The Curious Case of Matt Joyce

Just who is this Matt Joyce character that seems to be finding his way onto multiple DMBL rosters?

Joyce, a DMBL rookie, was drafted in the 8th round of the 2009 draft by New Jersey (109th overall). Joyce didn't even make it to opening day. The Buddahs cut Joyce on March 13th, just before the season officially started. A few weeks later, Philadelphia traded away star outfielder Magglio Ordonez, leaving a void in their outfield. The Endzone Animals took a chance on the young Joyce, hoping he might compete with newly-acquired Fred Lewis for the spot. Well, he lost. Joyce only got into 4 games, getting one hit in five at bats with two strikeouts. Not that Lewis was doing any better at that point. Lewis was only hitting a mere .140 at the time, but the club liked his potential better, so Joyce was cut a week after getting signed. The move panned out for Philly too - Lewis is batting .343/.409/.485 since being acquired from Carolina.

Two days later, Joyce was claimed by the powerhouse Sugar Bears. The Sugar Bears have a long legacy of turning no-names like Jack Cust, Mark DeRosa, and Frank Menechino into stars. Surely Matt Joyce would finally turn his season around. Well, no, it just wasn't happening in Newark. The club couldn't find a role for Joyce and he only saw one at bat in 6 games before being released less than a week later.

It took 9 days for Joyce to latch onto his 4th team of the season. The Hoboken Cutters were hit with a pair of injuries that took out a couple of their starting outfielders. First Marlon Byrd, then Ryan Church landed on the DL. Joyce was passed over for Josh Willingham, but the Cutters decided to give him a chance after the second injury. All this time, Joyce just wanted a real chance to show what he could do. Sure enough, the Cutters put Joyce into the starting lineup and he's gotten 21 at bats so far with Hoboken. Unfortunately for Joyce, he's hitting a paltry .143 with a .280 on base percentage and .190 slugging. Church and Byrd are due back in about a week. The good news is that Joyce, as bad as he's been, is barely outhitting Willingham, so he may buy himself an extra day or two. The bad news is that he'll probably be let loose as soon as both outfielders are healthy.

Will he latch onto a 5th team? Stay tuned...

Sugar Bears drop 4 straight

The Sugar Bears are facing unfamiliar territory - a losing streak. The Sugar Bears have dropped four in a row with the latest, a 5-4 defeat to their divisional rivals, Las Vegas. The Sugar Bears could muster only 5 hits in the game, though the 4 walks probably helped a bit. It's the longest losing streak of the year for the Sugar Bears who suddenly find themselves 3 1/2 games out of 1st place.

Meanwhile, the Mighty Men have taken full advantage, winning five straight and taking a 1-game lead in the Hanover. Team Buddah was the latest victim in a 4-2 contest. Scott Baker pitched 7.1 strong innings giving up 2 runs and 7 hits. Josh Hamilton was the offensive hero, going 4-5 with a home run.

In the Morris Division, the Carolina Mudcats have regained the lead after beating the Sardines 4-2. Roy Halladay improved to 5-4 with a solid 8-inning performance, holding the Straphangers to 5 hits in the game. Halladay also had 7 strikeouts in the game, moving him past Chuck Finley to 19th all-time with 1172. Vernon Wells was 4-4 with 2 doubles in the contest. Meanwhile, the Hired Hitmen dropped a 10-6 decision to the Endzone Animals. David Bush was strong for 7 innings, giving up one run on 6 hits and Andre Ethier was 2-5 with 4 RBIs. The Hitmen tried to stage a comeback, scoring 5 runs in the 8th, but the bats went quiet in the 9th when Huston Street struck out the side.

The Maine Man in Carolina

Marietta won a 6-4 decision against Team Buddah and now holds a full one-game lead in the Hanover Division. Ryan Dempster held the Buddahs to 4 hits over 8 innings to collect his 4th win and Mariano Rivera clinched the 9th for his 11th save. Mike Jacobs was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in defeat.

