Week 12 - June 14, 2004  

Midway!

The first half ends the same way the 2002 and 2003 seasons did: With the Newark Sugar Bears and the Arkansas Golden Falcons leading their respective divisions. The Sugar Bears and Golden Falcons are now tied for the best record in baseball after the Sugar Bears cruised into the break with a 4-3 record, including an embarrassing 17-5 loss in their final game of the first half. Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons -- who started out the week with the best record in the Morris Division, but 2 games behind Newark for the best record overall-- battled their way into the 1st-place tie by winning six out of seven this week, and closed out the first half riding a three-game winning streak... Another hot team, the Carolina Mudcats, jumped up from 4th place overall to 3rd place after winning six out of eight this week, moving ahead of the Stanhope Mighty Men, who went 3-5. Fifth-place overall goes to the surprising Columbia Rattlesnakes, who split their final eight games of the first half. If the season ended at the midway mark, the final playoff berth would go to the Vancouver Ironfist, who went 3-5 this week. The Fisters are happy to have a breather with the three-game Midsummer Classic, as it may give them a chance to figure out what went wrong: After 40 games, they had the best record in baseball at 26-14 (.650), but have gone 17-25 (.405) over the next six weeks. Read a full analysis of the first half stats in an upcoming edition of Number Crunch with Cecil Fielder.

Three games out of the final playoff berth, the Tijuana Banditos continue to play great baseball. They won five out of seven games this week -- going 9-5 over the last two weeks -- and are now just 2 games under .500... Tied for 8th-place overall are the Philadelphia Endzone Animals and the Honolulu Sharks. The Endzone Animals won four out of seven while the Sharks were one better, going 5-2... The 10th-place Phoenix Dragons fell to 10 games under .500 after a 3-5 week, but the 11th-place Harrison Rats failed to make up any ground, going 2-5... The Westwood Deductions and Hillsborough Destroyers each had awful weeks. The Deductions went 2-5 to fall 19 games under .500, but the Destroyers were even worse, dropping six out of seven -- including five in a row -- to fall to a league-worst 30-51.

Numbers Game

Can you be considered one of the best hitters in baseball if you're only hitting .285? Sabermeticians would say yes, and so would the All-Star voters! Honolulu's Jason Giambi gets the start at designated hitter over Stanhope's Nick Johnson, even though Johnson's batting average is 50 points higher. But Giambi has a 50-point lead in OPS (1.075 to 1.027), and also leads Johnson in other sabermetric-happy categories like secondary average (.609 to .440), runs created per 27 outs (10.9 to 10.7), isolated power (.352 to .238) and total average (1.255 to 1.171). This week, Giambi didn't rank in the Top 10 in batting average, hitting "only" .333, but nevertheless, he led the league in OPS (1.548), slugging percentage (1.048), secondary average (.952), AB/HR (5.3) and isolated power (.714), and tied for the league lead in runs (9) and RBIs (12) -- enough to win him the start at DH as well as the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award! But don't worry, Johnson fans -- "Nick the Stick," who had a very nice week himself (.455, 1.180 OPS, 4 2B, 5 R), will be at Tuesday's All-Star Game as well.

They weren't the only All-Star starters to polish their credentials with big weeks to close out the first half. Newark's Bill Mueller, the Hanover Division starter at 3B, led the league in runs created (13.9), tied for the league-lead in extra base hits (7) and finished second in OPS (1.462) and total bases (27), while teammate Jim Thome hit .400 (1.356 OPS) with 5 2B and 2 HR for 8 R, 7 RBI... Phoenix's Javy Lopez, the Hanover Division catcher, led the league with a .500 BA (13-26), with a 1.288 OPS, and teammate Ichiro hit .432 (1.096 OPS) with 2 2B, 2 HR for 8 R... Of course, no All-Star Game could be complete without Arkansas's Barry Bonds, who capped his monster first half by hitting .438 (1.413 OPS) with 8 BB.

