Newark finally wins, Mighty Men even series with Cats

The Sugar Bears took game 3 by a resounding 13-5 final, notching one in their column in the 2-1 series. The Sugar Bears took no chances, coming out of the gates and scoring 10 runs in the first 3 innings. Before the Hitmen could even blink, they were down 10-2. The Sugar Bears chased starter Justin Verlander early in the second. Verlander finished with 1 IP, 7 ER and 7 hits allowed. Manny Ramirez went 3-6 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs and Jack Cust was 2-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs. Chien-Ming Wang earned the victory for Newark, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings. Justin Duchscherer and C.C. Sabathia take the mound for the teams today, both pitching on 3 days' rest.

Meanwhile, Marietta will host Carolina in game 3 of their tied series with Shawn Marcum and Tim Hudson taking the mound for their respective teams. The Mighty Men evened their series Saturday in an 11-inning win. The teams both finished deadlocked at 5-5 after 9 innings, when Adrian Gonzalez gave the Mighty Men a 6-5 lead on an RBI single, but the Mighty Men rally died with two runners stranded as Edwar Ramirez retired the final two batters of the inning. The Mudcats came back in the bottom half when Bengie Molina singled home Carlos Delgado. The Cats also stranded two runners in the inning. Jason Bay led off the next inning with a triple and scored on a Nick Punto base hit. After an error put Punto on second, Adrian Beltre came through with a single, but Punto was called out at home. Reliever Brian Fuentes then walked Milton Bradley and got Brian Giles to fly out, ending the inning. Carolina was once again forced to come from behind to keep the game going, but their first two batters were quickly retired. Mariano Rivera hit the next batter and gave up a single to Randy Winn. With the tying run on third base however, Vernon Wells struck out, ending the game.

Hitmen strike first

The Hitmen won a huge 4-3 game against Newark in their best-of-7 series opener. Newark was first on the board when Chipper Jones drove in Asdrubal Cabrera in the first inning, but Ryan Howard tied it up with a solo homer in the second. Hillsborough took their first lead on a sac fly in the third, then scored 2 more on back-to-back RBI singles in the 4th. Manny Ramirez made it a 4-3 game with a 2-run double in the bottom of the 4th, but Edgar Renteria ended the rally by grounding out. Things were going smoothly for the Hitmen, retiring 9 straight Sugar Bears going into the 9th. Closer Mike Gonzalez walked leadoff hitter Carlos Guillen, then gave up a single to Bobby Abreu. The Sugar Bears were threatening to take the lead back, but Cabrera hit into a double play, severely deflating the Sugar Bears. Gonzalez struck out Ramon Vazquez to end the game, giving the Hitmen a 1-0 lead in the series. Dan Haren will square off against Joe Saunders in today's game 2.

Marietta and Carolina start their series today. Marietta sends lefty John Danks to the mound, while Carolina has opted to go with veteran Roy Halladay.

Hillsborough goes on, Newark next

The Hired Hitmen shutout the Rat Pack 7-0 to take the decisive game 5 and advance to the second round. Three Hitmen pitchers combined to hold the Rats to 6 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 13. Ryan Howard was 3-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs and Aubrey Huff and Nick Markakis were also 3-4 each. The Hitmen took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, then tacked on 4 runs in the third, including a 2-run Ryan Howard home run. Howard then came through again in the 7th with another 2-run shot off Derrek Lowe. The Hitmen will face Newark in a best-of-7 series starting Thursday.

Second half pitching review

The first half of the season was not one to remember for most of the Class of 2009 first-rounders, especially on the pitching side.

Chris Volstad of Amityville was the lone success story, storming in the second half with an 11-5 mark and a 3.44 ERA. He was about the only ‘09 first-rounder to turn his season around after the break: Sardine City’s Josh Johnson was 5-6 with a 6.19 ERA, New Jersey’s Edinson Volquez was 2-5 with a 5.29 ERA, and Ricky Nolasco of Arkansas was 6-5 but had the worst ERA of the bunch at 7.11.

A handful of starters did a Jekyll and Hyde routine in the second half and would’ve been all-stars if they’d put together these numbers in the first half:
Sardine City’s Cole Hamels was among five pitchers with double-digit wins, going 10-3 with a 3.61 ERA in 112½ IP. He was one of the few bright spots in a league-worst 29-51 second half record. New Jersey’s Andy Pettitte had a league-high three shutouts, including one in the season finale, and had an impressive 9-3 record with a 4.19 ERA. Yet another lefty, CC Sabathia of Hillsborough, was sharp, with a 3.70 ERA and 7-3 mark, including 2 shutouts.

