June 16, 2003  

What The Hell Happened?

A month ago, the Arkansas Golden Falcons had just completed a three-game sweep and had won 15 out of their last 18 games. They had the best record in baseball, had built an insurmountable double-digit lead in the Morris Division and were on pace to challenge their own single-season record for wins in a season. A month later, the Falcons are spiraling toward earth after four out of five this week, nine out of their last 10 and 17 out of their last 24, including a seven-game losing streak snapped Saturday. They've already been passed for both the league's best record (they're now 5½ games back!) and for the league's best run-differential. And while Arkansas's lead in the Morris Division is still a very healthy 8½ games, they're just two games ahead of the third-seeded team. Even more baffling, the Golden Falcons' struggles haven't been the result of an injury or a slump by a key player -- Barry Bonds and Larry Walker remain two of the hottest hitters in baseball, and at least one member of their "four aces" rotation is always in contention for the weekly honors as the league's top pitcher. The Falcons' fine-feathered fans can only hope their current swoon goes away as quickly and as inexplicably as it came on... The hottest teams in the Morris were the Carolina Mudcats and the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who each improved to within a game of .500 by going 4-1 this week. The two teams remain tied for third place in the division, seventh overall, and two games out of a playoff spot... No other Morris Division team had a winning week. The Vancouver Iron Fist again failed to capitalize on the Golden Falcons' recent woes, dropping three out of five this week and six of their last eight. They've fallen from third place overall two weeks ago all the way to sixth place... The last-place Tijuana Banditos also went 2-3 this week and are now 5½ games out of 13th place... The Hillsborough Destroyers and Columbia Rattlesnakes joined the Golden Falcons in posting 1-4 weeks.

Bear Charge!

The Newark Sugar Bears got hot at the perfect time -- when the Golden Falcons got cold. The Sugar Bears won four out of five this week, and nine out of their last 11... The Harrison Rats were the only other team in the division to keep pace with a 4-1 record. They've won six out of their last eight, but they're still 11 games under .500 after a crushing nine-game losing streak before the All-Star Break... The Stanhope Mighty Men have been doing their best to keep pace with the Sugar Bears, but Newark keeps slowly pulling away with the division lead. The Mighty Men bounced back from two losses after the break with three straight wins and have won seven out of their last 10, but they've lost six games in the standings over the last six weeks... The Mighty Men are now closer to fourth place than they are to first: The third-place Honolulu Sharks, who also went 3-2 this week, are 5½ games behind them; the fourth-place Brooklyn Bean Counters, also 3-2, are 6½ out. Both teams have passed Vancouver in the overall standings... Despite a 3-2 week, the Phoenix Dragons actually fell in the standings, to seventh place in the division and 13th place overall, thanks to the Rats' 4-1 week... The only team in the Hanover to post a losing record were the struggling Hoboken Cutters, who posted the league's worst record at 0-5. The woeful Cutters have dropped 10 out of their last 11 to fall 10 games under .500, the league's fifth-worst record. Two weeks ago, they were a 1½ games out of sixth place overall.

Salmon's Run

If you like spicy seafood, you may want to try the Tim Salmon. He's red hot! After being named the All-Star MVP by bombing a game-clinching grand slam off Billy Wagner, the Big Fish was still walking on clouds as he returned to his regular day job as Stanhope's designated hitter. In four games, Salmon hit a league-best .563 (9-16) and also led the league in OBP (.588), doubles (5), extra base hits (5) and total average (2.143) with a second-best 1.463 OPS to win the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. The Mighty Men love the two-bagger, leading the league with 179 doubles. Teammates Bernie Williams (.455, 1.114 OPS, 1 HR, 4 R), while Mike Lowell (.438, 1.126 OPS, 1 HR, 3 R) led the league with 10 RBI... Snubbed for the All-Star team and dodging questions about why his bats suddenly feel so much lighter, Vancouver's Sammy Sosa went on a hitting tear this week, going 9-17 (.529) with a league-leading .941 SLG and 1.497 OPS, with 2 HRs, 5 R and 3 RBI. Jeff Bagwell also had his first impressive week, hitting .474 (1.282 OPS) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 R and 3 RBI...

