Week 4 - April 17, 2006

High Times In Hanover

In a week of inter-division showdowns, it was a very good week for the Hanover Division, whose teams combined for a 27-20 record against the Morris.

Leading the charge were the Marietta Mighty Men and the Phoenix Dragons, who each went 5-2. The hot week helped the Dragons erase last week's 1-5 performance and put them just a game below .500, while the Mites are now in a three-way tie for the league's 4th-best record, just 2½ games out of the top spot.

The war for the top of the division continues to be a slugfest between  the league's best offense and the league's best pitching staff. This week the battle was won by the Newark Sugar Bears, who slugged their way to a 4-2 and reclaimed a tie for the division lead and the league's best record. The Las Vegas Rat Pack looked to be pulling away at the beginning of the week when they jumped out to three straight wins, but then dropped three in a row to fall back into a tie with Newark for the league lead... The only team in baseball with an overall winning record that had a losing week were the Hoboken Cutters, who dropped four out of seven to fall into the three-way tie at three games over .500... The Honolulu Sharks finally had their first winning week, going 4-3... The Westwood Deductions held onto to second-to-last place after going 3-4.

The Philadelphia Endzone Animals held onto the Morris Division lead after taking four out of seven this week. The Vancouver Ironfist managed to keep pace, which was a good enough performance to claim sole possession of 2nd place in the division and join the tie at 4th place overall. The two teams that were tied with the Ironfist last week -- the Arkansas Golden Falcons and the Carolina Mudcats -- fell to .500 after each went 2-4... The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen were the only other team in the Morris to not post a losing record, going 4-3 to sneak within a game of the 'Cats and Falcs... The D.C. Bushslappers took a big step backward after going 2-5, while the South Boston Gang maintained their league-worst record after also dropping five out of seven.

Pet Peavy

It's way too early to talk about who's going to win the Ben McDonald Award, but after this week's dominating performance, Vancouver's Jake Peavy is the guy everybody's not talking about. Peavy won both his starts, including a two-hit complete game win Sunday over Westwood. He allowed just 2 earned runs in 14.2 innings (1.23 ERA), with 8 hits and 3 walks (6.8 R/9) while striking out 11. On the season, Peavy was the first pitcher to six wins, and is the only pitcher to be in the top 3 in wins (1st), ERA (3rd) and R/9 (3rd). He's also tied for 2nd in quality starts (5) and quality start percentage (.833), and is tied for the league lead in winning percentage, shutouts and complete games. The 25-year-old right-hander has shown considerable improvement each year he's been in the league -- from 0-1 with a 12.71 ERA in '03, to 2-3, 7.82 in '04 to 13-7, 4.47 last year -- and some scouts believe he's ready to take a big step up this season. Peavy's great start and dominating week were enough to win him the Titanic 2: The Surface Pitcher of the Week Award.

Just two other pitchers won two games this week: Marietta's Jon Lieber (3.65 ERA, 11.7 R/9, 1 BB, 9 K in 12.1 IP) and Phoenix's Gustavo Chacin (0.64 ERA, 12.2 R/9, 4 BB, 9 K in 14.0 IP)... This week's other top starters: Arkansas's Roger Clemens (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 9.0 R/9, 4 BB, 9 K in 15.0 IP); Hoboken's Carlos Silva (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 7.5 R/9, 0 BB, 9 K in 18.0 IP); Honolulu's Jeff Suppan (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 10.2 R/9, 7 BB, 7 K in 15.0 IP); Las Vegas's Rich Harden (1-0, 1.32 ERA, 10.5 R/9, 3 BB, 17 K in 13.2 IP); Philly's Doug Davis (1-0, 1.17 ERA, 10.6 R/9, 9 BB, 9 K in 15.1 IP) and Vancouver's Ben Sheets (1-0, 2.16 ERA, 9.7 R/9, 4 BB, 15 K in 16.2 IP). 

Hoboken's one-two punch of Jason Isringhausen and Neal Cotts combined to pick up a win and a save in five appearances this week (6.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K), while Newark had a three-headed monster in Tom Gordon, Scot Shields and Scott Eyre (1 W, 2 SV, 11.1 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 9 K). Meanwhile, Marietta's Mariano Rivera continued to rack up the relief points, picking up a win and two saves in five appearances (0 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 K in 6.2 IP).

