New Jersey's Mike Piazza hit his second home run of the season yesterday in Team Buddah's victory over the Mudcats. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was Piazza's 386th career homer, which passes Juan Gonzalez for sixth on the all time list. Piazza faces an uphill climb to move much further up the list as all the players above him are active. Arkansas' Barry Bonds, of course, is the leader with 591 career homers (more than 150 over 2nd place Sammy Sosa who is active but most likely won't play in the DMBL again). Also moving up the home run ranks - and more quickly than Piazza - is Sugar Bear Manny Ramirez, the league leader in home runs this season with eight. Ramirez hit his eighth and 380th career homer yesterday against the Iron Fist which moves him just one behind former Sugar Bear Mark McGwire for number eight on the all-time list.
Speaking of New Jersey, the Buddahs completed a sweep against the Mudcats yesterday. Carolina has now lost five or their six games against the two newest teams. Carolina will next face the more familiar Vancouver Iron Fist. Vancouver is also coming off being swept by the Sugar Bears, so something has to give here.
Las Vegas' Anthony Reyes improved to 3-0, but he finally gave up his first runs of the season. Reyes, who had extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 and earned the coveted Guess The Virgin Pitcher of the Week Award last week finally surrendered his first run of the season in the fourth inning against the South Boston Gang. Reyes escaped the game with a win, despite giving up five runs in six innings.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Scrubs become stars
From the "Who'd have thunk it?" file: Brandon Claussen notched his first win of the year for the Sardine City Straphangers. Claussen pitched six innings allowing only two earned runs and three hits, while striking out four and walking two. The Sardines have now won both games that Claussen has started since taking over for Cole Hamels. Hamels pitched well in his only start and was the club's #1 draft pick, so there's not likely a controversy brewing here, but can Claussen keep it up?
Speaking of nobodies making good, South Boston's Greg Norton is off to a fine start. Norton hit his fourth homer of the season while going 4-4 last night against Las Vegas. Norton is batting .444 on the year with 10 runs, 11 RBIs, and a 1.252 OPS. While not officially a DMBL rookie, this is the first year that Norton has played.
Carolina has taken the role of punching bag for the two newest teams. After dropping two of three to Sardine City last week, the Mudcats have now dropped the first two games against New Jersey, both in extra innings. All of Team Buddah's victories have come in extra innings. In fact, Team Buddah has played in the most extra inning games in the league (5) and has a 3-2 record in those games.
Speaking of nobodies making good, South Boston's Greg Norton is off to a fine start. Norton hit his fourth homer of the season while going 4-4 last night against Las Vegas. Norton is batting .444 on the year with 10 runs, 11 RBIs, and a 1.252 OPS. While not officially a DMBL rookie, this is the first year that Norton has played.
Carolina has taken the role of punching bag for the two newest teams. After dropping two of three to Sardine City last week, the Mudcats have now dropped the first two games against New Jersey, both in extra innings. All of Team Buddah's victories have come in extra innings. In fact, Team Buddah has played in the most extra inning games in the league (5) and has a 3-2 record in those games.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Oswalt back on track
There was a bit of a pitchers' duel in Vegas yesterday. South Boston's Aaron Harang and Las Vegas' Chris Young battled it out. Young gave way to the bullpen in the sixth, but Harang took a 1-0 shutout into the eighth before surrendering two runs in the bottom half of the inning. There were only 11 hits between the two teams in the game.
Honolulu's Roy Oswalt finally straightened out his season. After getting clobbered in his first two starts, Oswalt turned in a complete game two-hit performance against Arkansas, surrendering only one run. Oswalt struck out 6.
Hoboken's Scott Kazmir probably had the best game yesterday, holding D.C. to one run on four hits in eight innings, while striking out nine and walking only one.