John Maine has now pitched 5 quality starts in a row and has won his last 4 decision to improve to 4-2 on the season with a respectable 4.33 ERA (consider it was 12.27 before his streak). Yesterday Maine pitched 8 innings, allowing only one earned run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Dustin Pedroia was 3-3 in the contest for the Mudcats.

Omar Infante was 2-4 with 4 RBIs in Vancouver's 6-2 victory over D.C. Zack Greinke went the distance, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits.

Things are tightening up in the Morris Division. First-place Hillsborough was off yesterday, but Carolina's win put them just 1/2 game out of first. Vancouver moved to 2 1/2 games out with their victory and idle Philadelphia remained 4 games out in 4th place.

Moose, McCann, claim honors

This week featured a pretty light schedule for most teams. Only two teams played every day this week - Marietta and Carolina - while other teams barely played at all - Blue Ridge only had 3 games this week. Some of the favorites for the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize were already mentioned in last week's Blog entries. Sentimental choice Ken Griffey had a good week for Vancouver, hitting .368 with a 1.113 OPS and a home run. We all read about the hot streak that Lance Berkman and David Wright had for Arkansas. Berkman was the clear winner between those two - .409/.480/.955 with 4 homers, 7 runs, and 10 RBIs, though most of that was done in two games. But this week's prize will go to D.C.'s Brian McCann who hit an astounding .435 with a .567 on base percentage and 1.130 slugging. He led the league with 5 home runs this week and scored 10 runs while driving in 8. Enjoy your Fonsecas, Brian!

Other top batters this week: Carolina's Xavier Nady (.433/.419/.500), D.C.'s Dan Uggla (.381/.435/.905, 3 HR), Las Vegas' Joe Mauer (.464/.464/.679), Philly's Mark Teixeira (.368/.429/.684) and Sardine City's Conor Jackson (.375/.407/.583). We have to give a special acknowledgement to Jason Kubel who, although he only got into 3 games this week as a part-timer, hit 3 home runs in 7 at bats. Maybe we need to make a new award for Bench Guy of the Week?

It was a close race for this week's pitcher prize, but Marietta's Mike Mussina gets the nod for this week's Weird Graves Pitcher of the Week Award. Moose won both his starts and holding his opponents to only 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks in 15 innings, while striking out 16 batters. He ends the week with a 1.80 ERA and 0.67 WHIP. His closest competition was Las Vegas' Josh Beckett, who also won both his starts, including a complete game shutout of Amityville. Beckett also struck out 15 batters in his 16 innings of work, but his 1.31 WHIP cost him the prize this week.

Other top pitchers: Carolina's Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-0, 2.45 in 2 games) and Carlos Zambrano (1-0, 3.29, 11 K, in 13.2 IP), D.C.'s Jonathan Papelbon (1-0, save, 1.50 in 6 games), Marietta's Ervin Santana (1-0, 3.18, 16 K), and Hoboken's Aaron Cook (1-1, 3.00). Two more one-game wonders of note: Amityville's Roy Oswalt, who pitched a 4-hit shutout and Blue Ridge's Adam Wainwright, who pitched a 3-hitter.

Berkman, Wright stay red hot

Lance Berkman kept his hot streak alive with another home run today and 4 RBIs. David Wright is trying to keep pace with a homer and 2 RBIs as well. Both players have exploded the last two games and will compete over the weekend for a box of Fonsecas. Arkansas was getting blown out in last night's game by a 9-3 margin entering the bottom of the 8th, but Wright hit his 2-run homer to bring the team to within 4 runs. Then in the 9th, it all fell apart for D.C. Ray Durham led off with a single then Ty Wigginton was hit by a pitch. Martin Prado and Ryan Ludwick both walked. Then with the bases loaded, Berkman hit a mammoth shot over the right field wall to win the game for Arkansas.

