First half, ROY review

A losing record probably kept Sardine City’s Joba Chamberlain off the all-star team, but the '09 Listach Award may be in sight for the 2008 first-rounder. Drafted as an ineligible third overall, he ended the first half leading the league in K/9 at 11.1 and led all rookies with 116 strikeouts and a 3.43 ERA, through 94 1/3 inning. But Joba managed only a 5-7 record despite 9 of 16 quality starts and a 1.35 WHIP.

Chamberlain's competition for the Listach may not come from any fellow starters or first-round picks. This year's first round featured a bumper crop of starters, but many have struggled through the first half. Ricky Nolasco of Arkansas leads all rookies in IP with 114 2/3 but was 4-9 with a 4.87 ERA in 17 starts (8 QS). Likewise, New Jersey's Edinson Volquez, taken third overall (the first pitcher), has made 8 of 17 quality starts and cracked 100 IP but was just 4-7 with a 5.19 ERA. Amityville's Chris Volstad stood at .500 (6-6) and made 9 of 16 quality starters, but would have to bring his 4.42 ERA and 1.40 WHIP down some to make a run in the second half. You have to get to the second round to find a starter above .500 and thats Jair Jurrjens of Arkansas, who was 8-4 in the first half despite a 5.21 ERA, with 6 of 15 starts quality. He leads rookies with 3 CG and 2 SHO.

Hoboken's Clayton Kershaw, an ineligible 4th round pick in 2008, made only 7 starts in the first half after supplanting fellow rookie Nick Blackburn in the rotation but he was impressive, notching 5 quality starts while going 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 1.37 WHIP.

Could the Listach be swiped by a reliever? Newark’s Joey Devine leads all rookies with 15 saves (2^nd in the league) in 27 games, along with a 2-1 mark. The 2009 first-rounder also has a tidy 2.10 ERA to go with a 1.17 WHIP. He would be only the second relief pitcher to win Rookie of the Year (John Rocker, 1999).

A few batters have played prominent roles in their team’s lineups during the first half and might well be on the inside track for the ROY hardware. Chris Davis leads all rookies, playing in all 82 games for Las Vegas mostly at DH with a smattering of 1B and 3B. He’s also tops in HRs (18), RBIs (58) and an eye-popping 112 strikeouts. Jay Bruce of DC was second to Davis in HRs (17) and RBIs (50), with both on pace to drive in 100 as rookies.

Shin-Soo Choo has helped pace Hillsborough’s league-best offense, leading rookies in batting average (.298), and slugging (.545), as well as doubles (23), while getting into 67 games for the Hitmen. Hillsbrough’s rookie backstop, Kelly Shoppach, has split time with Russell Martin behind the plate and made the most of it, with 19 doubles, 10 home runs and a .527 slugging percentage at the break.

New Jersey’s Elijah Dukes got an all-star nod thanks to his impressive first half, that include a rookie leading 47 runs scores, and along with Choo, a rookie-best .382 on-base percentage. He’s also knocked in 37 runs with 14 home runs and 16 doubles to make for a .536 slugging percentage. second among rooks.

There’s not much pop behind Denard Span, but he made all 80 starts in center field for Hoboken while stealing 6 bases and scoring 43 runs. Along with Philly’s Fred Lewis, Span leads all rookies with 6 triples in the first half and his 83 hits are just ahead of the 81 compiled by Davis and Carolina's Mike Aviles. Lewis and Aviles also lead rookies with 10 SBs.

Anybody else want these? Or should I just give him the keys to the store...

You know we really wanted to give this to someone else. We tried, but you guys have to step it up! Ok, sure the high averages (Dioner Navarro - .464 and Placido Polanco - .462) are nice, but we're going to need a little more. Lance Berkman, nice try with the 12 RBIs and 3 homers, but no cigar. Jack Cust and Casey Blake's 4 home run each are pretty nice, but not exactly eye-popping. Really, guys, he hasn't even finished the last box of cigars we gave him, but we really have no choice but to award this week's JR Cigar's Smokin' Batter of the Week to Aubrey Huff. Yeah, here you go, you greedy bastard, enjoy your Tabantillas. Here's why we couldn't help but to give Mr. Huff the prize: .591 average, .667 OBP, 1.136 slugging, 3 homers, 15 RBIs, 6 runs...and it goes on and on.

Other batters of note: Arkansas' Skip Schumaker (.438/.471/.563, 10 R), Hoboken's Joe Crede (.370/.433/.741, 3 HR), Marietta's Kevin Youkilis (.409/.444/.636) and Sardine City's Miguel Montero (.455/.478/.955).

It was really a two-horse race for the pitcher's prize this week, and yes, both would be repeat winners. Hey, we try to spread the love here at DMBL News as much as anybody, but well, take a look at the stats... Our first contender is Sardine City's rookie extraordinaire, Joba Chamberlain, who was 1-0 on the week with a miniscule 0.67 ERA and 0.75 WHIP, while striking out 18 in 13.1 innings. Contestant #2 is Las Vegas' phenom Tim Lincecum, who also was 1-0, with a tiny 0.64 ERA and 0.93 WHIP, striking out 22 in 14 innings. How the heck do you decide between those two? Well there are no rules against splitting the prize right? And since our sponsor is all about family and togetherness, aw hell, let's give them both the Awkward Family Photos Pitcher(s) of the Week Award! Now if we can just get a nice photo of the two of you hoisting the trophy...

