Preview: Marietta vs. Philadelphia

So now we have a few days off until the next series starts on Friday. Marietta will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Endzone Animals. Do they stand a chance?

The Endzone Animals actually won the season series 7-5, winning 4 of 6 at home. Most of the series was fairly close, however. In fact, Marietta actually outscored Philly in the series 57-55. Let's see how they stack up, position by position:

Catcher: Jorge Posada, Marietta vs. A.J. Pierzynski, Philadelphia
Philly went out and acquired Pierzynski from New Jersey before the trading deadline to help give David Ross a little breathing room. Ross has shown a lot of power this year with a low average and Pierzynski has been his exact opposite. Marietta's Posada, a perennial All-Star candidate, is having another solid year all around though. Advantage: Marietta

First Base: Todd Helton, Marietta vs. Albert Pujols, Philadelphia
While Helton has dropped off a bit, he has still posted some solid number, but he is nowhere in the same universe that Albert Pujols occupies. Pujols, already a superstar, is a strong Mitchell Award candidate this year, hitting 57 homers and driving in 153 runs with a 1.029 OPS. Advantage: Philly

Second Base: Ray Durham, Marietta vs. Todd Walker, Philadelphia
Philly's tried a bunch of players at second, including Jose Lopez and Jeff Cirillo before finally settling on Todd Walker late in the season. None of the three combined though can touch Marietta's Ray Durham, who has had a career season. Durham hit 39 homers and drove in 112 runs while hitting .303. Advantage: Marietta

Shortstop: Derek Jeter vs. Jimmy Rollins
It seems like half of Philly's lineup was acquired midway through the season. Rollins is a slight improvement over his precursor David Eckstein. Jeter is a consistent veteran who has held the shortstop position since 1997. Advantage: Marietta

Third Base: Wes Helms vs. Scott Rolen
Rolen has always been a Philly favorite, though he seems to have lost a little bit in recent years. Journeyman Wes Helms has put up a career year in Marietta, tying for second in the league in extra base hits and amassing 217 hits. Helms has been the quiet offensive leader of the Mighty Men. Advantage: Marietta

Left Field: Matt Diaz vs. J.D. Drew
You may remember Diaz from his 23-game hit streak earlier in the season, but other than his average, Diaz's numbers are pretty mediocre. J.D. Drew, another player Philly acquired, has been better with Philadelphia, but has still had a disappointing season overall. Advantage: none.

Center Field: Brian Giles vs. Vernon Wells
Giles used to be a very productive player but now is a shadow of his former self. Vernon Wells has become a very solid producer in the Philly lineup, driving in 100+ RBIs for the first time in his career. Advantage: Philadelphia

Right Field: Wily Mo Pena vs. Reed Johnson
Johnson started out in left field and was shifted over to right with the acquisition of J.D. Drew. He's had a solid, if unspectacular season. Meanwhile, Wily Mo Pena, who had a great series against D.C. has been a pleasant surprise for Marietta, hitting 31 homers and leading the team with 126 RBIs. Advantage: Marietta

DH: Jim Thome vs. Adam LaRoche
LaRoche has had a very good season for the Endzone Animals, but Jim Thome has found new life in Marietta. Thome smacked 39 homers and 115 RBIs with a 1.062 OPS and has the playoff experience to lead this team deep in the playoffs. Advantage: Marietta

Bench: Marietta has few options on the bench, while Philadelphia's bench has many solid hitters, including Magglio Ordonez, Michael Cuddyer, and the backup second basemen. Advantage: Philadelphia

Starting pitching:
Marietta seems to hold an edge in the hitting, but this is Philly's strong suit. The Animals boast one of the top two pitchers in the league, Johan Santana. Santana was second in the league with a 3.45 ERA and the only 20-game winner. Marietta counters with the other top-two pitcher in the league, young Francisco Liriano. Liriano led the league in ERA with a 2.35 mark and was 17-2. Fans are drooling over a possible Liriano-Santana opening game. Philadelphia also has Erik Bedard and Brandon Webb following up Santana and Marietta has Mike Mussina and A.J. Burnett. While it's a very slight edge, the advantage goes to Philadelphia.

