Week Seven (April 30, 2001)
Bears Maul Hanover Rivals
The Newark Sugar Bears ended the week on a four-game winning streak against its Hanover Division foes and passed the Vatican City Cardinals as the league's most potent offense. After dropping two of three to Matthew's Mighty Men of Stanhope, the Sugar Bears crushed the defending World Champs, 17-1, before taking two of three from the Hoboken Cutters and both ends of Sunday's double-header with the Honolulu Sharks. Stanhope, which held onto first place for a single day last week, is now 1 1/2 games behind... Hoboken managed just one win this week and has fallen back into a fourth-place tie with the Phoenix Dragons.
In the Morris Division, the Arkansas Golden Falcons remain in a flat-footed tie with the Cardinals, and the Vancouver Iron Fist are still hanging on a distant third place. All three teams went 3-4 on the week. In Wednesday's wild game between the Kentucky Hillbillies and Columbia Crusaders, there were three blown saves -- and six lead changes -- before the Hillbillies could finally nail down a 6-5 win in the 10th inning. The two bullpens allowed 18 baserunners and 6 earned runs in 6 innings of "relief." The Hillbillies are just a half-game behind the Iron Fist and a full game up on the Brooklyn Bean Counters in the early wildcard race.
Catching Up With Carl
Arkansas's Barry Bonds hit .336 (12 for 28) with 3 2B, 3 HR and 11 RBI last week, moving him into a tie with Newark OF Carl Everett for the RBI lead, and one up in the HR race. Everett returns Monday after a two-week stint on the Disabled List... Vatican City's Alex Rodriguez continues to sizzle, collecting 13 H, 5 HR, 8 R and 9 RBI last week. He hit .462 over the last two weeks, raising his batting average over 30 points... Jermaine Dye, the league's leading hitter at .372, tops a list of three Stanhope hitters on the batting average top-10 list... Honolulu's Jason Giambi is still looking for any kind of protection in the lineup. The slugger is hitting a rather tame .283, but his on-base percentage is an astounding .493 thanks to a league-leading 57 walks, including 12 intentional passes -- also tops in the league... Hoboken's Brian Giles collected 12 hits last week: 5 doubles, 2 triples and 3 homeruns.
Most other pitchers would take it, but for Arkansas's Pedro Martinez (4-4, 2.71) a .500 record is a disastrous start, and the Ben McDonald Award race is wide open. Pitchers making strong bids of late are Brooklyn's Kris Benson (5-2, 3.86), 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA over his last four starts; Newark's Randy Johnson (4-2, 3.56), 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA since coming off the DL; and Columbia's Rick Reed (4-2, 3.18), 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA in his last seven starts... Stanhope's Andy Pettitte (3-3, 6.31) is 0-2 with a 22.50 ERA against the Sugar Bears this season. Against the rest of the league, he's 3-1, 3.59.
Have You Seen Me?
Brooklyn's Joe Randa (.301, 8 HR, 29 RBI) disappeared after going 0-for-3 in Wednesday's 13-5 whipping by Vatican City, and no one knew where he was until a clubhouse attendant found him stuffed in his locker after the second game of Sunday's doubleheader. Randa, who was trying to hide from reporters after the loss, now refuses to enter any enclosed space, not even a baseball stadium. League psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi says it could be several weeks before Randa can be coaxed out of the large open field he now lives in. Veteran Luis Alicea was signed to provide some infield depth... Cut by the Harrison Rats on Tuesday, OF Jay Buhner immediately drove cross-country to Vancouver, where old teammate Edgar Martinez became the latest victim of the malaria epidemic. Buhner, who hit .259 with 67 HR and 242 RBI over a three-year Vancouver career, arrived just in time to throw out the first pitch for Thursday's "Jay Buhner Bobblehead Doll Night," but was stunned when Vancouver GM Yaro Zajac didn't offer him a contract. "Jeff Reed gets five (expletive) at-bats but I don't get (expletive)," Buhner growled after the game. "The (expletive) didn't even give me a (expletive) bobblehead doll." Zajac said finding room on the 40-man roster for Buhner would be impossible, but he did offer the former "Killer B" a job as a stadium hot dog vendor.
Down on the Farm: Former Japanese League sensation Ichiro Suzuki is lighting up Double-A pitchers and could make the jump to Phoenix as soon as next year, but some in the organization think he'd be better suited with a full year at Triple-A... SP Brian Moehler has a 2.70 ERA in his last three starts for the Triple-A Yorkville EastSiders and, with the big club struggling of late, could find himself in Hoboken before the All-Star Break... The Columbia Crusaders released 1B/3B prospect Russell Branyan, a 13th-round draft pick this year, after he was caught sniffing other player's jockstraps in the clubhouse laundry room.
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.