2003 PLAYER / PITCHER OF THE WEEK #22
| NAME | TEAM | AVG | SLG | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | K | W | IW | SB | CS | HBP |
| OLERUD,John | CBL AL | .400 | .680 | 5 | 25 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NAME | CLUB | G | W | L | S | ERA | IP | R | ER | H | K | BB | IBB | WP | BK | HB | HR |
| MADDUX,Greg | DEW AL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| NAME | TEAM | AVG | SLG | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | K | W | IW | SB | CS | HBP |
| LOPEZ,Javy | FNA NL | .520 | 1.360 | 6 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NAME | CLUB | G | W | L | S | ERA | IP | R | ER | H | K | BB | IBB | WP | BK | HB | HR |
| MULDER,Mark | HLW NL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.12 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Corktown Bootleggers @ Dondero Oaks |
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| Series Preview: | Corktown faces Dondero for 6. |
| Series Summary: | Quick summary since I’m on the road still. Corktown takes 5 games and there was 1 rainout. 2 games went 17 innings, but Corktown had no issues with the Oaks. |
Chicago Demolition @ Fort Worth Panthers |
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| Series Preview: | The Panthers come into this series in 1st place in the AL West and their magic number now stands at 21. On the league leader boards they’re first in batting average at .281, on top in homers with 181, first in runs, first in slugging, second in steals with 101, second best in on base percentage, and 3rd in ERA at 3.30. Ft Worth is 43-10 at home.
Chicago comes into this series hot with 7 straight wins and joins the Panthers and the Southlake Stealers for home field advantage in the playoffs discussion. Only two games separate the three teams. The Demolition come to Ft. Worth with MWWL’s best road record at 42 and 16. On the league leader boards they’re 6th in batting at .251, 3rd in homers with 164, 3rd in runs scored, 3rd in on base percentage, and number two in ERA at 2.98. They’re in 2nd place two games behind Southlake in the AL Central. |
| Game #1: | Hideo Nomo pitches a CG shutout allowing 5 hits with 6 punch outs. Gary Sheffield’s solo homer in the 4th provided the offense.
Final Score FWP 1, CHI 0 H. Nomo, W, 17-3 |
| Game #2: | The Panthers offense roared in this one starting with backup catcher Adam Melhuse’s three run jimmy jack in the first and by scoring a “touchdown” in the 6th.
Final Score FWP 13, CHI 5 G. Roberts, W, 3-0 |
| Game #3: | This time the Chicago hitters did the damage, scoring 9 runs helped by two 3-run homers (Charles Johnson and Phil Nevin). Edgar Martinez, who didn’t start the first two games of the series hit a grand slam for Ft. Worth.
Final Score CHI 9, FWP 4 J. Seo, W, 10-5 |
| Game #4: | C.C. Sabathia pitched a CG 2 hit shutout striking out 4. Jose Reyes and Gary Sheffield provided most of the offense with two homers.
Final Score FWP 4, CHI 0 C. Sabathia, W, 17-6 |
| Game #5: | Ft. Worth overcame the 1 run Chicago scored in the top of the first by plating 4 of their own in the bottom of the first. (I just realized looking at the box score the Panthers pitched a combined no hitter! Had I been paying attention I would not have taken Brown out. After a CG in game 4 I wanted to get my relievers some work.) The Demolition scored their runs on a sac fly and an error. Carl Crawford went 4 for 5 to lead the Panther attack.
Final Score FWP 9, CHI 2 K. Brown, W, 16-3 |
| Game #6: | Pedro Martinez won the pitching duel this time as Carlos Delgado homered in the 9th to give him the victory.
Final Score CHI 1, FWP 0 P. Martinez, W, 16-7 |
| Series Summary: | Ft. Worth takes the series 4 games to 2. Long time Panther first baseman, Fred McGriff hit 4 doubles in the series to surpass 450 career doubles.
Next week Chicago goes into a tough division matchup against Southlake while Ft. Worth hopes to make up ground in the homefield advantage battle against California at home. |
Danbury Mad Hatters @ Winnipeg Goldeyes |
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| Series Preview: | Battle of the two worst teams in the A.L.. |
| Series Summary: | Winnipeg bats woke up and as a result they won 5 of the 6 games vs Danbury. By far their best series of the year. Monster series for SS Alex gonzales with 9 rbis 11 for 27 with 5 doubles and 5 homers! |
Manhattan Gas Hornets @ Hollywood Vampires |
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| Series Summary: | Hollywood takes 4 of 6. It should have been 5 of 6 but Isringhausen blew only his 2nd save of the year. |
California Quakes @ Southlake Stealers |
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| Series Preview: | Southlake, first in the AL, hosts last place California. Southlake is looking for a sweep to keep in front of the AL in what is a tight battle for the number one seed. Meanwhile, California looks to the future. They have the building blocks in place with Teixeira and a high draft pick this offseason. They would like nothing more than to play spoiler for the Stealers and their playoff dreams. |
| Game #1: | Sidney Ponson has been outstanding since coming over to Southlake in a mid-season trade. He has been nearly perfect some would say. Today for sure he was nearly perfect. He goes 9 full innings giving up just a lead off single to Castillo in the 7th inning as he faced just 28 batters in a 5-0 Southlake victory.
