[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-16) vs. Indians (22-15) – May 14-17, 2018

Back in 2017, the Indians had lost 13 times to the Raccoons to end up one game short of the playoffs. They were certainly looking for revenge for that one in the first set between the teams in 2018, and one that would stretch over four games. Consistency was key for the Indians, who led the division despite not necessarily trumping the world in either offense or pitching. They had the fourth-most runs in the Continental League, but were only sixth in runs allowed. Their rotation was average, their bullpen was actually worse than average. A good offense could certainly pick them apart. Which was where those bloody Raccoons came in…

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (2-3, 1.96 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (2-2, 5.22 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (3-1, 1.69 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (2-2, 4.76 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (3-2, 4.84 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-4, 4.14 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (1-3, 2.79 ERA)

Broun was their left-hander, and we’d miss “Ant” Mendez (6-3, 4.05 ERA), who led the league in wins despite an odd-shaped ERA.

Game 1
IND: 1B O. Torres – C Mancuso – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – 2B Kym – CF J. Wilson – SS D. Ortega – 3B Dahlke – P F. Ramirez
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – RF H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – 1B Greenwald – C Denny – P Abe

The Indians tried to pick a Raccoon off first base twice in the first inning. The first time, Nolan Mancuso made a horrendous throw that went to rightfield and moved Cookie to second. The second time, with Cookie and McKnight on the corners, McKnight was actually caught napping and the inning ended. The Indians had them on the corners with no outs in the top 2nd after Jong-beom Kym – just back from injury, hurray, hurray – doubled and John Wilson singled, but Abe came back with K’s to Domingo Ortega and Tom Dahlke before Felipe Ramirez flew out to right. Runners on first and third and no outs was also true for the Critters in the bottom 2nd, and they even loaded the bases when Russ Greenwald walked. Denny struck out, Abe struck out, Cookie grounded out to Kym. While the Raccoons actually got a run in the bottom 3rd on a sac fly by DeWeese, Abe, after striking out Gilmor and Kym to start the fourth, allowed a homer to dead center to John Wilson (on a 3-0 pitch!) to get the game tied again. After that, Ortega doubled, Dahlke was walked intentionally to get to Ramirez, who singled anyway, but Oliver Torres, approximately a hundred years old, popped out to Walter.

That was also the last pitch for Tadasu Abe, who was in discomfort after the inning and was sent for some good ol’ scrutineering by the Druid. There wasn’t a lot of juice in that bullpen and with five innings to go under any circumstance, we would need every ooze of blood from Seung-mo Chun’s body, no matter the results. Actually, the results were phenomenal: Chun pitched three shutout innings in relief of the fallen Abe, and the Raccoons even found a run on a bomb that Tiger Mendoza hit to right center in the fifth. Jason Kaiser failed to dispel the two left-handed G’s in the middle of the Indians’ order. While Lowell Genge grounded out, Nick Gilmor singled to left. Alex Ramirez was picked for a 5-out save at this point. While Pat Eaton came up with a pinch-hit 2-out single, Ramirez struck out Marcos Garza to end the eighth. The Raccoons had Duarte draw a 1-out walk in the bottom of the inning, but he was thrown out at third on Cookie’s single, leaving Ramirez cushionless in the ninth. The sucker insisted on walking a pair before blowing the lead through a 1-out Mancuso double. Genge struck out with runners on second and third, Gilmor was walked intentionally, and Kym flew out to Duarte, but the Raccoons were glaring at extra innings and couldn’t afford them. At least the Tiger reached on an infield single against Jarrod Morrison to start the bottom of the ninth. McKnight’s liner to left ended up with Genge, but DeWeese’s liner to right went up the line and was not to be caught. Gilmor cut it off fairly deep, the Tiger was emphatically waved around by the third base coach and sent to home where the ball arrived a split second late and the Tiger pounded his stripes on the plate to secure a walkoff for the Raccoons! 3-2 Furballs! Carmona 2-5; Mendoza 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; McKnight 3-5, 2 2B; DeWeese 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 1-2, 2 BB; Abe 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Chun 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Denny struck out three times and was short of a dinger by ten feet the fourth time. He’s in a real ruckus right now. Also, Greenwald was double-switched out and was credited with four left on base, who came in two pairs. The latter occasion was a groundout, but after Mendoza’s homer in the fifth the Coons put another two on and Greenwald almost would have beaten John Wilson’s range in center for some serious damage.

