Week 9 - May 30, 2008

Meet The New Boss...
Same As The Old Boss

For the second straight week, there's been a change at the top and the bottom of the standings -- but that'll happen when the last place team sweeps the first place team! Remember that the standings will remain frozen for a week as our beloved Commissioner for Life Yaro Zajac heads off to Hawaii on his top-secret mission. Bon voyage, Yaro. Hope you get lei'd!

It took nine weeks, but the Newark Sugar Bears are back on top with the best record in baseball. The Sugar Bears went 6-1 this week and are riding a three-game winning streak. They started the week 2½ games out; now they're 1 game up. The Las Vegas Rat Pack went 3-5, including a three-game sweep (in Las Vegas!) at the hands of the team that started the week in last place... The Vancouver Iron Fist split their six games this week to remain on top in the Morris Division, with the league's third-best record (2½ games behind the Rats and 3½ behind Newark)... The D.C. Bushslappers claimed sole possession of 4th place overall after a 5-3 week... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals continue their painfully slow descent from the top of the standings, going 3-5 to fall from a 4th place tie into 5th place. The Endzone Animals have now had five straight weeks with losing records... The Tampa Bay Plunkers went 4-4 for a second straight week, remaining a game over .500 and in 6th place overall.

The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen remained in 7th place, but made up a half-game in the standings, after going 4-3. They're a game out of the post-season... The Blue Ridge Bombers continue to sneak up in the standings, going 4-4 to climb from 9th into 8th, 4 games behind rival inaugural franchise Tampa Bay... The Carolina Mudcats fell from 8th into a tie for 9th after going 1-6, including four straight losses to end the week... The Arkansas Golden Falcons are tied with the Mudcats, up a half spot from 10th last week, after going 4-4.

Yikes! The Hoboken Cutters are now closer to last place (5 games) than to the post season (5½ games). The Cutters haven't started climbing out of their hole just yet, but at least they stopped digging -- they went 4-4 this week... The Sardine City Straphangers took a small detour from their slow but steady rise from the bottom of the standings, going 3-4 to fall from 11th to 12th. The Hangmen took two out of three from the Morris Division-leading Iron Fist, but then got swept in a mini two-game series against the Sugar Bears. It's the first time in five weeks the Strappers they didn't move up in the standings... New Jersey Team Buddah started the week in dead last, but they went 6-2 -- with four straight wins to end the week, including that road sweep of the Rat Pack -- to move up to 13th... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta slipped back to the bottom, switching spots with the Buddahs, after going 3-5, including dropping two out of three to New Jersey.

The Week Ahead: What are we going to do, watch the WNBA? There's no baseball until Sunday! Eight days without the DMBL. But at least when we come back, there will be some games worth watching. On ESPN, it's a rematch of last year's World Series as the Sugar Bears take on the Mighty Men in Marietta. It's one of those games that looked a lot better on the schedule in February as the Sugar Bears have the league's best record and the Mighty Men have the league's worst... Meanwhile, on the Deuce, the Bushslappers take on the Hired Hitmen in D.C. in a wild card battle... And finally, the Morris Division battle is rejoined as the Iron Fist take on the Endzone Animals in the nightcap.

