[Westheim]

As the All Star break began, we sent Yoshi Nomura to AAA to recall Marv Ingall. Yoshi is merely 20, and he fared respectable, but right now I’d prefer to see him in AAA. Also, Kenichi Watanabe was sent back to AAA, Carlos Sackett moved to the rotation, and we called up Alejandro Rojas.

All Star Game

The Raccoons sent two players to the All Star Game, SP Nick Brown and OF Eddie Torrez. The Titans led the CL with five nominations, but the Loggers and Indians also each had four. The FL were headed by six Buffaloes.

The CL handed the FL a terrible pounding, winning 11-1. IND C Jose Paraz was named MVP. Most damage was done on Tony Hamlyn, the Federal League starter, who allowed six runs in the first inning.

Brownie did not play in the game, while Torrez was a starter and notched three hits, including a double, and drove in a pair.

Raccoons (47-42) vs. Loggers (41-48) – July 15-18, 2004

Not a lot had changed with this team since we had left Milwaukee, although they were now ahead of the Raccoons in runs scored. Oh wonder.

Projected matchups:
Ralph Ford (5-8, 4.60 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (8-8, 3.71 ERA)
Carlos Sackett (1-1, 4.61 ERA) vs. Jaime Aguila (3-11, 4.64 ERA)
Dan Barnes (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. William Lloyd (2-3, 5.60 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-2, 2.78 ERA) vs. Dani Alvarado (7-7, 4.25 ERA)

Game 1
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B Tolwith – SS T. Johnson – LF Hiwalani – RF Fletcher – 1B Aguilar – CF K. Wood – C Melendez – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – RF Brady – C Thomas – LF King – P Ford

A strange kind of pitching duel developed. Both teams drew a few walks, but through four managed only one hit off the opposing starter, and thus zeroes were lined up all over the line score. The scoreless parade, in which both teams managed two hits apiece through six innings, was broken up in the top 7th when Ken Wood hit a solo home run off Ford. It took the Coons until the eighth inning to get two runners on base at the same time, and then Torrez lifted out softly to left, and Sharp grounded out, and they just couldn’t score. Gonzalez casually pitched a 3-hit shutout. 1-0 Loggers. Ford 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, L (5-9);

Well, the excuse that we have three important batters on the DL is no longer valid. Taken for what it is, this remains a crap team full of crappy, sorry souls.

Game 2
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B M. Brown – RF Hiwalani – LF Graham – SS T. Johnson – 1B Aguilar – CF C. Ramirez – C Benitez – P Aguila
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – LF Tyler – P Sackett

Sackett’s first start as a Raccoon started pretty badly. The Loggers chopped a couple of singles in the first inning, but ran themselves out of it after scoring one run when Torrez threw out Hiwalani at home. The Loggers didn’t do much through the next three innings, but broke through in the fifth, plating three runs and narrowly leaving a pair on when Sharp intercepted a hard grounder and finally made the third out at second base. The Raccoons? Goddamn awful. Jaime Aguila humiliated them for the second time in two weeks, and faced the minimum through five. The Loggers left another two men on in the top 6th, which was the last inning for Sackett in a **** start, having allowed eight hits and four walks against zero strikeouts. Tyler’s 1-out double in the bottom 6th actually sparked the dead-in-the-water Raccoons, with Rojas hitting a single in Sackett’s spot to plate Tyler. Torrez singled, and Sharp singled, scoring Rojas, which put the tying runs on base for Martin with two out. Martin hit an RBI single, and Brady singled to left, but Sharp had to be held up at third. That brought up Ingall as the ninth man in the inning, and we would happily take an Ingall sing- HOLY COW, it is high, it is deep, it is – GONE!! GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMM!!!