That aside, ten hits, four doubles, three runs. Something just isn’t clicking.

Since we were in the middle of a 16-game stretch without an off day, we wanted to give everybody at least one day off. With Broun appearing in game #8 of the stretch, this was as good a time as any to just dump every non-left-hander into the lineup and give f.e. Cookie his day off. With the lineup below, the only regulars to get a day off afterwards were Walter, McKnight, and the Tiger.

Can we afford resting the Tiger at all?

Game 2
IND: 1B O. Torres – SS Nelson – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – 2B Kym – CF J. Wilson – C Mancuso – 3B Dahlke – P Broun
POR: 3B Walter – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF Jackson – SS McKnight – 2B Mathews – RF Petracek – C Margolis – P Santos

In a pitching duel (wasn’t every game now a pitching duel? And don’t you dare allow a run because you’re ****ing dead if you wear the brown shirt), Santos scattered a few singles early on and gave Alex Duarte a workout in center while the Raccoons didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning and then it was an infield single for Eddie Jackson that led nowhere but into dark woods full of horrors. Broun, who had walked three in the first four innings with no consequences, then would produce an actual scoring opportunity for the Critters in the bottom of the fifth. Walter hit a 2-out single – an ACTUAL single leaving the INFIELD! – before Duarte and Mendoza walked to fill the bags. But, as these things went, Jackson grounded right to Kym to end the inning… Broun ended up walking six total and didn’t get out of the sixth inning of a scoreless game, while Santos was more consistent and was through seven on just 82 pitches. Don’t matter if he opens the bottom 7th with a stick. It’s not like we have anybody capable of hitting anything. Heck, Santos hit a single! And Walter hit into a double play. Santos squeezed 107 pitches from his short-breathed lungs and tender arm, pitching a 5-hit shutout over the Indians … well, that was if the Raccoons could find a run in the ninth inning and with the bottom of the order. Well, Helio Maggessi walked Petracek to start things, and Margolis bunted him over. Cookie had already batted for Jackson in the eighth (unsuccessfully) and so Nunley hit for Santos. He grounded out to Kym, and Walter grounded out to the pitcher, as the team showed Santos the ****ing finger. Thrasher allowed singles to Phil Brown and Jong-beom Kym to start the top 10th and somehow wiggled his black ass outta there, while the Coons also had their first two on in the bottom 10th with Duarte singling and Mendoza walking. Cookie struck out, McKnight flew out to left, and Mathews grounded to second – and Kym missed it by inches. Into center went the ball, and across home plate slid Alex Duarte. 1-0 Blighters. Duarte 1-2, 3 BB; Santos 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K and 1-3;

Another game like that and I will turn into a certified murderer.

Game 3
IND: 1B O. Torres – SS Nelson – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – 2B Kym – CF J. Wilson – C Mancuso – 3B Dahlke – P Riley
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P R. Mendoza

After Aaron Nelson’s single, an error by DeWeese put two on and Ricky Mendoza into trouble that turned into a 2-run hole after Kym’s 2-out double into the rightfield corner. That 2-0 hole became a 3-0 hole in the fourth inning after three straight singles by Kym, Wilson, and Mancuso before the Indians ran themselves out of the inning and Denny struck down Wilson at third base. At that point, the Raccoons had zero hits, although Duarte bought them one with a leadoff single to right center in the bottom 4th. The Tiger flew out to center, McKnight flew out to right, DeWeese flew – oh, that’s pretty deep right … and outta here! Cookie’s RBI double tied the game with two outs in the fifth, and we were even again at three.

