Week 8 - May 16, 2005

Animal Planet

Who's running this league, George Orwell? As in his classic Animal Farm, the beasts ruled the DMBL this week, after terrific weeks by the Falcons, Sharks, Rats, Snakes and that rarest of critters, the Endzone Animal. In fact, only one team whose mascot wasn't aboard Noah's Ark had a winning week!

The Arkansas Golden Falcons soared into first place overall after a perfect 8-0 week and are riding a DMBL-best 10-game winning streak. The Falcs started the week 1½ games out of the league's best record, but now have a 3-game lead on the Newark Sugar Bears, who had their first losing week (3-4) this season. The Sugar Bears are now as close to the league's best record as they are to the team behind them in the Hanover Division, the Honolulu Sharks, who cruised to a 5-3 record. The Sharks have been just devouring the competition over the last four weeks, going 21-8 over that stretch... The Philadelphia Endzone Animals kept pace with the Sharks, also winning five out of eight, to hang onto 2nd in the division, 4th in the league... Two teams moving in opposite directions are now tied for 5th place overall: The Carolina Mudcats, who went 2-5 and have lost 7 out of their last 10, and the Columbia Rattlesnakes, who went 4-4 and have won 8 out of their last 14... Tied in baseball purgatory -- 7th place -- are Vancouver Iron Fist and Las Vegas Rat Pack, who each went 5-3 to climb back to .500.

Among the teams with losing records, the only one that could even tread water this week was the Tijuana Banditos, who went 4-4 to move into a tie for the league's worst record with the Westwood Deductions, who went 3-5. Right ahead of them in the standings are two more teams with identical records, the Hillsborough Destroyers (3-4) and Phoenix Dragons (3-5)... The 9th-place Stanhope Mighty Men dropped to a game below .500 after dropping four out of seven, and are now 2½ games out of the playoff picture... The coldest team right now are the Hoboken Cutters (1-7), who who are riding a five-game losing streak and are now in 10th place. They were tied for 6th just two weeks ago!

The week ahead: Is it playoff time already? The division-leading Golden Falcons and Sugar Bears match up for a three-game series in Newark starting Saturday, while No. 4 seed Philly has tough match-ups against the teams bracketing them in the standings: two-game series Columbia and Carolina (tied for 5th) and three games against the third-place Sharks... The Rat Pack will look to scurry up the standings with an easy schedule this week: Two games with 10th-place Hoboken, two games with 13th-place Westwood and three games with 11th-place Hillsborough.

Good as Gold

Arkansas had an 8-0 week, despite its pitching staff posting a 5.38 ERA, 14.4 R/9. No surprise, then, that they scored an astonishing 8.6 runs per game -- and led the league in runs (69), home runs (15), batting average (.364), OPS (1.018) and runs created (76.6)! But which Golden Falcon should get the honor as this week's top batter: Adrian Beltre (.289, .977 OPS, 5 HR, 15 RBI), Lance Berkman (.407, 1.299 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI), Barry Larkin (.500, 1.098 OPS, 6 R), John Mabry (.412, 1.138 OPS, 3 HR, 10 R, 11 RBI) or B.J. Surhoff (.348, 1.071 OPS, 3 2B)? Well, when in doubt, send the steaks to Barry Bonds. The reigning Mitchell Award winner scored a DMBL-leading 11 runs, thanks to his 15 walks (.590 OBP) against just 3 strikeouts, helping him generate a league-leading .826 secondary average. Bonds's 15 walks also led the league -- almost twice as many as second place (8). When opposing pitchers did dare to pitch to him, Bonds rapped out eight hits (4 2B), knocking in four RBIs. Bonds's presence elevates everybody else in the lineup, as evidenced by this week's tremendous top-to-bottom performance by the Golden Falcons, and thus earns him his first OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award of the 2005 season.

In any other week, Columbia's Ben Broussard would have easily claimed the BotW prize. Broussard led the league in batting average (.556), on-base percentage (.613), slugging percentage (.926), OPS (1.539), runs created (16.0) and total average (2.417), but when Sir Barry calls for steaks, you deliver them!

