End Of The Line: Mark Buehrle

End Of The Line is an occasional offseason series that will take a closer look at the career of DMBL players leaving the league after the 2016 season. Today, we look at Mark Buehrle, who burst on the scene in 2002.

Carolina-Sardine City double shutout ends in OT

Carolina and Sardine City were scoreless for 13 innings in yesterday's standoff. Tim Hudson left the game early with undisclosed pains, but the Carolina pen had held the opposition to only 5 hits. Meanwhile, Dustin McGowan was doing the same thing on the other side, pitching 8 innings and holding Carolina to 5 hits as well. Because of Hudson's early departure though, the team had burned through their relievers early and had to call on starter Daisuke Matsuzaka in the 13th. In the top of the 14th, the shutout was broken as Carlos Delgado popped a homer over the centerfield wall. Dice-K seemed to be cruising, striking out the first two batters, but appeared fatigued when he walked Stephen Drew. Manager Mark Carreon elected to go to Roy Halladay. On his second pitch, Conor Jackson deposited the ball into the left field bleachers, ending the game by a 2-1 count.

Las Vegas edged Newark yesterday 3-2, taking their 5th straight victory. Tim Lincecum improved to 8-1 with 7 innings of shutout ball. Lincecum held the Sugar Bears to 5 hits and 2 walks and struck out 7. The Rats scored all three runs in the 6th inning, then held off the Sugar Bears who tried to claw back in the later innings. Richie Sexson was 3-4 with 2 RBIs in the game.

D.C.'s Jose Reyes hit two triples in yesterday's 11-6 loss to Vancouver, giving him 76 in his career and 10 on the season. Not only did that break a tie with Roberto Alomar (74) for 4th all-time, but it also passed Deion Sanders (75) and put Reyes within one of the all-time mark, held by Kenny Lofton (77). The 25-year old Reyes should easily obliterate the old mark.

New Jersey and Amityville agreed to a swap for disgruntled outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Soriano had been limited to a platoon role this season, but excelled in the limited time, hitting .353 with a 1.193 OPS in 51 at bats. With Amityville, Soriano should get more playing time. New Jersey receives Philadelphia's 2nd pick next year as well as Amityville's 6th round pick.

Opening Day notes

Carolina shot off to the best start, winning both of their games against Philadelphia. Roy Halladay shut out the Animals in game one, allowing only 5 hits and 3 walks in a complete game, striking out 9. Aramis Ramirez hit a grand slam in the 3rd inning to give the Cats the lead. In game 2, the Animals got on the board, but the Cats still won 7-2. This time it was Dice-K Matsuzaka striking out 9 Animals in 8 innings. Aramis Ramirez hit another home run in the game, though it was only a 2-run shot this time. Carlos Delgado added two solo homers in the game.

Marietta only played one game, but they rank amongst the undefeated teams so far with a 4-3 win over the Hitmen. The Hitmen jumped ahead early in the game with a Russ Martin RBI single in the second, but Marietta tied it up in the late innings, then took the lead in the 8th on an Adrian Beltre double. Aubrey Huff hit a two-run homer in the ninth to give the Hitmen a 3-2 lead, but B.J. Ryan could not hold the lead. Pinch hitting for Jason Bay, fan favorite Nick Punto lined a base hit that scored two runs, winning the game for Marietta.

Another undefeated team is New Jersey after taking a 6-3 decision against Sardine City. Edinson Volquez won his first DMBL game. Alfonso Soriano gave the Buddahs the lead in the first with a grand slam off starter Cole Hamels. Reliever Jimmy Johnson settled in nicely for Hamels in the 4th, pitching 5.1 innings of no-hit ball, walking one and striking out 3.

The last undefeated team is Las Vegas, who spoiled the Amityville Ant Slayers' first game with a 5-1 victory. Rich Harden returned from the dead to earn the win after pitching a solid 6 innings. Jeff Keppinger went 3-4 with an RBI to lead the team.

Deja vu for Vegas, Buddah

Don't forget that tomorrow there will be a morning doubleheader and then we're off for about a week, resuming games, hopefully, on June 1. Take advantage of the time off to vote for the All-Star Game!

New Jersey and Las Vegas experienced a weird case of deja vu yesterday as both lost two key players to injuries, just as the two have recently returned from DL trips.

Team Buddah lost outfielder Alfonso Soriano in his third game back from injury. Soriano only had 9 at bats before succumbing to another injury. Hey, at least Team Buddah won the game 9-2 as his replacement at DH, Yuniesky Betancourt, went 2-3 with 2 RBIs.

Meanwhile Las Vegas just activated shortstop Jeff Keppinger on May 18th, but he only lasted three games as well. Keppinger went 3-4 in his final game and was replaced by outfielder Ryan Church at shortstop. "I never played shortstop, man!" said a terrified Church "Whose idea was this???" Church's anguish only lasted two innings, but he was still seen shaking in the clubhouse after the game.

Sardine City's Phil Hughes outdueled Vancouver's Chad Billingsley in a 1-0 match. Hughes struck out 11 in seven innings of work, while only giving up three hits. Billingsley, who struck out 9 in 6 innings, lost his first decision of the year. Billingsley got in trouble in the sixth when he gave up a leadoff single to B.J. Upton. After striking out the next batter, Billingsley loaded the bases on two walks. Billingsley struck out the next batter, but Willy Taveras lined a base hit up the middle that scored the games only run. Billingsley then struck out his third batter of the inning, but the damage was done.