Cookie was stranded at second base just as DeWeese was after his 2-out double in the sixth, but at least Mendoza had a few quick and panicless innings, but just as I thought that he offered a leadoff walk to Marcos Garza in the seventh inning. Danny Morales hit into a force at second base, and when Jason Kaiser replaced Mendoza, the Indians hit right-hander Pat Eaton for Oliver Torres. Eaton singled, runners on first and second, and another right-hander was up in Nelson, but he was batting .221 and I wanted Kaiser for Lowell Genge really bad. Nelson grounded to third, Nunley getting Eaton at second base, but not the double play, but Kaiser struck out Genge to strand runners on the corners. The Raccoons got two on in the bottom 7th with singles by Mathews and Walter (hitting for Kaiser), but then it was Ricardo Carmona to hit into an inning-ending double play. Duarte’s awesome defense saved the hairy bums of both Wade Davis (who hit Kym) and Ron Thrasher in the eighth as the youngster made two awesome grabs in support of the two pitchers, first on Phil Brown’s drive to left center and then on Mancuso’s blooper that wanted to fall into shallow center. Like that wasn’t enough, Duarte bopped right-hander Joel Davis with a leadoff jack in the bottom 8th! Unfortunately, a) that was all in the inning, and b) ****ing Alex Ramirez allowed FOUR singles in the top of the ninth as the Indians tied the game on the one-base efforts of Garza, Ortega, Nelson, and Brown before Kym grounded out to McKnight to leave the bags loaded.

While I was drooling uncontrollably from the left side of my mouth and was crying furiously, the Raccoons did absolutely nothing in the bottom of the ninth to send another contest to extra innings. Mathis held the Indians away in the tenth, with Cookie opening the home half with a single. He took off right away and swiped second base before Duarte ever swung, but perhaps it was better to just let Duarte swing. His drive to right center eluded Phil Brown, and Cookie leisurely strolled home to secure the third walkoff in the series for the Raccoons. 5-4 Critters! Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Duarte 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Mathews 2-4; Walter (PH) 1-1; R. Mendoza 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Thank heavens we got Ramirez. How many more millions? Roughly $2.1M. Oh dear.

Also oh dear: Tadasu Abe was diagnosed with a tear in a back muscle and will be out for a considerable amount of time. The Druid thinks he might be out for the season unless Abe subscribes to a treatment with Senor Mena’s collection of special ointments. They are indeed special. They can only be applied while wearing CBRN protection, otherwise the odors will knock you straight out.

This was an obvious trip to the disabled list for Abe, and the Raccoons, already kinda thin in terms of starting pitching, had to scramble for depth for as early as Saturday. We would turn to left-hander Ryan Nielson as his replacement, whom you might remember as Kevin Beaver’s replacement in the bullpen late last season (after the fall from grace of Nick Lester). He had actually never relieved in his minor league career and in seven starts for the Alley Cats this season was 5-1 with a 2.03 ERA.

Welp.

Game 4
IND: C Mancuso – 2B Kym – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – CF J. Wilson – 3B Dahlke – 1B Eaton – SS D. Ortega – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – 2B Walter – 1B Greenwald – C Denny – P N. Brown

