[Westheim]

One more week, and then it will be September. Playing for fourth place at best, it would be fun if we had any advanced prospects to test out. We don’t have any.

Raccoons (52-72) @ Crusaders (60-64) – August 25-27, 1997

Having the worst rotation and the best bullpen in the Continental League gave the Crusaders a so-so almost-.500 record and a clear goal for improvement in the offseason. They were lacking a few players who were lingering on the DL, most prominently outfielder Pat Jenkins, whose season was over.

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-6, 5.09 ERA) vs. John Woodard (3-4, 3.75 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-8, 4.09 ERA) vs. Francisco Garza (8-13, 5.07 ERA)
Hector Lara (6-5, 3.69 ERA) vs. Anibal Sandoval (11-9, 4.64 ERA)

More right-handers up here. We may not get a left-hander until Saturday, Oklahoma’s Jon Robinson. But we have an off-day midweek, so Brewer should be fine. And maybe I want to shift Ingall to second to play Guerin some more anyway, regardless of the opposition. It was not like a) we were playing meaningful ball for the last four months, and b) Brewer was a sure incumbent on our 25-man roster next April anyway.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Kinnear – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – P Wade
NYC: 1B Rigg – CF C. Clark – RF A. Johnson – LF A. Ramirez – 3B L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – C Durán – 2B Marino – P Woodard

Another game you wanted to forget rather quickly. Wade was everywhere but in the strike zone. I would not criticize him for leaving the bags loaded with a strikeout in the top 2nd, but I would and will slap him with a wet towel for being absolutely unable to surrender any left-handers in the game. He wobbled through the 2-3-4 lefty battery twice in the game, but in a scoreless contest in the bottom 5th, Clark got on, and Johnson, and Ramirez, and bibble-di-bubble-di-boo the Crusaders had put up a 5-spot, with the last two runs coming home against De La Rosa, including a 2-out wild pitch. Vinson had had the Furballs’ only hit through five. In the end, he’d have almost half of our seven knocks. Not that it helped the team any. 6-2 Crusaders. Vinson 3-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – C Vinson – SS Guerin – P M. Lopez
NYC: CF Diéguez – 2B Rigg – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 1B T. Mullins – 3B J. Ramirez – LF L. Wilson – SS J. Vega – P F. Garza

The Raccoons looked pathetic once again, striking out ten times against Francisco Garza in seven innings. Lopez was surrendering plenty of hard contact, including many line drives to the deep outfield, some of which were thankfully caught. The Crusaders pulled ahead with a run in the second, but Wedemeyer hit his 16th mantelpiece trophy of the season, which counted for two, in the fourth. That 2-1 score held through six. Lopez walked Jorge Vega to start the bottom 7th and was removed for Otero. Vega was thrown out trying to steal (Vinson’s second CS on the day), and Otero survived the inning. Zuniga retired Avery Johnson to start the bottom 8th, before Miller emerged. He loaded the bags with two singles and a walk, but then with two down had Vega ground to Guerin – who lost the ball. His second error on the day. Clement Clark’s pinch-hit 2-run single put the Raccoons to sleep. Never mind that Dane Sanders in the ninth walked every Coon, color- or entirely blind or not, and Guerin actually managed to drive a run in. Marvin Ingall flew right to Diéguez for the final out with the bases loaded. 4-3 Crusaders. Reece 2-4; Buell (PH) 1-1; Lopez 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Stephen Buell is now a very strong one for NINETEEN as a pinch-hitter. And I never really liked Guerin.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Utting – SS Ingall – C Aycock – P Lara
NYC: 1B Rigg – SS J. Vega – RF A. Johnson – C Melendez – 3B L. Wilson – CF Lyons – LF Diéguez – 2B J. Ramirez – P Sandoval

Sandoval would shut down the Raccoons hard for the first six innings. While Lara surrendered three runs in six innings, Sandoval kept his ledger clean and while the Raccoons got a run in the seventh, it was an RBI groundout by Aycock that killed the inning just as well. Otero gave the run right back in the bottom 7th. The only RISP hit the Inepticoons would get came in the eighth off Reece’s bat, and that was not enough to overcome a strong starter. 4-2 Crusaders. Brewer 2-4; Reece 2-4, 2B, RBI; Vinson (PH) 1-1;

Goddamnit, are they annoying. I can’t decide on whether to tar the hitting coach and feather the pitching coach, or the other way round…

We have now lost the season series against the Crusaders, 5-10 with three to spare. That’s the first instance we came out bottom to them since 1988. You know how fun that season was.