Justin Verlander was impressive in a complete game 6-3 victory over the Mudcats yesterday (7 H, 10 K, 1 ER). Nevertheless, the Hired Hitmen have announced that they will be offering many of their players up for trade, including Robinson Cano, Ryan Howrd, Brad Hawpe, C.C. Sabathia, and Verlander. "Some people say it might be a little early to write off this season" said Hitmen owner Brent Campbell, "but the we want to get a head start on next season. The early bird gets the worm."

Opening Day notes

Josh Beckett led Blue Ridge to their first victory. The Bombers bested the Falcons 4-1 behind Beckett's solid performance (6.2 IP, 1 ER, 8 Ks). The game was locked at 1-1 entering the seventh, but the Bombers scored a couple of runs to take the lead. Huston Street closed the game for his first save of the season.

Meanwhile the defending champion Sugar Bears staved off a comeback attempt by the Mudcats, eking out an 8-7 victory. The Sugar Bears jumped out to an early 8-1 lead after two innings, but the Mudcat pen held the powerful Newark offense in check throughout the rest of the game - almost enough time to mount an improbably comeback. Manny Delcarmen got out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh and pitched the final two innings for the save.

Team Buddah crushed the Hoboken Cutters 7-1 behind Brad Penny's 3-hit effort (in 7 IP). Alfonso Soriano was 3-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs and Ty Wigginton drove in 3 runs.

Las Vegas' Chris Young continued his unbeaten streak into the regular season, winning a 7-2 decision against the Mighty Men. Young struck out 11 and surrendered only one run one 3 hits in his 7.2 innings of work.

re: Barry Zito - oops

Zito was blasted (3.1 IP, 7 ER, 0 K) as Hillsborough and Carolina battled it out to a 14-11 Hitmen victory, each team scoring five runs in their half of the ninth inning. Aramis Ramirez had a monster day on the losing side - 4-5, 6 RBIs, and his sixth homer of the spring. Hillsborough's answer was Robinson Cano who had 5 RBIs and a round tripper of his own. Hmmm who do I want to jinx today...?

Alfonso Soriano hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to break the tie and eventually win an 8-4 game for the Buddahs against the Mighty Men. It was Soriano's second homer of the spring. Team Buddah jumped out of the gate with a quick five game winning streak, but has come back down to earth, winning only two of their last seven.

Eric Byrnes swiped four bases and went 3-3 to lead the Blue Ridge Bombers to a 9-4 victory over the Bushslappers. Adam Wainwright went the distance to improve to 3-0 and Vlad Guerrero had two homers and four RBIs.

Vancouver won their sixth in a row by defeating the Sardine City Straphangers 5-1 and the Mudcats 3-2 in extra innings. Vancouver was bringing up the rear but after solid efforts from Ben Sheets and Zack Greinke, the Iron Fist are now sitting at 9-7. Iron Fist manager Darren Daulton said that the team was going to give their regulars some more playing time in the last 10 games to shake off the rust.

Chris Young of Las Vegas improved to 4-0 after a solid effort against the Buddahs. Young limited New Jersey to two runs on six hits in seven innings and struck out seven. The Rat Pack has the best record in the DMBL preseason (11-5).

10 games remain in spring training. The DMBL's Opening Day will be on Sunday, March 23.

DC ships Soriano to Jersey

New Jersey traded their first round pick to D.C. for much-maligned outfielder Alfonso Soriano and D.C.'s seventh round pick in next year's draft. Soriano batted .274 last year for the Bushslappers with an .831 OPS. Overall, Soriano has struggled mightily in his DMBL career, despite his huge potential. Buddah GM/Owner Mike Hornick said that Soriano just "needed a change of scenery" and was confident that New Jersey was just the place for him.

Meanwhile, D.C. gets the fourth pick overall in the 2008 draft. D.C. owner Jamie Landsman had scheduled a flight to D.C. for draft day, but a last minute change of plans had Landsman staying at DMBL Draft Headquarters.

Thomas, Soriano set marks

Brandon Webb pitched a complete game against the Falcons, surrendering two runs on seven hits and striking out five. Webb improves to 9-5 on the season. The Endzone Animals were trailing 2-1 after five, but they scored nine runs between the sixth and eighth innings to seal a 10-2 victory.

Frank Thomas led D.C. to an 8-5 victory over South Boston yesteday. Thomas was 3-5 with 4 RBIs and two homers on the night. His two homers moved him past Larry Walker into a 10th place tie on the all-time home run list and tied for sixth on the all-time RBI list. Alfonso Soriano quietly extended his hitting streak to a season-high 24 games, moving ahead of Matt Diaz who had the previous longest streak.

The Cutters won on a night when starter Vicente Padilla was a bit wild. Padilla pitched seven innings and allowed four runs, while walking three and striking out one. That doesn't sound too bad, until you see that Padilla also hit three batters in the game. Two of the hit batters came in the second inning when Padilla hit Kaz Matsui and Chone Figgins consecutively to load the bases. Luckily the next batter flew out to end the inning. "I just can't stand those Rat bastards" said Padilla in a post-game interview. "They deserved to get hit six times!" Closer Jason Isringhausen recorded his seventh save of the season and the 150th of his career (the fifth DMBLer to achieve the feat).

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.