Mendoza had fallen behind on unearned runs on Wednesday, and so did Brownie on Thursday. Matt Nunley airmailed a throw on Tom Dahlke’s grounder that put the opposing third baseman on second base with one out in the second inning, and Brownie didn’t recover from that. Eaton singled, and Ortega’s groundout brought home Dahlke with the first run of the game. Earned runs followed soon and too many for be to keep watching. I retreated to somewhere dark and silent after singles by Mancuso and Kym, a 2-run single by Gilmor, and then John Wilson’s homer to right that put the Indians up 5-0. I saw a Dahlke error leading to an unearned run for the Raccoons in the bottom 3rd (Duarte scored after doubling initially) on the way out, then missed how Greenwald made an error to cost Brownie another unearned run in the top 4th. ****ty defense was the one thing that Nick Brown absolutely couldn’t cope with anymore, and it showed in the line score all too clearly. With the bullpen reduced to ashes already, Brown had to keep pitching until he had his allotment of around 100 pitches, and in this case that meant 6.2 innings of absolutely dreadful pitching, resulting in ten hits and seven runs, five of those earned. John Wilson – a left-hander no less – hit another home run off him. The Raccoons didn’t hit much of anything, except their fat butts on the edges of the dugout railing, until DeWeese hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. At that point, the Raccoons moved back to within three runs, 7-4 down. While Shane Walter hit a leadoff single in the bottom 9th against Maggessi, that was easily all the Raccoons amounted to in the inning. 7-4 Indians. Duarte 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Cummings 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Who’s up for more good news? Nick Brown felt unwell on Friday morning and went to check with the Druid. Things progressed from talking to touching to some electro-magnetical riff-raff I don’t understand since I don’t have a degree in electro-magnetical riff-raff and by game time on Friday night the Raccoons found out that Nick Brown had bone chips in his elbow and needed surgery. His season was likely over.

Get ready for Damani Knight (3-5, 3.81 ERA with Alley Cats) coming up. Get tissues.

Raccoons (23-17) vs. Thunder (14-27) – May 18-20, 2018

The Thunder ranked tenth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, but the Raccoons were very close in one of those categories, and would be your guess which one that would be. While they had some pop and were second in home runs, they had all of two stolen bases and mediocre defense, too, so this was not an agile team. Fifth in the South, their run differential of -18 however hinted at some rotten luck hidden somewhere in that misery of theirs, so the Raccoons were probably in for a hostile sweep by scores of 3-2, 2-1, and 11-0.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (5-1, 2.35 ERA) vs. Brendan Teasdale (1-7, 5.53 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (0-0) vs. Brian Furst (5-4, 5.09 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-1, 2.50 ERA) vs. Fernando Estrada (3-1, 2.96 ERA)

The season series with the Thunder has ended 5-4 one way or another for five straight years. The Thunder came out on top in ’16, the Coons did in ’17.

All righties, but that opening matchup is one of those that will break your heart, and probably not because of something Jonny (winless in three starts) does…….

Game 1
OCT: 2B Farias – SS Paull – 1B Manfull – C Parks – LF Cisneros – RF Struck – 3B Ruggeri – CF J. Jimenez – P Teasdale
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – P Toner

Cookie fouled out on a 3-1 pitch to leave the bases loaded in the first inning. Huh? Well, if Jonny lost this one, it was most certainly his fault, because the Raccoons piled four runs onto Brenda in the first inning. Cookie walked, Duarte singled, the Tiger doubled, and it just kept going until Cookie ill-advisedly poked to stop the rout at 4-0. Re: Jonny; while he didn’t allow runs early, his mind seemed to be off. He allowed no hits the first time through the order, but Emilio Farias hit a 2-out single in the third and Toner balked him over. No damage there, but after Jalen Parks doubled in the fourth, Toner also balked him to third base, but again bailed out thanks to superior stuff. In the fifth, Toner walked Brenda(!!), who despite conceding a 4-spot in the first still survived thanks to no add-on damage. While that changed with Tiger Mendoza’s forceful, no-doubt leadoff bomb in the bottom 5th that left out of right center in no time, the exits for the two starting pitchers eventually lay one out apart. That out was Ron Alston, pinch-hitting for Teasdale and batting a sad .174 even before popping out to Nunley, after which Toner – who threw too much crap in the game – also left the game, having covered only 6.2 innings in 110 pitches. They were shutout innings, but not the type of shutout innings that actually amounted to a shutout at the end.

