End of the Road for Schilling

Curt Schilling announced his retirement yesterday. The longtime Falcon and Iron Fist pitcher has assembled quite the career and is a lock for induction into the DMBL Hall of Fame. Let's take a look...

Schilling was signed as a free agent relief pitcher back in 1992 by Vancouver. The Iron Fist were struggling and looking to rebuild for 1993 and took a chance on some young hurlers like Schilling, Greg Maddux, and Greg Swindell. In Schilling's first DMBL season, he compiled a 15-9 record with a 2.95 ERA and 14 complete games. That season, Vancouver won their first of two consecutive championships. Being a relief pitcher the year before, Schilling wasn't ready for such a workload and ended up missing the entire 1994 season. Of course the strike took out the 1995 season so Schilling was well rested for the 1996 season. Schilling came back as new pitcher. After striking out a mere 143 in 226 innings in 1993, Schilling struck out 228 in 229 innings in 1996. In 1997, Schilling won 20 games for the first time, even though his ERA rose to 4.41 and helping Vancouver reach the World Series again. Unfortunately for him, they ended up losing this one. This would be Schilling's last full season in Vancouver because in June of 1998, he was part of a blockbuster deal that sent Schilling, along with Kenny Lofton and Dan Wilson to Arkansas in exchange for Javy Lopez, Ryan Klesko, and a bonanza of draft picks. Schilling led the Falcons to a championship over his former team in 1998, then again in 1999. Schilling probably enjoyed his best season in 2003, when he went 19-6 with a 2.90 ERA and 263 strikeouts, leading the Falcons to another championship, this time over the hated rival Newark Sugar Bears. For his efforts, Schilling won his first and only Ben McDonald Pitcher of the Year Award. In all, Schilling contributed to 4 World Series winners and was on the runner up five times. Schilling contributed a couple more solid seasons before missing the 2006 season. Schilling came back and pitched a partial 2007, appearing in only 16 games and finally pitched his last full season last season, going 13-10, with a 4.46 ERA for the Falcons.

Overall, Schilling is in very good company. He finishes his career with a 205-104 record. The wins are good enough for 5th all-time, just behind teammates Pedro Martinez (207) and Roger Clemens (211). His .671 winning percentage is good for second best. His 2553 career strikeouts are 4th all-time, once again behind Clemens and Martinez and the all-time leader Randy Johnson (3249). He has 402 career starts, plus 3 relief appearances, good enough for 5th all time. His 87 complete games are second only to Greg Maddux (100). He's 4th with 18 shutouts. His career ERA (3.97) and WHIP (1.26) are also in the top 10 all-time.

Thanks for the memories, Curt. We'll revisit you in 5 years!

The Tradewinds are blowing

Now that the Guerrero deal has broken the proverbial cherry, it seems like a flood of trades are being unleashed. With the deadline less than a week away, teams are scrambling.

Today D.C. agreed to trade away Carl Crawford, Ray Durham, Francisco Rodriguez, and a 1st round pick to Blue Ridge for Dan Uggla and their first two draft picks next year. Blue Ridge, who has been relatively quiet all year, has awoken with a vengeance. Unfortunately for both teams, the Damian Miller rule prevents the trade from being consummated until Saturday at the earliest. This is because D.C. is trading away two players who were acquired less than a week ago. Francisco Rodriguez was acquired by D.C. from Las Vegas Saturday and Ray Durham, signed on Friday by D.C. are the two players in question. The league is still waiting on a response to see if the deal will fall apart or continue as planned.

A second, smaller deal saw Arkansas trade Adam Dunn to the Endzone Animals in exchange for reliever Jonathan Sanchez and a 3rd round pick.

Curt Schilling pitched a solid game to win his 9th of the season and 201st of the year. Yes, we forgot to point out that Schilling had picked up his milestone 200th win in his previous start but we'll try to stay on the ball going forward. Schilling also moved ahead of Pedro Martinez for fifth overall in games started (388). Schilling's teammate Roger Clemens will also tie up Pedro for 3rd on the wins list with his next victory.

Pack win ends slide

Well the Rat Pack finally ended their losing streak, winning in true Vegas fashion with a 7-6 trimming of the Mudcats. It was the Rats 10th win by a one-run margin (they are now a league best 10-1). The Pack was actually losing 5-4 going into the ninth, but Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer to give the Rats the lead. The Cats narrowed the lead with a Grady Sizemore solo shot, but that was all.

Arkansas' Curt Schilling pitched a 3-hit shutout of Team Buddah yesterday to improve to 4-3 on the season. Schilling's shutout snapped a tie with Brad Radke (17) for all-time shutouts and is now alone in the fourth overall spot.

The Sardine City Straphangers upset the Endzone Animals yesterday 9-7. Mike Jacobs, subbing in for the injured Kevin Youkilis, was 4-6 and Ryan Braun had 3 RBIs to lead the Sardine offense. B.J. Upton also had 2 doubles and 2 stolen bases, while hitting 3-5 on the night.

