Vancouver implodes in spectacular fashion

Vancouver seemed to be cruising, entering the 8th inning with a 6-1 lead over Arkansas, but manager Darren Daulton thought starter Greg Maddux had one more inning in him... Things looked good at first - Maddux retired the first two batters, but then it all fell apart. The next two batters singled, then Lance Berkman drove them in with a double. David Wright singled next, then Rick Ankiel hit another to drive in Berkman. That was enough for Maddux, and closer Billy Wagner was brought in to preserve the 6-4 lead. Wagner gave up a single to his first batter that made it a one-run game, then served up a 3-run homer to J. J. Hardy, losing the lead. The Falcons scored 7 runs in the inning and won the game 8-6 as the demoralized Iron Fist were sent down in order in the 9th.

Carolina got revenge on Hillsborough and evened their series with a 5-4 victory. Magglio Ordonez and Xavier Nady each had 2 RBIs and Dustin Pedroia was 3-5. John Maine improved to 9-3 on the season with a solid 6.1 inning effort. The Cats are now 1/2 game out of first.

Marietta's 10-game winning streak came to an end, smashed to bits in a 12-5 Sardine City victory. The Straphangers scored 7 runs in the 4th inning, then 4 more in the 5th to seal the deal. Starter Jon Danks gave up 8 runs, though only one was earned. Orlando Hudson's error in the 4th opened the floodgates and allowed Sardine City to extend the inning. The Sardines only managed 11 hits and one walk, but were extremely efficient, leaving only 2 men stranded in the game.

D.C. won their 7th game 13-6 against Blue Ridge. Jose Reyes was 4-5 with 3 RBIs, and almost hit for the cycle, but decided to get an extra triple instead. Reyes leads the league with 14 triples. Brian McCann also was 3-5 with a homer and 5 RBIs and Matt Kemp was 2-5 with a homer and 4 RBIs.

First half, batting review

At the halfway point of the 2009 DMB season, let’s take a look at potential award winners and some of the surprises from the first half:

Batting

Hillsborough's Aubrey Huff got off to the league’s fastest start and has managed to keep up the pace. He’s putting together what could be the strongest case for the Kevin Mitchell Award for the league’s most valuable batter. Huff went into the break as the league’s leader in batting average (.352), slugging (.673) and runs scored (77), while ranking second to Philly’s Mark Teixeira in OBP (.420). He also is second in HRs (26) and eighth in RBIs (65). If not for teammate Ryan Howard's massive power numbers (a league leading 30 HRs and 80 RBIs), it's possible we'd be talking triple crown potential for Huff. Both have been driving home youngster Nick Markakis, who has a team-high 29 doubles, along with 75 runs scored.

Only the Hitmen and Newark ended the first half with more than 500 runs scored. The Crunch with Punch has relied on the old faithful to pace the offense. Longtime Sugar Bear Manny Ramirez has enjoyed a resurgence this year with a team-high 23 HRs and 77 RBIs, and he’s joined by Jack Cust and JD Drew who both have 21 HRs while Jason Giambi, in his return to Newark had 19 first-half dingers.

If Philly can stay in the playoff race, Teixeira might be Huff's stiffest competition for the Mitch. The Animals’ DH ranks in the top five in just about every batting category except slugging (6th) and home runs (9th).

Marietta sits atop the standings (ending the first half on a nine-game winning streak), powered with an offense led by an impressive crew of batters. The only drawback to the Mighty Men’s success might be that a first-half Kevin Mitchell Award ballot could be split among several batters. Marietta is not represented among the top 10 in home runs, however, Josh Hamilton ranks second in batting (.348) and fifth in RBIs (68), backed up by Kevin Youkilis’ 61 RBIs. Milton Bradley is the league leader in doubles and along with Brian Giles is top 10 in runs. With Hamilton and Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez makes it three Mighty Men among the top 10 in the league in slugging.

