Jansen just 2nd pitcher to 1,000 appearances

Kenley Jansen was the first pitcher to notch a career milestone in 2026, making his first appearance in the season opener, which was the 1,000th of his career.

A Look Back At 2012 Pitching Leaders, Records

Two teams lost 100 games: Philly went 61-101 and Livingston was 47-115, which matched the fourth-worst record in league history (Norfolk Ewes, 1999). The Last Placers also had a league-worst run differential of -382. The previous record was -323 by the 2007 Las Vegas Rat Pack (although run differential stats aren't available before the 1997 season).

Livingston added to the inglorious record books with two individual league records: most losses in a season. Edinson Volquez and Carlos Zambrano trotted out just about every five days, making 32 and 33 starts, respectively, but each loss 22 games.

Volquez went 4-22 with an 8.11 ERA. He had 138 strikeouts in 144.7 IP but also was second in the league in walks, 98. Zambrano was 3-22 with a 7.47 ERA, tossing 168.7 IP, and was 6th in the league in walks, with 84, and only a few more strikeouts, 97. Volquez had the better run support, 3.8 runs per game, versus 3.2 for Zambrano.

Zambrano and Volquez can look to Newark's Kyle Lohse for inspiration. Lohse endured back-to-back 21 loss seasons for New Jersey (now Hopatcong) in 2009 and 2010, and followed it up with a stellar 1-17 mark for Newark in 2011 (that's 59 losses over three seasons...). Lohse finally rebounded this season for a career year in Newark: 14-8, 3.34 ERA, 1.22 WHIP in 202 IP -- all career highs.

At least five other times in league history, pitchers have lost 21 games. Like this year 1993 saw two pitchers lose 21 games, Chris Bosio and Rick Sutcliffe, but they played for separate teams (Bosio for Charleston, Sutcliffe for Waikiki). Oliver Perez also lost 21 games for Las Vegas in 2007.

ERA: 2.85, Justin Verlander, Hillsborough
WHIP: 0.91, Verlander
Strikeouts: 242, Corey Luebke, Hopatcong
Walks: 118, Francisco Liriano, Philly
Wins: 19, Verlander and R.A. Dickey, Marietta
Win %: .792, Dickey
Avg Run Support: 6.4, Brandon Beachy, Bridgewater
R/9: 8.4, Verlander
K/9: 10.9, Luebke and Beachy
Shutouts: 4, Roy Halladay, Philly/Hoboken
IP: 243 2/3, James Shields, Newark
CG:  9, Shields
QS: 23, Josh Tomlin and Matt Cain, Hopatcong; Shields, Verlander
QS %: .719, Tomlin
Saves: 43, Mariano Rivera, Marietta
Save %: .947, Daniel Bard, Sardine City
Holds: 20, Vinnie Pestano, Bridgewater
Home Runs: 41, Tommy Hanson, Las Vegas
Games: 111, David Pauley, Livingston

Rivera notches 400th save

Mariano Rivera continued to solidify his case for the DMBL Hall of Fame by recording his 400th save. He finished off a 3-0 win at home over the New Jersey Buddahs last week to preserve the victory for Francisco Liriano. He's all alone in first place on the all-time saves list, way ahead of his closest rival, Billy Wagner of Las Vegas, who entered the season sitting at 290 saves. No one else has even 200 saves. Rivera is the only DMBL pitcher to crack 1,000 appearances, entering this season with 1,047.
He's also closing in on 1,100 career strikeouts (he started the year with 1,091), inching closer to Trevor Hoffman, who tops all relievers with 1,119 K's.

Mr. 1,000

Just call him Mr. 1,000. Mariano Rivera of Marietta last week became the first pitcher in DMBL history to appear in 1,000 games. He worked a perfect two innings Thursday night to save Jason Marquis' 6-4 win over Las Vegas. Trevor Hoffman ranks second with 810 career appearances.

Rivera holds two other longevity records for relievers. His 10th save of the year Tuesday night was the 365th of his career, keeping him way ahead of the next closest pitcher (Billy Wagner, 290). He also has 85 career wins, the most among relievers, but with 1,029 strikeouts he still trails Hoffman (1,083) and Troy Percival (1,081) in that category.

