Week 14 - July 5, 2008

Unclaimed Ticket

Doesn't anyone want the last wildcard spot? It's become a war of attrition as all the teams jockeying for 6th place are now under .500. Can anyone turn it on over the final 60-some games of the season? Or will it just go to the team that comes closest to breaking even? Meanwhile, the three teams at the top did it again, combining for a 18-5 record to further distance themselves from the competition.

The Newark Sugar Bears and Las Vegas Rat Pack each went 6-2 this week, leaving them 1-2 atop the standings and separated by a single game. The two teams started the week with a three-game series and the Rats took two of them -- but Newark went 4-0 against the rest of the league while the Rats went 3-1. They don't face each other for six weeks, so their battle for dominance will be against the rest of the league... The Vancouver Iron Fist are the league's hottest team, going 6-1 this week, including five straight wins. That gave them a 4½ game lead over the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who went 5-2 -- including a six-game winning streak that was snapped Friday night... The D.C. Bushslappers went 4-3 this week, which was a good sign in that at least they didn't have a losing record again. They're 8 games behind Philly for 4th overall and 12½ behind Vancouver for the division lead.

The Hillsborough Hired Hitmen had been red-hot, but they apparently overheated -- they dropped six out seven this week, including a six-game losing streak that finally ended with a win Saturday night. The Hitmen are still in 6th, but instead of being a half-game behind D.C., they're now 3½ out. That gave the 7th place Tampa Bay Plunkers a chance to make up some ground, but all they could pick up was a measly half game after they went 2-6, including an active five-game losing streak. The Plunkers are now 2½ games behind the Hitmen for the final wildcard berth... The Blue Ridge Bombers soared a little closer to the contenders after going 3-4 this week. They're now 3½ games out... The Carolina Mudcats went 3-5, good enough to hang onto 9th place, 5 behind Hillsborough; the Sardine City Straphangers went 3-4 to crawl back into the background of the playoff picture, 6 games out.

The Arkansas Golden Falcons remained in 11th place after going 3-5, including a three-game losing streak to end the week... The Hoboken Cutters are finally showing some signs of life, going 5-3 to move up a spot from 13th into 12th, and they're just a half-game behind Arkansas for 11th. And they're 8 back of Hillsborough -- is it too late for a Cutters post-season run?... New Jersey Team Buddah flip-flopped with the Cutters, falling into 13th after going 2-5. They'd lost seven in a row before finally winning their final two games this week... Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta went 3-4 to hang onto the league's worst record, 1½ games worse than the Buddahs.

The Week Ahead: The top four teams battle it out in an inter-divisional showdown this week. The Sugar Bears and Endzone Animals square off for a three-game set in Newark, while the Rat Pack tangles with the Iron Fist for three games in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, if the Cutters are seriously making a run at the post-season, they'll have their shot this week as they get three games in Hillsborough. Finally, the Bushslappers have a chance to gain some distance on their pursuers as they play two more against the Straphangers and then two against the Plunkers.

Leave It To Peaver

We still have about 40 percent of the season ahead of us, so it's way too early to crown anyone the Ben McDonald Award winner. But you have to like the chances for Vancouver's Jake Peavy, who turned in another stellar week. The Iron Fist ace went 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a microscopic 5.4 R/9 and .447 OPS allowed -- just 5 hits and 4 walks in 15 innings pitched. Peavy also struck out 13 as he led the Iron Fist to a 6-1 record this week. In his first outing, Peavy shut down the Golden Falcons -- who aren't having a great year but you can throw out the season records when these two archrivals face off. Peavy held the Falcs to just 3 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings while striking out 9 en route to a 3-2 win. The offense gave him more of a cushion in his second start, but Peavy didn't need much. He held the Plunkers to just 2 hits and 2 walks over 8 innings; the only blemish was an 8th inning solo shot, but he was pitching to the score as he had an 8-0 lead. The bullpen gave up a couple more but the outcome wasn't in doubt as the Fisters cruised to the 9-3 win. Peavy has now won six straight starts; on the season, he leads the league in ERA (2.87), wins (15), R/9 (9.2), H/9 (6.0), shutouts (3), quality starts (15), QS% (.750), OPS (.577) and Component ERA (2.20). Still, it may be too early to talk about the Big Ben -- but at least Peavy's effort earned him the Slap the Bastards! Pitcher of the Week Award.

It was a pretty good week for starters as Peavy was one of four guys to win both his starts, though no one did it in quite so impressive a fashion. This week's other double winners: D.C.'s Shaun Marcum (2-0, 3.86 ERA, 9.0 R/9, 1 BB, 14 K in 14.0 IP); Las Vegas's Erik Bedard (2-0, 2.25 ERA, 15.8 R/9, 10 BB, 18 K in 12.0 IP); and Newark's Javier Vazquez (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 7.9 R/9, 5 BB, 13 K in 16.0 IP).