Vancouver extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-2 win over Marietta. Jake Peavy (8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3K) became the league's first 7-game winner.

Jason Isringhausen made his 500th DMBL appearance yesterday, saving a 3-2 Cutter win over Hillsborough. The save puts Izzy one behind Trevor Hoffman for fourth all-time.

Sharks take a bite out of Vancouver's playoff hopes

Hoboken finally lost, 8-0 to South Boston. Dontrelle Willis hurled 7 shutout innings, giving up only four hits and two walks. Vladimir Guerrero hit two homers and drove in four runs to give the Gang enough offense for the victory. The Cutters fell back into a fifth place tie.

Honolulu completed their sweep of Vancouver with a 12-7 smackdown yesterday. Ben Sheets was crushed for seven runs in two innings and Adrian Gonzalez went 3-5 with a homer and three RBIs. The Sharks moved into fourth place, while Vancouver's playoff hopes seem to be disappearing by the day.

Hillsborough defeated Las Vegas 4-1 to remain the top outsider, only 1/2 game back of sixth. D.C. was idle and remains tied with Hoboken for fifth. Justin Verlander pitched a complete game 3-hitter, surrendering only one unearned run to improve to 14-8 on the season.

Arkansas and Carolina remain somewhat alive in the playoff chase, both shutting out their opponents yesterday. Arkansas blanked Marietta for the second straight day, 4-0 behind Curt Schilling. Schilling allowed 10 hits but struck out 10 Mighty Men. Carolina meanwhile had an unlikely shutout from Jason Jennings, who had been getting smacked around this year. You may remember him giving up 20 runs to the Sugar Bears back on April 2nd and 13 runs on July 2nd to D.C. (maybe he shouldn't pitch on the second day of the month?). Jennings held the Sardines to four hits over nine innings.

Marietta, by the way, has now lost three in a row and is not sitting as comfortably at the top wild card seat. Luckily for them there is a lot of shuffling going on in the lower ranks. With Vancouver, Hillsborough, and Newark coming up next on their schedule, the Mighty Men will have to prove that they belong.

Billingsley stabilizes Fist staff

Chad Billingsley earned his first DMBL win, holding D.C. to only three hits and zero runs over 7.1 innings. Billingsley, who was going to spend the year at AA Spokane, was called up recently because the rest of the staff was falling apart at the seams. Though shaky at times, Billingsley still has only a 2.70 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 4 starts. Picking up his 28th save was Billy Wagner, now up by two for the league lead over Francisco Rodriguez. David Ortiz hit two homers in the game.

Strange stat line from Hoboken, as the Cutters have now won two straight against the powerhouse Sugar Bears. The Cutters won 12-8, holding the Sugar Bears to only three hits. That's right, the Sugar Bears scored eight runs on only three hits! It certainly didn't help that the Cutters walked 11 Sugar Bears batters and hit two more, but still... One of the hits was a Michael Barrett grand slam in the first inning after three of the first four batters walked.

The Buddahs pulled off a ninth-inning miracle comeback over the Straphangers. The Sardines held a 7-5 lead in the ninth but the pressure was too much for Akinori Otsuka. After getting the first two batters out in the inning, Otsuka could not get the final out. The unlikeliest of heroes, Dioner Navarro, who is batting .216 on the season, hit a two-run single to tie the game, then Andy Phillips, he of the .118 average, got the game winning hit - only his second hit of the season.

Curt Schilling was roughed up again yesterday by Hillsborough. Ryan Howard hit two homers and drove in seven runs in a 9-0 rout of the Falcons. Jeremy Bonderman limited Arkansas to only four hits over 7.1 innings while striking out 12.

Don't forget there are no games tomorrow. Games will resume Sunday with a doubleheader late in the day. Trade Talk will be delayed until either Sunday or Monday.

Hitmen starters get it done

Check out the league message board for some rules discussions. One suggestion deals with outfield elligibility and another is about stadiums. Also don't forget the trade deadline is this Sunday, July 15th.

Hillsborough is up to 10 wins in a row now with a 4-2 win over New Jersey. The Hitmen have gotten some great results from their starters lately and yesterday was no exception. Jeremy Bonderman pitched eight innings and allowed only two runs and five hits, while striking out seven and walking one. Bonderman improved to 10-9. The Hitmen have eight quality starts in their last nine, and the one that didn't quite qualify was a solid five inning performance from C.C. Sabathia that ended early due to rain.
Billy Wagner notched his 25th save of the season and 250th of his career in Vancouver's 5-2 win over Hoboken yesterday. Wagner now leads the league by one save over Philly's Francisco Rodriguez who is still the front-runner for the Eck.

Arkansas' Curt Schilling took his first lost of the season yesterday. Schilling, who started out in AAA to begin the season on a rehab assignment, won his first four decisions since taking Ervin Santana's spot in the rotation a month ago, but he hit a brick wall yesterday. Schilling wasn't that bad (7 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 7 K) considering the opponent but the Arkansas offense couldn't find enough offense to keep up with the Sugar Bears.