Weeks 16-19 - July 20-Aug. 16, 2008

A Note To Our Readers

This Week In The DMBL took an unexpected hiatus when long-time host Zane Smith abruptly announced he was quitting to cover the Olympic Games for Al Jazeera. Zane's disappearance coupled with Commissioner Yaro Zajac's mysterious trip to Florida (presumably a follow-up with Tampa Bay ownership following his earlier trip to Hawaii to meet with outraged Honolulu Sharks fans) and Newark owner Butch Garretson's week in Maine (reportedly an attempt to sell his franchise to founding DMBL member Eugene Mullin) left TWIDMBL a little short-handed.

But now we're back -- sort of. Replacing Zane Smith, here's guest host Bud Smith for what we're tenatively calling This Month In The DMBL. Take it away Bud!

Summer Thunder

If you weren't paying attention the last 30 games, you didn't miss much. The same six teams are still atop the standings as when we last saw them last month. In fact, the race at the bottom of the standings is a whole lot more interesting. It appears that the Vancouver Iron Fist will lock up their second division title in three years; the Fisters won 21 out of 30 games, including an active five-game winning streak. Vancouver has a healthy 12-game lead in the Morris Division; their magic number to clinch at least a wild card seed is 3; for the division title it's 17... Over in the Hanover Division, the Newark Sugar Bears and Las Vegas Rat Pack continue to battle for dominance. The Sugar Bears had the best winning percentage over the last month, going 20-7 (.741 W%), followed by the Iron Fist at .700; the Rats were just two games off the pace at 19-9 (.679). The Sugar Bears are maintaining a 5½ game lead over the Pack as they seek their 8th consecutive Hanover Division title and 11th overall (both would be records). The Sugar Bears have already clinched their 13th straight playoff appearance as they can finish no worse than 6th place. The Rats, who are a game behind Vancouver in the overall standings, have a magic number of 4 to print their post-season tickets... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals continue to tread water in 4th place. They're now 12 games behind the Iron Fist for the Morris Division title after a 16-14 run capped by an active four-game winning streak. Their magic number to clinch a wild card berth is 16... The D.C. Bushslappers have been on a tear, putting up the fourth-best record (16-11) since the last time we checked. Still, they're as close to 4th place as they are to 7th place -- 7 games -- so they'll have to keep winning to cement their hold on the 5th seed.

The race for 6th place is exactly where we left it, with the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen trying to hold off the upstart Tampa Bay Plunkers. Each team was a game over .500 last month, with the Hitmen going 14-13 and Tampa Bay going 15-14. But if both teams continue to tread water, the Hitmen are in as the sixth-best team and the Plunkers are out as the 7th... The Sardine City Straphangers went 13-15, but that was good enough to move up a spot from 9th to 8th place, 7½ games behind Hillsborough for a post-season berth. Earlier this week they'd been 3 games closer before embarking on their current five-game losing skid... The Arkansas Golden Falcons also moved on up after going 14-15, jumping from 11th to 9th, 9 games behind Hillsborough for that final wild card seed. Will this be the third straight year that the Falcs come out of nowhere to get into the playoff picture in the final week of the season? They're 9 games out, with just 29 games left on the schedule -- but six of those games are against Hillsborough!

The Hoboken Cutters tied Hillsborough and Tampa Bay for the fifth-best record, going 15-14. Last month they were in 12th place and just 4½ games ahead of last place; now they're in 10th place, 12 games out of 6th and 7 games out of 14th... The Blue Ridge Bombers fell to 11th after going 9-20, including an active five-game losing streak to all but douse their flickering playoff hopes... The Carolina Mudcats had the worst record of any team over the last month, going 6-24 to fall all the way from 8th to 12th. Their current 8-game losing streak has dropped them just 5 games out of the league's worst record; a month ago they were 4½ games out of 6th place!... New Jersey Team Buddah went 9-18 to remain in 13th place, just 1½ games out of last place overall. The race for the most balls in the draft lottery is still being won by Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta, but they're making it interesting -- they went 12-16 over the last month, including an active five-game winning streak. If Marietta keeps on winning, they could conceivably reach the post-season -- their "tragic number" to be mathematically eliminated stands at 11.

Roster Expansion: Remember, as of this week, you can have all eligible players on your roster active. If you've been stashing away a secret weapon on your farm team, now is the time to use him!

Son of a Mitch

Note: Instead of looking at performances over the last month, we're taking a look at who have been the best hitters so far this season.

There's almost 20 percent of the season remaining -- more than enough time for a player to get hot or go cold. Over the final two dozen games, anybody could dramatically change his final season numbers. But let's take a look at who has put up Kevin Mitchell Award-caliber numbers over the first 130-or-so games of the season.

