Dunn finishes career on walk-off HR

Adam Dunn finished a productive if not storied DMBL career in stunning fashion, hitting a walk-off home run off Tom Koehler in the bottom of the ninth to give Hopatcong a 5-4 win over Philly in the 2015 regular season finale. It's one of the more memorable finishes to a career since Mike Mussina tossed a complete game in his final start to push Marietta past Newark in Game 7 of the 2009 DMBL World Series.

Dunn, who last year announced this would be his final season, was signed twice by the Floating Fish this season, both times to fill in at first base for an injured Joey Votto. In 40 games, he batted just .140/.225/.322, but smacked 6 home runs.

It wasn't a great final season but it was enough to get Dunn past Todd Helton on the all-time home run list. He finished just one home run short of becoming the 27th player to reach 300 for his career. Dunn also finishes with 1,615 career strikeouts, 11th-most in DMBL history, trailing Bobby Abreu (1,642) and just ahead of Barry Bonds (1,607).

It's as good a time as any for a career retrospective of The Big Donkey, who was dealt five times and played for nine teams during his 13 seasons.

The giant, left-handed slugger was drafted by the now-defunct Phoenix Dragons as an ineligible prospect in the 4th round of the 2002 draft. After a middling 2003 season for Phoenix, Dunn was let go but picked up by Hillsborough in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft.

It wasn't until 2005 when he really made his mark, knocking 55 home runs and 150 RBIs and following up with 46 dingers and 127 RBIs in 2006 -- the two highest marks of his career. He also played in 162 and 163 games, respectively, those two seasons. Surprisingly, Dunn would never reach 100 RBIs again but he did keep on slugging.

Hillsborough sent him to Arkansas in a blockbuster deal during the 2008 offseason. The Hit Men sent Dunn with Alex Rodriguez, Jeremy Bonderman, Ian Snell and Jonathan Broxton to Arkansas for Dan Haren, Nick Markakis, and four draft picks: a 7th in 2008, 4th and 7th in 2009, and a 5th in 2010.

Dunn never completed the 2008 season in Arkansas, slugging .529 in 92 games but batting just .220. The Golden Falcons shipped him to Philly at the deadline for Jonathan Sanchez and a 2010 3rd rounder. He didn't end up spending much time in Philly either. That offseason, the End Zone Animals traded Dunn to Hoboken, along with a 9th rounder in 2009 and a 6th in 2011, in exchange for Scott Kazmir.

Dunn enjoyed two consistent seasons in Hoboken, with 37 and 35 homers and 79 and 80 RBIs, respectively, but again ended up going elsewhere. The Cutters sent him and Hillsborough's 5th round pick in 2011 to Amityville for Matt Cain and a 2012 6th rounder.

Only months later, there would be one more trade in the cards for Dunn before spending his final seasons bouncing around as free agent/draftee. Blue Ridge acquired him from Amityville with a 12th rounder in 2012 for Cole Hamels and a 2012 4th rounder.

In all, Dunn was traded five times in deals that totaled 10 players and 11 draft picks (6 coming back, 5 going with him).

Alvarez misses on 20th win in season finale

Henderson Alvarez missed out on being a 20-game winner as San Francisco succumbed to Blue Ridge, 9-2, in the 2015 regular season finale. He was roughed up for 7 hits and 7 runs in 6 2/3 innings and paid the price for 5 walks.

Despite a 3.52 ERA (4th best on the team), Alvarez still led the league with 19 wins -- thanks to league-high run support of 5.8 runs/game -- one better than Vancouver's Johnny Cueto (18-9). He would have been the DMBL's first 20-game winner since Hoboken's Clayton Kershaw last season.

The Experience is the third team for Alvarez in barely a year. He was acquired in the offseason from Sardine City, along with a 2015 5th rounder, in exchange for a 1st round pick in 2016. He spent a brief time as a Straphanger, coming over from Hoboken in a 2014 deadline deal for relievers Luke Hochevar, Caleb Thielbar and a 2015 13th rounder.