The injuries are starting to pile up. Hoboken and Philadelphia both placed team members on the DL. Hoboken lost outfielder Geoff Jenkins for two weeks and signed Damian Miller. The Cutters plan to replace Jenkins with Pat Burrell. Scrappy Philly shortstop David Eckstein may be lost for a month. Philly signed infielder Marco Scutaro who was released before the season by Team Buddah and last played a regular season game for Carolina back in 2005.
Honolulu's Roy Oswalt finally straightened out his season. After getting clobbered in his first two starts, Oswalt turned in a complete game two-hit performance against Arkansas, surrendering only one run. Oswalt struck out 6.
Hoboken's Scott Kazmir probably had the best game yesterday, holding D.C. to one run on four hits in eight innings, while striking out nine and walking only one.
The injuries are starting to pile up. Hoboken and Philadelphia both placed team members on the DL. Hoboken lost outfielder Geoff Jenkins for two weeks and signed Damian Miller. The Cutters plan to replace Jenkins with Pat Burrell. Scrappy Philly shortstop David Eckstein may be lost for a month. Philly signed infielder Marco Scutaro who was released before the season by Team Buddah and last played a regular season game for Carolina back in 2005.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Clemens reaches milestone
Interesting game between the Straphangers and the Mudcats yesterday. The Sardines jumped out to a 5-2 lead after three, thanks to a three-run Andruw Jones homer. After scoring one run in the fourth, the Cats scored seven runs in the fifth to take a 10-5 lead, but the Straphangers clawed their way back and tied it at ten on a Freddy Sanchez single in the eighth. With Matt Wise pitching in the bottom of the eighth, Miguel Olivo led off with a single, but the next two batters truck out. Wise then proceeded to implode, walking Juan Rivera and giving up an infield single to the speedy Travis Hafner (we think that the scorer was being generous to Mr. Wise). With the bases loaded and two outs, Wise then inexplicably hits Paul Konerko with an errant pitch and the go-ahead run crossed the plate. Daisy, er, Brian Fuentes then shut down the Straphangers to win the game and avoid the sweep.
The other newcomer, Team Buddah took Johan Santana and the Endzone Animals deep into the eleventh inning, but came up just short. Jose Contreras dueled with Santana for eight innings. Santana ended up pitching nine and striking out ten Buddahs. Adam LaRoche won it with a solo shot in the eleventh.
Arkansas' Roger Clemens notched his 2500th career strikeout last night against the Mighty Men. Clemens struck out eleven in six innings. Clemens also moved closer to win # 200 last night - he is now at 192 for his career
The other newcomer, Team Buddah took Johan Santana and the Endzone Animals deep into the eleventh inning, but came up just short. Jose Contreras dueled with Santana for eight innings. Santana ended up pitching nine and striking out ten Buddahs. Adam LaRoche won it with a solo shot in the eleventh.
Arkansas' Roger Clemens notched his 2500th career strikeout last night against the Mighty Men. Clemens struck out eleven in six innings. Clemens also moved closer to win # 200 last night - he is now at 192 for his career
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monday Musings
Week One is now finished and there is a brand new This Week in the DMBL article going up tonight. Zane wraps up all the events this week in the DMBL. OmahaSteaks are out as the Batter of the Week sponsor...who is the new sponsor?
The Sugar Bears got off to a ridiculous start, but have seemingly come back down to earth. The Sugar Bears were swept in Hillsborough and have not broken the 10-run mark since Wednesday. Not that they have to. The Sugar Bears followed up their sweep by winning their doubleheader against D.C. Sunday and are now sitting comfortably in first place in the Hanover Division.
Meanwhile in the Morris Division, the Endzone Animals suffered their first loss to Team Buddah. The Animals are still sitting in first, but only by one game over the Falcons and two over the Iron Fist and Hired Hitmen. The Morris Division currently has the teams with best four records in the league. This prompted talk of realigning the divisions. The current divisions were first instituted in 1997 when the league expanded for the last time to 14 teams. Maybe the time is right for realignment in 2008?