Considering the Sugar Bears are collectively hitting .323/.405/.556, there's going to be some Newark candidates in the discussion. Let's start it with Chipper Jones, who is hitting a league-best .395; he's also second in OBP (.484), SLG (.684), OPS (1.172), RC/27 (14.2), and ranks in the top 10 in runs scored (106), runs batted in (110), runs created (129.9), total average (1.369), secondary average (.465) and isolated power (.294). All that production comes from a third baseman who leads the DMBL in total chances per game (2.84) and double plays turned per game (0.29) and is third in fielding percentage (.966)... It seems like every year the Sugar Bears sign a washed-up veteran, lock him in a batting cage with Jim Eisenreich all spring training and then unleash him on the league with a vengeance. This year's version of Jim Edmonds and J.T. Snow is Matt Stairs, who is hitting .353 (.432 OBP, .633 SLG). Stairs didn't make the All-Star team -- maybe the voters weren't convinced the 40-year-old journeyman would be able to keep it up all season. But the 1B/OF/DH just keeps plugging away, leading the league in RBIs (139), total bases (353) and doubles (60) and tying for the lead in hits (197). He's also 2nd in extra base hits (94), 3rd in BA, runs (121) and runs created (154.5), and 5th in OBP, SLG, OPS (1.064), RC/27 (11.0) and total average (1.160). He's played in every game this season and even had a 17-game hitting streak, tied for third-longest this year...  If you're looking for one more member of the Crunch With Punch to consider, how about rookie Jack Cust? After toiling for years in the minors, the New Jersey native and long-time Sugar Bear fan lived out his boyhood dream when the Sugar Bears took him in the first round of this year's draft and made him their every-day DH. So far he's responded, hitting .321/.443/.626 with 43 HR and 108 RBI in 535 AB. Cust also piles up the strikeouts -- a league-leading 237 -- but he's also first in runs scored (137) and ranks among the league leaders in OPS, OBP, SLG, hits, RBIs, HRs, walks, total bases, extra base hits and runs created.

Enough about the Sugar Bears! Let's give somebody else a chance! How about Vancouver's David Ortiz. Big Papi is hitting .352 -- fourth-best in baseball -- and leads the league in OBP (.492), SLG (.740) and of course OPS (1.232). He's also leading the league in runs created (178.7), RC/27 (15.2), extra base hits (94), walks (128), intentional walks (26), isolated power (.388), total average (1.530), and secondary average (.667), and is 2nd in HRs (44), RBIs (137) and total bases (347), 3rd in doubles (50) and AB/HR (10.7), and 7th in runs (112). If there's a knock on Ortiz it's that he doesn't play the field -- in fact, he's been strictly a DH all season. But when you put up numbers like that, who needs a glove? Las Vegas's Jim Thome also is strictly a DH at this point in his storied career, but he too is making up for it at the plate. Thome is hitting .325/.470/.672 with 34 HR, 89 R and 90 RBI in just 345 ABs (he sits against most lefties)... Thome has a new teammate in Vlad Guerrero. The slugger, acquired by Las Vegas, hit .329 (.904 OPS) in 105 games with Blue Ridge; after the trade, he even turned it up a notch, hitting .355 (.992 OPS) in 124 ABs. Overall, he's hitting .335 with a .371 OBP, .553 SLG, .924 OPS and 44 2B, 25 HR and 101 RBI... Another Rat who might get some consideration is 1B Carlos Pena, who was the second overall pick in this year's draft. Pena is hitting "only" .277, but makes up for it with a .394 OBP and .635 SLG. He also leads the league with 47 home runs, and is 5th in Rs (116), RBIs (126) and RC (132.5).

Between Stairs and Pena, there's a lot of competition for the Comeback Batter of the Year Award, if such a thing existed. But don't rule out Philly's Magglio Ordonez. After hitting .253 (.703 OPS) last year, Maggs is having a sensational season, hitting .354/.414/.561 with 197 H, 41 2B, 24 HR, 102 R and 101 RBI... What does Alex Rodriguez need to do to get some love in this league? In his 11-year career, A-Rod is hitting .279/.350/.515 with 428 HR and 1198 RBI, yet when he was traded to Arkansas, the Hillsborough front office said he was an "underachiever." This year Rodriguez is hitting .306/.410/.606 with 31 HR and 80 RBI, but Golden Falcon fans are clamoring for more of David Wright (.312/.371/.529, 31 HR, 87 RBI)... All these guys are great batters, but have any of them set a DMB Era record? One mark has already fallen this season -- the modern record for triples, which was shattered by Vancouver's Curtis Granderson. Granderson has 27 three-batters on the season, breaking the mark of 24 set by Jose Reyes in 2006 and tied last year by Reyes and Wes Helms. Granderson still has 27 games left this season and needs just 35 more triples to tie the all-time record of 62 in a season by Deion Sanders set in the crazy days of the Microleague Era.