Raccoons (52-75) vs. Thunder (60-66) – August 29-31, 1997

Average run-scorers, the Thunder had a top 3 rotation and a struggling bullpen which left them at the receiving side of things. But don’t you worry, little Thunder fans. By the time the sun sets on Sunday, your team will be three games closer to .500!

Projected matchups:
Kisho Saito (10-10, 3.10 ERA) vs. Aaron Anderson (13-5, 3.10 ERA)
Scott Wade (4-7, 5.25 ERA) vs. Jon Robinson (10-9, 3.02 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-8, 3.99 ERA) vs. Lou Corbett (11-10, 3.75 ERA)

Now that we have seen about one southpaw in two weeks, Robinson might even be the first of FOUR consecutive left-handers the way the Bayhawks currently have their rotation running when looking at the mid-week series after this one. However, Monday will be September 1, so you never know who will be on their roster then. Right now, we have skipped Ramos, because the bullpen has been overworked recently with the rotation ravaged every day, and the off day fell into the perfect spot to skip him and have him available for an inning or two for at least the first two games, and I was actually looking at Wade here, who wasn’t getting any left-handers out right now, and the right-handers weren’t much better.

Game 1
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – LF Browne – CF Camacho – C Ikeda – P Anderson
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Buell – 3B Crowe – SS Ingall – C Aycock – P Saito

Saito and Anderson pitched a duel, and it was a real classy one. Neither team managed to get a runner on third base through six innings, with both pitchers hurling a 4-hit shutout at that point. Sometime, somebody had to score, and it was Saito falling to a 2-out homer by Artie Barnes in the seventh. That made it 1-0 Thunder, and Ivan Camacho, not necessarily a famed power hitter, added another solo homer in the eighth. If a 2-0 deficit with six outs left in a Saito game was not bleak enough for you, then putting in Santana once the team went down silently in the bottom 8th, did the trick for sure. The useless dirtbag put the first three batters on, costing another two runs. The Misericoons lost handily as Aaron Anderson allowed five singles in a shutout. 4-0 Thunder. Brewer 2-4; Ingall 3-3; Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (10-11);

Useless collection of ******ed numb nuts. Can’t this season just END?

Oh, yeah, we have lost five in a row already. Woosh, that was quick.

Game 2
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B Browne – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – CF L. Hernandez – LF Camacho – 3B H. Ramirez – C Guidry – P Robinson
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF N. Reece – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Utting – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – P Wade

The first three innings were scoreless with Wade being pushed around as was – sadly – customary by now. The Thunder got a run off him in the top 4th, which Green equalized with an RBI single scoring Reece in the bottom of the inning. Robinson hit Mike Crowe in the shoulder the same inning, forcing our guy to leave the game, and we loaded the bags with that, but with two out, Aycock drifted out to shallow center to end the inning and leave three Critters on. Guerin became the replacement for the injured Crowe and promptly made his third error of the week in the top 7th, but it miraculously didn’t sink the Raccoons in this game. But maybe Bob Grant’s leadoff triple in the eighth would? At the very least, it knocked out Wade, and Zuniga couldn’t keep the run from scoring. Down 2-1, Brewer led off the eighth with a single, and Ingall was to bunt him over. Nobody could dig that bunt out and everybody was safe. At this junction, Neil Reece found it appropriate to hit a medium-paced grounder to the shortstop, ram-dam-dam, and Kinnear flew out. 3-1 Thunder. Crowe 1-1; Wade 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (4-8);

Mike Crowe got away with a painful welt that would severely hamper him for up to a week, and he was listed as DTD, but was basically do-not-touch, since he could neither swing, nor throw properly. Then again, how much worse than the average Furball can he be at the plate?

Good news, at least our run differential is now negative again (589-591), so I don’t have to bite myself daily.

