Mr. 1,000

Just call him Mr. 1,000. Mariano Rivera of Marietta last week became the first pitcher in DMBL history to appear in 1,000 games. He worked a perfect two innings Thursday night to save Jason Marquis' 6-4 win over Las Vegas. Trevor Hoffman ranks second with 810 career appearances.

Rivera holds two other longevity records for relievers. His 10th save of the year Tuesday night was the 365th of his career, keeping him way ahead of the next closest pitcher (Billy Wagner, 290). He also has 85 career wins, the most among relievers, but with 1,029 strikeouts he still trails Hoffman (1,083) and Troy Percival (1,081) in that category.

Blue Ridge streak hits 8, Pujols Watch continues

Blue Ridge won again yesterday, their 8th straight win. Carlos Zambrano held his former team, the Mudcats, to only 1 one run on 3 hits in 8 innings, in the 6-1 victory. Kendry Morales was 3-4 with 2 RBIs on the offensive side. The Bombers remain 1/2 game out of first as Vancouver held their ground. Kevin Millwood shut down the Hitmen 3-1, surrendering 1 run and 5 hits in 8.1 innings.

John Lackey shut out the Ant Slayers 8-0, giving up only 5 hits and striking out 7 to improve to 5-4 on the year. Hideki Matsui and Marco Scutaro were both 3-5 for the Sardines, who won their 3rd straight game. The Straphangers are now 3 games under the .500 mark.

Pujols Watch: Albert Pujols hit his 37th homer of the season for Philly yesterday in their 7-5 win. Pujols also drove in 5 runs. We'll be tracking Albert's run at the McGwire record, since he doesn't appear to be slowing down at all.

The future of DMB... update!

Here's the latest from Diamond Mind Baseball. Of particular interest to us is the "2010 Season" section. Version 10 might be nice, but it isn't necessary for DMBL to survive next year.

Diamond Mind Baseball News

DMB is going all electronic. Starting June 1st, DMB will open its new integrated website and online store. From then on, orders will only be taken via the new online store and will no longer be accepted via phone, fax, email, or postal mail. Products will be available by download only; we will no longer provide “hard” (cd) copies. All technical and customer support will be via email to dmb_support@imaginesports.com.

Version 10 Release

DMB version 10 is complete and ready to go, although we did hit a few snags along the way. It's been in final beta for two months with virtually no problems discovered. In the meantime we've been reworking some of the help pages and tweaking and making minor revisions to the greatly expanded play-by-play library. We expect this new release to be up to our standards for quality and reliability, but rest assured that if any bugs are discovered that were missed during testing, we'll try to get a patch up ASAP. As usual, if you're in the middle of a league, v10 will be able to convert it so you'll be able to continue it with the new version. It's also possible to keep both version 9 and version 10 on your system, as they will not interfere with each other.

Unfortunately, David Pyke, who had been providing outstanding tech support, resigned recently due to personal reasons. David, you will be missed and we hope you'll be able to rejoin us in the future!

David’s resignation has complicated the release of version 10. In addition to handling the current technical support calls, he also was going to cover the inevitable increase in volume that arises with a new release. He had been setting up the online store for DMB as well. Although Luke handled tech support before we hired David, he is unable to cover the current load, let alone pick up the increased load of a new release. We have temporarily suspended technical and customer support until a replacement is recruited. Please be patient for now.

As a result, we are looking for a new, experienced tech/customer support person who can hit the ground running. Given that Luke does not have time to provide extensive training, the new tech support person really needs to be someone who already knows the game well, especially NetPlay (port forwarding) and Stats Transfer. The candidate should also be competent in Windows XP, Vista, and 7 and their security settings. When we last posted for this position a few years ago, we had a number of fine applicants and are hoping someone from the community can take this on (or maybe a combination of time from two or three people). If you’re interested, think you’re qualified, and are certain you can commit the time, please send your resume and qualifications to Luke (lkraemer@diamond-mind.com).

On April 30th, we also had to say goodbye to Pat Morgan, the DMB office manager who's been answering your calls and email and processing your orders over the years. Pat began another part-time job last year, which she loves. She was asked to go to full-time, which she was eager to do, and already stayed on temporarily to continue processing orders the old, manually intensive way. Because she could no longer do so, we had to suspend all DMB sales until the new store is up and running.

2010 Season

Some of you have raised concerns that the delays in version 10 foreshadow that DMB will no longer be producing new seasons. These concerns are unfounded we plan to produce the 2010 season this year just like every year. Though Luke has been working part-time for the Red Sox and will continue to do so during the MLB regular season, he'll dive into the 2010 season work once the season is over, and we expect it to be released in December as usual.

We also have some new specialty sets that will be coming out as well.

Thanks!

We realize the delays in version 10 have been frustrating, and we apologize for making you wait. We hope the new playing time limit capability, additional play-by-play, and other features are worth the wait. In appreciation for your patience, we will be charging only $14.95 for version 10. However, this special price will be available only for 90 days. The new online store will not have the ability to distinguish those who have purchased DMB in the past, so there will be no special upgrade pricing once this 90-day period expires. Version 9 owners who have not purchased version 10 during this period will need to pay the full price thereafter, which will then be $29.95.

Blue Ridge catches fire

Blue Ridge kept putting the pressure on Vancouver with their 7th straight victory yesterday, a 6-5 win over Carolina. Carl Crawford was 3-4 and Kendry Morales had 3 RBIs to lead the Bombers to victory. Blue Ridge now sits a mere 1/2 a game back of idle Vancouver.

