[Westheim]

Raccoons (79-43) vs. Knights (47-75) – August 20, 2007

In this highly inconveniently scheduled makeup game, Brownie (13-7, 2.52 ERA) would face fellow southpaw Eric Stevens (4-10, 6.13 ERA). They had the third-most productive offense, but outright the worst pitching in the Continental League. This would be the only game the Raccoons would play at home before hustling out east again to play seven more road games this week.

ATL: SS Kester – 1B Younger – RF J. Garcia – LF G. Munoz – 3B C. Martinez – C De La Parra – 2B T. Pena – CF Keller – P E. Stevens
POR: CF Castro – SS Flores – 1B Quebell – RF Black – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – C Esquivel – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Brown

We were looking forward to Brownie dealing with the Knights quickly so we could get back out to Indy. Unfortunately we started out behind when Jorge Garcia hit his 23rd home run off him to get the Knights 1-0 ahead in the first.

Now, this game had to get into the books somehow, and preferably quickly. The umpires knew that, too. Both pitchers ran up the strikeout tally pretty quickly, and hitting was at a premium. Too bad that the Knights had already done a good job in the first inning. Through eight innings, Brownie allowed only one more hit, an infield single, whiffed eleven, and still trailed 1-0. Quebell had the Coons’ only hit, a single, until Daniel Sharp hit a bloop double to start the bottom 8th. Crespo singled, Sharp had to hold, and Esquivel’s grounder didn’t help. Gutierrez flew out to right, Sharp tagged, was out by a mile by Garcia’s throw – except that the throw went over De La Parra’s head and Sharp was safe. Pruitt came out to bat for Brown with Crespo on third base, and hit a chopper that hopped twice before Kenneth Younger … bobbled it!! The ball bounced away, Pruitt was SAFE, and the Raccoons held the lead!! A visibly shaken Eric Stevens was completely off balance now, allowed singles to Castro and Flores, and the resulting 4-1 lead was tended to competently by Angel Casas. 4-1 Brownies! Quebell 2-4, RBI; Crespo 1-2, BB; Brown 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, W (14-7);

Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re stupid lucky, and sometimes the opponents make two errors to gift you one. Overall, we have gone 8-1 against the Knights this season, and we’re one win away from burying the lingering pressure of a horrendous decade.

Raccoons (80-43) @ Indians (64-60) – August 21-23, 2007

The Indians were 7th in runs scored, 4th in runs allowed, with the second-best bullpen in the Continental League, and although their team was not quite a killer, they had strangled the Raccoons for eight out of a dozen games this season. The Raccoons had already dropped to 4-11 to an opponent this month …

Projected matchups:
Kelvin Yates (16-1, 2.12 ERA) vs. Román Escobedo (6-7, 4.75 ERA)
Cássio Boda (5-3, 3.44 ERA) vs. Ramiro Gonzalez (9-11, 3.64 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (9-8, 4.18 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (8-9, 4.58 ERA)

The Indians’ starters were named in a profusely confusing manner, but we’d take that over facing Curtis Tobitt (14-7, 2.64 ERA) every time we’d face them. This series could see us face Ron Alston for the first time this season. The outfielder is still on the DL, but might come off soon, although the Indians might still send him on a rehab assignment.

Game 1
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – 1B Pruitt – RF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – LF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Yates
IND: RF B. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – C Paraz – CF Luxton – 3B Fugosi – LF A. Johnson – 2B C. Aguilar – SS J. Lopez – P Escobedo

Kelvin Yates wasn’t walking many, but when he walked Bill Miller in the third inning, the Indians immediately broke through his defenses. Stevens singled, Paraz doubled with Crespo cutting down Stevens at home, but Robbie Luxton still hit a homer to get the Indians 3-0 ahead. Castro in center had looked very bad on Stevens’ single, and he looked even worse when Avery Johnson hit a bloop single to center in the fourth inning. Cesar Aguilar’s homer ran the lead to a commanding 5-0. No, this was not going to be Kel’s 17th win. He was yanked for good after Filippo Fugosi’s leadoff single in the bottom 6th, with the Raccoons only able to scratch out one run after a Crespo triple and an error in the fifth. John Bennett couldn’t keep the run on. In the bigger picture, it didn’t matter one bit. The Raccoons weren’t hitting Escobedo at all and amounted to only four hits over the entire game. 6-1 Indians. Castro 2-4;

Hmz.