This week's other top performances: Hillsborough's Adam Dunn (.400, 1.188 OPS, 3 HR, 6 RBI) and Alex Rodriguez (.464, 1.179 OPS, 1 HR, 8 R); Hoboken's Dmitri Young (.333, 1.260 OPS, 4 HR, 5 RBI); Honolulu's Sean Casey (.400, 1.386 OPS, 3 HR, 8 R); Las Vegas's Melvin Mora (.444, 1.237 OPS, 3 HR, 8 RBI); Newark's Manny Ramirez (.321, 1.089 OPS, 3 HR, 12 RBI); Philly's J.D. Drew (.448, 1.136 OPS, 8 R); Phoenix's Nomar Garciaparra (.379, 1.024 OPS, 4 2B, 5 RBI); Stanhope's Gary Sheffield (.346, 1.049 OPS, 1 HR, 7 RBI); Tijuana's Erubiel Durazo (.441, 1.075 OPS, 3 2B, 7 RBI) and Vancouver's Lyle Overbay (.419, 1.035 OPS, 4 2B, 7 R).

Carolina's Khalil Greene (.370, 1.097 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI), Columbia's Chone Figgins (.370, .500 OBP, 6 R, 2 SB), Hillsborough's Termel Sledge (.478, 1.263 OPS, 2 HR, 7 RBI) and Tijuana's Lew Ford (.364, .978 OPS, 2 3B, 9 R) all had terrific weeks. But which of these freshmen batters can be considered a leading candidate for the coveted Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award? Read all about it in this week's Rookie Watch With Phil Plantier!

All is Wells

OK, so he's 42 years old. He's injury prone. And he might have a bit of a weight problem. But when he's on, Phoenix's David Wells is still one of the league's elite left-handed pitchers. This week, the Dragons won just three games -- two of them by Boomer. Wells allowed just 2 earned runs (1.06 ERA) and 11 hits and 2 walks (6.9 R/9) in 17.0 IP this week. Wells's two heavy-duty performances were enough to earn him the Brian's Belly Heavyweight Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Week Award.

This week's other top performances by starters: Columbia's Tom Glavine (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 13.2 R/9, 5 BB, 2 K in 15.0 IP); Las Vegas's Kelvim Escobar (2-0, 3.94 ERA, 10.7 R/9, 4 BB, 20 K in 16.0 IP); Newark's Randy Johnson (1-0, 1.13 ERA, 5.6 R/9, 0 BB, 10 K in 8.0 IP); Philly's Mark Prior (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 11.1 R/9, 6 BB, 16 K in 13.0 IP) and Johan Santana (1-0, 1.13 ERA, 3.4 R/9, 0 BB, 9 K in 8.0 IP); Tijuana's Dontrelle Willis (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 13.2 R/9, 5 BB, 13 K in 15.0 IP); Vancouver's Oliver Perez (2-0, 3.07 ERA, 10.4 R/9, 4 BB, 20 K in 14.2 IP) and Greg Maddux (1-0, 1.00 ERA, 7.0 R/9, 1 BB, 9 K in 18.0 IP); Westwood's Rodrigo Lopez (1-0, 0.56 ERA, 7.3 R/9, 5 BB, 9 K in 16.0 IP).

Baseball can be a cruel game. Philly's Armando Benitez picked up a win and three saves in five appearances despite giving up 4 hits and 5 walks in 5.1 IP; on the other hand, Phoenix's Rafael Betancourt didn't get a win or a save despite yielding just one unearned run, two hits, no walks and eight strikeouts in 6.1 IP... This week's other top relief efforts: Honolulu's Danny Kolb (4 SV, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K in 4.2 IP); Las Vegas's Mike Gonzalez (1 W, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 K in 5.1 IP) and Stanhope's John Parrish (1 W, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K in 4.1 IP).

Arkansas's Roger Clemens needed to win both his starts this week to become the first pitcher with double-digit victories. It wasn't pretty (5.79 ERA, 14.1 R/9 in 14.0 IP) but he got the job done... Arkansas's Brad Penny looked awful in his two starts (11 ER, 19 H, 2 BB, 3 K in 11.0 IP) and pitching coach... Speaking of awful, Tijuana's Josh Beckett picked up another loss and a no-decision this week, and is now 0-8 in 12 starts (7.79 ERA, 16.1 R/9). That means he's tied Kevin Appier's 14-year-old league record for most losses without a win. Appier went 0-8 in 11 starts for Austin and Arkansas in 1991; others have lost more games in a season (the record is 21), but they also won at least one game! Las Vegas's Brandon Webb (0-7, 12 starts) and Hillsborough's Erik Bedard (0-6, 12 starts) also have a shot at breaking this most inglorious of records.

Break out the No-Doz!

