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August 18, 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pedro Martinez was the lone member of the Arkansas rotation not to make the DMBL all-star team. He showed them. Pedro led the league in wins during the second half of the season, going an astonishing 14-1 with 12 of 15 Quality Starts. Oh yea, and a 2.32 ERA and 118 Ks. The rest of the Arkansas rotation was more than solid during the second half: Rogers Clemens (8-5, 4.02 ERA), Curt Schilling (9-5, 3.89, 109 Ks), Brad Penny (8-4, 3.42), Kevin Brown (7-4, 4.02). It doesn't hurt that Golden Falcons offense scored an average of almost 6 runs a start for them.
The Newark bullpen was no slouch the second half. Keith Foulke struggled early in the year but had a strong second half, (2.06 ERA, 3-2, 28 G, 3-3 Sv). Arthur Rhodes, however, was the ace the latter part of the year, a league-leading 0.72 ERA (3 earned runs in 28 appearances) and 11-for-11 in saves in 28 games. The Sugar Bears dealt for Brooklyn's Felix Rodriguez and he felt right at home, going 3-1 and 10-for-10 with a 1.68 ERA between both teams in the second half. The 'pen saved 22 games in 26 chances. Newark's starters, however, were another story. All-star starter Randy Johnson went 8-5 the second half but had an ERA of 4.60 and only 5 of 16 quality starts. His 130 Ks were tops among starters. Fellow all-stars Eric Milton (7-8, 4.67) and John Thomson (7-3, 5.07) were nothing to write home about but Thomson benefited from more than seven runs a start from the offense. John Burkett actually led the squad in ERA the second half (3.65) and quality starts (9/16, .563) going 7-5. Honolulu's Mark Mulder was among the starters to reach double-digit wins the second half, (11-1, 3.96 ERA, 11/17 QS, .647, 4 CG). Rookies Joel Pineiro of Hoboken and Mark Buehrle of Columbia proved they belonged. Pineiro had a league-best 1.81 ERA, going 11-2 with 11/13 QS, .846, and two shutouts. Buehrle started the all-star game for the Morris Division but was only 5-5 despite a 2.51 ERA. Getting only 2.9 runs a start didn't help. The offense picked it up for him though in the second half, giving him 4.5 runs a start. It helped but he didn't need them all: Buehlre went 13-4 with an even lower 2.18 ERA, and 15/17 QS. Buehrle, along with Miguel Batista, helped the Crusaders go over .500 for the second half and one of only four team ERAs under 4.00. Batista was another double-digit winner after joining the rotation (2.24 ERA, 10-3). Teammate Aaron Sele was only 7-7 but sported a 3.81 ERA and 10 QS. As much as the rotation helped Columbia rise in the standings, Hoboken's rotation contributed to a decline during the second half.
Stanhope had the fourth-best team ERA (3.93) thanks to starters Eric Hiljus (3.09, 7-5) and Kerry Wood (3.19, 6-9, 103 Ks), though Wood didn't get much support (3.6 RS/G). The bullpen helped out too with all-star Mariano Rivera (2.17, 17/19 Sv) and Ricardo Rincon (2.12 ERA). Steve Sparks led Tijuana starters with a 7-4 record and 3.65 ERA. The Mighty Men had the most improved ERA from the first half (5.30). Brooklyn's Dave Williams continue to have a solid rookie year but it didn't translate into Ws (3.57, 5-6). Relievers who didn't make the all-star game but came back with strong second halves included Brooklyn's Robb Nen (2.26, 9-2, 36G), Tijuana's Jeff Fassero (3.03, 3-2, 14/17) and Justin Speier (2.37, 2-0, 21), Philly's Armando Benitez (3.34, 1-2, 28, 12/14) and Carolina's Bob File (2.84, 2-0, 30). All-star Uggie Urbina of Honolulu wouldn't have made a return trip for the second half (5.23, 4-8, 13/19), and neither would Wanaque's Antonio Alfonseca (4.67, 3-0). All-star Octavio Dotel of Arkansas continued his success (2.03, 3-1, 41, 6/7) despite giving way to veteran Trevor Hoffman for the closer's job. Hoffman, after a miserable start to the year, came on strong during the second half (1.18, 28G, 15/15). Closers Bob Wickman of Carolina (3.86, 14/18), Jeff Shaw of Columbia (3.12, 37, 17/19) and all-star Troy Percival of Phoenix (2.70, 2-0, 32, 15/18) had impressive second half numbers. Harrison's Wade Miller was the lone double-digit loser (6.61, 3-10).
Cecil Fielder was the first selection in the DMBL's inaugural draft in 1991. Since then he's enjoyed a solid career as a member of seven DMBL teams. He is now retired and serves as the color man for the Columbia Rattlesnakes radio team. Click Here for past articles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vancouver's Greg Maddux had the highest QS percentage in the second half, .875/14-16, yet he went "only" 9-4 with a 3.22 ERA. Teammate Al Leiter was 7-3 thanks to a 3.08 and rookie Brandon Lyon was 7-2 with a 4.06 ERA. The Iron First bullpen was lights out, helping the squad to the second-best record during the second half. Closer Billy Wagner led the league in saves (21 of 23), going 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA. Despite his 1.69 first-half ERA, Wagner didn't make the all-star team because of only 11 saves. The rest of the 'pen was solid: Victor Zambrano (2.45, 5-2, 32G), and Jeff Zimmerman (3.02, 6-3, 32). David Weathers was an all-star with Philadelphia (2.59, 33G) and improved in the second half before and after being dealt to Vancouver (1.80, 32G, PHI/VAN). The Iron Fist (3.57) edged out the Golden Falcons (3.58) for the best team ERA helping them to the biggest turnaround (+12), along with Harrison.
All-stars Brandon Duckworth, a rookie, and Kelvim Escobar came back to Earth faster than Skylab. Escobar had thoughts of starting the all-star game for the Hanover as he was 10-1 with a 2.80 ERA just before the break. It must have going to his head as his second-half numbers were horrid: 5.93 ERA, 4-5, 5/14 QS, .357. Duckworth wasn't much better (4.59 ERA, 4-5, 5/14 QS). All-star closer Jason Isringhausen had a respectable 2.65 ERA the second half but only 10 saves in 13 chances, less than half the team's 21 saves.