Week Three (April 1, 2001)
Holy Rollers: Nine In A Row!
The Vatican City Cardinals have won nine straight games, opening up a three-game lead on the Arkansas Golden Falcons. Through three weeks, the Cardinals have scored 162 runs -- only three other teams have cracked the 100-run plateau so far. At the other end of the spectrum are the second-place Falcons, who have posted a 12-6 mark by allowing the fewest runs scored in the league. Case in point: Arkansas hurlers Rick Ankiel and Pedro Martinez threw back-to-back three-hit shutouts over Carolina this weekend.
In the Hanover Division, the Newark Sugar Bears keep pounding out the runs, including back-to-back drubbings of Stanhope (13-4 and 18-4 on Friday and Saturday). The Harrison Rats went 4-3 this week to pull even with the Brooklyn Bean Counters at the .500 mark, 1 1/2 games behind second-place Phoenix.
The Big Hurt's Hit Parade
Columbia can't blame its offense for its 6-13 record. Frank Thomas, who has had a hit in every game this season, leads the league with a .442 batting average and 34 hits. Along with Thomas, two other Crusaders -- Paul O'Neill and Ivan Rodriguez -- have active hitting streaks of 15 and 12 games, respectively... Newark teammates Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez continue to do their Ruth-Gehrig impression. The teammates are 1-2 in slugging percentage, RBIs and home runs... Honolulu's Jason Giambi could use some protection in the lineup. The slugger, hitting .300 with a team-leading 4 HRs and 16 RBIs, has been walked 28 times in 15 games -- including 9 intentional passes.
Arkansas' Pedro Martinez, 2-1, leads the league with a 1.80 ERA and 45 Ks. His perennial opponent in the Cy Young race, Vancouver's Greg Maddux, also is 2-1 with a 1.87 ERA and three complete games... "Winning ugly" has become the trademark for Stanhope's Dave Burba. Despite a 6.00 ERA and no quality starts, he's one of five pitchers off to a 3-0 start... Speaking of ugly, Stanhope's Andy Pettitte took one for the team in Friday night's debacle of a loss. Pettitte surrendered 16 earned runs, along with 13 hits and 7 walks in five and two thirds innings, en route to an 18-3 loss to the Sugar Bears. Pettitte saw his ERA rise from 4.76 to 9.93 after the drubbing... Despite a 13-5 record, Newark's bullpen has had GM Butch Garretson reaching for the Tums. Three of the team's five losses have come in extra innings and closer Keith Foulke has already blown two saves.
Have Glove, Will Travel
RP Doug Henry, dumped by Columbia, won a free ticket to sunny Hawaii when he was claimed later that day by Honolulu. Henry said he had just promised his wife a two-week vacation in Maui after the season. "Now we're going to live there, so we'll have to take our vacation in Poughkeepsie or something."... Esteban Loaiza, released by Philadelphia on Friday, was cleaning out his locker Sunday when End Zone Animals' Manager Oscar Gamble told him it was an April Fool's Day prank and he was still with the team.
But it was no joke when Loaiza's teammate Rich Garces found himself unable to finish his second deep-dish large pepperoni pie on March 29. Sensing something was wrong, he immediately checked himself into the emergency room. Doctors confirmed the rotund reliever is the third victim of the spreading malaria epidemic and say he'll be out until at least mid-April. "Hopefully he'll be throwing up so much he'll drop below 300 pounds," said teammate Mo Vaughn. "You know it's pretty bad when I can call you fat."
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.