Relief pitching: Marietta's pen features two of the best relievers in DMBL history - Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Marietta also solidified their pen by acquiring B.J. Ryan from Sardine City. Hoffman has certainly showed his age this year, but Rivera is still solid and Ryan has been nearly untouchable since coming over from the Fish in a Can. Meanwhile, the Endzone Animals have a great one-two punch of their own. 2007 Eckersley Award winner Francisco Rodriguez has been lights out as the closer. He's been set up by J.J. Putz. Philly's pen is much deeper in the middle innings with solid arms like Scott Proctor, Francisco Cordero, and Jon Rauch. Advantage: Philadelphia

Overall this looks to be a very well-balanced series. Marietta has a better offense, but Philly has the best player on the field in Pujols. Philly has a slight edge in the pitching department, but the Liriano-Santana matchup could go either way. We're going to go with the experience and predict Marietta to win the series in seven games.

Honolulu advances

And so, just like the previous series, the higher seeded Sharks won three straight after losing the opener to the Cutters, to advance to the next round.

The Cutters took the early lead when leadoff hitter Hanley Ramirez hit a solo homer off starter Jeff Francis. The next batter, Josh Bard, hit a single and Sharks fans thought they were in for a long night. However, except for a Greg Norton walk in the second inning, Francis did not allow any other baserunners for the rest of the game. That's right, Francis retired 24 batters in a row in one of the most dominant starts in DMBL post-season history.

The Cutters sent out Scott Kazmir on three days rest and Kazmir pitched well, but ran out of gas after three innings. Kazmir gave way to Wes Littleton and that was the beginning of the end for Hoboken. Littleton started the inning off by surrendering four hits and a hit batsman before recording the first out. A wild pitch made the score 4-1. Boof Bonser came in to relieve Littleton in the next inning and surrendered four more runs in the next four innigns to make the score 8-1 in favor of the Sharks.

It's hard to pick an MVP for the Sharks series, as a lot of the offense was spread out, but we'll give it to Adrian Gonzalez. Sure Jermaine Dye's numbers appear gaudier, but most of his production came in the Game One loss to Hoboken, so how can we give it to him? Gonzalez is a worthy candidate though, hitting .556 in the four games (10-18) with a 1.190 OPS. Gonzalez had the game winning RBI in the second game as well.

The Sharks now face the daunting task of taking on the powerhouse Newark Sugar Bears. Honolulu was 4-9 against the Sugar Bears this season with all four wins coming in Newark. Honolulu has twice faced Newark in the playoffs, both in the second round. They are 4-8 lifetime against the Sugar Bears, losing a close 4-3 series in 2004 and then getting dominated 4-1 in 2005. It will be hard for the Sharks to pull off the upset and the lone bright spot is their success against the Sugar Bears in the Cereal Bowl.

Marietta advances, Honolulu takes the lead

After the underdogs took the first game of both series, the favorites have come back.

The Mighty Men finished off the Bushslappers yesterday 7-5. The Bushslappers offense just couldn't wake up in time during the series. Marietta's pitching staff shut them down for most of the series. After being limited to only four runs in the first two games, Marietta's offense came alive in the final two games too, scoring 15 runs combined. Wily Mo Pena would get our Series MVP vote, hitting .444 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs in the series. Marietta will face the Philadelphia Endzone Animals starting Friday.

Meanwhile, the Honolulu Sharks have retaken the lead in the series after an 8-5 victory in Hoboken yesterday. The Sharks stormed out to a 7-0 lead and survived a Cutter rally in the eighth. Roy Oswalt pitched brilliantly, striking out 12 batters in six innings, while surrendering only one run on five hits. Hoboken will send Scott Kazmir on three days rest to the mound today in a desparate attempt to even the series and send it back to Honolulu.

Hoboken takes game one; Marietta evens it up

Day two of the DMBL Playoffs and both lower seeded teams have effectively taken home field advantage away from the highers.

Hoboken staged a ninth inning rally to tie the game with the Sharks. After leading 6-3, the Sharks brought in closer Tom Gordon to close the door on the game. Protecting a three-run lead for one inning should be a slam dunk for a closer, but Gordon couldn't get the job done, even after retiring two of the first three batters. With a runner on second and two outs, Gordon walked the next batter and surrendered a three-run shot to Hanley Ramirez to tie the game up at six. But that wasn't enough, Gordon walked Jose Valentin and gave way to Geoff Geary, who promptly gave up a double to score Valentin. Now trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth, the Sharks played some "small ball" in the bottom of the ninth and were able to tie the game up and send it to extra innings. Geary worked out of a jam in the 10th, but got into trouble again in the 11th. Jose Feliciano surrendered a double to Jose Bautista that scored two runs. Honolulu put two runners on the bases in the bottom of the 11th but left them stranded. The win was the first ever playoff win for the Hoboken Cutters.