It seems like Jim Thome could win the award just about every week. Once again he factored strongly in the voting as he put up more incredible numbers (.400, 1.355 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI), as did Jeremy Giambi (.300, 1.090 OPS, 2 HR, 8 R, 8 RBI) and Paul Lo Duca (.429, .967 OPS, 4 RBI), leading the Sugar Bears to a league-leading 42 runs scored in five games. But how about that Bobby Higginson? He hit .462 (6-13) with an astounding 1.390 OPS, with 3 2B, 1 HR, 4 R and 5 RBI this week. Since replacing Manny Ramirez in the lineup nearly three weeks ago, Higginson has been quite a find for the Sugar Bears, hitting .341 with a .912 OPS. The Sugar Bears have gone 12-4 without Manny in the lineup... Brooklyn's Timo Perez and Scott Spiezio didn't play much this week, but they made their presence known: Perez had just 8 at-bats this week, but he made them count, picking up six hits -- including three triples! He also scored three times and knocked in five more. Spiezio went 4-for-6 with 2 HRs and 2 walks... Also on fire: Arkansas's Larry Walker (.474, 1.197 OPS, 1 HR, 3 RBI), Hillsborough's Brad Fullmer (.438, 1.284 OPS, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI), Honolulu's Shawn Green (.316, 1.170 OPS, 3 HR, 3 RBI), Philly's Rafael Palmeiro (.313, 1.228 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R, 4 RBI) and Phoenix's Nomar Garciaparra (.429, 1.191 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R, 6 RBI) and Garret Anderson (.429, 1.191 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R, 4 RBI).

Koch: How'm I Doing?

For the first 10 weeks of the season, the voters had no interest in the league's relievers. Now they're coming back with a vengeance, as for the third straight week a fireman has taken the coveted weekly honor. Of course, that's to be expected in a week where no starter had more than one appearance. This week's top pitcher was Harrison closer Billy Koch, who won the Top 10 Worst Movies (That Can't Be Missed) Pitcher of the Week Award. Koch picked up a win and two saves, helping the Rats to tie for the league's best record this week (4-1), while giving up no runs, one hit and 2 walks in 3 IP. Brooklyn's Robb Nen (3 SV, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 IP), Carolina's Scott Sauerbeck (1-0, 1 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 IP), Newark's John Smoltz (2 SV, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 IP), Philly's Armando Benitez (1 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 K, 5.1 IP) and Phoenix's Troy Percival (1 SV, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 2 IP) also had outstanding weeks.

Two pitchers threw shutouts in their only starts this week: Honolulu's Russ Ortiz (3 H, 2 BB, 4 K) and Newark's Runelvys Hernandez (2 H, 5 BB, 3 K). Other strong performances came from Arkansas's Pedro Martinez (1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 7 IP), Carolina's Ted Lilly (1-0, 2 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 10 K, 8 IP), Tijuana's Ramon Ortiz (1-0, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 IP) and Columbia's Miguel Batista (0 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 9 IP).

Hellos and Good Baez

Pitcher Danys Baez is returning to his roots in the hope of reacquiring the stuff that made him a Rookie of the Year candidate with the Cutters last year (6-2, 4 SV, 2.81 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 92 K in 96 IP). The Cuban-born right-hander defected a second time after the '02 season -- from Hoboken to Mexico -- and was drafted by the Banditos in the fifth round. But after getting bombed in a brief major league stint (5 H, 2 BB, 3 ER in 4.1 IP), the Tijuana front office sent him back to "el norte," where he again became the property of the Cutters. Hoboken pitching coach Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh said Baez -- still only 24, or so says his Cuban birth certificate -- has sky-high potential, either as a starter or as a reliever.

An All-Star last year, Arkansas 3B Phil Nevin has been struggling at the plate and in the field this season (.267, .699 OPS, .924 fielding percentage). It's uncertain how he's kept his job this long, but it's interesting to note that he's now on the Disabled List due to "rug-burned knees and chapped lips." In the meantime, the Golden Falcons will have to make due with a platoon of Herbert Perry (.256, .666 OPS) and veteran Jeff Cirillo, a seven-year veteran who had stuck with the oft-moved franchise that moved from Norfolk to Hillsborough to Vatican City to Wanaque. But when the team moved back to Hillsborough before the start of this year, Cirillo exercised a clause in his contract that allowed him to declare free agency if the team was ever moved back to "the godforsaken pimple on the ass of Somerset County." Cirillo was taken in the sixth round of this year's draft by the Rattlesnakes and signed to a minor-league deal, but he was released on May 5 without getting an at-bat in the show. He should get an interesting reception from the crowd when Arkansas plays in Hillsborough in two weeks.

Last week, after his release from the Cutters, Mike Hampton told this reporter that he was so confident that another DMBL team would be picking him up for the playoff stretch that he'd sign up with an independent league team just to stay in shape. But he never got a chance to pack his bags. Less than two weeks after being handed a one-way ticket out of Hoboken, Hampton was signed by the Endzone Animals. Ironically, the Animals released Adam Eaton -- a former Hoboken prospect -- to make room for 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.