Game 3
OCT: SS J. Sanchez – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B S. Reece – 2B Grant – RF Barnes – LF Browne – CF Camacho – C Ikeda – P Corbett
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF N. Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Buell – 3B Utting – C Vinson – P M. Lopez

The Thunder moved ahead quickly, a solo homer by Dave Browne doing the job in the second. 1-0 Thunder, basically insurmountable, especially since the Raccoons, who didn’t get a hit until the fifth, a leadoff double by Buell, while leaving a runner stranded on third base in the fourth inning, and the same fate befell Buell, who reached third base with nobody out after a wild pitch by Lou Corbett. The Raccoons couldn’t hit for their meekly, weakly lives, and probably wouldn’t have scored at all if not for an error by Sonny Reece in the bottom 7th that scored Royce Green from second base, and tied the game. Lopez was left in when he came to bat with two down in the inning and made the final out, leaving the tying run in scoring position, then put leadoff man Tashiro Ikeda on base in the top 8th. In turn, he fielded Corbett’s bunt for an out at second base. All for nought. Jose Sanchez doubled, Ramirez scored a run with a groundout, and Sonny Reece drew the Raccoons a nose for good with an RBI single. Brewer then was thrown out in the bottom 8th on a leadoff double that just was not a triple, so when Neil Reece tattered Corbett’s offering later in the inning, it DIDN’T tie the game. What a shame. Jimmy Morey in the ninth put the tying run on by walking Buell to start the inning. Buell was then thrown out stealing before Utting could single. Kinner walked in Vinson’s place, and Newton hit for reliever Donis. A wild pitch moved the winning runs into scoring position with one out. Newton walked, Brewer struck out. Ingall was the money batter, the count ran full, and the Coons went home pockets empty once Ingall whiffed. 3-2 Thunder. Lopez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (10-9); Donis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That’s seven straight they lost in a variety of shameful ways. It earned us a nice reward: sole possession of last place in the division, and at 52-78 we were a dripping nose’s length ahead of the Cyclones as far as next year’s #1 draft pick was concerned.

September call-ups

There were no promising prospects at AAA that really desperately had to get looked at this month, which was terrible enough. Kenny Crockett had gotten hurt since being demoted and was out for the season, and that would have been the only guy I would have happily recalled to get some more time. As things were, we added MR Pancho Padilla to absorb / do more damage, C Ron McDonald to actually start a bunch of games, INF Steve Caddock for defense where necessary, INF Brent McLaughlin to make a few starts, and OF Roberto Miranda for third-string outfield duties.

McLaughlin was the only new Raccoon in the group, and to get him onto the 40-man roster, MR Manuel Diaz was waived and DFA’ed. McLaughlin was our second round pick from 1993, and had hit for the cycle at the A level in ’94. He played all positions on the infield very well, but didn’t have too much behind his bat. He did have good eyes, however, and wasn’t swinging at everything. With spots open on our infield for next year…

McDonald is also playing for a roster spot in ’98, because the more I see from Vinson and Aycock, the less I want either one to stick around.

Raccoons (52-78) vs. Bayhawks (68-62) – September 1-3, 1997

Some 18-inning games might be incoming with the Bayhawks possessing the third-worst overall offense in the Continental League, while combining it with good pitching. Meanwhile, we know how well the Raccoons are at scoring runs.

Projected matchups:
Hector Lara (6-6, 3.74 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (10-10, 2.92 ERA)
Jose Ramos (5-5, 4.34 ERA) vs. TBD
Kisho Saito (10-11, 3.06 ERA) vs. Jorge Chapa (13-7, 3.94 ERA)

Game 1
SFB: 1B Franklin – 2B Chandler – LF Marquez – LF P. Perez – SS Powys – RF Cote – 3B J. Gomez – C J. Ortíz – P Hamlyn
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Buell – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Utting – C McDonald – SS McLaughlin – P Lara

