Week Two (March 18, 2002)  

A Sweet Week for the Sugar Bears

The Newark Sugar Bears were unstoppable this week, ripping off seven straight wins to run their unbeaten streak to 11 in a row, and run their season record to 12-1. But the Crunch with Punch still have a ways to go for the all-time record for consecutive wins: 16, set by the 1993 Arkansas Falcons, and later tied by the 1996 Vancouver Iron Fist. The Brooklyn Bean Counters, on the strength of a 5-2 week, jumped from sixth to second, 4 1/2 games out and only a half-game up on the Hoboken Cutters, who went 4-2 to edge into third place tie with 3-3 Honolulu. At the bottom of the pile are Stanhope, Phoenix and Harrison, who are all within a half-game of each other for the worst record in baseball.

The surprising Tijuana Banditos held onto first place in the Morris Division for the second straight week, posting a 6-1 record. Arkansas, in third-place last week, edged up to second after going 6-2, 1 game behind. Vancouver opened the season strong, but a 2-5 week -- including a sweep at the hands of the Sugar Bears -- dropped them into third place, 4 games back and just a half-game up on the fourth place Wanaque Wolverines, who went 4-3 to climb out of sixth place. At the back of the pack, Philadelphia and Columbia are trying to right the ship after sluggish 2-5 starts, but the team in the biggest hole thus far are the Carolina Mudcats. A playoff team last year, the Mudcats opened the season at 5-3 -- but have dropped seven straight to fall to seventh.

Bonds, Barry Bonds

Arkansas's Barry Bonds rebounded from a slow start with a monsterous week, hitting .500 with a ridiculous 1.536 slugging percentage, for a robust 2.119 OPS in 8 games. He pounded out 14 hits in 28 at-bats -- and just one single, slamming 4 doubles, 2 triples and 7 homers, good for 14 R and 20 RBI and his first OmahaSteaks.com Player of the Week Award of 2002. On the season, he leads the league in OBP (.565), SLG (1.222), runs (20), RBIs (24), HRs (9), walks (15), runs created (30.8), total bases (55), etc., etc... In any other week, Honolulu's Jason Giambi would be feasting on free steak right now. Giambi hit .455 with a .480 OBP and 1.045 SLG, collecting 4 HR, 8 R and 11 RBI last week, and on the season, he's hitting .426 with a 1.436 OPS, 7 HR, 14 RBI and he has a hit in every one of the Sharks' games this season, the league's longest streak of the year at 13 straight... Harrison's Frank Catalanotto, who hit .403 with 17 runs scored in Spring Training, continues to rip it up. Catalanotto hit .515 with a 1.291 OPS in 8 games last week, smacking 5 doubles and scoring 7 runs. He leads the league with 25 hits and has an 8-game hitting streak. But teammate Mike Sweeney is even hotter, hitting .407 with a 1.356 OPS, with 3 HR, 9 R and 6 RBI.

Tijuana's offense Roberto Alomar and Mike Piazza have been the Cutters' top performers, with Piazza hitting .364 with 2 HR, 5 R and 5 RBI; Alomar hit .421 with 7 walks for a .577 OBP, slamming 2 doubles and a triple for 5 R, 2 RBI... Despite Bonds' prodigious output, Arkansas didn't score the most runs this week; that honor belongs to Tijuana, who scored 61 to the Falcons' 60. Their offensive leader wasn't Shannon Stewart (.444, 2 HR, 7 RBI), Vlad Guerrero (.444, 2 HR, 8 RBI) or Ellis Burks (.429, 1 HR, 8 RBI), but would you believe Scott Brosius (.474, 2 HR, 8 RBI), who posted a team-best .947 SLG and 1.471 OPS... Older and better: Edgar Martinez is 39 years old, but he still can whomp a baseball, hitting .344 with 2 HR, 6 R and 10 RBI, with an active 11-game hitting streak... Newark's top performer continues to be 2001 All-Star MVP Chipper Jones, who hit .387 with 4 HR, 10 R and 9 RBI, and on the season leads the Sugar Bears in HRs (6), runs (17) and RBIs (14)... Philly rookie Albert Pujols hit .471 with a 1.462 OPS, collecting 4 2B, 1 3B and 3 HR for 9 R and 9 RBI. But J.D. Drew smacked a team-high 5 HR and also collected 9 RBI, 8 R and 2 SB... Stanhope's Shawn Wooten held onto the league-lead in batting average (.436), hitting .414 (12-for-29), though with just one extra-base hit. But that's OK: The power comes from Tino Martinez (.440, 4 HR, 9 RBI) and Jermaine Dye (.353, 5 HR, 10 RBI).

