Week 8 - May 17, 2008

Fisting to First!

There's been a shake-up at the top and the bottom of the standings as we cruise through Week 8 of the 2008 season.

The Vancouver Iron Fist started the week 2 games out in the Morris Division, and ended it with a 3-game lead! The Iron Fist are riding high after going 7-1 this week, leaving them just 1 game out for the league's second-best record, and 3½ out for first place overall. The Fisters have gone an incredible 17-3 over their last 20 games, ever since team owner Yaro Zajac gave them a pep talk in which he reminded them that, as commissioner, he could ban any player from the league for life... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals fell from the division lead and 3rd place overall into a tie for 4th place overall after going 2-6. It's their fourth straight losing week; over the same stretch as the Fisters' 17-3 run, the Animals have gone 8-12... Jumping up one spot, from a 5th place tie to a 4th place tie, are the D.C. Bushslappers, who matched the Iron Fist by going 7-1. The Bushies had been tied with the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen, but the Triple-H squad has fallen all the way to 7th, 1½ games out of the post-season, after going 1-7... The Carolina Mudcats remained in 8th place after going 3-5... The Blue Ridge Bombers moved up two spots to 9th place after going 4-4... The Arkansas Golden Falcons slipped back one rung into standings into 10th place after going 2-6.

The Las Vegas Rat Pack finally regained some ground in the Hanover Division race, picking up a game on the Newark Sugar Bears. The Crunch With Punch went 5-3 but that wasn't enough to keep pace with the Rats, who won 6 out of 8 and now have a 2½ game lead... The Tampa Bay Plunkers split their 8 games this week, but thanks to Hillsborough's rapid descent in the standings, that was good enough to move up from 7th place overall to the final playoff berth. They started the week 1½ games out of  6th; now they have a 1½-game lead... The Sardine City Straphangers continue to surprise and, for a fourth straight week, have moved up in the standings. The Strappers went 6-2 this week to move up one spot to 11th place, 10 games under .500 and just 5½ games out of the post-season. Since bottoming out in last place at 7-21 in Week 4, the Hangmen have gone 17-13, a .567 winning percentage... The Hoboken Cutters continue to sputter, going 2-6 to drop two spots to 12th... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta went 4-4 to move out of last place, switching spots with New Jersey Team Buddah, who went 3-5.

The Week Ahead: Set your DVRs, tune in your TiVos, fire up your VCRs, unpack your BetaMax's! Get all your recording devices ready because you'll have to stock up this week. The league is taking an unexpected one week hiatus for Memorial Day weekend as our beloved commissioner has to fly to Hawaii for a top-secret hush-hush meeting. Some say it's an attempt by the league to buy out former Honolulu Sharks owner Adam Kozubal, who reportedly is refusing to sell his remaining shares in the Tampa Bay organization. Others believe it's a negotiation with Commish Bud Selig on the long-rumored merger talk between DMBL and MLB. Or is Yaro just looking to take a week off? Whatever the reason, stock up while you can on all the DMBL you can watch. Luckily you'll have some intriguing choices this week: Newark looks to hold off Tampa Bay in a Hanover Division rival; Hoboken battles both ends of the spectrum as they take on the Rat Pack and then the Mighty Men; Philadelphia hopes to get back on a winning track with series against Blue Ridge and Arkansas; and the Mudcats and Hitmen battle it out for 7th place with a three-game series in Hillsborough.

How Grand Is Granderson?