The 25-year-old Venezuelan entered the season with a 22-22 record in two DMBL seasons, mainly the result of an impressive rookie year in 2012 with Vancouver. He went 15-14 in a career-high 225 innings, with a 4.24 ERA and a career-best 1.12 WHIP.

Turner snares batting title

Marietta's Justin Turner snagged the DMBL batting title, qualifying in the final week to jump past Tucson's Jose Altuve.

After the all-star break, Altuve overtook Pablo Sandoval of Arkansas in the batting race and was enjoying a comfortable lead down the stretch. But a handful of extra at-bats may have pushed Turner across the finish line. He went 3-for-10 (probably getting an extra 6 at-bats) in a record-setting, 22-inning win over Vancouver last week and qualified for the batting crown within days, jumping into the race at .340, ahead of Altuve's .334.

With five more starts to finish the year, Turner ultimately finished with 510 plate appearances -- 8 more than the minimum to qualify for the batting race (3.1 plate appearances per games played by the team, or 502). He ended the season hitting .337 to Altuve's .330; Sandoval finished third at .320.

Turner's situation is sort of the opposite of what happened last year when Sardine City essentially benched Christian Yelich for the final month of the season. Despite hitting .352, the rookie first-rounder eventually failed to qualify for the batting title, ceding the crown to San Francisco's Hanley Ramirez, who hit .346.

Turner made 112 starts at shortstop for Marietta, splitting time with Didi Gregorius and Derek Jeter. He also had a stint on the disabled list but batted lead off for the Mighty Men against right-handers. Jeter meanwhile made just four starts for Marietta in his final season, collecting 5 hits, and finishing his career as the all-time DMBL hits leader with 2,994 -- just 6 short of 3,000.

While Altuve has to settle for second place in batting average he was far and away the leader in hits (236) along with a league-high 763 plate appearances in 162 starts at second base for the Scorpions. Victor Martinez of San Francisco (194) and Empire City's Daniel Murphy (191) finished behind Altuve in hits.

Turner also finished as the league's leader in on-base percentage (.396), jumping head of Livingston's Jayson Heyward and Poovey's Freddie Freeman (.385).

Kazmir tosses DMBL's 3rd no-hitter of 2015

DMBL pitchers tied a league record with the third no-hitter this season. This time it was San Francisco's Scott Kazmir, who walked just one and struck out six in downing Vancouver, 2-0, at home on Thursday night.

Kazmir was tantalizingly close to throwing DMBL's first-ever perfect game. He walked John Jay with one out in the 5th but followed that up by inducing a ground-ball double play from Anthony Rendon, so he faced the minimum 27 batters. Of his 116 pitches, 75 went for strikes.

The Experience got all the runs they needed in the first, with a bases-loaded single by Jonathan LuCroy. The game featured zero extra-base hits.

Johnny Cueto, who tossed his own no-hitter this year, wasn't too shabby for Vancouver, going the distance. He surrendered four hits and two runs while striking out 10 and walking four. The first inning was his undoing, giving up three of his four hits and two of his four walks.

Kazmir is enjoying his best season yet after a solid year with the Experience in 2014, following three seasons away from the DMBL. He broke in as a highly-touted prospect with Hoboken in 2006. After losing 19 games in 2008, he was shipped to Philly, where he went 15-8 with a 5.03 ERA in 2009. In Vancouver the next season, he made only seven starts before disappearing. Kazmir re-emerged with San Francisco, when the Experience drafted him in 2014. He went 10-4 in 22 starts with a career-best 4.41 ERA.

With the no-hitter, Kazmir improves to 14-6 and lowers his ERA to 2.87, good for 7th in the league, and his WHIP to 1.18.

The other no-hitter this season was a combined effort for Hillsborough, by Garrett Richards and Carlos Martinez. It's the second year in a row that the league has seen a season-high three no-hitters.

