Week 2 - April 6, 2008

A Week for Streaks

Maybe the DMBL teams have been watching too much March Madness. Just like in the NCAA Tournament, the first two weeks have provided some shocking upsets and plenty of hot and cold streaks. But unlike the tournament, we've got a long way to go before it's time to crown the national champion.

So far this season Las Vegas Rat Pack is 11-0 against everybody except defending World Series champions. The Rats rode a season-opening 10-game winning streak into the Cereal Bowl, where the Newark Sugar Bears reminded the brash young squad that they're not ready to give up their crown just yet. The Sugar Bears crushed the Rats by a combined score of 29-11, and are now riding a five-game winning streak of their own after going a perfect 4-0 this week. But the Rats are still a game up in the division - and have the best record overall - because no other team has figured out how to beat them yet... Apparently the Tampa Bay Plunkers didn't get the memo about new franchises being bad. The Splash went 3-1 this week to improve to 8-2, and are now riding a three-game winning streak... The Hoboken Cutters have had an up-and-down season, winning three straight and then dropping three straight. They won Saturday night's game to move back to .500 on the season... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta dropped three out of five games this week... The Sardine City Straphangers and New Jersey Team Buddah each won one game this week. The Straps won Monday's game, then dropped five straight, while New Jersey finally ended a 9-game losing streak by winning Friday night's game.

While the Hanover Division teams were largely in the same places they were in Week 1, everything got shaken up in the Morris. Rising to the top were the defending division champion Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who won all five of their games this week - including a Saturday afternoon win over the D.C. Bushslappers to claim the division lead. The Bushslappers had won five straight games, but dropped their last two on the week to finish at 4-2, a game behind Philly... The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen have followed the same pattern, with five straight wins followed by back-to-back losses. That leaves them right where they started, at .500... The Vancouver Iron Fist, on the other hand, have bounced back from five straight losses to win three in a row, and are now just 2 games under .500... The Blue Ridge Bombers are tied with the Straphangers for the league's longest active losing streak at five games... The Carolina Mudcats just can't seem to get anything going this year as they lost five out of six this week... The Arkansas Golden Falcons split their six games this week, including their final two, to jump all the way from last place to 12th.

A.J. Does It His Way

The Rat Pack made several big-name acquisitions in the off-season - Erik Bedard, Francisco Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki and Jim Thome, to name a few. Somewhat overshadowed among all those stars was A.J. Burnett, once one of the brightest prospects in the DMBL (he was drafted as an ineligible player in '99 and '00, then taken in the 8th round of '01). But Burnett, who has a career 64-58 record with a 4.07 ERA over five seasons for four teams, has had just one good DMBL season - 2006, when he went 15-8 with a 3.45 ERA for Marietta. This season, he may finally live up to his potential as he's off to a terrific start, including a 2-0 record this week (3 ER, 12 H, 8 BB, 18 K in 14.2 IP), earning him the Cooking With Coolio Pitcher of the Week Award. Burnett particularly enjoyed his performance against his old team, the Mighty Men, as he held them to just four hits and one walk over the first eight innings; he was came within one out of throwing a shutout, but was pulled after walking the bases loaded in the 9th. (Damaso Marte came on to strike out Josh Bard for the final out.) A.J. credits his early success to his teammates and especially pitching coach Sam "May Day" Malone. "I feel like I'm in a place where everybody knows my name," he said. "And they're always glad I came."

This week's other top starting pitchers: Arkansas's Wandy Rodriguez (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 7.4 R/9, 1 BB, 13 K in 11.0 IP); Carolina's Roy Halladay (6-hit shutout); and New Jersey's Brad Penny (0 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K in 7.0 IP).

Welcome back: Long-time Dragons closer Troy Percival earned his first save in three years this week. The 38-year-old righthander had retired following the 2005 season but decided to come back after seeing The Rookie starring Dennis Quaid. He reported to Iron Fist camp as a non-roster invitee and showed he still had enough stuff to make it in the DMBL. Percival, who won the Dennis Eckersley Award in 2002, picked up the save this week after throwing three scoreless innings to close out a 5-0 win over Blue Ridge. Percival admitted he'd retired after the 2005 season not because he'd lost his stuff, but because his heart was no longer in it. "I just couldn't take playing for franchises that were going nowhere," Percival said - over his 10-year career, he'd never reached the post-season or even pitched for a winning team. "The chance to finally be part of a quality organization like Vancouver is why I came back. Closer, setup, garbage man... I don't care, I just want a legit shot at a ring." Things weren't quite as rosey the first week, when Percival blew a save against Philly. That was the 61st blown save of his career - the most of any pitcher in DMBL history. He's third all-time in saves with 184, 75 behind new teammate Billy Wagner.

This week's other top relievers: Arkansas's Jonathan Broxton (1 W, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K in 2.1 IP); D.C.'s Joe Nathan (2 W, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 4.0 IP); Hillsborough's Peter Moylan (1 W, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 5.0 IP); New Jersey's Bobby Jenks (1 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K in 2.1 IP); Philly's J.J. Putz (3 SV, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 4.1 IP); Sardine City's C.J. Wilson (1 SV, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 3 K in 5.0 IP); and Tampa Bay's Lee Gardner (2 SV, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K in 3.1 IP).

