Week 12 - June 22, 2008

Fit To Be Tied!

The All-Star Break did nothing to cool off the two teams battling it out for the league's best record. Last week just a game separated them; now they're tied! Meanwhile, the Morris Division leader opened up a little breathing room after a solid week.

The Newark Sugar Bears went 4-2, tying for the league's third-best record this week, but that wasn't good enough to hold off the Las Vegas Rat Pack, who won 5 out of 6, including four straight wins to end the week. The Rats are now tied with the Sugar Bears for the league's best record (and the Hanover Division lead) at 31 games over .500. The two teams play a key three-game series (in Las Vegas) that starts at the end of this week... The Vancouver Iron Fist went 4-2, and have won seven out of their last nine games, to get a little distance on the teams behind them in the Morris. But even so, they're closer to the team behind them in the standings (2½ games)½) than they are to first place overall... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals went 2-3, but split Sunday's doubleheader in Vancouver. The rubber game is tomorrow... The D.C. Bushslappers finally stopped the bleeding, going 3-3 to remain in 4th place overall. Before this week, they'd lost four out of their last five games, and 10 out of their last 15... The Tampa Bay Plunkers played seven games this week and lost five of them, but managed to cling onto 6th place.

The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen continue to creep back into the wild-card race, going 5-2 to move just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for 6th place. The Hitmen have won four out of their last five games... The Blue Ridge Bombers are suddenly in a nose dive after going 1-4. Last week they were a half-game behind the Hitmen for 7th place -- now they're 3½ games behind them... The Sardine City Straphangers also had a losing week, going 3-4, but thanks to the Plunkers' tough week, that actually put them a game closer to the post-season, 5 games out... The Carolina Mudcats remained in 10th place after going 3-3.

The Arkansas Golden Falcons also went .500, splitting their six games, but that was good enough to hang onto 11th place because the team behind them in the standings, New Jersey Team Buddah, went 2-3... The Hoboken Cutters moved up a half rung in the standings, joining the 3-3 club to move up from 13th into a tie for 12th with the Buddahs... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta went 1-3 this week, but at least they snapped their four-game losing streak with a win over Hoboken before the All-Star Break. The Mites have a four-game "lead" on New Jersey and Hoboken for last place.

The Week Ahead: If the Sugar Bears are going to build up a cushion before their big three-game series against the Rat Pack, this is the week to do it -- they have one game against 14th place Marietta, three against 13th place Hoboken and three against 12th place New Jersey! Las Vegas, meanwhile, tangles with the upstart Plunkers and Straphangers... It's not looking like Arkansas's year, but they get a chance to play spoiler as they play two games against rival Hillsborough and three against arch-enemy Vancouver.

Justin Time

Just a few weeks ago, there were rumors out of Hillsborough that owner Brent Campbell, frustrated by his team's sub-.500 start, was pondering some radical moves -- firing the manager, trading some stars and calling up some rookies. When asked if big changes were in the works, Campbell's reply was ominous: "There should be!" Maybe it's not a coincidence that immediately after that tirade, the team started winning. They were 3½ games back two weeks ago; now they're just a half-game back after their 5-2 week. Leading the charge was starter Justin Verlander, who had two huge outings this week against two teams ahead of them in the standings. First, Verlander went the distance against 6th place Tampa Bay, throwing a 3-hit shutout. Verlander gave up a single to the first batter of the game, then got a double play; he would retire the next 14 in a row before giving up another single in the 6th. The only other hit, also a single, came in the 9th. The only real jam came in the 8th, when two walks and a hit batsmen loaded the bases with two outs, but he escaped on a harmless pop fly to center. All the more impressive was the fact that Tampa Bay's Roy Oswalt kept up the pressure by matching Verlander for almost the entire game, giving up just three hits and three walks through the first 8 innings; the game ended when Brad Hawpe homered to lead off the 9th inning. After the All-Star Break, Verlander picked up where he left off, blanking the Bushslappers with another 3-hitter. After a pair of singles in the third, Verlander retired 15 in a row before giving up a walk with one out in the 8th; he then got another out, then came out after giving up a single. Heath Bell then got the final four outs to close out the game. Put 'em together, Verlander gave up no runs and just six hits and five walks while striking out 14 in 16.2 innings. How good a week was it? Verlander was 7-7 with a 5.11 ERA last week; now he's 9-7 with a 4.37. Verlander's scoreless week earned him the Shaq Loves Kobe Pitcher of the Week Award.

Speaking of D.C. ... They went 3-3 this week, but you can't blame the pitching staff, which gave up just 11 earned runs in 57 innings (1.74 ERA, 1.04 WHIP!). Shoddy defense led to 9 unearned runs, but the real culprit was the offense, which was held to a .243 BA and .644 OPS. The bottom line: 20 runs scored, 20 runs allowed, and a 3-3 record. The best of the Bushslapper hurlers was Kelvim Escobar, who picked up a win after scattering 7 hits in 7.1 innings. Kelvim gave up just 1 walk while striking out 14.

This week's other top pitchers: Carolina's Bobby Seay (2 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K in 2.0 IP); Hoboken's Jeremy Guthrie (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 9.6 R/9, 3 BB, 6 K in 15.0 IP); Las Vegas's Erik Bedard (2-0, 2.70 ERA, 7.6 R/9, 3 BB, 15 K in 16.2 IP); New Jersey's Bobby Jenks (2 SV, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K in 5.2 IP); and Sardine City's Ehren Wasserman (1 W, 1 SV, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K in 5.0 IP).