Reece drove in a run in the first, but Lara soon fell 2-1 behind. In the bottom 3rd, Hamlyn plunked and injured Buell, making it two knocked out batsmen in three days. Great job, guys. As revenge, the Raccoons tied the game, but made sure to leave the go-ahead runs on base, so as to not provoke any more hostilities from the Bayhawks. Lara fell once more leading off the sixth with a double to Alfredo Marquez and an RBI single to Pedro Perez. Royce Green re-tied the game with a leadoff jack in the bottom of the frame, and Lara got a no-decision after Ingall hit for him with McLaughlin on first and two down in the inning, but struck out. Hamlyn was pulled after the sixth for Antonio Rodriguez (who recently had entered history, but see below) to hit for him. Padilla came in facing just that one batter with four left-handers on the top of the Bayhawks’ lineup, and of course surrendered a single. That signaled the collapse, as McLaughlin made an error with two on and no out, and Perez sunk the ship with a bases-clearing double off Zuniga. They scored four in total in the seventh, and that was enough to - … was it, really? Brewer homered to lead off the bottom 7th. Newton got on, and then Weeds homered. 7-6 Bayhawks all of a sudden. The bases were loaded with two out for Ingall, and he grounded to second, but PAST Leon Berrios! The game was tied. Brewer came up, another single, two runs scored! In this 6-spot, the last three runs were unearned, but the Coons still took a 2-run lead. Donis then got Steve Cobb to start the eighth, but Miller walked two right-handers, with Marquez and Perez coming up. And I still went with Tamburrino to pitch five outs for the win here. With only Santana left among left-handers, you could as well bring out the top guy in your pen. To make a long story short, Tamburrino blew it, four runs scored, and the Coons lost their eighth straight. 11-9 Bayhawks. Brewer 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Buell 1-1, 2B; Reece 3-5, RBI; Green 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; McLaughlin 2-5;

Can’t you just leave me alone, so I can die and find my peace? Good grief…

Game 2
SFB: RF Javier – 2B Chandler – LF P. Perez – 3B P. Hernandez – 1B Franklin – CF A. Rodriguez – SS J. Gomez – C J. Ortíz – P Alvarado
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – RF Green – 1B Wedemeyer – 3B Crowe – CF Newton – SS Ingall – C Vinson – P Ramos

The Bayhawks broke out 22-year old call-up Dani Alvarado for his big league debut. David Brewer took him to where the sun wasn’t shining for his first major league batter, and now up 1-0, the Raccoons loaded the bags before leaving them full and stopped bothering to hit for something again. Pedro Perez’ 2-piece in the third, with two out, flipped the score, and the Raccoons were doing what they did best: trailing. The debutee Alvarado held the Raccoons to two hits into the seventh before Kinnear drew a walk, and then Green unleashed a massive game-tying bomb. Somehow, the miserable collection of Zuniga, Miller, and De La Rosa failed to lose the game in regulation, and we had the top of the lineup leading off the bottom 9th, and Brewer walked, but Kinnear was such a bad bunter. More a man for the brute job, Kinnear was sent to bat like a man against righty Ryosei Kato. And six pitches later he took a very manly walk to first base. Green came up, didn’t wait for long before drilling a Kato offering to deep left field. Deep, deeper, GONE!! **** YOU, LOSING STREAK, THE ****ING COONS ARE BACK!!! 6-3 Raccoons. Green 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Crowe 2-4;

We made six runs out of five hits, so sometimes less is more? This ends the most recent 8-game spill. Can we please actually win a series? Puh-lease?

For the moment however, we had to lose something, as Stephen Buell’s wrist had not survived contact with Tony Hamlyn’s stuff and had been broken. He was out for the year, and just perhaps a Saito pitch would err in his ways right into Pedro Perez’ ugly nose in return…

Game 3
SFB: 2B Berrios – RF A. Rodriguez – CF Cote – 3B P. Hernandez – SS Powys – 1B Chandler – LF Javier – C J. Ortíz – P Chapa
POR: 2B Brewer – SS Ingall – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – CF Newton – 3B Utting – C McDonald – P Saito

Saito gave up a run in the second inning on two doubles to start the trailers’ party. Jorge Chapa was untouchable, surrendering the first ten Raccoons, and once Ingall singled, he simply picked him off first base. Saito inadvertently (no really!) hit Ortíz in the fifth, and while offensively the Bayhawks weren’t doing anything with that, they took it as an insult. Once Saito came up to bat, Chapa pitched him in very tight, and actually brushed him with a 1-2 pitch as he led off the bottom 6th. Saito was okay and remained in the game. Saito pitched eight innings, and kept trailing one-nothing. Johnny Smith was pitching his second inning of relief in the bottom 8th, after taking over from Chapa after six shutout innings. Kinnear hit for McDonald, and popped out. Guerin hit for Saito, and flew out. Brewer made the third out. Yep, typical Saito game. 1-0 Bayhawks. Saito 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, L (10-12);

Four hits. I hate this team. They suck. They just suck. Saito has 10 sword strokes free against the sucker bunch.

