Week 5 - April 24, 2006

Out Of The Depths

It was a good week to be, like Vito Spatafore, a real come-from-behind kind of guy. Two of the top performances came from teams that began the week on the bad side of .500. Meanwhile, as we head toward the end of the first quarter of the season, the Hanover Division continues to be a dogfight -- if the playoffs started today, three of the four wildcards would go to Hanover, and the fourth would be a tie.

You can excuse fans of the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen if they're feeling a little light-headed from the team's sudden increase in elevation. The Hitmen have recovered from a 4-10 start to go 14-6 over the last three weeks, including 6-2 this week. They've jumped all the way from 13th to 5th and, incredibly, are now just a half-game out of the Morris Division lead... The other fast-rising team are the Honolulu Sharks, who went 5-2 to float up from 12th to 10th. After opening the season without a winning week, the Sharks have won 7 out of their last 9 games to move within 2 games of .500.

The war at the top of the Hanover Division ended in yet another draw between the  Las Vegas Rat Pack and the Newark Sugar Bears, who remained tied for the division and the league lead for a second straight week. This week, Newark went 6-2 while Las Vegas was 5-1. The two teams don't face each other again until next month, so they'll continue to beat up on the rest of the league... The Hoboken Cutters went 5-3 this week, not good enough to keep pace with the teams at the top but enough to break out of a tie with the Marietta Mighty Men, who went 3-4... Slipping a half-game behind the red-hot Sharks were the Phoenix Dragons, who went 3-5 to continue their pattern of following good weeks with bad ones... The Westwood Deductions continue to pile up losses, going 2-5.

After two weeks at the top, the Philadelphia Endzone Animals fell all the way into a tie for fourth place in the Morris Division after a 2-6 week. The Vancouver Ironfist could only manage a 4-4 record, but that was enough for them to claim the division lead for the first time this season, a half-game ahead of the streaking Hitmen... Don't look now, but the division champs for the past four seasons, the Arkansas Golden Falcons, are now just a game out of the lead after a 4-3 week... The Carolina Mudcats went 3-3 to preserve their .500 record... The D.C. Bushslappers continue to fade after a 2-4 week, while the South Boston Gang are still in free fall, losing seven out of eight this week to fall 16 games under .500.

Get It Dunn!

There were lots of great offensive performances this week, with all but three teams scoring at least 30 runs. But someone has to win all that free beef, and when the votes were tallied, it was Hillsborough's Adam Dunn narrowly edging several other sluggers to claim the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. Interestingly enough, Dunn didn't lead the league in anything this week, but he was in the Top 5 in just about every category, including slugging percentage (.852), OPS (1.324), home runs (3), runs (8), runs batted in (13), extra base hits (6), total bases (23), walks (7), runs created (12.2), RC/27 (17.4), secondary average (.741) and total average (1.765). He also hit .370 (10-for-27) with a .472 on-base percentage, helping to power the Hitmen to a 6-2 record. He got some support in the lineup from Julio Lugo (.414, 6 R, 3 SB), Jason Varitek (.364, 2 2B, 6 RBI) and Ryan Howard (.333, 3 HR, 4 RBI in 15 AB).

When the Sugar Bears are rolling, opposing pitchers better just chuck and duck. How bad did it get this week? Nine batters hit over .300 and six had OPS's above 1.000 as the Brick City Bombers scored a league-high 66 runs -- that's 8.25 runs per game -- and had a team line of .330 BA, .986 OPS and 8.5 RC/27. When that's your "average" hitter, it's tough to single any individual out as having an outstanding week, but Carlos Guillen (.432, 1.042 OPS, 3 2B, 9 R), Nick Johnson (.344, 1.135 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI) and Manny Ramirez (.333, 1.111 OPS, 2 2B, 5 R) certainly fit the bill. Other terrific team efforts this week: South Boston's Vlad Guerrero (.417, 1.127 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI), Jacque Jones (.433, 1.235 OPS, 5 2B, 5 RBI) and Orlando Hudson (.583, 1.199 OPS, 4 R, 2 SB); and Vancouver's J.D. Drew (.455, 1.565 OPS, 4 HR, 7 RBI), Jason Bay (.367, 1.293 OPS, 4 HR, 15 RBI) and Michael Young (.351, .982 OPS, 4 2B, 11 R).

Las Vegas's Chone Figgins continue to hustle his way toward the single-season stolen base record (78, Kenny Lofton, 1997). Figgins went 4-for-17 this week, all singles; but he also drew five walks for a .409 OBP. In his nine times on base, he attempted to steal four times, and made it three. On the season, Figgins is 18-for-21 (.857 SB%) in his team's first 32 games; that's a pace for 73 stolen bases. That wouldn't be the record, but it would be the most stolen bases since Roger Cedeno stole 77 in 2000, which also was the last time anyone had more than 50 in a season. As for SB%, Figgins has almost no shot of breaking the record set last season Bob Abreu (29-for-30, .966%). Having been caught three times already, Figgins would have to steal 70 more bases without getting caught to improve his mark to .967 (88-for-91). The guy with the best shot of breaking Abreu's record would probably be Westwood's Jose Reyes, who is a perfect 9-for-9 on the basepaths after three more swipes this week.

