April 7, 2003  

Flying High

The Arkansas Golden Falcons soared into first place after winning six of their eight games this week. The Golden Falcons, after opening the season at 3-5, have won 10 of their last 12, including a seven-game winning streak... The Vancouver Iron Fist dropped a half-game behind after a 4-2 week... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals fell to .500 after losing three out of five games this week. The Animals have allowed a league-fewest 52 runs, but they've scored just 73, the second-worst offense in baseball... The Carolina Mudcats went 3-3 for their third-straight weekly split, while the Columbia Rattlesnakes dropped to 9-11 after a 3-4 week... The Hillsborough Destroyers climbed out of last place after taking four out of six this week. They've won three in a row... The Tijuana Banditos keep riding the rollercoaster. After opening the season with a four-game losing streak, they rebounded with a four-game winning streak -- only to drop their next three straight. They opened the week with a thrilling 2-0 win, but then lost their next seven straight to fall to 5-14 and the worst record in baseball.

The Newark Sugar Bears held onto first place in the Enron Division (and the best record in baseball) despite a 3-3 week and the end of their winning streak at a season-high nine games... Just a half-game back sit the Stanhope Mighty Men, who won four out of seven... The Phoenix Dragons went 5-2 to even their record at .500 and claim a third-place tie with the Brooklyn Bean Counters, who had a big 12-2 win over Newark on Sunday. The Beaners have won eight out of their last 12... The Honolulu Sharks recovered from a five-game losing streak in Week 2 to win four out of seven and move up a rung in the standings... The Harrison Rats have scurried into the league's basement after a surprising 5-0 start. The Rats lost seven out of eight games this week, including a six-game losing streak they managed to snap Sunday with a 4-2 win over the Dragons... It looks like the Hoboken Cutters have finally righted the ship after their first winning week (3-2) and their first victory against a division opponent with a 6-4 extra-inning win over Stanhope on Saturday.

Mighty Matt

Stanhope's Matt Clement had a week for the ages, dominating opposing batters by throwing two complete-game shutouts -- giving up just 3 walks and 8 hits against 17 Ks in his 18 innings of work. His messiah-like performance earned him the Rapture Index.com Pitcher of the Week Award... Three other hurlers threw shutouts in their only starts this week: Arkansas's Curt Schilling (2 H, 0 BB, 12 K); Honolulu's Russ Ortiz (4 H, 0 BB, 5 K); and Hillsborough's Bartolo Colon (2 H, 1 BB, 8 K)... The only other pitcher to win two games this week was Arkansas's Roger Clemens, posted a 3.07 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 17 K in 14.2 IP... Newark's John Smoltz and Vancouver's Billy Wagner each picked up two saves in two scoreless appearances this week to move into a four-way tie for the league lead in saves, with five. Carolina's Jose Mesa also notched his fifth save in his only appearance, while Stanhope's Mariano Rivera picked up two saves but also was handed the blown save and the loss after failing to shut the door on Hoboken in Saturday night's game... Tom Glavine threw a two-hit, two-walk, eight-inning shutout to win Harrison's second game of the season. Since then, the southpaw has been getting pounded, going 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA, 1.58 WHIP in four starts. He went 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA, 2.85 ERA and lasted just 6.2 IP in two starts.

Better Than Barry?

It's not like Barry Bonds forgot how to hit over the winter. Bonds once again struck terror into the hearts of opposing pitchers, leading the league in batting average (.520), on-base percentage (.667), walks (10) and runs created (16.1), and slamming five doubles and a home run for 7 R, 7 RBI. But once again, the fearsome Falcon takes a backseat to a first baseman from the Enron Division as Honolulu's Jason Giambi wins the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award. Jason hit an even .500 (12-for-24) and led the league in slugging percentage (.958), OPS (1.525), and tied for the league lead in HRs with 3. He also finished second in batting average and on-base percentage (.567), and drove in 10 runs while scoring six times... John Olerud (.486, 1.200 OPS, 4 2B, 9 R) and Larry Walker (.400, 1.190 OPS, 2 HR, 12 R) also racked up big numbers as Arkansas scored a league-high 52 runs... Brooklyn's Timo Perez did some damage in just 15 ABs last week, hitting .400 with a .867 slugging percentage (2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run) for 5 R, 8 RBI, while Philly's Vernon Wells hit 3 HRs in 9 ABs. But Hoboken's Marquis Grissom led his team in HRs (3), triples (2) and runs (6) and was second in hits (7) despite only playing in three games. Grissom hit .538 with an astounding 1.615 slugging percentage, and smacked the game-winning, two-run home run off Mariano Rivera to beat Stanhope on Saturday night... Newark's Jim Thome still hasn't cooled off, smacking another three home runs and driving in six RBIs while posting a 1.351 OPS.

End of the Journey?

Back in 1991, when Ron Gant had an impressive debut season (.309, .921 OPS, 26 HR, 85 RBI, 13 SB in 456 AB) after being picked 19th overall by Arkansas in the inaugural Diamond Mind Baseball draft, few prognosticators would have doubted that he'd still be in the big leagues 12 years later. But what a long and strange trip it's been for Gant, who would never again see even half that many at-bats in a single season. The former Golden Falcon, Seahawk, Dragon, Cutter and Gambler spent spring training with the Sugar Bears for his third tour of duty in Newark, but once again a starting job eluded him and he was optioned to Triple-A Dublin. This week, the Lucky Charms gave the 38-year-old outfielder his walking papers in order to make room on the 40-man roster for former Hoboken phenom Brandon Duckworth. Gant insists he's not done yet, but if it is the end of the road for the journeyman, it will leave just two players still active who were drafted ahead of him in the '91 draft: Roger Clemens, drafted No. 2 by the Austin Outlaws, and Ruben Sierra, picked 18th by the Iron Fist. Of the 150 players selected in the 1991 draft, 25 are still playing today.

I Got the Fever

It was a feverish week in Diamond Mind Baseball as players started dropping like flies from an unexplained illness that swept through clubhouses and then just as suddenly faded away. The first to fall victim was Phoenix's Luis Gonzalez, who missed most of this week's games after being struck down with the burning fever. Two days later, the epidemic claimed four more victims as Tijuana's Justin Speier and Columbia's Kevin Appier were afflicted with the more tenacious strains of the disease and will likely miss two-to-three weeks. Brooklyn's Kyle Lohse and Rafael Palmeiro also got a touch of the fever but have already been cleared to resume playing. The mysterious illness did prove to be lucky breaks for Dennis Cook, who was signed by Tijuana, and Robert Person, inked by Columbia.

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.