Adam Wainwright shut out the Iron Fist on 3 hits in a 4-0 win for Blue Ridge. Carl Crawford was 4-4 and Michael Young hit a homer and drove in 2 against his former club. Vancouver's offense has gone into a tailspin since David Ortiz was injured 4 days ago. Since then, the club has scored a total of 4 runs and has 25 hits in 4 games. The good news is that Ryan Doumit will rejoin the team today after being out for almost 3 weeks. The bad news is, the catchers were not the problem - Victor Martinez and Jeff Clement have combined to go 6 for 15 in the past 4 games (.400 average).

Roy Oswalt pitched the day's other shutout - a 4-hit effort against Las Vegas. Oswalt struck out 9 Rats to improve to 4-3 in the 4-0 victory.

The Sugar Bears rallied in the 9th to take a 6-5 decision against the Cutters. Jack Cust's 3-run homer gave the Sugar Bears just enough to overcome the deficit while Joey Devine pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his 7th save. With the Rats and Mighty Men both losing, the Sugar Bears are once again tied for 1st place in the Hanover Division.

Berkman, Wright lift Falcons

Vancouver and Blue Ridge battled to a 1-0 final, with the Iron Fist taking the decision. Zack Greinke pitched 7.2 innings of 4-hit ball and striking out 7 to improve to 5-2 on the season. Billy Wagner picked up his 10th save. The lone run scored in the third when Chase Utley doubled in Curtis Granderson. Gavin Floyd was the hard-luck loser, pitching 8.1 innings and giving up 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

Carolina regained the lead in the Morris Division with a 5-4 win over Philadelphia. Xavier Nady was 2-3 with 3 RBIs, including the game sac fly in the 8th. Mark Reynolds was 3-3 for the Animals. Meanwhile, Hillsborough was stifled by Mike Mussina and the Mighty Men. Mussina pitched a complete game, giving up only 2 hits and one run while striking out 10. Felix Hernandez had 9 strikeouts in 5 innings on the losing end, but a pair of Ryan Theriot errors undid the team.

New Jersey outlasted Sardine City 5-4, despite only getting 4 hits total in the game. The problem was the 7 walks issued by the Straphangers, including 4 by the team's bullpen. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched well (6.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 4 K) but got a no-decision. The Buddahs scored 4 runs in the eighth when the Sardine City bullpen walked three straight batters to load the bases then served up a spicy meatball to Mike Jacobs who deposited it into the right field bleachers.

Lance Berkman's 3 home runs and 6 RBIs propelled the Falcons to a 9-7 victory over D.C. yesterday. David Wright also hit 2 homers in the contest. The two batters drove in all of Arkansas' 9 runs.

Divisional position shuffling

Josh Beckett pitched a complete game shutout of Amityville yesterday - a 10-hit, 8-strikeout effort en route to a 7-0 decision. Carlos Pena hit a 2-run homer in the third and Alex Gordon did the same in the fourth to propel the Rat Pack offense.

Meanwhile, first-place Marietta fell into a tie with idle Newark for first place in the Hanover Division after dropping a 9-4 contest to Hillsborough. Ron Belliard was 3-5 and Billy Butler was 2-5 with 3 RBIs to lead the way for the Hitmen. Wandy Rodriguez earned his first victory of the season with a strong 6-inning effort. Hillsborough moves into first place, a half a game ahead of Carolina.

The Mudcats dropped an extra-inning affair to fraternal rival Philadelphia. The Cats built up a quick 8-3 lead on the Animals, but Philly clawed their way back. A four-run 8th inning, highlighted by a 2-run Albert Pujols double, tied up the game. Pujols then came through again in the 10th when he hit the game winning single off reliever Buddy Carlyle.

Dustin McGowan was smoked in the first few innings of his start against New Jersey yesterday, but the Sardines ended up with an 11-7 victory anyway. Conor Jackson was 2-3 with 5 RBIs and Ryan Braun had 3 RBIs to power the Straphangers.