Week Nine (May 6, 2002)  

A Golden Year in Arkansas

The Arkansas Golden Falcons have reeled off four straight wins to cap a 6-2 week, opening up a 15-game lead in the Morris Division and a 3-1/2 game lead for the best record in baseball. The Falcons are now 35 games over .500 and are eight games ahead of the Vancouver Iron Fist's best-ever 118-44 mark, set in 1997. Those same Fisters have fallen into third place in the division after a 3-game losing skid, with the Tijuana Banditos moving a half-game ahead after going 4-4 last week. The Wanaque Wolverines went 3-5 to drop a game below .500 and just ahead of two of the hottest teams in baseball, the Philadelphia Endzone Animals and the Columbia Rattlesnakes. Philly, is riding a three-game win streak to 5-3, winning 10 of their last 15, while the Snakes swept a two-game series from the Iron Fist this weekend to go 4-2 and have won 14 of their last 21... The Carolina Mudcats opened the week on a four-game winning streak, but that was before they ran into the Golden Falcons. The Mudcats were swept in three straight games by a combined score of 17-2.

The Newark Sugar Bears had been winning with great starting pitching, but now they've gone to brute force. The Sugar Bears racked up 10 or more runs in three games this week en route to a 5-3 record. The Hoboken Cutters, who were as close as 4.5 games back three weeks ago, fell 9 games behind the Hanover Division leader after a 4-4 week. In third place, the Honolulu Sharks had their five-game winning streak snapped on Friday, then dropped three of their next four; on the other hand, the Stanhope Mighty Men dropped four straight, then won two of their next three. The Brooklyn Bean Counters ended an 11-game losing streak by putting together back-to-back wins for the first time in more than a month, but followed it up with another four-game slide to fall into a 5th-place tie with the Phoenix Dragons, who went 3-4. In last place, the Harrison Rats also went 3-4, but still have a seven-game "lead" for the worst record in baseball.

What Can Brown Do For You?

Arkansas's Kevin Brown is sometimes lost in the shadow of teammates Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens, but this week Brown didn't take a back seat to anybody. He gave up just one run in two starts, struck out 17 and walked just 3 to post a 0.59 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and win the BadJocks.com Pitcher of the Week Award. Not to be outdone, Martinez went 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 0.87 WHIP, striking out 16 in two starts, Clemens rebounded from a lousy effort against Tijuana Tuesday to blank Carolina with a six-hit shutout Sunday and all forgotten starter Brad Penny did was throw a shutout of his own, scattering 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5... Tijuana's Steve Sparks won ugly this week: Despite giving up 16 hits, 9 walks and 9 runs (7 earned), Sparks picked up two wins and is now 7-5 on the season... After trading zeroes for seven innings, Harrison's Wade Miller was the tough-luck loser after giving up a two-out RBI double in the 8th inning for a 1-0 loss against Columbia's Aaron Sele. Miller is now 2-7 on the season, while Sele evened his record at 5-5... John Thomson appears to have righted the ship for the Sugar Bears, after getting pounded for two straight weeks. Last week, Thomson had a 2.81 ERA and 0.75 WHIP with a 9:1 K:BB ratio, though he was handed a complete game 4-3 loss against Brooklyn Sunday... Hoboken's Brandon Duckworth is the league's only undefeated starter, improving to 7-0 with an 8-3 win over Philly on Friday. Duckworth would've been 8-0 if not for a blown save by Jason Isringhausen, who turned his 2-1 lead into a 4-2 loss after giving up 5 hits and 3 earned runs in the 9th. Meanwhile, setup man Steve Kline picked up a win and a save in two appearances this week, with no runs, 3 hits, 1 walk and 5 Ks in 4 IP.

At the end of March, Vancouver's Greg Maddux was 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA. After a brutal April, he's finally picked up that 5th win, giving up 1 run and no walks to beat Phoenix, 4-3. His ERA has climbed to 4.98 before Thursday's strong performance... Ugueth Urbina picked up two saves this week, retiring all eight men he faced. The Honolulu closer is 1-1 with 14 saves and a 1.95 ERA on the season, and has struck out 37 men in 32.1 IP... Phoenix's bullpen keeps on humming along. Troy Percival picked up a league-leading 3 saves, giving up no runs and just 1 hit in his three appearances; Jim Mecir (5 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 6 K) and Jeff Nelson (3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K) also were dominant... Three Stanhope relievers combined to go 1-0 with a save, but unfortunately Mariano Rivera wasn't one of them. The closer was tagged for 5 hits, 3 runs and 3 walks in four games this week, going 0-2 with a save and a blown save, just his second on the season.

Bah Bah Abreu!

Despite posting the league's highest-scoring offense, the Newark Sugar Bears haven't had many individual awards this season. That changes this week, as Bob Abreu helped the 'Crunch With Punch' score 56 runs, tops in the league. Abreu won his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award by leading the league in HRs (6), RBIs (11) and slugging percentage (1.120). He also hit .400 and scored 8 runs. Teammates Jim Thome (.320, 2 HR, 6 RBI) and Manny Ramirez (.257, 3 HR, 6 RBI) also had strong weeks... In a close second was Philadelphia rookie Albert Pujols, who hit .414 with a 1.466 OPS, collecting 4 doubles, 4 HRs, 7 runs and 10 RBIs. Teammate Carlos Beltran finally saw his hitting streak snapped after going 0-for-4 against Hoboken on Friday. At 23 games, it was the longest streak in the DMBL this season, just nine games shy of the all-time record set by Jim Eisenreich for Newark in 1997. Over the streak, Beltran hit .429 (39-for-91), raising his average from .300 to .347... Vancouver sparkplug Roger Cedeno, who hit .310 this week, now has the league's longest active streak, at 14 games... Honolulu's Craig Biggio, is rebounding after a slow start, hitting .400 with a 1.104 OPS this week. Biggio slammed 2 HRs, scored 7 times and knocked in 5 more.