Blalock and Diaz both go yard to provide all the offensive Southlake would need in this one. Final Score: Southlake 5-0 |
| Game #2: | Mark Prior was roughed up in his last start, but the offense bailed him out. He hopes to get back on track in his bid for the Cy Young this season. Morgan Ensberg decided the Cy Young will have to wait. He hit two run bombs in both the first and third innings and made an early exit on the day for Prior who only went 3 1/3 innings.
The offense bailed Prior out once again by plating 6 runs in the 7th inning. The big blast coming from Rondell White’s 3 run homer. Ensberg wasn’t satisfied with just two home runs, so he made the game interesting adding a solo shot in the 9th to make it a one run game, before Hasegawa would secure the last out for his 4th save of the season. Final: Southlake 7-6 |
| Game #3: | The Stealers’ other mid-season acquisition Wade Miller who has gone 6-1 since joining Southlake hopes to continue his domination on the mound. This time Teixiera greeted Miller with a two-run shot in in the opening frame. But over the next six innings Miller would yield just one more single, being masterful yet again for the Stealers.
Final Score: Southlake 6-2 WP: Miller (9-6) |
| Game #4: | The Stealers go back to their Pitching Chaos approach which they used most of the first half of the season. Tejera got the nod and went the first two innings. The bullpen then went the next 7 innings yielding just one run in the 7th inning.
California starter Moss looked like that one run would be enough as he was incredible on the mound. Unfortunately, he ran out of gas late and gave up a two run shot to Nomar in the 8th followed by a solo shot from Blalock. Final Score: Southlake 3-1 |
| Game #5: | Pitching Chaos worked so well in yesterday’s match up Southlake returned to the approach. Tejera gets the ball to start the game for the second day in a row. This time he goes into the 4th inning giving up no runs.
Koplove and Mota are untouchable out of the pen to follow up Tejera’s efforts. Meanwhile, Nomar would provide the offense going 2/4 with two runs scored, three RBIs and adding a homerun to this season total. California would touch up Smoltz in the 9th to keep from being shut out, but Leskanic would get the final two outs to shut the door. Final: Stealers 7-2 |
| Game #6: | The Stealers look for the sweep and call upon their second half of the season ace Sydney Ponson to get it for them. Ponson was not sharp giving up 4 runs (3 ER) on 7 hits across 7 innings, but he was poised to get the win taking a 5-4 lead into the 8th.
However, a Mark Teixiera solo shot in the 8th inning tied the game for the Quake. It would stay tied until the bottom of the 10th when Robin Ventura would blast a two run shot over the rightfield wall to give the Stealers the win. Final 7-5 WP: Hasegawa (5-1) |
| Series Summary: | Good teams take care of business against lesser teams. The Stealers did just that in taking all 6 from California. The Stealers pitching limited the Quake to two runs or less in 4 of the 6 games, as they extend their lead over Chicago to 6 games in the AL Central.
Southlake will host Chicago for a 6 game series next week which will go a long way in determining who will win the AL Central this year. |
Hampton Huskies @ Blarney Drive Bandits |
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| Series Summary: | Huskies take 4 of 6 on the help of some late inning surges. |
Long Beach Titans @ Michigan Marauders |
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| Series Preview: | First place Long Beach takes on first place Michigan. Note – Long Beach has a much better record. |
| Game #1: | Michigan is playing with a lot of injuries. They hang in there against Loaiza, but fall short. Vidro and Mondesi smash homers. Michigan gets one from Corey Patterson. Long Beach 3 Michigan 2 |
| Game #2: | Michigan gets a big 3 run homer by Aaron Boone in the 7th inning, which is big. May drops to 11-7 and Clement is now 9-7. Michigan 3 Long Beach 1 |
| Game #3: | Long Beach breaks out big. Nixon with a triple, homer and 4 RBI. Lee with a homer and 4 RBI. Franklin goes to 15-5. Long Beach 11 Michigan 2 |
| Game #4: | Mike Hampton goes to 15-10 and he throws 7 innings of scoreless ball. Trot Nixon with a homer for Long Beach and Vinny Castilla hits one for Michigan. Long Beach 3 Michigan 1 |
| Game #5: | Greg Myers hits a homer and Jake Peavy is effective as Long Beach takes another game. Castilla does hit another homer for Michigan. Long Beach 5 Michigan 2 |
| Game #6: | The Titans continue their winning ways as they score early and often off Livan Hernandez. Nixon and Buchanan hit homers. Loaiza wins his 16th. Long Beach 7 Michigan 2 |
| Series Summary: | Long Beach takes 5 of 6. The Titans get good pitching. Michigan struggles and has 4 players injured (2 at catcher). Good news is that Nick Johnson can come back. |
Iowa Giants @ Monroeville Maulers |
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| Series Summary: | Iowa takes the series 4 games to 2. |
Houghton Penguins @ Yucaipa Badgers |
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| Series Preview: | YUC making a run to go undefeated through the end of the year. |
| Game #1: | YUC 11-1 Fick Grand slam. |
| Game #2: | YUC 7-2 |
| Game #3: | YUC 4-3 |
| Game #4: | YUC 7-6 Fopperts ERA balloons to 8 but still picks up the win. |
| Game #5: | YUC 10-4 Bard 2 HR’s. |
| Game #6: | HOU 1-0 Lilly pitches a great game. |
| Series Summary: | YUC only 13 games out of the WC playoffs, ready to roll. |
DeWitt Tigers @ Castle Rock Hounds |
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| Series Preview: | In a crucial series for the wildcard-seeking Hounds, the Tigers come to town. |
| Game #1: | Dewitt strikes first blood taking the game by a 6-1 margin. Greg Maddux is effective on the mound, tossing a complete game for the Tigers and Dewitt scatters 9 hits to win it.
