Week 7 - May 9, 2005

Happy Days in Honolulu

It was Shark Week in the DMBL, as the Honolulu Sharks had another terrific week to swim all the way into third place overall in the standings, and within striking distance of the division  lead! The Sharks won six out of eight games this week -- including four wins in a row -- and  have won 16 out of their last 21 games (.762 W%)... The only team in baseball to keep pace with the Sharks was the team behind them in the standings, Matthew's Mighty Men of Stanhope, who also went 6-2 and have finally climbed back to .500, 7th place overall... The Newark Sugar Bears were staring their first losing week in the face on Sunday morning, but then pulled off a doubleheader sweep to finish the week at 4-3. Still, that's their worst performance since  Week 1... The Las Vegas Rat Pack continues its long, slow climb up the standings, now just two games under .500 after a 5-2 week... Clinging to a half-game lead ahead of the Rats, the Hoboken Cutters went 3-4 to fall a game under the break-even point... Rounding out the Hanover Division, the Phoenix Dragons dropped five out of seven, while the Westwood Deductions were able to tread water by splitting their eight games this week.

Over in the Morris Division, it was bad news for everybody except for the division-leading Arkansas Golden Falcons, who moved a game closer to the league's best record by going 5-2... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals had a mediocre week (4-4) but that was good enough to move up a rung in the standings, to second place in the division, after another a 2-4 week by the Carolina Mudcats... The Columbia Rattlesnakes hung onto 6th place overall after going 4-3... The Vancouver Iron Fist can't seem to hang onto a .500 record, going 3-5 this week to fall two games under again... The Hillsborough Destroyers lost six out of seven, the worst week of any team, while the Tijuana Banditos dropped five in a row, after opening the week with two wins, to reclaim rock bottom.

Holy Schmidt!

It was a great week for pitchers, as seven pitchers had two wins, six had two quality starts, three starters had ERAs under 1.00 and two threw shutouts. But one hurler stood head and shoulders above the competition: Honolulu's Jason Schmidt, who put up some sick numbers this week (2-0, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 27 K in 17.0 IP) to win the Alien Loves Predator Pitcher of the Week Award. Schmidt wasn't the only Shark eating up opposing bats this week: Mark Mulder also won both his starts -- throwing two complete games no less -- while posting a 2.00 ERA, 11.0 R/9, and Roy Oswalt had to settle for merely being 1-1 despite a 1.98 ERA and 9.2 R/9... Las Vegas's Rich Harden can start drafting his complaint letter: He gave up two less runs than Schmidt -- and Schmidt gave up two -- but finished behind him in the voting this week. Harden's perfect 0.00 ERA in 14.0 IP is impressive, but he also allowed 1 unearned run, 9 hits and 7 walks, for 10.3 R/9, compared to Schmidt's microscopic 4.8 R/9. (Not to mention Schmidt struck out 27 in 17 IP while walking only 3, compared to 7 walks, 15 Ks in 14.0 for Harden). Still, in any other week, Harden's impressive numbers would certainly have earned him more than the silver medal... This week's other top starters: Arkansas's Kevin Brown (2-0, 3.31 ERA, 11.6 R/9 in 16.1 IP); Newark's Carl Pavano (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 9.6 R/9 in 14.0 IP); Phoenix's Noah Lowry (1-0, 1.00 ERA, 4.0 R/9 in 9.0 IP); Stanhope's Tomokazu Ohka (1-0, 0.64 ERA, 14.8 R/9 in 14.0 IP).

Starters weren't the only ones having terrific weeks. Carolina's Brendan Donnelly (2 W, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K in 5.1 IP) and Stanhope's Mariano Rivera (0-1, 3 SV, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 8 K in 6.1 IP) were both impressive, and rubber-armed Braden Looper appeared in seven of Westwood's eight games this week, picking up two wins (1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 5.0 IP). But the happiest fireman this week is Columbia's Joe Nathan, who claimed sole possession on the Rolaids Reliever of the Year leaderboard after adding two more saves to his league-leading total of 14. 

