[Westheim]

Raccoons (30-19) @ Knights (21-28) – May 28-30, 2018

In a true mind boggler, the Knights had scored the most runs in the league while having the worst batting average, which only worked out thanks to them being first in both home runs AND stolen bases. Everything else on the roster was pretty dramatically bad. Their rotation was the second-worst with a 5.11 ERA, their pen was not much better, and their defense was the worst in the CL outright. Also, one of their sluggers, 1B Mike Rucker (.182, 2 HR, 8 RBI) was still on the DL and would not compete in this series. So far, the Knights held a 2-1 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (7-1, 2.15 ERA) vs. Stephen Quirion (3-5, 5.76 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (0-3, 4.33 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-2, 2.31 ERA) vs. Shaun Yoder (2-4, 4.97 ERA)

That is three right-handers, and D’Attilo has the best ERA in their rotation… we will miss last year’s Coon, Bruce Morrison (2-4, 4.39 ERA).

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – 2B Walter – C Denny – P Toner
ATL: CF M. Reyes – 3B W. White – C Luna – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – SS Hibbard – 2B DeFabio – 1B Wittner – P Quirion

When Mike Denny accidentally hit a ball in the third inning, he hit it a ton and Gil Rockwell ran after it in vain as it escaped for a solo home run. That was the only run and pretty much the only threat either team put up in the first four innings, although Jonny ran a number of 3-ball counts and even walked two batters and also pitched with reduced stuff and whiffed only four to make up for it. With the stick, Toner loaded the bases in the fifth, hitting a single to left with Nunley on after reaching on an error by Devin Hibbard, and Denny on with a single. This brought up Cookie with one out, and Cookie continued to not be right and hit a pop to left. But Rockwell had to go back a little, and with the weak arm he had to being with, Nunley could score from third on the sac fly. Duarte hit an RBI single to center before Mendoza grounded out to end the inning with a 3-0 score. Toner would dip his ERA under two for the season with six shutout innings, with the middle innings less troubling for him than the early innings. The seventh was troubled, however, with Jimmy Raupp hitting a double to center leading off. Toner would throw a wild pitch and walked Mike Wittner with two outs, but then got an easy final out from pinch-hitter Jeffrey Walrath to complete seven shutout innings on well over 100 pitches. Chris Mathis dug his way through the Knights in the eighth despite a walk Wade White drew. In the ninth, the Coons had Nunley on after a single against Jim Cushing and one out, when Mike Wittner’s error led to a ball hopping merrily through foul ground and Shane Walter adding to the base running total. Denny singled, plating Nunley, and Mathews also singled hitting for Mathis to load the bags. We hoped in vain for a superb single from Cookie, who grounded into a double play to end the inning, but Chun kept the Knights shut out in the ninth and the winning streak continued. 4-0 Raccoons. Denny 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Mathews (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (8-1) and 1-2, BB;

That’s a 6-game winning streak, tied for the longest of the season. It slightly paints over Ronnie McKnight’s shame, who un-hit for a golden sombrero in this game.

Game 2
POR: CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 2B Petracek – P Knight
ATL: CF M. Reyes – 2B Downing – C Luna – LF Rockwell – SS Hibbard – 3B W. White – RF M. Cruz – 1B Wittner – P D’Attilo

D’Attilo filled the bases with no ball put in play, issuing walks to the first three Raccoons he saw. That brought up DeWeese, a kind costumer to get into a manageable double play situation with Eddie Jackson, but, well, D’Attilo walked him, too. With a run in, Jackson took care of a hit, hitting an RBI single to left, and Nunley then also hit a 3-1 pitch to the left side. Wade White’s throw sailed on Wittner, who couldn’t come up with it, and as the ball made its way through foul ground, two runs scored. Up 4-0, the bottom of the order made three quick and unproductive outs to miss an even bigger blowout early on. D’Attilo lived to tell about the horrors he had seen, then came to bat in the bottom 2nd with runners in scoring position and two outs after a Manny Cruz single and Mike Wittner’s double. He flew to right, Eddie Jackson waved his arms in aggravated fashion and looked like he was in panic, but found the ball at the last second and made the catch to end the inning.