WP: Maddux (11-8) |
| Game #2: | Things are looking bleak for the Hounds, as they trail 5-0 going into the bottom of the 7th, but they are able to plate 6 runs that inning, keyed by a bases loaded triple by Luis Gonzalez. But, Dewitt comes storming back, with homers from Andruw Jones and Beltre off of Armando Benitez to take the 7-6 lead. The Hounds are still hungry, though, as Sweeney delivers a clutch 2-out double to score Clayton from first in the bottom of the 8th to tie it at 7-7.
In the top of the 9th, Contreras walks the first two batters he faces, but manages to get Sosa, Jones and Lee in order to squelch the rally. And, in the bottom of the 9th, Bonds smacks a leadoff walkoff homer to give Castle Rock the 8-7 victory. WP: Contreras (5-5) |
| Game #3: | When it rains it pours for the Hounds offense, as they light up the Dewitt staff in this one, with 13 runs on 15 hits and 7 walks. Wilkerson has two homers and Bonds, Gonzalez and Sweeney add home runs of their own. Pineiro delivers a quality start when needed.
WP: Pineiro (14-9) |
| Game #4: | The Hounds can only manage one run off of Dewitt’s starter Ryan Dempster, a solo homer by Luis Gonzalez. But, that is enough to win 1-0 because Andy Pettitte goes for a complete game 2-hit shutout.
WP: Pettitte (13-6) |
| Game #5: | Dewitt takes advantage of sloppy Hounds fielding and go off for 9 runs on 12 hits to win 9-2. Spiezio and Pena go deep, although Carlos is lost for 6 days. Colon gets a quality start.
WP: Colon (8-10) |
| Game #6: | Dewitt unloads on Lohse, plating 13 runs in the first 3 innings. Both teams pad their offensive stats in this one, as it is never close and the Tigers win 19-10. Andruw Jones, Beltre and Travis Lee all have homers and four RBI on the day, while Fernando Vina goes 4-5 with 4 runs scored.
WP: Maddux (12-8) |
| Series Summary: | The Hounds and Tigers split the series 3-3. |
Flora-Bama Mullets @ Valdosta Bombers |
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| Series Preview: | Flora-Bama crosses the border too take on Valdosta. |
| Series Summary: | Bombers homered 2x in the entire series. Javy Lopez hit 5 HR’s and knocked in 17 runs. Mullets sweep! |
Baltimore Blue Crabs @ Gladstone Gladiators |
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| Game #1: | Low scoring affair, with the Gladiators taking the lead in the 3rd, while Baltimore got to Betancourt and cost him the save in the top of the 9th. He went another inning, since the bullpen was mostly used up, then Francisco Rodriguez came on for Gladstone in the 11th and 12th. The Gladiators prevailed in the bottom of the 12th, saving themselves the embarrassment of having Rodriguez run out of gas in extras. FINAL SCORE: GLA 2 – BAL 1 |
| Game #2: | The Blue Crabs came out loaded for bear, notching 9 runs in the 2nd inning. With the Gladstone bullpen depleted from Game 1, Mike Maroth was forced to eat 6 innings’ worth of embarrassment and gave up 18 runs (15 earned) before Brandon Backe got the ball for the remaining 3. FINAL SCORE: BAL 18 – GLA 2 |
| Game #3: | The lead changed hands a couple of times before Gladstone and Baltimore headed into the 9th tied 4-4. Jeff Bagwell ended it for the Gladiators with a 2-run homer. FINAL SCORE: GLA 6 – BAL 4 |
| Game #4: | Gladstone couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag, as Baltimore cruised to a win. FINAL SCORE: BAL 3 – GLA 0 |
| Game #5: | The Crabs took the lead in the 4th and the Gladiators tied it in the 7th. The game continued into the 12th inning, when Baltimore notched a run to take the lead. But Brian Daubach responded with a 3-run shot to walk off with the win. FINAL SCORE: GLA 5 – BAL 3 |
| Game #6: | Another see-saw game which went into extras. Baltimore scored in the top of the 10th, but Gladstone fought back and forced an 11th inning. Baltimore scored once more in the top of the frame, and shut down Gladstone to earn the series split. |
| Series Summary: | Gladstone and Baltimore split the series, 3 games to 3, and watches its playoff hopes dim as two other teams get past them for the division lead. Not that those hopes were all that high to begin with. |