It's like discovering plutonium...by accident!

The first three-way deal in league history was executed over the weekend when Las Vegas, D.C., and Philadelphia exchanged commodities. And yes, you read that right, Marietta was NOT involved!

Here's a breakdown of who got what. Las Vegas acquired uber-prospect David Price formerly of Philly, D.C. got pitcher Chris Young, and Philadelphia got 2 2nd round draft picks for this year.

Price, drafted in round 7 of the 2008 draft, made headlines by pitching well in that "other league's" playoffs, but will likely spend the 2009 season in the minors. Young, who started with D.C. back in 2006, returns home after 2 1/2 years in Vegas. Young was probably the only decent pitcher in the '07 Rat Pack rotation and had a solid, unspectacular season in '08.

Meanwhile, the Endzone Animals, who looked like they could almost skip the draft coming into the offseason, get some valuable picks early on in the draft.

Raised Cain extends scoreless streak

Matt Cain is at it again. In his last start - his first since his return from the DL - Cain pitched a 2-hit shutout. Yesterday, Cain again held his opponent scoreless in 7.2 innings, allowing only 2 hits and striking out 10. This time it was the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen, who lost the match 4-0. Cain will try to extend his shutout streak Monday against Blue Ridge. The win was Philadelphia's ninth straight.

James Shields and the Sugar Bears exacted revenge for their loss in yesterday's slugfest by routing the Rat Pack 16-1 yesterday. Shields went the distance, yielding an unearned run and striking out 10. Meanwhile Rat starter Chris Young was shelled, surrendering 15 runs (9 earned) on 17 hits in 4.2 innings.

Tampa Bay dealt Hoboken their 6th straight loss as Mark Buehrle pitched 6 strong innings (3 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and Brian Roberts was 3-5. Tampa Bay padded their lead for the final wild card slot, but the Cutters fell deeper and are now only 1/2 game ahead of Team Buddah for 13th place overall.

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.

Spring Surprises and Disappointments - the Pitchers

Carolina's Roy Halladay has been superb so far in three starts - 2-0 with a 0.38 ERA (1 run in 24 innings). He's looking like his old workhorse self. The real surprise in Mudcat camp has been Barry Zito returning to form. It's only been two starts, but Zito has been solid with a 3.21 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 14 IP. Of course having said that he'll probably get bombed in his next start.

The Straphangers' youngsters have been pretty impressive so far, especially Fausto Carmona (1-1, 1.80) and Phil Hughes (1.69, 0.63 WHIP). Carmona has been interesting - despite the low ERA, he's walked a ton of batters (8 in 15 innings) and only struck out two. On the other side of the fence, Cole Hamels has continued his struggles from last year so far in spring (0-2, 12.96).

Team Buddah has to be happy with their two starters acquired in the Ichiro deal. Oliver Perez is dominating so far (2-1, 1.08 ERA, 0.92 WHiP in three starts) and Joe Blanton has been solid as well (2-1, 3.24 - but 32 hits in 25 innings). In fact, Team Buddah's 2.59 team ERA is second in the league. Only George Sherrill has really struggled so far.

Sitting atop the heap in team pitching is the Las Vegas Rat Pack. Led by Chris Young, who is probably the top pitcher so far this spring. Young is now 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA, 0.81 WHiP and 16 Ks. The Ageless Wonder, Orlando Hernandez has done well (1-1, 2.25) and A.J. Burnett, acquired from Marietta, has been lights out (2-1, 2.59). Rookie Tim Lincecum has looked impressive at times (3.00 ERA, 14 Ks in 18 innings), but the underlying numbers (16 H, 11 BB, 1.50 WHiP) indicate that he's a work in progress.

Bringing up the rear are the Mighty Men of Marietta. With four starters with a 7.00 ERA or higher, the Mighty Men are looking like they won't be returning to the finals this year. Rookie John Danks has been the sole bright spot (1-1, 2.38 in 3 starts).

Pre-Season Opening Day Notes

The mighty Newark Sugar Bears opened spring with a whimper yesterday. Roy Halladay and the Carolina Mudcats held the defending champs to only six hits in an 8-0 blanking. Halladay went the distance and Aramis Ramirez went 3-3 with a homer and 4 RBIs. Number one pick overall Dustin Pedroia also had three hits and scored three runs.

Alex Rodriguez had four RBIs and a homer in his Arkansas Falcon debut. The Falcons pounded away on Blue Ridge 11-4. Josh Beckett continues his DMBL-related struggles after giving up six runs (four earned) on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Chris Young opened strong for the Rat Pack by pitching a 2-hit, one-run, complete game agaisnt the Mighty Men. Matt Holliday hit two homers and drove in four runs and Frank Thomas also had a homer in the contest.

Jose Reyes led the D.C. Bushslappers to an 11-2 rout of the Philly Endzone Animals. Reyes was 4-5 with a homer and five RBIs. Johan Santana was roughed up in his spring debut (3 IP, 5 ER). Santana claimed that he was tinkering with some new pitches in the game and was off on his location. "Don't worry, I'll be ready on Opening Day" said Santana in a postgame pres conference. D.C.'s top pick Matt Kemp went 2-4 with an RBI in the game.