But there were some disappointments. Hillsborough's Ray Durham spent the better part of an hour screaming at reporters after being told he'd been passed over in the All-Star balloting not once but twice! Durham (.296, .799 OPS) finished third in the Morris Division polling, behind Vancouver's Jeff Kent (.285, .782 OPS) and Tijuana's Bret Boone (.266, .777 OPS). "Man, I got totally rooked. This thing is fixed," Durham fumed. "I mean, shee-it. You're telling me I got as many votes as Junior Spivey (.183 BA, .516 OPS)? That's dicked up." Durham took out his frustration on the league's pitchers, hitting .333 (1.010 OPS) with 2 HR and 6 RBI this week, while Boone hit .241 (.773 OPS), and Kent could only manage .241 (.568 OPS). In case you were wondering, Westwood's Spivey hit .083 (2-for-24) with a .339 OPS.

Meanwhile, Newark rookies Hideki Matsui and Marcus Giles continue to be doubles machines for the Sugar Bears. Matsui tied for the league-high with 5 doubles this week, while Giles finished behind him with 4. Giles leads the league with 31 doubles -- a pace that would give him 61 on the season, well short of the DMBL record of 69 by Terry Shumpert in 2000. But Matsui has an astounding 24 doubles in just 183 AB, or one double every 7½ at-bats! At that rate, if he had as many at bats as Giles (339), Matsui would have 45 doubles over the first half of the season.

This week's other top performers: Carolina's Aramis Ramirez (.375, 1.335 OPS, 5 HR, 12 RBI); Phoenix's Jeff Conine (.483, 1.393 OPS, 5 2B, 2 HR, 5 R); Stanhope's Mike Lowell (.393, 1.276 OPS, 4 HR, 11 RBI) and Cliff Floyd (.385, 1.316 OPS, 4 HR, 9 RBI); Vancouver's Edgar Martinez (.444, 1.383 OPS, 5 2B, 2 HR, 7 R).

BK is OK

Arkansas's Byung-Hyun Kim had a hand in all six of Arkansas's victories this week: He saved five of them, and won the other! Kim gave up just 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB and 2 HBP in 9 IP (1.00 ERA, 8.0 R/9) while fanning 8 and inducing two double plays, a performance worthy of the P-P-P-Powerbook Pitcher of the Week Award. Kim, with a 2.32 ERA, 10.8 R/9, has been the workhorse of the Arkansas bullpen over the first half, pitching in 53 of 80 games, with 97.0 IP -- enough innings to qualify for the DMBL leaderboard (he ranks 2nd in ERA and R/9). On the season, Kim has 3 wins, 1 loss, 19 saves, 4 blown saves (.826 SV%) and has 2 holds. He has allowed just 9 out of 51 inherited runners to score (.176 IR%). The only pitcher with more appearances this season is Stanhope's Paul Quantrill, who has appeared in 57 of Stanhope's 81 games, but has "only" 62.1 IP... Carolina's Brendan Donnelly retired 16 of the 17 batters he faced this week, giving up just one walk, to pick up a save and a hold, while Tijuana's Eric Gagne polished off a strong first half with a win and two saves in four outings (0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 8 K in 5 IP).

Halfway through the season behind us, let's take a look at the Relief Points Leader Board. Remember, it's 2 relief points for a win or a save, -1 point for a loss or a blown save.

Relief Points Leader Board
Reliever	ERA	W	SV	L	BS	Pts
Smoltz, NWK	1.65	5	17	3	1	40
Kim, ARK	2.32	3	19	1	4	39
Wagner, VAN	4.03	1	21	3	5	36
Urbina, HON	2.08	1	16	0	1	33
Gagne, TIJ	1.01	7	10	0	2	32