Raccoons (53-80) @ Loggers (80-53) – September 5-7, 1997

The Loggers are 27 games ahead of us, for which there will certainly be reasons, so why go into the much-depressing details and not just get the sweep behind us so I can go cry some for having lost 12 of the last 13?

Projected matchups:
Scott Wade (4-8, 5.07 ERA) vs. Jorge Casas (10-8, 4.68 ERA)
Miguel Lopez (10-9, 3.97 ERA) vs. Martin Garcia (9-8, 3.76 ERA)
Hector Lara (6-6, 3.78 ERA) vs. Rafael Garcia (17-6, 3.76 ERA)

Right-left-right, not that it would matter. They won’t beat 1979, but they are well on pace for the second-worst season in franchise history.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – C Aycock – SS Caddock – P Wade
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P Casas

Line drive home runs were the theme early in this game. The Coons hit two of those rockets, a 2-piece by Weeds in the first, and a solo job by Kinnear in the third, both out of right. Wade retired the first nine batters, striking out the side in the bottom 3rd, before the Loggers hit two singles in the fourth, but couldn’t score. The Coons couldn’t buy ordinary hits, but when Casas walked a pair in the seventh and Brewer came through with a 3-run home run (the third one over the head of Cristo Ramirez), that made it 6-0, as Wade was pitching one of the games of old. Good control, soft contact on the ground, with very few exceptions. Through eight innings, only one pitch got away really badly, and that resulted in a homer by Terry Sullivan in the eighth, but Wade held on to finish the game on his own. What a nice throwback to better times! 9-1 Raccoons. Kinnear 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Crowe 1-3, 2 BB; Ingall 1-1, 2B, RBI; Wade 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (5-8);

Wade pitched his 19th complete regular season game (20th if including playoffs) here. That pesky Sullivan!

Game 2
POR: 2B Ingall – 3B Utting – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – LF Newton – C McDonald – SS McLaughlin – P M. Lopez
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 3B Nakayama – 2B J. Lopez – C R. Rivera – 1B Sugano – P M. Garcia

Garcia came out sharp and threw strikes, while Lopez came out less sharp and threw balls, but quickly settled in. Both pitchers went into shutout mode early on, and there was really nothing happening in the game until the sixth, as both teams combined for only four hits. The Coons’ only hit had come off McDonald’s bat in the third, and when he was back up in the sixth, he got rung up for strike three, then felt the urge to discuss matters with the umpire, leading to his slightly dramatic ejection. Lopez pitched into the eighth in a scoreless game, but had to leave because of discomfort in his shoulder. De La Rosa replaced him, warmed up on the field, then turned towards Bartolo Hernandez, and surrendered a 1-out triple. And that’s how we lost two 1-0 games in the space of tying the shoes three times, which became official once Martin Garcia struck out pinch-hitter Vern Kinnear to nail down a 1-hitter with 9 K’s. 1-0 Loggers. Lopez 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K;

For bloody crying out loud…

Miguel Lopez has a sore shoulder that will force him to miss a start, so we will have to call up some scrub from AAA sooner rather than later.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brewer – LF Kinnear – CF Reece – 1B Wedemeyer – RF Green – 3B Crowe – SS Utting – C Aycock – P Lara
MIL: CF Fletcher – SS B. Hernandez – RF C. Ramirez – LF Hiwalani – 1B D. Evans – 3B Nakayama – C L. Ramirez – 2B Sullivan – P R. Garcia

