Week 20 - Aug. 8, 2005

Corks Are Popping!

At the conclusion of every spring training, the surviving members of the 2002 Arkansas Golden Falcons gather for a formal dinner in Little Rock. At the conclusion of the banquet, each team member takes home a bottle of champagne to be placed on ice. According to the tradition, each player will pop the cork and guzzle the bottle as soon as the last team loses its 43rd game -- thus ensuring Arkansas's 120-42 record continues to be remain the all-time record.

This year's champagne may have had a bittersweet taste for the '02 Falcons as the last team standing was the current incarnation of the Arkansas squad. But on Friday night, corks were popping after the Golden Falcons went down in defeat, 5-4, for their 43rd loss of the season... But despite their 3-5 week, Arkansas fans can take comfort in the knowledge that the Birds still have the best record in baseball, maintaining a half-game lead over the Newark Sugar Bears, who went 5-2.

The team that handed Arkansas its 43rd loss was its arch-rival, the Vancouver Iron Fist, who held onto the third-best record in baseball after a 6-2 week... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals stayed behind them, 3rd in the division and 4th overall, after a 4-3 week... Rounding out the Top 6 were the Honolulu Sharks and the  Stanhope Mighty Men, who each went 3-3.

Now tied for 7th, and 7 games out of a playoff spot, are the Hoboken Cutters, despite splitting their six games this week. Despite their .500 week, the Cutters were able to catch up to the Carolina Mudcats, who went 3-5... Another tie, this time for 9th place, has emerged between the Columbia Rattlesnakes (3-4) and Las Vegas Rat Pack (4-3)... The Tijuana Banditos remained in 11th place after going 4-4... Jumping up a rung in the standings, the Hillsborough Destroyers went a DMBL-best 4-1 this week, passing the Phoenix Dragons, who went 2-6... The  Westwood Deductions remained in last place after going 2-5.

The Week Ahead: It's a playoff preview! Newark hosts three games against Arkansas, Philadelphia plays three in Honolulu. Later in the week, Vancouver plays two against the Sugar Bears and the Golden Falcons take on the Sharks... Meanwhile, the battle of seventh place may be decided as the Cutters host a three-game series with Carolina.

The Wright Stuff

In the days leading up to last month's trading deadline, it seemed like every other caller to WFAN had  Jaret Wright on the move, getting traded to Stanhope or Vancouver or Arkansas or Newark. "I had my bags packed and ready to go," Wright admitted. "Every time the phone rang I thought it was my agent telling me to go to the airport. But every time it was some baseball writer asking if I'd been traded yet." Wright confided that he was hoping a long-rumored deal to Honolulu would be the one that would come through. "I played for the Hawaii Volcanoes [in 1999] and I got to be a pretty good surfer, so I'd love to head back there," he said. But with front office executives pouring over several enticing offers, Wright took the mound on trade deadline day, July 17, went down with an injury. Instead of Wright, it was relievers Shingo Takatsu and LaTroy Hawkins getting traded to playoff contenders, and Wright going on the 15-day Disabled List. "I wouldn't say I was disappointed, because I love Hoboken," Wright said. "But I've never been to the post-season and it seemed at the time that the Cutters were heading in the wrong direction." But sometimes the best trade a team can make is not making one at all, and that's what the Cutters are telling themselves after a terrific week from Wright (2-0, 1.86 ERA, 5.6 R/9) to win his first Lust for Bust Pitcher of the Week Award! Wright was a two-win pitcher this week despite making just one start: He notched victory No. 1 as Hoboken's ninth and final pitcher in a wild 20-inning, 12-10 win over Honolulu on Thursday, giving up no runs, 1 hit and no walks (with 4 Ks) in 3.2 innings. Two days later, he picked up his second win by giving up just 2 runs, 4 hits and 1 walk in a 4-2 victory over Stanhope. Both teams are ahead of Hoboken in the standings, and as a result the Cutters are now 7 games out of the final playoff berth. Wright thinks they still have a shot. "Our goal right now is .500, and until we get there, we aren't going to worry about what Stanhope or Honolulu is doing," he said. "Last year Tijuana was 8 games under .500 with 28 games to go and they made the playoffs; we're just 6 under with 26 to go. We just have to take care of our business and string together some wins and you'll be seeing us in September!"

Vancouver's Greg Maddux gets the tough-luck award, going 1-1 despite throwing two complete games with just a 1.50 ERA, 8.0 R/9 (3 BB, 15 K in 18.0 IP). Teammate Bobby Madritsch also deserved to win both his starts, but had to settle for a win and a no-decision despite a 2.35 ERA, 11.2 R/9 (6 BB, 18 K in 15.1 IP)... Columbia's Tom Glavine (1-1, 2.30 ERA, 12.1 R/9, 4 BB, 4 K in 15.2 IP), Honolulu's Roy Oswalt (1-1, 1.15 ERA, 9.8 R/9, 6 BB, 13 K in 15.2 IP) and Stanhope's Wade Miller (1-0, 1.35 ERA, 7.4 R/9, 2 BB, 13 K in 13.1 IP) also deserved better fates... Philly's Brad Radke proved he can win under any circumstances, out-dueling Maddux for a 2-1 win to start his week, then out-lasting Hillsborough's C.C. Sabathia in a 9-5 slugfest on Sunday.

