End Of The Line: Alex Rodriguez

End Of The Line is an occasional offseason series that will take a closer look at the career of DMBL players leaving the league after the 2016 season.

Tucson blasts its way into the final

Blasting five solo home runs, including two 8th-inning shot that proved to be the difference, top-seeded Tucson defeated 5th-seeded Allentown, 5-4, in the clinching Game 5 of the semifinal series. It was the third one-run game in the Best-of-Seven series.

Dunn finishes career on walk-off HR

Adam Dunn finished a productive if not storied DMBL career in stunning fashion, hitting a walk-off home run off Tom Koehler in the bottom of the ninth to give Hopatcong a 5-4 win over Philly in the 2015 regular season finale. It's one of the more memorable finishes to a career since Mike Mussina tossed a complete game in his final start to push Marietta past Newark in Game 7 of the 2009 DMBL World Series.

Dunn, who last year announced this would be his final season, was signed twice by the Floating Fish this season, both times to fill in at first base for an injured Joey Votto. In 40 games, he batted just .140/.225/.322, but smacked 6 home runs.

It wasn't a great final season but it was enough to get Dunn past Todd Helton on the all-time home run list. He finished just one home run short of becoming the 27th player to reach 300 for his career. Dunn also finishes with 1,615 career strikeouts, 11th-most in DMBL history, trailing Bobby Abreu (1,642) and just ahead of Barry Bonds (1,607).

It's as good a time as any for a career retrospective of The Big Donkey, who was dealt five times and played for nine teams during his 13 seasons.

The giant, left-handed slugger was drafted by the now-defunct Phoenix Dragons as an ineligible prospect in the 4th round of the 2002 draft. After a middling 2003 season for Phoenix, Dunn was let go but picked up by Hillsborough in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft.

It wasn't until 2005 when he really made his mark, knocking 55 home runs and 150 RBIs and following up with 46 dingers and 127 RBIs in 2006 -- the two highest marks of his career. He also played in 162 and 163 games, respectively, those two seasons. Surprisingly, Dunn would never reach 100 RBIs again but he did keep on slugging.

Hillsborough sent him to Arkansas in a blockbuster deal during the 2008 offseason. The Hit Men sent Dunn with Alex Rodriguez, Jeremy Bonderman, Ian Snell and Jonathan Broxton to Arkansas for Dan Haren, Nick Markakis, and four draft picks: a 7th in 2008, 4th and 7th in 2009, and a 5th in 2010.

Dunn never completed the 2008 season in Arkansas, slugging .529 in 92 games but batting just .220. The Golden Falcons shipped him to Philly at the deadline for Jonathan Sanchez and a 2010 3rd rounder. He didn't end up spending much time in Philly either. That offseason, the End Zone Animals traded Dunn to Hoboken, along with a 9th rounder in 2009 and a 6th in 2011, in exchange for Scott Kazmir.

Dunn enjoyed two consistent seasons in Hoboken, with 37 and 35 homers and 79 and 80 RBIs, respectively, but again ended up going elsewhere. The Cutters sent him and Hillsborough's 5th round pick in 2011 to Amityville for Matt Cain and a 2012 6th rounder.

Only months later, there would be one more trade in the cards for Dunn before spending his final seasons bouncing around as free agent/draftee. Blue Ridge acquired him from Amityville with a 12th rounder in 2012 for Cole Hamels and a 2012 4th rounder.

In all, Dunn was traded five times in deals that totaled 10 players and 11 draft picks (6 coming back, 5 going with him).

Jimenez, Motte Combine For League's 10th No-Hitter

They'll be debating this one in Sardine City for years to come. The first no-hitter in franchise history was a combined effort with starter Ubaldo Jimenez and reliever Jason Motte splitting the duties as they shut down Hillsborough 8-0 on the road Tuesday night at Front Stadium by the River.

It's the 10th no-hitter (4th combined) in league history and the first since Brett Myers of Las Vegas no-hit New Jersey in June 2011. It's the first combined no-hitter since 2004 when Arkansas shut down Westwood behind Curt Schilling, Byung-Hyun Kim, Brad Lidge and Octavio Dotel. Hillsborough is the first team to be no-hit twice in their history, first victimized in 2003 by Phoenix's John Lackey.

Jimenez struck out four in five innings of work, tossing 55 pitches (40 for strikes), but still was lifted by Straphangers skipper Joe Torre after a 46-minute rain delay. Torre turned to Motte, who went on to throw four scoreless innings striking out two but walking three and throwing 38 of his 55 pitches for strikes. He earned his first save of the year as Jimenez got the win, improving to 10-11.

The only scoring for much of the contest came on rookie Eric Hosmer's leadoff home run in the 2nd inning. Sardine City third basemen Evan Longoria walked to start the 6th inning and that's when the rains came. When play resumed, Hillsborough manager Mike Greenwell didn't come back with ace Justin Verlander. Instead, he opted for Jeff Samardzija, who would get out of the inning unscathed, despite a wild pitch and another walk.

The Straphangers put up a four-spot in the 8th, including a three-run homer by Starlin Castro, and another three runs in the 9th behind run-scoring singles from Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis off Jonny Venters.

Verlander suffered the loss, dropping to 14-6, despite allowing just one run and four hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked one and threw 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. Verlander nearly threw his own perfect game earlier this year against Hopatcong, settling for a 2-0 one-hitter.