Week 2 - April 6, 2004

A Long Way 'Til Midnight

Three teams that the prognosticators predicted would be cellar-dwellers this season are still riding high atop the Diamond Mind Baseball League. The Vancouver Iron Fist won five out of seven games this week to climb into a first-place tie in the Morris Division with the Columbia Rattlesnakes, who won four out of seven; meanwhile, the Harrison Rats held onto the Hanover Division lead and first-place overall for a second straight week by going 5-3. Experts aren't willing to tear up their predictions just yet, however. "We're not even one-tenth of the way through the season yet, and already people are talking about Cinderella teams," said Daily Record sports columnist Heywood Jablowme, who predicted Columbia, Harrison and Vancouver would all lose 90+ games this season. "We're talking about glass slippers in April. The Fairy Godmother won't even start waving her wand until August."

This week's best performance goes to the Honolulu Sharks, who went 6-2 to jump from last overall to the middle of the pack... The Phoenix Dragons went 5-2 to improve their record to 7-3 -- the best winning percentage in baseball (.700), but they're technically a half-game behind Harrison for the best record because they have two less wins... The Newark Sugar Bears were the only other team in baseball to post a winning record this week, winning five out of eight... The Stanhope Mighty Men split their eight games this week to climb out of the basement... The Hoboken Cutters and Westwood Deductions each dropped five out of seven games this week to fall to the back of the pack in the Hanover.

Aside from Vancouver and Columbia, the rest of the Morris Division went .500 or worse for the week, and no other team in that division is above the break-even point. The Carolina Mudcats, who went 3-5, held onto third place, a half-game up on the Philadelphia Endzone Animals, who went 2-3... The Arkansas Golden Falcons and Tijuana Banditos each went 3-4, while the Hillsborough Destroyers had another brutal week (2-6) and now have the worst record in baseball.

After opening the season with nine out of their first 10 games on the road, the Dragons finally go back home to Phoenix for six out of eight games this week. Meanwhile, the team that's had the most home cooking so far this season -- the Cutters -- will complete a stretch that gave them 12 out of 15 games at home on Tuesday, then play seven of their next eight on the road... A lot of people expect the Rattlesnakes to come back to earth, but it may not happen this week. They have three games against 12th-place Tijuana, two against 13th-place Westwood and two against 14th-place Hillsborough.

The Wizard of Oswalt

Honolulu's Roy Oswalt pitched an absolute gem of a game this week -- a one-hit, one-walk, seven-strikeout shutout for a 1-0 win over Carolina -- and it came very close to being the best game in league history. Oswalt set down the first 20 batters in order, finally losing the perfecto with two outs in the seventh inning when Aubrey Huff broke it up with a clean single up the middle. Oswalt then walked Jim Edmonds before erasing Richie Sexson on a weak groundout. Oswalt then pitched a perfect eighth and ninth innings, closing it out with back-to-back strikeouts for a nail-biting 1-0 win. The brilliant performance earned Oswalt the Pick Michael Jackson's Nose Pitcher of the Week Award.

This was a week where lots of guys went the distance. Columbia's Livan Hernandez (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 9.5 R/9); Harrison's Jerome Williams (2-0, 3.50 ERA, 6.5 R/9); Honolulu's Russ Ortiz (1-1, 2.00 ERA, 7.0 R/9); and Vancouver's Brian Lawrence (2-0, 2.50 ERA, 11.0 R/9) all pitched complete games in both their starts this week. Tijuana's Javier Vazquez didn't get credit for two complete games, but he did pitch 18 brilliant innings in two starts, allowing no earned runs, 9 hits, 3 walks and striking out 17, and Hoboken's Joel Pineiro pitched 17 innings with a shutout (1.06 ERA, 9.5 R/9) in two starts. In the first 189 games played this season, there have been 34 complete games, or 19.1 percent; last year, only 12.6 percent of games were CGs. Pitching coaches aren't sure why starters are lasting longer, though they aren't discounting the use of illegal supplements.

Mariano Rivera took over the save lead by closing out three of Stanhope's four wins this week (3 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 1 BB), while Honolulu's Rafael Soriano picked up two holds in three perfect appearances. But this week's most efficient closer was Harrison's Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who faced two batters, retired both -- and recorded two saves.