The Iron Fist pounded out 51 runs this week, the most of any team other than those crazy Sugar Bears (63 runs). David Ortiz had another monster week (.483 BA, 1.283 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI), and he continues to lead the league in the Triple Crown categories. But for a second straight week, Big Papi finished second in the balloting for the Batter of the Week Award. This time, though, he can just reach into the next locker to steal one of those Cohibas. Teammate Curtis Granderson stole Ortiz's thunder as the JRCigars.com Smokin' Batter of the Week by hitting .407 with a 1.303 OPS (4 2B, 6 R, 8 RBI). He also slugged three triples -- giving him 15 three-baggers on the year! Remember, folks, it's still the middle of May -- there's still 103 games left in the season. Granderson is on pace for 41 triples, which would of course shatter the modern record of 24 (but still come up 21 triples shy of Deion Sanders's ridiculous 62 triples in 1993). The DMB Era triples stood for five years after it was set in 1997 by Toledo's Lance Berkman (17);.since then, it's been shattered more times than Mr. Glass in Unbreakable. Phoenix's Juan Uribe had 20 in 2002, Las Vegas's Carl Crawford had 23 in 2005, and then Westwood/D.C.'s Jose Reyes had 24 in 2006. Reyes had 24 again in 2007, as did Marietta's Wes Helms. Can Granderson leg out 10 more triples in 102 games to claim the record for himself? Curtis can contemplate the answer while puffing away on some fine hand-rolled stogies courtesy of our good friends at JRCigars.com. And, with Father's Day just around the corner, be sure to check out their Battle of the Brands promotion! Inside each box you'll find four cigars from two well-known brands, plus an adjustable torch lighter by Colibri. Who else can put together this kind of a package for less than $30? Check it out at JRCigars.com, the only address you need for buying cigars on the web!

Last week's winner, Tampa Bay's James Loney, still hasn't cooled off - he hit .406 (1.316 OPS) with 3 HR and 7 R, with an 11-game hitting streak. Before the hit streak started, Loney was hitting .219 with 3 HRs; now he's up to .268 and 8 HR... This week's other top batters: Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder (.357, 1.312 OPS, 4 HR, 6 RBI); Carolina's Randy Winn (.391, 1.070 OPS, 3 2B, 8 R); Las Vegas's Jim Thome (.350, 1.217 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI); Marietta's Josh Hamilton (.355, 1.085 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI); Newark's Chipper Jones (.464, 1.445 OPS, 3 HR, 6 RBI); Philly's Magglio Ordonez (.419, 1.177 OPS, 1 HR, 9 R); and Sardine City's Ryan Braun (.357, 1.185 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI.

Meet the Meche

Imagine the Marietta pitching staff if they hadn't sent A.J. Burnett, Rafael Betancourt and Pat Neshek to Las Vegas. Burnett is a leading Ben McDonald Award candidate (7-0, 2.69 ERA, 12.1 R/9), while Betancourt and Neshek have combined for 8 wins, 4 saves, a 2.71 ERA and 8.2 R/9 (with 12 BB and 81 K in 79.2 IP). The Mites still have Mariano Rivera (4.94 ERA, but 11.6 R/9, 7 BB, 44 K in 47.1 IP), along with surprisingly good seasons from Jon Lester (6-3, 3.14 ERA, 12.8 R/9) and Daniel Cabrera (4-4, 4.75 ERA, 12.9 R/9). But Marietta fans are hoping the best is yet to come as long-awaited ace Gil Meche might finally be coming into his own. Meche had two impressive performances this week against two of the league's top offenses. First, he shut down the league's 6th-best offense, holding the Mudcats to just one run in 6.2 innings (4 H, 2 BB, 7 K); in his next start, he held the third-ranked Endzone Animals to two runs in 7.2 innings (3 H, 3 BB, 9 K). On the week, Meche went 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 7.5 R/9, with 5 BB and 16 K in 14.1 IP. Are these two solid starts the big breakthrough everyone has been expecting from him for eight seasons? Meche was first drafted as a 20-year-old rookie in 2000 in the 7th round (#85 overall); he was drafted again as an ineligible prospect in 2002 (#229 overall); the following year, again as an ineligible prospect (#232); and then, eligible again, in 2005 (#240). Those first four picks  he was selected each time by the Iron Fist, who finally learned how to quit him in 2006, when the Hitmen took him in the 6th round of the Supplemental Draft (#252). But Hillsborough released him without throwing a pitch for them, and he was signed by the Mighty Men in April, where he went 2-5 with a 6.96 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in 13 starts. That raised Meche's career ERA to 5.76 (and his career WHIP to 1.55), although surprisingly he has a winning DMBL record (14-11 in 43 games). Despite that, the Mites signed him to a long-term contract, but again were frustrated by his horrible performance (2-7, 8.54 ERA). Two weeks ago, the Mites told Meche to start working on his control issues with special pitching instructor Kevin Tapani, and so far the results have been spectacular. "Check out that K-to-walk ratio (3:1) in his last two starts," Tapani said. "We've been working on getting ahead in the count. His stuff is just so nasty that he if he can get to 0-2, 1-2, he can put away any hitter in the league." We expect Meche's newfound success to continue at least one more week - his next two scheduled starts are against the two worst-hitting teams in the league, Hoboken (13th) and New Jersey (14th). In the meantime, Meche can celebrate with the Neat Food Sculptures Pitcher of the Week Award!