An unsuspecting Jerry Fletcher ended up on third base when Crowe and Aycock made errors in the first inning. Lara failed to extract himself from the vines of defeat that weren’t even his own business, as the Loggers scored a pair of unearned runs in the inning. The Raccoons got one run back in the second, but kept lacking that one hit – like all season long – they needed. In the top 5th, Brewer left the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Lara surrendered another run in the sixth, but in the top 7th we had again two runners in scoring position with two down, but Lara was up. Ingall came out to hit, and popped out to second. The tying runs were in scoring position ONCE MORE in the eighth, again with two down, and Green batting. Garcia made him K number nine. There was just no hope for these two-legged failures. The bullpen cocked up two runs in the eighth, bringing out Jeff Hodge to start the top 9th, and he walked Crowe and Utting. No outs, John Bennett could see the tying run in the on-deck circle. Luke Newton came out to bat for Sidney Aycock and dished a 3-run homer, that still had us a run short, and no other Raccoon reached base. 5-4 Loggers. Green 2-4, 2B, RBI; Newton (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Lara 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (6-7);

There is no hope.

In other news

August 26 – SFB OF Antonio Rodriguez (.304, 6 HR, 46 RBI) goes 5-5 and HITS FOR THE CYLCE as the Bayhawks topple the Falcons, 10-6. Rodriguez, 31, drives in four runs with a double, a triple, a single, a home run, and another single in this game. After the cycles of LAP Lance Branch, DEN Pat Parker, and ATL Edgar Morris, this is the fourth cycle this season, and the first ever for the Bayhawks franchise. They had been cycled against three times before (OCT Jonah Frank, 1979; LVA Mark Allen, 1984; MIL Emilio Román, 1989). It is the second consecutive cycle hit against the Falcons.
August 26 – SAL SP John Douglas (11-12, 3.78 ERA) pitches a 4-hit complete game in the Wolves’ 8-2 win over the stars. Douglas takes his 200th career win measuring against 211 losses for the 37-year old right-hander with a 3.88 career ERA. Douglas, the first overall pick by the Loggers in the 1978 amateur draft, has been a workhorse in his career, pitching 3,511 innings in 536 games (515 starts) for the Loggers, Condors, Falcons, and Wolves. He also has 2,256 career strikeouts to his credit.
August 26 – The Loggers win the battle against the Indians, 2-0, but MIL 2B/SS Bartolo Hernandez loses his own war, having his hitting streak end at 26 games.
August 27 – LAP MR Javier Ortíz (3-3, 5.09 ERA, 4 SV) suffers gruesome head injuries being assaulted in the early morning. His injuries include a fractured eye socket, which alone should keep him out of the game for a year.
September 1 – SFW CF John Hensley (.277, 22 HR, 103 RBI) is done for the regular season with a groin strain.
September 4 – BOS SP Bill Smith (10-8, 3.15 ERA) is out for the season after having suffered a serious concussion when he slid head-first into TIJ Bruce Boyle’s knee in the fourth inning on Monday. Smith, 39, will be under contract with the Titans next year, since his vesting option has already triggered.
September 5 – CHA SP Terry “Loudmouth” Wilson (13-12, 4.22 ERA) sparkles with a 2-hit shutout against the Aces in a 6-0 Falcons win.
September 6 – TOP RF Corey Patel (.281, 25 HR, 99 RBI) has a potential MVP season come to a screeching halt, going down to a concussion. He is out for the season.
September 7 – SAC RF/1B Sam Green (.354, 16 HR, 99 RBI) signs the largest contract in ABL history, a 7-yr extension for $9.1M, beating the previous record holder, POR David Brewer, by 100 grand. Green, 26, is .317 with 82 HR and 473 RBI in his career.

Complaints and stuff

9-33 in 1-run games. This is impossible. There has never been something like that. We are FOURTEEN GAMES UNDER OUR PYTHAGOREAN RECORD.

FOURTEEN!!

Can’t this month just swoosh past somehow? I really want to go upstate. I got myself a hut in a remote valley of the Cascades a few years ago. No TV, no phone, no neighbors. The Three Sisters are only a few hours of hiking away. Standing high up on the South Sister and glaring expressionless into the depth is great to clear one’s mind. You can scream in agony at the forest the whole day and nobody’s calling the police. There might be some mildly distraught bears, beavers, and raccoons, but a 9-33 in 1-run games has be pretty dazed, too.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Besides leaving bed in the morning.