Philly Phantastic

Do the Philadelphia Endzone Animals still have a shot at the post-season? After winning four out of their last five, they're just 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff berth. The 7th place Animals kicked off a three-game series against the Blue Ridge Bombers with a 12-1 win -- and chewed up the Bombers bullpen, requiring them to use eight pitchers in the losing effort. If the Animals are going to reach the post-season, they'll need some help as they don't have any games left against four of the six teams ahead of them in the standings. (On the positive side, that means 14 of their remaining 20 games are against teams with losing records!)

The team they're chasing in the standings, the 6th place Vancouver Iron Fist, were just swept by the 1st place Newark Sugar Bears in a three-game series -- their fourth straight loss overall. The Iron Fist had a much needed day off Sunday afternoon before starting a five-game road trip. They have 19 games left in the season, and it's a much tougher road than the Animals face -- they've got five games against the Carolina Mudcats, two against the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen and two against the Sugar Bears, three teams they've gone a combined 6-23 against so far this year! Vancouver's magic number to clinch a playoff spot stands at 18.

The Sugar Bears, by the way, became the first team to clinch a 2009 playoff berth with today's 8-1 win over the D.C. O-Bombers. The Sugar Bears are guaranteed no worse than a wildcard seed; their magic number for the Hanover Division title is down to 8, and for the Commissioner's Cup, it's 10.

It's still very much a race in the Morris Division standings, however, where the Mudcats have pulled to within 2 games of the Hitmen. The Mudcats had their seven-game winning streak today against the Amityville Ant Slayers, 3-1. But their remarkable 17-4 record over the last three weeks has put tremendous pressure on the Hitmen, who dropped a tough 6-5 game today against the Sardine City Straphangers. Each team faces a brutal end to its season, with the Mudcats facing the Sugar Bears six times in their final nine games; the Hitmen, meanwhile, close it out with seven against the 5th place Las Vegas Rat Pack and three against the 8th place Arkansas Golden Falcons, a team they've gone 1-7 against this year.

Carolina's hot streak has landed them in a flat-footed tie for the top wildcard seed with the Marietta Mighty Men, who have dropped 3 out of their last 7 games. The Mites were neck and neck with the Sugar Bears for the best record in baseball for most of the season, but the dog days of August have seen them fall all the way to 10 1/2 games off the pace. Marietta will look to get healthy next week as they have a six-game home stand with three against the 10th place Hoboken Cutters and three against 12th place Blue Ridge. The Mudcats and Mighty Men each have a magic number of 11 to clinch a playoff berth. Hillsborough's magic number for the division title is 18; for the playoffs, it's 9.

Las Vegas took the first of a three-game set in Sardine City on Sunday with a 9-7 win that also put young gun Joba Chamberlain on the shelf for the rest of the regular season. After the Straphangers, the 5th place Rats come home to the desert for a 13-game home stand. The Pack has a magic number of 12 to reach the playoffs.

The Golden Falcons still have an outside chance of reaching the playoffs -- they're 5 games behind the Iron Fist, and 1 game under .500. They got the ball rolling Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Rat Pack before beginning a stretch where they'll play 10 out of 12 games on the road, including seven games against teams with winning records. Their tragic number for elimination from post-season consideration stands at 15.

The O-Bombers, who have dropped three in a row, are 2 games behind the Golden Falcons and 5 games under .500; their tragic number is 12.

Hoboken is the only other team with a chance to have a winning record this year -- and they'd have to run the table to do it! The Cutters have won back-to-back games to stave off their 81st loss. Their tragic number is 7. Amityville sits 3 behind them, with a tragic number of 4.

Blue Ridge still has a chance! But their playoff hopes will officially be extinguished with their next loss or Vancouver's next win. The end has come for Sardine City, who could win out and still finish no higher than 7th place.

That leaves just last-place New Jersey Team Buddah, whose 4-3 win over D.C. is somehow their third straight (and fifth win out of their last eight games). The Buddahs were long ago eliminated from post-season consideration, and have a 4 1/2 game "lead" for the worst record in baseball. The only thing they can play for is to avoid the ignominy of a 100-loss season; they'd have to go 13-7 to do it.