Columbia's Mark Buehrle pitched brilliantly this week, picking up two wins while allowing just 1 earned runs in 13.2 IP, for a 0.66 ERA. It wasn't pretty, though -- Buehrle allowed 12 hits, 5 walks and 5 runs total (11.2 R/9) and fanned just 4... This week's other two-start winners were Arkansas's C.C. Sabathia (2.08 ERA, 10.4 R/9, 13 K in 13.0 IP); Honolulu's Jason Johnson (1.38 ERA, 11.8 R/9, 13 K in 13.0 IP) and Newark's Carl Pavano (1.69 ERA, 5.6 R/9, 9 K in 16.0 IP)... Other top starters: Arkansas's Roger Clemens (1-0, 0.60 ERA, 7.8 R/9, 11 K in 15.0 IP); Carolina's Barry Zito (1-0, 0 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K in 7.0 IP) and Tim Hudson (1-0, 2 ER, 12 H, 2 BB, 5 K in 14.1 IP); Hoboken's Mark Redman (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 11.4 R/9, 2 BB, 13 K in 15.0 IP).

Newark's Scot Shields was destroyed in his final start of the first half, getting spanked for 21 hits and 17 earned runs in 6.1 innings by Philadelphia. Shields broke the record, set by Phoenix's Sterling Hitchcock on July 29, 1997, for most hits allowed (20), but his 17 earned runs weren't a new record: Philly's A.J. Burnett gave up 19 earned runs against Wanaque two years ago. But Shields, after a disastrous 15-run 2nd inning, settled down and allowed just two more runs over the next 4 1/3 innings. On the week, his numbers were an ugly but not unreasonable 13.17 ERA, 21.7 R/9. In fact, it wasn't even the WWF SmackDown of the Week^TM! That honor has to go to Vancouver closer Billy Wagner, who made one appearance, gave up three earned runs on three hits and a walk, and got tagged with the blown save and the loss. Since he didn't record an out, Wagner's weekly ERA and WHIP totals were, you guessed it, infinity. Congrats, Billy! This week's other brutal beatings: Harrison's Jeriome Williams, (16.88 ERA, 35.4 R/9); Philly's Brad Radke (23.63 ERA, 33.8 R/9); and Columbia's Miguel Batista (40.50 ERA, 60.8 R/9).

Leaving Early?

While it's indisputably an honor to be selected to the All-Star Game, some players would privately admit that they'd much rather have the three days off to rest and recuperate with friends and family. And some players would like to have more than three days off. Just as office workers will sometimes call in sick on the Friday before a three-day weekend, there were a spate of unusual, and some would even say dubious, injuries popping up this weekend as some players may have been opting to get a headstart on the three-day break.

You can never guess if a player is really injured or not, but it is a little surprising to see Honolulu teammates Joe Randa and Scott Sullivan both come down with splinter-related ailments on the same day last week. Hoboken's Geoff Jenkins said he had to go to the bathroom between innings and never came out again. Westwood's Bengie Molina said he got a paper cut on his tongue licking a stamp. And Hillsborough's Matt Morris? You can find a better excuse than saying you squirted yourself in the eye with lime juice while drinking Corona. But perhaps the worst offender was four-time All-Star Tom Glavine. Now with Columbia, the former Rat hurler said he needed to take off the rest of the week to go back to Harrison and clean out his locker. "I left some nice stuff in there," Glavine said. "My old Austin Outlaws uniform, my World Series ring from '94, my bottle of Owl Puke... I'm telling you, if I don't get this stuff now, it'll be gone after the All-Star break. They don't call that place the Rat's Nest for nothing."

There were at least two serious injuries last week, however. Arkansas's starting catchers, Keith Osik and Jason Phillips, were each knocked out of Sunday's game after a vicious brawl broke out over a game of Scrabble. "Keith put down FOUREYES and, when I said that wasn't a word, he told me to look in a mirror," the optically-challenged Phillips said. "So I spelled out ONEYEARWONDER and then the punches started flying." At press time, Osik was undergoing emergency surgery to have several letter tiles removed from each nostril. Phillips will be back for the first game after the break, but Osik could miss up to a month while doctors continue exploring for a particularly elusive "K".

In other news this week, Arkansas released 3B Wes Helms; Hoboken released SP Kurt Ainsworth and signed SP Jaret Wright; Philly signed OF Eric Byrnes and released OF Alex Sanchez; and Phoenix signed SP Mike Hampton.

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.