Sock It Thome

Weeks like this one were what Rat Pack fans had in mind when the front office traded for veteran Jim Thome this spring. It's hard to put a price tag on Thome, as he was acquired from the Mighty Men along with two very good relievers (Pat Neshek and Rafael Betancourt) and an ace starting pitcher (A.J. Burnett), but in any event, the price was pretty high -- a 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th and 13th in 2008, a 1st, 7th and 10th in 2008 and a 7th and a 14th in 2010. Some thought Thome was the least valuable part of the package, as he's 37, he can't play a defensive position, he only hits right-handers, and he could very likely become a free agent this off-season. But then Thome has a week like this one, and he looks very cheap indeed. The Thominator led the league in SLG (1.034), hits (16), runs created (18.3), total bases (30) and tied for the league lead in home runs (4) -- he also posted a .552 BA and .594 OBP. Incredibly, despite all that damage, Thome drove in just runs (including himself four times). Yet his one-man heroics enabled the Rats to win six out of eight games this week, including two out of three over his old team, the Sugar Bears. He saved his biggest night of the week for Hillsborough, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, including the go-ahead dinger in the top of the 9th to break a 7-7 tie. Thome's big week earned him the JRCigars.com Smokin' Batter of the Week Award.

Sardine City fans, send your complaints to me care of the Commissioner's Office: The Straphangers' Ken Griffey Jr. also had a big week (.632, 1.682 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI)... You could also make a case for Arkansas's Adam Dunn (.360, 1.247 OPS, 4 HR, 6 RBI); Hoboken's Hanley Ramirez (.424, 1.323 OPS, 4 HR, 7 RBI); Newark's Matt Stairs (.333, 1.375 OPS, 4 HR, 11 RBI); or Philly's Albert Pujols (.407, 1.411 OPS, 4 HR, 12 RBI).

The Stars Come Out

It's been a tough couple weeks for marquee players. Last week we had D.C.'s Jeff Kent, Marietta's Derek Jeter and New Jersey's Alfonso Soriano all go on the D.L. -- this week it's Arkansas's Barry Bonds, D.C.'s Carl Crawford and Newark's James Shields. Wait, did we just put Shields in the same class as Bonds and Crawford? In fact, the Sugar Bear starter, who may miss up to three starts with what's being called a tired arm, may be the biggest blow of all. He's off to an 11-5 start, with a 3.39 ERA and 11.8 R/9 in the pitchers' torture chamber they call the Cereal Bowl. As for Bonds, he's contributing despite a .235 BA (.387 OBP, .524 SLG), but with his team stuck in 11th place and going nowhere fast, don't be surprised if the future DMBL Hall of Famer doesn't rush back from the trainer's table. Meanwhile, Crawford's Bushslappers are in 5th place and in the thick of the wildcard hunt, but he's having a sub-par year (.266, .729 OPS), and D.C. can likely find someone to put up those numbers. The hard part will be finding a guy who can wreak havoc on the basepaths like Crawford can (35 SB, 7 CS).

Catching On In Arkansas

Is this the calm before the storm? With two weeks to go until the Trade Deadline (Sunday, July 20),. there weren't any exciting moves this week. The biggest news came from Arkansas, which released its catching tandem of Yorvit Torrealba and Miguel Olivo and signed the package deal of Jose Molina and Javier Valentin. Molina had been drafted by Philly but cut in spring training; now that he's with Arkansas, all three Molina brothers are employed again. (Yadier is with Newark; Bengie, who started the year in Hillsborough, is now in Marietta.) The Falcs claimed Valentin off waivers from Carolina, where he hit .286 (.600 OPS) in 13 games until Johnny Estrada came off the D.L. Valentin and Molina are the fourth and fifth catchers for the Golden Falcons this season, who in addition to Torrealba (.200 BA, .571 OPS) and Olivo (.189, .569) also tried Brad Ausmus (.237, .648). The Valentin/Molina combo is off to a great start, as they combined to hit 6-for-17 (.353) in their first five games together.

As expected, the Cutters released Joel Pineiro again, this time to activate Aaron Cook from the Disabled List. Pineiro doesn't expect to be a free agent for long, however. "I got a studio apartment down the block from the stadium just in case," he said.

Other comings and goings: In addition to releasing Valentin and activating Estrada, Carolina cut Brendan Harris and Cliff Floyd and signed Alex Gonzalez and Zach Duke; Las Vegas activated Chone Figgins and released Ian Stewart; Philly dumped Chad Qualls and signed Kason Gabbard; and D.C. put Carl Crawford on the D.L. and signed Mike Timlin.