Week Eight (May 7, 2001)
Streaks Week!
The snowball kept tumbling down the mountain in the Hanover Division this week. While the Newark Sugar Bears were reeling off eight straight wins, the Phoenix Dragons lost five straight and Honolulu dropped three in a row. But the Hoboken Cutters have come up short in 10 consecutive games -- an active streak that's already the longest of the year -- and now have the worst record in the league. The Cutters were in third place two weeks ago... Newark's winning streak, which ended in convincing fashion with a 14-5 loss to Kentucky on Friday, included a sweep of the Arkansas Golden Falcons... Matthew's Mighty Men of Stanhope have fallen 3 off the pace, winning just two of their last six games. The Harrison Rats have won 5 of their last 7 and are now just two games below .500.
The Vatican City Cardinals are on a tear, winning seven of their last 10 games and opening a 4 1/2 game lead on the suddenly struggling Arkansas Golden Falcons in the Morris Division. The Falcons could only manage one win last week and have gone 4-10 since April 16, when they were in a first-place tie with Vatican City... The Vancouver Iron Fist reeled off four straight wins this week and are now just 1 1/2 games behind Arkansas for second place. The Carolina Mudcats vaulted from 7th to 5th place, ending the week on a five-game winning streak... The Philadelphia End Zone Animals, who ended a six-game losing skid with a 4-3 win in 14 innings in Honolulu on Wednesday, have won just 5 of 17 games this month and have fallen to last place.
A Big Game From Big Unit
Newark's Randy Johnson (5-2, 3.59) staved off a sweep at the hands of the Kentucky Hillbillies by firing the first complete game no-hitter in Diamond Mind Baseball League history. Johnson walked two and struck out 17, two behind Ken Hill's eight-year-old record. On the week, Johnson went 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA and 27 Ks in 14.2 IP last week. The only other no-no in league history was a combined effort from New York's Juan Guzman and Mel Rojas against the Columbia Crusaders, Aug. 29, 1998... If not for Johnson's amazing performance, pitcher-of-the-week honors could very well have gone to Vancouver's Brad Radke (2-1, 2.49). Replacing Brian Tollberg in the starting rotation Monday, Brad Radke threw two complete games -- including a shutout -- for a 2-0 record with a 0.50 ERA... Kentucky's Tomo Ohka (6-3, 4.55), who also won two games last week, is 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his last three starts and 2-0 with a 2.21 ERA against his former team, the Newark Sugar Bears.
It was another big week for Vatican City's Alex Rodriguez. Despite drawing 9 walks from the opposition last week, A-Rod hit .345 (10-29) with 8 runs and 12 RBIs and now leads the league in both categories... Another shortstop, Phoenix's Nomar Garciaparra, took over the batting title race by hitting .444 (16-36) to raise his batting average to .359... Last week's leader, Stanhope's Jermaine Dye, saw his average plummet from .372 to .346 after hitting .179 (5-28). He ended the week in an 0-for-13 slump... Arkansas's LF platoon of Barry Bonds and Mark Quinn produced a .419 batting average with 3 HR, 4 R and 10 RBI last week: Bonds collected 8 hits, 3 HR and 8 RBI in 14 AB, Quinn had 5 H, 0 HR and 2 RBI in 17. Despite having just 166 ABs on the year, Bonds leads the league in HRs (21), is second in RBIs (59), 10th in runs (42) and 5th in extra-base hits (32)... Hoboken's Brian Giles is doing all he can to lead his team out of its prolonged battle with futility. The right fielder had an RBI in six straight games and hit .333 (9-27) with 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 R and 8 RBI.
Todd Jones Isn't Everybody's Hero
Columbia's Todd Jones, a volunteer firefighter in his spare time, was trapped in a burning home during a search-and-rescue. Clutching an 8-year-old boy in his arms, he stumbled through the thick smoke until he could reach safety by smashing through a glass door. He suffered minor burns and will be hospitalized for at least two weeks from smoke inhalation. The reliever said the boy he rescued is a huge Crusaders fan -- especially rookie reliever Kelly Wunsch. "I've been with this team since 1996 and the whole time I'm dragging this kid through the smoke and flames he's asking me if he can get Kelly's autograph," Jones said from his oxygen tent... Philadelphia's Mike Fyhrie suffered a freak injury Wednesday when a broken bat broke his left (non-throwing) forearm. "Usually a broken ulna will put you out of commission for at least eight weeks, but we intend to just set it with some duct tape and baling wire and run him back out there again in about two weeks," said manager Oscar Gamble. "It's not like it's his pitching arm or something."
Wednesday was a busy day for team trainers, as several players went down with minor injuries. Three players were hurt in the first game of Carolina's doubleheader in Hoboken, with Rondell White, Bobby Howry and Mike Piazza all leaving the game early. Howry and Piazza both available for Game 2, but White decided to get a nose job between games from teammate Rich Aurilia, who is studying plastic surgery during the off-season... Has anyone seen Mike Hampton? The Honolulu starter disappeared while going to CVS to buy reliever Doug Brocail a "get well soon" card. "Who gives a shit about Hampton, I've got blood coming out of my eyes," Brocail said from his hospital bed. Teammates say Brocail is being a whiner; as there's no cure for the deadly virus, he might as well play anyway. But doctors say Brocail should sit out until at least the last week in May, when he'll no longer be contagious.
Greg Colbrunn, celebrating the end of the Dragons' five-game losing streak after a 9-3 win over the Vatican City Cardinals on Sunday, partied a little too hard and has been throwing up without interruption since the team bus pulled out of Phoenix and began the drive toward Stanhope, N.J. "It's like the movie Jaws when they cut open the shark and start pulling out license plates. Cole is throwing up stuff I know he hasn't eaten in two weeks. What is that, a hot dog? Don't you even chew? This is disgusting," said Rusty Greer. "It's going to be a long drive to Stanhope."... Some questioned Mark Grace's decision to have a vasectomy during the season, especially when the Bean Counters are already down two infielders with Scott Spiezio and Joe Randa on the shelf. "I've already got 17 kids and my wife is pregnant again," Grace groaned after the surgery, holding a bag of ice on his nether regions. "She said if I didn't get them snipped this week she'd do it herself. This is anything but elective surgery." He's expected back in time for this weekend's series against the Dragons.
Position Wanted: With attendance down and the economy slumping, nine players were laid off this week: Steve Parris, David Ortiz, Eddie Guardado, Eric Gagne, Scott Sauerbeck, Ruben Mateo, Peter Bergeron, Tyler Houston and Dan Miceli were all given their walking papers.
But the player who made the biggest splash getting released wasn't released at all: Veteran OF Eric Davis fell for the old "red tag in the locker" gag. He stormed into GM Butch Garretson's office and tore the place up. "I was with Newark back in 1991, back when the only league you were in was Earl Weaver Baseball!" Davis yelled. "I'm going to catch on with another team and everytime I face your team I'm going to take this bat and shove it up your fat ass!" Still fuming even after he discovered he hadn't been cut, Davis went 3-5 with a double, two HR and 4 RBIs in a 9-1 pasting of the Honolulu Sharks. After each dinger, Davis dropped his bat, turned to Garretson in the visiting owner's box and made a throat-cutting gesture before beginning his home run trot. "Geez. We oughta release that guy more often," said manager Don Mattingly.
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.