Let's Go Streaking!

Lots of teams have been getting their streaks on recently, and the standings have been shaken up as a result!

The hottest team at the moment are the Carolina Mudcats, who won their seventh in a row today to snatch the top wildcard seed. It seems like all year the top three spots have been occupied by Hanover Division teams, but a seven-game winning streak (and 11 out of your last 12!) is guaranteed to move you up in the standings. Today's 1-0 win over the Amityville Ant Slayers definitely wasn't textbook -- Mudcat starter Dice-K Matsuzaka lasted just 2 innings before getting injected after plunking Torii Hunter, but the bullpen kept the Slayers scoreless. Meanwhile, Amityville starter Jon Lester also prevented a run until the bottom of the 8th, when he gave up a lead-off home run to Xavier Nady, the only run of the game.

The Newark Sugar Bears beat up the Vancouver Iron Fist, 13-3, for their fifth straight win. The Sugar Bears now have a magic number of 2 to clinch a playoff berth, 11 to clinch the division, and 13 for the best record in baseball. The Morris Division-leading Hillsborough Hired Hitmen also have been hot, winning their second straight game (and 7th out of their last 10) after out-slugging the Sardine City Straphangers, 13-11. The Hitmen have a magic number of 19 to clinch the Morris Division title and 10 for a playoff berth.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Endzone Animals won their third in a row with a 10-4 win over the Marietta Mighty Men, while the Las Vegas Rat Pack made it back-to-back wins over the Arkansas Golden Falcons, 4-1.

For Amityville, it was their fourth loss in a row; it was three straight defeats for the Iron Fist and Straphangers; and two in a row for the Mighty Men and Golden Falcons.

In non-streak related games, the New Jersey Buddahs overcame the D.C. O-Bombers, 3-2, while the Blue Ridge Bombers won a wild 3-2 game over the Hoboken Cutters. After Blue Ridge starter Edwin Jackson left in the 3rd with an injury, the Bombers used eight more pitchers to finally win it in the bottom of the 9th on a solo home run by Nate McLouth. The Cutters, on the other hand, used only starter Matt Garza.

Mudcats cruising toward first

The red hot Mudcats kept their streak alive by pounding the Straphangers 12-5. Dustin Pedroia was 3-5 with 3 RBIs and Magglio Ordonez was 3-5 with 2 RBIs for the Cats. Carolina scored 8 runs in the 7th inning to take the lead away from Sardine City, who was leading 5-4 at the time. It was Carolina's 5th straight victory, moving them to 2 games behind Morris Division frontrunner Hillsborough.

The Hitmen took a bit of a pounding themselves, 10-4 at the hands of the Endzone Animals. Albert Pujols and Josh Willingham each 4 RBIs as the Animals scored all their runs in the first 4 innings. To add injury to insult, Wandy Rodriguez, who was replacing C.C. Sabathia in the rotation, was lost for the next two weeks.

The Cutters had 4 errors in their game against Amityville and only managed 5 hits against the Ant Slayer pitchers, but somehow managed to win their game anyway. Starter Armando Galarraga had shut down the Cutters offense, allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits in 7 innings, and left with a 4-2 lead after 7. In the 9th inning, reliever J.J. Putz walked the first two batters, then gave way to John Grabow. After striking out the first batter, Grabow gave up a base hit to Ryan Church to bring the score to 4-3. The next batter, Hank Blalock, took Grabow deep, hitting a 3-run homer to win the game for the Cutters.

Buddahs stun Vegas, take 2 of 3

New Jersey stunned Las Vegas in a 5-1 victory, taking 2 of 3 from the Rat Pack. Although the Rats are almost a lock to make the playoffs, dropping a series to last place New Jersey can't help when it comes to positioning. With the loss, the Rats fell into 5th place overall, 1/2 game behind the Mudcats and 3 1/2 ahead of 6th place Vancouver. They're still not in any real danger of falling out of a playoff berth - they are currently 9 1/2 games ahead of 7th place Philadelphia.