Easy Peavy?

Note: Instead of looking at performances over the last month, we're taking a look at who have been the best pitchers so far this season.

We suppose it's too soon to just wrap up the Ben McDonald Award and ship it to Vancouver's Jake Peavy, <>but right now he looks like the leading candidate. Peavy leads the league in wins (20-3), ERA (2.99) and strikeouts (206), the so-called "Pitching Triple Crown." He also ranks 1st in BA allowed (.193), OBP allowed (.264), SLG allowed (.319) and OPS allowed (.583). Naturally, that translates to 1st in R/9 (9.4), H/9 (6.3) and WHIP (1.02). He's also 1st in shutouts (4), quality starts (19), QS% (.704) and innings (189.2). You uber-stat nerds out there will also note he's 1st in RC/27 outs (2.8), runs created ERA (2.49), component ERA (2.33) and TB+BB+HBP rate (.377). Basically, if there's an important starting pitching stat, Peavy ranks 1st.

Barring a complete collapse from Peavy and a hell of a finish from somebody else, we just don't see how anyone else takes home Big Ben this season. But stranger things have happened. And someone has to finish second in the balloting, right? So let's take a look at some of the other starting pitchers this season. Here's one category Peavy doesn't lead the league in: No-hitters! Las Vegas's A.J. Burnett has the only no-no this season, and it wasn't a cheapie -- he shut down no less than the best offense in baseball in the Newark Sugar Bears. Burnett is 4th in ERA (3.65) and QS% (.630), tied for 4th in W% (.813), 5th in Ks (187), tied for 6th in wins (13-3) and is 7th in R/9 (11.8) and OPS allowed (.717); he's 2nd in H/9 (7.9) and tied for 2nd in shutouts (2) with five other guys... For all the accolades afforded to Peavy this season, it's hard to remember he didn't start the All-Star Game. He actually tied in the balloting for most votes received, but the honor was awarded to teammate Zach Greinke, who is having a fine season himself (14-2, 3.82 ERA, 11.7 R/9). Greinke leads the league in winning percentage (.875) and is 7th in ERA and 6th in R/9... Some fans say Newark's batters are helped too much by their home stadium. So does that mean their pitchers should get extra credit for surviving there? If so, you have to take a very close look at Javier Vazquez (18-3, 4.03 ERA, 11.3 R/9) and James Shields (11-5, 3.63 ERA, 11.9 R/9). The dynamic duo rank among the top 10 pitchers in ERA and R/9... Speaking of park effects, no home stadium is more favorable to pitchers than The Cannery in Sardine City. Don't think that isn't appreciated by Fausto Carmona (13-7, 3.69 ERA, 12.7 R/9) and Cole Hamels (8-10, 3.72 ERA, 12.4 R/9)... And don't forget: Arkansas's Curt Schilling (11-9, 4.23 ERA, 11.4 R/9); D.C.'s Kelvim Escobar (14-8, 4.08 ERA, 12.7 R/9); Hillsborough's John Lackey (12-6, 3.56 ERA, 11.6 R/9); Hoboken's Jeremy Guthrie (12-8, 4.30 ERA, 12.4 R/9); Las Vegas's Erik Bedard (13-3, 4.31 ERA, 12.2 R/9); New Jersey's Joe Blanton (8-11, 4.33 ERA, 12.0 R/9); Philly's Matt Cain (10-4, 4.39 ERA, 13.8 R/9); and Tampa Bay's Andy Pettitte (12-5, 4.32 ERA, 13.6 R/9).

Super Bon-Bon

D.C. closer Jonathan Papelbon has taken the lead in the Dennis Eckersley Rolaids Reliever of the Year Award standings. (Remember, it's 2 points for each win and save, and -1 point for each loss and blown save.) The 27-year-old right-hander had 30 relief points in the first half of the season but has since picked up 18 more to take over the lead from Carlos Marmol. The Las Vegas closer had 37 points at the All-Star break but has had just 7 since as the Rat Pack bullpen has gotten very crowded after a flurry of trades... Tampa Bay's Lee Gardner, who was tied with Papelbon at 30 points at the end of the first half, is now just a point behind him, while New Jersey's Bobby Jenks picked up a league-high 22 relief points to roar into third place, all the way up from a 6th place tie at the midway point... Philly's J.J. Putz had 15 points to land in a tie with Marmol for 4th at 44.