Cust No Bust

When you're such a well-known prospect that you're invited to write a column about prospects, there's going to be a lot of attention paid to you when you finally make it to the big show. Jack Cust had quite a lot to live up to - he was drafted as an ineligible player four times by four different teams before finally getting his big break this season with Newark. Adding to the pressure, the defending champions made him their first-round pick (#14 overall). So far, Cust has more than lived up to the hype; this week, had 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 R and 11 RBI. He led the league in OPS (1.936), runs created (12.7), RC/27 (49.0) and total average (3.429), earning the rookie his first-ever JRCigars.com Smoking Batter of the Week Award. On the season, Cust is hitting .396 (1.390 OPS) with 7 HR, 17 R and 20 RBI in just 15 games. "I grew up in New Jersey so of course I was a Sugar Bear fan," Cust said. "Me and some other players from Immaculata High School drove up to Newark for Game 5, and my friends all wanted to leave after Vancouver went up 3-1. But I convinced them to stick around and we saw Mark McGwire hit that monster home run off Mel Rojas in the 8th inning. It was definitely the biggest moment I've ever seen in person." Cust now hopes to create some big moments of his own as he hopes to lead Newark to a record eighth-straight World Series. "I've modeled my whole career on Big Mac, right down to his workout regime," Cust said. "To play on the same team as he did is a dream come true."

This week's other top batters: Arkansas's Alex Rodriguez (.333, 1.010 OPS, 1 HR, 5 R); Carolina's Travis Hafner (.333, 1.042 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI); D.C.'s Adrian Beltre (.353, 1.389 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); Hillsborough's Dmitri Young (.333, 1.056 OPS, 2 2B, 5 RBI); Las Vegas's Matt Holliday (.500, 1.403 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); Marietta's Casey Kotchman (.500, 1.238 OPS, 1 2B, 5 R); New Jersey's Alfonso Soriano (.368, 1.158 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI); Newark's Bobby Abreu (.571, 1.743 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI); Philly's Jimmy Rollins (.350, 1.035 OPS, 1 3B, 6 R, 1 SB); Tampa Bay's Adrian Gonzalez (.375, 1.100 OPS, 2 2B, 4 R); and Vancouver's Mike Lowell (.400, 1.429 OPS, 4 HR, 8 RBI).

Catching Some Injuries

Judging from the sims, the Swami and the standings, it looks certain that the Sugar Bears and Rat Pack will be battling for the Hanover Division title. The two teams tangled for the first time this week, and it looks like there's already some bad blood brewing. The Rats' Pat Neshek plunked Hideki Matsui in the first game, and the Sugar Bears' Javier Vazquez responded the next day by drilling Matt Holliday. Then, in the bottom of the 3rd, Nick Swisher had to leave the game after stumbling over the first base bag while running out a fly ball; he claims he was tripped by first baseman Carlos Pena. Things got really ugly in the bottom of the 7th when Joe Mauer tried to score from second on a single; the throw from Luke Scott beat him by 10 feet, but Mauer lowered his shoulder and plowed into fellow catcher Yadier Molina. Both were knocked unconscious and are expected to miss at least two weeks. (Mauer's run scored, but the Sugar Bears went on to win the game 11-6, behind a 7-run 8th inning.) "Oh, it's on," said Newark 1B/OF/DH/Goon Matt Stairs. Fans are already looking forward to an all-out Enter the Dragon-style throw-down between Chien-Ming Wang and Ichiro Suzuki.

Speaking of catchers (and Suzukis), Sardine City's Kurt Suzuki is expected to be out until mid-April as he lobbies against New York City's congestion pricing plan. "This plan is just outrageous," said the Straphangers' catcher, who commutes from the 'burbs. "Eight bucks just to drive in Manhattan? Who are they kidding? They should be paying me money to drive on those streets!"... Meanwhile, Carolina's Ryan Garko has asked the team for permission to miss at least 11 games. "I have Travis Hafner in my baseball rotisserie league and I really need him to get first base eligibility for next year," Garko said. "We have a 10-game miminum so I figure 11 games should do it."... Hillsborough's Dmitri Young is so tickled with his incredible start to the season (.333, .992 OPS, 2 HR, 13 RBI in 13 games) that he can't stop laughing about it. "Can you believe I was a fourth round pick? I am going to rip this league up!" Dmitri has decided to sit out the next two weeks to gloat.

Hellos and Good-byes

Teams cut two veteran lefties from their Triple-A squads this week. The Mighty Men gave up on Mike Hampton, who went 12-9 with the Mites in '06; he'd been hoping for a comeback, but went down with another injury before even throwing a pitch during his rehab assignment. "We wish Mike the best of luck but it's time to move on," GM David Landsman said. He was replaced on the roster by former Newark stand-out Mark Teahen, who is attempting to make the switch from third base to outfield... Philly cut 30-year-old Nate Robertson after he was bombed for 5 earned runs in his debut for Triple-A Trenton. "What were we thinking - that he was suddenly going to turn into someone other than Nate Robertson?" one front office executive said. He was waived to make room for former Mudcat Bill Hall.

All of this week's other transactions were injury related. Catchers were in demand; Newark added old favorite Gregg Zaun, while Vegas picked up John Buck. Meanwhile, the Bushslappers continued toying with the heart of Sean Marshall, picking him up after putting Shawn Hill on the D.L.