If only the pitching staff could come around, they'd be Mighty Men in Stanhope again: Moises Alou, Todd Helton and Bernie Williams led an offense that hit .322 and scored 49 runs this week. Helton hit .379 with 3 HRs, 8 RBIs and a league-best 9 runs scored, Alou hit .417 with 5 R and 7 RBI and led the league with 15 hits, while Bernie hit .375 with 2 HR, 8 runs and a 1.084 OPS... Tijuana featured a balanced attack this week, with Ellis Burks (.333, 7 RBI), Scott Brosius (.308, 8 RBI), Shannon Stewart (.321, 6 RBI) and Vladimir Guerrero (.250, 2 HR, 8 RBI)... Brooklyn's Brian Jordan and Ricky Gutierrez -- both acquired in the off-season from the World Champion Sugar Bears -- are happy in their new home, Schlossberg Stadium. Jordan slammed 4 HRs with 6 runs, 9 RBIs, while Gutierrez hit .419 (13-for-31) with a double, a triple and a home run... There was some controversy last season when Mike Piazza was selected as the starter for the All-Star Game despite a dead heat in the balloting with Phoenix's Jorge Posada. Piazza only added fuel to the fire by going 0-for-2 -- then watching from the bench as Posada scored on Chipper Jones's game-winning double. Piazza vowed in Spring Training he'd win the starting job outright at this year's gala, and he's right on track after another impressive week (.313, 3 HR, 7 RBI). Piazza is now hitting .303 with a .962 OPS, and leads all Hanover catchers in hits (74), doubles (13), home runs (22) and RBIs (57)... Another perennial All-Star, Wanaque's Alex Rodriguez, made sure the voters took notice, hitting .375 with a .462 OBP, hitting 2 HRs with 7 runs and 7 RBIs this week... Arkansas's awesome outfield of Barry Bonds, Lance Berkman and Larry Walker combined for 15 runs, 18 RBI and a .357 batting average. Berkman did most of the damage, hitting .433 with 7 RBI, while Walker hit .367 with 6 RBI. Barry, who hit just .250 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs this week, announced his retirement.

Stop the Presses: Barry's Retiring?

Bonds, a guaranteed Hall of Famer, suddenly announced after Sunday's doubleheader that he was hanging 'em up. "I have nothing left to prove in the game of baseball," said the Arkansas slugger, who hit .351 with 32 HR and 83 RBI in just 63 games this season. "I'm going to dedicate myself to my true love -- Irish step-dancing." Bonds then jigged his way out of the press conference. Bonds retires with a .294 career batting average, with 1,698 hits, 339 doubles, 398 homeruns, 1,329 RBIs and 1,342 walks. But GM Mike "Stump" Matiash isn't worried that his superstar has left the field for good. "Barry is just miffed that he wasn't won any free steaks in awhile," Matiash said. "He'll be back by the end of the week." Just in case Bonds has truly traded in his spikes for clogs, however, Matiash does have a back-up plan: He's signed "Lord of the Dance" Michael Flatley to a minor-league contract.

Another player headed for immortality, Kenny Lofton, was signed by the Phoenix Dragons this week. Lofton, who has played for Vancouver, Arkansas, Arizona and Hoboken, had retired after hitting just .247 last season, but is back after a rigorous off-season conditioning program has him in the best shape of his career. Lofton, the career SB leader with 208, is being eased back into action as a pinch-hitter.

Alfonzo's Angry!

After confessing to his priest that he wishes someone would molest him, Shane Reynolds has been ex-communicated from the Catholic Church and has to say 150,000 Hail Mary's before he can return to Mass. That will likely keep him busy until the All-Star Break. News that Reynolds, the second Harrison player in as many weeks to miss significant time due to an off-the-field problem, wasn't taken well by teammate Edgardo Alfonzo. "Sheff and Shane are out? Oh that is <bleep>ing great! Just <bleep>ing great! Now what the <bleep> are we going to <bleep>ing do? We're already in last <bleep>ing place! <bleep> you! <bleep> all of you! <bleep>ing <bleep> of <bleep> <bleep> <bleep>s!" Alfonzo's comments, made at a Cub Scout jamboree, earned him a five-game suspension.

Shane Spencer has been signed, then released, three times by the Newark Sugar Bears this season. Three days after being re-signed for the fourth time, he was put on the Disabled List with athlete's foot. He developed the foot fungi after pacing all night, worried he was about to be released again... Wanaque's Mike Hampton is such a huge Spider-Man fan that prior to Friday night's premiere he had himself bitten by a radioactive spider. But instead of developing superhuman strength, amazing agility and an uncanny "spider sense" to warn him of danger, Hampton just got a rash. He's expected to miss at least one start.

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.