Other notable pitchers: Carolina's Roy Halladay (1-0, 1.08, 0.96 WHIP), D.C.'s Braden Looper (2-0, 2.63, 0.80), Hillsborough's Dan Haren (1-0, 2.57, 1.00), Amityville's Chris Volstad (2-0, 1.42, 0.95), and Philly's Scott Kazmir (2-0, 2.20, 0.86).

Amityville's 10-run inning makes Ants of Hillsborough

Players of the week will be announced next Tuesday...

The Ant Slayers scored 10 runs in the 7th inning to rally past the Hired Hitmen 12-5 yesterday. The Slayers started the inning off with a solo Pat Burrell home run and capped it off with a three-run Clint Barmes homer. Torii Hunter and Garrett Atkins also homered in the inning. Burrell was 3-4 in the game.

Las Vegas rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the late innings to secure a 3-2 victory over Blue Ridge. Alex Gordon's triple in the 7th led to the Rats' first run of the game. Then Chris Davis and Richie Sexson hit solo home runs to give the team the lead. Trevor Hoffman sent down the Bombers in order to record his 7th save.

The Landsman brothers battled it out to an 8-7 final in extra innings. Marietta took a 5-3 lead in the 3rd when Brandon Phillips hit a triple that scored Adrian Beltre. Phillips would score on a fielder's choice. D.C. took the lead in the 6th when Casey Kotchman hit a 3-run homer, giving the O-Bombers a 7-5 cushion. D.C. got in trouble the next inning though and Marietta tied it up on an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single. Finally, in the 10th, Marietta won the game on a walk-off single by Brian Giles.

Newark battled back from a 6-0 hole but the Falcons pulled it out. Arkansas led 6-0 in the 6th, but Newark chipped away until they tied it up in the 8th. But David Wright hit a two-run shot that gave the Falcons the lead back in the 9th. Ramon Vazquez hit a solo homer to lead off the 9th for Newark, closing the gap to 8-7, but Bobby Abreu grounded into a double play to end the game.

Jesse Litsch won for just the second time this season as he limited Vancouver to only one run on 5 hits in 7 innings. Litsch improved to 2-10 on the season. Chad Billingsley took a tough loss as he gave up only one earned run (and one unearned) in 5.2 innings. Billingsley struck out 8 while giving up 4 hits and 3 walks.

Joba Chamberlain was spectacular once again striking out 11 in 7 innings, giving up zero runs and 3 hits in a 9-1 Sardine City victory over Philadelphia. Conor Jackson hit two home runs in the game.

Joba is Hott - Manny is being Manny

There was a lot of hype surrounding Sardine City rookie Joba Chamberlain, even as he was drafted as an ineligible prospect with the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft. The Sardines eased the rookie into a starter role last year in the minors, first starting him out as a reliever, then giving him some starts. Now thrown into the DMBL, Chamberlain hit a few bumps in the road. Despite starting out 2-6, Chamberlain showed some glimmers of a bright future. This week, Chamberlain began by losing a heartbreaker to Vancouver in which he only gave up 2 hits and an unearned run while striking out 10. Chamberlain rebounded with an even better effort against Amityville where he earned a win for pitching 8.2 shutout innings, striking out 11. That's a total of 21 strikeouts in 15.1 shutout innings this week! Joba takes this week's Joe Loves Crappy Movies Pitcher of the Week Award and will no doubt enlighten us with his review of the new Star Trek movie.

Other top pitchers this week: Vancouver's Chad Billingsley also didn't get a lot of love from his team's offense (1-0, 1.17, 0.78 WHIP, 16 K in 15.1 innings). Other notables: Marietta's Ervin Santana (2-0, 2.12, 0.76) and Jon Danks (1-0, 1.23, 0.95), Amityville's Chris Volstad (2-0, 1.20, 0.73) and Roy Oswalt (1-0, 2.81, 0.81, 19 K), Hillsborough's John Lackey (1-0, 2.25, 0.88), and Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum (1-0, 2.35, 1.04).

This week, we have to make a special mention of the Anti-Pitcher of the Week, Darren Oliver of Vancouver. Oliver felt it was his duty to personally lose all three games of Vancouver's series with Hillsborough over the weekend. First, Oliver gave up a run in the 10th Friday to lose the first game, then topped himself by giving up TWO runs in the 10th Saturday. Finally, to shake things up, Oliver gave up a run in regulation time to break a 5-5 tie in the 7th inning of yesterday's finale.

The Sugar Bears offense set several records last year as they blew out opponent after opponent. After custom stadiums were abolished this year, Newark's offense has fallen back a bit, but it's still one of the most potent. This week, one of the Sugar Bears takes the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize - Manny Ramirez. Manny hit 4 home runs this week with 12 RBIs, 6 runs scored, while batting .407/.452/.926 for the week. Some of this teammates noticed that Manny had an extra "spring in his step" this week and others eyed him suspiciously when he got a special delivery of Flintstones vitamins. "Sure he's got a stash of 'vitamins' and 'health foods', but that's just Manny being Manny" said one clubhouse official. Others noted that Manny seemed to be watching the Lifetime Channel a lot lately and kept trying to get teammates to go see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with him this week. Well, anyway, Manny can enjoy his case of cigars while curling up with a good book.

Other top hitters: Philly's twin killers this week - John Baker (.476/.522/.810) and Mark Teixeira (.438/.514/.813), Amityville's Garrett Atkins (.464/.464/.821, 3 HR, 11 RBI), Carolina's Mike Aviles (.464/.500/.714), Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.406/.424/.844, 5 2Bs), and part-time hero Joe Crede (.529/.526/1.118, 3 HR, 7 RBIs in 17 AB).