Meanwhile in the Hanover Division, Marietta is starting to feel some pressure from their division mates. Las Vegas won 9-3 against the Mighty Men yesterday to move to within 3 1/2 games of first. Carlos Pena hit 2 homers and drove in 3 runs and Alex Rodriguez also contributed a home run. The Rats are now tied with Newark for second place.

Bridgewater outslugged the struggling Endzone Animals 12-9. The Mallers were trailing as late as the 8th inning, but they scored 5 runs to take the lead. Derrek Lee was 2-4 with 5 RBIs. Meanwhile Adam Lind was 4-4 with 4 runs and Albert Pujols was 4-5 with 5 RBIs for the Animals. Pujols hit his league leading 35th and 36th home runs of the season, putting him on pace for 92 home runs, which would obviously break Mark McGwire's DMBL record.

Remembering Jose Lima

Jose Lima didn't have a huge impact on the overall DMBL landscape - he only pitched in 3 seasons. Lima was signed as an undrafted free agent on May 1, 1998 by Carolina, but only lasted three months and was released in July. But Lima's mother called Mudcats owner Chris Pucci at home and made him feel bad about cutting the pitcher and in August, the Mudcats signed him back. While the contract specifically prohibited the Mudcats from cutting Lima, it didn't say anything about trading him. So the next year, the Cats sent Lima off to the New York Amazins (who would become the Hawaii Volcanoes later that year) in a deal for Kenny Rogers. The Amazins didn't hold onto him for too long and shipped him off to Jerusalem in a massive trade for, among others, legendary catcher Mike Piazza.

Lima was welcomed with open arms and a fresh bowl of matzoh ball soup. He soon got his chance to pitch, earning a prized spot in the Rabbis rotation and finishing with a very solid 12-10 with a 4.20 ERA. The Rabbis finished second in the Hanover Division that year with 98 wins, but were eliminated in the first round by Lima's arch enemy Carolina Mudcats.

2000 would be Lima Time as the Rabbis won the Hanover Division with 103 wins and continued on to win their first ever World Series championship. Lima regressed a bit, going 15-7, but with a 4.96 ERA. It was the last full season Lima would pitch.

Fresh off the championship season, Lima's contract had expired and the Rabbis elected not to resign him. He was drafted by the Golden Falcons in the 6th round of the Supplemental Round. There apparently wasn't much demand for Lima. He was released during spring training and did not pitch at all that season. In 2002, there were no offers, so Lima signed up with the independent Newark Bears (not affiliated with the Sugar Bears). In 2003, Vancouver signed him to a minor league deal and he pitched for their Triple A team in Tacoma. He was drafted in 2004 again in the Supplemental Round by Newark. But Newark cut him before the season began. Lima's mother again got on the phone and pleaded with Newark's owner Craig Garretson. "I know he sucks, but please give him a chance" Garretson recalls she told him. So the Sugar Bears signed Lima again in June. Lima pitched in 7 games and was disastrous (2-3, 7.04) and Newark released Lima in August.

Lima was again drafted in the Supplemental Round by Hoboken in 2005 (round 9), then cut during spring training. And that was it for Lima. For his career, Lima finished 29-20 with a 4.79 ERA in 72 games. Lima passed away over the weekend at the age of 37 of a heart attack. Hopefully for him, there's a Supplemental Round in the afterlife.

Bailey, Cabrera take prizes

This week's JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week goes to Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera hit .483 (14-29) with a .545 OBP and .897 slugging. Cabrera hit 4 homers, scored 7 runs and drove in 10 runs. Hoboken recently had a tough 7-game losing streak, but salvaged the week by winning their last three games. Cabrera got most of his big numbers toward the end of the week getting hits in 13 of his last 18 at bats.

Cabrera's big competition this week came from Vancouver's Ryan Ludwick (.444/.474/.917, 5 HRs, 13 RBIs). Other top batters: Marietta's Adrian Gonzalez (.391/.545/.913, 4 HR 8 R), Blue Ridge's Jason Bartlett (.500/.542/.727), Sardine City's Evan Longoria-Parker (.407/.515/.852, 3 HR, 11 RBI), New Jersey's Joey Votto (.458/.536/.833) and Franklin Gutierrez (.455/.478/.864, 3 HR), and Carolina's Aramis Ramirez (.379/.471/.793, 3 HR, 8 R, 7 RBI).

This week's Lost Pitcher of the Week Award goes to Philadelphia's Homer Bailey. Bailey, a perpetual future star prospect, finally shows some glimmer of all the hype he's received over the years. Bailey was 2-0 with an 0.69 ERA and 0.92 WHIP this week, striking out 12 in 13 innings. Not bad for an injury fill-in, huh? That's right, Bailey is only in the rotation because of a month-long injury to Philly ace Roy Halladay.

Other top hurlers: Carolina's Barry Zito (2-0, 1.29, 16 K, 1.00 WHIP), Newark's Ted Lilly (1-1, 1.93), Arkansas' Cliff Lee (2-0, 3.55), and Marietta's Mike Adams (0-0, 1.42, 11 K, in 6.1 IP, 0.32 WHIP). The hardluck loser of the week is Vancouver's rookie Mat Latos who was 0-2 despite a 2.63 ERA and 1.02 WHIP.

Guerrero catches Piazza at No. 7

New Jersey's Vladimir Guerrero matched Mike Piazza for 7th all-time in home runs Friday night at Home Depot Stadium. His 9th homer of the season, coming after a Seth Smith bomb off Marietta's John Danks to start the sixth inning, was No. 406 for his career.

Guerrero had been jockeying with Newark's Chipper Jones (393) for a number of seasons on the home run list but has pulled away in the last year or so. Once he passes Piazza, Guerrero will have to target the 2011 season to try to catch No. 6 Ken Griffey, Jr. (444) and No. 5 Sammy Sosa (446).