Newark had four starters win at least 8 games to help them to a league-best 58-21 record in the second half. Veteran Randy Johnson was 8-1 in 11 starts with a 3.23 ERA. Justin Duchsherer was 8-4 after being acquired midseason and James Shields went 8-5.

Josh Beckett and Tim Lincecum of Las Vegas were neck and neck at the break, with the starting nod in the all-star game all but a coin flip. That’s where their seasons diverged. Lincecum continued his impressive year, going 8-2 in the second half with a 3.38 ERA and 110 strikeouts. Beckett also had 110 strikeouts and somehow managed to go 7-5 despite an ugly 5.51 ERA. Teammate AJ Burnett was 6-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

Vancouver had a trio of starters who nose-dived in the second half. All-star Zack Greinke likely would not have made a second-half All-Star squad. He was an even 6-6 but had an ERA of 5.65, which somehow was better than teammate Chad Billingsley’s 5.79 though he went 6-5. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux cooled off after entering the rotation during the first half, going 4-5 with a 5.82 ERA. Hoboken’s Jeremy Guthrie, an all-star, had a solid 3.35 ERA but only went 6-6.

Other pitchers who would rather forget the second half of 2009: Hoboken rookie Clayton Kershaw had an impressive first few starts; in fact, he had 5 quality starts in 7 opportunities and ran his record to 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA at the break. It was enough to win a rotation spot in the second half. That’s when he spit the bit, going 0-5 in 12 starts with a hideous 10.07 ERA. The lone bright spot might’ve been his 46 strikeouts in 44.7 IP.

Johan Santana of Arkansas has been among the winningest pitchers in DMBL the last few season but 2009 was among his worst, especially his second half. He went 2-9 with a 5.84 ERA. Amityville’s John Lester led the league in second-half losses, going 2-10 but still gutted out 3 CGs and 110 IP. Philly’s Scott Kazmir won 10 games despite a 4.59 ERA. Among the ugliest second halves was had by Blue Ridge’s Francisco Rodriguez, who had a manageable 4.34 ERA in 41 games, but a dreadful 1-7 mark.

Second half pitching leaders

ERA

Halladay, CAR 2.09

Danks, MAR 2.70

Bedard, DC 2.96

Wang, NWK 3.07

Rjohnson, NWK 3.23

Burnett, LV 3.23

Wins

Volstad, AMI 11-5

Wang, NWK 10-2

Danks, MAR 10-4

Kazmir, PHI 10-4

Hamels, SAR 10-3

IP

Halladay, CAR 120.7

Duchscherer, NWK 114.0

Lackey, HIL 113.3

Webb, PHI 113.0

Hamels, SAR 112.3

Strikeouts

Halladay, CAR 113

Lincecum, LV 110

Beckett, LV 110

Kazmir, PHI 107

Haren, HIL 106

Saves

Soria, ARK 16

Papelbon, DC 15

Fuentes, CAR 15

Mgonzalez, HIL 14

Jenks, NJ 12

Games

Papelbon, DC 45

Rhodes, AMI 45

Bell, AMI 42

Crain, BR 42

Frodriguez, BR 41

Mighty Men advance, face Carolina

John Danks once again stymied the Iron Fist, this time blanking the 2008 champs on 3 hits in 8 innings. Ben Sheets did better his second time around, pitching 6.1 innings and yielding only 2 runs on 4 hits, but it was enough to finish off Vancouver and send the Mighty Men to round two. All the scoring in the game came in the 7th inning. Jason Bay started things off with a single after the first batter was out. Kurt Suzuki singled next chasing Sheets in favor of reliever Russ Springer. Springer got Nick Punto to ground out, catching Bay trying to score, but Orlando Hudson came through with a 2-run double that cleared the bases. And that was it. Marietta managed only 6 hits but that was double what Vancouver could gather.

Tonight, Hillsborough hosts Las Vegas in their decisive game 5 matchup, pitting Dan Haren against Tim Lincecum. The winner will face the Newark Sugar Bears on Thursday.

First rounds both head to decisive game 5

We're back from hiatus, just in time as both first round playoff series head to a decisive game 5. Hillsborough evened up their series with Vegas yesterday. The Hitmen offense came alive and scored 7 runs in the third inning off starter A.J. Burnett to force the series to return to New Jersey. Nick Markakis was 3-4 and Russell Martin was 3-4 with 2 RBIs for the Hitmen. Ronnie Belliard also went 2-4 with 4 RBIs for the Hitmen. The series resumes Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, Vancouver is in Marietta, as their series climaxes with Ben Sheets and John Danks on the mound for their respective teams. This is essentially a rematch of game one that saw the Mighty Men destroy the Iron Fist 9-1, holding the defending champs to a dismal 4 hits. The Mighty Men also benefitted from 9 walks issued by Vancouver pitchers. Will it be a repeat?

