 |
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
August 4, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Season Snapshot
A Streak of a Week
Little G Makes It Big
Vancouver's Jeff Kent (.486, 1.326 OPS, 3 HR, 7 R, 5 RBI) finished a close second to Giambi after leading the league with 28 total bases, 15.1 runs created and 17 hits -- and is riding a 13-game hitting streak -- as the Iron Fist scored a league-best 45 runs this week. Edgar Martinez (.375, 1.007 OPS) and Jeff Bagwell (.269, 2 HR, 8 RBI) are also helping fuel the Fisters' pennant drive. Meanwhile, Bobby Kielty's hit streak was snapped at 20 games -- second longest this season, behind Manny Ramirez's 24 straight -- when he went 0-for-5 (with three strikeouts) in Thursday's 7-6 loss to Carolina. He's had a hit in every game since to launch a mini four-game streak. Arkansas's Barry Bonds, the defending Most Valuable Batter Award winner, isn't ready to concede his title just yet. He's been on fire down the stretch, hitting .370 (.995 OPS) with 1 HR, 5 RBI and 8 BB this week. Teammates Larry Walker (.393, 1.307 OPS, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 10 R), Lance Berkman (.316, 1.164 OPS, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI) and John Olerud (.308, .910 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R, 5 RBI) also had big weeks... Mudcats Torii Hunter (.375, 1.113 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R, 7 RBI) and Pat Burrell (.355, .998 OPS, 2 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI) helped Carolina keep pace with the Morris Division-leading Falcons... Stanhope's Tim Salmon (.407, 1.356 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R, 7 RBI) led the league with 8 extra base hits and tied for the league lead with five doubles, and is riding a 13-game hitting streak, tied with Vancouver's Kent for the longest active streak in baseball. Derek Jeter (.444, .483 OBP) and Eli Marrero (.333, 1.067 OPS, 2 HR) also had nice weeks for the Mighty Men... Brooklyn's Carlos Beltran (.406, 1.062 OPS, 5 2B, 4 R, 7 RBI) continues to be a tremendous acquisition for the Bean Counters. Since joining the squad at the end of April (from Philadelphia, for a second round pick), the switch-hitting outfielder has hit .302 (.847 OPS) with 25 2B, 42 R, 47 RBI, 8 HR and 10 SB... Who else is hot? Hillsborough's Alex Rodriguez (.346, 1.131 OPS, 3 HR, 8 RBI); Hoboken's Scott Hatteberg (.308, .819 OPS, 6 RBI); Honolulu's Jacques Jones (.435, 1.045 OPS, 5 R) and Miguel Tejada (.360, 1.025 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI); Philly's Jose Vidro (.391, 1.184 OPS, 2 HR, 5 R, 7 RBI) and Albert Pujols (.281, 3 HR, 10 RBI); Phoenix's Garret Anderson (.333, 2 HR, 5 R, 6 RBI). The day he was acquired from Harrison by Tijuana, Mike Sweeney quit baseball and announced he'd rather park cars for a living than play for the Banditos. Six weeks later, Sweeney was coaxed back into the game with a promise that the Tijuana clubhouse stocks bottled water. In his first full week with the Banditos, Sweeney led the league with a .500 BA (13-26) and posted a .536 OBP, .769 SLG (1.305 OPS), 2 2B and 5 RBI, while going a perfect 2-for-2 on the basepaths. His presence in the lineup finally means some protection for Vlad Guerrero (.294, 2 3B, 8 R, 5 RBI) and Josh Phelps (.355, 1.131 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 10 RBI), making the Banditos a very dangerous spoiler team over the last month of the season. Columbia's Ivan Rodriguez had a nice week (.435, 1.110 OPS in 23 AB), but he only scored twice and knocked in four as the rest of the team hit an embarrassing .184 (44-238) with a .248 OBP, .277 SLG (.525 OPS). The team scored a league-low 15 runs this week, despite playing a full slate of eight games -- or just over 1.8 runs per game! On the season, the Snakes have scored just 473 runs (3.6 RPG) and are by far the worst hitting team in the league. The team's new batting coach, Rusty Staub, acknowledged he's "got a lot of work to do," but is happy with the pieces he has to start with. "With Pudge, Trot Nixon, Troy Glaus, Corey Patterson, and Robert Fick to build around, there's no doubt this will be a better hitting team in 2004," Staub said. "After all, we have nowhere to go but up." Hip Hip Jorge!