The Other J-Lo

Phoenix catcher Javy Lopez had a monster week, hitting .448 (1.500 OPS) with 5 HR, 9 R and 9 RBI. Lopez led the league in home runs, runs scored, OPS, slugging percentage (1.000), runs created (14.8) and total bases (29) to win his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award for 2004. Teammate Ichiro Suzuki helped set the table for Lopez, hitting .424 (.457 OBP) with 6 R and 2 SB.

Other big weeks were turned in by Columbia's Troy Glaus (.238, 1.052 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and Luis Castillo (.467, 1.051 OPS, 5 RBI); Harrison's Gary Sheffield (.345, 1.183 OPS, 4 HR, 6 R, 7 RBI), who is riding an 11-game hitting streak, and Frank Thomas (.321, 1.139 OPS, 3 HR, 6 R, 7 RBI); Hillsborough's Alex Rodriguez (.379, 1.010 OPS, 2 HR, 7 R, 5 RBI, 2 SB); Vancouver's Edgar Martinez (.381, 1.310 OPS, 2 HR, 7 R, 5 RBI) and Jeff Kent (.464, 1.254 OPS, 4 2B, 8 R, 10 RBI); and Westwood's Carlos Beltran (.400, 1.140 OPS, 2 HR).

I Think It's Shuey

Reliever Paul Shuey and catcher Tom Wilson were both released by the Mudcats on Sunday as the team reshuffled its roster to deal with a flurry injuries. The 'Cats used the room to sign 2B Warren Morris and C Vance Wilson. Other transactions this week: Arkansas signs 2B Marlon Anderson and 1B Andres Galarraga; Stanhope signs RP Felix Heredia.

Coincidentally, both Shuey and Tom Wilson had been protected this off-season -- Shuey by Carolina, Wilson by Hoboken -- but now each finds himself on the waiver wire just two weeks into the season. Other "keepers" already discarded are Columbia RP Mike DeJean and Hoboken 3B Vinny Castilla; Arkansas RP Trevor Hoffman also was released after it was announced he will miss the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Schil-ling... Schil-ling...

Iron man Curt Schilling has pitched 200+ IP in every DMBL season except 2001, when he came up short by 1 1/3 innings. But that streak could end this season, as he will likely miss several starts after leaving Tuesday's game in Vancouver in the middle of the second inning. Schilling was clearly rattled when the fans packing the Irondome began to chant his name in a slow, taunting manner. The former Iron Fist ace said he had enjoyed hearing the mocking chant when it was directed against opposing players, but now that he's on the receiving end he just can't take it. "I can still hear it," Schilling whispered after the game. "It will haunt me forever." Schilling should be able to return to the mound once he finds a comfortable set of ear plugs...

And Ronnie Belliard's bout with depression has cost the Falcs another batter -- 1B John Olerud, who led an intervention to try to snap Belliard out of his funk. "Oly got up in Ronnie's grill and he was like, 'oh, iz'like dat," eye-witness Larry Walker later recounted. "And Ronnie was all 'no you din't!' and put his hand up in Oly's face and Oly went off." By the time Sean Burroughs and Keith Osik were able to pull the two apart, Olerud had been clunked on the head with a metal folding chair. "Good thing John always wears that batting helmet, or this could have been a much more serious injury," Walker said. Even so, he's likely to miss this week's games... Harrison hurler Vicente Padilla was told to go home and clear his mind after getting bombed in his first two outings (3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB). "He just has to trust his stuff," coach Pat Riley said. "He worries too much out there." But Padilla might be even more worried after the performance of his replacement in the rotation, Kyle Lohse (1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 4 K in 8.2 IP), who notched his first win as a Rat... Stanhope middle reliever Chad Fox is out indefinitely after filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against pitching coach Ron Guidry. "Louisiana Lightning is a baseball legend but I'm just not that kind of guy," said a tearful Fox at a press conference outside Stanhope Municipal Court. Fox's fourth DMBL season was off to a disastrous start (5 H, 4 BB, 8 ER in 1.2 IP) and he asked Guidry for some advice. But the Gator had other things in mind, Fox said. "He started making all these lewd comments, like how I needed to 'adjust my grip' and 'slow my delivery' and 'don't be afraid of the bat.' Then he asked me to show him how I 'hold the ball.' The guy's a real perv-o." Guidry could not be reached for comment.

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.