Carolina’s strength lies in its starting rotation but the team’s offensive fireplug is Dustin Pedroia. Last year’s Listach Award winner went into the break as the league leader in hits (122), is second in doubles (29), and third in batting (.339).

Ryan Ludwick’s power numbers have lifted Arkansas to within striking distance of a postseason spot. Like Marietta, Arkansas has several cogs to its offense with David Wright, Skip Schumaker and Lance Berkman. But it’s Ludwick who’s among the league leaders in home runs (23), RBIs (67), slugging (.601), runs (60). Only Huff has more extra base hits than Ludwick (49).

DC and Hoboken are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs but they’re both surprisingly led by their catchers. Brian McCann of the O-Bombers and Mike Napoli of the Cutters rank 3-4 in slugging and OPS. McCann also is fourth in the league in batting (.336). Any conversation about the Cutters usually starts with Miguel Cabrera but this year, it's Napoli who's carried the offense for the Cutters. He's blasted a team-high 26 HRs in the first half (3rd in the league) and is on pace to challenge the franchise record set by another catcher of Italian descent named Mike (Piazza hit 51 in 2002).

Cutters shut out again

Tim Lincecum improved to 12-1 after pitching 7 shutout innings in the Rat Pack's 17-0 dismantling of the Cutters. Lincecum allowed only 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 11. Joe Mauer was 3-3 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs in the game. That's now back to back shutouts against the Cutters. They'll try to cross the plate today against Rich Harden.

The Sugar Bears' 5-game winning streak came to a close at the hands of the Ant Slayers in a 5-2 decision. Chris Volstad pitched 6 strong innings and limited Newark to one run on 5 hits. Alfonso Soriano's 3-run homer in the 7th was the difference maker. Ryan Garko also hit a two-run shot earlier in the game to account for the club's other 2 runs.

Hillsborough picked up a game on 2nd-place Carolina in the first game of the series between the two contenders. Aubrey Huff hit his 27th home run and drove in 5 runs en route to a 7-5 victory.

Newark bullpen stifles Cutters

Newark shut out the Cutters last night on three hits, mostly thanks to their bullpen. Starter Chien-Ming Wang left the game after 2 innings after a torrential downpour delayed the game for almost an hour. The key performer was Manny Delcarmen who pitched a perfect 3 innings and struck out 4. Jason Giambi and J.D. Drew drove in all of the runs on home runs in the 4th inning. It was Newark's 5th in a row.

Another red-hot team is D.C., who took their 6th straight in a 9-4 win over Arkansas. Ryan Zimmerman was 3-5 with a homer and 4 RBI and Jose Reyes contributed a triple and a home run. D.C. still has a ways to go as the club is still 8 games under .500 and 6 games behind Vancouver, who occupies the final playoff spot.

Speaking of Vancouver, Hiroki Kuroda, pitching in the place of injured Jake Peavy pitched a complete game shutout of Blue Ridge, holding the Bombers to 5 hits and striking out 2. It was Kuroda's first career victory in the DMBL. Peavy will miss another one or two starts, but after that, will the Fist keep Kuroda in the rotation? He was an early season replacement for Paul Maholm, but he was injured after his second start, replaced by Greg Maddux, who has since been the Fist's most effective starter. Will another injury bring Kuroda back into the mix? Stay tuned.

Lincecum this close to perfect

Wow, how about that game from Tim Lincecum? The Las Vegas Rat Pack starter nearly had the DMBL's first perfect game until that jerk Jermaine Dye decided to break things up with a single in the 9th inning. It was the only baserunner the Falcons would get in the 2-0 defeat. Meanwhile, Lincecum struck out 16 batters and improved to 11-1 in perhaps the league's most dominant start ever.

Well, we're going to do awards today, since it's a short week. Let's start with the batters. This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week goes to Marietta's Orlando Hudson, who hit an impressive .433 (13-30) with 10 runs scored and 7 RBIs. Hudson carried a .455 on base percentage with a .767 slugging. Enjoy some smooth Villars during the break, Orlando!