The third had the Knights with a runner on first and two outs before hell broke loose. Gil Rockwell singled to right, sending Josh Downing to third base, from where he scored on a wild pitch by Damani Knight. Hibbard singled, plating Rockwell from second base, and Wade White also singled. With runners on the corners, Manny Cruz bombed the first pitch he saw to left center and well outta the place, with the Knights’ 5-spot outdoing the Coons’ 4-spot from the first inning. Downing’s solo home run in the fourth ended Knight’s terrible outing after only three and two thirds, and we looked at Chet Cummings to give us innings. When Duarte hit a leadoff single in the top of the fifth, it was only the second base hit for the Raccoons in the 6-4 Knights game, but Shane Walter would take care of that, rolling to Downing for a double play.

Despite their best attempts, the Raccoons were not entirely dead yet. Duarte, the only piece in the lineup still having any measurable pulse, hit a leadoff jack off right-hander Adam Harper in the seventh inning, putting Portland once again only one run behind. Before long the bases were loaded against Harper with a Walter single, Tiger walking, and Jackson hitting another single after DeWeese had taken an embarrassing flailout. Nunley grounded to third, White’s only play was on the offender, and the tying run scored, but when Cookie batted for Denny, the offending offense continued to be offensive and Cookie blatantly popped out to White, leaving the game tied at six with two in scoring position. Mathis pitched the bottom 7th competently, before Harper somehow was allowed to keep botching for Atlanta. Petracek flew out to center, but Margolis hit a double in the #9 hole, Duarte walked, and Walter beat Rockwell’s range with a double to left center that plated the go-ahead run, but for the second straight inning the Coons left a pair in scoring position when Mendoza and Mathews both were struck out by Joey Hopkins, replacing the luckless Harper. Davis held on in the bottom 8th, but Ramirez didn’t in the ninth – AGAIN. To be fair, Matt Nunley’s throwing error that put Downing on second with one out set up the blown save, but the double that Ruben Luna hit off Ramirez right afterwards and bounced on the track in leftfield was probably a walkoff in half the ABL’s parks. Rockwell and Hibbard were outs, and we had to play extras yet again. The top 10th saw the Coons on the corners after Margolis’ 1-out walk off Quinn McCarthy and Duarte’s subsequent single to center. While Walter’s single to right gave the Raccoons another lead, they would also strand a pair for the umpteenth time in the game. Closing the affair devolved to Jason Kaiser, with McKnight hitting for Ramirez with two outs and men on the corners in the inning, who at least faced a left-handed pinch-hitter to start the inning. Kyle Mims singled, which brought out the sweats once again, but Manny Cruz flew out to Cookie in left, and Jimmy Raupp struck out. “Quasimodo” Suda had been in the #9 hole for a while and singled to center, putting the Knights onto the corners for Jeremy DeFabio, who was at 2-2 when he sent a long drive to center. Duarte was twisting and turning as he made the dash back, then poked up with his glove – and somehow came up with that miserable ball! 8-7 Raccoons. Duarte 3-4, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Walter 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Jackson 2-5, RBI; Margolis 1-1, BB, 2B; Cummings 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

That was our ninth extra-inning game of the season, and Ramirez’ fourth blown save. Better don’t convert that into how many grand he gets per blown save. Not a fun game overall, and after the early 4-spot I thought that I could do without biting off by finger nails for a day.

Actually, the finger nails and the fingers are long gone. I’ve chewed my arms down to about three inches from the elbows. This despite the fact that the Indians kept losing and the Crusaders were the last team within a handful of games (five or less) of the Raccoons.