Julio's four saves lapped the field this week -- six other closers had two saves each to tie for second place. No one did it better than Honolulu's Ugueth Urbina, though, who nailed down his two saves by facing four batters and retiring all of them. Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen (4.1 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K), Newark's John Smoltz (3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K) and Vancouver's Billy Wagner (3.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K) also nailed down two saves without allowing a run. Wagner, Arkansas's Byung-Hyun Kim and Brooklyn's Robb Nen all picked up a win in addition to two saves this week. Arkansas's bullpen also had a great week -- Kim, Octavio Dotel, Gabe White and Trevor Hoffman combined to go 2-0 with 3 saves, a 1.44 ERA and 19 K in 25 IP -- but what happened to the Falcons' vaunted "five aces" rotation? Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Rodrigo Lopez and Al Leiter combined to go 2-4 with a 7.38 ERA, 1.77 WHIP and 10 HR in 39 IP. Though Lopez (2-2, 4.02 ERA, 13.8 R/9) and Leiter (0-1, 6.00 ERA, 18.8 R/9) haven't had a warm welcome with their new clubs, Derek Lowe has been brilliant since joining the Mighty Men. Last week, in his debut with Stanhope, he threw a complete game six-hitter, giving up just 2 earned runs and a walk; this week, he was even better, throwing a one-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over Tijuana. Ironically enough, the Banditos' only hit was by a former teammate -- Mike Sweeney, a fellow former Rat, who drilled a clean single to lead off the sixth... And while Orlando Hernandez has looked very average since joining the Sugar Bears (1-0, 4.97 ERA, 12.1 R/9), Jayson Durocher -- the other pitcher who came from Hoboken in the trade with Mike Piazza -- picked up two wins without allowing a run or a hit in three appearances to be the league's top vulture this week. After joining the Sugar Bears, Durocher is 3-0 with a microscopic 0.52 ERA, 0.69 WHIP. Hoboken's Joel Pineiro, last year's Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award winner, was one of only two starters to win two games this week -- though he looked much better in his first game, in which he threw a brilliant two-hit, no-walk complete-game shutout, than in his second, where he was pounded for 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 5 IP, but was bailed out by the offense and the bullpen to pick up a 7-6 win... The other two-game winner was Philly's "Darryl Kile" -- or whoever he really is. The late righthander, or his imposter, went 2-0 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.17 WHIP... Newark's Runelvys Hernandez has quietly been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last month, going 5-0 with a 2.50 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and three complete games over his last six starts, including a six-hit, complete-game win over the Bean Counters this week... The Animals' Mark Prior wins the tough-luck award, picking up a win and a no-decision despite posting a 1.69 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and striking out 14 in 16 IP this week. Philly gave him just one run in each of his two starts. Big Mo a No-Go
Other comings and goings: The Rats released Paul Wilson (1-1, 9.72 ERA, 19.4 R/9) and activated Wade Miller (4-10, 4.49 ERA, 13.1 R/9); Arkansas activated, then released, Herbert Perry (.234, .615 OPS); and, for the fourth time this season, the Endzone Animals signed Andy Ashby. "This time I know I'm going to stick," said Ashby, who went 1-2 with a 5.66 ERA, 16.1 R/9 in his three previous stints with the team. The move was necessitated after starter Jon Lieber (10-9, 4.34 ERA, 12.0 R/9) was placed on the Disabled List after having some "cruel and unusual punishment" inflicted on him by a woman he identified only as Mistress Spankmore. "What hurts? Everything," Lieber confessed. "But it hurts so good!" 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Newark Sugar Bears have had a tremendous
two weeks, ripping off 11 straight wins -- the longest
winning streak of any team this season, and five shy
of the all-time record held by '93 Arkansas and '96
Vancouver -- before finally losing Sunday. On the
week, Newark went a league-best 5-1. Newark's run
opened up a 12-game lead -- their biggest so far this
season -- over the Stanhope Mighty Men, who
dropped four out of seven but clung to the second-best
record in baseball by a half-game... The Honolulu
Sharks won four out of six to creep into a tie for
fifth-place overall, while the Brooklyn Bean
Counters -- bouncing back from a stretch where
they lost eight out of 10 -- won six out of eight this
week, including an active three-game winning streak.
They're still in seventh overall, 1½ games out of a
playoff spot... The Hoboken Cutters continue to
run hot and cold, losing three out of eight -- and
nine out of their last 13 -- to fall 6½ games back of
the final wildcard spot... Bringing up the rear, the
Phoenix Dragons lost five out of seven -- and,
go figure, one of their two wins this week snapped
Newark's 11-game winning streak -- to fall to 11th
place overall, while the Harrison Rats lost six
out of seven, including four in a row, to fall into a
tie for 12th place overall, 2½ games out of last
place.
The top three spots in the Morris Division are mired
in mediocrity. The Arkansas Golden Falcons,
Carolina Mudcats and Vancouver Iron Fist
all split their eight games this week -- and all have
gone 5-5 over their last 10 games. The Golden Falcons
remain in third place overall, a half-game behind
Stanhope, while the Mudcats continue to hold onto
fourth place overall, 2½ games ahead of the Vans...
Despite winning five out of eight this week, the
Philadelphia Endzone Animals dropped a notch in
the standings -- from a seventh-place tie to eighth --
behind the red-hot Bean Counters. The Animals are just
2½ games out of the playoffs, though... The
Hillsborough Destroyers carried a six-game
winning streak into this weekend, only to lose on
Saturday and Sunday. Still, at 5-2, it was the best
week in the Morris Division, and enough to climb into
10th place overall... At the back of the pack, the
Tijuana Banditos and the Columbia
Rattlesnakes both lost five out of eight this
week. For the Banditos, the bad week ended a stretch
where they'd won 11 out of 14; for the Rattlesnakes,
it was just another miserable week in another
miserable season. This week, after losing eight
straight games, Columbia GM Brian "Dizzy"
Dissler 
The Destroyers have a great, young starting rotation
with Kevin Millwood, Matt Morris,
Bartolo Colon, Kirk Rueter and Jeff
Weaver, ranking second in quality start
percentage, second in complete games and sixth in ERA.
So why aren't they contemplating a third straight trip
to the post-season? Maybe it's because they lead the
league in blown saves, with a miserable .439 blown
save percentage -- no other team is worse than a .371
BS%. Four different guys have tried on the closer's
role for the team this year -- Latroy Hawkins
(4 SV, 2 BS), Mark Guthrie (3 SV, 4 BS), Kaz
Sasaki (1 SV, 1 BS) and Jorge Julio (9 SV,
9 BS). So it was all the more remarkable this week
when Julio saved a league-high four games this week --
including saves on three consecutive nights. On the
week, Julio allowed just 2 hits, 1 walk and no runs in
four appearances to win the 
It gets late early in Stanhope, where the games can
turn into an eight-inning affair if the Mighty Men
have the lead and Mariano Rivera gets the ball.
Unfortunately, Stanhope fans will be chewing their
fingernails for at least a couple weeks as Rivera has
been called to jury duty in the