Fields Hits

When it comes to the Buddahs, rookie Josh Fields is an army of one.

The third baseman was having a brutal freshman campaign, hitting just .209 (.729 OPS) with 95 strikeouts in just 76 games. But this week, something finally clicked -- he hit .412 with a league-leading .565 OBP and 1.565 OPS this week after smacking three home runs and drawing six walks in just five games. Yet despite all those hits and all those walks, he scored just three runs -- all courtesy of his own home runs! And he drove in just four runs -- himself three times, and someone else just once. The rest of the team collectively posted a ridiculously awful .259 OBP this week, including a 1-for-14 from Shane Victorino and a 3-for-19 from Ivan Rodriguez, with one walk between the three of them. "What the hell, man?" sighed a frustrated Fields, who also led the league in RC/27 (23.8), total average (2.091) and secondary average (.941). "I'm doing my best to carry this team, but there's nobody to carry!" The team's spiritual adviser, Dolly Lama, said Fields just needs to relax. "Enlightenment comes only after tranquility," Lama said. "The boy must learn that success or failure at the plate is not as important as inner peace." Fields can try to puff his way toward inner harmony as our JRCigars.com Smokin' Batter of the Week.

Hillsborough's Ryan Howard had a monster week, smashing 7 home runs in 7 games, with a 1.541 OPS. He did almost half tthe damage in one game -- a 7-0 blowout of the Bushslappers in which he had three home runs and 7 RBIs. In addition to HRs, Howard led the league this week in SLG (1.148), RBIs (15), total bases (31), runs created (12.3), isolated power (.778), AB/HR (3.9) -- and also strikeouts (15). Howard was outraged that he didn't get this week's smokes from JRCigars, but the voters in Hillsborough had focused their attention on getting the Pitcher of the Week Award for Verlander. Sorry, Ryan! Next time try to have your big week when no one else on your team does!

This week's other top batters: Arkansas's Justin Morneau (.278, 1.350 OPS, 4 HR, 8 RBI); Blue Ridge's Prince Fielder (.375, 1.375 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI); Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera (.480, 1.281 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI); Newark's Nick Swisher (.360, 1.128 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI); Sardine City's Kurt Suzuki (.333, 1.100 OPS, 1 HR, 4 RBI); Tampa Bay's Torii Hunter (.296, 1.123 OPS, 4 HR, 5 RBI); and Vancouver's Moises Alou (.520, 1.258 OPS, 1 HR, 6 RBI).

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sunday's double-header proved to be costly for a number of teams, as 11 players went down with injuries of varying severeness. The costliest game was D.C.'s 1-0 win over Hillsborough, where four players went down -- including the Bushslappers' All-Star second baseman Jeff Kent, who is expected to miss at least three weeks after getting beaned in the 7th by Jeremy Accardo. That was obviously in retaliation for an incident that started in the 4th inning, when John Lackey hit Carlos Beltran on a 2-1 pitch. Beltran then charged the mound and soon it was a bench-clearing brawl. Even the bullpens got involved -- and in the fracas, D.C.'s Mike Timlin and Hillsborough's Takashi Saito, who weren't even in the game, both went down after getting clocked by Hitman Ryan Howard. Howard said he didn't realize he'd punched out a teammate. "I thought it was Kosuke Fukudome," Howard said. "My bad." Also out for awhile: D.C.'s Jeff Kent, Hillsborough's Mark Reynolds and Las Vegas's Jeff Keppinger, who are attending an infielders' conference in Cleveland.

A Trade Has Been Made

Happy Landing for Rocket

It looked like the Hall of Fame career of Roger Clemens had come to an end after he was released last week by the Sugar Bears. Rocket had appeared in three games -- all in relief -- and given up 5 earned runs in just 4.1 innings (5 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K). But Rocket knew there's one place he'd always be able to land -- Arkansas, where he's fourth on the franchise's all-time wins list with 82. Clemens joined the team this week and already is pitching like his old self, picking up a win in a start and two relief appearances while giving up just one run on five hits (0 BB, 10 K). While he's undoubtedly happy to be back with his old team, is Roger unhappy about leaving a team tied for first place to join a team all the way down in 11th? "I am so happy to be out of that ridiculous ballpark they call the Cereal Bowl, I'd have signed with a Little League team," Clemens confided to reporters in Little Rock. In addition to the Rocketman, the Golden Falcons also signed another veteran in Mark Grudzielanek; to make room, they released Randy Wolf and Orlando Cabrera.

The Cutters got busy this week, signing Joel Pineiro on Wednesday... releasing him on Friday... and signing him again on Monday! "They just like screwing with me," a frustrated Pineiro sighed. The Cutters also released Matt Lindstrom (four days after signing him) and signed Aaron Fultz, who lasted just three days before they released him as well. "Hey, we are called the Cutters," one team official said.

Other comings and goings: D.C. put Jeff Kent and Mike Timlin on the D.L. and signed Luis Castillo and Ron Mahay; Hillsborough activated Dmitri Young, released Wladimir Balentien and Kevin Millar, and signed Scott Linebrink; the Mighty Men dropped Bill Hall and added Matt Murton; New Jersey dropped prospect Josh Vitters and signed outfielder David DeJesus; and Philly dropped pitcher Carlos Villanueva and Franklin Gutierrez and signed Jo-Jo Reyes and Chad Qualls.