Relief Points Standings (May 9, 2005)
Reliever	ERA	W	SV	L	BS	Pts
Nathan, COL	1.86	1	14	2	1	27
Lidge, ARK	3.00	2	11	0	1	25
F.Cordero, CAR	3.12	1	13	2	2	24
B.Wagner, VAN	2.14	1	12	1	1	24
Isringhausen, HBK	3.25	2	10	1	1	22

Remember, you are credited with 2 relief points for a win or a save, -1 point for a loss or a blown save.

Cyc'd Up!

The DMBL's crack staff of researchers is combing through old boxscores looking for the last time this happened, but they say it's as rare or maybe even rarer than a no-hitter, which has only been accomplished six times in league history -- and only three "official" no-hitters (complete game shutouts). So we're fairly sure that Las Vegas's Carl Crawford is one of just a handful of players to hit for the cycle! Crawford accomplished the feat in Thursday's 8-3 win over Arkansas. He got started with the triple, smacking the second pitch of the game into right-center for a three-bagger. In the second inning, he laced a double just inside the first baseline. In the fourth, Crawford picked up his single with a bullet up the middle. Now he just needed the home run -- but that's the toughest part of the cycle for the slap-hitting speed demon, who opened the week with more triples (4) than home runs (1). In the 6th inning, Crawford hit a rocket off Travis Harper, but Lance Berkman snagged it well short of the warning track. He came up again for his last at-bat in the 8th, with Harper still on the mound. He took a low outside fastball for Ball 1. "I got pretty good wood on Harp's heater in the 6th and I figured he remembered that," Crawford said. "He'd want to throw something off-speed hoping to get me out in front, so I guessed change-up and that's what he threw." Four hundred and eight feet later, Crawford was in the record books. The unusual feat and his overall numbers this week  (.412, 1.206 OPS, 5 2B, 2 HR, 7 R, 3 SB) were enough to win him not only the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award but also the Game of the Week Award, which earned him five pounds of delicious, extra-lean, kashruth ground bison from the good folks at KosherBison.com!

This week's other top batters: Arkansas's Barry Bonds (.346, 1.266 OPS, 4 HR, 7 RBI); Hillsborough's Alex Rodriguez (.469, 1.334 OPS, 4 HR, 8 RBI) and Phil Nevin (.462, 1.149 OPS, 4 2B, 3 R); Hoboken's Aaron Rowand (.433, 1.167 OPS, 2 HR, 8 R); Las Vegas's Carlos Beltran (.333, 1.112 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI) and Chad Tracy (.474, 1.177 OPS, 3 2B, 4 RBI); Newark's Carlos Guillen (.375, 1.095 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI) and Gregg Zaun (.476, 1.291 OPS, 1 HR, 5 R); Philly's Albert Pujols (.440, 1.442 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 7 BB); Phoenix's Garret Anderson (.375, 1.266 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI); Stanhope's Scott Hairston (.353, 1.341 OPS, 3 HR, 8 RBI);  Tijuana's Vlad Guerrero (.407, 1.334 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); and Westwood's Derek Lee (.387, 1.312 OPS, 4 HR, 8 R).

Last week's Batter of the Week, Arkansas's Wily Mo Pena, continues to put up monster numbers despite limited playing time. This week, with just 15 at-bats, Pena hit .400 (1.407 OPS) with 2 HR and 7 RBI. Pena continues to sit against right-handed pitching -- he has just 22 plate appearances against righties all season -- but the Golden Falcons have seen an unusual number of lefties over the last two weeks, so Pena has been able to make his presence known. Next week, they're only scheduled to face two -- Al Leiter on Wednsday and Odalis Perez on Thursday. "You don't have to tell me -- I already have the dates circled on the calendar," Pena said. The 23-year-old rookie is hitting .383 with 1 .422 OPS (8 HR, 17 RBI) in 47 AB against southpaws this year, a big part of the reason the Golden Falcons have a league-best .688 W% (11-5) against left-handed starters.

How's the Coffee?

