Week Twenty-One (July 29, 2002)  

Hanover Champs, Again

The Newark Sugar Bears clinched their second straight Hanover Division title with a win Friday night. Newark is now tied with the Vancouver Iron Fist for the most division titles, with five each. The Arkansas Golden Falcons, who already clinched their own division, are third with four division titles. The Austin Outlaws (now the Harrison Rats) won two division titles, but also finished first in the league in '91 and '92, before the league was divided into divisions.

With only the history books left to compete against, the Golden Falcons ripped off another six wins this week and have passed the Sugar Bears in run differential (+282 to +279). Arkansas needs to win 11 of their last 16 to tie the 1997 Vancouver Iron Fist for the single-season wins record. The Golden Falcons have already blown past the single-season record for most home wins -- also held by the '97 Fisters, who went 58-23 in the Iron Dome -- with a 63-17 mark. The bad news is the Golden Falcons have just one home game left, and their road winning percentage is "only" .667 -- but it's still the best in baseball, by a wide margin. Newark is second, at .606, with Vancouver in third at .542. No other team has a winning record away from home!

This week was dedicated to one-on-one showdowns, and some of the matchups just weren't fair. The first-place Golden Falcons took care of the Brooklyn Bean Counters, winning 6 of 8 to drop Brooklyn all the way into 13th place; the second-place Sugar Bears took 5 of 7 from the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, sending them into 12th. Both teams will likely be eliminated from playoff contention next week: Philly's tragic number is 6, Brooklyn's is 5... The Stanhope Mighty Men, who reached the playoffs in the last four straight seasons, will likely soon be out of it as well -- they're eyeing a tragic number of 7 -- but at least they have the consolation of taking the Columbia Rattlesnakes with them, after taking 5 of 7 from them this week. Columbia started the week in 8th place, just 4 games out of the playoffs, but now they're in 10th and 6 1/2 back... The 9th place Phoenix Dragons and the 10th place Carolina Mudcats got to play spoiler against each other, with the Mudcats taking 4 of the 7 games and drop both teams 6 games out... The Wanaque Wolverines, who began the week trying to hold onto the sixth and final playoff seed, got healthy in a hurry by taking 5 out of 7 from the 14th-place Rats, who "clinched" the worst record in baseball. The Rats have broken the century mark in losses; the only other team still capable of a 100-loss season this year are the Bean Counters, who can avoid that fate by winning just one of their remaining 16 games. At the other end of the spectrum, only the Golden Falcons have 100 wins; the Sugar Bears need two more to join them. No other team will reach the 100-win mark this season.

In this week's best sets, the Iron Fist took on the Hoboken Cutters, a team that was just 2 games behind them for the top wildcard seed. The Iron Fist took 5 out of 8 from the Cutters to make it a 4 1/2 game lead, but it ain't over yet: Their magic number to clinch the #3 seed is a still-lofty 12... But the Cutters did leapfrog over the Honolulu Sharks to take the fourth seed. The Sharks, who began the week 1 1/2 games behind the Iron Fist, drew the unlucky assignment of facing the Tijuana Banditos, the hungriest team in baseball -- in seventh place and 2 1/2 games out of the playoffs. The Banditos won 6 of 7 games to pull themselves right back into it, just 1 game behind the Sharks with one game left to play against them.

How About a Three-Way?

Choosing a Pitcher of the Week from among all the week's top performances is never easy, but this week we had a first: A dead heat between three starters! Stanhope's Kerry Wood was clearing space in his trophy case for the award after two strong outings (2-0, 0.66 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 18 K in 13.2 IP), but another youngster, Harrison's Tony Armas Jr., was perhaps even better. Armas also won both his starts -- the Rats' only wins this week. He allowed just 1 run, 8 hits and 2 walks in 17.2 IP for a 0.51 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, and fanned 15 batters. He also threw his first complete game of the season with a 4-0 blanking of the Wolverines, and came within one out of throwing his second complete game Sunday but was lifted after giving up a two-out single in the ninth. But it was rookie Joel Pineiro edging out the competition for his first award, not only on the strength of his brilliant week (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 15 K in 15.1 IP) but a magnificent streak, winning his last five consecutive decisions and now allowing an earned run in 24.1 consecutive innings! Pineiro's run has put him back into contention for the McDonald Award and Rookie of the Year honors: On the season, he ranks first in lowest OPS allowed (.540), hits per 9 (7.0) and home runs per 9 (0.6), second in wins (18) and winning percentage (.783) and third in ERA (3.01), and of course he's got that combined no-hitter under his belt already... This week's other two-win starters were Arkansas's Curt Schilling (2.65 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 16 K in 17 IP) and Carolina's Barry Zito (2.77 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 6 K in 13 IP)... Newark's John Thomson had been cuffed around for a few starts, but he rebounded Friday night with a 3-hit, no-run complete game, his second shutout on the season to tie him for the league lead with five other starters. Thomson also ranks third with 8 complete games, one behind Schilling and Wanaque's Jeff Weaver.