So, that’s a 7-run inning nobody saw coming. Moreno got two in the top 7th before Dave Graham doubled, but Martinez ended the inning. In the top 8th, Nordahl struck out Arturo Aguilar, before Cristo Ramirez singled hard to right. That brought up Benitez. When the count ran full, Ramirez ran, Nordahl struck out Benitez, and Thomas gunned down the veteran Ramirez to end the inning. In the bottom 8th the Loggers suffered a bullpen implosion, with five runs falling out of Enrique Fernandez and Edgar Cruz. 12-4 Raccoons! Sharp 2-4, RBI; Martin 3-4, RBI; Ingall 1-3, HR, 5 RBI; Tyler 2-4, 2B; Rojas (PH) 1-1, RBI; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (4);

Carlos Sackett actually got a win in this game for basically nothing.

We really need to solve this crap parade of a rotation… next up is Barnes, who will then be removed in some way or other to make room for the Fat Cat to come off the DL next week.

Game 3
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B Tolwith – SS T. Johnson – LF Hiwalani – RF Fletcher – 1B Aguilar – CF K. Wood – C Melendez – P Lloyd
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 1B Rojas – RF Brady – LF King – C Fifield – P Barnes

Three scoreless innings into the game, Barnes just like that walked the bases loaded in the fourth inning with no outs. Although Ken Wood hit into a double play, Hiwalani still scored the first run of the game, and then Melendez drove in Fletcher to make it 2-0. While Brady hit a homer in the bottom of the same inning, that did only half the job. The Coons made a few strong plays to keep a toothless Barnes in the game, and in the bottom 6th chopped a few singles to put two on with no outs. Rojas grounded out to first, moving the runners into scoring position, but Brady’s groundout kept them pinned. Then it was Matt King, not known for clutch (or any) hits, but he hit a 2-run double to right and the Coons took the lead. Both teams blew up in the top 8th. Concie made a terrible throwing error to get the tying run on base against Martinez, and after Williams got Cristo Ramirez out, Corkum came in and surrendered a game-tying 2-out RBI single to PH Pedro Benitez. Then J.J. Villa hit for Melendez and singled up the middle, and Benitez tried to go to third, but was caught in a rundown and that ended the inning. Then we faced Gabriel Garcia in the bottom 8th. Brady hit a single, and then King doubled with one out. Prime chance to have Martin hit for Fifield! Yet Martin struck out and Thomas hitting for Corkum was not any more successful.

Both teams sent their closers for the ninth, and again in the tenth. Bottom 10th, Rojas had a 1-out single and was run for with Ramirez, who made it to second on Wills and Melendez while Brady whiffed on the hit-and-run. With the open base, Brady was then walked intentionally. Robbie Wills then struck out both King and Sheehan to advance to the 11th. Huerta was then brought in for two easy innings, and then Tom Johnson doubled to start the 13th. He was at third with one out, but Huerta kept him there. A fourth inning was squeezed from Huerta, while ex-Furball Benton Wilson matched his shutout pace, but only for 3.1 innings, when Fernandez took over. Nordahl had a scoreless 15th, Ramirez drew a leadoff walk and was caught stealing in the bottom 15th. Top 16th, J.J. Villa hit a 1-out double. Melendez flew out to King, moving Villa to third, but the Loggers were out of bench players and Fernandez struck out. Fernandez continued pitching, and he had had a big hand in last night’s collapse. Bottom 16th, Concie drew a 1-out walk, and then Ingall singled to right, moving Concie to third, the furthest advance in a few hours by then. Sharp grounded to short and Johnson fired home to get Concie. Then Fernandez walked Torrez, bringing up Ramirez, who got a new pitcher in Carl McCoy and flew out to left to end in the inning. We had one more unused reliever, Moreno, who started the top 17th. He walked a man, drilled two, some hits, and the Loggers had both Hiwalani and Melendez hit 3-run homers. 9-3 Loggers. King 4-7, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Huerta 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Nordahl 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

17 innings, and the suckers had ten hits all day and all night long. I just want to cry.

