Week 5 - April 25, 2005

Hanover Strikes Back!

Over the first four weeks of the season, fans of Morris Division teams got to tease their neighbors about how awful the Hanover Division teams looked. Just last week, there were five teams in the Morris with winning records, compared to just two in the Hanover. In fact, the team with the second-best record in the Hanover Division ranked seventh overall, meaning if the playoffs had started last week, only one Hanover team would be represented in the post-season!

What a difference a week makes, however. This week, five of the seven Hanover teams posted winning records -- and four of them lost just one game each -- as the Morris teams were pounded by their cross-league rivals.

The Newark Sugar Bears continued their torrid pace, winning six out of seven games -- including a six-game winning streak snapped in Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader -- to pull into a tie for the league's best overall record... The red-hot Honolulu Sharks cruised into second place in the division, and a fourth-place tie overall, after a 5-2 week. They lost Monday and Sunday, with a five-game winning streak sandwiched in between... The only team that kept up with the Sugar Bears were the Phoenix Dragons, who also went 6-1 to finally get back to .500 after their awful start. Also riding a hot streak to a .500 record are the Hoboken Cutters, who won five out of six this week. The Cutters are back at .500 after going 12-6 over their first 18 games and then 6-12 over the next 18... The injury-plagued Stanhope Mighty Men landed into a tie with Hoboken and Phoenix after going 2-3 this week. They've lost five out of their last seven games...  who lost four straight games to start the week before reeling off three wins in a row... The Las Vegas Rat Pack are creeping up toward .500 again after a 5-1 week... With April 15th finally behind them, the Westwood Deductions can put away their calculators and get back to baseball. Already their wrath is beginning to be felt as the team went 3-4 this week and finally out of the basement, inching up the standings from 14th to 13th place, and just 1½ games out of 12th place. The Taxmen Cometh!

Contrary to Hanover, where the division standings got shaken up like a James Bond martini, the Morris Division standings stayed frozen as everybody had a lousy week -- except, appropriately enough, the first-place Arkansas Golden Falcons. But their 4-2 record wasn't good enough to stay ahead of the Sugar Bears, who are now tied for the league's best overall record... Still in second place and third place overall, the Carolina Mudcats had another ho-hum week (3-4). After a red-hot 14-5 start, the 'Cats have dropped 10 out of their last 16... The Columbia Rattlesnakes kept up, also going 3-4, to stay a game behind Carolina... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals dropped five out of seven this week to fall to .500 and into the five-way tie for sixth place. Imagine the headache if the playoffs started today!... The wildly inconsistent Vancouver Iron Fist won their first game this week, and then lost all the rest to finish 1-5, a big step backward... Their 7-2 start a distant memory, the Hillsborough Destroyers went 1-6 this week and there's already buzz that the new owner is talking about trading for the future... The Tijuana Banditos lost all seven of this week's games to sink all the way to last place, a game behind Westwood for the worst record in baseball.

The week ahead: It's going to be a long week as all 14 teams play a full slate of eight games each. Newark's first-place record, in no doubt helped by their 18-7 (.720) winning record at home, will be tested as they embark on an 11-game road trip... Meanwhile, Arkansas will play its eight games at home this week, but those games are against red-hot Hoboken and Phoenix, plus three games against arch-rival Vancouver... The back of the pack will get sorted out as 11th-place Las Vegas takes on 14th-place Tijuana, and 13th-place Westwood will hope to move up against the 10th-place Iron Fist.

Westwood's Big 'O'

After his first five starts of the season, Westwood's Odalis Perez was a woeful 0-3 with a 9.11 ERA, 15.9 R/9. But this week he stepped it up with huge efforts against two of the teams tied for sixth place to start giving new hope to weary Ducks fans. Odalis's pair of wins -- he was one of only two double-winners this week -- was all the more huge considering the Deductions won just three games all week. In his first start, a gritty 4-2 win over Philly, Odalis got his first win and Johan Santana got his first loss. He followed up that performance with an even better one on Sunday, scattering six hits with no walks in a complete game 4-0 win against Phoenix, the only shutout turned in this week. On the week, Odalis posted a 1.10 ERA and 9.9 R/9 (14 H, 4 BB, 2 ER in 16.1 IP) to win the Manamana Pitcher of the Week Award. On the season, Perez is now 2-3 with a 6.07 ERA, 13.6 R/9... The Ducks' other win this week came courtesy of veteran Woody Williams, who also was having an awful season (1-4, 8.76 ERA) before finally turning in a solid effort this week (0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K in 7.0 IP)... The only other two-win week was recorded by another "O", Las Vegas's Orlando Hernandez (2.13 ERA, 12.8 R/9 in 12.2 IP)... Strong efforts also were turned in by Arkansas's Pedro Martinez (1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 10 K in 9.0 IP); Hoboken's Brett Tomko (2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K in 9.0 IP); and Stanhope's A.J. Burnett (1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 10 K in 7.1 IP).

Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen led the league with three saves this week, and almost notched a fourth but blew a 3-2 lead in the 9th inning of Sunday's game against Stanhope for his first blown save of the season. But after giving up the RBI double to Todd Helton to tie the game, Izzy gutted out four tough innings, allowing no hits and just one walk, until Miguel Cabrera came through with a solo home run the top of the 12th inning. Isringhausen closed it out with a perfect bottom of the 12th to preserve the 4-3 win... This week's top relievers: Las Vegas's Juan Rincon (2 SV, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 5.1 IP), Phoenix's Jon Leicester (1 W, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K in 4.0 IP) and Vancouver's Ryan Madson (0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 4.2 IP).

Brick City Bombing

OK, Sugar Bears, we get it: You don't like pitchers! How else to explain the Sugar Bears' eye-popping 91 runs scored this week, a ridiculous 13 runs per game average. The top five spots on the runs scored leaderboard this week were all Sugar Bears, as were four out of the top six spots on the RBI board. OK, so the steaks are going to Newark this week, but to which locker? Carlos Guillen (.538, 1.613 OPS, 4 2B, 11 RBI), Bobby Abreu (.536, 1.560 OPS, 3 HR, 13 R), Jim Thome (.417, 1.224 OPS, 2 HR, 10 RBI) and J.T. Snow (.385, 1.363 OPS, 10 BB, 12 R) are all deserving, but the biggest bopper of all this week had to be Hideki Matsui. "Godzilla" led the league in batting average (.636), OPS (1.882), slugging percentage (1.227), doubles (7), extra base hits (9), runs created (19.2), RC/27 outs (51.9) and total average (4.000), and finished in the top three in OBP (.655), hits (14), runs (11), RBIs (11), isolated power (.591), total bases (27) and secondary average (.818) to cruise to his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. On the season, Newark leads the league in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles, home runs, walks and total bases. But their days of bullying opposing pitchers may be coming to an end, as they've played 25 home games so far this year -- more than any other team -- and are about to start a stretch where 22 of their next 24 games will be on the road. Newark has averaged 9.7 rpg at home, but just 5.8 rpg on the road -- still good, but much closer to the league-average of 5.35 rpg. "We love Newark, but we're not worried about playing on the road," manager Don Mattingly said. "We'll find some crack ho's to take with us to remind us of home."

As a team, the Sugar Bears hit .406 with a 1.189 OPS and 15.6 RC/27 this week. Compare that to the team-best performances turned in by Hoboken's Geoff Jenkins (.375, 1.123 OPS, 13.0 RC/27), Philly's Jose Guillen (.414, 1.172 OPS, 14.5 RC/27), Stanhope's Derek Jeter (.368, .928 OPS, 10.0 RC/27), Tijuana's Orlando Hudson (.370, 1.117 OPS, 11.1 RC/27), Vancouver's Jeff Kent (.375, 1.093 OPS, 11.5 RC/27) or Westwood's Mark Kotsasy (.348, .922 OPS, 9.0 RC/27)... This week's other top batters: Carolina's Jim Edmonds (.500, 1.253 OPS, 4 2B, 7 RBI), Columbia's Ben Broussard (.414, 1.252 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI), Hillsborough's Jason Varitek (.333, 1.412 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI), Honolulu's Johnny Damon (.448, 1.288 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R) and Corey Koskie (.364, 1.409 OPS, 5 HR, 6 RBI), Las Vegas's Mark Teixeira (.435, 1.674 OPS, 5 HR, 13 RBI) and Phoenix's Javy Lopez (.500, 1.313 OPS, 3 HR, 10 RBI).