Chun ended that inning, before the Thunder got onto the board in the eighth inning, knocking three singles off Jason Kaiser for a run. Mathis dug him out, inheriting one out and runners on the corners. He struck out D.J. Ruggeri, then got a pop from Jose Jimenez. The Coons also stranded runners on the corners in the bottom of the inning before Wade Davis inherited the 4-run advantage in the ninth. While he allowed two deep drives to right that both luckily ended up with Eddie Jackson, he got the game over with before we could hand another lead to Ramirez to fudge up. 5-1 Critters. H. Mendoza 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Margolis 2-4, 2B, RBI; Toner 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K, W (6-1);

Finally a game that wasn’t teeth and nails for 10 innings! What a relief!

Ronnie McKnight will be the last regular to get rest, sitting with Ryan Nielson making his maiden start in the majors after 15 relief appearances in ’17. Then he had stumbled to a 4.91 ERA…

Game 2
OCT: CF Farias – SS Janes – 1B Manfull – 2B Paull – 3B Ruggeri – RF Struck – LF J. Jimenez – C Kizziar – P Furst
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 2B Petracek – P Nielson

After two singles to start the game, the Thunder had B.J. Manfull hit into a run-scoring double play for a run that the Raccoons made up quickly when Cookie tripled and scored on Duarte’s single to center. Walter would come up with a 2-out single, but no lead materialized. Nielson struck out Furst and Farias to start the third inning before allowing a double to Erik Janes and two singles to Manfull and Eric Paull to fall behind again, 2-1. Nielson struck out five in his first five innings, but also allowed seven hits, and few of them were soft. He got another double play turned, again on Manfull, in the fifth inning which helped him out of a slight mess there, before the Raccoons took him off the hook for the moment at least, with offense coming from the unlikeliest sources, the moist nether regions of the order. The bottom 5th was opened with back-to-back doubles by Denny and Petracek, which put the go-ahead run on second base, too, but of course the Raccoons would not score that run… Nielson struck out, Cookie grounded out, and Duarte flew out to center…

The sixth was another maddening experience. Geoff Struck hit a 1-out single. Nielson threw a wild pitch to Jimenez before striking him out in a full count, then threw another wild pitch to Eric Kizziar before also striking out that guy in another full count. While that ended the inning, it also ended Nielson’s outing, with his pitch count over 100 now. Bottom 6th: the Tiger drew a leadoff walk, DeWeese singled to right. Goddamnit, score some ****ing runs now!! Walter struck out before Nunley rolled a short grounder up the middle, and it eluded Eric Paull and escaped into centerfield. Mendoza scored, 3-2 Critters in Nielson’s favor. Denny struck out handily, but Petracek found a place for a floater to fall in. With two outs, DeWeese had been running and scored, 4-2, before Greenwald hit for Nielson and popped out. Chun was the first man from the pen, struck out Furst, but allowed a double to right center to Farias. Thrasher replaced him and erased Janes and Manfull to get the seventh over with. DeWeese’ decently quick paws then came into play again in the bottom of the inning. He found runners on the corners with one out, but grounded to Paull. Mendoza was out at second, but DeWeese beat the return throw and that allowed Cookie to score with an additional run. The Thunder put two on against Chris Mathis in the eighth, but with one out Mathis got back-to-back whiffs from Jimenez and Kizziar to stall them. And if you ignored Alston’s leadoff single and the almost-homer by Manfull that Cookie caught with his cheek against the wall that ended the game even Alex Ramirez had a good outing… 5-2 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, 3B; Duarte 2-4, RBI; Petracek 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 3
OCT: 2B Farias – SS Paull – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF Struck – 3B Ruggeri – LF Hiscock – CF J. Jimenez – P F. Estrada
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – RF H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 1B Greenwald – P Santos

In a first inning straight from hell, not only did the Thunder put up a 3-spot with all runs scoring on Geoff Struck’s home run to right, but somehow they also managed to make two errors as Denny and Walter both dropped pops and Santos threw two wild pitches in the inning. While time would eventually heal many wounds, whatever Santos had on this dark Sunday could not and would not be healed. Jalen Parks hit a 2-shot in the third inning. Santos somehow made it through five absolutely distasteful innings with balls flying all over the park. The Raccoons did not a whole lot with the sticks against Estrada, and were so hopeless that it came as a mild shock when McKnight hit a 2-out single to plate Duarte in the bottom of the sixth inning, where they chained up three 2-out hits after amassing as many in the previous 5.2 innings.