Rivera notches another win

Mariano Rivera picked up another victory in Marietta's 11-8 win over Carolina yesterday - his 5th of the year. Down 7-5 in the 8th, Rivera came in to shut down the Mudcats, but promptly gave up a game-tying 2-run home run to A. J. Pierzynski, then gave up the go-ahead run later in the inning, but the Mighty Men stuck with him. The Cats sent in Brian Fuentes to nail down the win, but Fuentes got into trouble soon. Kevin Youkilis tied the game up on a single and then Fuentes fell apart, walking Jason Bay and surrendering a three-run homer to Derek Jeter. Chris Perez came in and struck out the final two batters, but the damage was done. Rivera retired the side in order to preserve his own victory. Things didn't work out too well for Fuente, who not only took the loss and saw his ERA balloon to 12.91, but was issued his walking papers after the game. Carolina picked up C.J. Wilson off the scrap heap to replace Fuentes. The loss was Carolina's 5th straight.

The hot team du jour seems to be Team Buddah, who has now won 7 of their last 10 and beat Hillsborough 9-7 yesterday despite allowing a 6-run rally in the 8th. Highly-touted rookie Rick Porcello allowed only one unearned run in 7 innings while striking out 8 and allowing only 4 hits. All the runs Buddah gave up were unearned, owing to two critical Rafael Furcal errors.

Meanwhile, a team going the other direction is Sardine City, who dropped their 5th straight. Blue Ridge scored 7 runs in the 6th and 7th innings to take an 8-4 win over the Straphangers. The Sardines outhit and outwalked the Bombers, but were unable to capitalize and left 11 men on base in the match.

Mat Latos made an impressive debut for Vancouver yesteday, allowing only 1 earned run in 7 innings and striking out 8, but the Iron Fist bullpen couldn't seal the deal. The score was tied 2-2 entering the 8th when Hoboken began the inning with their first 6 batters reaching base safely. The Cutters were up 6-2 before the first out was recorded. The Cutters would go on to score 4 more runs, capped by a 2-run Hanley Ramirez homer. Ramirez ended the game going 4-5 and Batter of the Week Russ Branyan was 3-5 with 2 RBIs.

After today's games, DMBL will take a hiatus until Monday the 19th.

Rivera, Branyan take top honors

This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week is Hoboken's Russ Branyan. Though Branyan is part of a platoon, he still got his atbats in this week, batting .409 with a 1.367 OPS. Branyan smacked 3 homers, scored 6 runs, and drove in 7 runs in 22 at bats. Branyan has never had a full-time gig in the DMBL and has never had a season in which he's batted over .200, but this year he's batting .340 with a 1.131 OPS, 5 homers, and 10 RBIs.

Other contenders for this week's honor: Albert Pujols (1.155 OPS, 5 homers, 8 R, 14 RBIs) and Jimmy Rollins (.471/.500/1.000, 5 RBI, 2 SB in 17 AB) of Philadelphia, Marietta's trifecta of Ichiro Suzuki (.417/.440/.750, 2 SB, 2 HR, 8 R), Derek Jeter (.448/.515/.552, 6 R), and Alberto Callaspo (.423/.484/.769), and Newark's Lyle Overbay (.381/.440/.571, 4 RBIs).

This was definitely the week of the reliever with several outstanding performances. But this week's Star Wars Uncut Pitcher of the Week has to go to Mariano Rivera of Marietta. We already know that Rivera has been having a quirky season, but this week he has racked up 3 saves and one win in 4 appearances. He gave up zero runs, struck out 5 in 4 innings and has an 0.75 WHIP.

Other top relievers: New Jersey's David Robetson (1-0, 5 IP, 10 K, 1.00 WHIP, 6 G), Bridgewater's Andrew Bailey (3 saves in 3 G), Amityville's Angel Guzman (5 K, 0.50 WHIP in 6 IP), and Philly's Trevor Hoffman (1-0, save, 5 K, 4.2 IP, 0.86 WHIP).

The top starters (doing their best to discredit the "DMBL hates lefties" myth): Newark's Ted Lilly (1-0, 2.25, 1.00 WHIP) and Koji Uehara (2-0, 2.92, 1.05 WHIP), Philly's C.C. Sabathia (1-0, 1.69, 14 K, 16 IP, 0.88 WHIP) and Blue Ridge's J.A. Happ (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.08 WHIP).

Rivera continues odd season

The Iron Fist came back from a 4-1 deficit to tie their game up against Marietta yesterday, but Mike DeRosa's solo walkoff home run in the 9th ended their hopes. The winning pitcher of record was Marietta closer Mariano Rivera who is having a bit of an odd season. The future Hall of Famer has struggled to convert saves - Rivera only has one save on the season versus 2 blown saves, but...Rivera is now tied for the league lead with 4 wins. The record for wins by a reliever is 16 by Vancouver's Jeff Zimmerman, set in 2000.