The Sharks' feeding frenzy this week wasn't slowed despite losing two key batters. Jeff Bagwell, who leads the team in batting average (.352), on-base percentage (.440), slugging percentage (.617), and, naturally, OPS (1.057), went down in Wednesday's game against Vancouver after getting beaned by ex-teammate Greg Maddux. After the game, Maddux said he'd been waiting a long time to plunk Bagwell, ever since Bags -- then with Arkansas -- took him deep on the last day of the 1996 season and stood at home plate to admire his tape-measure shot. But Bagwell became Maddux's teammate the following spring, so "Mad Dog" had to bide his time. "Revenge is a dish best served cold," Maddux said. "In the meantime, I had to content myself with peeing in his coffee for the last nine years." Bagwell said getting hit by the pitch didn't hurt that much, but he'll miss the next few days throwing up... Two days after that startling revealation, the Sharks' lineup took another hit when, in Friday's game against Hoboken, 2B Tony Womack removed himself in the middle of the seventh inning. Womack, hitting .305 and a perfect 4-for-4 on the basepaths, suddenly remembered he'd borrowed Bagwell's coffee cup a few years ago. "It tasted kind of funny, but I thought it was just one of those weird Starbucks flavor shots. Little did I know it was a 'Maddux' flavor shot. I think I'm going to be sick." Both players are drinking lots and lots of water and hope to be back on the playing field sometime next week.

Tijuana's Chris Carpenter might be looking for some of that "Maddux flavor" himself. Carpenter tried on last summer's bathing suit and was horrified to discover it no longer fit. "No f'ing way! I've been a Size 8 since college!" Carpenter shrieked. He promptly announced he's going on a crash diet, and that means he's going to have to miss a few starts. "Whenever I'm at the ballpark I get a couple hot dogs, Cracker Jack, a few beers, the works," Carpenter said. "So the best way to cut that out is just to stay home for a few weeks. It's not like we're going to win anything this year anyway." The Banditos might be better off with Carpenter (2-3, 5.75 ERA, 15.8 R/9) missing a few turns -- his replacement in the rotation, Javier Vazquez, was a tough-luck loser after holding the powerful Sugar Bear lineup to just 3 runs (2 earned) in his first start of the season on Sunday.

Carpenter's plight inspired Westwood's Royce Clayton to lose a few pounds himself. The once-sleek shortstop thinks his miserable season at the plate (.197, .505 OPS in 147 AB) might be due to the fact that he now weighs over 400 pounds after spending the off-season as a competitive eater. "I think if I can get down to 300, 310, I'll be able to start beating out some of those infield hits again," Clayton said.

The injury bug just keeps bitting in Stanhope, where Kazuo Matsui was the latest shortstop to go down. The Japanese import will miss a few weeks as he has to fly home to Osaka to mow his lawn and trim his hedges. Since Derek Jeter was already on the shelf, the Mighty Men had to start Damion Easley at shortstop for a couple games. Jeter came back Sunday and Easley -- who posted a .923 fielding percentage at shortstop -- is all too happy to be back at second base. "You know how in Little League they put the best infielder at shortstop and the worst infielder at second base?" Easley said. "Well..."

Comings and goings: After losing Sammy Sosa and Mark Teixeira last week, the Rats called in reinforcements by signing Matt Stairs and David Dellucci; to make room, they cut RP Jeff Francis and 1B Julio Franco... Vancouver inked minor league pitcher Josh Towers... Westwood picked up Deivi Cruz and cut Corey Lidle... Talk about a fast decline: Carolina's Angel Berroa went from a first-round pick last year (#11 overall) to a 15th-round pick this year (#206) to the waiver wire this week. The 27-year-old shortstop made an out in his only DMBL at-bat this year, and he looked overmatched at Triple-A for the Raleigh Crawdads (.237, .606 OPS in 114 AB). The 'Cats also dropped catching prospect J.D. Closser, and added Toby Hall and Neifi Perez... Arkansas activated Jerome Williams, making room by releasing D'Angelo Jimenez. The Golden Falcons also continued their search for a  left-handed slugger, this week giving B.J. Surhoff a try. He'll hope to stick longer than Rafael Palmeiro, who was given his walking papers after going just 1-for-9 -- even though the 1 was a two-run home run. Palmeiro hopes to catch on with another team this season, but if this is the end of the road, he retires with 311 home runs over his 13-year DMBL career -- leaving him at No. 12 all-time, sandwiched between Manny Ramirez (304) and Frank Thomas (325).  

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.