Week 21 - Sept. 2, 2008

A Note To Our Readers

We continue filling in for long-time host Zane Smith, who was in China covering the Olympic Games for Al Jazeera. Zane left Beijing last week and was last seen boarding a plane to spend the Labor Day weekend in New Orleans. We hope his hotel room was one of the upper floors. In the meantime, here's our guest host, former Brooklyn Bean Counter and Stanhope Mighty Man Chuck Smith.

A Short Week

It was a very short week in the DMBL as Commish Yaro Zajac continues touring the country in the search for possible sites for expansion teams. Yaro's latest sojourn took him to Niagara Falls, where a local team of investors hope to start the "Barrel Riders" franchise. But while there weren't many games on the schedule, there were enough to close out four more teams from post-season contention, leaving just seven hopefuls for six spots.

The Newark Sugar Bears chopped six more games off their magic number to clinch the Hanover Division title after going a perfect 4-0 this week. The Sugar Bears have a magic number of 5 to clinch the division title and the Commissioner's Cup... The Las Vegas Rat Pack went 4-2 to clinch no worse than 4th place in the playoff seedings. Their magic number to clinch the top wild card spot is 5...  The Vancouver Iron Fist have apparently taken their foot off the gas pedal as they cruise into the post-season. The Fisters went 2-4 this week -- and have won just 3 out of their last 10 games -- but remain 7½ games up in the Morris Division race. Their magic number to clinch the division title is 6... Is it too late for the Philadelphia Endzone Animals to catch the Iron Fist? They went 5-2 this week to move up 3 games in the standings. In any event, they've virtually locked up a playoff spot -- they're in as no worse than the 6th seed with their next win.

The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen and D.C. Bushslappers remain tied for 5th place after each went 5-2. Each has a magic number of 8 to clinch a playoff spot. The two teams play each other this weekend in a two-game series that could decide the order of the final two playoff berths. By the way, if the two teams do end the season in a tie, Hillsborough would be the No. 5 seed -- they went an impressive 9-2 against D.C. this season... . The only other team with a shot at a trip to the post-season are the Tampa Bay Plunkers, and they've got a lot of catching up to do after going 2-3 this week. They are now 7 games behind Hillsborough and D.C., and their "tragic number" for elimination is 8.

Everyone else is out of the race. The Arkansas Golden Falcons started the week with three straight wins, but then lost three in a row and were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with their 82nd loss. In fact, their hold on 8th place is now in doubt after the Sardine City Straphangers went 4-1 and are now just a game behind them in the overall standings. The Hangmen swapped places with the Hoboken Cutters, who went 2-4 and have lost three straight... The Carolina Mudcats lost all five of their games this week to fall below the .400 W% mark... The Blue Ridge Bombers went 2-4 as they continue to spiral down to a crash landing for their inaugural season... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta also went 2-4, leaving them 1½ games ahead of New Jersey Team Buddah for the league's worst record. The Buddahs are finding enlightenment in last place as they went 1-5.

Record Watch

A panel of DMBL experts told us what notable records are in danger of falling this year in a recent edition of The Press Box. Let's take a look at how those records and others are faring.

Doubles: Newark's Matt Stairs continues to close in on the all-time record of 69 doubles in a season, set in 2000 by Jerusalem's Terry Shumpert. Stairs has 64 doubles in 148 games, a pace that would give him 70 on the season. But Rabbi fans still holding out hope for a miracle will be happy to know Stairs's pace has slowed somewhat -- he's had just two doubles in his last 10 games. In fact, after hitting doubles in three straight games in mid-August, he was on pace to hit 75 two-baggers. In addition, Carolina rookie Dustin Pedroia has 58 doubles in 148 games, a pace that would give him 64 doubles unless he picks it up a notch in his final 14 games.

Triples: The DMB Era (1997-present) record has already fallen, for the third time in four years. Vancouver's Curtis Granderson became the first player in modern times to crack the 30-triple plateau after legging out a three-bagger in Friday's game against Sardine City. The previous record was 24 triples, set in 2006 by Jose Reyes and tied last year by Reyes and Wes Helms. In 2005, Carl Crawford set a new DMB Era record with 23 triples, breaking the record of 20 set in 2002 by Juan Uribe. Before that, the modern triples record had stood for four years after being set by Lance Johnson with 17 in 1997. Granderson still has a long way to go for the all-time record -- 62 by Deion Sanders in 1993.

Strikeouts: Another DMB Era record also has already fallen: batter's strikeouts. Newark rookie Jack Cust has 252 on the season, surpassing Adam Dunn's 244 in 2005. Cust, like Dunn, is a classic "three true outcomes" hitter -- in addition to all those Ks, he also has 46 homers and 126 walks, meaning in 424 of his 709 plate appearances ended without involving anyone other than the pitcher and the catcher. At his current pace, Cust will likely strike out 267 times -- impressive, but still a long way from the all-time record of 357 whiffs by Rob Deer in 1993. Cust is one of three batters above the 200-K plateau this year, joined by Hillsborough's Ryan Howard and Sardine City's B.J. Upton.

