Week Eight (April 29, 2002)  

Zane Smith is away for this week. This week's guest columnist is former MLB great, Benny Distefano.

More of the Same

As each week passes in the 2002 DMBL season, it appears more and more like a race for second place. Both division leaders - Arkansas in the Morris, Newark in the Hanover - rolled on, each with one-loss weeks - 7-1 for the Sugar Bears, 6-1 for the Golden Falcons. While most of the league had a .500 season, Philly and Columbia - in the bottom half of the Morris - went 5-2 and 5-3, respectively, to inch closer to .500 and tighten up the pack within the division. Though most Morris teams had sub-.500 weeks, it didn't affect the standings much with Vancouver still holding on to second place in the Morris, going 3-4, and Tijuana, 2-4, and Wanaque, 3-4, still on their tail. Carolina continues its season tailspin, going 3-5 and remaining in the cellar. Over in the Hanover, Hoboken and Stanhope each went 4-3 while Phoenix and Honolulu held steady at 4-4 and 3-3, respectively. The Mighty Men were able to make a jump in the standings thanks to Brooklyn's horrid 0-7, dropping them into fifth just a ½ game ahead of Phoenix. Though Harrison avoided the same fate as the Bean Counters, the Rats managed only one win in seven games.

Glaus is Boss

Vancouver led the league in runs this week, led by the veteran corps of Sammy Sosa, who slugged .889 with 4 HR, 9 R, 10 RBI, and Edgar Martinez slugging .857 with 4 HR, 6 R, 9 RBI. They also got help from Roger Cedeno, the league's leader in stolen bases, who scored 6 runs while swiping 6 bases…Philly's strong week was a result of its young stable of sluggers, led by OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week, Troy Glaus, who hit .423 while slugging.846 SLG, with 5 2B, 2 HR, 4 R and 11 RBI. But it certainly was a team effort from the Endzone Animals: Albert Pujols hit .370 and slugged .778 with 10 RBI, 3 HR and 6 R; Carlos Beltran had another strong week, hitting .467 and reaching 18 games with his hit streak. Philly catcher Robert Fick hit .400 with 6 walks…Hoboken's Richie Sexson, among the leaders in strikeouts, showed he can still put the bat on the ball, batting .440 and slugging .880 with 3 HR. Cutters catcher Mike Piazza made his hits count, batting just .179, but three of his five hits were home runs, including one grand slam, to drive in 10 runs…Stanhope brought their big boy bats with them, led by Tino Martinez, who slugged 1.095, with 4 HR while Bernie Williams hit .560, including a 5-for-5 effort in Sunday's doubleheader opener.

Brooklyn's bright spot was John Vander Wal, who slugged .700 with 7 RBI while rookie Chris Richard was Harrison's, hitting .625 (10-16) and slugging 1.188 with an OBP of .647. The LF/DH went 2-for-2 in pinch-hit appearances…Wanaque 2B Ray Durham had 9 RBI while slugging .941 and batting .417 with a .500 OBP…. Phoenix 3B Corey Koskie continues his hot hitting with a .379 BA, .400 OBP and .655 SLG…In limited action, Tijuana catcher Ramon Hernadez went 7-for-10 with 3 HR, slugging 1.700, in three games…Carolina's Rich Aurilia remains among the leader board. Along with a 13-game hit streak, the SS hit .406 and slugged .688 while teammate AJ Pierzynski started to come around with a .680 SLG, driving in 7 RBI…Another catcher coming around is Columbia's Ivan Rodriguez who batted .370 and slugged .704 with 9 RBI while Trot Nixon slugged 1.000 with 3 HR and 8 RBI, batting .400 and .571 OBP.

Hurly Burly!

Eight starters won both their starts this week, but none came close to the stellar efforts of Hoboken's Kelvim Escobar and Columbia's Mark Buehrle. Escobar had a league-high 21 strikeouts in 14 innings, holding opponents to just four hits with a 0.64 ERA and 0.57 WHIP. But Buehrle barely gets the nod for the Fat Chicks in Party Hats! Pitcher of the Week award with his complete game against Carolina on Saturday. Hurly Buehrle's numbers: 14 IP, 0.56 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 13 K, 1 BB.

Other two-game winners were Brad Penny of Arkansas (1.93 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 9 K, 0 BB), Honolulu's Russ Ortiz (2.25 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 10 K), Tijuana's Bud Smith (2.63 ERA, 1.31 WHIP), Newark's Eric Milton (3.21 ERA, 0.71 WHIP), Philly's AJ Burnett (2.40 ERA, 0.93 WHIP), Jason Bere of Phoenix, 3.14 ERA…Is the curse of the Fat Chicks for real? Last week's honoree, Carolina's Roy Halladay got rocked, with a 7.45 ERA in only 9 2/3 innings in two starts…Wanaque's Matt Morris tossed a four-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking none in a 10-0 win over Tijuana.

Arkansas closer Octavio Dotel picked up three saves to take over the league lead while going 8 innings in 5 appearances with a 2.25 ERA…Harrison's Norm Charlton didn't allow a run in 6 1/3, over 4 appearances. Philly had strong outings from their bullpen: five relievers made 9 appearances, allowing just one run over 14 2/3 along with 3 saves. Phoenix reliever Scott Sullivan tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings in three appearances with 8 K. Newark's Keith Foulke saved two games and won another with 4 scoreless innings…Carolina's Mike Mussina continues to be a tough luck loser. He's now 3-6 after losing his one start despite allowing only 6 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings…Two rookies had strong outings in their only starts: Stanhope's Erik Hiljus, 7 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, and Vancouver's Brandon Lyon, 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R.

Get Yer Hot Dog Here!

It's been quiet on the DL relative to just a few weeks ago, but the injury list this week added two big boppers, both in Sunday's doubleheaders. Carolina's Jim Edmonds started Sunday's opener in right field before getting hunger pangs in the third. He called a hot dog vendor over the dugout and before he knew it he'd cleaned out vendor Carlos Jimenez's bin. While Edmonds moved on to the popcorn stand, Jimenez was on his way to put a down payment on a new satellite dish - his cable system is Cablevision. Edmonds is expected to be out eight days... A "Lose Weight Through Hypnosis" promotion at The Shark Tank went horribly wrong on Sunday, claiming Harrison outfielder Gary Sheffield, who will miss 18 days. An investigation was still ongoing at presstime.

Though he never made it to the DMBL, Benny DeStefano was the last left-handed catcher to appear in a Major League Baseball game. He is a guest lecturer at the Rockland County Sports Academy.

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.