Watch out for the Endzone Animals - Philly's now won 5 straight after defeating Amityville 8-5 yesterday. The Animals are now in 2nd place in the Morris Division at 11-8. The Animals jumped all over starter Randy Wolf yesterady, bouncing the him in the 4th inning after giving up 6 runs. Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter each had a homer and 3 RBIs in the game.

The Mudcats and Rat Pack slugged it out, with the Cats coming out 9-7 victors. Dustin Pedroia was 4-5 with 2 RBIs and Grady Sizemore and A.J. Pierzynski each had 3 hits to lead the Carolina offense. Meanwhile, Yunel Escobar was 4-5 for the Rats. Vegas starter Rich Harden was roughed up for 6 runs in just 1 inning of work.

Gavin Floyd outdueled Javier Vazquez to give the Bombers a 3-2 win over Newark yesterday. Floyd pitched 8 innings and gave up only 1 run on 9 hits and 4 walks. Vazquez only gave up one earned run in his 7.1 innings of work, but it was the unearned run that did him in - even though he wasn't in the game when it scored. Brian Wilson relieved Vazquez in the 8th with Blue Ridge leading 1-0 and a runner on 1st. Facing his first batter, Pablo Sandoval, Wilson took an easy ground ball and threw the ball over the head of first baseman Nick Johnson. Both runners would score later in the inning, securing the win for the Bombers.

Rivera wades into uncharted territory

Mariano Rivera has locked up his spot in the DMBL Hall of Fame if he hung up the spikes today. But that would leave him short of several significant milestones that are within reach during the 2010 season.

First and foremost, the stalwart of the Marietta bullpen for more than a decade begins 2010 just 21 appearances from becoming the first pitcher to appear in 1,000 games. Only eight pitchers have ever reached even 500 games. "Mariano The Magnificent" has been the all-time leader in appearances for several years, finishing 2009 with 979 games. He's also tops in saves with 355; the next closest is Billy Wagner with 290.

Rivera also is just five strikeouts away from 1,000. Though that mark has been reached before by a reliever (Trevor Hoffman, 1,052), only 31 pitchers in DMBL history have done it.

Wang stymies Hitmen, aims for McDonald

Chien-Ming Wang won his 21st game as Newark rolled to their 11th straight victory. Wang shut out the Hired Hitmen on 3 hits and lowered his ERA to 3.00, good enough for second in the league. Meanwhile, Hillsborough lost their 5th straight and stand only one game up on Carolina atop the Morris Division.

Jason Bartlett drove in 5 runs in leading Hoboken to a 9-2 win over D.C. Bartlett was 2-4 with 3 runs in the game. Miguel Cabrera who also was 2-4, added another 3 RBIs. Jeremy Guthrie went the distance, allowing 7 hits and improving to 11-12 on the season.

Rookie Chris Volstad held the Iron Fist in check and preserved a 4-2 victory for Amityville. Volstad improved to 15-10 and lowered his ERA to 3.92.

Las Vegas pounded Philadelphia 12-2, preventing the Animals from gaining any ground on Vancouver. Vlad Guerrero was 2-4 with a homer and 5 RBIs and Alex Gordon had a 3-run homer to lead the Vegas offense.

Marietta edged Blue Ridge yesterday 3-2 in 12 innings when Adrian Gonzalez came through with a walkoff single that scored Milton Bradley. However, Marietta lost future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera for the rest of the regular season when he was mauled by vampires in the team's locker room. Rivera, now wearing a necklace of garlic cloves, plans to make it back by the playoffs.

Sugar Bears roll to 8th in row

With a playoff spot already locked up, the Newark Sugar Bears have their sights set on the Hanover Division. Yesterday's 6-0 blanking of D.C. was their 8th win in a row, giving them a magic number of 7 to clinch the division. James Shields held the O-Bombers to only 5 hits and 3 walks in gaining his 12th win of the year. Manny Ramirez (3) and Jack Cust (2) drove in 5 of the 6 runs for Newark.

Meanwhile, nothing much changed in the Morris Division. Carolina dropped an 8-7 decision to Vancouver and Hillsborough was shellacked by Arkansas 14-4, so the Cats remain 2 games out of first. Philly edged Blue Ridge 6-4 to remain 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. The Falcons' win evens their record up at 72-72, but they remain 5 games out of 6th.