K is for Kelvim

Hoboken reliever-turned-starter Kelvim Escobar (2-0, 1.35) had a masterful week, going 2-0 with just 1 earned run and 9 Ks in 14 IP to claim the ActionFigure Training Manual Pitcher of the Week. Escobar, who kept the Cutters in the game long enough in Week 1 to hand the Sugar Bears their only loss on the season thus far, blanked the Rattlesnakes for 7 innings but was lifted after the offense built an 11-0 lead. In his second start this week, he held the Wolverines to just 1 run on 3 hits... Arkansas's Roger Clemens (2-1, 2.28) and Curt Schilling (3-0, 2.16) won their starts this week, with Clemens posting a 0.53 ERA and 0.82 WHIP and throwing his first complete game of the season... Brooklyn's Dave Williams (0-1, 2.21) gave up 1 ER in two starts this week, but got two no-decisions to show for it. But teammate Joe Mays (2-1, 2.25) picked up two wins and posted a 1.80 ERA in his two starts... Tijuana rookie Bud Smith doesn't appear fazed by the level of competition in the DMBL. He's 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA this season, picking up two wins and 15 Ks in two games this week.

John Thomson (3-0, 1.88), a minor league journeyman who pitched his way into Newark's starting rotation with a strong spring training, is beginning to look like the real thing after picking up two more wins this week. He and Randy Johnson (3-0, 1.23) give the Sugar Bears the only team with two three-game winners. But they have to give props to closer Keith Foulke, who has rebounded in a big way after a shaky start. Foulke went 3-for-3 in saves this week, pitching 3 scoreless innings with 2 hits and no walks... Hoboken's bullpen was nearly flawless this week, with Jason Isringhausen (1-0, 2 SV, 2.25) and five other relievers combining for 16 innings without allowing an earned run.

Oh Say Can You... Duck!

Carolina catcher Sandy Alomar was himself star-spangled after a disastrous attempt to sing the National Anthem before Tuesday's game with Brooklyn. Alomar's awful performance coincided, unfortunately, with Aramis Ramirez Throwing Star Night. Alomar, who was upgraded from serious to fair at Raleigh-Durham General Hospital, is expected to return in about three weeks.

Tijuana's first-place run may come to an end due to a bizarre string of off-the-field incidents. First, starting pitcher Ramon Ortiz was arrested for an illegal left turn after a home game in Tijuana. He was beaten and sodomized by police and then thrown into prison for a week before being allowed to call his lawyer. "You have to put up with some of these inconveniences when you move a franchise to Tijuana," said GM Paul Barbosa. "But we're saving a ton of money on concession staff." The same day, 180-pound shortstop Edgar Renteria was walking out of a Subway when he ran into Jared Fogle. "Jared gave me a big thumbs up and said, 'Keep at it, you're getting there,'" said a mortified Renteria. He's since left the team for two weeks at a fat farm... Finally, reliever Danny Patterson was hypnotized into thinking he was a chicken at a comedy club, and promptly ran away onto a nearby farm. The farm's owner refuses to give him up, as Patterson is already his coop's most prodigious egg-layer.

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.