Game 4
MIL: 2B B. Hernandez – 3B Tolwith – SS T. Johnson – LF Hiwalani – RF Fletcher – 1B Aguilar – CF K. Wood – C Melendez – P Alvarado
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Fifield – LF Tyler – P Brown

Brown was in trouble from about the time he warmed up. After Tolwith got hit in the first inning, Hiwalani hit a double but Tolwith stopped at third, and Fletcher didn’t get the job done. Tolwith then doubled in the third with Hernandez starting from first. Hernandez did NOT stop at third, and Tyler threw him out at home. Brown was also the first Raccoon on base with a single in the third. The Coons still were held to a single by Alvarado when he came up with two out and two on – Brady and Ingall had walked – in the fifth inning. And he singled again, Brady turned third and scored, aided by an error by Hiwalani. And the home team just COULD – NOT – GET – ANYTHING DONE. Top 7th then, Aguilar drew a leadoff walk off Brown. Wood reached on a capital throwing error by Fifield, and then Meldenez clanked a 3-run homer off the foul pole, soiling everything and hanging a wholly undeserved loss on Brown. Danny Sharp’s 1-out double off Robbie Wills was the first hit by a Raccoons position player – in the bottom 9th! Nominally that brought up Al Martin as the tying run. He sent a liner to left center which eluded Hiwalani and became an RBI double. Brady struck out, as did Ingall. 3-2 Loggers. Brown 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (13-3) and 2-2, RBI; Corkum 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

How very depressing. Why can’t this team just be wrapped up and sold to Balochistan? I don’t want to see those suckerfaces anymore…

Dan Barnes was DFA’ed as Edgar Amador came off the DL.

Raccoons (48-45) vs. Indians (41-51) – July 19-21, 2004

The Indians had lost five games in a row, but at the same time the Raccoons had lost any credibility whatsoever. The Indians had the most dismal pitching corps with the most runs allowed, and only scored the ninth-most runs in the CL despite them carrying the two leading home run hitters in the Continental League, with Alston and Lopez both having swatted 20 so far. They were really not any good. But well, the Raccoons …

Projected matchups:
Randy Farley (5-10, 5.04 ERA) vs. Patrick Moreau (5-6, 6.05 ERA)
Ralph Ford (5-9, 4.35 ERA) vs. Doug Morrow (7-7, 3.72 ERA)
Carlos Sackett (2-1, 4.86 ERA) vs. Alonso Alonso (4-3, 3.56 ERA)

Game 1
IND: 2B D. Mendez – SS Stevens – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – RF Martines – 3B I. Burns – P Moreau
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – C Thomas – LF King – P Farley

Torrez and Sharp in scoring position with one out in the bottom 1st, Martin and Brady just plainly failed. Ingall was up with the bases loaded in the third, but made the final out, but he had already saved Farley’s bacon in the field three times in the game, starting double plays in the first and second innings, and making another difficult play to end the top 3rd, and Ingall would start *another* double play in the fifth, but with the greatest dismay he had to watch everybody around him in the lineup to not manage to hit a lick. So, Ingall ponied up, and when he came up again in the bottom 6th, he hit a solo home run to left that was the first tally in the game. Farley rode on Ingall’s back through seven with that 1-0 lead, then drilled Felix Martines to start the eighth and was swiftly yanked. Moreno saw Ian Burns bunt the runner to second, before Patrick Moreau duped the Raccoons with a bloop single to right that scored Martines. We would parade two more hurlers into the inning before Ingall held on to the tie when he nabbed Alston’s grounder to strand runners on the corners. Bottom 8th, Danny Sharp led off with a double, which did not go to waste once Al Martin found his grounder elude both Stevens and Burns for an RBI single. The Coons loaded the bases on Moreau, who came apart, and two more runs scored, before Bruno had a Nordahl-esque ninth, being hit with a Jose Paraz homer, his sixteenth, then hit MacKey, but the Indians failed to mount a rally. 4-2 Raccoons. Sharp 3-4, 2 2B; Ingall 2-4, HR, RBI; King 2-3, RBI; Farley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

The third baseman bunts, and the pitchers swats an RBI single. **** like that works ONLY against crap teams.

