Week Sixteen (June 24, 2002)  

Golden Falcons: Up, Up and Away!

The Arkansas Golden Falcons have now opened up a five-game lead on the Newark Sugar Bears and a 25-game lead in their division. They're still on a pace to set the all-time record for most wins, one game ahead of the 118-44 mark achieved by the Vancouver Iron Fist in 1997. The Golden Falcons went 5-2 this week, including a three-game sweep of the Iron Fist... Newark, on the other hand, was shocked by a four-game sweep by the Columbia Rattlesnakes. The Sugar Bears have gone just 1-5 against Columbia this season, their worst record against any opponent. Newark has dropped 8 out of 14 since winning 4 out of 6 from the Golden Falcons two weeks ago; over the same stretch, Arkansas has won 10 of 12. The two now face off for a three-game set at Quisenberry Memorial Park.

The Hoboken Cutters, despite a disappointing 2-5 week, held onto third-place overall, just 1.5 games up on the Honolulu Sharks, who went 4-3... The fifth-place Iron Fist went 3-4, while the Wanaque Wolverines went 4-3 to hang onto sixth-place overall... The Phoenix Dragons are now Wanaque's closest pursuer, winning 9 of 10 before dropping Sunday's doubleheader to the Philadelphia Endzone Animals to finish the week at 4-3... The Rattlesnakes, on the strength of their four-game sweep of the Sugar Bears, were a league-best 6-2 this week and jumped into 4th place in the division and 9th overall, leapfrogging the Tijuana Banditos and Carolina Mudcats, who each went 3-4... The Stanhope Mighty Men went 4-2 to climb into a tie with the Brooklyn Bean Counters, who went 3-4... Philly went 4-4 this week to remain in the bottom of the Morris Division standings, while the Harrison Rats went 2-5 to remain in last place overall.

Mighty Moundsmen

Despite his team-best 10-5 record, Stanhope rookie Erik Hiljus wasn't considered a Rookie of the Year candidate because of his unimpressive 4.84 ERA, 1.52 WHIP. But this week he drew some notice with two impressive performances, nailing down two 3-1 victories. Hiljus was 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and struck out 14 in 12 IP to win the Davey and Goliath Pitcher of the Week Award. Teammate Andy Pettitte also had an impressive week, giving up 1 ER, 7 H and 0 BB in a 3-1 win over Arkansas... Vancouver's Sean Lowe threw a three-hit shutout over the Rats, hitting two batters and walking another in a 93-pitch masterpiece... Brooklyn and Hoboken clashed in three pitching gems this week, with the Bean Counters taking two. Kelvim Escobar improved to 13-6 on the season, out-duelling Joe Mays in a 2-1 win for the Cutters; the following night, Odalis Perez and Todd Van Poppel combined to blank Hoboken, 1-0, despite a five-hitter from Joel Pineiro. The series concluded Friday, with Woody Williams giving up 5 hits and one run in 8 innings to edge Jarrod Washburn, 2-1... Harrison's Tom Glavine came within one out of his first shutout in two years. He was allowed to pitch his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the 8th, but was pulled in the 9th after giving up a two-out single to Honolulu's Shawn Green, despite a 6-0 lead. Derek Lowe was brought in to coax Miguel Tejada to ground out. Glavine was livid. "I'm feeling a two-to-three week injury coming on," he told reporters after the game.

Other impressive performances this week: Arkansas's Kevin Brown (2-0, 1.26 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 10 K in 14.1 IP); Columbia's Kevin Appier (1-0, 1.59 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 10 K in 11.1 IP); Honolulu's Mark Mulder (2-0, 2.93 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 9 K in 15.1 IP); Philly's Jon Lieber (1-0, 1.93 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 9 K in 14 IP) and A.J. Burnett (2-0, 3.07 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 8 K); Tijuana's Steve Sparks (1-0, 2.35 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 5 K in 15.1 IP); Vancouver's Greg Maddux (1-0, 3.21 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 6 K in 14 IP).

Columbia relievers Juan Moreno and Jeff Shaw were nearly perfect in 7 appearances, giving up just 2 hits and no runs in 12.1 IP, but got just one save to show for it; but teammate Victor Santos picked up two wins and a save despite allowing 11 hits, 7 walks and 9 earned runs in 13.2 IP... Armando Benitez nailed down all four of Philadelphia's wins this week, picking up 4 saves and allowing no runs, 2 hits, 3 walks and fanning 7 in 4.2 IP, stranding all 3 inherited runners... Phoenix's Troy Percival also went 4-for-4 in saves, posting a 0.00 ERA and 0.86 WHIP... Other impressive relief outings this week: Arkansas's Trevor Hoffman (3 SV, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 5 IP); Honolulu's Ugueth Urbina (1-0, 1 SV, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 3 IP); Philly's Jim Mecir (0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K in 5.2 IP); Stanhope's Mariano Rivera (3 SV, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K in 4.1 IP); Tijuana's Justin Speier (0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB in 7 IP); Wanaque's Kazuhiro Sasaki (2 SV, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K in 4.2 IP).