Tijuana's Guillermo Mota led the league with two relief wins this week (0 R, 3 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 3 GDP in 5.1 IP), and is now tied for first place on the relief wins leaderboard with Vancouver's Juan Cruz -- who has been stuck on 9 wins since June. With roughly 26 games remaining in the season, it doesn't appear that anyone will be able to catch Jeff Zimmerman's all-time record of 16 relief wins, set with Vancouver in 2000. In third place is Phoenix's Troy Percival, a former closer now doing set-up work for the Dragons. 

Meanwhile, the Rolaids Reliever of the Year leaderboard hasn't changed much since July, with Hoboken's Jason Isringhausen still leading the pack after a fantastic month (1 W, 6 SV, 0 L, 0 BS) to pick up 2 RP on his closest challenger. Remember, it's 2 relief points for every win or save, and -1 point for a loss or blown save, and the pitcher with the most points wins the Eck Award.

Relief Points Standings (August 8, 2005)
Reliever	ERA	W	SV	L	BS	Pts
Isringhausen, HBK	2.59	7	29	4	6	62
B.Wagner, VAN	2.57	4	29	3	5	58
Lidge, ARK	3.06	6	26	1	5	58
Nathan, COL	2.70	2	28	6	4	50
Benitez, PHI	2.34	5	25	7	6	47

Isringhausen, who had a pretty good week (1 SV, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 K in 6.1 IP), also is now tied for the league lead in saves with 29, and is one of the five relievers with 7 vulture wins, tying him for 4th place in that category. He therefore has a shot at the Relief Triple Crown (Saves, Relief Wins and Relief Points) -- a coveted award I just made up!

Muddying the Waters

The Mighty Men would love to wrap up the No. 6 seed and get on with the playoffs, but the 7th-place Mudcats and Cutters are determined to make a race of it. This week, while Hoboken was getting plenty of help from pitchers Jaret Wright and Jason Isringhausen, the Mudcats were getting it done with the big bat of Jim Edmonds, who won his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award after hitting .400 (1.600 OPS) and leading the league in runs (10), runs batted in (14), home runs (6), extra base hits (9), runs created (16.3), isolated power (.700), total bases (33), secondary average (.867), AB/HR (5.0) and TB+BB+HBP (39). Edmonds got some protection in the lineup from Travis Hafner (.417, 1.434 OPS, 6 2B, 7 R). Edmonds has led the Mudcats to the playoffs in '01, '03 and '04, and also reached the post-season as a member of the Louisiana Lightning in '97 and '98. He says he's not ready to throw in the towel on the '05 season just yet. "We've got some of the best starting pitchers in the league, including the guy who won the Big Ben last year (Tim Hudson), K-Rod (Francisco Rodriguez) as our closer and a very potent lineup. Nobody is going to want to face us in a short series. If we can get there we can do a lot of damage." The Mudcats can help themselves into the playoffs, with eight games remaining against Philly, five against Vancouver and three against Honolulu.

This week's other top batters were Arkansas's B.J. Surhoff (.459, 1.163 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI); Columbia's Ivan Rodriguez (.444, 1.168 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI); Newark's Chipper Jones (.417, 1.434 OPS, 3 HR, 11 RBI); Stanhope's Brian Giles (.579, 1.772 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI); Tijuana's Erubiel Durazo (.394, 1.247 OPS, 3 HR, 7 R); Vancouver's David Ortiz (.308, 1.189 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI) and Westwood's Mark Kotsay (.429, 1.200 OPS, 4 2B, 7 RBI)... Even when he's hitting just .231, Arkansas's Barry Bonds still contributes: he drew 10 walks and slammed 3 home runs for a very impressive .447 OBP, .615 SLG... Newark's Carlos Guillen hit .556 (10-for-18) this week, driving up his batting average to .398. The shortstop is on pace to set an all-time record for highest batting average. The current mark is held by DMBL immortal Deion Sanders, who hit .384 in his amazing 1993 season with the Cheyenne Warhawks. Even if Guillen tails off over the last three weeks of the season, Guillen is almost a lock to beat the DMB Era (1997-present) record of .365, set by Arkansas's Frank Thomas in 1998.

Sweeney Is Swooning

Tijuana reached the post-season with a miraculous finish last year, but no divine intervention appears to be in the cards for the Banditos this season. With their season just about done, Mike Sweeney has decided to pack it in. "What's the point? Stick a fork in us. We're done," a dejected Sweeney sighed as Tijuana fell 14½ games out of the playoff race after a 4-4 week. Sweeney, who wasn't having a terrific season anyway (.269, .786 OPS), will likely be back with the Banditos next season. "It just wasn't our year. The Banditos will be back in '06!"... The Mudcats' Carlos Zambrano and Craig Biggio were sat this week as a precaution, but both are expected to be back in time for their big three-game series against Hoboken.

In other news this week, the Golden Falcons brought back Kevin Brown, released July 17 to make room for prospects in Triple-A. Brown was signed to a minor-league contract but will still be a free agent next year. "After the way they treated me here, you bet I'm going to test the waters," Brown said... Another former Golden Falcon, Sean Burroughs, was released by the Rat Pack after they activated Melvin Mora from the disabled list.

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.