The longest game of the year was played on Saturday afternoon, when Arkansas edged Hoboken, 9-8, in 14 innings. A couple hours later, an even longer game was played -- long enough, in fact, to break the league record for longest regular-season game as Westwood overcame Vancouver in 20 innings, 4-1! (That's two whole baseball games, plus two additional innings.)

With the score tied 1-1 since the 5th inning, Westwood finally won it with a two-out rally in the top of the 20th off Billy Wagner (in his fourth inning of relief). Derrek Lee doubled, scampered to third on a wild pitch, then scored the go-ahead run on a clutch single by Eric Valent. Mark Bellhorn then iced the contest with a two-run home run. Westwood's sixth pitcher of the night, Frank Francisco, breezed through a 1-2-3 20th to close it out.
The two teams combined for 153 plate appearances, 559 pitches, 32 strikeouts, 11 pitchers, 27 hits, five double plays and 28 men left on base.

2005's Longest Games (as of May 15)
Date	Inn	Winner	Loser
Saturday	20	Westwood 4	Vancouver 1
Saturday	14	Arkansas 9	Hoboken 8
May 9	13	Phoenix 9	Hillsboro 5
May 5	13	Newark 1	Westwood 0
April 22	13	Columbia 9	Honolulu 5
April 12	13	Newark 13	Hoboken 11

This week also saw the year's highest-scoring contest to date, a 31-run battle royale between Newark and Hillsborough. The Destroyers got out to a 3-0 lead, then Newark came back with six in the top of the 2nd; Hillsborough tied it up with one in the 2nd and two in the 3rd, only to see Newark go ahead by four in the top of the 4th. But then the Destroyers kicked it into high gear, scoring one in the 4th, three in the sixth, three in the 7th and six in the 8th to complete the 19-12 blow-out. The two teams combined for 40 hits (28 by Hillsborough), three errors (all by Newark) and six home runs. Manny Ramirez had two homers, a double and seven RBIs for Newark, while Orlando Cabrera went 4-for-6 with a home run and five RBIs for Hillsborough. It's no surprise that Newark, the league's leading offense, and Hillsborough, ranked third, come ready to rumble when they match up: So far this season, they've played eight games and combined for 153 runs -- a little over 19 runs per game! 

Nick is Sick

Newark's Nick Johnson is having a dream season in limited duty, hitting .453 (24-for-53) with a .547 OBP and .698 SLG for the Sugar Bears. But someone in the front office thinks he might be having a little too good of a season. "Barry Bonds puts up numbers like that and you say, OK, that's Barry," a source in the commissioner's office said. "But c'mon, this guy? Didn't he play Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket?" (Actually, that was Vincent D'Onofrio, who is hitting .368 for Triple-A Dublin.)  The Commissioner's Office has ordered extensive drug testing for Johnson and an audit of Newark's batting statistics for the first third of the season. "The Sugar Bears lead the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, walks, runs created, isolated power, total average, total bases and OPS," league auditor Arthur Andersen explained. "It's statistically impossible. We think, quite frankly, someone is cooking the books, and that someone is probably Mr. Johnson. And, also, we are going to try to figure out what his real name is." The results of the probe should be available sometime in July, Andersen said... Vancouver's Brandon Inge will miss a few games due to dental problems... Carolina's Aramis Ramirez is out for two weeks after getting bit by a raccoon while taking out his garbage... Speaking of bad luck, Las Vegas's Orlando Hernandez spent all of Friday the 13th avoiding mirrors, black cats and ladders, but still got hit with bad mojo: He cut his index finger on his lucky rabbit's foot and will have to miss his next start. 

Comings and goings: The Mudcats cut IF Marco Scutaro and signed SP Mark Redman... Hillsborough shuffled up the pitching staff, dropping Victor Zambrano and Ryan Wagner and adding Cliff Lee and Arthur Rhodes... The well-traveled Rafael Palmeiro caught on with his third team of the season, joining the Rat Pack after previous stints with Tijuana and Arkansas. Las Vegas made room by cutting Matt Stairs... Vancouver released RP Brian Shouse... Newark GM Butch Garretson did his best Big Stein impression, blaming this week's 19-12 loss to Hillsborough solely on reliever Scott Eyre (3 H, 2 ER in 0.2 IP) and handing him his walking papers. The team replaced him in the 'pen with Mike Remlinger and also optioned Kevin Millwood to Triple-A after passing him through waivers.

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.