Chet Cummings had three strong innings in relief, whiffing five and allowing no damage, but the Coons had no momentum and didn’t look like a potential comeback could happen even with divine intervention. Then came the ninth inning, right-hander Barry MacDonald, and a leadoff walk by the Tiger that was followed by McKnight’s double, which put the tying run into a spot where it was visible for the first time since Parks’ bomb. Shane Walter getting plunked moved Matt Nunley into the box as that tying run, and instantly things went south as Nunley popped out over the infield. DeWeese batted for Denny against the right-hander and drew a walk, pushing in a run, but Greenwald struck out for the second red dot on the scoreboard. Danny Margolis batted for Jason Kaiser although we had two switch-hitters available because we felt like a walkoff slam was more in the cards than another two or three lucky hits. Margolis struck out, but at least that shortened the pain. 5-2 Thunder. Duarte 2-4; H. Mendoza 2-3, BB; McKnight 2-4, 2B, RBI; DeWeese (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Cummings 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

Jose Jimenez raked for a golden sombrero in this game, but it’s not like that gives us any bonus runs.

In other news

May 16 – 35-year old CIN LF/RF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.290, 6 HR, 21 RBI) smacks his 300th home run in a 3-for-5 effort in a 5-1 win over the Capitals. He reaches the mark with a solo shot off William Hinkley. An 11-time All Star and 4-time Player of the Year, Morales is a career .328/.430/.538 batter with 1,211 RBI and 121 stolen bases. Most of his career was spent with the Knights and Warriors.
May 17 – Long-time Canadiens starter LAP SP Rod Taylor (3-2, 2.68 ERA) nets his 200th career win although it wasn’t necessarily pretty in an 8-5 win over the Dallas Stars. Taylor spent his first 17 seasons with the Canadiens. Now 37, he is 200-140 with a 3.46 ERA for his career and has struck out 3,180 batters in his career, leading the league in strikeouts eight times, including seven times in a row from 2008 through 2014. Despite this obvious ability, he was never Pitcher of the Year in his career.
May 18 – The Blue Sox get mauled by the Pacifics in some 19-5 meat grinder action.
May 20 – The Indians acquire C Randy Garner (.289, 2 HR, 17 RBI) from the Blue Sox, parting with a second-rate prospect.

Complaints and stuff

The forbidden question shall be asked first: is season-ending elbow surgery actually better for Brownie? He really, actually, heavily wasn’t cutting it anymore.

In fact, the guy who comes out unscathed from this mess is me, because I didn’t have to make a hard decision! Yay, lucky me!

(wipes away a tear)

But I’m happy as a dog that got a new toy for “Dingus” Morales. He only appeared in 74 games for Portland, but he netted us Cookie after all.

While Duarte has been a six-pack of ‘ZZZZzzztt’, that new energy drink that claims to be lightning in a bottle (and when Chad emptied a can we couldn’t get him off the ceiling for 29 hours), and won Player of the Week honors batting .545 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, I don’t think Russ Greenwald gets us anywhere right now. Also because Duarte’s been a hit for now, pressing Greenwald into the lineup removes DeWeese eventually, and the bench is not where I want my annual $3.3M to see. Tim Prince’s OPS in AAA is .782 after nine games, with a lot of walks contributing significantly. I don’t know whether I want him back, but we really have no significant options. Danny Ochoa has a .919 OPS, but we’ve been there so often… We really don’t need another outfielder, we’re pretty full there at this point. Actually, a hitting catcher would be swell…

Next week, Condors and Aces, second and third in the South, respectively.

Every game a battle to the death. Every game… a battle to the death.

This week was exhausting, which was partially down to the Coons and also that I had to maintain two constantly crashing streams with the Yankees-Rays and NASCAR. It also took about five hours to play… Probably no update for a day or two as I will recuperate from this…