In other news I have made up my mind for the double header. Rhett Carpenter will make the start. It will be a trash can game. It will most likely be a trash can double header. If we don’t lose the division lead (or our share of it) by then (and we’re tied right now), we will lose it on Friday. But it might be worse to have everybody on short rest for one run through the rotation. Kaz Kichida is struggling right now and will not get a spot start. We will have to expose Carpenter to waivers after that game, so maybe someone will claim the bum.

Game 2
POR: SS Flores – CF Crespo – 1B Pruitt – LF Black – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – RF Mays – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Boda
IND: RF B. Miller – 1B S. Stevens – C Paraz – CF Luxton – 3B Fugosi – 2B J. Miller – LF P. Javier – SS J. Lopez – P R. Gonzalez

In a scoreless game, Luke Black came to the plate with the bags full and one out made in the third inning. The Duke was 1-for-28, easily qualifying for a horrendous rut. Here, he worked a walk, but not until after Gonzalez had already balked a run home. Bowen popped out before Gonzalez threw a wild pitch, 2-0. Sharp singled to right to actually notch an RBI for the team that was now up 3-0 before Bobo Mays struck out. The Indians pulled a run right back when Stevens drew a walk and scored on Robbie Luxton’s double to right. The Raccoons added a run in the top 4th, but by the bottom 4th had the game about to break to pieces. A James Miller single, Javier walking, and a blooper by Lopez loaded the bases, with Jose Lugo hitting for Gonzalez in the 4-1 game and without anybody out. The Raccoons caught a wonderful break when Lugo lined out to Pruitt, who tagged a reversing Jose Lopez for a double play, and then Boda blew it up anyway. Bill Miller doubled and scored on Simon Stevens’ single, and the game was tied. Boda was yanked (and beaten with blocks of soap inside his own sweaty socks) after walking the first two batters in the fifth inning (giving him six free passes on the day). This time Bennett held the runners pinned, so Boda didn’t even get the loss he had worked so hard for.

Law Rockburn pitched two innings from there, issuing a leadoff walk to Luxton, who was a giant pike in the Coons’ side in this series, before a strike-em-out-throw-em-out on Fugosi cleared the air and the 4-4 tie was kept in place. The bottom 8th had Avery Johnson hit a leadoff double off Riddle. After Jose Lopez flew out, lefty Jim Stein hit for the pitcher and we called on Ed Bryan, who got a grounder from Stein before Bill Miller almost beat the Raccoons with a drive to right, but Mays had his glove in place. The Coons’ offense wasn’t doing anything while Marcos Bruno pitched a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras. By then, the Loggers behind Martin Garcia had beat the Crusaders, but the Raccoons had to pull their heads out beneath their tails and get some runs onto the board.

Carefully looking for a spot to use Tomas Castro off the bench, we were waiting for a RISP situation – and didn’t get one. He finally hit for Mays (0-4) in the 11th with one out and nobody on. Facing Tommy Wooldridge, Castro demonstrated that he didn’t need no runner in scoring position – he could slug one outta here! Nomura and Flores reached with two outs before Crespo grounded out to end the inning, getting us to Angel time. He walked Bill Miller with one out, but struck out Stevens and Jose Paraz finally grounded out to Pruitt at first. 5-4 Furballs. Flores 2-5, BB; Crespo 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Sharp 2-5, RBI; Castro (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Rockburn 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Bruno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (6-0);

LOSING TEAM NO MORE! LOSING TEAM NO MORE! LOSING TEAM NO MORE!!!

