[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-7) @ Crusaders (10-2) – April 22-24, 1997

The Crusaders have not been relevant for 15 years, and I can’t believe I am not dreaming. The numbers suggested that luck was a factor with a rather small run differential of +17. (Heck, even the Raccoons had a +6 differential!) I tried to find the game changer on their roster, but failed to find one.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (0-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. David Ramirez (0-1, 10.50 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-2, 2.45 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (3-0, 4.18 ERA)
Jose Rivera (0-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (2-1, 3.72 ERA)

Our three starters have yet to win a game. This does not bode well. [I also messed up, setting my lineup for the lefty Ramirez, and on the lineup screen before the game just looked at Ingall in the second spot, and all is well, but didn’t realize that they had moved up Sandoval and we in fact had the lineup against right-handers up now. So, that’s where Lacombe came from… That’s one thing that greatly annoys me about OOTP, the opposing starter getting changed without notification…]

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – RF Lacombe – C Vinson – P Wade
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – CF Latham – 1B Berry – SS Vega – P Sandoval

Scott Wade struck out the side in the first inning, which was a bad sign. Wade just doesn’t cut it when he strikes people out. That sounds strange, but it is how water is running with him… True to the myth the Crusaders bullied him for two runs in the second inning and we started to trail in a mostly uneventful game. In the top 7th, down 3-1, two on and no outs, we hit with Reece for Wade, and Reece lined a single to center. Brewer grounded into a force at home, but Ingall came through with a 2-run single to right that took Wade off the hook. Could we get him a lead? Yes! O-Mo singled to lead the bases again, and then Wedemeyer grounded to short, but beat the throw to first to break up the double play, and Brewer scored. Kinnear singled in Ingall before Newton grounded out. A timely offensive explosion had us up 5-3, with the nice consequence that we could now watch Miller and Santana **** it up. The Crusaders scored three runs against them in the bottom 7th. Gone the lead. Grandridge was rocked for two more runs in the eighth, and we lost this one properly. 8-5 Crusaders. Wedemeyer 2-5, RBI; Reece (PH) 1-1;

Nothing works. Nothing.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – RF Buell – CF Newton – C Kondo – P Donis
NYC: SS Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 1B T. Mullins – CF Diéguez – LF C. Clark – 3B Vega – P F. Garza

Garza walked three batters in the first inning, which the Raccoons got two runs out of. Then came Donis, sucked the hell out of a 2-0 lead, and was ravaged for four runs in the first. Donis would be beaten up for seven runs in 3.1 innings of a horrible display of failure. Astonishingly, Garza didn’t make it through five innings either, but the Raccoons left the bases loaded in the fifth after the usual groundball-for-force-at-home games they loved so dearly. Marvin Ingall’s home run came one inning too late, and we had flushed another game down the toilet. Although Miller and Salcido were wonky out of the pen, nobody surrendered any runs. But Donis. 7-4 Crusaders. Ingall 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Buell 3-5, RBI; Ramos 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Lemme see. What do we have going for us?

Oh yeah. Nothing.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – P J. Rivera
NYC: 3B Rigg – 2B Wilson – RF A. Johnson – LF P. Jenkins – C Melendez – CF Latham – 1B Berry – SS Vega – P Miranda

Cipriano Miranda (3-0, 4.09 ERA) pitched this game as David Ramirez continued to be unavailable. Aside from whoever was pitching for the opposition, the Oregonians’ nightmare continued. Rivera plunked two in the second inning, added a balk for good measure and managed to surrender the first run of the game that way. Somehow Rivera didn’t fork up completely before the Raccoons came into possession of two runs in the fourth. Vinson found the bags full with one out and the Crusaders were unable to turn a textbook 6-4-3 on him once he grounded to short, and the tying run scored. Kinnear hit a single into the shallow outfield to take the lead, and O-Mo’ 2-out RBI double in the fifth would make it 3-1. Better hurry up, Jose, or you might actually win one! A walk and a balk didn’t cut it for him in the sixth, and the Crusaders left another one on second base in the seventh. Avery Johnson’s 2-out double with the bases empty in the bottom 8th finally got Rivera out of the game with Santana entering the game to face lefty Pat Jenkins, and failed to throw a proper exit pitch. Instead, Jenkins grounded out to Brewer. Tzu-jao Ban accidentally saved the game. 3-1 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Rivera 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, BB;

