After a longer than expected break, DTBL News is back! I have set up this new WordPress blog to serve as the host for the DTBL News. Since WordPress is an extremely well supported and highly used blogging software product, I anticipate this will be a great tool for our league. On the flip side, the old blog software I used on the previous web site was a mod to the phpBB message board system, which had not been supported or updated in several years. I was hoping to find something similar to use on the new site, which would automatically tie into the existing web site and message board user system. However, I decided WordPress would be a much better alternative.
There is a tool available that can be used to integrate WordPress with phpBB so we can continue to use a single sign-on for all web site functions. I have had some issues getting this to work though. As you may recall from back in March, I temporarily messed up the entire site login/logout functionality when I was trying to get this to work. I haven’t touched it since, but this is definitely something I want to implement sooner rather than later. But in the mean time, I will be the only one who is able to post blog entries. Of course, I will let you know when I have it set up for any user to create new posts. In the mean time, if you have anything you feel is DTBL News worthy, just send it to me and I’ll post it for you. Unlike the old site, I don’t plan on setting up unique blogs for each person. Instead, once this is completely set up, all of you will have the ability to create/edit/reply to all posts in this single blog.
Another blog related task I need to complete is an import of all the entries from the old site. WordPress has a pretty robust import feature, however the old blogging system didn’t exactly comply to standards necessary to get this to work automatically. I should be able to work around this and get all the old news over here though. I doubt anyone really cares about this, but it is nice to have that stuff for historical purposes.
But enough about the blog. Let’s get to the news since we’re about a quarter of the way into the season already. First, the latest news is the first trade of the regular season. The Mavericks and Naturals completed yet another trade between the league’s two most common trade partners. Some of you may have seen this transaction earlier today and thought the Naturals acquired something for nothing. That is not the case. The Mavericks dealt closer Jose Valverde to the Naturals for their second round pick in 2011. Valverde has already recorded 10 saves with a minuscule 0.51 ERA and 0.792 WHIP. This trade should help shore up the Naturals bullpen which has been a little bit of a disappointment, but already ranks in the top half of the league in saves. Meanwhile, this trade could be interpreted as a bit of a surrender for the Mavericks who find themselves in a disappointing eighth place. Losing one closer isn’t going to have a devastating effect on the team, however, this trade clearly has no upside for the Mavericks in 2010 since they did not receive a player in return. More about both of these teams in a bit.
Perhaps the two most news worthy stories I missed so far this season is a pair of no-hitters, including a perfect game. The perfect game was thrown just a week ago by Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s. It was the second consecutive perfect game thrown against the Tampa Bay Rays. Mark Buehrle did the same against the Rays last July. Braden’s perfect game was the sixth thrown since the DTBL began in 1993, however Braden is not a DTBL player. In fact, he’s the first player in the DTBL era to throw a perfect game prior to his DTBL debut (assuming he will be in the league in the future). Kenny Rogers was not in the DTBL when he threw his perfect game in 1994, but he had been in the league the year before and returned in 1995.
The other no-hitter was thrown by a DTBL pitcher. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched nine hitless innings against the Braves on April 17. He was the first Colorado Rockies pitcher to throw a no-hitter. It was just one of many dominating performances by Jimenez this season. The Gators hurler has already accumulated a league high 7 wins and league best 1.12 ERA. His sub 1.00 WHIP and 54 strike outs also place him among the league leaders. Jimenez has been carrying the Gators pitching staff so far and is one of the front runners for the Cy Young Award.
As for team accomplishments so far, the Jackalope have been the lead story. With the exception of a couple days at the very beginning of the season, the Jackalope have held the top spot in the league standings the entire season. They have been led by their thoroughly dominating pitching staff. Roy Halladay pitching in the National League is almost unfair. Felix Hernandez, Zack Greinke and Jared Weaver have been their usual dominating selves, although they have been a bit unlucky in the wins department. Meanwhile, Cliff Lee came off the disabled list a few weeks ago to give the Jackalope as good of a starting five as you will ever see. Even their bullpen has been better than expected with Matt Capps leading the league in saves. The Jackalope offense has been solid too, although they have slipped a bit in recent weeks to allow the field to close the gap. What was a double digit lead for a good portion of April is now just four points over the three time defending champion Darkhorses.
The Darkhorses are lurking once again. While they have not dominated the league quite the same as they have in recent years, they are still right near the top of the league in both batting and pitching. The Jackalope certainly have to be concerned that their lead may not last long. The other closest contender is the Kings. After an absolutely miserable 2009, the Kings have rebounded back into a more familiar position near the top of the standings. The improvement of their offense from last year is almost unbelievable. They currently have 48 of the possible 50 batting points. Unfortunately, their pitching staff has not been very good, which keeps them seven points behind the Jackalope.
The Naturals, Demigods, Gators and Choppers find themselves in the middle of the pack. All four teams are very much alive and well. The Naturals figure to get a boost from the Valverde deal. The Demigods and Gators are in similar positions needing more offense to move up the standings. The Choppers are only in sixth place, but should be pretty happy with where they stand. After several years of having one of the worst pitching staffs in the league, they have improved in that area thanks to a couple of relievers who are actually starters. C.J. Wilson and Phil Hughes have not only provided bonus wins and strike outs, but they are arguably the Choppers best two pitchers.
The Mavericks, Moonshiners and Cougars bring up the rear. The Mavericks have not had a lot go their way so far this season. Their three first round picks have been a little disappointing. Second overall pick Matt Wieters has put up pedestrian numbers thus far, Gordon Beckham has been brutal and Billy Butler has been solid but could never be considered a great draft pick considering the Mavericks had just released him a few months prior to the draft. The Moonshiners have also been the victim of some extremely under-performing players, including first round pick Ben Zobrist. The Cougars offense was about as bad as you could get a few weeks ago. They have picked up a few points since then though and are on the verge of climbing out of last place for the first time in quite a while.
Now that I have this blog up and running, hopefully I’ll be able to keep it fresh with somewhat regular updates. My next post will almost certainly be an update on where I stand with new features and a web site re-design that I hinted at during the offseason. Don’t expect the latter to happen anytime soon, but I’ll share my plan with you soon enough.