Carolina inched one game closer to first place with an 8-4 victory over Arkansas. Carlos Zambrano allowed 2 unearned runs and 7 hits in 7 innings of work to improve to 13-8 on the season. Grady Sizemore, subbing for the injured Vernon Wells, was 2-5 with 3 RBIs.

The Hired Hitmen fell to D.C. 7-3. Another injury replacement, this time Howie Kendrick playing for Felipe Lopez, was 3-4 with a double in leading the O-Bomber offense. David Bush continues his resurgence for D.C. Before joining the O-Bombers, Bush was 6-8 with a 6.17 ERA for Philly and Sardine City. He's been 2-2 with a respectable 4.61 ERA since D.C. signed him, including 3 straight quality starts.

Vancouver's Ben Sheets pitched a 9-hit shutout against former teammate Hiroki Kuroda and the Endzone Animals. Sheets struck out 8 and walked 1, improving his record to 11-8. Meanwhile, Kuroda has struggled since being acquired by Philly, but facing Newark twice in 4 starts will do that to you. Yesterday's outing against the Fist was his best yet since changing uniforms - 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 7 K.

Hamilton cycles in defeat to Newark

The battle between Newark and Marietta hasn't gone the Mighty Men's way, losing the first two, including yesterday's 10-9, extra inning loss. But they have one thing up on the Sugar Bears - most cycles. Yesterday, Josh Hamilton managed a rare feat, hitting for the cycle. Overall he was 4-6 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. Hamilton started his day by hitting a leadoff double in the 2nd inning, then followed that up with a single in the 3rd. The two easiest components of the cycle were out of the way. In the 5th inning, Hamilton hit a two-run homer that gave the Mighty Men a temporary 6-5 lead. Lest you think that the extra innings gave Hamilton some extra opportunities, he hit his triple in the 7th inning, again breaking a tie and giving the Mighty Men an 8-7 lead. After that, he was done, though the game wasn't... Hamilton would bat two more times, striking out in the 8th and flying out in the 10th. For the curious folks, the last cycle was hit by Vladimir Guerrero last year, then with Blue Ridge against Las Vegas on June 17.

In another extra inning affair, Carolina topped Arkansas 4-3. The Falcons took an early 3-0 lead in the 1st inning on a 3-run David Wright homer. Carolina finally tied the game up in the 8th with a 3-run inning. It seemed like no one would score until the 14th inning, when Arkansas got into trouble giving up back to back singles with one out. After intentionally walking the bases loaded, Aramis Ramirez came through with the game winning single. Amazing that the game was so close considering that the Mudcats outhit the Falcons 18-7 in the game, leaving 19 baserunners stranded throughout the game.

Justin Verlander held the O-Bombers to only 2 hits in 8 innings, earning his 9th win in a 12-2 blowout. Freddy Sanchez hit two home runs and drove in 4 runs in the game and Russell Martin was 2-3 with 3 RBIs. The Hitmen maintain a 4-game lead over the red hot Mudcats.

Josh Johnson pitched a complete game, holding the Cutters to 2 runs on 6 hits in a 7-2 Sardine City win. Johnson had struggled this season before an injury sidelined him for a month, then struggled in his first two starts. But he turned things around in his next start against Arkansas and now pitched this gem against Hoboken. Johnson's record was 3-13 before going on the DL and he is now 5-15.

Wright, Felix take top honors

The Falcons looked pretty dead only a few weeks ago, but have recently come back into the playoff race. Tied with Philadelphia for 7th and 6 games out of the final playoff spot, the Falcons still have a (admittedly long) shot at a wild card slot. Leading the charge for the Falcons this week is David Wright. The third baseman hit .429 this week with a .568 on base percentage and .750 slugging. He also hit 2 homers, scored 8 runs, and drove in 10. Wright is this week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week.

His competition this week: Carolina's Xavier Nady (.455/.486/.758, 7 R, 11 RBI), Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez (.435/.500/.913, 3 HR, 6 R), Newark's Manny Ramirez (.458/.536/.708, 7 RBI), Amityville's Dioner Navarro (.417/.440/.792, 8 RBI), and Sardine City's Ryan Braun (.400/.438/.733, 2 3Bs, 6 R).