Raccoons (6-9) @ Falcons (5-11) – April 25-27, 1997

The Falcons were the worst team in the Continental League at this junction, but a sweep over another quite bad team can do wonders for your reputation. Our 65 runs scored didn’t measure too favorably against their league-least 63 runs scored, either. At least we had semi-competent pitching. Their’s ranked 11th. Meanwhile, we were still without Neil Reece…

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (1-1, 2.55 ERA) vs. Luis Guzmán (0-0, 8.22 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (1-1, 6.08 ERA) vs. Larry Davis (0-0, 6.75 ERA)
Scott Wade (0-1, 5.30 ERA) vs. Carlos Castro (1-3, 5.47 ERA)

Castro was the only left-hander, but we had another off day coming after this series, so no need to look for spots to rest someone yet. But we will play strings of 13 and 16 games in a row after that.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Salazar – 3B Ingall – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – C Vinson – LF Kinnear – CF Newton – P Saito
CHA: RF R. Garza – 2B Barrón – SS H. Green – CF Dunphy – 3B Combes – C Escobedo – LF P. Flores – 1B D. Thompson – P Guzmán

All questions about why these teams were at the bottom of the barrel in terms of offense were answered in this game. There was just no hitting. No hitting whatsoever. No team sat a foot on third base through eight innings, as Saito and Guzmán were both pitching 3-hit shutouts! Brewer walked to start the top 9th. Salazar sacrificed him over to second base, and then Ingall struck out and Wedemeyer flew out. And it had been that way the whole lousy night. Saito went back out on only 76 pitches. Juan Barrón hit a bloop single, and Hubert Green walked. No outs. The next two guys made outs, putting Barrón on third base (the first runner on third base, with two out in the bottom 9th!!), but was left there when Antonio Escobedo lobbed out to Kinnear. Nine innings, zero runs. Guzmán pitched the tenth (scoreless of course), but Saito did not go back out. The ninth had been close enough, no need to saddle him with an ENTIRELY UNDESERVED LOSS. That loss was eventually settled on Day Grandridge, who deserved it, in the 12th, for putting the leadoff man on, and Ingall made an error, and Santana hit a guy to load the bases, and then surrendered a walkoff single with two outs to Ramón Garza. 1-0 Falcons. Saito 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K; De La Rosa 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

We were shut out for the second time this season. Last year at this point, we went another three months before being shut out for the first time all season! Can we sink much lower?

At least Neil Reece’s wrist was much better now and between him, the trainer, and me we agreed to have him start game 2. Need some offense after all. Saito had been overheard calling his sword sharpener over from Japan after this game…

Game 2
POR: 2B Brewer – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P M. Lopez
CHA: RF R. Garza – 2B Barrón – SS H. Green – CF Dunphy – 3B Combes – C Escobedo – LF P. Flores – 1B D. Thompson – P L. Davis

Lopez gave up a run in the first, and the Raccoons gave up hope quickly after that. We also had to give up hope for the foreseeable future when David Brewer was bowled over by ratface Christian Dunphy in an attempt to break up a double play in the fourth inning. Brewer left the game, hopping off supported by the trainer, and that was that. Miguel Lopez was most mad of all Coons, drilling a leadoff jack off Davis in the fifth inning. That tied the game, and at some point in time it had to become untied again. That was in the seventh, when Lopez melted down and the Falcons scored a run on a 1-out single by PH Adam Kent. Ramos relieved Lopez with two in scoring position and two out and Neil Reece managed to intercept Garza’s huge fly to center. Ramos saw three batters in the bottom 8th, retired none, and since Day Grandridge resembled a kid with matches tasked with putting out a fire when it came to situations with men on base, the Falcons easily scored another run. In the 4-1 game, the Falcons sent out Artie Saunders, which was a sorry excuse for trying to blow a game. He drilled Buell and issued 1-out walks to Newton and Salazar, putting the tying runs on base. Ingall hit for Grandridge, gently lifted out to center, and that brought up Guerin in Brewer’s spot. Everybody’s first reaction was “Ballgame!”, but Guerin lined over Barrón for a 2-out single, and now we needed just one more with O-Mo batting. A full count against Saunders, aaaand – ballgame. 4-3 Falcons. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB;