Finding Nirvana

Many had trouble finding enlightenment this off-season after the Buddahs dealt away their lone marquee player, Ichiro Suzuki, in a mega deal with the Rat Pack. Some in Vegas thought the team had given up too much (Joe Blanton, Oliver Perez, George Sherrill, Corey Hart, Shane Victorino, Kaz Matsui and Jhonny Peralta) for Ichiro and a 4th Round pick. "No player is worth seven guys" was a frequent lament on 660 WFAN. Meanwhile, New Jersey fans were disappointed they didn't have a big-name player coming back their way. "Who are these guys?" was the top choice among several thousand voters in a poll on a popular Buddah fan blog. It's six months later, let's take another look. Ichiro is hitting a respectable .296, but his OPS is just .663, making him one of the least productive outfielders in baseball (4.0 RC/27). The fourth round pick later went to Marietta, helping the Rats land A.J. Burnett (plus Jim Thome and two relievers), but the 10 other picks that came with it (including three first rounders) had a lot more to do with the deal. But the Buddahs can't be too happy either -- the four batters they got have been awful, combining to hit .208 (in 755 ABs!). We'd add that Hart and Victorino both went down with injuries this week, but at this point that almost would appear to be a good thing as almost any free agent would represent an offensive upgrade. In fact, while we knocked Ichiro's .663 OPS and 4.0 RC/27, they're higher than anyone involved in the deal other than Matsui (.744 and 4.4, but in only 102 plate appearances). At the start of the week, Perez (2-5, 6.52 ERA) and Blanton (2-6, 5.19 ERA) were disappointing, and while Sherrill has been solid (1.80 ERA, 7.7 R/9 in 29 G), a 31-year-old middle reliever isn't exactly a great haul for a six-time All-Star. But what a difference a week can make! The deal suddenly looks a lot better this week after Blanton and Perez combined to go 3-0 with 2.48 ERA. Perez fanned 13 while giving up 5 ER on 11 H and 7 BB (3.21 ERA, 11.6 R/9), while Blanton was terrific in his two starts, yielding just 3 ER with 0 BB against 14 Ks in 15.0 IP (1.80 ERA, 8.4 R/9). Perez's two strong outings lowered his season ERA to 5.64, and Blanton's overall numbers are now worthy of All-Star consideration (4.34 ERA, 11.5 R/9, 16 BB, 50 K in 83.0 IP). Blanton's big bounce-back week earned him the Super Bounce Out Pitcher of Week Award.

This week's other top pitchers: Arkansas's Jeremy Bonderman (2-0, 1.98 ERA, 11.9 R/9, 4 BB, 6 K in 13.2 IP); Blue Ridge's Ted Lilly (2-0, 0.57 ERA, 8.6 R/9, 6 BB, 9 K in 15.2 IP); D.C.'s Jonathan Papelbon (3 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 7 K in 4.1 IP); Hoboken's Matt Garza (2-0, 2.13 ERA, 14.2 R/9, 8 BB, 11 K in 12.2 IP); Philly's Brandon Webb (1-1, 3.38 ERA, 9.6 R/9, 1 BB, 14 K in 16.0 IP); Tampa Bay's Lee Gardner (0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K in 3.0 IP); and Vancouver's Jake Peavy (shutout: 3 H, 3 BB, 14 K).

Crunching and Punching

The Sugar Bears got back into first place through their usual method: Old-fashioned ass-whuppins. Newark scored 66 runs in just 7 games this week, a ridiculous 9.4 runs per game -- and that's without team captain and leading hitter Chipper Jones, who had just 10 plate appearances before going down with an injury. Philly, the league's second-best offense this week, scored "only" 51 runs in eight games (6.4 rpg). Newark has broken double-digits in eight of its last 17 games, including three times this week. Even without Chipper, and with Manny Ramirez struggling (.125 BA), the team still has plenty of weapons: Hideki Matsui hit .423 (1.055 OPS) with 3 2B and 5 RBI, while Nick Swisher had 7 doubles for 7 RBIs (.452 BA, 1.260 OPS), Carlos Guillen hit .333 with 9 R and 6 RBI and Matt Stairs led the league in BA (.480), OBP (.548) and OPS (1.348). But it was the rookies who really stepped it up: Mike Fontenot hit .458 (11-for-24) with 6 RBIs, while Jarrod Saltalamacchia tied for the league lead with 12 RBIs on 3 HRs (.350, 1.259). And rookie  Jack Cust really came through in the clutch -- he had the game-winning hit in four of Newark's six wins this week! The most spectacular was Cust's 11th inning two-out solo homerun off closer Matt Capps in Friday night's 8-7 win over Sardine City. The ball traveled an estimated 450 feet before stopping abruptly by a man's face -- incredibly, the only guy wearing a Straphangers hat in the entire section! In the doubleheader sweep, Cust went 7-for-9 with 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 7 R and 4 RBI. He also smacked the go-ahead homeruns in the 5-1 win over Tampa Bay, the 7-1 win over Tampa and the 11-6 win over Carolina. On the week, Cust hit .344 (1.307 OPS)  with 9 RBI and a league-high 5 HR and 12 R. Cust, whose long wait to get into the DMBL included being drafted four times as an ineligible prospect (and even a stint as a DMBL columnist), finally made it this year after the Sugar Bears took him in the 1st round (#14 overall). He's certainly repaid that investment with a monster rookie campaign (.335, 1.137 OPS, 24 HR, 67 R, 56 RBI), making him a leading contender for the Pat Listach Award. Cust says he'd be happy with the 'Stach but his focus is on a ring. "Chipper and Manny have seven rings, Bobby and Randy have six, and Carlos and Smoltzie are all 'I need one for the thumb,'" Cust said. "I need one just for one!" For now he'll have to settle for his second  JRCigars.com Smokin' Batter of the Week Award of his career.