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – RF Crespo – 2B Nomura – P Fuentes
IND: RF B. Miller – SS J. Lopez – C Paraz – CF Luxton – 1B S. Stevens – 3B Fugosi – LF A. Johnson – 2B J. Miller – P Jimenez

Both leadoff batters doubled in the first and were scored with singles (Pruitt and Lopez responsible) to make the whole exercise kinda moot early. The Raccoons certainly had a chance to liven up the day when Castro and Pruitt pulled off a double steal in the top 3rd to appear in scoring position with one out, but Bowen struck out and Quebell unleashed a ****ty grounder. By contrast, a pair of doubles easily plated the go-ahead run in the bottom 4th for the Indians. And what did the Raccoons do to respond? When finally one of the critters reached, Quebell hit into a double play to resolve that outrageous situation. The Indians broke up the score with a 2-run homer by Avery Johnson in the sixth, while the Raccoons were unable to score without somebody doing something stupid. Castro singled in the eighth, stole a base, and eventually scored on a wild pitch by Dane Sanders, but that was all. In fact, it was the Raccoons’ only hit past the third inning. 4-2 Indians. Castro 2-4; Kichida 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Tomas Castro stole three bases in the game, and it still was wildly not enough to beat the Indians. The Crusaders were idle, leaving us half a game ahead. We will make up the half game difference on Friday.

Bob Mays was demoted to get the extra starter, Rhett Carpenter, onto the roster. Felipe Garcia was waived and designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Raccoons (81-45) @ Condors (55-72) – August 24-26, 2007

The Condors were winless against the Raccoons this year, giving us an outside shot at a 9-0 run, but to be frank, the Raccoons had terrible issues in the middle of their order and in their rotation right now and just weren’t to be expected to sweep anybody. The Condors were 8th in offense and 10th in pitching, with a negative run differential almost in triple digits. The Raccoons will officially be the home team for the opener of the series, which is a makeup game.

Projected matchups:
Jose Dominguez (5-9, 5.08 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (3-5, 3.62 ERA)
Rhett Carpenter (0-0) vs. Art Cox (8-8, 5.16 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-7, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jorge Silva (9-13, 4.71 ERA)
Kelvin Yates (16-2, 2.36 ERA) vs. Ron Cater (5-15, 5.74 ERA)

After getting three left-handers so far this week, this will be an all-right-handed array of opposing arms.

Game 1
TIJ: SS Ybarra – 2B Brantley – 3B B. Román – CF R. Perez – LF Crum – RF Barnes – 1B Ward – C A. Ramirez – P J. Martin
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – 2B Nomura – P Dominguez

The dork in brown came apart early. Jaylen Martin led off the third inning with a hard struck single to center. Ron Brantley would reach on an infield single before Dominguez wasn’t even close to not walking either Bartolo Román or Ramón Perez. Johnny Crum’s sac fly gave the Condors a 2-0 lead. Maybe the top of the order could offer a quick answer? Nomura scratched out a cheap single to start the Raccoons’ half of the third inning, Dominguez managed to bunt without getting anybody killed, and then Flores singled to get Nomura to third, from where he scored on a fielder’s choice hit into by Tomas Castro. Quebell walked, bringing up not the Duke, but his replacement in the cleanup spot, Matt Pruitt. The younger unloaded for a massive 3-run homer that flipped the score to 4-2 Coons.

That lead was in acute danger of getting blown as soon as the dork with the brown hat resumed pitching. The Condors hit him hard, and repeatedly so, scored a run and had two men on when Bartolo Román’s drive to deep center was barely intercepted by Castro to end the inning. Top 5th, Perez singled, stole second, Crum singled, tied game. Both singles were hard line drives. For Dominguez, that was more than enough. Double header or not, GET YOUR ****ING FACE OUTTA HERE!!