That’s five lost series in a row. I don’t even know what to say. Nothing works with these guys. They can’t get anything done. And it is impossible to make upgrades, either…

Meanwhile X-rays of Brewer’s ankle came back negative but he was still unavailable with a bad bruise, and would miss a week or so. That was the perfect nightmare for you couldn’t DL him, and you couldn’t play him either…

By the way, by now the Raccoons were the worst team in the CL in terms of record.

Game 3
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – RF Newton – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P Wade
CHA: C Escobedo – 2B Barrón – 3B Combes – LF A. Lopez – RF R. Garza – SS Kent – CF Young – 1B D. Thompson – P Castro

As if I needed any more reason to throw myself from the Wells Fargo Center, Scott Wade left the final game of the series in the fourth inning with some kind of trouble in his right arm. Of course he was trailing by the slimmest of margins, 1-0. De La Rosa got us through five, then was hit for with Kinnear in the top 6th with Kondo on first base and no outs. Kinnear doubled up the right foul line to put the go-ahead runs in scoring position for the next three guys to come up, of whom Ingall lobbed out to shallow center, and O’Morrissey and Reece struck out. A few more depressing and embarassing innings later, Wedemeyer drew a 1-out walk from Alex Byrd in the ninth. Oh, yeah, the score was still 1-0. Salazar hit for Buell (completely messing up our defense should we come back), but lined out. With two out, Newton hit one out to deep right, which Pedro Flores failed to catch up with. It fell in, Weeds dashed home, and we were tied. We got no more when Guerin flew out, and O’Morrissey ended up in left field in the bottom 9th, but didn’t get any chances to handle before Duane Smith hit a walkoff pinch-hit home run off Daniel Miller. 3-1 Falcons. Kinnear (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Scott Wade’s elbow was closely examinated on Monday, our off day, but all tests were negative. He was told to rest it, and was listed as DTD for a week. Yet, this blows out his next start – presumably – on Saturday in Vancouver. We will have to groom Jose Ramos into making that start and not use him past the middle game in San Fran in the upcoming series, or turn to AAA to get a spot start from there, but then would have to make room on the roster.

Wade was hurt on Sunday. DL’ing him costs him another start – again presumably – on May 8 against the Indians, and he would be able to return in time for the next turn of the rotation due to two off days (this and one on May 12) shifting the rotation forward.

This was a toughie, but ultimately we already had enough issues on our hands than to park relievers to make spot starts. In a timely manner, though, Gerardo Ramirez at AAA had gone down to injury, and of the three remaining SP’s on the 40-man roster, Ivan Costa had terrible stamina comparable to Donis, and those would have to start back-to-back, and Kelly Fairchild and Esteban Flores had been raped with bats in their first four starts (think ERAs north of six).

Raccoons (6-12) @ Bayhawks (8-10) – April 29-May 1, 1997

Again a duel of 10th vs. 12th place in runs scored, only this time the Raccoons were the latter assembly of wannabe ballplayers. The Bayhawks’ rotation had been shredded to a 5.14 ERA so far, while their bullpen sported a 1.85 ERA mark.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Donis (0-3, 5.65 ERA) vs. Ricardo Sanchez (1-2, 5.96 ERA)
Jose Rivera (1-1, 1.83 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (0-2, 5.79 ERA)
Kisho Saito (1-1, 1.69 ERA) vs. Charles Bywaters (0-2, 9.16 ERA)

GET THOSE BATS UP, FINALLY!!