Game 2
IND: 2B D. Mendez – RF Cortez – LF Alston – 3B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF P. Taylor – SS Stevens – 1B Kilters – P Morrow
POR: SS Guerin – RF Brady – 3B Sharp – CF Torrez – 2B Ingall – 1B Rojas – LF Tyler – C Thomas – P Ford

We tried to be aggro early and had Concie and Brady engage in some hit-and-run. Brady sent a vicious liner to center that was nevertheless caught by Phil Taylor and by that time Concie was almost around third, over home plate, into the dugout, down the tunnel, up in the clubhouse, had a shower, and cold one, but he was still out at first. Bottom 2nd, bases loaded, no outs, Doug Morrow struck out Tyler and then couldn’t believe it when Thomas grounded back right to his feet, double play, home and first. When Tyler actually met a ball and singled to right in the bottom 4th, Sharp was sent from second base, but was out at home to end the inning. While the offense was doing dumb **** for the entire evening, Ford was one-hitting the Indians through five, before that glass fell to the ground and burst into a million splinters, too. David Lopez’ RBI triple in the top 6th also led to him being scored on a Jose Paraz grounder right through Sharp, and the Indians were up 2-0. Bottom 6th, Sharp hit a grounder, Torrez walked, and Ingall hit into a double play to advance us to the seventh. That triple was the entire game through 51 aggregate outs. Morrow carried a 7-hitter into the bottom 9th and the Indians waited to have him finish it. After Sharp grounded out to short, Torrez walked. Martin hit for Ingall and walked. Sheehan hit for Rojas and grounded to short, but Stevens bungled the play and all hands were safe. Tyler grounded to first, but Kilters was carried off-bag after picking it up and again all hands were safe! Now it was 2-1, bases loaded, one out, and the Indians saw that they probably needed to bother their closer Iemitsu Rin after all. Rin struck out Thomas, before King popped out to shallow right. 2-1 Indians. Sharp 2-4, 2B; Ingall 2-3; Tyler 2-4, RBI;

How long has it taken the Raccoons to score their last 100 runs? 32 days, in which they played 28 games.

Game 3
IND: 2B D. Mendez – SS Stevens – LF Alston – 1B D. Lopez – C Paraz – CF MacKey – RF C. Rey – 3B I. Burns – P Alonso
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Tyler – C Fifield – P Sackett

The Indians piled onto Sackett, who surrendered plenty of contact, and twice one that hurt really hard. Jose Paraz hit a 3-run home run in the first inning, all runs unearned after Fifield had given the Indians a head start with an error. Not much happened through the next few innings, but in the sixth inning it was Ian Burns to double the output with another 3-run shot, with nobody out even. That was Sackett’s final batter. The Raccoons happened into a run themselves somewhere along the way, but 6-1 with no outs in the top 6th was a definitive statement. Two runs were surrendered by Dave Williams in the eighth, and the Raccoons just had nothing, until they had something in the bottom 9th, with Rojas reaching on an error and Sheehan hitting a single. And then they still had nothing, as suddenly the skies burst open and intense rain doused the park and everybody confined in it – mostly players and crews, no fans anywhere. Two on, one out, the game got called by the umpires eventually. 8-1 Indians. Torrez 2-4; Martin 2-4, RBI; Sheehan (PH) 1-1; Huerta 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

It is so utterly depressing.

We made two roster moves. Gary Fifield was waived and designated for assignment, and Alejandro Rojas was sent away for Matt Love. Fifield was replaced with Bob Wood, 23, who is an excellent defensive catcher, while he has never hit successfully at any level. We selected him in the third round in the 1999 draft.