It's the first no-hitter for the Experience since relocating to San Francisco. Previously, the franchise had no-hitters by Brett Myers in 2011 and AJ Burnett in 2008 when it was located in Las Vegas.

Richards and Martinez combine on Hillsborough's first-ever no-hitter

Garrett Richards tossed 8 2/3 no-hit innings before Carlos Martinez came on to finish off Marietta for the first no-hitter in Hillsborough history. The Hit Men dropped the Mighty Men 5-0 on Tuesday night in the league's second no-hitter this season. Vancouver's Johnny Cueto fired that franchise's first-ever no-hitter in May.

Richards finished with 10 strikeouts and four walks amid two rain delays of 14 minutes and 34 minutes, respectively. Richards retired the first two batters in the 9th before walking Oswaldo Arcia.

The Diamond Conference's All-Star starter then was lifted for Martinez, who promptly tossed a wild pitch and walked Carl Crawford before striking out Chris Coghlan to preserve the no-no.

Hillsborough scored three runs in the fourth with alternating singles and doubles and two runs in the seventh, all coming off Marietta starter Alfredo Simon, who was starting for the injured Adam Wainwright. The Hit Men managed only two extra-base hits.

Richards improved to 13-5 and lowered his ERA to 2.57, tied for 3rd in the league. He walked one in the 1st inning and retired 10 in a row between walks in the 3rd and 6th innings, and walking his final batter.

It's the 16th no-hitter in DMBL history. Nine of those have come since the 2011 season, including a record three in 2014. The first seven no-hitters in league history were tossed between 1998 and 2008. It's also the fifth combined no-no, the first since Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Motte teamed up for Sardine City in 2012.

July Players of the Month

San Francisco was the league's hottest team of July, going 21-7 and expanding their lead in the Drabek Division to 17 1/2 games. Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons posted a 19-9 record in July and getting a little breathing room atop the Fisk Division. Vancouver (17-11) has come on strong and moved up not only in the Fisk Division, but also in the wild card standings. El Paso (18-14) has come out of nowhere to even up their record before falling down under .500 just before the month ended. Sardine City (8-20) posted the league's worst record by far and has just surpassed Philadelphia as the worst team in the league.

July's JR Cigar Smokin' Batter of the Month is Jhonny Peralta of Arkansas. Now in his second year with the Falcons, the well-traveled Peralta has helped the Falcons return to glory, leading the Kruk Division by 4 games as of the end of the month. Peralta has been decent for the Falcons this year, but really cranked it up in July. Peralta hit .339 with a 1.043 OPS, smacking 13 doubles and 7 homers, with 33 RBIs and a .643 slugging. Overall, Peralta is htiting .255/.332/.442 with 17 homers and 71 RBIs. Other considerations: El Paso's Dexter Fowler (.359/.439/.521, 2 3Bs, 26 runs), Empire City's Adam Jones (.916 OPS, 10 2Bs, 8 HRs, 24 RBIs), Poovey Farms Freddie Freeman (.342/.440/.535, 11 2Bs) and Kyle Seager (.915 OPS, 9 HR, 23 R, 3 SB), Allentown's Matt Kemp (.923 OPS, 7 HR), Vancouver's J.D. Martinez (6 HR, 20 R, 24 RBIs), and Tucson's Jose Altuve (.309, 12 SBs).

July's Omaha Steaks Pitcher of the Month is Clayton Kershaw of Hoboken. Kershaw had gotten off to a mediocre start for the Cutters, but has turned on the heat in July. Kershaw won 5 of his 6 starts with a 1.80 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. Kershaw struck out 63 in 50 innings while walking only 3. On the season, Kershaw is 12-9 with a 3.23 ERA. Other notables: El Paso's Jason Hammel (3-0, 1.84, 0.72 WHIP), Marietta's Pat Neshek (2-0, 0.52, 7 SV, 0.81 WHIP), Tucson's Ken Giles (2-1, 1.56, 8 SV, 0.69 WHIP), Poovey Farms' Danny Duffy (1.13, 0.88 WHIP) and Yu Darvish (6-0, 51 K), and Arkansas' Zach Britton (3-0, 1.17, 4 SV).