Sardine City finally broke out of their slump. The Straphangers won their first victory in franchise history Saturday against the Falcons. The game had been delayed when the Arkansas janitor had locked the keys to the stadium in his car and it took seven hours for AAA to respond and get the keys out. Falcons owner Stump Matiash was irate. "If I had known I would have flown down a few boys from Newark to get the car opened." said Stump in a post-game interview. The Sardines won the game 11-3 and carried the momentum into their next series against Carolina, sweeping the Sunday doubleheader against the Cats. "I guess we were the better fish today" said Sardine City manager Bucky Dent.
New Jersey also won their first game, though it took them a little longer. The Buddahs faced a stiff challenge, facing the lone undefeated team in the league. The Endzone Animals already beat the Buddahs in game one and were poised to finish the sweep in game two. The Animals climbed out to an early 2-0 lead after four, but the Buddahs came back in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs off starter Matt Cain. The Animals tied it up in the sixth, but Team Buddah reclaimed the lead the next inning. It looked like they could wrap it up in the ninth, but closer Bob Wickman could not hold down the fort and we were off to extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Corey Patterson doubled in Adam Kennedy, giving Jersey a one-run lead. Wickman, who was still in the game, struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the 11th and Michael Cuddyer flew out to Austin Kearns to end the game and secured Team Buddah's first victory.
Almost forgot to mention - team park images and stats are now updated on all team pages.
The Sugar Bears got off to a ridiculous start, but have seemingly come back down to earth. The Sugar Bears were swept in Hillsborough and have not broken the 10-run mark since Wednesday. Not that they have to. The Sugar Bears followed up their sweep by winning their doubleheader against D.C. Sunday and are now sitting comfortably in first place in the Hanover Division.
Meanwhile in the Morris Division, the Endzone Animals suffered their first loss to Team Buddah. The Animals are still sitting in first, but only by one game over the Falcons and two over the Iron Fist and Hired Hitmen. The Morris Division currently has the teams with best four records in the league. This prompted talk of realigning the divisions. The current divisions were first instituted in 1997 when the league expanded for the last time to 14 teams. Maybe the time is right for realignment in 2008?
Sardine City finally broke out of their slump. The Straphangers won their first victory in franchise history Saturday against the Falcons. The game had been delayed when the Arkansas janitor had locked the keys to the stadium in his car and it took seven hours for AAA to respond and get the keys out. Falcons owner Stump Matiash was irate. "If I had known I would have flown down a few boys from Newark to get the car opened." said Stump in a post-game interview. The Sardines won the game 11-3 and carried the momentum into their next series against Carolina, sweeping the Sunday doubleheader against the Cats. "I guess we were the better fish today" said Sardine City manager Bucky Dent.
New Jersey also won their first game, though it took them a little longer. The Buddahs faced a stiff challenge, facing the lone undefeated team in the league. The Endzone Animals already beat the Buddahs in game one and were poised to finish the sweep in game two. The Animals climbed out to an early 2-0 lead after four, but the Buddahs came back in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs off starter Matt Cain. The Animals tied it up in the sixth, but Team Buddah reclaimed the lead the next inning. It looked like they could wrap it up in the ninth, but closer Bob Wickman could not hold down the fort and we were off to extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Corey Patterson doubled in Adam Kennedy, giving Jersey a one-run lead. Wickman, who was still in the game, struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the 11th and Michael Cuddyer flew out to Austin Kearns to end the game and secured Team Buddah's first victory.
Almost forgot to mention - team park images and stats are now updated on all team pages.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Sugar Bears stymied (finally!)
Well, it finally happened, the Sugar Bears lost their first game and were held in check by Hillsborough rookie Justin Verlander. Verlander only surrendered two earned runs (3 total) in six innings and struck out five. This was Newark's first game against a formidable right-handed foe - yesterday Josh Beckett matchup didn't count).
