Week 20 - August 7, 2006

Sucked In

The event horizon for the black hole encompassing the final playoff spot has grown to include 5th place, sucking six teams into a battle for two spots!

Fifth place had appeared secure, as the Hoboken Cutters had held onto it for three straight weeks. But this week, the Marietta Mighty Men -- who had been among the teams fighting in the middle of the pack for more than a month -- won all eight of their games this week, including a sweep of the Cutters in Marietta, to jump up from an 8th place tie into sole possession of 5th place. Meanwhile, the Cutters -- who went 3-5 -- fell from 5th to 6th. They started the week 3 games ahead of the Mites; now they're 2 games behind them... Four teams are still within striking distance of the Cutters. Just a game back are the Philadelphia Endzone Animals and the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen. The Animals went 3-4, while the Hitmen went 5-3, to settle into a 7th-place tie... A game behind them is the South Boston Gang, who went 4-3 to finally return to .500 for the first time in a month... The Arkansas Golden Falcons started the week tied with Philly for 6th place; now they're in 10th -- but still just 2½ games out of the post-season -- after going 2-6.

The same four teams still occupy the top of the standings. The Newark Sugar Bears continue to cruise toward their sixth straight Hanover Division title after winning six out of seven this week. With 24 games left, their magic number is 12 -- meaning if they play .500 the rest of the way, the rest of the division could run the table and still not catch them. Their magic number to clinch the league's best record for a second straight season is 16; their magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 6... The Las Vegas Rat Pack went 5-3 but fell 1½ games further back in the division standings, and remain in 4th place overall... Over in the Morris Division, the Vancouver Ironfist went 5-2 to pad their division lead to 3 games, and chop their magic number to 23, after the Carolina Mudcats went 3-4. The 'Cats are now just 1 game ahead of the Rat Pack in the battle for the league's top wildcard seed.

All four teams at the bottom of the standings have been mathematically eliminated in their division races; now the countdown begins on when they're officially out of the playoffs entirely. The Phoenix Dragons continue to rack up losses, falling from 12th place to a tie for last after dropping all seven games this week -- and eight in a row overall. It was just a month ago that the Dragons were 7 games out of the post-season; now, after losing an incredible 21 out of their last 24 games, they're 18½ games out. Their "tragic number" to be eliminated from the playoffs is 8... The D.C. Bushslappers had sole possession of last a week ago, now they're sharing it, along with a tragic number of 8, after going 3-5... The Honolulu Sharks dropped from 11th to 12th after going 1-7. Their tragic number is 9... The Westwood Deductions remain the hottest team in the basement, going 4-2 -- their second straight winning week -- to move up to 11th. Their tragic number is 12.

Hillsborough's Young Guns

There were several strong pitching performances this week -- five of them turned in by the young members of the Hillsborough rotation! Jeremy Bonderman had a strong outing against D.C., shutting down the Bushslappers in an 11-1 complete game win. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up just 6 hits -- 4 singles and 2 doubles -- and 1 earned run and didn't walk a batter, striking out 2 in 9.0 innings in his only start this week. That was followed up by 27-year-old John Lackey, who gave up just 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 12 in 8.2 innings for a 7-2 win over Las Vegas, and then blanked the Golden Falcons on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in 7 innings for the 6-0 victory. But this week's top performance was turned in by the youngest of the young guns -- 20-year-old Felix Hernandez, who pitched the team to a 7-5 win (2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 9 K in 8.0 IP) over Carolina and a 5-2 win (1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 9.0 IP) over D.C. On the week, that adds up to a 2-0 record (1 complete game, 2 quality starts) with a 1.59 ERA, 7.4 R/9 and 14 K in 17.0 IP. After starting the season 5-9 with a 4.50 ERA, Prince Felix has won 9 out of his last 10 decisions, making him one of the favorites for the Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award. Hernandez leads all rookie starting pitchers in ERA (3.75), wins (14), strikeouts (186), strikeouts per 9 (8.9), innings (187.1), quality starts (17), quality start percentage (.607), batting average allowed (.255) and OPS allowed (.704); he also ranks in the top 10 among all starting pitchers in those categories, including tied for 2nd in strikeouts. All the more amazing, Hernandez is the youngest player in the DMBL this season. He was born on April 8, 1986, meaning he was a teen-ager several weeks into the season! Add it all up and the baby-faced killah is the perfect choice for the Baby Stewie's Soundboard Pitcher of the Week Award.

Top performances by starting pitchers who aren't Hitmen: D.C.'s Bronson Arroyo (1-0, 1.26 ERA, 10.0 R/9, 4 BB, 8 K in 14.1 IP); Las Vegas's Freddy Garcia (2-0, 2.93 ERA, 12.3 R/9, 5 BB, 6 K in 15.1 IP); Marietta's Jon Lieber (2-0, 2.81 ERA, 8.4 R/9, 2 BB, 13 K in 16.0 IP) and Newark's Zach Duke (1-0, 1.93 ERA, 11.6 R/9, 4 BB, 12 K in 14.0 IP).

Other than those two great starts from Garcia, Las Vegas's starting rotation was brutalized this week, posting a giving up 10.27 ERA and 15.2 R/9 while allowing 14 HR in 23.2 IP. So how the heck did the team go 5-3? Some great performances from the bullpen, which combined to  pick up 2 wins and 3 saves with a 1.87 ERA and 9.62 R/9 while sriking out 35 in 33.2 innings! Leading the charge was Todd Jones, who had a win and a save (0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K) in four appearances.

