Week 3 - April 11, 2005

Meet The New Boss...

...same as the old boss! Just three weeks into the 2005 season and we're right back to where we were last year, with the reigning division champions back on top and last year's second-place teams back in second place. In fact, last year's fifth-place team is also right there in the mix, part of a three-way tie for sixth place. As the French say, "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose."

Leading the charge with the best record in baseball were the Arkansas Golden Falcons, who climbed back atop the Morris Division for the first time this year after winning six out of eight this week. The Falcs have won six games in a row, including a sweep of the division rival Carolina Mudcats -- who had the best record in baseball after a 14-5 start, and had won five straight to start the week, until they ran into the red-hot Falcons. A similar situation unfolded over in the Hanover Division, where the first-place Hoboken Cutters -- sitting pretty at 12-6 -- got annihilated by the Newark Sugar Bears. The Sugar Bears scored 47 runs in the three-game sweep, capping off a 5-3 week that included a four-game winning streak; Hoboken, who had won three straight to start the week, have now dropped five straight and have fallen into a tie for third in the division, sixth overall... Meanwhile, the team that finished second behind the Sugar Bears last season, Matthew's Mighty Men of Stanhope, are right back behind them after going 5-3... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals continue their roller-coaster season: 6-2 in Week 1, 2-5 in Week 2 and now 5-2 in Week 3. It adds up to a 13-9 record, third in the division and fourth in the DMBL... Rounding out the top teams are the Vancouver Iron Fist (3-4) and the Honolulu Sharks (4-3), who are tied for the league's sixth-best record with Hoboken. 

The hottest team at the bottom half of the standings were the Las Vegas Rat Pack, who won four out of six this week -- their first winning week in their new desert home -- and scurried up in the standings from 13th to 12th place. They're now just a game behind the Phoenix Dragons, who also bounced back from a slow start by winning four out of seven this week... It was all bad news for the other teams at the back of the pack. The Columbia Rattlesnakes had been tied for sixth place overall, but after a 3-4 week fell all the way to ninth... The Hillsborough Destroyers continue to founder, going 2-3. They started the year with a 7-4 record and have gone 2-7 since... The Tijuana Banditos were a league-worst 1-6 this week, including five straight losses, to fall into 13th place... The Westwood Deductions still have the worst record in baseball but continue to improve -- slowly but surely: 1-6, 2-5 and now 2-4. Their winning percentage has shot up by more than 100 points since Week 1! 

Home rule: The two teams atop the standings, Arkansas and Newark, are really enjoying home cooking: The Sugar Bears are 10-5 (.667) at the Cereal Bowl, while the Golden Falcons are 8-3 (.727) at Quisenberry Memorial Park. But the best home team thus far has been the Endzone Animals, who are 9-2 (.818) in the Eagle's Nest. Other tough teams at home: Hoboken (5-2, .714); Stanhope (8-4, .667); Hillsborough (7-4, .636); Honolulu (.615); Carolina (7-5, .583); Columbia (8-6, .571); and Tijuana (4-3, .571). On the other hand, some host teams are too generous: Vancouver is 4-7 (.364) in the Iron Dome, only slightly better than Westwood (3-6, .333) -- who, considering their overall winning percentage is .250, are actually better at home than on the road. The only other teams with losing records at home are the Dragons and the Rat Pack, both tied at 4-6 (.400).

Santana: He's Devilishly Good

In a week with lots of offense, the only pitcher who really stood out was Philly's Johan Santana, who won both his starts while giving up just 2 earned runs (1.32 ERA) and 8 hits and 4 walks (7.9 R/9) in 13.2 IP, while striking out 14, leading the Endzone Animals to a second-best 5-2 record this week. His two masterful performances were all the more impressive when you consider the competition: Newark and  Vancouver. Santana's twin victories earn him the Batgirl Pitcher of the Week Award... The only other two-start winner was Arkansas's Roger Clemens, but he posted a 4.50 ERA, 12.2 R/9 (10 R, 7 ER, 13 H, 6 BB, 13 K in 14.0 IP)... Columbia's Livan Hernandez got slapped around by the Mighty Men in his first start this week, giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits -- including two doubles and two homers -- in 6.2 innings. But he bounced back in his next start, turning in one of the most dominating performances of any pitcher so far this young year: a 4-hit shutout against Tijuana, with no walks and 11 strikeouts... Stanhope's Tomokazu Ohka was the only other pitcher to throw a shutout this week, blanking the Cutters despite giving up six hits, four walks and his own error. But he was helped out by the defense behind him, which turned three double plays... Other one-start winners this week: Arkansas's Curt Schilling (1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 11 K in 8.0 IP); Philly's Brad Radke (1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K in 8.0 IP) and Zack Greinke (1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 K in 7.2 IP);  2-0, 1.00 ERA, 11 H, 4 BB, 13 K in 18.0 IP)... Arkansas's Brad Lidge picked up a win and a league-high three saves in four appearances this week, but also gave up 3 hits, 2 walks and 3 earned runs in 3.2 IP. Even worse was the only two-win reliever, Honolulu's Julian Tavarez, who gave up 6 ER, 7 H and 1 BB in 3.0 IP en route to his two vulture victories... This week's top relievers: Columbia's Joe Nathan (2 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 3.0 IP); Honolulu's Danny Kolb (2 SV, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K in 3.1 IP); Newark's Ron Mahay (1 W, 1 SV, 1 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 8 K in 6.2 IP); and Vancouver's Billy Wagner (1 W, 2 SV, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K in 5.0 IP); 2-0, 1.00 ERA, 11 H, 4 BB, 13 K in 18.0 IP).