The top reliever was Stanhope's Mariano Rivera (0.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP), who tied Newark's Arthur Rhodes for the most saves this week (3) and Phoenix's Troy Percival for the most this season (30). Rivera anchored a Mighty Man bullpen that was nearly perfect this week: Matt Herges, Al Levine, Ricardo Rincon and Mike Stanton combined to post a 0.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 5 K in 7.1 IP, stranding both inherited runners.

Rivera, the reigning Eck Award champion, is now just 3 points behind Percival in relief points (Wins + Saves x 2, minus Loses + Blown Saves) and could become the first closer since Newark's John Wetteland to win the award in back-to-back seasons. Earlier this season, Rivera passed former Vancouver closer Roberto Hernandez (now with Harrison) as the all-time career saves leader, with 155. Hernandez, who began the 2002 season with 129 saves, hasn't had any this season and has dropped from #1 on the list to #5, behind Percival and Arkansas's Trevor Hoffman, tied at #2 with 134 saves each, and Vancouver's Billy Wagner, with 131 for third place. Columbia's Jeff Shaw, who posted 2 saves with a 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP this week, will likely pass Hernandez this season as well, with 23 saves on the season and 120 in his career.

Phil It Up!

Opposing pitchers can keep pitching around Barry Bonds, but somebody in Arkansas's lineup is going to make them pay. This week, that somebody was Phil Nevin, who jumped on Brooklyn pitching to the tune of a 1.381 OPS to lead the Golden Falcons to a league-high 58 runs. Nevin slugged 4 homers for 6 runs and 12 RBIs, hit .400 and also drew 7 walks to collect his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award of 2002. John Olerud (.421, 1.289 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R), Juan Gonzalez (.355, 7 R, 7 RBI) and Larry Walker (.353, 1.112 OPS, 3 HR, 9 R, 7 RBI, 1 SB) also had big weeks. Bonds hit just .217 (5-for-23), but three of those hits were long balls, good for 8 RBIs, and his 11 walks helped fuel a 1.109 OPS.

Vancouver's Sammy Sosa moved back into a tie for second place in home runs, slugging 5 this week. Sosa hit .281 with a 1.093 OPS, 7 R and 8 RBI... Brooklyn's Marlon Anderson hit .382 with a .976 OPS, and now has a 14-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the majors... Wanaque's offense had an explosive week, led by Carlos Delgado (.320, 1.158 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 9 RBI), Alex Rodriguez (.345, 1.057 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI) and Jeff Cirillo (.419, 1.003 OPS, 1 HR, 5 R, 5 RBI)... Columbia's Magglio Ordonez had just 6 hits this week -- a single, a double, a triple and three home runs, for 5 RBIs... Other top performers: Carolina's Rondell White (.423, 1.385 OPS, 2 HR, 8 R, 10 RBI); Harrison's Gary Sheffield (.500, 1.426 OPS, 3 HR, 7 R); Hoboken's Brian Giles (.344, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and Mike Piazza (.233, but 4 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI); Honolulu's Jason Giambi (.370, 1.026 OPS, 6 doubles) and Eric Young (.357, 5 doubles, 6 R); Newark's Jeremy Giambi (.476, 1.212 OPS, 7 RBI); Stanhope's Ken Griffey Jr. (.370, 1.118 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI); Tijuana's Sean Casey (.484, 1.177 OPS, 6 doubles, 6 R, 6 RBI).

Pedro's Painful Problem

Arkansas hurler Pedro Martinez, making a bid for his third Ben McDonald Pitcher of the Year Award, leads the league in wins (19-2) and winning percentage (.905), and is second in strikeouts (246), tied for second in quality start percentage (.700), tied for third in runners per 9 (10.4) and fifth in ERA (3.18). What could be worse for the opposition? The Golden Falcons are backing him up with a league-best 6.7 runs per game. Pedro had a brilliant week (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 13 K), very nearly taking his first Pitcher of the Week Award on the season. In Sunday's game, the Bean Counters stroked back-to-back singles to lead off the first inning -- but didn't have another hit. Martinez retired the next 16 in a row, including 5 straight Ks in the 2nd and 3rd, before allowing his third and final baserunner, a two-out walk in the 6th. But after getting the final out of the game for his second complete-game shutout this season -- tying him for the league lead -- Martinez developed a painful blister on the fingers of his right hand. The Great P.J. has developed an allergy to horsehide! It could be the end of his career, unless he learns to pitch while wearing hypoallergenic gloves. Stay tuned.

Hoboken's Brent Mayne will miss the rest of the regular season after receiving horrific burns to his face. Stanhope practical jokester Mike Lowell poured a vial of hydrochloric into Mayne's catcher's mask between innings of Wednesday's game against Vancouver. But Lowell didn't escape justice -- he was run down and beaten by a gang of English soccer fans attending the Cutters game during Roy Keane Bobblehead Night.

Comings and goings this week: Arkansas waived Esteban Yan; Brooklyn cut Jason LaRue; Columbia dropped Tom Lampkin; Hoboken picked up Ron Gant and Brook Fordyce, then changed their minds and dumped Gant and picked up former Cutter Andres Galarraga instead; Stanhope said sayanora to Shane Spencer; and Tijuana released Ricky Bottalico.

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.