Hudson's teammate Brian Giles had an odd line this week - the outfielder had a decent week, .324, with a .900 OPS, scoring a whopping 16 runs. However, for some reason, Giles only had one RBI during the last week and a half. Other top performers: D.C.'s Brian McCann (.400/.462/.771, 3 HR, 10 RBI), Hillsborough's Freddy Sanchez (.400/.404/.511, 10 R) doing a bang up job replacing Ron Belliard, then winning his job; Hoboken's Hanley Ramirez (.406/.472/.531), Amityville's Dioner Navarro (.429/.447/.629) and Newark's Chipper Jones (.375/.458/.688, 10 R, 15 RBI).

Well, looking over the past week+ and really, yesterday's start just seals the deal for Las Vegas' Tim Lincecum. Lincecum was the only 3-0 pitcher over the period and put together a 0.72 ERA, while striking out 31 in 25 innings and allowing 13 baserunners for an 0.52 WHIP. Yeah easy call to give him this week's Literal Videos Pitcher of the Week Award.

A few pitchers seemed on the path to rejuvenating their struggling seasons - Arkansas' Johan Santana (2-0, 0.56, 0.69), D.C.'s Todd Wellemeyer (2-0, 1.26), and Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez (1-1, 1.20). Other top performers: Hoboken's Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 1.29) and Mark Buehrle (1-0, 1.80), Amityville's Jon Lester (1-0, 1.13), and Newark's Joe Saunders (2-0, 1.80) and Chien-Ming Wang (2-0, 1.88). The top reliever of the week was Marietta's Mariano Rivera, who closed out 5 games with 5 saves and held a 1.35 ERA in 6.2 innings.

Endzone Animals begin fire sale

We're almost at the halfway mark and it looks like Philadelphia seens to be packing it in for the season. The Endzone Animals announced this morning that several of their players were up on the auction block. It didn't take long for the moves to start being made. The Animals shipped off catcher John Baker and reliever Huston Street to the Las Vegas Rat Pack for their 4th round pick next year. Shortly after that, the Animals sent starter Shawn Marcum to Marietta for their 5th round pick. It doesn't seem that they're quite done either, as several other players have been rumored to be available, including star third baseman Alex Rodriguez. The Animals are 40-42 and sit in 8th place overall.

We forgot to mention that Sunday, in a 5-3 win over Las Vegas, D.C.'s Jose Reyes tied the record for career triples with 77, held by Kenny Lofton. The next active players on the triples chart are Carl Crawford (58) and Carlos Beltran (57), so Reyes has a bit of a cushion.

The All-Star voting results should be up some time tonight. We had an extremely good turnout this year in terms of votes!

Chipper moves up the HR ladder

Mark Buehrle pitched a 2-hit shutout of the Bombers yesterday. He struck out 6 and walked 3 in the effort. It was his 30th career complete game (tied for 20th all-time). Adam Dunn hit a home run and was 2-3 in the 5-0 victory. Both Bomber hits were by Michael Young.

Chipper Jones' 5 RBI led Newark to a 13-6 victory over Vancouver. Jones hit his 382nd career home run, passing Sugar Bear alum Mark McGwire for No. 11 all-time. Jones is now one behind Vlad Guerrero, who is currently on the Rat Pack's disabled list, but expects to be activated for the second half. Watch for Chipper (and Vlad) to also pass Frank Thomas (384) and Juan Gonzalez (385) and the number 9 and 8 spots, respectively.

How about those Mighty Men? After winning their 8th straight yesterday, an 11-3 blowout of the Endzone Animals, the Mighty Men have opened up a 3-game lead on the Sugar Bears in the Hanover Division. Adrian Gonzalez and Orlando Hudson each had 4 RBIs in the game, with Hudson hitting 2 homers. He now has 4 on the season.

John Maine improved to 8-3 with a decent 6-inning effort in Carolina's 6-5 squeaker over Amityville. Since being left for dead by Philly, Maine has been 8-2 for Carolina with a 4.15 ERA.