Hill of a Week: D.C.'s Shawn Hill gave up just one run this week - but only got one win to show for it. In his first start, Hill held the Mighty Men scoreless for 7-2/3 innings, but they finally broke through with two outs in the top of the 8th with a lone run. Meanwhile, Marietta's Jon Lester had held the Bushslappers to just one run, leaving the score knotted at 1-1. The Mites finally went ahead in the top of the 10th on a three-run home run by Josh Hamilton, but both starters were out of the game by that point. Four days later, Hill again pitched 7-2/3 innings, but this time he kept the Endzone Animals off the scoreboard, scattering five hits without a walk while striking out 11. (Lester didn't fare as well in his next start, getting blasted for 4 ER on 5 H and 3 BB in 5.0 IP by the Rat Pack.) On the week, Hill had a 0.59 ERA with 7.0 R/9 (10 H, 2 BB), with 14 K in 15.1 IP. The big week lowered Lester's ERA by two full runs, from 7.56 to 5.36!

This week's other top pitchers: Arkansas's Ian Snell (2-0, 1.72 ERA, 11.5 R/9, 9 BB, 19 K in 15.2 IP); D.C.'s John Maine (2-0, 2.84 ERA, 12.8 R/9, 13 K in 12.2 IP); Hillsborough's Peter Moylan (0 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 K in 5.0 IP); Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen (1 W, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 4.0 IP); Las Vegas's Carlos Marmol (2 SV, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 K in 4.2 IP); Sardine City's Cole Hamels (2-0, 0.59 ERA, 11.2 R/9, 5 BB, 15 K in 15.1 IP); Tampa Bay's Brad Hennessey (1 W, 1 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K in 3.0 IP); Vancouver's Zach Greinke (2-0, 1.10 ERA, 7.7 R/9, 3 BB, 18 K in 16.1 IP).

Philly Frustration

For the first two months of the 2008 season, it appeared that the Endzone Animals would repeat as Morris Division champs - at the end of Week 4, in fact, they had a 6½-game lead and the best record in baseball. But it's all been downhill since that point. After a 22-5 start, the Animals have gone 12-19 and now find themselves tied for 4th. Certainly one cause for the downturn has been injuries. The Animals are struggling to make due without Scott Rolen (broken finger) and Matt Cain (hamstring tightness). Each landed on the 15-day D.L. Cain has had an inconsistent season (2-3, 5.60 ERA, 14.9 R/9, but 51 K in 53.0 IP), but even on an off day he's better than anything the Animals will likely find available at this point in the season. An even bigger blow is the loss of Rolen, who for 10 years has been the face of the franchise. A founding member of the team, Rolen was off to the best start of his career, hitting .336 (39-for-116) before breaking his middle finger while flipping the bird to a Rat Pack fan during the team's recent three-game series against the Hanover Division leaders. The Animals hope to have both players back before the end of the month.

The Rats also are suffering through some injuries, but they've managed to hold onto their division lead. The Pack lost infielder Jeff Keppinger last week; this week his replacement, David Eckstein, is expected to be out until sometime next month after getting drilled by a Jon Rauch fastball during the hotly contested series with Philly. Eckstein was off to a pretty good start with Vegas, hitting .300 (.777 OPS) in 30 ABs; now the team will have to make due with Mark Loretta up the middle, at least until Keppinger gets back in a couple days. Loretta is a familiar face to Rat fans, having done nice work off the bench last season (.305 BA in 105 AB)... The Rats also lost a starting pitcher. Orlando Hernandez is expected to miss up to four starts after hurting his foot... we think. Reporters couldn't follow El Duque's rapid-fire stream of Spanish curses as he limped off to the trainer's room. Some say he broke his big toe; others think he has arthritis. "He is like 60 years old, right?" one reporter asked, earning a new tirade of cuss words from the Cuban hurler... There might be a Hernandez-related bug going around, because Hillsborough's Felix Hernandez is also expected to miss up to a month. The 22-year-old right-hander has been struggling this season (0-6, 6.83 ERA, 14.3 R/9), and some speculate this is just a chance for the team to send him to Triple-A to work on his mechanics without embarrassing the 2006 runner-up for Rookie of the Year. The front office isn't helping things by being extremely vague about the nature of King Felix's supposed injury. "He strained his uh, whajamacallit, and also his whosewhatsit is a little sore," team trainer Dr. Jonas Whatshisface said.