It was all hands on deck during a wild 17-inning game between Philly and Marietta. Just a day earlier, the same two teams had gone 11 innings and used a total of 10 pitchers, so the bullpens were already running on fumes to begin with. Things only got worse for Philly when starter John Patterson had to leave in the third inning, trailing by 2, when he realized he'd left his oven on. Manager Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni went through relievers Hector Carrasco, Juan Rincon, Cliff Politte, Justin Speier and finally closer Francisco Rodriguez as the Animals battled back to tie the score on a two-run home run by Albert Pujols. Meanwhile, Marietta's Graig Nettles had the advantage of A.J. Burnett pitching into the 6th inning, but in the 7th, Dan Wheeler gave up the game-tying blast to Pujols and was replaced by Trevor Hoffman, followed by Mariano Rivera, Aaron Fultz and Chris Ray. Yet now both bullpens were empty, and still the game was tied at 3-3. It was time for the starters. Erik Bedard gave the Animals five solid innings, while Mike Mussina came on for the Mites and kept the score tied for three. Finally, with one out and one on in the 17th, Philly blinked first, lifting Bedard for lefty Doug Davis, who had started the game just two days earlier. Davis promptly gave up a walk to move the go-ahead run to second, and he was yanked for Brad Radke -- the next day's scheduled starter -- who lasted for all of five pitches before giving up the game-winning hit to Jorge Posada. All in all, the two teams combined for 17 pitchers, 545 pitches, 32 strikeouts, 24 batters, 33 hits, 11 walks and 27 runners left on base.

Cano Way!

Lots of teams got strong offensive performances this week, but it really helps a team's chances when the little guys come up big. And no one came up bigger than Hillsborough rookie second baseman Robinson Cano, who led the league in batting average (.548), on-base percentage (.563), hits (17), runs created (16.5) and RC/27 (31.7); tied for the league lead in runs (10), runs batted in (9) and total bases (29); and was second in OPS (1.498), total average (2.143), extra base hits (7), doubles (4) and slugging percentage (.935), earning him his first-ever OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. On the season, Cano is tied for the league-lead in batting average (.398), runs (24) and extra base hits (21); ranks 2nd in OPS (1.181), doubles (12), total bases (78), slugging percentage (.757), total average (1.355) and runs created (34.1); 5th in on-base percentage (.423); and tied for 5th in hits (41) and RBIs (23). Not bad for a 23-year-old second-round draft pick some thought would be better off starting the season in Triple-A Motown!

It was a good week to be a second baseman. Also turning in strong performances were Carolina's Bill Hall (.409, .889 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI); Hoboken's Mark Ellis (.323, .892 OPS, 2 2B, 6 R); Honolulu's Ronnie Belliard (.423, 1.077 OPS, 3 2B, 7 R); Phoenix's Mark Grudzielanek (.462, 1.179 OPS, 2 3B, 8 RBI); and Vancouver's Jeff Kent (.500, 1.410 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI).

With a week like that from Cano, it's no surprise Hillsborough led the league this week with 51 runs. But Phoenix's surprising 5-2 week also was largely due to its mediocre offense suddenly showing signs of life, scoring just one fewer run than the Hitmen in the same number of games. Leading the charge was Shea Hillenbrand (.500, 1.634 OPS, 4 2B, 4 HR, 10 R, 8 RBI), supported by Melvin Mora (.400, 1.044 OPS, 2 2B, 6 R). Hillenbrand has had a surprisingly good start to his '06 campaign (.357, .954 OPS, 9 2B, 5 HR, 18 RBI), but if this team wants to have any hope of finally securing a playoff berth, it will need more good weeks from Mora (.240, .641 OPS in 29 games) and Garret Anderson (.213, .468 OPS in 14 games) before it's too late.

This week's other top performers: Hillsborough's Adam Dunn (.393, 1.219 OPS, 3 HR, 8 RBI); Hoboken's Geoff Jenkins (.391, 1.005 OPS, 4 2B, 2 RBI); Honolulu's Miguel Tejada (.414, 1.141 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI); Marietta's Brian Giles (.417, 1.044 OPS, 3 3B, 5 RBI); Newark's Manny Ramirez (.333, 1.042 OPS, 2 HR, 9 RBI); Philly's Frank Catalanotto (.588, 1.373 OPS, 2 2B, 2 RBI); Vancouver's J.D. Drew (.476, 1.236 OPS, 1 HR, 9 R); and Westwood's Derrek Lee (.367, 1.054 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI).

Itchy and Scratchy

Prospects To Suspects

As we reach the end of the first month of the 2006 season, some teams decided it was better to go with veteran experience over youthful exuberance. Arkansas released 28-year-old pitcher Brandon Backe and signed 32-year-old outfielder Casey Blake; Marietta released 29-year-old prospect Andy Phillips and replaced him with 31-year-old second baseman Jose Vidro; and Newark cut 23-year-old prospect Edwin Encarnacion and re-signed 32-year-old starting pitcher John Thomson. Meanwhile, Hillsborough and Hoboken tried the opposite tack, cutting some veterans to make way for youngsters. The Hitmen released 29-year-old pitcher Geoff Geary (6.57 ERA, 15.3 R/9 in 6 games this year) and replaced him with 27-year-old outfielder Brad Hawpe, hitting .348 with a 1.127 OPS in 12 minor league games so far this season. Meanwhile, the Cutters saw enough of Adam Eaton in just two starts (6.97 ERA, 17.4 R/9) -- even though he went 1-0 -- to release him and replace him with 24-year-old reliever Blaine Boyer. In addition to being four years younger, Boyer also gives Hoboken more bullpen depth, as Jae Seo is expected to return to the rotation this week.