This week's other top batters: D.C.'s Reggie Sanders (.458, 1.452 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); Hoboken's Damian Miller (.481, 1.093 OPS, 1 HR, 5 RBI); Honolulu's Miguel Tejada (.344, 2 2B, 4 R, 17 game hitting streak); Las Vegas's Jhonny Peralta (.385, 1.217 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI); Marietta's Derek Jeter (.346, 1.067 OPS, 2 HR, 5 RBI); Philly's Albert Pujols (.419, 1.255 OPS, 2 HR, 9 RBI); Phoenix's Javy Lopez (.444, 1.226 OPS, 2 HR, 7 R); and Westwood's Craig Biggio (.346, 1.024 OPS, 5 2B, 5 RBI).

The Rhodes Warrior

 The Rat Pack won five games this week, and Arthur Rhodes was in each of them, picking up 2 wins and 2 saves along the way. His five nearly perfect appearances -- he retired 17 out of 18 batters faced, with just one hit, no walks and no runs -- were enough to win him the Top 10 Ways to Destroy the Earth Pitcher of the Week Award. Rhodes, 36, was a journeyman reliever for most of his career before enjoying three solid seasons with Newark from '01 to '03. He then cashed in with a $30 million, three-year deal with Hillsborough that certainly hasn't worked out the way the Hitmen hoped: He missed all of '04 with an elbow injury, then, in '05, endured the worst year of his career, racking up a 7.89 ERA in 34 appearances. Hoping to redeem himself in the final year of the contract, Rhodes was shocked when the team cut him on the final day of spring training. The Rats immediately claimed him off waivers and he's been lights out since, posting a 1.38 ERA, 6.2 R/9 and 8:1 K:BB ratio, with 3 wins and 6 saves in 13 appearances. He's also stranded all four inherited runners and, surprisingly, has been devastatingly effective against right-handed batters, holding them to just 3 hits in 31 at-bats (.097 BA, .258 OPS). "If you think I'm motivated now, just wait until we face them next month," Rhodes said.

Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen (0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K in 4.0 IP) and Hillsborough's Chad Cordero (0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K in 5.0 IP) each had three saves this week, but Marietta's Mariano Rivera continues to be the early favorite for The Eck. Big Mo didn't allow a run while notching two more saves this week, giving him 12 on the season -- four more than his nearest competitor... This week's other top relievers: Honolulu's Gary Majewski (2 W, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 4.1 IP); Newark's Matt Wise (1 W, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K in 7.2 IP); and Westwood's Mike Gallo (1 W, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K in 4.1 IP).

The Hired Hitmen may lead the league in highest ERA (5.48) and R/9 (14.4), but this week's 6-2 record was helped by some terrific starting performances from Cliff Lee (2-0, 2.30 ERA, 9.2 R/9, 3 BB, 11 K in 15.2 IP) and Bartolo Colon (2-0, 3.38 ERA, 10.7 R/9, 2 BB, 8 K in 16.0 IP). Just five pitchers won both their starts this week, and two of them were on Hillsborough... This week's other top starters: Arkansas's Pedro Martinez (1-0, 2.57 ERA, 9.6 R/9, 4 BB, 17 K in 14.0 IP); Carolina's Roy Halladay (1-1, 1.59 ERA, 7.9 R/9, 3 BB, 15 K in 17.0 IP); Hoboken's Carlos Silva (1-0, 0.90 ERA, 5.4 R/9, 1 BB, 2 K in 10.0 IP); Honolulu's Mark Mulder (2-0, 1.76 ERA, 10.0 R/9, 1 BB, 5 K in 15.1 IP); Las Vegas's Derek Lowe (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 6.6 R/9, 1 BB, 16 K in 15.0 IP); and Vancouver's Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 2.77 ERA, 13.8 R/9, 2 BB, 8 K in 13.0 IP).

How Sweeney It Is

No More No-Mahr

A member of the Dragons since his rookie year in '98, including the '02 season that was completely lost due to injury, Nomar Garciaparra was a bitter man after the Phoenix front office decided they couldn't afford to pay for his rehab for another lost season in '06 after he suffered a gruesome torn groin injury last September. Nomar hunted around and eventually signed an incentive-laden deal with the Mudcats, who'd hoped he'd be ready to take the field by the All-Star break. Unfortunately, Garciaparra's rehab suffered yet another setback this week when he sprained his wrist while trying to TiVo through the "previouslys" on 24. One Carolina scout said, "I'm not going to call him injury prone, but this is the third TV-related injury he's had this month." On Monday, fed up with Nomar's numerous injuries and satisfied with the play of young shortstops Bill Hall and Felipe Lopez, manager Lenny Dykstra finally broke the news to Garciaparra that they'd given up on him as well. But the 32-year-old Garciaparra is vowing a comeback next year, somewhere. "I don't know if it's going to be in the DMBL, in Japan or in the California Penal League," Garciaparra said. "But you're going to see me in action in 2007."

This week's other comings and goings: Carolina added starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez; Hoboken released pitching prospect Yusmeiro Petit and signed 1B Rafael Palmeiro and OF/1B Xavier Nady; Philly released infielder Abraham Nunez, utilityman Rob Mackowiak and starting pitcher Carl Pavano and added Jack Wilson and Mike Maroth.