This week's other top relief performances: Carolina's Francisco Cordero (1 W, 1 SV, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 9 K in 4.2 IP); Hillsborough's Chad Cordero (1 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 5.0 IP); Marietta's Mariano Rivera (1 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 6.2 IP); Newark's Scot Shields (1 W, 1 SV, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 3.1 IP); South Boston's Huston Street (2 SV, 0 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 5.0 IP); Vancouver's Billy Wagner (2 SV, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K in 3.2 IP); and Westwood's Mike Gallo (2 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 3 K in 5.0 IP).

Playing With Your Johnson Again?

Newark's Nick Johnson hit .524 (1.487 OPS) with 2 2B, 1 HR and 11 R last week to win the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. Nick must have really liked those steaks, because this week he won it again! Johnson led the league in batting average (.517), slugging percentage (.966), OPS (1.554), hits (15), runs created (17.2), RC/27 (33.2), total average (2.357) and total bases (28). His 15 hits included 2 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs, good for 10 runs scored and 9 runs batted in, including two game-winning RBIs. Newark's beefy lineup produced several other top hitters this week, including Milton Bradley (.571, 1.647 OPS, 2 HR, 5 RBI in just 14 AB); Manny Ramirez (.440, 1.140 OPS, 1 HR, 7 RBI) and Ryan Church (.438, 1.487 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R).

This week's other top batters: Arkansas's Javier Valentin (.429, 1.408 OPS, 4 HR, 7 RBI); Carolina's Travis Hafner (.375, 1.048 OPS, 6 2B, 4 RBI); Hillsborough's Alex Rodriguez (.310, 1.118 OPS, 4 HR, 6 RBI); Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera (.379, 1.196 OPS, 3 HR, 6 RBI); Honolulu's Jason Giambi (.292, 1.319 OPS, 4 HR, 6 R); Las Vegas's Gary Sheffield (.382, 1.009 OPS, 4 2B, 12 RBI); Marietta's Brian Giles (.429, 1.340 OPS, 2 HR, 12 R); Philly's Brian Roberts (.433, 1.171 OPS, 5 2B, 6 R); Vancouver's Chase Utley (.458, 1.438 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); and Westwood's Andruw Jones (.400, 1.084 OPS, 1 HR, 7 R).

MEDIC!

Things got ugly around the DMBL this week as several veteran players broke down in the August heat. The hardest hit team was Honolulu, which lost Kenny Rogers and Sean Casey for up to two weeks after a scuffle broke out at a team weenie roast... South Boston's Dave Roberts and Hillsborough's Jason Varitek, who stay in shape during the off-season by playing tennis against each other, tried a mid-season match and that didn't go so well. Roberts is out for a few weeks after hurting his elbow, and Varitek is going to sit out a few games mourning the loss... Phoenix's Garret Anderson tried "positive visualization" to defeat his depression after the Dragons lost 8 straight games to guarantee a 10th straight losing season. "I am playing on a championship-caliber team. This game matters in the standings. This game will put us in first place," Anderson meditated before each game. "I am at the plate. I am facing the league's best pitcher. The count is 3-2. He throws me a fastball right down the middle. I time it perfectly and take a huge swing." But, as usual with the Dragons, even in fantasy things go horribly awry: "I miss the pitch and my momentum spins me to the ground. I feel my knee twist under me and a ligament pop. I howl in pain as the trainer runs to my side. Through my tear-blurred eyes I see the other team celebrating over me. I watch them jump up and down on the pitcher's mound as they load me on the golf cart and take me off the field." Anderson may have to work on the positive part a little more, but his visualization is excellent -- it was such a vivid fantasy that he did hurt his knee and will likely miss the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, Arkansas's fall from 6th place to 10th had a lot to do with injuries to Kenny Lofton and Antonio Perez. Lofton, a future DMBL Hall of Famer, desperately wants to get back to the post-season for a shot at a sixth World Series ring (he's won them with Vancouver in '93 and '94 and with Arkansas in '98, '99 and '03). But he said he needs some time off to "get my head around" the fact that Las Vegas's Chone Figgins will likely break his single season stolen base record. Lofton swiped 78 bags with Vancouver in '97, but Figgins stole 5 more bases this week to give him 59 on the season -- meaning he needs to steal 20 in the final 25 games of the season to set a new league record. "Chone's having a great year and, you know, I want to tip my hat or whatever, but dang. I liked having that record." Perez, meanwhile, is sitting out because D.C.'s Jose Reyes had another triple this week, meaning he just 4 more to break the DMB Era record set last year by Carl Crawford. "All season I'd been thinking Juan Uribe (who had 20 triples with Phoenix in 2002) still had the record," Perez said. "Then I'm reading about how Reyes might break Crawford's record and I'm like, 'Whoa, Crawford's record?' And now it's going to be Reyes's record? This is just nuts, man. I need some time off to read the record book again." Perez can rest easy about the league's other batting records, though; none appears to be in serious danger of falling this season.

Reinforcements

All of this week's transactions had to do with players going on or coming off the Disabled List. The easiest move was made by the Golden Falcons, who put OF Kenny Lofton on the D.L. and took OF Coco Crisp off of it. The Rat Pack activated Reggie Sanders and released Dustin Mohr; the Golden Falcons D.L.'d Antonio Perez, just a week after getting him off the D.L., and re-signed Odalis Perez; and the Deductions cut Mike Morse when they activated  Orlando Cabrera.