Diamond Conference: Designated hitter

Unlike the Micro Conference where there's a clear leaders of the pack among DH, in the Diamond Conference there seem to be two front-runners with a second tier of contenders that are just behind them.

Diamond Conference: First Base

The pool of first base candidates to start the All-Star Game for the Diamond Conference is a bit...shallow this year.

2018 Kevin Mitchell Award winner

Allentown's Mike Trout out-polled 13 other players receiving votes on his way to his second Kevin Mitchell Award as the league's best batter in 2018. He's the third player in DMBL history to have more than one Mitch, joining former Philly teammate Albert Pujols (2009-10) and Barry Bonds, who won three with Arkansas (2002, 2004-05).

2018 Mitchell Award candidates

The Kevin Mitchell Award for the most valuable batter recognizes the best performance by a batter, as determined by a vote of the league's owners. There are no shortage of candidates this year, with three 100-win teams and plenty of offense.

With clutch hits, Ozuna earns playoff MVP

Marcell Ozuna blasted a grand slam in Game 163 to help Tucson clinch the Clemente Division over Arkansas and get into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. Technically, that was the still the regular season but it was just the start of a hot postseason for the Kingsnakes left-fielder.

DeJong blasts 3 HRs, Tucson wins Game 4 in 9th

Paul DeJong clubbed three home runs and drove in 6 but Tucson still needed a walk-off single by Avisail Garcia to pull off an 8-7 win in a back-and-forth Game 4 Tuesday night that puts them one win away from their second title in three years.

Late Ozuna HR stands up for Game 3 win

Marcell Ozuna hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the bottom of the 7th inning and the Tucson bullpen made it hold up to grab a 5-4 home win over Hopatcong in Game 3 of the DMBL Series.

Bullpen sputters but Hopatcong clinches first finals appearance

It took another 13 innings to settle the other Game 6 semi-final. The Vancouver bullpen put up a valiant effort and was rewarded with a 9th-inning rally to force extras but Hopatcong finally closed it out in the 13th for a 6-5 win.

2018 batting leaders

Marietta thrashed Vancouver 14-1 in the regular season finale in a game that didn't matter all of that much because the Mighty Men had already locked up the No. 5 seed and the Iron Fist had all but sewn up the No. 3 seed.

Players of the Month: May

OK, it's a little late to look at the league's stats in May, but hey, it's never really too late, is it? First, let's have a look at the standings, and then we'll delve into the individual league leaders.

2017 Mitchell Award winner: Miguel Cabrera

In one of the closest votes in recent memory, Miguel Cabrera picked up the first Kevin Mitchell Award of his 14-year career, edging Gary Sanchez, playing in his first DMBL season, by just three points.

2017 Mitchell Award candidates

Here are 12 candidates, and then some, who could be worthy of your support on the ballot for the annual Kevin Mitchell Award honoring the league's most valuable batter.

2017 batting leaders

Two rookies polished off historically good years in 2017 amid the usual stalwarts in the league's batting leaders while the batting race saw a dark horse take over down the stretch.

2016 Mitchell Award winner: Giancarlo Stanton

Home run champion Giancarlo Stanton was the runaway winner for the 2016 Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Player Award. It's his first Mitchell Award and also the first for the Allentown franchise.

2016 Mitchell Award candidates

The Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Player Award, named for the great Maine and Waikiki outfielder, recognizes the DMBL's top hitter.

2016 league batting leaders

No records were shattered during this season but there were some impressive efforts from batters in 2016, and one quirky DMBL mark was matched.

A Duel For Batting Title Heading Into Final Weekend

It's been almost a foregone conclusion for some time that a Bridgewater Maller or a Rowdy Roddy Piper will go home with the 2012 batting title. For the last few weeks, the top three batters in the league hail from those two squads, as well as four of the top five and six of the top 10.

Bridgewater DH/catcher Victor Martinez holds the edge at the moment, batting .333 (160-480, .333333) followed by veteran Michael Young of Rowdy, hitting .331 (220-664, .331325). Each have two games to play after yesterday's off day. Martinez has started 49 games at catcher and 67 at DH while Young has started 159 (of Rowdy's 160 games) at third base.

Assuming Young gets 8 at-bats in the final two games versus St. Louis, 4 hits would push him into an even tie with Martinez at .333333 -- if Martinez were to not get any at-bats, that is. A sizzling 5 hits over two games (assuming the 8 ABs) would mean a .334821 batting average for Young and time for Martinez to start looking over his shoulder. Anything less than three hits in 8 ABs (which would lift his average to .331845) and Young will have to hope for Martinez to swing and miss regularly.

Martinez tends to sit against lefties, though he's hit them well in only 78 at-bats (.372/.424/.500). Tonight's scheduled starter for Philly is Travis Wood, potentially leaving just one start for Martinez, or 4 at-bats out of the cleanup spot. Should he go hitless, he would finish at .331 (.330578), a 1-for-4 night would leave him at .333 (.332644), while 3-for-4 would essentially put the crown out of reach for Young at .336776. Of course, if V-Mart comes off the bench, there's always the pinch-hit opportunity, which would mean an additional at-bat, maybe two.

It's Young who's likely to finish as the league leader in overall hits, now sitting on 220, leading Bridgewater's Jose Reyes and Robinson Cano of Hopatcong, both at 206.

