Week Nine (May 14, 2001)  

The Race For Second Place

As the Vatican City Cardinals keep plugging along with the best record in baseball, the Arkansas Golden Falcons and Vancouver Iron Fist continued to slug it out for second-place. The Iron Fist have won 11 of their last 15 games and 7 of their last 10; not to be outdone, the Falcons have won six in a row, after dropping 8 of 10 earlier this month. The two teams meet for a big three-game series in Arkansas this weekend... Vatican City's bullpen finally blew a game this week. The team had been 30-0 when tied or leading after 7 innings, but the Philadelphia Endzone Animals tied it up in the bottom of the 5th, 6-6, and eventually won the game in 10, 8-6. The Cardinals are still the only team with a perfect record with a lead after 7 innings, however.

The Newark Sugar Bears are hanging onto a 2 1/2 game lead in the Hanover Division, despite going 4-7 since winning eight straight earlier this month. On the other side of the coin are the Hoboken Cutters, 6-1 since enduring an 11-game skid. Hoboken is right back in it, just two games out of third place in the Hanover... Despite Newark's struggles, the second-place Matthew's Mighty Men of Stanhope can't seem to make up any ground. GM David Landsman has tried shaking up the lineup, but the team has won just one series this month and dropped four of their last six games... After struggling to make it a three-team race, the Brooklyn Bean Counters have fallen badly off the pace, dropping five straight games and four games below .500. The Bean Counters are now closer to last place than first place.

Get Your Hands Off My Award!

Arkansas's Pedro Martinez made a strong case to reclaim the Ben McDonald Award for the third straight year with a 2-0, 0.00 week. Martinez (6-4, 2.33) allowed just 9 baserunners and struck out 21 batters in 16.2 IP this week, including a shutout, after going 0-1 in his last three decisions. He now leads the league in ERA, strikeouts and WHIP... Fellow Falcon Trevor Hoffman notched two saves this week after reclaiming his closing duties from rookie phenom Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim didn't take the demotion well, going 0-1 with a 19.63 ERA in four games... Martinez's competition for top pitching honors this week came from two left-handers, Carolina's rookie Barry Zito and Vancouver's Jim Parque. Despite allowing 10 walks -- 40 in 60 IP this season -- Zito went 2-0 with a 1.26 ERA this week, improving his record to 4-2 with a 2.83 ERA. It's been a roller coaster season for Parque (6-3, 3.32), who went 0-2 in his first four starts, 4-0 in his next four starts and blew up in his last two starts. But Parque rebounded with two complete game wins this week, including a shutout to split Sunday's doubleheader with the Dragons.

Whatever magic Parque found this week may have been stolen from teammate Brad Radke. In his first three starts since returning from Triple-A, Radke went 3-0 with three complete games and two shutouts, allowing just one earned run, 17 baserunners and no walks in 27 IP. But in game one of Sunday's doubleheader at Phoenix, he was crushed for 13 H and 10 ER before finally getting pulled in the 7th inning. The Vancouver veteran, who saw his record drop to 3-2 and his ERA double to 3.73, chalked up the poor outing to nervous jitters, as new girlfriend Jessica Alba was in the stands.

Honolulu's David Justice broke out of his season-long slump to grab Player-of-the-Week honors with 5 HR and 16 RBI, vaulting him among the league leaders in both categories. Justice also smacked three doubles and scored 9 runs, hitting .353 (12-34) on the week...

How did Hoboken win six games this week? Look no further than OF Brian Giles, who boosted his batting average 22 points by hitting .500 (14-28) with 3 2B, 3 HR, 5 R and 9 RBI... Phoenix's Nomar Garciaparra continues to dominate the batting average raise, hitting .483 (14-29) with 7 2B and 6 R this week to raise his average to .373 with a league-best 94 hits... Vancouver's Edgar Martinez went 5-for-5 with three doubles, 2 R and 3 RBI in Saturday's extra-inning 8-7 win over Honolulu. On the week, Martinez hit .467 (14-30)... Vatican City's Luis Castillo has hits in 18 straight games, two shy of the longest streak of the season, set by Kentucky's Vlad Guerrero. Over the streak, Castillo is hitting .388 (31-80)... Honolulu's Jason Giambi socked 4 HR, scored 13 runs and drew 13 walks, including four intentional passes. He leads the league in both categories, with 74 and 17 respectively. He's on a pace for 200 walks, which would shatter Mark McGwire's five-year old record of 176 free passes in a season. Despite a rather pedestrian .284 batting average, Giambi tops the league with a .482 OBP.

Trade Rumors Swirling

After a relatively quiet spring, trade talk is beginning to heat up as the league nears the All-Star break. Big-league scouts have been spotted stirring in opposition parks and general managers have been working the phones seeing who's available.

Brooklyn's Kris Benson was pulled from Monday's game against the Cutters with a 4-1 lead in the 6th inning after complaining of a headache, chills and fatigue. Benson later discovered he had malaria and his sixth win of the season, as the Bean Counters held on for the 8-3 win. "Some days you win, some days you lose, some days you get malaria," Benson mused philosophically. Brooklyn's inaugural season has been marred by serious injuries to key players this season, with Joe Randa, Scott Spiezio, Mark Grace and Mike Lieberthal all struck down so far this season. The team is looking into replacing team trainer Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Replacing Benson was veteran Brian Bohanon, who gave up just 3 runs (1 earned) in 8.1 IP -- and lost to Pedro Martinez, 3-0.

The Phoenix Dragons had to call in reinforcements as their beleaguered bullpen has blown 12 saves this season, second-worst in the league. Scott Sauerbeck and Ricky Bottalico were signed to take some pressure off the overworked pen... The Vancouver Iron Fist claimed Dante Bichette off waivers from Carolina. The veteran slugger is expected to provide some much-needed power against LHP after Jay Buhner was handed his walking papers. Buhner, who was finally signed by the Iron Fist after barricading himself in GM Yaro Zajac's office, was released after getting one last hit in an Iron Fist uniform -- a home run in the 8-4 win over Hoboken... The Endzone Animals gave him every chance to right himself, but the clock finally struck midnight for Todd Van Poppel, who was released Thursday after another horrendous outing. Van Poppel, who retired from professional baseball after his release by the Sugar Bears in 1996, came out of nowhere to make the team with a strong spring training. Van Poppel hasn't announced his second retirement yet, but it's unlikely another team will give him a chance after posting a 10.75 ERA and 33 walks in 34.1 IP this season.

Down on the farm: The Vancouver Iron Fist signed little-known shortstop prospect Alex Gonzalez. "Florida Alex" hit just .200 in semi-pro last year, with 77 Ks to go along with 13 walks... SP A.J. Burnett of the Double-A Camden Blitz (Philadela Endzone Animals) gave up nine walks and a hit batsman, but nevertheless recorded a no-hit shutout Sunday against the Golden State Golden Grahams. Burnett was promoted to the Triple-A Trenton Sack Attack, where he will join a rotation already stocked with top prospects Jon Lieber, Chris Carpenter and veteran Omar Daal... GM David Landsman, frustrated by Stanhope's lackluster performance, took out his frustration on the Triple-A Stroudsburg affiliate: D'Angelo Jimenez and Andy Morales are out, Joe Mays and Todd Hollandsworth are in... The Kentucky Hillbillies signed veteran middle infielder Bret Boone to be player/manager of the Single-A Louisville Bumpkins... There's a buzz around SP Jason Schmidt of the Triple-A Raleigh Crawdads (Carolina Mudcats), who has thrown back-to-back shutouts and has caught the eye of many opposing GMs, but right now the prospect is wearing an "untouchable" label.

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.