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August 28, 2002 | |
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The year in batting begins and ends with Barry Bonds in DMBL 2002. He rewrote the record book, won the Triple Crown, and became the all-time home run king. But a few games on the disabled list during the second half of the season allowed Wanaque's Alex Rodriguez to edge out the Arkansas slugger for the second-half home run title. A-Rod was perhaps the hottest hitter in the league during July and August and slammed 35 home runs to Bonds' 34. But Bonds still batted .323 and slugged a league-leading .849 with a .502 on-base percentage and a league-high 78 RBI. His 77 runs scored were well ahead of the pack.
The second-half batting title went to Hoboken's Juan Pierre (.339 BA, .393 OBP, 95 H), who got his groove back after being dealt from Phoenix to Hoboken. The centerfielder was batting only .255 before the swap for Garret Anderson. After a hot start the first half, Anderson hit just .221 with 6 HRs during his second half for the Dragons. Another Dragons outfielder was third in second half batting. Rookie Ichiro Suzuki, who led the league in hits the first half (110) and the second (119). He batted .337 the second half after hitting .303 the first half. The former teammates also were one-two in stolen bases: Ichiro with 14 (tied with Newark's Mark McLemore), and Pierre, 13, followed by Dragons 3B Corey Koskie, 12. Sandwiched in between the two speedy outfielders in the batting race was Harrison catcher Javy Lopez, who hit .338 in 64 games. One Harrison Rat who didn't hit was Reggie Sanders, with a meager .203 BA and .260 OBP. But when he made contact, he made contact, with 18 HRs and 48 RBI. Sanders wasn't the only slugger to struggle with contact the second half. Philly's Troy Glaus pounded 21 HRs with 55 RBI but batted just .215. Teammate Albert Pujols kept it up with a .302 BA, 47 R and 25 2B, but his power stroke was missing with only 8 dingers and 34 RBI after first-half numbers of .335 BA, 23 HR, 74 RBI.
One of the maddest numbers of the second half came from Honolulu's Jason Giambi. He challenged Terry Shumpert's record of 69 doubles in a season down the stretch. His second half surge of 40 doubles helped but came up short with 65. His other numbers weren't too shabby -- .329 BA, .448 OBP, .601 SLG, 13 HR, 59 R, 53 RBI. Teammate Shawn Green provided some pop for the Sharks as well -- 22 HR, 54 R, 57 RBI. All-star catcher Ramon Hernandez kept hitting, one of at least three Banditos who hit .300. Hernandez also had 19 2B, 10 HR and 40 RBI. Teammate Shannon Stewart batted .323 with 101 hits and Bret Boone came back with a stronger second half: .306, 16-49-48. Tijuana needed the team effort to secure the final playoff spot as last year's league leader in RBI, Vladimir Guerrero, didn't show up the second half: .256 BA, .287 OBP, .378 SLG, 8-29-33. Arkansas' stable of sluggers complemented the team's stellar staff of starters: Larry Walker, .311 BA, .562 SLG, 19-65-58; Phil Nevin, .296 BA, 18-52-68; Lance Berkman, .307 BA, .405 OBP, 25 2B, 9-52-36 and John Olerud, .309 BA, 10-51-42. That's right, five starters with more than 50 runs scored the second half of the year. Vancouver's Jeff Bagwell, 21-59-52, and Sammy Sosa, 21-48-56, aided the Iron Fist offense to the second-best record in the second half. Sosa put up the numbers despite seeing his average decline from .333 to .272. Todd Helton of Stanhope was another all-star who saw his average appear very "unaverage" the second half (.275). But his other batting stats were very Helton-like: 17-47-48. Other big boppers during the second half:
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. | |
Rodriguez led the Wolverines charge to the playoffs the second half, finishing second to Bonds in most categories (69 R, 73 RBI, .673 SLG). Batting in front of A-Rod in the lineup was last year's Kevin Mitchell Award winner, Carlos Delgado, who slammed 22 HRs with 50 RBI and 50 R…despite a woeful .217 BA.
The biggest drop in batting average the second half? Newark's Chipper Jones was among those vying for the dubious honor, going from .358 to .253. He still put up sold numbers: 14-50-46.