Week 5 - April 27, 2008

And Then There Were Three

Last week, half the teams in the league were still in single digits when it came to wins and losses; now there's just three teams left. Two are still hoping to avoid their 10th loss; one is still looking for its 10th win. How weird a year is it? Last year, every team hit double digits by the end of Week 4!

The Philadelphia Endzone Animals finally had a losing week, going 2-3, but the team chasing them in the Morris Division -- the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen -- couldn't take advantage as they went just 3-3...The Vancouver Iron Fist had another strong week, winning four out of six to move above .500 and claim 3rd place in the division and 6th place overall. They had won eight straight games before ending the week with back-to-back losses... The D.C. Bushslappers fell all the way back to .500 after going 2-4. They've lost six out of their last eight games... The Arkansas Golden Falcons are the hottest team in baseball right now, having won six straight games, including a league-best 5-0 record this week. They were in 13th place two weeks ago, 11th last week, and now they're in 9th, just 3 games behind Vancouver for the final playoff spot!... The Carolina Mudcats went 3-2, continuing their slow steady crawl back to .500... The Blue Ridge Bombers won three straight but then lost three straight to find themselves last in the division and 11th overall.

Once again, the Las Vegas Rat Pack had the best record in the Hanover Division, going 4-1, including three straight wins. They've won 11 out of their last 12 games to reclaim the league's best record from Philly, who are 2 games behind them... The Newark Sugar Bears dropped three out of their five games to fall 3½ games out, but still have a 4½-game lead for the top wildcard record... The Tampa Bay Plunkers went 4-2 to jump back into 3rd place in the division -- and tied for 4th overall, with Hillsborough -- after the Hoboken Cutters could only manage one win in five tries this week... New Jersey Team Buddah split their six games to remain 5th in the division and 12th overall... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta continue to slide, going 2-4 this week... The Sardine City Straphangers finally managed to win a game -- just one, against five losses this week. But the win was important as it snapped their losing streak at 11 games.

The Wright Stuff

What would you think, as a 25-year-old former top draft pick coming off a disappointing season (.260, .713 OPS), if your team gave your job to Alex Rodriguez... and also protected a hotshot rookie in Kevin Kouzmanoff? You can't blame David Wright if he thought his days in Arkansas were coming to an end. But somehow the team has found enough playing time to keep all three third basemen happy. And the happiest of all might be Wright, who had perhaps the best week of any player so far this season (.609, .667 OBP, 1.348 SLG). Wright slammed two doubles and five home runs for 10 runs and 15 RBIs... in just 5 games! He led the league in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, hits, RBIs, HRs, total bases, runs created, RC/27, isolated power, total average, secondary average and AB/HR, plus he's riding a 7-game hitting streak. All that adds up to a nice box of cigars as the JRCigars.com Smoking Batter of the Week. A-Rod didn't have a bad week himself (.294 BA,  .839 OPS), while Kouz continues to crush lefthanders (3-for-6, 1 2B, 2 RBI). The three-headed third base monster is working out well, but the team is hopeful they can come up with a long solution to keep all three players in the lineup every day. "We're petitioning the Commissioner's Office to add another third base, somewhere between the current third base and home plate," Owner/GM Mike "Stump" Matiash said. In the meantime, fans will have to continue cheering for whichever slugger is manning the hot corner.

This week's other top batters: Blue Ridge's Vlad Guerrero (.455, 1.304 OPS, 3 2B, 9 RBI); Carolina's Johnny Estrada (.526, 1.236 OPS, 1 HR, 4 RBI); Hoboken's Aaron Rowand (.364, 1.164 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB); Las Vegas's Ichiro Suzuki (.500, 1.067 OPS, 1 2B, 4 R, 2 SB); New Jersey's Ty Wigginton (.364, 1.218 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI); Newark's Matt Stairs (.458, 1.438 OPS, 3 HR, 9 R, 9 RBI); Philly's Albert Pujols (.429, 1.357 OPS, 6 2B, 6 RBI); Sardine City's B.J. Upton (.400, 1.027 OPS, 1 HR, 6 R, 13-game hitting streak); and Tampa Bay's Pat Burrell (.450, 1.292 OPS, 1 HR, 6 RBI);.