Torched! Which pitchers had the roughest outings this week? Carolina's Carlos Zambrano got clipped by the Falcons (5 ER, 8 H, 4 BB in 3.2 IP); Columbia's Miguel Batista was dunked by the Mudcats (6 ER, 6 H, 3 BB in 4.0 IP); and Hillsborough's Eric Bedard got mauled by the Animals (6 ER, 6 H, 3 BB in 2.1 IP). But when it comes to taking a beat-down, nobody can top the Cutters' pitching staff this week. As a team, they posted a 8.15 ERA, 17.9 R/9, and Mike Stanton led the team with a 4.26 ERA. It's all the more amazing when you consider the Cutters opened the week with a three-game winning streak, including a four-hit, one-run complete game win by Jeff Weaver against Arkansas. But things got ugly in their five straight losses: Stanhope slapped around Joe Kennedy (5 ER, 8 H, 1 BB in 5.0 IP) and Jason Marquis (3 ER, 5 H, 4 BB in 2.0 IP) on Thursday and Friday, then the Sugar Bears crunched Jaret Wright (6 ER, 10 H, 2 BB in 3.2 IP) and Weaver (7 ER, 11 H, 2 BB in 5.1 IP) on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Saving the worst for last, they made Bret Tomko look like Niles Crane guest-starring on Oz Sunday night, pounding him for 17 earned runs in 16 hits and 9 walks. With the bullpen depleted from the week's previous beat downs, Tomko volunteered to "take one for the team," throwing 138 pitches -- but that wasn't enough to get him farther than the fourth inning. The Cutters wound up using six relievers in the game -- including Wright, who had pitched the day before! "I was scheduled to throw in the bullpen anyway. I figured, at that point (with the score 22-3), we're just throwing BP anyway, what's the difference?" The final score, 24-5, was the most lopsided since 2002, when the Wanaque Wolverines destroyed the Tijuana Banditos, 20-1; it was the most runs scored in a game since 2001, when these same Sugar Bears brutalized the Endzone Animals, 33-11.

Feeling Chipper

The Sugar Bears will always score a lot of runs -- and, giving up the sixth-most runs in the league, they have to. But this week Newark went on a rampage unseen in the DMBL in years, scoring 76 runs with 21 doubles and 19 home runs. (Consider that second place in each category was 53 runs scored, 15 doubles and 13 home runs.) As a team, the Sugar Bears hit .323 with a .998 OPS, with eight players posting OPS's above 1.000. So you know the Batter of the Week Award is going to go to a Sugar Bear; the question is, which one? Nick Johnson got into just five games, but he hit a ridiculous .688 with a 2.081 OPS (16 AB, 11 H, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 R, 7 RBI), while Jim Thome may have had an even better week than he did when he won the award last week: .429 BA, .520 OPB, 1.000 SLG, 3 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI. You also have to consider Bobby Abreu (.419, 1.142 OPS, 10 R), Carlos Guillen (.419, 1.076 OPS, 7 RBI), Hideki Matsui (.500, 1.333 OPS, 7 R, 6 RBI) and Bill Mueller (.417, 1.170 OPS, 8 RBI). But if you ask the Sugar Bear players, almost to a man, they'll agree on their choice: Chipper Jones. Coming off perhaps his worst season (.266, .826 OPS, 20 HR, 70 RBI), there was talk that this original member of the Sugar Bear franchise would be traded to make way for Matsui, who stole Jones's LF job with a terrific rookie campaign. But Jones moved back to third base to accommodate Matsui, spent long hours in the cage this spring, and is quietly off to his best start since 2002. This week, Jones hit .355 with a 1.280 OPS, led the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (11) and scored nine runs to win a free case of steaks from the good people at OmahaSteaks.com.