John Danks improved to 17-6 on the season and Mariano Rivera saved his 29th in a 3-2 Mighty Men victory over Hoboken. Danks held the Cutters to 4 hits in 8.2 innings, allowing only 2 runs (1 earned) and striking out 6. Aaron Cook, who went the distance, pitched well as well, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs in his 8 innings of work, but ended up with a hard loss.

The Maine Man in Carolina

Marietta won a 6-4 decision against Team Buddah and now holds a full one-game lead in the Hanover Division. Ryan Dempster held the Buddahs to 4 hits over 8 innings to collect his 4th win and Mariano Rivera clinched the 9th for his 11th save. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in defeat.

John Maine has now pitched 5 quality starts in a row and has won his last 4 decision to improve to 4-2 on the season with a respectable 4.33 ERA (consider it was 12.27 before his streak). Yesterday Maine pitched 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Dustin Pedroia was 3-3 in the contest for the Mudcats.

Omar Infante was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in Vancouver's 6-2 victory over D.C. Zack Greinke went the distance, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits.

Things are tightening up in the Morris Division. First-place Hillsborough was off yesterday, but Carolina's win put them just 1/2 game out of first. Vancouver moved to 2 1/2 games out with their victory and idle Philadelphia remained 4 games out in 4th place.

Ramirezes passed over, but Prince rises again

It was a good week to be a Ramirez this week. Newark's Manny Ramirez had an outstanding week for the Sugar Bears, smacking 5 dingers to go with his .429 average and 13 RBIs and 9 runs. He might just have something to do with that 8-game winning streak the Sugar Bears have. Hoboken's Hanley Ramirez may have had an even better week - Hanley hit .520 with a .625 OBP and .960 slugging. He also scored 7 runs and hit 3 doubles and 2 homers. Those were both impressive lines, but we had to give this week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week honors to Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder. Fielder also hit 5 home runs this week, but batted .469 with a .541 on base percentage. He drove in 11 runs and scored 7. The other top candidate for hitting this week was Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.440/.548/.920, 4 HRs, 12 RBIs).

Other top batters this week: Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez (.435/.552/.826 10 R), Vancouver's Ryan Spilborghs (.480/.533/.560), Hillsborough's Carlos Delgado (.355/.364/.774, 4 HR, 8 RBI), Las Vegas' Joe Mauer (.476/.571/.714) and Arkansas' Ryan Ludwick (.417/.440/1.000 4 HR, 7 RBI).

This week's Omodern Pitcher of the Week prize goes to Tim Hudson of Carolina. Besides Monday's historic victory, Hudson had a very good week, going 1-0 witha 1.15 ERA and .083 WHIP. He ptiched in 15.2 innings and struckout 10. Hudson's main competition came from Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez, who's enjoying a great season. Felix went 2-0 to raise his season record to 5-1, with a 1.29 ERA and 0.93 WHIP this week. He also struck out 14 batters in 14 innings.

Old Man Rivera keeps moving along - the future Hall of Famer saved three games and picked up a victory by pitching 5.1 perfect innings and striking out 7 for the Mighty Men.

Other top pitchers: Newark's Chien-Ming Wang (2-0, 2.25, 0.56 WHIP) and Gil Meche (2-0, 2.84, 15 K), Philadelphia's Brandon Webb (2-0, 1.23), Marietta's Mike Mussina (2-0, 2.87, 1.09 WHIP), and Hoboken's Craig Breslow (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.19 WHIP in 5.1 IP).

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!

Sardine City suffers big losses

Hoboken scored five runs in the first inning against Arkansas and then kicked it into auto-pilot the rest of the way. Luckily for them, it was enough, escaping with a 5-4 win. Hanley Ramirez was 4-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Miguel Cabrera was 0-5 and ended his league-high 16-game hitting streak. He may not be on top for long as David Wright extended his 15-game streak with a 1-4 night.

Sardine City took a tough 16-3 loss, but they ended up losing even more. Rookie hurler Phil Hughes was lost for a month with an undisclosed injury. Scott Baker seems to be the likely replacement, but the Straphangers haven't issued a public statement yet.

Mariano Rivera made his 800th appearance for the Mighty Men. Unfortunately for them, he ended up taking the loss - a 5-4 squeaker to Hillsborough. The Hitmen have now won six straight and have moved up to second in the Morris Division and fourth overall (though in a weird scheduling quirk, they actually are percentage points behind 5th place Tampa Bay).

