Hendricks no-hits Hoboken for 8+ innings

Hopatcong's Kyle Hendricks came within two outs of throwing the 22nd no-hitter in DMBL history, the first in almost a year, tossing 7 perfect innings against Hoboken.

Cutters, Kershaw crush Straphangers in Game 7 to win second World Series title

Clayton Kershaw capped a dominant postseason run with his second shutout of the World Series for Hoboken in a 12-0 blowout of Sardine City in Game 7. It's the second DMBL World Series title in five years for the Cutters, who came back from a game down for the third consecutive round.

Cutters force Game 7 with Kingsnakes

Clayton Kershaw won his fourth start of the postseason and his second elimination game to will No. 3 Hoboken to a Game 7 against 2nd-seeded and defending champion Tucson with Friday night's 5-1 victory.

Hoboken evens series on 10 walks

In one of the most bizarre games in league history - playoff or otherwise - Tucson took a combined no-hitter into the 9th inning despite trailing 3-1 thanks to 10 walks by its starting pitcher.

Granderson hits for the cycle

Curtis Granderson hit for the cycle Thursday night, starting with a home run in the 1st inning and completing it with a triple in the 9th. The Las Vegas centerfielder went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored, leading the Rat Pack to a road win over the Hoboken Cutters, 8-7.

Granderson started it off in the first inning with a home run off Ricky Romero after the Hoboken starter walked the first two batters of the game. The Grandyman added a single in the 3rd and a double in the 5th before grounding to first to end the 6th. With one out in the 9th, Granderson tripled off another lefty, reliever Bill Bray, to complete the cycle.

Reyes first to 100 triples

Jose Reyes became the first player in DMBL history to reach 100 triples for his career when he collected his fourth three-bagger of the season in a 9-8 win on Sunday. Reyes tripled in the 6th off Livingston's Jake Arrieta to drive in Ruben Tejada and later scored on a Victor Martinez single.

Reyes has reached double-digits in four of his six DMBL seasons, including a career-high 24 triples in 2007 -- and in 2006, splitting time between Westwood and D.C. -- and another 20 last year. He missed 2010 due to injury. But Reyes doesn't hold the season record for triples; that's Curtis Granderson, now with Las Vegas, who hit 33 in 2008 (and MicroLeague record holder Deion Sanders, who hit 62 of his 75 career triples in 1993).

The Bridgewater shortstop is off to a blistering start in 2012, leading the league in batting much of the year, thanks in part to a league-high 19-game hitting streak.

Right behind Reyes is Amityville's Carl Crawford who, with three triples this season, now has 93 for his career. After that, it's a bit of a drop-off with three retired players (Kenny Lofton, Sanders and Roberto Alomar) in the 70s, and even further for active players, with Livingston's Jimmy Rollins and Bridgewater's Carlos Beltran in the high 60s.

Granderson, Santana earn top honors

This week, the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week Award goes to Las Vegas' Curtis Granderson. Granderson has been manning the leadoff position for the Rats ever since Yunel Escobar was hurt and he's been taking full advantage. Granderson batted .407/.393/1.111 for the week. Yes, his OBP was lower than his batting average. Granderson also hit 3 doubles, 2 triples and 4 homers, scored 7 runs and drove in 12.

His main competition was Carolina's Troy Tulowitzki, who hit .565 with a .643 OBP and 1.043 slugging. He had 6 extra base hits (2 homers), scored 5 runs and had 9 RBIs. Other batters of note: Las Vegas' Alex Rodriguez has woken up out of his slump (.375/.429/.969, 6 HR, 9 R, 10 RBI) and Hillsborough had a trifecta of stars: Carlos Gonzalez (.440/.481/.840, 12 RBI), Juan Uribe (.458/.500/.708, 7 R), and Casey McGehee (.440/.481/.600, 9 RBI).

This week's Dads on Vacation (yeah yeah I know it was Mother's Day yesterday, but we don't want to humiliate mom after her day) Pitcher of the Week goes to Arkansas' Johan Santana. Santana started off the season on a rough note, but has recently straightened himself out and now boasts a respectable 4-4 record with a 3.82 ERA. In fact, it wasn't too long ago that Santana was 1-4 with a 6.98 ERA. This week, Santana went 2-0 with a 1.10 ERA in two starts.

Other top pitchers: Las Vegas' A.J. Burnett could have easily won the prize this week (1-0, 0.82 ERA, 0.91 WHIP), but we went with the "story" player. We're slaves to the ratings, what can I say? Marietta's Joel Pineiro (1-1, 1.20, 1.00), Vancouver's Zack Greinke (1-0, 2.77, 14 K) and Bridgewater's Erik Bedard (1-0, 2.31, 11 K) also had noteworthy weeks.

Three relievers had excellent weeks as well, starting with Newark's Kiko Calero, who was 1 hit shy of pitching 4.2 perfect innings and earning a win and 3 saves. Vancouver's perfect save season continued thanks to pitchers like Ronald Belisario who also pickedup 3 saves with a 0.94 WHIP. Chad Qualls returned from the DL for New Jersey and doesn't seem to have any rust - 3 saves, 0.80 WHIP.

Hochevar makes most of opportunity

This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week is Vancouver's Curtis Granderson. Granderson hit .500 (10-20) with a .542 OBP and a 1.392 OPS. He also hit 2 homers and drove in 6 runs. His main competition this week came from Philly's Albert Pujols, who hit .448/.455/.862 with 3 homers and a whopping 14 RBIs.

Other notables: Philly's Andre Ethier (.500/.533/.786, 9 R), Newark's Jarrod Saltalamacchia (.500/.565/.550), Carolina's Magglio Ordonez (.423/.483/.769, 10 RBIs), D.C.'s Derrek Lee (.368/.478/.895, 7 RBIs), Hoboken's Mike Napoli (.421/.455/.895, 2HR, 8 RBIs), and, of course, Hillsborough's Aubrey Huff (.391/.464/.609, 10 R).

We had one less game day this week, so there aren't many two-start pitchers to choose from. Instead we are going to honor Luke Hochevar of Philadelphia, this week's Chia Obama Pitcher of the Week. Hochevar has been claimed and released so many times in the past couple seasons, that you may have forgotten what team he was on. In fact, Hochevar was signed 5 times this year, Philadelphia being the last team, but he hasn't had a chance to show his stuff until Friday when he pitched 7 shutout innings against New Jersey, earning his first career DMBL victory.

Others in consideration: Carolina's Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0, 2.57, 13 K in 14 IP) and Hoboken's Ryan Madson (1-0, 2 saves, 6 K in 5.2 IP, 0.00 ERA).