Philly's Johan Santana had the best pitching line of the season so far. Santana pitched a complete game shutout of Las Vegas, surrendering only four hits, no walks and striking out 14 Rats. Santana improved to 2-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.13. Philly extended their undefeated record to 6-0.
Joining Philly in the ranks of the undefeated, Arkansas also got a good performance from veteran ace Roger Clemens. Clemens pitched eight innings against Sardine City, striking out eight and surrendering only two runs on four hits.
South Boston broke out of the winless column and edged the Sharks 5-4 behind Chris Carpenter's strong outing. The Gang got a big lift from struggling Vladimir Guerrero, who went 2-4 with a homer and four RBIs.
The first part of Marietta's Great Pitching Platoon Experiment was a dud yesterday as starter Mark Hendrickson was pounded by the Bushslappers. "It's only one game" said Hendrickson after he was pulled in the sixth inning. "Stupid Tomko is already talking shit." Brett Tomko is the other member of the home/away platoon.
Philly's Johan Santana had the best pitching line of the season so far. Santana pitched a complete game shutout of Las Vegas, surrendering only four hits, no walks and striking out 14 Rats. Santana improved to 2-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.13. Philly extended their undefeated record to 6-0.
Joining Philly in the ranks of the undefeated, Arkansas also got a good performance from veteran ace Roger Clemens. Clemens pitched eight innings against Sardine City, striking out eight and surrendering only two runs on four hits.
South Boston broke out of the winless column and edged the Sharks 5-4 behind Chris Carpenter's strong outing. The Gang got a big lift from struggling Vladimir Guerrero, who went 2-4 with a homer and four RBIs.
The first part of Marietta's Great Pitching Platoon Experiment was a dud yesterday as starter Mark Hendrickson was pounded by the Bushslappers. "It's only one game" said Hendrickson after he was pulled in the sixth inning. "Stupid Tomko is already talking shit." Brett Tomko is the other member of the home/away platoon.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Win some, lose some
Well two winless teams picked up their first victories yesterday and two undefeated teams suffered their first loss.
No, the Sugar Bears are still undefeated and back up to their old tricks. The Bears continued pounding away at the league, trouncing South Boston, 12-2. Javy Vazquez earned the victory, holding the Gang to only three hits over 6.1 innings - revenge factor?
D.C. and Hoboken each won their first games of the season. Both won by one run with D.C. going to extra innings to break their losing streak. Hoboken handed Hillsborough their first loss of the year. Meanwhile, Vancouver dropped their first in a close match with Marietta. There are three winless and three undefeated teams remaining and both new expansion teams are still in the hunt for their first win of the year.
Carolina's Juan Rivera gets the batting line of the night award. Rivera was 3-3 with 5 RBIs and 2 homers on the night, leading the Cats to a 12-3 pounding of the Rat Pack.
Marietta rookie Jeremy Sowers had the top pitching performance last night, holding the Iron Fist in check for eight innings, striking out seven and allowing only two runs on five hits.
No, the Sugar Bears are still undefeated and back up to their old tricks. The Bears continued pounding away at the league, trouncing South Boston, 12-2. Javy Vazquez earned the victory, holding the Gang to only three hits over 6.1 innings - revenge factor?
D.C. and Hoboken each won their first games of the season. Both won by one run with D.C. going to extra innings to break their losing streak. Hoboken handed Hillsborough their first loss of the year. Meanwhile, Vancouver dropped their first in a close match with Marietta. There are three winless and three undefeated teams remaining and both new expansion teams are still in the hunt for their first win of the year.
Carolina's Juan Rivera gets the batting line of the night award. Rivera was 3-3 with 5 RBIs and 2 homers on the night, leading the Cats to a 12-3 pounding of the Rat Pack.
Marietta rookie Jeremy Sowers had the top pitching performance last night, holding the Iron Fist in check for eight innings, striking out seven and allowing only two runs on five hits.
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