Arkansas's Barry Bonds hit .333 with a 1.204 OPS, buthe produced just 5 R and 2 RBI. The reason? Opposing managers just won't pitch to him. Bonds drew 13 walks (including four intentional passes) this week, and on the season he's been walked 27 times, including 12 intentional passes. Second place on the IBB list? Two players tied with 4... Vancouver's Victor Martinez (.333, .956 OPS, 5 R, 6 RBI this week) has the league's longest active hitting streak, at 18 games. It's the second-longest streak so far this season, behind only the 19-game hitting streak by Phoenix's Ichiro Suzuki snapped earlier this week... This week's other top batters: Carolina's Travis Hafner (.318, 1.232 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI), Columbia's Ben Broussard (.393, 1.254 OPS, 2 HR, 8 R), Hoboken's Ryan Klesko (.379, 1.067 OPS, 1 HR, 6 R), Honolulu's Jeff Bagwell (.529, 1.737 OPS, 4 2B, 6 RBI), Las Vegas's Jack Wilson (.483, 1.155 OPS, 3 2B, 7 R), Philly's Albert Pujols (.407, 1.522 OPS, 5 HR, 10 RBI), Phoenix's Ichiro Suzuki (.438, .986 OPS, 10 R, 3 SB), Stanhope's Brian Giles (.476, 1.339 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R), Tijuana's Mike Sweeney (.391, 1.351 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI) and Westwood's Eric Valent (.263, 1.190 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI).

Like Rats Off A Sinking Ship...

The Rats' front office seems determined to lead the league in at least one category: Most transactions! Already having made an astounding five trades this year, the Rats also have made a number of moves in the early going, releasing three players over the last two weeks. But their biggest move was made on Monday, when the 13th-place team fired manager Pat Riley and batting coach Pete Rose. The team's pitching coach, Sam "May-Day" Malone, was named interim manager, and promptly turned in the team's first winning week in Las Vegas (4-2). Riley went 203-300 (.404) in the DMBL, a far cry from his 1110-569 (.661) performance in the NBA. Nor did he ever reach the playoffs in the DMBL, a stark contrast to his post-season record of 155-100 (with six titles) with the Lakers, Knicks and Heat. Riley said he was frustrated by the front office's lack of commitment to the franchise. "Every time we hit a bump in the road, they'd make another trade. Gary Sheffield, Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney, Tom Glavine, A.C. Green, Kurt Rambis..."

In other Rat news this week, the Pack released Scott "Doh!" Dohmann -- signed as a free agent after the draft -- to bring back veteran Derek Lowe, a member of the Rats between 2001-2003 (and he made his debut in 2000 with the Rats' ancestor franchise, the Austin Outlaws). Lowe was a closer for his first three seasons in the league, recording 52 saves (but 24 blown saves), then went 10-6 with a 3.28 ERA as a starter in 2003; he was traded that year (with Glavine and a third rounder for Griffey, Mike Lieberthal and a first rounder) to the Mighty Men, where he went 7-2 with a 2.58 ERA down the stretch. But Lowe missed almost all of last year due to injuries, ineffectiveness and a freak sprinkler accident. Lowe, who is expected to remain a starter for the foreseeable future, will likely be pitching for Triple-A East Newark for the time being. It wasn't too tough for the Rats to give up on Dohmann, a 26-year-old righthander who'd been bombed (3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB in 2.1 IP) in his only three appearances this year.

Players have managed to avoid the injury bug so far this season. The only news on the medical front this week concerns two starting pitchers, who will likely miss one start. Carolina's Roy Halladay is off to such a great start (2-0, 3.38 ERA, 13.5 R/9) that he's been mobbed by autograph seekers wherever he goes. So he didn't think anything of it when five young men surrounded him after Saturday's start against Arkansas. But he did start to get a little suspicious when they asked for their autographs on $100 bills, "or else." Halladay is reportedly so shaken up by the incident that he won't pitch again until he completes a self-defense course with the Cobra Kai. On the very next day, Sensei John Kreese walked into the stadium and kicked the holy crap out of Arkansas starter Brad Penny, yelling "Strike first! Strike hard! No mercy!" Penny, vowing vengeance, says he'll be back after some lessons from Tiger Schulmann. 

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.