Raccoons (49-47) @ Knights (41-52) – July 23-25, 2004

The Knights ranked bottoms in the Continental League with 371 runs scored, six fewer than the Raccoons, and with a chance to turn the table. They also had the worst bullpen complementing a perhaps average rotation, so the overall package cried out for last place.

Projected matchups:
Edgar Amador (6-4, 3.51 ERA) vs. Larry Cutts (9-5, 2.82 ERA)
Nick Brown (13-3, 2.78 ERA) vs. Sadakuno Imamura (3-3, 5.28 ERA)
Randy Farley (5-10, 4.79 ERA) vs. Johnny Collins (6-5, 2.86 ERA)

Carlos Sackett will be available out of the bullpen, as we plan to skip his start with another off day on Monday.

Game 1
POR: SS Guerin – 2B Ingall – 1B Sharp – CF Torrez – 3B M. Ramirez – RF Brady – LF King – C Thomas – P Amador
ATL: 2B J. Miller – SS Luján – CF Ware – LF J. Morales – C J. Lopez – 1B Maldrum – RF A. Rodriguez – 3B Verdon – P Cutts

The Raccoons had no runners the first time through the order before Guerin drew a walk to start the fourth. Ingall single, two on with no outs, and then Sharp grounded out, Torrez struck out, and oh here it comes. However, this time Ramirez came through with a 3-run homer for the first scoring in the game. While Amador was erratic with control and walked a few, through five he allowed only two hits and those both went through Ramirez, who originally had been in for the improved defense. After the Coons got an unearned run in the top 6th, when Guerin reached on an error, stole third, and scored on a sac fly by Ingall, the Knights hit two singles up the middle in the bottom 6th, but didn’t score, yet they repeated their feat in the bottom 7th, and this time Amador was at least removed with the top of the order up and Martinez replaced him to quell the threat, which he did successfully by striking out James Miller and then playing Antonio Luján’s grounder to first himself to end the frame scorelessly. The bullpen handled the lead responsibly. 5-0 Coons. Sharp 2-4; Ramirez 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Amador 6.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (7-4);

We had only one other hit, by Ingall, but at least we got the big knock this time. Last year we had six guys to hit ten homers. This year we are about to drop into the bottom half in home runs. In fact, Ramirez’ shot lifted us into a tie of sixth place.

Game 2
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – RF Brady – 2B Ingall – LF Tyler – C Wood – P Brown
ATL: RF R. Lopez – SS Luján – CF Ware – LF J. Morales – 1B J. Garcia – C J. Lopez – 2B J. Miller – 3B Verdon – P Imamura

The Coons had runners on second and third with no outs in the first and led themselves be held to one run, before Brown came out and had a crappy inning, giving the run right back and bailing out luckily on a double play. At least Brown put the go-ahead run over the plate with a groundout in the top 2nd again. Before him, Bob Wood had hit a double in his first major league at-bat. Brown came out for the second inning and walked the leadoff man, his third walk on the day, before he struck out Miller, which was his first K… Brownie never found his control in the game and had to scratch and bite to not lose his lunch to the Knights. At least some more support came around. Torrez went yard in the fifth off Imamura, increasing the lead to 4-1 with his tenth homer of the season. Imamura singled in the bottom 5th and Brown then walked the bases full. Stephen Ware singled in a run before Concie turned a double play on Alejandro Rodriguez, who was in as injury replacement for Morales, and that ended the inning. Jorge Garcia’s leadoff jack chased Brown in the sixth after a horrible 5-walk outing. Imamura kept working even after he surrendered an RBI single to Wood in the top 7th, with Wood not retired on the day, and the score up to 5-3. More backup was probably desirable, since we all know our Critters, although they struck out the side in the bottom 7th and bottom 8th, allowing a single in between each time. Martinez, Williams, and Nordahl collaborated. Top 9th, Wood reached for the fourth time on the day with another single, and Matt King pinch-walked. Guerin and Torrez made outs, but Sharp salvaged an 0-4 day with a single up the middle to get us to 6-3 and give Marcos Bruno the maximum cushion. And what happened then? He walked Ricardo Valadez, before Rodrigo Lopez and Antonio Luján both singled up the middle. Bases loaded with no outs. Oh great, that’s why Nordahl doesn’t pitch in that spot anymore! He balked in a run and another run scored on a groundout while he struck out a pair. Jorge Garcia was walked intentionally as a .300 lefty, to get to whatever the bench would offer in place of the pitcher, which turned out to be righty .250 batter Larry Maldrum, who struck out. 6-5 Raccoons. Torrez 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Tyler 2-4, 2B; Wood 4-4, 2B, RBI;