Hold My Perce

The DMBL doesn't have an official Comeback Player of the Year Award; if they start giving one out, maybe it ought to be named for Troy Percival. The former Phoenix closer quit baseball following the 2005 season, but has come back in a big way for the Iron Fist this season. Vancouver took a gamble on the 38-year-old righthander by taking him with the first pick of the third round (No. 29 overall); some bloggers speculated he'd retire the first time he gave up a spring training hit. But while the Vancouver bullpen has had its share of problems, Percival has been rock steady as a setup man, leading the team (and second in the DMBL) with five holds; he also has a save. This week he picked up his first win in three years, throwing a scoreless inning against the Cutters; the Iron Fist then rallied for a 6-5 win. Three nights later, he beat the Cutters again, this time holding them hitless over two innings in a 4-3 game; the Iron Fist came up with 8 runs in the final three frames for an 11-4 win. Those were Percival's only two appearances this week, leaving him at 2-0 with 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB and 5 K in 3.0 IP. a 0.00 ERA, 9.0 R/9 and 15.0 K/9 (5 K in 3.0 IP). "It's great to be back but I don't feel like I'm all the way there yet," the 2002 Dennis Eckersley Award winner said. "I'm just happy that I could help the team get above .500. Now the next target is the division lead!" On the season, Percival has a 2.89 ERA, 8.7 R/9 and has struck out 19 batters in 18.2 innings. His numbers are all the more impressive when you consider the team's closer, Billy Wagner, is off to a terrible start (6.75 ERA, 21.6 R/9), without much help from veterans Matt Herges (8.77, 16.2) or Doug Brocail (6.46, 13.5). "You really worry about where we'd be without Percy this year," pitching coach Erik Hanson said. You can ponder that while you reflect on where Jon would be without Garfield as Percival won the Garfield Minus Garfield Pitcher of the Week Award.

This week's other top pitchers: Carolina's Roy Halladay (1-0, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K in 9.0 IP); D.C.'s Joe Nathan (1 SV, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 7.2 IP); Hillsborough's Dan Haren (1-0, 2 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 8 K in 8.0 IP); Las Vegas's A.J. Burnett (shutout: 3 H, 4 BB, 9 K);  Marietta's Mariano Rivera (1 SV, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 6.0 IP); New Jersey's George Sherrill (0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 3.2 IP); Philly's Francisco Cordero (0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 3.0 IP); Sardine City's C.J. Wilson (1 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K in 3.0 IP); and Vancouver's Jake Peavy (shutout: 1 H, 2 BB, 12 K).

Danks For Nothing!

Marietta rookie starter John Danks was just 6 years old when the DMBL was founded, but he was born and raised in Austin -- so of course he was a huge Outlaws fan. "My dad let me stay up to watch Game 7 of the 1996 World Series against Arkansas, and we were just heartbroken when they lost," the left-hander said. When Austin folded after the 2000 season, he shifted his allegiances to the Jerusalem Rabbis because they beat the hated Golden Falcons in the 2000 World Series. So it was a very joyous occasion in the Danks household when he was drafted in the 14th round by the Rabbis franchise, now known as the Marietta Mighty Men. So it was a dream come true when he was drafted by Marietta in the 14th round of this year's draft. But so far the dream has been a nightmare (0-6, 10.54 ERA, 19.8 R/9) and the 23-year-old hopes it will be one he will soon wake up from. As a former Outlaws fan, he's all too familiar with Kevin Appier's dubious achievement in 1991 that still stands -- most starts in a season without a win (11). He also knows about Troy Percival's 1998 record for most losses without a win (12). With an 0-6 record in 6 starts, he's halfway to both records. The front office decided to give Danks a "time out" for a few starts to think about his chance for notorious immortality. It also gave them the opportunity to sign another of their famous "failed phenoms" -- Anthony Reyes, who was drafted as an ineligible prospect in the 6th Round of the 2006 draft by Las Vegas and protected that off-season, but released that June without ever throwing a pitch for the club. His DMBL debut went about as well as Danks's: 9 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K in 5.1 IP, for a loss.

Hi Beimel... Bye Beimel...

Someone in the Hoboken front office either loves Joe Beimel... or hates him! The 31-year-old left-handed reliever has been signed by the Cutters three times this year, but has yet to make an appearance for them. He was drafted by the Cutters in the fifth round of the Supplemental Draft (#259 overall), but cut at the very end of Spring Training. Then he was signed April 10, cut April 15, re-signed April 22, and cut again just hours later. And those are just the official signings and releasings -- Beimel reports someone in the Hoboken front office calls him on average at least three times a week promising to fax him a contract, only to have the offer rescinded at the last minute. "I don't know what the hell they're doing. Sometimes I think they're just punk'ing me!" Assistant GM Ashton Kutcher denied having anything to do with it.

Hillsborough cut Ryan Ludwick, even though the outfielder was hitting .370 with a 1.058 OPS in 10 games with the club. The 29-year-old rookie was drafted #215 by Vancouver but was one of the last cuts of spring training; Hillsborough signed him a couple weeks ago with the intention of lighting a fire under struggling veteran Carlos Lee (.246, .673 OPS). Ironically, the front office said they were cutting Ludwick because he was "showing up" Lee with his superior performance. "Ryan had 5 doubles and 3 walks in 30 at-bats; Carlos has 6 doubles and 5 walks in 138 ABs," one Hillsborough exec said. "Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for a veteran like Carlos if a rookie like Ludwick caught up to him? That young man has to learn some manners if he wants to make it in the DMBL."

This week's other comings and goings: Carolina released OF Corey Patterson and replaced him with Adam Lind; D.C. dropped SP Sean Marshall; Hillsborough cut SP Jason Marquis and signed P Todd Wellemeyer; Hoboken dropped SP Joel Pineiro; and Marietta added SP Randy Wolf and dumped SP Zach Duke.