Gyorko goes deep 3 times, drives in 8

Jedd Gyorko clubbed San Francisco for three home runs, including a grand slam, driving in 8 runs Friday night to lead a 16-hit attack by Livingston.

Arkansas pulls out Game 3 in the 9th

Mike Fiers and Edison Volquez matched one another for 6-plus innings but Falcons pulled out another late victory with a run in the 9th for a 2-1 win in San Francisco. The Game 3 triumph puts the defending champion Arkansas in a commanding 3-0 lead in the Best-of-7 semifinal series.

Back-to-back jacks in the 10th tie, then win Game 2 for Arkansas

Both playoff games on Sunday were decided by back-to-back home runs but Arkansas did it more dramatic fashion - in extra innings.

Betancourt makes 500th appearance in relief

Relief pitchers don't usually get much press -- especially those who aren't closers -- but only 11 relievers in DMBL history have done what Newark's Rafael Betancourt accomplished last week: the Venezuelan native made his 500th career appearance. And it was a memorable one, a 3-2 win over Blue Ridge at the Cereal Bowl on Saturday. He tossed two hitless innings in relief of Matt Harrison and picked up the win.

Francisco Rodriguez was the last reliever to reach 500 appearances, doing it as a member of Marietta, which acquired him last year from Newark (Rodriguez, by the way, was shipped off for the sixth time in his career this past weekend, going from Las Vegas to Bridgewater as part of the Tim Lincecum-Chris Sale trade).

Prior to F-Rod, it had been three years since a pitcher reached 500 appearances: longtime Hoboken Cutter Jason Isringhausen did it in 2008 before getting dealt to Philly. Next up figures to be Joe Nathan, who's appeared in 18 games this season for Las Vegas, leaving him just 12 games away from 500.

Betancourt appeared in 82 games for Marietta last season, matching the career high he set in his rookie year with Phoenix in 2004. The Sugar Bears plucked Betancourt with the first pick of the third round of this year's draft.

Over his first seven seasons (he took 2009 off), Betancourt averaged 67 appearances primarily as a set-up man. He may have a paltry 14 career saves but boasts a stellar record of 42-16 (.724) entering the 2012 campaign.

K-Rod cracks top 10 in all-time appearances

Francisco Rodriguez passed Jason Isringhausen to move into 9th all-time in appearances, with 542. K-Rod tossed two scoreless innings of relief in Sunday's game one, a 7-6 home win over Amityville.

With 31 appearances this year, Rodriguez is on pace to move into the top 5 in 2012. He passed Rick Aguilera (513) earlier this season to break into the top 10 and also is second among active pitchers, trailing only Mariano Rivera (1,156). Isringhausen is active, with 541 appearances, but hasn't signed on with a franchise this season. A busy year and K-Rod could very well reach Billy Wagner, who's 4th all-time with an even 700 games; he's averaged 64 appearances over his first eight seasons.

Though he hasn't yet recorded a save, K-Rod is enjoying a fine season in his return to Las Vegas, who selected him at the end of the 6th round this year. He's 1-2 with a 2.47 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, but even more impressively, only 4 of 24 inherited runners have scored (.167).

K-Rod also stands 8th all-time in saves with 128 but hasn't been a full-time closer since his days with Blue Ridge (2008-2010). He needs only two saves to match Roberto Hernandez for 7th all-time.

Now in his ninth season, Rodriguez broke in with Philly as a 2nd round pick (20th overall) in 2004. He notched a career-high 34 saves in back-to-back campaigns in 2006 and 2007 and then was shipped to Las Vegas with Erik Bedard in exchange for Mark Teixeira and a 3rd round pick. But it wasn't the last time he'd be traded; in fact, K-Rod has been shipped off to other teams five times in his career.

By July 2008, the Rat Pack exchanged him for Joe Nathan in a deal with then-D.C. (now Bridgewater) but he never threw a pitch for the Bushslappers. Mere weeks later, he was included in a seven-player deal to Blue Ridge. He spent a few good years with the Bombers, who then dealt him to Newark for an 11th-rounder before the start of last season. He didn't spend much with the Sugar Bears either, going to Marietta in a giant eight-player deal early in the 2011 campaign.

Batter and Pitcher of the Week

With Zane Smith missing in action, we've been charged with awarding the weekly prizes. Since the Olympics have just ended we'll do this in an Olympic fashion...

Batter of the Week

Bronze Medal - Akinori Iwamura, Tampa Bay - The Plunkers have been red hot this week, winning nine in a row before dropping two yesterday. Iwamura has been just as hot over that stretch. He was tied for second in the league with 10 RBIs over the past week and batted .385/.500/.692 with 7 runs scored.

Silver Medal - Troy Tulowitzki, Carolina - Carolina had given Tulo up for dead after he couldn't cross the Mendoza line for much of the season. After the roster purges just before the deadline, he got another chance to get some at-bats and has been much better. This week, Tulo batted .391/.423/.870 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs and brought his average up over the .200 mark to .205.

Gold Medal - Magglio Ordonez, Philadelphia - Magglio has made a strong case as MVP of the Endzone Animals, leading the team in RBIs, runs, average, OBP, slugging, and doubles. This week was no exception as he hit .500/.541/.781 to claim the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize. We'll be sending a box of Flor de Baloneys to the dugout in time for tonight's game!