And this, kids, is the reason why you never stop hustling, even in the ninth inning, and even if your team is already in the lead, and even if you think you’re smart enough to think it’s enough, because NO, because you’re DUMB and you don’t know ****, and NOW DO AS I SAY!!

Yeah, that was almost ugly. Maybe that’s the difference. Nordahl would have resolved that ninth inning with a grand slam.

And how about Bob Wood? No fanfare whatsoever, but four hits in his major league debut!

Well, could we please clinch a winning week here? I need it calm myself down! Bad thing is, if we want to have that winning week, we’ll have to bind and gag Randy before he takes the mound, since he attracts losses like rotting fruits attract flies.

Maybe this can make a good nickname.

Also, Neil Reece came off the DL before the Sunday game, with Matt Love being demoted after getting into one game as defensive replacement, but not getting any at-bats.

Game 3
POR: SS Guerin – CF Torrez – 3B Sharp – 1B Martin – 2B Ingall – LF Reece – RF Tyler – C Wood – P Farley
ATL: 2B J. Miller – SS Luján – CF Ware – RF J. Garcia – C J. Lopez – 1B Maldrum – LF A. Rodriguez – 3B Verdon – P J. Collins

Bobby Wood extended his career hitting streak to five with a single to start the top 3rd. In a scoreless game, Farley whiffed on bunt attempts twice before bunting past the mound to short, where Luján had played a bit deep, then had to hustle and rush the throw, which skipped into the dugout and put two Coons in scoring position with no outs. Concie and Torrez cashed in with RBI singles and Martin scored Concie with a sac fly to take a 3-0 lead. Both teams made errors in the bottom 3rd and top 4th, respectively, with Martin guilty for the Raccoons, but neither led to a run, while Farley looked quite good to start the game, whiffing five in the first three innings. But that was the beginning, and with Randy’s starts, there was always an end, and it was always ugly. Bottom 5th, Maldrum led off with a single, and Rodriguez also singled to right, where Tyler overran the ball and moved the runners into scoring position. Nick Verdon singled, 3-1, tying runs on the corners, and no outs. After Collins bunted and Miller popped out, the Raccoons were almost out of the weather, and then Antonio Luján’s double eluded Tyler, too, and the game was tied. Stephen Ware drove in the go-ahead run with a single, and it was all in the ****. It took the Raccoons all the way to the eighth to reach scoring position after Sharp led off with a single, crawled along casually as the team made outs, and then scored on Neil Reece’s 2-out single to tie the score. In the top 9th, the Knights sent Manuel Reyes, who allowed Guerin and Torrez to reach with one out. The hope was to Sharp to draw a walk and get a sac fly from Martin, who doesn’t do anything worthwhile with the bat anymore. Sharp made the second out, which made extra innings loom big, until suddenly Al Martin DID crack a home run, and that blew the game up big time! With Bruno expending almost 40 pitches the night before, we went to Bill Corkum to save this game. He allowed a 2-out single to Ron Brantley, but danger never knocked on the door like on Saturday… 7-4 Raccoons. Guerin 2-5, RBI; Torrez 2-5, RBI; Reece 2-3, RBI; Sackett 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (3-2);