Young broke in with Vancouver in 2003 as a part-time player, secured a full-time gig in 2005 and went on to play three consecutive 162-game seasons. He hit a career-high .331 with 237 hits in 2006. Though he's never hit above .300 or gotten 200 hits otherwise (198 in '05), Young has been a model of consistency, entering this season with a career .286 average. He joined Carolina (now Rowdy) last year where he started 162 games. He's started no fewer than 140 (2010 with Hoboken) since those early days in Vancouver.

Another longtime Iron Fister, Martinez spent his first five seasons in Vancouver (2005-2009). He hit for a career-high .306 in 2006, eclipsed .300 again in 2009 (.301), and like Young also entered 2012 with a .286 average.

As for other batting categories, Kevin Mitchell Award contender Prince Fielder of Rowdy has overtaken the league lead in the RBI race in the past two weeks, with 131, ahead of Hopatcong's Joey Votto (138), who enjoyed an 8-RBI night last week. Fielder also passed Jose Bautista of Hoboken in the home run race, holding a 51-49 advantage.

Who's going to win the batting title, eh?

A first basemen from Canada is assured of winning the 2011 DMBL batting title. It's just a matter of whether it's the one from the East Coast (Toronto, Ontario) or the West Coast (New Westminster, B.C.). Fans in New Jersey and Arkansas have something to root for in the final few games of the season.

New Jersey's Joey Votto (originally from Toronto) is making a case for the Kevin Mitchell Award -- as well as a Sabrmetric triple crown -- despite Team Buddah not being in the playoff hunt, and British Columbia native Justin Morneau of Arkansas is hot on his tail for the league lead in batting average.

Entering the final two games of the season, Morneau (.33558) trails Votto (.337308) by less than 2 percentage points. Votto's season, however, ends in today's matchup at Blue Ridge against probable starter Tommy Hunter while Morneau is at home, scheduled to face Marietta's Francisco Liriano, followed by Chris Carpenter in the season finale.

Morneau is all but guaranteed to lead the league in hits, holding a 202-198 advantage over Votto, who's among the top 10 in walks. If he can replicate the 2-for-4 performance from his last game in the final two (going 4-for-8), Morneau would finish at .337704, and would have to hope for Votto to go 1-for-3, as he did in yesterday's game, which would leave Votto at .337288.

If Votto can secure just two hits -- almost regardless of how many at-bats it would take him -- Morneau would need a serious two-game tear to catch him. Votto finishes at .337837 if he goees 2-for-5, and .337268 if he goes 2-for-6.

If Morneau can manage 3 hits in his final two games, he needs to do it within the span of 5 at-bats, to remain above .337 (.337726 if he goes 3-for-5).

Opening week in review

Not only was veteran Johan Santana of Arkansas the only starter to win both his starts in the opening week, his first win of the season, a 7-1 victory over Carolina, was the 100th of his career, becoming the 18th pitcher in league history to reach the milestone (and beating Mark Buehrle, who sites at 99 wins, and Roy Oswalt, who picked up No. 99 Monday night). He now sits in a tie for 16th all-time in wins, with Brad Radke and Javier Vazuez. And so, Santana, who won the Ben McDonald Award pitching for Philly in 2005 and 2007, is the first Mentos, The Freshmaker Pitcher of the Week for the 2011 season.

The only other two-win pitchers during the opening week were relievers: Hoboken's Tim Stauffer (2-0) and Daniel Bard of Sardine City (2-1). Philadelphia's Matt Thornton led the league in saves with three and Marietta's Francisco Liriano was tops in strikeouts with 18. Other notable pitchers were Philly's Roy Halladay, who tossed a complete game win, helping him match Carolina's Tim Hudson for the lead in innings pitched with 16 1/3. Amityville's David Aardsma tossed 7 1/3 hitless innings in four relief appearances and Carolina phenom Stephen Strasburg fanned 10 while earning the win in his first start.

We were inclined to give the Rebecca Black/Know Your Meme Batter of the Week to a veteran like Hideki Matsui, who's raking for Philly this year. The long-time Sugar Bear started the season with a 5-for-5, two home-run opening day performance and followed it up two days later with two more homers and five more RBIs. He led the league in RBIs (10), tied for the lead in runs (7) with four other players, and matched New Jersey's Joey Votto for the league lead in homers (4).

Still, Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey of Arkansas put up arguably a better week, considering it was his first one in DMBL. The rookie backstop, who was drafted as an ineligible prospect in the 12th round of the 2010 draft, led the league in multiple categories, including batting average (.571), slugging (1.034), hits (15), extra base hits (9), runs created (16.0), RC/27 (27.0) and total bases (30). He was second to fellow rookie Jason Heyward of Las Vegas in on-base percentage, and tied with Votto for second in RBIs.

In addition to Posey, teammate Justin Morneau and Carolina's Michael Young hit safety in all seven games they played last week. Other players with multiple-homer games last week included Marietta's Ichiro Suzuki and Justin Morneau of Arkansas, who like Matsui did it on Opening Day. Other notables during opening week were Vancouver rookie Austin Jackson, who along with Alexis Rios of Blue Ridge and Marietta's Brett Gardner led the league in steals (3). In addition to Young, Amityville's Delmon Young also racked up a dozen hits last week.

Despite picking up both player awards this week, it wasn't enough for Arkansas to reach the .500 in the opening week, finishing at 3-4. Arkansas wasn't alone though. While Las Vegas and Philly both raced out to 6-0 starts, only Carolina, Blue Ridge and Hoboken bettered the .500 mark. After one week, Bridgewater and New Jersey were bringing up the rear, at 1-5.