Week Three (March 25, 2002)  

Soaring Into First

The Arkansas Golden Falcons, a pre-season favorite of many DMBL watchers, roared into first place in the Morris Division this week on the strength of a 5-game winning streak. They finally were handed a loss Sunday, but not before pulling a full game ahead of the Tijuana Banditos, who went .500 this week; the Vancouver Iron Fist are now right behind them after putting together a 4-game win streak of their own to go 5-1. In the second division, the Wanaque Wolverines and Philadelphia Endzone Animals are still struggling to play .500 baseball, and the Columbia Rattlesnakes fell to 8 games off the pace after going 2-4 this week. In the good news, bad news department, the Carolina Mudcats ended their losing skid at 11 straight defeats with a 7-0 thrashing of the Banditos, but they only went 2-5 this week.

The Newark Sugar Bears had their winning streak come to an end at 12 after back-to-back mid-week losses, then put together another three straight wins before losing again Sunday. But the 5-3 week was good enough to preserve the Sugar Bears' best overall record at 17-4, 1-1/2 games up on Arkansas. The Hoboken Cutters slashed their way into second place after going 4-2, passing the Brooklyn Bean Counters, who went 3-4 to fall six games off the pace. The Honolulu Sharks fell a game under .500 after going 3-5 this week, with the Harrison Rats and Stanhope Mighty Men beginning to recover from slow starts after going 4-2 and 3-4, respectively. The Phoenix Dragons have dropped four straight to fall all the way to last place and the worst record in baseball at 6-14.

Piazza Delivers

Hoboken's Mike Piazza pounded the Cutters into second place in the Hanover Division, blasting 5 HRs for 8 runs and 11 RBIs, hitting .409 and slugging 1.136, a dandy 1.553 OPS for the backstop, winning him his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. Teammates Garret Anderson (.320, 3 HR, 8 RBI) and Ryan Klesko (.300, 4 HR, 8 RBI) also swung big sticks… Sammy Sosa is still tearing it up for Vancouver: He slammed 5 HRs for 10 runs and 7 RBIs, hitting .423 with a 1.502 OPS. Fellow Fister Eric Chavez hit .368 with 1 HR, 5 runs and 10 RBIs… As long as Tony Clark keeps hitting like this, the Mudcats will keep winning: Clark hit .529 with an impressive 1.913 OPS. Seven of his nine hits this week were for extra bases, including 3 HRs, with 5 RBIs.

Newark's terrific twosome of Chipper Jones (.382, 3 HR, 7 R, 8 RBI) and Manny Ramirez (.367, 4 HR, 8 R, 9 RBI) fueled the Crunch with Punch to a 55-run week, tops in the league. Jones, riding a 16-game hitting streak, is hitting .376 with 9 HR, 22 RBI and a 1.230 OPS this season… Opposing pitchers figured out a way to contain Barry Bonds: The Arkansas slugger was walked 12 times in six games, posting a .593 on-base percentage, but was held to a rather tame .267, 1 HR, 4 RBI. Juan Gonzalez (.360, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and Phil Nevin (.273, 3 HR, 7 RBI) reaped the rewards. Despite a tame week (by his standards), Bonds leads the league in batting average, slugging and on-base percentage, walks, runs, RBIs, runs created, total average, secondary average… Honolulu's Jose Cruz hit just .273 (9-for-33), but slammed 3 doubles and 3 home runs, good for six runs and a league-best 13 RBI… Harrison's Mike Lamb (.417, 5 R, 5 RBI), Philly's Jose Vidro (.458, 1 HR, 6 RBI) and Stanhope's Todd Helton (.370, 2 HR, 6 RBI) also had impressive weeks.

Weaving Some Magic

Most of the attention goes to teammates Bartolo Colon and Matt Morris, but Jeff Weaver is making a bid to be Wanaque's ace: He won both his starts this week by throwing two complete games, yielding just one earned run and 15 baserunners in 18 IP. Weaver's old-school iron man performance earned him the Classic Gaming Pitcher of the Week Award. On the season, Weaver is 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA and leads the league with three complete games… Carolina's Mike Mussina (1-0, 1.72 ERA, 0.83 WHIP), Honolulu's Freddy Garcia (1-0, 1.62 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) and Steve Sparks (1-1, 0.60 ERA, 0.87) all should've won both their starts this week. But the toughest luck goes to Stanhope's Andy Pettitte, who posted a 1.08 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in two starts - and didn't get a decision in either game. On the season, Pettitte is 1-2 despite a 3.00 ERA, 1.10 WHIP in five starts… Harrison's Shane Reynolds (3 hits, 1 walk) and Columbia's Mark Buehrle (4 hits, 1 walk) each had shutouts this week.

Hoboken closer Jason Isringhausen picked up three saves, but also was tagged with a loss. It was that kind of week for firemen, who struggled to close out opponents in game after game. In Arkansas, it was Octavio Dotel who gave fans heart attacks despite a perfect 2-for-2 in saves and picking up a win in another appearance. But the erratic reliever gave up 8 hits, 7 walks and 4 earned runs in four appearances. He also struck out 11 batters in 7.2 innings… Phoenix's John Rocker also had a wild ride this week, going 1-2 in four appearances: He allowed 5 hits, 3 walks and 7 earned runs in 1.1 IP… Newark's Keith Foulke continues his pattern of following good weeks with bad. After a stellar Week 2, Foulke could only record one out in two appearances this week, and was stuck with the loss after a disastrous outing… It wasn't all bad news for bullpens this week, however. Three Wanaque relievers, including Cory Bailey, yielded no runs and just four hits in seven appearances this week. Bailey has yet to give up a run this season, having appeared in 7 games.

Jose Don't Play That

Harrison reliever Ramiro Mendoza was shocked to discover he had to pay income tax. "I thought that was just something in Monopoly," Mendoza said. Auditors are going to be combing through his pay stubs for at least another two weeks… Sunday wasn't a very kind day in the DMBL, with four players - Wanaque's Preston Wilson, Columbia's Ivan Rodriguez, Stanhope's Derek Jeter and Phoenix's Paul Konerko all went down with various ailments. I-Rod, who took a troop of Cub Scouts hiking between doubleheaders Sunday, will miss the most time after a particularly bad allergic reaction. Pudge couldn't explain why he was rolling around naked in what turned out to be poison ivy, nor why half the boys in the Cub Scout Troop have the same condition.

Jose Canseco showed up at the Cereal Bowl after someone claiming to be Newark hitting coach Jim Eisenreich left a message on his answering machine saying the Sugar Bears were signing him for the third time this month. Canseco showed up ready to play, only to discover the message had been left by renowned practical jokester Jeremy Giambi. Canseco didn't find it too funny, though. "Bitch stopped laughing after I pulled out my Nine and busted a cap in his fat white ass," sneered a defiant Canseco as cops led him away in handcuffs. Giambi is expected to return next week.

TWIB may have Ozzie Smith, but we have the better Smith! Zane Smith, former pitcher for the San Antonio Slingers and Sacramento Seahawks, now writes this column exclusively for the Diamond Mind Baseball League. Click Here for past articles.