A-Rod A-Mazes

Alex Rodriguez had a phenomenal week, leading the league with 7 HRs and 11 runs scored, hitting .520 (13-for-25) with a .613 OBP and 1.400 SLG for a league-best 2.013 OPS, to win his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award this season. Over his last 21 games, A-Rod is hitting .395 (32 for 81) with 14 HRs, 25 R and 27 RBI, and he has a 7-game hitting streak. With Rodriguez leading the way, the Wolverines scored a league-best 53 runs this week, with Mike Cameron (.588, 1.591 OPS, 6 doubles, 9 runs) and Jeff Cirillo (.355, .955 OPS, 2 HR, 7 R, 14 RBI) also getting in on the act... Newark's Jim Thome could've won some steaks and a game against Columbia if he hadn't gone 0-for-4 with 3 Ks in the final game of the series. Before picking up the silver sombrero, he'd hit .522 with 6 HR, 8 R, 13 RBI and a 1.957 OPS. Mark McLemore also had a strong week, hitting .379 with a 1.247 OPS, 8 R, 7 RBI and legging out 3 more triples, tying him with Phoenix rookie Juan Uribe for the season lead at 13... Can we just give the Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Batter Award to Barry Bonds now and get it over with? He had another spectacular week, hitting .500 (13-for-26) with a 1.696 OPS, 4 doubles, 4 HRs, 7 R and 7 RBIs... Columbia catcher Ivan Rodriguez hit .333 (1.129 OPS) with 4 doubles, 4 homers, 10 runs and 11 RBIs, while Doug Mientkiewicz hit .310 with 2 HR, 5 R and 8 RBI and Magglio Ordonez hit .323 with 3 doubles, 5 runs and 2 stolen bases... Derek Jeter went 0-for-5 Monday to snap his hit streak at 17 games, but he passed the torch to teammate Bernie Williams, who now owns the league's longest active streak at 10. On the week, Williams hit .292 with 3 HR, 5 R and 4 RBI.

Carolina's Torii Hunter tied an eight-year-old record for most doubles in a game, slamming four two-baggers in Monday's 13-4 shellacking of Harrison to tie Wally Joyner, who had four doubles against Columbia in 1994. Hunter flew out in his first at-bat, then stroked four consecutive doubles before singling in his final at-bat, going 5-for-6 on the day with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Benji Gil and Rondell White each went 4-for-6 and Aramis Ramirez went 3-for-6 with a HR and 3 RBI as the Mudcats pounded out 22 hits. On the week, Hunter hit .345 (1.069 OPS) with 7 R and 5 RBI, Gil hit .306 (.842 OPS) with 1 HR and 5 RBI, White hit .353 with 7 R and 6 RBI, and Ramirez hit .452 (1.371 OPS) with 4 HR, 7 R and 8 RBI, and has a nine-game hitting streak.

Who's Hot? Brooklyn's Mark Grace (.393, 1.112 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R, 6 RBI); Honolulu's David Segui (.333, 1.179 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R) and Shawn Green (.310, .954 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 7 RBI); Philly's J.D. Drew (.333, 1.086 OPS, 3 HR, 7 R, 5 RBI); Phoenix's Luis Gonzalez (.455, 1.416 OPS, 3 HR, 8 R, 5 RBI); Tijuana's Vladimir Guerrero (.300, .967 OPS, 3 HR, 5 R, 6 RBI)... Who's Not? Vancouver's Sammy Sosa had just three hits this week (.120 batting average) -- but all were homers, for 6 RBI.

Schwappin' with Schlossberg

Brooklyn GM Dave Schlossberg worked the phones again this week, making his fifth and sixth trades of the year. On Monday, he swapped a 15th Round draft pick to Newark for 1B Todd Zeile; on Friday, he sent All-Star SP Joe Mays (11-10, 3.03 ERA) to Vancouver for a 4th Rounder and minor league P Kip Wells (8-3, 3.11 ERA in 14 starts for Tacoma). The Bean Counters now have seven picks in the first five rounds of the draft.

Another swap was struck Friday, this one between Hoboken and Stanhope. The Mighty Men dealt Tino Martinez -- one of the team's founding members, drafted by the then-Jerusalem Rabbis in the 1996 draft -- for an 8th Round Pick. Martinez, Stanhope's full-time DH, was hitting .268 with a .505 SLG, 22 HR and 55 RBI in 87 games and appears headed to his best season since '98 (.295, 51 HR, 152 RBI).

Other comings and goings: Brooklyn signed P J.C. Romero; Carolina gave up on SP Kris Benson to make room for Randy Winn; Hoboken released SP Calvin Maduro; Philadelphia said hello to SP Mark Redman and good-bye to SP Sean Estes; Stanhope added pitchers Chuck Finley and Jose Jimenez and released SP Carl Pavano; Tijuana dumped Tom Lampkin and Tim Worrell and signed Chad Bradford.

Mush!

Brad Fullmer's father is one of 107 people trapped in an Antarctic ice drift. Wanaque's designated hitter hasn't been having a great season anyway (.248, 5 HR, 32 RBI in 298 ABs), so the team gave him the green light to spend the next two weeks mounting a rescue expedition... Stanhope's Andy Pettitte was busted for selling fake memorabilia from his no hitter. "I bought six game-worn jerseys, three game-worn hats, two pairs of game-worn cleats and a piece of game-used bubblegum but then I realized, hey wait a minute, he couldn't have been wearing two pairs of cleats for the whole game," said Police Chief Clancy Wiggum. Pettitte is expected to make bail in time to miss just one start... Pettitte's new teammate, Ken Griffey Jr., was benched a week after failing to run out a routine pop fly in the first inning of a game against Brooklyn this week. "That lackadaisical attitude might cut it with the Vancouver Iron Fist, but not in Stanhope," said manager Buck Showalter. "Lack of hustle is what costs you four World Championships in five years." Griffey is hitting .286 with 6 HR, 14 R and 14 RBI in 22 games since joining the Mighty Men.

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.