Pitcher of the Week

Bronze Medal - Francisco Rodriguez, Blue Ridge - K-Rod has been money since coming over to the Bombers (1.19 ERA, 32 K in 22.2 IP, 0.93 WHIP). This week, he was exceptional, striking out 11 in 8 innings of work in 7 games (he's gotta be tired). All that and he even got a W for his efforts.

Silver Medal - Mariano Rivera, Marietta - The Master still has a small edge over K-Rod. Rivera saved 2 games this week in 6 games (7 IP), striking out 7 with an 0.57 WHIP.

Gold Medal - C.C. Sabathia, Hillsborough - the pitching has been a big reason why Hillsborough has been winning lately (9 in a row as of Sunday!) and there's no bigger pitcher on the staff than C.C. Hmmm I think that may have come out wrong... Anyway, Sabathia was 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA this week, including 15 K in 15 innings and an 0.93 WHIP. He gets to enjoy this week's Baracky II Pitcher of the Week Award!

Trade-happy Thursday

So finally, the first trade of the Hot Stove season has been made...hold on, make that the first two trades! And the Las Vegas Rat Pack is at the center of both of them.

The first trade had Placido Polanco going to the Rats from Vancouver. Polanco was signed as a backup to Chase Utley last year, but was deemed expendable in the offseason. Polanco slides in as the new starting second baseman for the Rat Pack and Vancouver gains a boost in their draft picks. Polanco spent six years in the starting lineup of the Columbia/D.C. franchise before being left unprotected and undrafted last season.

The first deal may have been small potatoes, but the second deal of the day was a blockbuster. Philadelphia sent starter Erik Bedard and 2006 and 2007 Eckersley Award winner Francisco Rodriguez to Vegas in exchange for first baseman Mark Teixeira and a 3rd round pick. Bedard broke out this year with a 17-9 record and 3.94 ERA for the reigning Morris Division champs. Teixeira has emerged as an offensive force the last two years. In 2007, Tex hit 37 homers with 134 RBIs and an .882 OPS for the Pack. Teixeira will likely bump Albert Pujols to the DH slot and take over first base for the Animals.

Lots of other rumors are still flying around, so no doubt we'll see more deals coming soon. Monday we'll cover our final team review and look for the announcements of the award winners coming next week as well.

K-Rod claims the Eck

Philadelphia's Francisco Rodriguez has done it again, taking home the 2007 Dennis Eckersley Reliever of the Year Award for the second straight year. It was a pretty close battle for most of the year between K-Rod and Vancouver's Billy Wagner, but Vancouver's late season swoon cost Wags many save opportunities. Looking down the standings, it wasn't a big year for closers in 2007. In fact, K-Rod's 65 relief points was the lowest total in the DMB Era. Part of this can be attributed to the rapid rise of closers-by-committee this year. Five of the top ten in relief points were part of a committee or platoon. Cla Meredith, the highest ranked part-timer, shared closing duties in Newark with Denys Reyes and five other pitchers in the Sugar Bear pen had at least one save. Sardine City's Akinori Otsuka split the job with B.J. Ryan, at least until the latter was traded to Marietta. Hoboken's Juan Rincon split his duties with incumbent closer Jason Isringhausen. Jon Papelbon and Joe Nathan shared the role in D.C. Carolina, Hillsborough, and Las Vegas all had shared or undefined closer roles. Is this a new trend? In Newark, it certainly seems to be that way ever since John Smoltz was converted back into a starter. As for the other teams, it all will depend on the strengths -- and weaknesses of their bullpens.

Division Contenders Clash

Honolulu took round one against the Sugar Bears yesterday. The two teams' bullpens battled it out after both starters were chased fairly early in the game. Adrian Gonzalez broke the tie in the top of the ninth with a solo homer to give the Sharks the 7-6 lead. Tom Gordon, who was traded to the Sharks from the Sugar Bears in the offseason, got the victory and nailed down the bottom of the ninth. Jeff Francis and Javier Vazquez face off in tonight's game.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia also squeaked out a victory against the Golden Falcons last night in extra innings. Philly was clinging to a 4-3 lead for most of the game until the Falcons scored a trifecta in the eighth to bring the score to 6-4 in favor of Arkansas. But Justin Duchscherer couldn't hold the lead and gave up a two-run homer to Albert Pujols to tie the game. In the tenth Khalil Greene hit another homer off Duchscherer to give the Animals a 7-6 lead. Francisco Rodriguez retired the Falcons in order to earn his seventh save of the season. Tonight it's Erik Bedard against Daniel Cabrera.

Jose Contreras pitched a shutout for Team Buddah against the Mighty Men. Contreras allowed ten hits and struck out seven to earn his first victory of the season.

From the Blog Bits file: Mike Piazza hit his 300th career double Wednesday, the 24th player in DMBL history to achieve the milestone. Bobby Abreu's next double will also be his 300th...We are all waiting for Barry to hit #600, but Jim Thome of Marietta will hit #400 when he hits his next home run... Kevin Millwood is now one shy of 1000 strikeouts on the season...