In other news

July 14 – The Crusaders deal 36-yr old MR Cory Maupin (2-1, 1.69 ERA, 1 SV) to the Crusaders for three prospects, none of which are ranked.
July 14 – The Buffaloes acquire 1B Julio Garcia (.309, 3 HR, 28 RBI) from the Rebels for a second-rate prospect.
July 15 – WAS SP Chris York (7-12, 3.77 ERA) strikes out eleven in a 2-hit shutout over the Blue Sox, which the Capitals win 2-0.
July 16 – The Condors trade CL Alonso Villegas (2-4, 2.55 ERA, 21 SV) to the Buffaloes for three non-ranked prospects.
July 16 – The Knights acquire C/1B Jorge Lopez (.248, 12 HR, 54 RBI) from the Warriors for #53 prospect MR Juan Sanchez and another prospect.
July 17 – CYCLE!! The Scorpions get clobbered 23-5 by the Stars, with DAL RF/LF Artie Barnes (.301, 7 HR, 36 RBI) connecting four times for one hit of each kind. He drives in two runs in the game. It is the Stars fourth cycle, the third since 2000, and the 35th overall in ABL history.
July 17 – CHA SP Jorge Silva (7-9, 4.73 ERA) is out for the season and possibly a part of 2005 with a torn labrum.
July 18 – VAN SP Daniel Dickerson (4-8, 2.74 ERA) is out for the season with a fractured elbow. The Canadiens swiftly acquire SP Harry Wentz (6-7, 5.48 ERA) from the Pacifics for two prospects, including #93 SP Lou Cannon.
July 21 – 3B Sonny Reece (.319, 11 HR, 55 RBI) of the Sacramento Scorpions knocks his 2,000th base hit in a 7-6 defeat to the Pacifics. Reece, 31, is famous for the 1994 postseason, in which he smashed come-from-behind walkoff homers to clinch both the CLCS and the World Series for the Thunder, and both times in game 7!
July 21 – The Condors acquire LF/RF Josh Thomas (.235, 7 HR, 34 RBI) from the Miners, sending over SP Manuel Pineda (11-6, 3.62 ERA) and a pitching prospect in #28 Richard Vincent.
July 21 – WAS SP Steve Rogers (10-5, 3.81 ERA) 3-hits the Cyclones in a 6-0 shutout.
July 23 – The Titans sent C Fernando Diéguez (.291, 1 HR, 23 RBI) to the Canadiens in exchange for MR Juan Sanchez (5-1, 1.72 ERA) and unranked 1B prospect Ricardo Martinez.
July 24 – The Canadiens acquire MR Paco Leoniedas (2-1, 2.19 ERA, 2 SV) from the Condors in exchange for a minor leaguer.
July 24 – SFB INF Trystao Bulco (.319, 3 HR, 12 RBI) has stitched together a 20-game hitting streak with one hit against the Loggers.
July 25 – Trystao Bulco’s hitting streak ends already as he goes hitless in the Bayhawks’ 3-2 win over the Loggers.

Complaints and stuff

I always liked Sonny Reece. His postseason exploits are part of the ABL lore. But I find it indecent of him in the highest degree to notch 2,000 career hits before NEIL Reece, who is six years his senior! Naughty Sonny!

Chris Parker was Player of the Week in the FL.

We are getting a swath of trade proposals this year. People are really keen on Marvin Ingall (!?) and Santiago Trevino, an outfielder in AA ball. Yet, they all just want to dump their overpaid veterans on us, and we have our own overpaid veterans, thank you.

And a lot of grief, too, much of which must come down to two facts: Al Martin has two home runs in the last month, and Clyde Brady is on a 4-for-49 skid. However, you don’t go on a 15-29 spin as we have since June 1 just because of two players. The rotation has been junk with the exception of Nick Brown since then, and now Brown is entering a funky mood, which will not be good. I would dig seeing him win 20 games, and he was certainly on pace for that, but with this wonky offense, he needs his A game, which he hasn’t had in his last few starts: 17.1 IP, 16 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 8 BB, 17 K over his last three outings.