Sardine City and Tampa Bay battled it out to a 1-0 final in the Straphangers favor. Fausto Carmona pitched all nine innings, surrendering only three hits, though he walked five. Mark Buerhle (8 IP, 7 H, ER) was the hard-luck loser for the Plunkers.

Bad day for pitchers

Two teams were crushed yesterday at home. Honolulu routed the Golden Falcons 18-5. Brian McCann had two homers and five RBIs and Jeff Francis improved to 7-1 on the season. Falcons starter Ervin Santana lasted just 2 innings and gave up six runs, but the real damage was done by reliever Brad Lidge, who surrendered eight earned runs, in addition to allowing both of his inherited runners to score. Lidge and Santana combined to walk eight batters and surrendered eight hits and 14 earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Meanwhile in Vancouver, the Sugar Bears pounded the Iron Fist to a 17-5 tune. Nick Johnson was 4-6 with 6 RBIs and three homers and Manny Ramirez was 4-5 with one homer. Starter Ben Sheets was ripped apart - 1.2 IP, 6 ER, 6 hits. Vancouver also allowed six unearned runs in the contest. Javier Vazquez was the beneficiary of the run support and improved to 4-2 by limiting the Fist to three hits over six innings, though he did issue five walks.

New Jersey's recent acquisition Matt Guerrier pitched in his first game for Team Buddah and was impressive in 5.1 innings, surrendering no runs and four hits, while striking out three. It wasn't enough because starter Brad Penny was shelled (6 runs, eight hits in 1.2 innings).

Want more starter shellings? How about D.C.'s John Maine who gave up six runs and eight hits in two innings against Hoboken? At least Maine didn't get a loss as the Bushslappers came back to win the game.

How about Sardine City's Tom Glavine who gave up five runs and five hits in two innings in a loss to Hillsborough? The Straphangers ended up using eight pitchers in the game, including Brandon Claussen who was the team's emergency starter earlier in the year.

So did anyone pitch well yesterday? Las Vegas' Chris Young pitched seven scoreless innings against South Boston in picking up the win to improve to 4-4. Young struck out 10 Gangsters. Speaking of Las Vegas, Brett Myers will try to break the hex over him tonight as he tries to win his first game of the season. Myers is currently 0-9 on the year with a 10.38 ERA. "If he doesn't turn things around, I may send him to the pen next year" said team owner Eric Wickstrom.

Oswalt back on track

There was a bit of a pitchers' duel in Vegas yesterday. South Boston's Aaron Harang and Las Vegas' Chris Young battled it out. Young gave way to the bullpen in the sixth, but Harang took a 1-0 shutout into the eighth before surrendering two runs in the bottom half of the inning. There were only 11 hits between the two teams in the game.

Honolulu's Roy Oswalt finally straightened out his season. After getting clobbered in his first two starts, Oswalt turned in a complete game two-hit performance against Arkansas, surrendering only one run. Oswalt struck out 6.

Hoboken's Scott Kazmir probably had the best game yesterday, holding D.C. to one run on four hits in eight innings, while striking out nine and walking only one.

The injuries are starting to pile up. Hoboken and Philadelphia both placed team members on the DL. Hoboken lost outfielder Geoff Jenkins for two weeks and signed Damian Miller. The Cutters plan to replace Jenkins with Pat Burrell. Scrappy Philly shortstop David Eckstein may be lost for a month. Philly signed infielder Marco Scutaro who was released before the season by Team Buddah and last played a regular season game for Carolina back in 2005.

Liriano locks down his spot

Hillsborough's young phenom Felix Hernandez was rocked yesterday by Carolina. "King Felix" surrendered six runs on six hits and two homers and could not make it out of the first inning. Felix is still projected to make the rotation and could be in line for the season opener start.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano continued his masterful pitching and improved to 4-0 last night. Liriano shut down Hoboken, holding them to one run on four hits in eight innings. Liriano is now locked into a rotation spot and has been shut down for the rest of spring. Brandon McCarthy will get Liriano's next spot in the rotation.

Carolina's Juan Rivera smacked 2 homers with 5 RBI in a 3-5 night yesterday against Vancouver, a team that had previously drafted the outfielder.

Chris Young of Las Vegas put in an impressive outing yesterday against Team Buddah. Young pitched 8.1 innings of 2-hit ball. Young was acquired last season from D.C.

One lone cut yesterday: Hillsborough cut reliever Logan Kensing and signed infielder Neifi Perez. Kensing only pitched 1/3 of an inning for the Hitmen and only surrendered one walk. "That walk was enough for us though." said team owner Brent Campbell. "We can't have guys walking batters all over the place." Despite the fact that fellow reliever, Joe Nelson has seven walks in four innings pitched, Campbell attributed it to "bad luck". "I think that Campbell just really doesn't like Wolverine" said a disgruntled Kensing.

Another sign it's only spring training: last year's two DMBL World Series participants, Newark and Vancouver, are currently sitting in last place in their respective divisions.