The Buddahs took out their offensive frustrations on Blue Ridge yesterday. Tied up at five and going into extra innings, the Buddahs scored six runs in the top of the frame and won 11-6. It was the second highest-scoring game of the season for New Jersey. Kazuo Matsui, entering the game for starter Ty Wigginton, was 3-3 with 3 RBIs, and Shane Victorino was 3-6 with 2 doubles.

Marietta wins marathon game

Marietta won for the third straight time at Philadelphia, taking a 3-2 series lead as the two teams head back to Georgia. It wasn't easy though. Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano battled to a draw this time, each surrendering three runs in 6 2/3 innings (though one of Lirano's runs was unearned). J.J. Putz and Trevor Hoffman were both impressive in relief and held their opponents to zero runs between their 7.1 combined innings. Then the two teams sent for their top relievers - Mariano Rivera for Marietta and Francisco Rodriguez for Philly. Rivera had only allowed one batter to reach base, since relieving Hoffman in the 10th. Rodriguez entered the game in the 12th and retired the side in order. Then in the 13th inning, the second batter of the inning, Wes Helms, hit a Rodriguez fastball into the stands to give the Mighty Men the lead. Rivera retired the side in order and the Mighty Men took the 3-2 series lead.

Philly now hopes that the trend continues, at least for one more game, of away teams winning every game in the series. It'd be hard to imagine that Marietta gets swept at home, but then again, it would have been hard to think that the Animals would have lost three straight home games too.

Mudcats mull over Zito fate

Barry Zito pitched six shutout innings as Carolina shut out the Buddahs 4-0. Zito, a longtime star for the Mudcats and former Listach award winner, has struggled for the Cats this year with a 7-15 record and 6.41 ERA. Zito's struggles have so alarmed the Mudcat ownership that they are thinking of not protecting the left hander next season, or at the least having him spend the season in AAA to regain his form. Zito has rebounded in the past after a horrible 2005 season in which he went 4-13 with a 7.10 ERA, but Mudcats pitching coach Sid Fernandez thinks a year off might do him some good.

Hoboken has gotten hot just when they needed to, winning three straight including yesterday's 7-4 win over D.C. John Garland pitched eight strong innings to improve to 11-12 and Chris Duncan had 3 RBIs and a homer to lead the Cutters offense. The Cutters have now moved into a 7th place tie with the idle Honolulu Sharks, just 1/2 a game out of the final playoff spot.

Philly's six-run eighth inning gave the Endzone Animals all they needed to defeat the Mighty Men 6-2. Francisco Liriano pitched a brilliant seven innings, limiting the Animals to only three hits and no runs but gave way to relievers Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. The usually reliable Rivera ended up giving up six straight hits and a walk before retiring the final out. Marietta has now lost three straight, but has not lost any ground, since D.C. has also lost three straight.

Carolina sweeps, Newark avoids sweep

Carolina completed the sweep of first-place Philadelphia thanks to an excellent performance from Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano threw seven innings of three-hit ball and allowed only one run while striking out eleven and walking three. Carolina gave Johan Santana only his second loss of the season.

Newark, on the other hand, avoided the sweep by handing the Cutters a 10-3 loss. Gregg Zaun hit a 3-run homer rookie Tony Saunders picked up his second win on the season. Saunders is perhaps the latest in a line of WTF Sugar Bear starters - scrap heap pickups that end up winning double digits for the Sugar Bears. Will Saunders join the John Thomsons and Mike Graces and become another Newark legend? With that powerhouse offense behind him, why not?

In case you missed the late transactions last night, Arkansas signed a couple of DMBL veterans to help fill out platoon roles. Craig Biggio, who played briefly for Hoboken this year, and Bernie Williams, recently released by Sardine City, were brought on board. "We needed some veteran leadership on this team." said owner Stump Matiash. "We're tired of the constant keg parties and video game tournaments after games." Arkansas is currently two games back of sixth-place Vancouver for the final wild card spot.

South Boston broke Marietta's seven game winning streak with a 14-8 romp. Vlad Guerrero posted a monster 5-6 night with 6 RBIs and a homer. The Gang had a total of 20 hits. Marietta actually had an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning and the usually reliable Mariano Rivera on the mound, but Rivera gave up five straight singles to lead off the inning and then a homer to Prince Fielder. The Gang scored a total of nine runs in the inning when all was said and done.