Game 1
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – SS Salazar – P Donis
SFB: 2B Berrios – 3B P. Hernandez – LF P. Perez – CF Cote – RF A. Rodriguez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – C J. Ortíz – P R. Sanchez

Sanchez chainsawed the Raccoons in this game, not allowing a single until the fifth inning (Salazar), then with two outs and no hopes, and also not until he had struck out seven already. While Donis didn’t quite match his ferocious pace, he kept up in results through six innings, after which he was burned out for this time out. The Coons didn’t manage to score for Donis, who did not get a win, but Sanchez didn’t either, being chased after a 2-out double by Kinnear in the top 7th. Jose Matos almost managed to wild-pitch Kinnear home, but the Raccoons quickly made another out before that could happen. Cesar Salcido only faced one batter in the bottom 7th, lefty Bill Dean, put him on, then yielded for De La Rosa, who walked Pedro Hernandez with one out. Berrios, who had forced out Dean with his grounder, and Hernandez executed a double steal against a defenseless David Vinson, and this ship was going down with a 2-out RBI single by Russ Cote. Daniel Miller opened the eighth with a walk to Mike Powys, which soon escalated into two runs, which were entirely unnecessary for deciding the outcome of this particular game. 3-0 Bayhawks. Donis 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K;

This horrible collection of fools had two hits and 11 strikeouts.

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Buell – SS Guerin – RF Lacombe – C Kondo – P J. Rivera
SFB: SS Powys – 2B Chandler – 1B Dean – LF P. Perez – RF Marquez – 3B P. Hernandez – CF A. Rodriguez – C Amaya – P Chapa

Rivera held the Bayhawks hitless until Pedro Perez buried a ball in the seats in the bottom 4th. Of course the Raccoons had not scored so far, but Jorge Chapa, who was as much of a pushover as his stats suggested, aggressively supported them in the top 5th with two walks and a wild pitch, and we actually tied the game back. That was before Rivera surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom 5th which were technically unearned, but actually only were because of his own throwing error. Come the top 6th, O’Morrissey and Reece led off with back-to-back doubles to get back to within one and having the tying run at second base with no outs. Chapa struck out Wedemeyer, and struck out Buell, only to have Miguel Amaya lose that ball and Buell actually reached base on an uncaught third strike, moving Reece to third with still one out. No, he was not scored. To add injury to all those insults once again, Neil Reece was hurt on a defensive play in the bottom of the sixth inning and left the game. If nothing else that so much heralded Bayhawks bullpen suffered a total meltdown in the seventh inning, with Jose Matos, who had almost blown the game the day before, blowing it properly, allowing 2-out, 2-run doubles to both Luke Newton and Stephen Buell. We scored two more runs through now achievement of our own in the eighth, induced by a run-scoring wild pitch by Bob Robinson and helped greatly by Mike Powys dropping a pop fly by Wedemeyer with two down. 8-3 Raccoons. O’Morrissey 3-4, BB, 2B; Newton 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Buell 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Rivera 7.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-1); Santana 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

That fool Jose Rivera became our first multi-game winner on April 30. Whoever had placed a bet on no Raccoon winning two through the end of April was probably pretty mad now…

Meanwhile Neil Reece was diagnosed with a tender shoulder and would best rest for two weeks. That meant a trip to the DL and some slack from AAA getting called up. It hit 29-year old LF/RF Kenny Crockett, our 1991 6th round amateur draft pick. His OPS of .652 did warrant nothing but banishment, but these were hard times, and there was *really* nobody better on that roster.