Wins: Can Vancouver's Jake Peavy tie the record for most wins in a season? The all-time record is 26, set in 1998 by teammate Greg Maddux. Peavy has 22 wins on the year and has -- at most -- four more starts. He needs to win them all to tie Maddux's record. And if he throws shutouts in all four starts, he'll set a new all-time record in that category as well. Peavy has a league-high four shutouts this year; the DMB Era record is 6 by Arkansas's Kevin Brown in 1999; the all-time record is 7, set by Sacramento's Sid Fernandez in 1994.

Losses: The record for most losses in a season also could be tied this year. The all-time record was set in 1993 by two pitchers -- Waikiki's Rick Sutcliffe and Charleston's Chris Bosio, who each lost 21 games that year. The DMB Era was set in 1999 by Honolulu's Steve Trachsel, who lost 20 games that year; he tied his own record in 2005 with 20 more losses for Westwood. Last year, southpaw Oliver Perez set a new modern record and tied the all-time record by losing 21 games with Las Vegas. This year, Hoboken's Scott Kazmir and Sardine City's Daisuke Matsuzaka are each 8-18, while Marietta's Gil Meche is 8-17. Kazmir likely has three more starts this year, so he still has a chance to tie the record; Matsuzaka appears to be in line for just two more starts while Meche has three, so at worst each can lose "only" 20 games.

Appearances: It may not be the most glamorous of pitching records, but it's a record nonetheless: Games pitched! And it's remarkable that two relievers from the same team are in the hunt. The all-time record was set in 2000 by bullpen workhorse Carlos Reyes, who pitched in 122 games for the Hillsborough Destroyers. Reyes shattered the previous record of 116 appearances, set in 1998 by Phoenix's Greg Swindell. Well, Marietta's double-barreled bullpen of Mariano Rivera and Brandon Morrow have already surpassed Swindell to tie for 2nd, with 119 appearances each this year. The Mighty Men have 14 more games on their schedule; at their current pace, each would appear in 11 of those games, giving them 130 appearances in a season. Despite all the work, each is having a pretty good season: Rivera has a 3.82 ERA, 11.1 R/9 and 120 Ks in 125.0 IP; Morrow has a 3.69 ERA, 13.8 R/9 and 110 Ks in 107.1 IP. You may be wondering if either guy is closing in on the relief innings record -- the answer is no. Phoenix's Ramiro Mendoza had 112 appearances in 2000 and pitched an astonishing 241.2 innings -- all in relief!

Batter, Pitcher of the Week Awards

Due to our contract with sponsor JRCigars.com, only Zane Smith can pick the Batter of the Week and Pitcher of the Week Awards. As a result we've had to turn over the selection of those awards directly to the Commissioner's Office. Check out this week's winners in an upcoming entry in the DMBL News Blog.

Damn Adams!

Philly's hopes of sneaking up on the Iron Fist for the Morris Division title took a blow this weekend when the team lost two slugging outfielders in Adam Dunn and Adam Lind. "We are officially out of Adams," lamented Hitting Coach Pete Incaviglia. Dunn, acquired from the Golden Falcons this season, had gone just 20-for-105 (.190 BA) as an Animal, but half his hits were for extra bases (3 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR). Dunn had to leave the game with a leg injury after slipping on a banana peel left in the batter's box. Lind, who has gone 0-for-3 this year as a bench player, was sent in for Dunn and was hoping for his first chance to get an extended look from the Endzone Animals with Dunn out. But just an inning later, Lind slipped on the same banana peel and was hurt as well. "We really should have picked that thing up after Dunn fell," admitted an umpire. "But it was just too funny." The starting job now goes to Gary Sheffield, who had been reduced to a platoon role after Dunn's acqusition. Lind was placed on the D.L. and the team signed Orlando Cabrera to take his spot on the roster.

A week after signing Tim Redding as an injury replacement for Adam Wainwright, the Bombers are back in the market for a starting pitcher again. Redding lasted just 4.1 innings (4 H, 5 BB, 5 ER) in his first start for Blue Ridge; after the game, it was announced he had a sore elbow and would go on the 15-Day D.L. (Some in the press box quipped that he really had a sore neck from turning around to see where all those hits were landing.) The Bombers brought in veteran Paul Byrd to take his place, at least until Wainwright is ready to come back later this week... The other three teams with Blue Ridge at the back of the standings also are down a player: Carolina lost Roy Halladay, Marietta shelved Scott Baker and New Jersey, the team currently in last, also lost a player when Shane Victorino announced he needed a couple weeks off to protest outside the Republican National Convention.

Some injured players came back from the D.L. this week: Las Vegas activated Erik Bedard and released Jason Hirsh; Sardine City activated Kurt Suzuki and dropped Miguel Olivo; Philly got back Dioner Navarro and cut Gregg Zaun; and Hoboken activated Mike Napoli and cut David Ross and Wilson Betemit.