Kaz Kichida took over. With the pitcher’s spot up first in the Coons’ half of the fifth, he was supposed to somehow get us out of the inning, then yield for some other poor victim. Kichida faced four men, and didn’t retire any. Artie Barnes walked before Tommy Ward was safe on a drag bunt. Ramirez walked, and then Martin broke open the score with a double into right center. Law Rockburn was brought into the game knowing that he was not going to get out unless he was either bleeding or the mercy rule would be enforced. What better to do in a 9-4 game than ruining your third-best reliever for the rest of the weekend? Whatever the answer to that depressing question, Law Rockburn’s five scoreless innings were easily the best any of the trash can bandits did in this game. 9-4 Condors. Rockburn 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Flores – CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – 3B Sharp – RF Crespo – 2B J. Gutierrez – P Carpenter
TIJ: SS Ybarra – 2B Brantley – 3B B. Román – CF R. Perez – LF Crum – RF Barnes – 1B Tanner – C P. Estrada – P Cox

Carpenter poked with the stick before he hurled, with Art Cox scuffling badly and issuing three walks, including one with the bases loaded to Bowen to force home the first run of the game, and allowed five runs total after big hits by Sharp and Crespo. But we knew that Carpenter was no Brown, and not even close to a Boda, and the Condors slapped him for two runs in the bottom 1st in a clear indication that this thing would not be over so soon. Bowen added a run with a single in the second, the Coons loaded them up, but Crespo was denied a breakthrough when Johnny Crum made an amazing catch right on top of the left field line to end the inning. Balls were jumping off the bat with Carpenter pitching, and six runs would probably not do…

Pruitt understood the gravity of the situation and after Quebell reached with a single to start the fourth, Pruitt rammed a liner into the gap in right center for an RBI triple. A Bowen sac fly made it an 8-2 game after the top 4th. And Carpenter didn’t make it out of the bottom 4th. The first four Condors all reached, and the score was 8-6 with the sacks full and two out when Ed Bryan was sent to get Johnny Crum, who flew out softly to Crespo on the first pitch. Bryan pitched a scoreless fifth, then was hit for in the top 6th. Crespo had just hit a 2-out, 2-run triple to run the score to 10-6, and it was 11-6 after Kuni Sato’s pinch-hit RBI double. We still had to get four innings somehow.

Bruno and Angel were available, but we’d see to get at least one inning from Bennett and Riddle, preferably one from both of them. Instantly, everything failed again. Bennett was brought out, got reliever Enrico Gonzalez, and then the gates came crashing down. Ybarra got on, Román singled him in, and then Perez walked in a full count. Crum up and the tying run in the on-deck circle, Marcos Bruno was called into the game, and not for just one batter… Crum was erased with terrible efficiency, and then came the seventh and another breakdown. Bruno walked Rowan Tanner and Paco Estrada, and then ex-Coon Edgardo Fernandez hit an RBI double into left, 11-8. Another run scored on a grounder, as Bruno’s ERA tripled to 0.74 with that outing. The Coons got spotted two walks by Kevin Jones in the eighth, didn’t score, and Angel Casas came out in the bottom of the inning. If you’re gonna blow up, blow up with your best guy, trying to log six outs before getting devoured, with A LOT of left-handed batters in the way. He whiffed Román and got grounders from Perez and Crum to pitch a scoreless eighth. The Raccoons, out of breath, didn’t score in the ninth, either. Bottom 9th, Artie Barnes struck out. The unretired Rowan Tanner was retired to Castro in center, leaving .176 batting catcher Paco Estrada. And HE lined a single to left, and that brought up the tying run, another left-hander in Tommy Ward, who was merely batting .371 over 140 AB. The count went to 2-2 before Ward chopped the ball in play, a high bouncer to Nomura, who had to hustle, to first, out, ballgame. 11-9 Raccoons. Flores 3-6, 2B; Quebell 2-4, 2 BB; Pruitt 2-5, BB, 3B, RBI; Bowen 1-2, 2 BB, 3 RBI; Sharp 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Sato (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Bryan 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (6-1); Casas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (38);

Next time, we will give the ball to the ace on short rest. Can’t get any more ****ed up than this. For ****’s sake, we might give the ball to Slappy, and he wouldn’t - … HE HAD A SIX-RUN LEAD, GODDAMNIT!!!

And we had enough. While Rhett Carpenter was waived and DFA’ed as we had planned anyway, Jose Dominguez was not admitted back onto the team bus after this game. He got twenty bucks for a taxi and was told to **** the heck off. The Agitator was raving about the release in the Saturday morning issue.