The first round of awards were issued over the weekend, as winners for the Rintel and Eckersley awards were issued. Voting for the three top prizes is already underway and Gold Glove winners will be announced soon.

Batting leaders of the second half

Albert Pujols of Philly is a perennial all-star and his second half of the 2009 season was an all-around monster. He was on the second-half leaderboard in just about every offensive category -- if he wasn’t leading it -- slugging .684 with an OBP of .396, 101 hits, 26 doubles, 27 HRs, 67 runs and 77 RBIs.

Aubrey Huff of Hillsborough, who probably had the best first half of any batter, cooled off but not all that much: 16 Hrs, 64 RBIs and 64 runs. Nick Markakis also proved to be a key cog in the lineup, scoring 60 runs and hitting a league-best 30 doubles.

David Wright of Arkansas had an all-around great second half, with 19 HRs and 68 RBIs, slugging .573 and an OBP of .394. Vancouver’s Chase Utley was solid, hitting 19 doubles, 16 HRs, 51 runs and 64 RBIs. Wright’s teammate Skip Schumaker, a 9^th-round pick this year, won the second-half batting title but fell percentage points short of catching Carolina’s Dustin Pedroia for the 2009 batting crown.

Carlos Quentin rebounded with 21 HRs, 59 runs and 61 RBIs for Sardine City. Hoboken’s Adam Dunn also salvaged his 2009 season with a productive second half, smacking 21 HRs, with 48 RBIs and “only” 77 strikeouts while hitting .290 and slugging .598. Hoboken catcher Mike Napoli was a model of consistency, smacking 26 HRs in both the first and second halves of the season (and taking the 2009 home run title). He did have 103 strikeouts but no one could touch Newark’s Jack Cust in that category, with 124 Ks (though he did smack 21 HRs).

Las Vegas was powered by Carlos Pena who smacked 19 HRs and hit .332 to go with a ridiculous .465 OBP and .712 SLG in 63 games. Veteran Brian Giles of Marietta swatted 29 doubles and hit .319 along with an outrageous 51 BBs against just 28 Ks.

Marietta’s Milton Bradley, the top pick in the ‘09 draft, had a solid if unspectacular second half, with 19 doubles, 12 HRs, 57 runs and 102 strikeouts against 53 BBs. Teammates Jason Bay and Adrian Gonzalez provided the power for the Mighty Men with 18 HRs each.

As always it seems, Jose Reyes of DC led the league with 9 second-half triples.

Some second-half numbers that might surprise: Eric Hinske’s 16 HRs and 51 RBIs to complement Torii Hunter’s 18 HRs and 50 RBIs for Amityville. Perennial home run king, and ’09 All-Star starter, Ryan Howard of Hillsborough hit just .229 with 13 HRs.

Hillsborough’s Shin-Soo-Choo continued to make his case for a batter to take the Listach award, hitting 28 doubles, 22 HRs, 55 RBIs and 57 runs. His competition for the hardware, Chris Davis of Las Vegas started all 82 games in the first half and led rookies with 18 HRs and 58 RBIs. To say he tailed off would be an understatement, losing his job and finding his way into only 44 games where he had just 2 HRs and 19 RBIs. Fellow rookie Jay Bruce of DC continued to hit, with 16 HRs in 68 second-half games, and a .291 average.

Second half batting leaders

BA

Schumaker, ARK .354

Pedroia, CAR .337

Wright, ARK .334

Pujols, PHI .332

CPena, LV .332

H

Pedroia, CAR 111

Wright, ARK 108

Pujols, PHI 101

MOrdonez, CAR 99

CJones, NWK 98

HR

Pujols, PHI 27

Napoli, HBK 26

Choo, HIL 22

Dunn, HBK 21

Quentin, SAR 21

Cust, NWK 21

RBI

Pujols, PHI 77

MRamirez, NWK 70

Napoli, HBK 70

JHamilton, MAR 69

Wright, ARK 68

Huff, HIL 64

Utley, VAN 64

R

Pujols, PHI 67

Huff, HIL 65

Napoli, HBK 61

Berkman, ARK 60

Markakis, HIL 60

2B

Markakis, HIL 30

Giles, MAR 29

Choo, HIL 28

Rollins, PHI 26

Pujols, PHI 26

SB

Rollins, PHI 19

BUpton, SAR 18

Reyes, DC 13

BRoberts, PHI 13

Kinsler, HBK 12