The Cutters got a steal when they took Travis Buck with the 24th pick overall in this year's draft - the rookie outfielder is hitting .313 (.937 OPS) with 7 triples in 166 AB. But they didn't realize that the rookie has some steals of his own - and not on the basepaths (2 SB, 1 CS). It turns out Buck is a kleptomaniac with a penchant for stealing deodorant. He was busted at a local drugstore after trying to walk out with $61.85 worth of Old Spice. Buck will take some time off from baseball to work with a hypnotherapist to try to get to the root of problem, but, if that doesn't work, the front office will assign Wilson Betemit the task of following Buck around with a roll of $20s and a CVS discount card.

Marietta Reverses Course

Are the Mighty Men giving up on their rebuilding project? This week, the team cut a 24-year-old reliever (Carlos Villanueva), a 25-year-old outfielder (Frankin Gutierrez), and a 26-year-old starter (Boof Bonser) -- and signed 39-year-old pitcher. Mike Mussina has spent parts of the last four seasons with the Mighty Men and was one of the stars of last year's World Series run (15-12, 3.69 ERA, 1.22 WHIP), but does the veteran really fit in with Marietta's future plans? Owner David Landsman was obviously impressed after seeing Mussina, now pitching for Waukesha in the Wisconsin Independent League, throw seven innings of no-hit ball against Racine. In his first start for Triple-A Kennesaw, the Moose gave up just one run on five hits and a walk, with 4 Ks. "Yeah, he's going to be 40 next year, but with all our kids, he's like another coach on the field," Landsman said. "Besides, if he goes into the tank, we can always re-sign Kei Igawa." The Mighty Men also surprised some by signing 28-year-old Bill Hall. The former Mudcat had been trying to break back into the DMBL after a disastrous attempt to cash in on his strong 2007 campaign (.272 BA, .924 OPS, 45 HR, 109 RBI) by signing a $7.5 million deal with the Windhoek Windjammers of the Namibian Atlantic Coast League. Hall didn't realize, apparently, that a Namibian Dollar is actually worth about 13 cents. Also, the Namibian Atlantic Coast League is actually a cricket league. After two frustrating months, Hall quit to come back to the DMBL, signing a league minimum contract with the Endzone Animals; Philly cut him after watching Hall hit .197 (with 44 Ks in 42 games) for Triple-A Trenton. "All that cricket, I can only hit pitches around my ankles," a frustrated Hall sighed. The Mighty Men hope that Hall can return to his '07 form, or at least teach some of the other players on the team how to hit Chien-Ming Wang's sinker.

Meanwhile, the Mudcats shook things up by cutting Aubrey Huff, who in 2004 had one of the best seasons in Mudcat history (.338 BA, .957 OPS, 50 2B, 99 RBI). But Huff looked awful at the plate so far this year (.182 BA, .671 OPS), and the team decided it was finally time to say good-bye. They also released Justin Miller (5.89 ERA, 17.7 R/9) and rookie Adam Lind, who was just 1-for-19 in Triple-A. The threesome were replaced by veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd and rookies Brendan Harris and Norris Hopper.

This week's other comings and goings: Hillsborough picked up Jason Marquis for Felix Hernandez; Hoboken put Travis Buck on the shelf and signed Ryan Freel; Las Vegas picked up Jason Hirsh and Mark Loretta for the injured Orlando Hernandez and David Eckstein; Philly picked up Melvin Mora, Kason Gabbard and Carlos Villanueva, put Scott Rolen and Matt Cain on the D.L. and released Luis Castillo; Sardine City dropped Noah Lowry and activated Phil Hughes.