March 24, 2003  

And We're Off!

The 2003 season is officially underway! The first week had some impressive performances and some surprising upsets. Jumping out to an early lead in the Morris were the 2001 division champion Vancouver Iron Fist, riding a 3-0 start to a 5-1 record. The Philadelphia Endzone Animals edge out the rest of the field to claim second place with a 3-2 record. The Carolina Mudcats and Columbia Rattlesnakes are tied for third after each split this week's games, 3-3. Last year's record-setters, the Arkansas Golden Falons crawled to a 2-3 start. The Hillsborough Destroyers -- back home after spending the last two seasons in Wanaque and Vatican City -- stumbled out of the gate with a 1-3 start, while the Tijuana Banditos dropped all four games in the opening week.

In the Enron Division, aka Hanover, two of last year's worst teams sit atop the standings. The last-place Harrison Rats are now enjoying the view from the top after winning five of their first six, riding alongside last year's 10th-place finisher, the Stanhope Mighty Men, who also went 5-1 after ending the week on a four-game winning streak. The two-time defending World Series champions, the Newark Sugar Bears, are in a tie for third after going .500 in Week 1, sharing the spot with the Honolulu Sharks. Right behind them are the Hoboken Cutters and Phoenix Dragons, who each both dropped three of their first five games. Trailing the herd are the Brooklyn Bean Counters, looking to recover from a 1-5 start.

The Thome-nator

Newark's big first baseman, Jim Thome, had a huge Opening Day, going 4-for-4 with three home runs for eight RBI. He kept it going through the rest of the week, hitting .500 (9-18) and leading the league in slugging percentage (1.611), runs (9), RBIs (13), home runs (6), total bases (29) and runs created (20.2) to claim the OmahaSteaks.com Batter of the Week Award... Picking up where he left off, Barry Bonds went 9-for-16 (.563) with 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, 6 BBs and 1 SB, for a 1.869 OPS... Harrison's Alex Sanchez not only led the league in stolen bases (6-for-6), but also hit .462 (12-26)... Philly's Randall Simon went 10-15 (.667) with a league-leading .706 OBP, plus 4 doubles and 2 homers... Brooklyn shortstop Chris Woodward hit .381 (8-21) with a league-leading three triples, plus two homers for a .952 slugging percentage... Vancouver's Jeff Kent hit .364 with a 1.416 OPS, slamming four homeruns for 5 R, 7 RBI... Derek Jeter helped spark Stanhope's 5-1 week, hitting .429 with a .996 OPS with 6 R, 5 RBI and 4 SB... Bret Boone did all he could to try and nail down a win for the Banditos, going 7-for-17 (.412) for 9 RBI. Six of his seven hits were for extra bases -- three doubles and three homers.

Knuckle Sandwich

Stanhope's Tim Wakefield pitched brilliantly in his two starts, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP, with an astounding 13:1 K:BB ratio. In his first start, he struck out 10 and gave up just six hits, no walks and one run in seven innings; but he came up even bigger Sunday, throwing a complete-game, four-hit gem against Harrison to knot a first-place tie and claim the Operation Iraqi Freedom Pitcher of the Week Award... Arkansas's closer, Byung Hyun Kim, picked up a win and a save in two perfect appearances, striking out three without allowing a hit, walk or run... Phoenix set-up man Jeff Nelson notched two saves without allowing an earned run, striking out 7 in 4.1 IP... Columbia rookie Mike Koplove also looked sharp in middle relief, yielding no runs and a 0.40 WHIP in three appearances, while another rookie, Philadelphia's Mark Prior, dominated the mighty Sugar Bears' offense, fanning 15 while giving up 3 hits and 2 walks over 6.2 innings to claim his first major league win.

Waiver-Go-Round

There weren't any trades this week, but several players changed uniforms via the waiver-wire route. Newark claimed Dave Roberts from Carolina, releasing shortstop Jack Wilson, who in turn was grabbed by Brooklyn -- making room by releasing another former Sugar Bear, Ricky Gutierrez. Hoboken gave up on OF Dustin Mohr to claim Grant Roberts from the Mudcats. More comings and goings include Philly grabbing Russ Branyan and releasing Mike Cameron; Tijuana dumping Raul Mondesi for Guillermo Mota; and Hoboken signing Steve Kline and releasing Mark Redman.

Melting Maddux

Vancouver's Greg Maddux (1-0, 0.60 ERA, 0.60 WHIP) threw a five-hit shutout on Opening Day, then looked great in his second start, giving up four hits, one run and no walks in six innings before an unfortunate incident with the clubhouse ice machine that could cost him three starts... Also out for at least three games is Columbia's Pedro Astacio, who is facing a 15-day suspension after being caught playing "hide the bat" with Casey Fossum and Robert Fick. The two young players were so traumatized that they may miss a few games as well... It's not looking like a banner season for Hoboken's Ben Davis, who left Sunday's game against Vancouver after complaining of flu-like symptoms. Hoping to make it back for the nightcap against Newark, Davis overdid it a little with the Robitussin. Doctors hope he'll wake up in about a month... Jeff Weaver loved the slow pace in suburban Wanaque, but he's having trouble adjusting to Hillsborough's more urban environment. He says he's so nervous about walking to the ballpark after dark that he won't pitch in night games anymore. Unfortunately, the Destroyers' next day game isn't scheduled until next month.

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.