Cruz clubs HR No. 400

Nelson Cruz clubbed his 400th career home run, becoming just the 13th player in DMBL history to reach that mark.

Greinke becomes 6th to 200 wins

Zack Greinke became the 6th pitcher in DMBL history to reach 200 wins in Hillsborough's 7-2 victory over Empire City on Wednesday night.

Diamond Conference all-star starting pitcher possibilities

The leading vote-getter among starting pitchers on All-Star ballots will be awarded the distinction of starting the midseason classic. Who will that be? Let's look at the contenders for the Diamond Conference's five starting spots:

"I might start the All-Star Game?!?"

If your ballot goes straight up by most wins, you're man would be Durham's Sonny Gray (11-3). No one can catch him and he has a chance to add another W in Friday's scheduled start versus Hillsborough. So far, he's also struck out 108 in 108 innings.

Ivan Nova (10-4) of Marietta and San Francisco's A.J. Burnett (10-4) both won their final starts before the break on Tuesday but you'd have to overlook their respective 3.38 ERA/1.41 WHIP and 5.08 ERA/1.50 WHIP. For Burnett, you'd also have to take the extra step of writing him in on the ballot.

Your ballot does include two San Francisco starters worthy of consideration: Chris Sale (8-5) and Anibal Sanchez (9-4). Sanchez is headed toward the break leading the Diamond in ERA (2.35), with 111 Ks (3rd) through 111 innings and second only to Gray (.572) in OPS (.605). Sale has the better WHIP (1.05) than Sanchez (1.19), if not the better ERA (3.56) while throwing more innings (113.7) and fewer strikeouts (102). Sanchez is tied for the conference lead with 13 quality starts.

If a classic power pitcher is what you're looking for, Hillsborough's Max Scherzer (9-5, 3.15) leads the conference in strikeouts with 119. He's also among the conference leaders in innings pitched (114.3), and second only to Bartolo Colon in WHIP (1.08). He's scheduled to face Durham on Friday night.

Sorry Bartolo, it's just too darn easy

In Livingston, the safe bet is to cast a ballot for the always reliably stellar Felix Hernandez (8-4, 3.82), however, he just hit the DL for almost a month. But he might not even have the best numbers on his team as the Lords of Swing boast three 8-game winners.

The ageless Bartolo Colon (8-2, 3.12), who's made 13 starts, ranks first in the conference in WHIP (0.99) and third in OPS (.608). He also has the best runs created ERA (2.30) if that's what you're into and a league-best 1.0 BB/9. There's also Chris Archer (8-3, 3.53) and Tyson Ross (7-3, 3.82) who join King Felix with more than 100 innings. Hernandez also already has reached the century mark in Ks. Where Colon really separates from this group is WHIP, where the trio's numbers don't appear all-star like: Hernandez (1.35), Archer (1.38) and Ross (1.43). Ross tops them all with 11 quality starts, good for fourth in the conference but Archer and Colon are scheduled to start Friday and Saturday, respectively, in their last chance to impress voters.

Gray isn't the only Bull enjoying a good first half in Durham. Kris Medlen (8-4, 3.55) leads the conference in innings pitched at 119 and with Sanchez in quality starts. Another 8-game winner for the Bulls is Stephen Strasburg (8-3, 3.79) though his 1.32 WHIP is a few notches higher than Medlen's 1.24.

Two-time first-round pick C.C. Sabathia of Empire City improved to 9-5 with a win Wednesday night in his 17th start, though his ERA (3.94) and WHIP (1.48) might scare off some voters. Teammate Chris Tillman is a respectable 7-5 but sports slightly better stats (3.76 ERA/1.31 WHIP). Hopatcong's James Shields has always been a workhorse and his 117.3 innings in the first half show it. It's his 9-7 record, 3.99 ERA and 1.27 WHIP that could keep him off ballots.

When healthy, Marietta's Clay Buchholz (8-2, 2.76) looks like he's been strong in only 10 starts, with 64 Ks in 68 innings but has a 1.35 WHIP. He'll have a chance to add to those numbers Saturday versus San Francisco. Teammate Adam Wainwright, a former McDonald Award winner, has powered the Mighty Men's rotation with 116 innings but is only 6-5 to show for it with a 4.32 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.

Tomorrow: A look at the possibilities for Micro Conference starting pitchers.

Relievers throwing goose eggs

It took nearly a third of the season but Greg Holland of the Durham Bulls finally gave up an earned run. Holland was the last reliever in the DMBL this season to be unscored upon, until Friday night's 10-1 thrashing at the hands of the Sardine City Straphangers.

The former second-round pick in 2012 went one out into his 19th appearance before surrendering a run. He walked Craig Gentry to lead off the 8th, uncorked a wild pitch before getting Eric Hosmer out, but then yielded a run-scoring single to Ryan Braun. Holland would give up another run in the 9th before giving way to Francisco Rodriguez, who also hasn't been scored upon -- but he's only made two appearances.

In all, Holland went 21 2/3 scoreless innings, yielding just 6 hits to go with an impressive 34:4 K/BB ratio. He collected 14 saves and was 1-0 during the stretch (his lone win coming May 29 in a three-inning hitless effort in his previous outing, in which he struck out six).

The previous scoreless reliever was Brick City's Ed Mujica, who had gone 11 appearances before yielding a run. The right-hander got as far as 17 scoreless innings, including 14 strikeouts without a walk and just 8 hits, before giving up an eighth-inning jack to Nelson Cruz in a May 21 game. He would later give up two more runs, including a solo shot by Prince Fielder in the 10th, going a season-high four innings.

There also was Livingston's lefty, Alex Torres, who reached 18 2/3 scoreless innings, his streak broken in a May 19 game by a Jason Heyward home run in his 11th appearance.

Hillsborough's Jose Veras was the only other reliever besides Holland to touch 20 innings, reaching 20 2/3 scoreless before a run-scoring single a few Fridays ago. He also boasted 21 strikeouts against 5 walks while collecting 5 saves. He blew the save and took a loss in his 16th appearance, a May 13 game at Marietta.

Marietta books trip to Newark

Marietta swept all the road games, and remained undefeated on the road in the playoffs. Of course their terrible home record (1-4) will need some improvement if they want to steal this Series from the Sugar Bears.

Philly hung in there for a lot of the game. The Animals took a 3-1 lead in the second inning after an Adam LaRoche homer and a Jimmy Rollins RBI double. Brandon Webb was holding the Mighty Men to only one run through the first six innings, but Webb ran out of gas in the seventh. The Mighty Men scored three runs to take a 4-3 lead. A.J. Burnett, meanwhile was on cruise control. After the rough second inning, Burnett only allowed one hit and one walk through the next six innings. The Mighty Men piled it on in the final two innings, scoring nine runs, but the Animals' heart was already ripped out.

Ray Durham was selected as the MVP of the series. Durham batted .429 (12-28) with a 1.110 OPS and 5 RBIs. Marietta will make its second World Series appearance, the first since they moved from Jerusalem after their 2000 championship.