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.

Busy day of deals

Teams are wasting no time in making deals.

Las Vegas and Philadelphia agreed to a deal in which the Endzone Animals get veteran reliever Trevor Hoffman and Vegas gets their 4th round pick back. Hoffman had a very rough year last year for the Pack, going 1-8 with a 9.21 ERA and 7 blown saves, but the Animals believe he can bounce back. Philadelphia wasn't done dealing though and dealt away pitchers Brandon Webb and Scott Kazmir along with outfielder Michael Cuddyer to Vancouver for catcher Victor Martinez. Martinez mostly played a platoon role for Vancouver this year, but Philly intends to give him a fulltime gig. "It was tough to leave the Pacific Northwest" said Martinez in a tearful press conference, "but it'll be good to get another chance at another ring." Martinez had been with Vancouver since 2004. Webb was acquired by Philly in 2006 from Westwood and has been a fixture in the rotation since, but suffered an injury at the end of the season and will miss the entire 2010 campaign. Kazmir was another acquistion, nabbed from Hoboken last offseason. Vancouver hopes to work with Kazmir to find his groove again.

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Newark, Amityville capitalize on lackluster bullpens

Newark won its 5th straight and Hoboken lost their 5th straight as the Sugar Bears defeated the Cutters 8-5. The Cutters actually held a 5-3 lead entering the 9th inning, but their bullpen fell apart. Ramon Vazquez singled in a run after reliever Chad Bradford had put two of the first three batters on base, followed by four straight run-scoring singles, giving the Sugar Bears an 8-5 lead. It could have been worse for the Cutters, as Manny Ramirez was retired with the bases loaded for the final out. Bobby Abreu was 3-5 with 3 RBIs and Vazquez finished 3-4.

Speaking of comebacks, Amityville mounted a nice little come-from-behind win against the Rat Pack, when Trevor Hoffman failed to hold on to a 4-2 lead. Hoffman entered in the 8th with runners on first and second and promptly gave up a three-run shot to Eric Hinske. Hoffman fell to 1-7 on the season and now sports a spiffy 9.56 ERA.

Hillsborough scored 7 runs in the 2nd inning to propel the team to a 13-3 blasting the suddenly ice cold Mighty Men. Kelly Shoppach was 3-5 with 4 RBIs, Mike Lowell was 2-3 with 3 RBIs, and Brad Hawpe was 3-5 with 2 RBIs to lead the Hitmen offense. Mighty Men starter Ryan Dempster was blasted for 7 runs in 1.1 innings as the Mighty Men dropped their 4th straight.

Justin Morneau homered in the 9th to send the D.C.-Arkansas game to extra innings. But it was all for naught, when Hideki Matsui gave D.C. the lead back for good in the 13th. But that wasn't the longest game of the evening. Vancouver and Blue Ridge went 16 innings before Chris Ianetta broke the tie in the bottom of the inning to give the Bombers a 6-5 victory.