Week 12 - June 13, 2005

Four-Ring Circus

The 2005 season is starting to look like four separate cage matches!

In Cage No. 1 are the Arkansas Golden Falcons and the Newark Sugar Bears, who have each opened up huge leads on their respective divisions but continue to battle it out for the league's top record. This week it got personal as the Sugar Bears went into Arkansas and swept the Golden Falcons in three straight to take over the league's best record; but then the Golden Falcons ended the week with three straight wins while the Sugar Bears dropped two out of three. The Sugar Bears, after a league-best 6-2 week, are now a game back of the Golden Falcons, who went 3-5.

In Cage No. 2 are the teams battling it out between 3rd and 6th place. The third-seeded Philadelphia Endzone Animals are 4 games up after a 4-2 week -- but are still as close to 6th place as they are to 1st place, 6½ games.  Right behind them are the high-flying Vancouver Iron Fist, who won five out of seven. The 5th-place Honolulu Sharks took a step backward this week (2-4), while the 6th-place Carolina Mudcats did their best to keep their heads above water (3-3).

Who Wants Some Rolaids?

Relief Points Standings (June 13, 2005)
Reliever	ERA	W	SV	L	BS	Pts
B.Wagner, VAN	2.84	1	20	2	2	38
Lidge, ARK	2.68	3	17	0	3	37
Isringhausen, HBK	3.25	5	17	3	4	37
Benitez, PHI	2.76	4	18	5	5	34
Nathan, COL	3.06	1	19	4	3	33

This week's other top relievers were Hillsborough's Tom Gordon (1 W, 1 SV, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 7.2 IP); Honolulu's Julian Tavarez (2 W, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 4 K in 7.1 IP); Las Vegas's Juan Rincon (1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 12 K in 5.2 IP); Newark's Keith Foulke (1 SV, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 K in 5.1 IP); Vancouver's Juan Cruz (2 W, 1 SV, 2 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 6 K in 9.2 IP); and Westwood's Braden Looper (1 W, 2 SV, 0 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 K in 6.1 IP).

It wasn't as good a week for starting pitchers. In fact, just one starter -- Newark rookie David Bush -- won both his starts this week, and his numbers weren't too exciting (4 ER, 18 H, 5 BB, 6 K in 12.0 IP). Three starters threw shutouts, but none of them could follow it up with a second strong outing: Arkansas's Pedro Martinez (1-1, 3.38 ERA, 7.3 R/9 in 16.0 IP) and Westwood's Rodrigo Lopez (1-0, 3.65 ERA, 11.7 R/9 in 12.1 IP) and Woody Williams (1-1, 4.97 ERA, 12.1 R/9 in 12.2 IP).

Ballot Bashing

With the All-Star Game just around the corner, this was the time to turn it on and impress the voters. Candidates turning in strong performances this week included Arkansas's Adrian Beltre (.344, .948 OPS, 3 2B, 5 R), Carolina's Jim Edmonds (.318, 1.182 OPS, 2 HR, 5 RBI), Newark's J.T. Snow (.429, 1.129 OPS, 4 2B, 8 RBI), Phoenix's Garret Anderson (.550, 1.343 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI), Tijuana's Vlad Guerrero (.350, 1.209 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R) and Vancouver's David Ortiz (.364, 1.261 OPS, 2 3B, 8 RBI). But nobody had a bigger week than Hillsborough's Carlos Delgado, one of the leading candidates to represent the Morris Division at first base this weekend. Delgado led the league in batting average (.563), on-base percentage (.632), slugging percentage (1.250), OPS (1.882), runs batted in (12), isolated power (.688), total average (2.875), secondary average (.875), AB/HR (5.3) and RC/27 outs (39.6). Delgado, hitting .311 (1.087 OPS) with 22 HR and 55 RBI this season, is getting plenty of competition at Morris 1B from Arkansas's John Mabry (.321, .936 OPS, 23 HR, 79 RBI), Carolina's Travis Hafner (.331, 1.170 OPS, 13 HR, 40 R), Columbia's Ben Broussard (.320, .992 OPS, 15 HR, 61 R) and Philly's Albert Pujols (.299, .975 OPS, 22 HR, 57 RBI), but even if he doesn't make it to the Midsummer Classic, he can console himself as the last OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award winner of the first half of the 2005 season.

 Newark's Bobby Abreu finally had a 26-game hitting streak snapped in Sunday's 5-3 win over Stanhope -- despite picking up three walks, Abreu went 0-for-2. "It's a tough way for a streak to end," Abreu admitted. "But I still found a way to contribute to the win and really that's all that's important to me." On the week, Abreu hit .382 (.988 OPS) with 3 SB (0 CS) and 8 R.

A Trade Has Been Made!

The first trade of the DMBL regular season was struck this week, and it was a blockbuster! OK, so maybe Hoboken getting Edgardo Alfonzo from Newark for a 15th round pick isn't really that big a deal, but it was the first trade made since the end of Spring Training (March 25, when Newark traded Preston Wilson to Westwood, also for a 15th rounder.) Come to think of it, Newark also got a 15th rounder from Tijuana when they gave up Brian Schneider a few days after the draft... With their own pick, Newark now has four picks in the 15th round! They've certainly cornered the market on the Lowsman Trophy.

In other news, the Golden Falcons got back Larry Walker and kicked Jerry Hairston to the curb; the Sugar Bears got back Orber Moreno and stuck him in Alfonzo's roster spot. Philly, having lost 2B Jose Vidro until just after the All-Star Break, picked up the versatile Rob Mackowiak, while Tijuana finally put Ramon Hernandez on the D.L., 10 days after he got hurt, to pick up Brad Ausmus. It's the fourth team this season for the journeyman catcher, who was drafted in the 10th round by Arkansas (#139 overall) but released in spring training; then caught on briefly with Stanhope (1-for-8, 1 R, 0 RBI) and Hoboken (3-for-16, 2 R, 0 RBI) before coming to the Banditos (1-for-4, 1 R, 0 RBI).  

In minor-league news, Vancouver cut Josh Towers and signed Trever Miller, while Hillsborough dropped Jay Gibbons and grabbed Morgan Ensberg.

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.