We thankfully have an off day on Thursday, which would be the next time we’d need a living body in the #5 spot, and then it’s already time for roster expansion by the time the spot comes up again. Right now, we called up a reliever, Sergio Vega as a long man to help an abused pen, and a fifth outfielder in Jose Cruz, a 25-year old non-prospect. A right-handed batter with sub-par fielding abilities on the corners, and you wouldn’t try him in center, he was batting .300/.376/.398 with eight homers in AAA. He had been our sixth round pick in 2001 and had quickly vanished from any depth charts.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders had lost to the Falcons, 8-5, and we had a full game lead despite being raped for 18 runs. Elks leeching back in, too.

Game 3
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – C Bowen – RF Black – 3B Sharp – 2B Nomura – P Brown
TIJ: SS Ybarra – 2B Brantley – CF R. Perez – C A. Ramirez – RF Tanner – LF E. Fernandez – 1B R. Morris – 3B Quintero – P Carter

The Coons needed their co-ace number one to protect the bullpen and pitch well in this game, but unfortunately Brownie was excessively wild, and constantly missed away. He walked one in the first, the leadoff man in the second and third, but the Condors couldn’t get him early. They didn’t get a hit in the first three innings, then they got three straight singles to start the fourth inning from Ramirez, Tanner, and Fernandez (including two ex-Coons) to take a 1-0 lead. The Raccoons’ ledger so far: two hits, two double plays, Quebell involved. Black drawing a leadoff walk in the top of the next inning pulled that run right back once Nomura doubled to center and Black scored handily.

But Brownie sucked balls, threw balls, and fell back behind right away again. Full counts to three consecutive batters resulted in a Perez walk and a Ramirez single, and Tanner plated Perez with a single in the bottom 5th. Somehow he made it through the sixth (did the dorks yesterday even combine for six?), but he remained on the hook with the offense being frigidly cold.

After a scoreless inning by Riddle, Jose Gutierrez hit for him and ripped a leadoff double off Ron Carter to represent the tying run in scoring position. Flores squeezed a grounder past Roberto Quintero to advance Gutierrez to third, and although everybody knew that Quebell would hit into at least a double play, he was sent to bat. In a variation, he grounded out to the second baseman, but the only out was on himself, yet Gutierrez didn’t go either, but at least our two best batters were coming up and, oh, here comes Kevin Jones, a left-hander. Castro struck out, and Pruitt had two strikes on him in a hurry before lunging for a sinker low and chipping it over the mound and into center and both runs scored!! Now we had a lead, but our back end was unavailable, Rockburn, Bruno, Casas, all off limits. Ed Bryan came out for the eighth, and we might see Sergio Vega in the ninth. Bryan walked Eddie Fernandez but survived along with our 3-2 lead, Black got on in the top 9th, but Sharp hit into a double play, and blech … Bottom 9th, Sergio Vega vying for a save...! In his 54th appearance since 2001(!), no saves, oh wonder, Vega had the 8-9-1 batters to deal with. Quintero was 0-2 down before chipping a blooper into shallow center for a single. Tommy Ward grounded out, moving up Quintero, and then Vega walked Ybarra. And if I had any live arm left over, I’d send him, but there were none, and once Ron Brantley grounded out, moving up the runners, Ramón Perez was walked intentionally to bring up ex-Coon Ramirez, a right-hander, who on 2-2 grounded to short, Kunimatsu Sato had it get by him, and the Condors walked off. 4-3 Condors. Pruitt 2-4, 2 RBI; Black 2-3, BB; Cruz (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez (PH) 1-1;

… and thus the North was tied up again. Except in my pocket calendar, where I marked down 33 additional L’s all the way to closing day. Yeah, we finished 82-80. Let’s knock ourselves out.

