straight to remain 1 1/2 games out. The Hitmen beat the Vancouver Iron Fist in 10 innings for the second straight game, this time 5-3. Once again, the Fisters battled back to tie it up late, only to falter in extra innings. This time it was Freddy Sanchez delivering the game winner, a two-run shot off Darren Oliver -- who also lost last night's game!

The defending World Champions have lost four straight and are now tied for the league's fifth-best record with the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who squeaked past the D.C. O-Bombers, 2-1. D.C.'s Todd Wellemeyer and Philly's Shaun Marcum dueled for eight innings, each giving up just a single run in the 4th. The Animals finally won it in the 9th when Fred Lewis tripled off Juan Cruz, then trotted home on a single by John Baker. The Animals have won three in a row while the O-Bombers have dropped four straight.

The Amityville Ant-Slayers won a thriller, coming back from three runs down to defeat Sardine City, 4-3. The Straphangers' Josh Johnson pitched a gem, holding the Slayers scoreless until the 7th, when Dioner Navarro scored on a groundout. (The run was unearned because Navarro had reached third on an error.) But even so, Johnson left the game with a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th, only to watch in horror as D.J. Carrasco allowed the tying runs to score on a Melky Cabrera pinch-hit single, then a game-winning hit by Garret Atkins. The Straphangers are now 12th while the Ant Slayers improved to just one game under .500, 4 games out of the final playoff spot.

When Animals Attack

The Endzone Animals last night delivered one of the most thorough beat-downs of the year, pounding the D.C. O-Bombers by the score of 17-1. D.C.'s Anibal Sanchez faced 11 batters in the 1st inning, giving up 8 runs on six hits (including two homers) and two walks. Manager Kevin Elster used seven relievers in the effort; even closer Jonathan Papelbon couldn't get the job done, giving up 3 runs on a walk and two hits. Starter Chris Young finally came in to get the final seven outs. Philly's Mark Teixeira had three hits, including a home run, and 4 RBIs; Albert Pujols had a home run and 3 RBIs to take over the league lead with 58.

Hanover Division rivals Marietta and Las Vegas kicked off a six-game home-and-home series with a thriller in Georgia. The Rats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but the Mighty Men battled back with two in the 3rd and three in the 4th to tie the score. It remained locked at 5-5 until the bottom of the 13th, when Geovanny Soto won it for the Mites with a two-run home run off Scott Linebrink. The win kept Marietta on top of the Hanover Division, a half-game ahead of the Newark Sugar Bears, who defeated last place New Jersey 7-4 for their third straight win.

There also was free baseball in Hillsborough, where the Iron Fist lost a heartbreaker to drop their third game in a row. The Hitmen were leading 4-2 behind C.C. Sabathia but the Fisters tied it up with one out in the 9th behind a two-run shot from Curtis Granderson. But the home team prevailed in the bottom of the 10th as Ryan Howard delivered the two-out game winning hit -- against a lefty no less!

The Carolina Mudcats held onto the top record in the Morris (and are tied with Marietta for the best record overall) after taking down Blue Ridge, 7-3. It could have been a lot worse as the Mudcats left 14 men on base! Dustin Pedroia had three hits to raise his league-leading batting average to .355.

Tim Wakefield was protected by the Golden Falcons but didn't make his season debut until last night against Hoboken as apparently the Arkansas brass wanted to make sure the 42-year-old knuckleballer got a little more seasoning in Triple-A. Everything was fine until the 4th inning, when Wake gave up a 3-run home run to Joe Crede to give the Cutters a 3-1 lead. Hanley Ramirez added an insurance run with an RBI single off Kerry Wood in the 8th to make it 4-1. But the Falcs made it interesting as they loaded the bases with one out in bottom of the 9th off Ryan Madson. But Madson retired Skip Schumaker and Ray Durham to preserve the win for Matt Garza.

A BAD BREAK FOR LONGORIA: Sardine City's nightmare season just got worse as they lost star rookie Evan Longoria for at least two weeks. Apparently Longoria said something mean to Amityville's Armando Galarraga in Triple-A last year as the two rookies got into it. Galarraga plunked Longoria in the 1st inning, but Longoria shook it off and eventually came around to score. Apparently not satisfied with that outcome, Galarraga drilled him again in the 4th. Longoria could be out until the end of the month. "When I put a guy down I expect him to stay down," an unrepetent Galarraga said after the game. He is tied for 3rd with 5 HBPs this year. Oh, the Straphangers won the game, 7-2, to move up from second-worst to third-worst.