Game 3
POR: 3B O’Morrissey – SS Salazar – RF Buell – 1B Wedemeyer – LF Kinnear – 2B Ingall – CF Newton – C Vinson – P Saito
SFB: 2B Berrios – 3B P. Hernandez – CF Cote – RF A. Rodriguez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – LF Cobb – C J. Ortíz – P Bywaters

Pitching for the Raccoons was a nightmare at this stage, and Kisho Saito knew a thing or two about it from the past as well. While the Raccoons had four hits but did nothing with them in the first three innings, the first thing Saito gave up was immediately on the board as a solo homer by Jose Ortíz. Saito found himself at the plate with two out and two on in the top 4th for the second time on the day. He had made an out the first time, but this time shoved a grounder through Pedro Hernandez at third base. Ingall scored, and Vinson was waved around third and scored as well on Saito’s double. Saito was left on, but now led 2-1, and it looked a lot like that was all he’d get. As fate had it, Saito was again to bat with two out and Newton on third base in the sixth, which came a bit after Ingall had flied out on a 3-0 pitch to start the inning. Bywaters went to 2-out-of-3 against Saito and we didn’t score again. Saito was done after seven, by which time we were outhitting the Bayhawks 10-4. At some point this was going to come back and hurt. De La Rosa pitched a quick eighth, and for the ninth Tzu-jao Ban came out. He walked PH Pedro Perez, hitting for Rodriguez, to start the frame. Perez was replaced with runner Paco Javier. Powys fouled out. Pat Chandler lined out to O’Morrissey at third. That brought up Steve Cobb with two out. Ban through an uncurving curve, Cobb tattooed it, and everybody went home. 3-2 Bayhawks. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 2B; Ingall 2-4; Newton 2-3, BB; Saito 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

GODDAMNIT, GODFORSAKEN SUCKERS, I HATE YOU ALL!!!

ARGH!!!

Raccoons (7-14) @ Canadiens (12-9) – May 2-4, 1997

They’re gonna sweep us anyway, so why should we hold ourselves up with statistics?

Projected matchups:
Miguel Lopez (1-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. Jose Marquez (3-0, 1.91 ERA)
Jose Ramos (1-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. John Collins (2-1, 5.12 ERA)
Antonio Donis (0-3, 3.98 ERA) vs. Jose Dominguez (1-0, 5.32 ERA)

Game 1
POR: CF Newton – 2B Ingall – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – LF Kinnear – SS Guerin – C Kondo – P M. Lopez
VAN: 2B B. Butler – 1B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 3B Galindo – RF Porter – SS Shaw – CF D. Edwards – C Castillo – P Marquez

The Coons scored two in the first inning, mainly around a double by Marvin Ingall. The Canadiens left five men on base against a shoddy Miguel Lopez in the first two innings and didn’t score before the Raccoons came back with two out in the top 3rd, first with O-Mo hitting a bloop RBI single, and then with a home run by Wedemeyer. That made it 5-0, and Marquez hit the very next batter, Stephen Buell, who first strolled to first base, and then after some chirping charged the mound. The benches cleared, and Marquez and Buell were both ejected. That led to Kenny Crockett making his big league debut as replacement. The Canadiens continued to hit against Lopez, but not enough: they had ten hits against him, but he pitched six shutout innings before leaving. Efficiency is described another way, but zero runs are zero runs after all. Up 7-0 with nine out to harvest, Grandridge was trusted with the ball, and while he was horrendous, he somehow pitched two shutouts innings and the Canadiens stranded another four runners. We left the bags full each of the last two innings, too. 8-0 Raccoons. Ingall 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Lopez 6.0 IP, 10 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (2-2) and 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Stephen Buell was suspended for TEN GAMES. Yeah, WHY NOT?? Why not for a friggin’ A HUNDRED GAMES??? (throws a tantrum, and a few bats)

Game 2
POR: CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – LF Kinnear – 1B Wedemeyer – 2B Ingall – SS Salazar – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P J. Ramos
VAN: RF D. Edwards – 1B S. Mendez – CF Arroyo – 3B Galindo – 2B B. Butler – LF Moore – SS P. Williams – C Castillo – P Collins

Roles reversed in this game. The Raccoons left pairs of runners on in three of the first four innings, and didn’t score at all. Jose Ramos’ shot at starting went in the wrong direction early, too, and he was whacked around quite a bit, eventually leaving in the seventh with four runs in, two on, and one out. Salcido waved home another run, but by that time the Raccoons were long defeated. They didn’t get on the board until the eighth, and then only with one run driven in by Salazar, and left another two on, and that was before Daniel Miller, who was generally ineffective these days, was pounced on for two more runs in the bottom 8th. A 2-run homer by Newton in the ninth was interesting for the stats geeks at best. 7-3 Canadiens.