Game 4
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – CF Castro – LF Pruitt – RF Black – 3B Sharp – C Esquivel – 2B Nomura – P Yates
TIJ: SS Ybarra – 1B Tanner – 3B B. Román – CF R. Perez – RF Barnes – 2B Quintero – LF Ward – C A. Ramirez – P J. Silva

Not quite as struggling, but still struggling was co-ace number two. He got to two strikes regularly, but lacked that little something that made him special and couldn’t whiff people for the second time this week. The Condors created constant traffic on the bases, but at least the Critters’ offense was productive early. Esquivel doubled home the first run of the game in the second, they added a run in the third, and then Kel helped himself greatly with a 2-out RBI single in the fourth. Right there, Jorge Silva faded into obscurity, allowing hits or walking the next four Coons to run the score to 5-0 before Quebell was thrown out at home on Pruitt’s single to right. A rapidly expanding pitch count meant that Yates would be held to six innings as well in this start. While he struck out Ramón Perez to notch his 200th slain batter on the year, the Condors got nine hits off him, but were held to one run despite Daniel Sharp’s critical error in the in the bottom 6th that put runners on the corners with one out. Brantley’s pop for the second out was followed by Kel channeling the last spark of energy to get Ybarra for #201, then retreated for the day.

Bryan was almost overwhelmed by left-handers (again) in the bottom 7th. Rowan Tanner’s single opened the inning, but Luke Black cut him down at the plate to end it eventually. Meanwhile the Condors assumed this game to be lost and put some rookie right-hander named Micah Kirchberg in charge of the final three innings. He was perfect for two, but not quite in the third. Flores singled, Castro doubled. Pruitt was walked intentionally to bring up Black – a better matchup in any case – with one out. We would appreciate at least a sac fly. He struck out. Sharp, however, singled to center to plate a pair, definitely putting the game away. Well, you can’t say something like that. Riddle allowed a leadoff single to Rob Morris in the bottom 9th, and then drew advantage of strong defensive plays by Nomura and Castro. The Coons came through, though. 7-1 Critters. Flores 3-5; Castro 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Sharp 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Esquivel 2-5, 2B, RBI; Yates 6.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (17-2) and 1-3, RBI;

In other news

August 20 – CHA SP Steve Rogers (13-3, 2.79 ERA) faces a month in rehab with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
August 20 – Even worse off might be TOP SP Roy Floyd (10-7, 4.13 ERA), who has damaged an elbow ligament and needs elbow reconstruction surgery, which should keep him out until 2009.
August 21 – NYC RF/LF Stanton Martin (.316, 24 HR, 103 RBI) could well miss all of the remaining regular season, having had his wrist broken by an errant pitch.
August 22 – CHA 3B Javier Rodriguez (.289, 6 HR, 49 RBI) is suffering from back spasms and will miss four weeks.

Complaints and stuff

How would I describe the job of general manager for an ABL team? Exhausting. We’re leading the power rankings after trailing the Stars and Crusaders for a few weeks, but it’s a soft lead. We’re also leading the division very softly indeed.

Right now we can very easily enter a fatal death spiral. We need to pluck a hole in the rotation (might be the return of Dumpster Boy unless I want to throw Brandon Teasdale into a pennant race after a not-so-stellar year in AAA (9-9, 5.00 ERA). He’s walking people left and right, basically. My hot enthusiasm for him from even last year is gone.

As we are on falling prospects… Jimmy Eichelkraut has been demoted from Ham Lake to Aumsville for the second time this year, batting (across 121 AB) .132/.192/.248 with 1 homer and 36 strikeouts.

Dominguez for the Raccoons: 9-15, 5.27 ERA; definitely not worth $1.68M a year. Hardly worth $168k.

And no, no team was even vaguely interested in a trade of Dominguez for a box of donuts. The Elks picked him up on a minor league deal and stuck him with the Nanaimo Aztecs in single A ball. Might be too high a mountain to climb for that suckerface.

The list of players to score three stolen bases in a single game for the Critters is mighty short. Daniel Hall did it once, early in his career. Matt Higgins did it once every year from 1989 through 1993, mostly in September. After that it was almost ten years again before Conceicao Guerin achieved the feat, once, then Yoshi Yamada, and now Tomas Castro.