This week's other top batters: Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder (.308, 1.326 OPS, 4 HR, 12 RBI); Carolina's Ryan Garko (.355, 0.988 OPS, 5 2B, 6 R); D.C.'s Derrek Lee (.344, 1.039 OPS, 3 HR, 6 RBI); Hillsborough's Dmitri Young (.433, 1.118 OPS, 4 2B, 7 R); Las Vegas's Jim Thome (.357, 1.621 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); Marietta's Edwin Encarnacion (.441, 1.134 OPS, 2 HR, 12 RBI); Philly's J.D. Drew (.417, 1.273 OPS, 4 2B, 5 RBI); and Tampa Bay's Pat Burrell (.346, 1.098 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI).

Can't Kepp Him Healthy

Jeff Keppinger is having a nice rookie year -- when he can play. The 28-year-old shortstop is hitting .307, but he's played in just 48 of Las Vegas's first 64 games. He finally came off the D.L. last week, but played in just three games before spraining the same knee that's been plaguing him all season. Oddly enough, New Jersey's Alfonso Soriano -- who got hurt immediately after Keppinger did last month -- got hurt just hours after Keppinger's injury was reported to the media. "I just like rehabbing with Kepp," Soriano confided. He'll be joined on the shelf by former Rats Corey Hart and Shane Victorino, who apparently want to hang with Keppinger themselves... The Rats can take some comfort in knowing their division rivals, the Sugar Bears, also will be without a key player -- team captain Chipper Jones, who will probably be back by mid-week after tweaking his hamstring. Chipper won the Kevin Mitchell Award last season and is making another run at it this year, hitting .385 (1.242 OPS) with 17 2B, 15 HR and 47 RBI in 169 AB... Is it open season on former award winners? Hillsborough's Ryan Howard, who won the Pat Listach Award as the 2006 Rookie of the Year, will sit out a few games after claiming to be "psychologically bruised" by a plot line in NBC's The Office. A character on the show, coincidentally also named Ryan Howard, was arrested and also appears to be a cocaine addict. "Ryan was cool when he was an intern but ever since he got promoted and moved to New York he's been a real jerk," said Howard the baseball player. "He sucks! From now on I'm calling him Brian."

This week's other injuries: D.C.'s Jonathan Papelbon, who threw out his back while doing the fist pump; Blue Ridge's Jose Vidro, who burned on his tongue on some very hot tea; and Hoboken's Ryan Freel, just signed 10 days ago, who is visiting Costa Rica. "I told them when they hired me I already had a vacation planned," Freel said.

Welcome to Philly

The Endzone Animals added a couple veterans, grabbing Mark Loretta off waivers from Las Vegas and picking up long-time Phoenix Dragon Nomar Garciaparra. To make room, Philly dumped reliever Al Reyes and third baseman Melvin Mora. Loretta hit just .200 (.426 OPS) in 30 AB with the Rat Pack, and so far he's been even worse with the Animals (1-for-16). But Loretta can play any infield position, and he's a career .288 hitter in 10 DMBL seasons. As for Garciaparra, he's yet to have a hit as an Animal (0-for-10); Mora got just 20 ABs (with a single and a home run) before the team cut him. Starting 3B Scott Rolen is due back in a couple days, so Nomar might not get much more time to turn things around... The Rat Pack had signed Loretta to replace the injured Jeff Keppinger, and cut him when Keppinger came back. But just a couple days later, Keppinger had to return to the Disabled List. With Loretta gone, Cesar Izturis was signed by the Rats -- he's 0-for-10. Izzy hasn't been in the DMBL since 2005, when he hit .214 in 126 ABs for Tijuana.

Other comings and goings: D.C. cut Juan Pierre and Brandon Wood and signed Coco Crisp and Jose Contreras; the Mighty Men dropped Kyle Lohse and Randy Wolf, signed Tim Redding and activated Micah Owings; New Jersey activated Melky Cabrera and signed David DeJesus and put Corey Hart and Alfonso Soriano on the D.L.; Vancouver dropped Paul Maholm and signed Jose Lopez.