On the bright side, we got back David Brewer after that ankle issue.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – CF Newton – 3B O’Morrissey – 1B Wedemeyer – SS Ingall – LF Kinnear – C Vinson – RF Lacombe – P Donis
VAN: SS Shaw – 1B S. Mendez – LF Hartley – 3B Galindo – RF Porter – 2B P. Williams – CF Moore – C J. Lopez – P Dominguez

Donis was pummeled from the start, and there was no excuse for him sucking. The Canadiens got a run in the first, then had a runner on first with one out and Dominguez batting in the second. Dominguez bunted right to Donis, who threw away the grounder, then handed a ticket to paradise to Travis Shaw: 4-0 Elks. Donis surrendered two more in the third in an attempt to get exiled to Armenia. The Raccoons had left them loaded in the second, and O-Mo standing on third in the third. O-Mo lined into a double play in the fifth, in which they left two in scoring position eventually. It was hopeless. 7-2 Canadiens. O’Morrissey 2-4, BB, 3B; Wedemeyer 2-5, 2 RBI; Vinson 2-3, BB; Lacombe 2-4;

Agony.

In other news

April 22 – TIJ C Freddy Jackson (.327, 0 HR, 1 RBI) will be sidelined for most of the remaining season with a broken elbow.
April 22 – The Rebels’ RF/LF Raúl Vázquez (.346, 1 HR, 2 RBI) is out for up to a month with a knee sprain.
April 23 – DAL SP Manny Ramos (2-1, 3.41 ERA) sets a new major league record for strikeouts by whiffing 16 hopeless Wolves in a 5-1 win for Dallas.
April 23 – TOP C Carlos Ramos (.385, 1 HR, 15 RBI) extends a hitting streak to 20 games with a single in four AB’s in the Buffaloes’ 7-4 loss to the Blue Sox.
April 25 – ATL RF Hollis Hatch (.340, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
April 29 – The Buffaloes’ Carlos Ramos is still going strong. Batting .364 with 1 HR and 17 RBI, he extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a 2-5 day in an 8-7 win over the Stars.
May 4 – NO-HITTER!!! CIN Manuel Garza (2-2, 2.79 ERA) eliminates the Miners almost all by himself, issuing only two walks while allowing no hits and no runs in a 2-0 win for the Cyclones! The 36-year old Garza, a veteran of 16 seasons and five teams, spins the 20th no-hitter in ABL history and the first for the Cyclones franchise. It is the first no-no since Vicente Navarro’s for Boston last July, and the first no-hitter in May since Bob “Butcher” Haines’ for L.A. in 1984.

Complaints and stuff

Stephen Buell was named Rookie of the Month of April with a 294, 1 HR, 8 RBI line. Good boy!

Now on to the bad news. This team sucks. IT SUCKS. The defense is bad, making almost a full error per game. The pitching, while not great, would be sufficient to carry a team with some form of actual offense, ranking consistently in the upper half of the CL teams in most aspects (we will probably never get very far in HR allowed due to our park).

But the offense. As a team, we’re batting .252/.333/.352, which is 9th/8th/9th in the CL. We score the second-least runs. However, our run differential is -2. We are four games below our pythagorean record of 12-12.

So the most significant thing that is going on: MASSIVELY MASSIVE ROTTEN LUCK. It HAS to be spelled in capitals. It has to.

I will be writhing in agony over there now. (points to the nook behind the bat rack)