Many teams endured some minor injuries during the month and San Francisco even got Anibal Sanchez back after being out for over a month. Livingston took the longest duration injury when backup catcher Ryan Hanigan took an ill-advised swim in the Amazon river and was swarmed by piranhas. Surgeons have just finished reconstructing his left arm and are now ready to move on to his right. Philadelphia's Dustin Pedroia reported feeling blase to the team doctors. While no real injury was found, doctors advised Pedroia to take a few weeks off and try to "find himself." Poovey Farms and Livingston's matchup on the penultimate day of the month knocked out both starters Yu Darvish and Chris Archer for a bit. After watching the Princess Bride, both were convinced they could survive the fire swamps. Both sustained injuries, but luckily avoided any R.O.U.S.'s.

ASG candidates: Micro starters

The Micro Conference doesn't seem to have the depth at starting pitcher that the Diamond Conference has, but that doesn't mean there's no all-star quality names to consider for the potential roster.

If no-hitters are a qualification for your all-star ballot, then Vancouver's Johnny Cueto is your man. His no-no in June helped his otherwise to-this-point mediocre stats and fueled an Iron First resurgence after a slow start. He's now 7-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.81 and his WHIP to 1.21. Teammate Matt Latos deserves a look, with a lower ERA (3.05), WHIP (1.18) and better winning percentage, 7-4.

Rookie Tanner Roark is probably the least-heralded name in the Allentown rotation but he leads the squad with a 2.88 ERA (good for 10th in the league) and stands at 7-5. Lefty David Price is the veteran of the rotation, and despite just an 8-7 mark, he's among the league leaders in WHIP (1.01), strikeouts (126), innings (127.1) and complete games (5) to go with 2 shutouts. A couple of other Mules might warrant consideration. Hishahi Iwakuma is 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.18 WHIP while John Lackey is 8-6 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Roark and Lackey also have a conference-leading 12 quality starts.

Collin McHugh is the strongest candidate for Poovey Farms. He is second in the conference with a 1.04 WHIP and stands at 9-4 with a 3.07 ERA.

Hoboken is led by an unlikely candidate. Hiroki Kuroda, in his final season, is tops in the conference with 10 wins, to go with 11 quality starts, 3.12  ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Two other Cutters are on opposite sides of the ballot. Despite a 4.59 ERA, Kyle Lohse has been lucky enough to go 9-4 while Clayton Kershaw is just 6-7 despite leading the league virtually all year in strikeouts (150) and among the most innnings pitched (121.7). He's also third in K/BB (6.5) and though his 3.77 ERA isn't all-star like he sports a 1.17 WHIP and 3 complete games.

Corey Kluber is Sardine City's best hope for an all-star starter. Another candidate with a weak record (6-5), the righty is carrying the rotation, with a league-high 5 complete games, in addition to 2 shutouts. He's also among the conferences elite in strikeouts (123) and WHIP (1.14) and innings (118.2).

Blue Ridge dealt its best pitcher, Jon Lester, earlier in the year. He was 6-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 12 starts. Now the Bombers are left with Matt Garza as their best hope. Though he's 5-6, the veteran righty has a 3.64 ERA and among the conference's best in WHIP (1.12) and quality starts (11).

Arkansas ripped off a huge winning streak toward the midway point of the season, thanks mostly to its offense, but Matt Shoemaker and Alex Cobb have been among the beneficiaries. Shoemaker has improved to 8-4 with a 1.14 WHIP though his 4.05 ERA could be a turn-off. Cobb has the better ERA (3.28) but weaker WHIP (1.26) yet he's 7-5 in 10 quality starts. Rookie Marcus Stroman also is 7-5 with a 1.17 WHIP and 3.82 ERA.