Byrd Flipped

Stanhope continues to be plagued by bad mojo. Last week, the team lost Charles Johnson, Kerry Wood and Gary Sheffield to strange occurrences, the team has been falling rapidly in the standings, and the team's concession stands have reported a record number of severed fingers found in the chili. This week, the streak of bizarrely bad luck continued when Paul Byrd -- moved into the rotation just last week to replace Wood -- tripped over his lucky horseshoe, breaking three toes. He'll miss at least two starts, by which time Wood will likely be back with the team. Byrd is taking the bad luck in stride. "I had two pretty good starts (1-0, 3 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 3 K in 9.1 IP) and if they need a sixth guy again I'm sure I'll get the call," he said. "And it's only a matter of time before they figure out that Tomokazu Ohka sucks."

The bad luck bug also hit the Mudcats, who lost one of their top relievers and one of their top batters this week. Travis Hafner, hitting .365 with a team-high 1.204 OPS (5 HR, 23 R, 15 RBI), decided to drive to the team's scheduled game against Columbia, but mistakenly drove to Colombia. Hafner called Carolina's front office to ask for directions to Crusader Park. "Yeah, I just got off the exit for Downtown Bogota and I don't see any stadium," he said. "Hold on, there's some guys coming toward the car. They look like they're from around here so maybe they can give me directions." Hafner hasn't been heard from since... His roommate and best buddy, reliever Rudy Seanez (2-1, 2 SV, 2.87 ERA, 12.1 R/9) volunteered to rescue Hafner, ala Chuck Norris in Missing in Action. "The war's not over until the last man comes home!" Seanez vowed. Phoenix's Nomar Garciaparra has volunteered to tag along as well. "I hate General Trau!" Garciaparra fumed. "Though he was pretty good in Ninja III: The Domination."

Arkansas's Barry Bonds played in just three games this week -- hitting .364 with a 1.552 OPS, and a team-high 7 RBIs -- before abruptly announcing that he was retiring -- yes, again. This time, Bonds said, he was going to travel to the Vatican and to be elected pope. "I have a lot of good ideas about the Catholic Church, like how they should put steroids in the communion wine," Bonds said. "Jesus is a pretty scrawny dude. If he was juiced he would've kicked some Roman ass." Bonds already has one vote: Westwood's Mark Kotsay, who is a cardinal in the off-season. Kotsay will join Bonds in Rome for a few days to wait for Pope Benedict XVI to die... Meanwhile, Bonds's teammate, young Jerome Williams, has developed arthritis. Doctors think the 23-year-old developed the problem from throwing at so many batters. Williams said he'll take some Joint-Ritis and be back in a couple weeks. "There's a lot of mo-fos in this league I haven't hit yet," Williams said. "And a couple guys I'd like to drill again, just for old time's sake."

Comings and goings: The Endzone Animals gave up on veteran Randy Wolf, who had been bombed to the tune of a 1-2 record, 6.38 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in four Triple-A starts. The 28-year-old lefty hopes to re-sign with Tijuana, where he had his best season in '02 (12-11, 3.89 ERA, 160 K in 182.2 IP), but he's not picky. "I just want a job," he said. The Animals replaced Wolf on the 30-man roster with 27-year-old John Patterson, who has been dominating the Argentinian League (0.86 ERA, 0.76 WHIP in three starts)... Arkansas signed RP Greg Aquino off waivers from Las Vegas and released RP Kevin Gregg...  Hoboken cut prospect Jeremy Reed and added SP Jon Garland... Hoping to find a way to shake up the team and snap out of their five-game losing streak, the Iron Fist made an example of reliever Lance Carter (2-3, 6.23 ERA, 11.4 R/9). After giving up the go-ahead run in Saturday's game against Phoenix, manager Darren Daulton gave Carter his unconditional release right there on the pitcher's mound. "You suck. You can walk home 'cause you're not getting on our team bus again." Then, still standing on the mound, Daulton pulled out a cell phone, called up Gil Meche at home, and released him too. The Iron Fist replaced the two pitchers with free agent veterans Jacques Jones and Victor Santos. "We'll probably cut one or both of them before too long, too," Daulton admitted. "I just like keeping some scrubs around so I have somebody to release." 

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.