Current Relief Points Standings
Reliever	ERA	W	SV	L	BS	Pts
Papelbon,DC	1.33	4	22	2	2	48
Gardner,TAM	1.99	3	24	3	4	47
Jenks,NJ	1.63	4	22	3	3	46
Putz,PHI	3.57	7	20	3	7	44
Marmol,LV	3.72	7	19	3	5	44
Saito,HIL	2.32	2	22	2	3	43
Corpas,VAN	2.70	3	19	2	2	40
Capps,SAR	3.63	2	17	4	2	32
Street,BR	3.75	3	16	5	3	30
Valverde,ARK	5.05	7	10	5	2	27

Just missing the cut was Newark's Manny Delcarmen with 26 relief points (7 W, 10 SV, 3 L, 5 BS), followed by Las Vegas's Rafael Betancourt with 24 (8 W, 6 SV, 1 L, 3 BS)... Other closers of note: Marietta's Mariano Rivera (2 W, 10 SV, 6 L, 2 BS) and Philly's Jason Isringhausen (3 W, 10 SV, 6 L, 4 BS), formerly of Hoboken, are tied with 16 relief points... Reigning Eck Award winner Francisco Rodriguez has just 9 relief points this season (2 W, 3 SV, 0 L, 1 BS); the former Endzone Animal was traded during the off-season to Las Vegas, then was traded to D.C. (but didn't appear in a game for them) before being dealt to Blue Ridge, where he's posted a 1.84 ERA and 9.8 R/9 in 11 games.

Trades, Trades, Trades

A lot of trades happened in the final week before the July 20th deadline. Let's try to catch everybody up.

Las Vegas had the league's second-best record at the time, but that didn't stop them from shuffling the roster. The Rats had already pulled off an incredible number of trades this year, adding Erik Bedard, Francisco Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, Ichiro Suzuki, Jim Thome, A.J. Burnett, Pat Neshek, Rafael Betancourt, Hunter Pence, Joe Nathan and Vladimir Guerrero. (Rodriguez and Pence were later traded in other deals.) Now add to the mix Josh Beckett, acquired from Blue Ridge for prospect Clay Buchholz and a 4th round pick, and Rafael Perez, landed from Hoboken for a 5th round pick. (Both picks are in 2010.) Each has had mixed success so far. Perez has allowed just 1 earned run and has stranded all 8 inherited runners, but also has allowed 7 unearned runs in just 9.2 innings (9 H, 2 BB, 1 HBP). Beckett is 3-1 with an impressive 38 Ks in just 29.0 IP, but he's also posted a 6.21 ERA and 15.2 R/9.

Believe it or not, there were some trades made that didn't involve the Pack. The Straphangers also were pretty busy, trading reliever Akinori Otsuka to Vancouver for a 6th round pick; Freddy Sanchez and Chris Ianetta to Blue Ridge for Dustin McGowan and a 4th round pick; and Scott Baker to Marietta for a 2nd round pick in 2010... The Mighty Men also re-acquired Brian Giles from Hoboken for a 6th round pick in 2009. Giles, like Baker, isn't much help this year but is a part of Marietta's rebuilding plan for next season (.293/.384/.433). But long-time Hoboken fans were surely annoyed by this deal, if only because it rekindled memories of the infamous 2004 trade between the same two clubs. Hoboken shipped Giles, Mike Mussina and Rheal Cormier to the Mighty Men for a 1st round pick plus Vinny Castilla, Juan Uribe and Charles Johnson. The Cutters were rebuilding at the time, but Giles and Mussina would be better keepers than anyone they got back in the deal. In fact, Giles would be protected by the Mighty Men in 2005 and 2006, while Mussina would be protected for the next three seasons. As for Hoboken, Johnson was released after 2004, Castilla after 2005 and Uribe in April 2006. Well, at least they got a 1st rounder out of it. (It would be used to draft Jae Weong Seo.) We'll see if anyone of Seo's talent level is available in the 6th round next year...

Earlier in July, D.C. had made waves by trading ace reliever Joe Nathan to Las Vegas for Francisco Rodriguez, despite the fact that Nathan had better numbers this season and likely next season as well. The Bushslappers front office dismissed the naysayers by pointing out that K-Rod is six years younger than Nathan. As it turned out, K-Rod never threw a pitch in a D.C. uniform. He was shipped out to Blue Ridge along with Carl Crawford and Ray Durham for Dan Uggla and a 2nd round pick; the two teams also flipped picks in the first round, moving D.C. up at least a few spots. It's a curious trade as the Bushslappers are in the thick of the wild card hunt, yet gave up three playoff-tested veterans for Uggla, strictly a prospect for next season (.263/.355/.538). On the other hand, Crawford and Durham were having off years and Rodriguez had been awful in Vegas (4.67 ERA, 14.0 R/9). Still, we have to wonder: Wouldn't their post-season run be a lot smoother with Nathan? As for Blue Ridge, they're hoping the 26-year-old Crawford and 26-year-old Rodriguez can bounce back next year; Durham is likely just a throw-in... And finally, Philly made two deals: Jonathan Sanchez and a 3rd in 2010 to Arkansas for  all-or-nothing slugger Adam Dunn, and then a 6th in 2010 to Blue Ridge for SP Aaron Harang.