Meanwhile in Marietta, the Mighty Men and Bushslappers once again faced off in a pitchers duel. Mike Mussina shut out D.C. for seven innings, holding the Slappers to only four hits and striking out eight. Jorge Posada homered to lead off the fifth, giving the Mighty Men a 1-0 lead. The Mighty Men scored again on a Matt Diaz single, but Diaz was thrown out trying for second to end the rally. D.C. finally scored in the ninth, but they ended up leaving runners on second and third after the final two batters failed to drive them in. The series takes a day off today and resumes on Saturday in D.C.

DC Upsets Marietta

Well everyone expected Francisco Liriano to shut down the Bushslappers, but no one expected Bronson Arroyo to do the same to the Mighty Men.

The Mighty Men got off to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Wily Mo Pena hit a single to score Derek Jeter. But the Slappers quickly tied it up with a Frank Thomas solo home run. Then in the sixth things went awry for the Mighty Men. Jeff Kent started the inning off with a single and Liriano walked Alfonso Soriano. Kent, however, was caught stealing on a botched hit and run attempt, while Soriano advanced to second. Perhaps feeling overconfident in his ability to throw out base runners, Liriano attempted to pick off Soriano at second but ended up throwing the ball into center field. Clearly nervous, Liriano walked Frank Thomas and Graig Nettles decided to change pitchers, opting for B.J. Ryan. Ryan walked the first batter to load the bases. Catcher Jorge Posada still wondering what went wrong with the pickoff throw earlier, watched the pitch go right under his legs for a passed ball, scoring Soriano from third. The situation had a potential to really get ugly but Carlos Beltran lined into a double play to end the inning.

Arroyo basically cruised through the eighth, encountering a bit of a scare after Wes Helms hit a single and advanced to second on an error, but Joe Nathan finished the inning, then retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up the save and a 1-0 series lead for the Bushslappers.

The two teams face off again today while Honolulu hosts Hoboken for game one of their series.

First Round: D.C. at Marietta

The Playoffs officially begin today as Marietta hosts D.C. The game marks the first playoff matchup of the Landsman brothers. Despite having four sets of brothers in the league's history, the only prior playoff matchup of brothers has been the Zajac brothers. Older brother David has the upper hand this time, as the Mighty Men have been the top wild card seed for most of the second half, while the Bushslappers struggled towards the end of the season.

Surprisingly the season series was split 6-6. D.C. lost two of three games the last time the two teams faced off in D.C. The teams were both 3-3 at home against each other. The two teams were so closely matched that six of the twelve games were one run games, which Marietta holds the 4-2 edge.

D.C. was a Jekyll and Hyde team this year, winning in the second and third quarters of the season and struggling in the first and fourth. However, the Bushslappers were still able to win games during their slumps against the Mighty Men, so it's not a result of schedule timing.

On paper, Marietta would appear to hold a clear edge, but the results tell a different story. Apparently the two teams match up better than the statistics would indicate. Still we are going to go with Marietta as the favorite to win this series in four games.

Playoff outlook

We're back! Starting Wednesday are the DMBL Playoffs. And it is the first time in the DMBL's history that neither Arkansas nor Vancouver have made the post-season. In Arkansas's case, it is the first time since 1992 that they have missed the playoffs and the first time they have not had a winning season. There has never been a DMBL World Series that has not featured one of the two teams. The only other team to have made the DMBL World Series other than the Sugar Bears is the Jerusalem Rabbis in 2000 (now the Mighty Men of Marietta). The Mighty Men have a chance to make a trip back to the post-season as the highest ranked wild card this year.

The D.C. Bushslappers are the only virgin team in the playoffs this year. The Bushslappers, formerly the Columbia Crusaders/Rattlesnakes have clinched a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history and with a record of 81-81, their first non-losing season (we are still waiting for a winning season though). D.C. will go up against Marietta in a battle of brothers starting Wednesday.

The other series features the return of the Hoboken Cutters. The Cutters have not made the playoffs since 2002 and were quickly swept by Wanaque in the first round. Their opponent is the Honolulu Sharks, a frequent playoff contender who missed the playoffs last year, but has appeared in the playoffs the three years before. Both teams had equal records but the Sharks won the season series and will host three of the five possible games.