It looks like Hillsborough has taken a comfortable lead in the Morris Division, despite Carolina's efforts to reclaim the division title. The Hitmen's pitching has come on lately, with young phenom Felix Hernandez assuming the ace role this week. King Felix was 2-0 this week with a 1.15 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. He struck out 22 batters and walked only 2 in 15.2 innings. Hernandez is this week's Handerpants Pitcher of the Week award.

The rest of the best: Amityville's Dallas Braden (1-1, 1.08, 0.84 WHIP), Las Vegas' A.J. Burnett (0.64, 0.86 WHIP, 15 K) and Josh Beckett (1-0, 2.35, 16 K, 0.65 WHIP), D.C.'s David Bush (1-1, 2.30, 0.89, 12 K), Blue Ridge's Gavin Floyd (1-0, 2.30, 0.83) and Carolina's Tim Hudson (2-0, 1.50).

Ut-Oh, It's Magic

There's about a month left in the DMBL regular season! With most teams having between 25 and 30 games to go, let's take a look at magic numbers.

The Newark Sugar Bears have a magic number of 23 to clinch the Commissioner's Cup and the Hanover Division title. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 10.

The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen have a magic number of 24 to clinch the Morris Division title, and 17 to clinch a post-season appearance.

The Marietta Mighty Men are 4 1/2 games behind the Sugar Bears for the Hanover Division title (and the best record in baseball), and 3 1/2 games up in the race for the top wildcard seed. Their magic number to print post-season tickets is 16.

The Las Vegas Rat Pack are in 4th place, 8 games behind the Sugar Bears in the Hanover Division and 3 1/2 behind the Mites for 3rd. Their magic number for a wildcard berth is 20.

Two games behind the Rats, and 4 1/2 behind the Hitmen for the Morris Division lead, are the 5th place Carolina Mudcats. Their magic number for a wildcard slot is 21.

Hanging onto 6th place are the defending World Champions, the Vancouver Iron Fist. The Fisters are 8 games behind the Hitmen for the Morris Division lead. They're exactly between 5th place and 7th place, with 3 1/2 games seperating them in either direction. Their magic number to secure the final playoff berth is 25.

Battling it out for 7th place are the Arkansas Golden Falcons and the Philadelphia Endzone Animals. The Falcons are currently a half-game up, 3 1/2 games out of the final playoff berth, leaving the Animals at 4 games out.

The surprising D.C. O-Bombers were in the post-season race until dropping 8 out of their last 10 games. The slump dropped them to 7 1/2 games out of the wildcard and 5 games under .500. Their magic number for elimination from the post-season -- aka their "tragic number" -- is 21. For elimination from the Morris Division race, the tragic number is 13.

The Hoboken Cutters are 12 1/2 games out of the playoffs; a more realistic goal might be finishing above their franchise record for futility (72-90). A recent hot streak, winning four out of their last six, leaves them exactly on pace to tie the record. Their tragic number is 16 for the post-season, and 2 for the Hanover Division race.

Like most new teams, the Amityville Ant Slayers are having a rough inaugural season. The 11th-place Slayers are 16 1/2 games behind the Iron Fist for the final playoff berth. They're already mathematically eliminated from the Hanover Division race, but their tragic number for elimination from the post-season is 13.

Battling it out for 12th are the Blue Ridge Bombers and the Sardine City Straphangers. The Bombers are 19 games out of the post-season, and the Hangmen are a half-game behind them. Blue Ridge's tragic number for the Morris Division title is 3; for the post-season, it's 11. The Hangmen have already been eliminated from the Hanover Division race, and have a tragic number of 9 to officially end their post-season dreams.

Bringing up the rear are the New Jersey Buddahs, with a 6 1/2 game "lead" over Sardine City for last place. They were eliminated awhile ago from the Hanover Division race, but they still have hope! Their tragic number for elimination from the post-season is 4. That means if they run the table and win all 30 of their remaining games, they can still catch the Iron Fist for 6th place -- provided the Fisters go 3-25 over the same stretch.