Our pen had been sandpapered down a bit recently, and everybody was longing to get to the off day following this final game in Atlanta.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Margolis – P Santos
ATL: CF M. Reyes – 2B Downing – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – SS Hibbard – 3B W. White – C Suda – 1B Wittner – P Yoder

Santos started his outing with a 4-pitch walk to Marty Reyes, which is precisely the point where you get The Worries again. Downing was hit by a 2-1 pitch, Rockwell singled to load the bases and I was ready for a drink or sixteen. And just like that, Santos struck out two and got White on a fly to center on an 0-2 pitch. The next Knight to reach base was again Rockwell, but that was on a 2-out homer in the third inning. The Raccoons managed to hit into three double plays in the first five innings to kill any and each offensive opportunity except for in the fifth inning when DeWeese opened with a double to right and was plated by McKnight’s sac fly to knot the score. The Knights came up with some 2-out terror in the bottom of the inning to take another lead, but Cookie somehow faked his way onto base in the sixth, stole second off Suda, who was not anymore what he had once been with the Titans, and scored on the Tiger’s single to center. Tied again, the Coons got to the corners on Walter’s single, and DeWeese’s roller befuddled three Knights on the infield for long enough to allow Tiger to score with the go-ahead run, but DeWeese was out. Wittner dropped White’s feed on Nunley’s grounder, which kept the Coons alive and sent Walter to third as they were on the corners again for McKnight, who grounded out to short on the first pitch. Oh, just once in my life I’d like to witness a huge clutch hit.

Lots of strikeouts (two handful) and the odd walk had Santos reach 99 pitches through seven innings and he was a bit out of shape at that point. Wade Davis was brought out for the eighth inning, facing the 2-3-4 batters. While Josh Downing came ****ing close to a game-tying leadoff homer, DeWeese made a catch against the leftfield fence, but Davis struck out Rockwell and Raupp to complete his assignment. With the Coons not making it further than first with a Nunley single in the ninth, it was another 1-run assignment for Alex Ramirez to cope with in the ninth inning. McKnight’s range alone prevented a leadoff single by Hibbard, after which White struck out. Suda, however, singled hard to left and was run for by DeFabio, while Walrath hit for Wittner. With the count full and DeFabio running, Ramirez threw ball four in the dirt and Denny almost didn’t come up with it. Two on, two out, Manny Cruz pinch-hitting, which was a right-hander with some bearish power, but a .154 batting average in 39 AB. It was somebody to feast on for Ramirez. 2-1 pitch, long drive to left, deep to left, Cookie going back there, back there, and he had it. BARELY. 3-2 Furballs. Nunley 2-4; Margolis 2-3; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, Santos (4-2);

That’s an 8-game winning streak, forged from my sweat and tears.

Raccoons (33-19) @ Titans (26-28) – June 1-3, 2018

The Titans were in last place in the division, but were catching up after a dreadful spill in mid-May. They were however last in runs scored and bitterly needed help – which arrived just in time for the series in form of SFB RF/LF Chris Almanza (286, 5 HR, 16 RBI), who was traded by the Baybirds for INF/RF Robby Vasquez (.278, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and a prospect. Their pitching tasted like wet bagels and they allowed the fourth-most runs in the CL. Their run differential of -39 was a clear indicator that they were on the right side of .500, but too close to it. The Raccoons had so far won five of six games from them.

Projected matchups:
Ricky Mendoza (3-3, 4.66 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (3-6, 5.13 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-0, 2.19 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (4-4, 4.25 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (8-1, 1.96 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (4-4, 4.07 ERA)

Jonny would face the lefty Ling on Sunday while we avoid their best guy so far, Chris Klein, who was 7-1 with a 2.54 ERA.

The Titans also had just called up a 30-year old utility player that had started the season in their minor league reserve. The name sounds familiar: Sandy Sambrano…?

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – P R. Mendoza
BOS: CF Mata – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – LF Almanza – 3B T. Thomas – SS Lawson – RF J. Avila – 2B Sambrano – P Boyer

It didn’t happen too often recently, but Cookie opened the game with a single, advanced on an errant pickoff throw and eventually scored on Hugo Mendoza’s groundout for an early run. Both teams had the odd runner on after that, but a dicey situation didn’t arise until the bottom of the fourth when Ricky Mendoza issued 2-out walks to both Tom Thomas and David Lawson before facing a left-hander in Jose Avila. Nunley made a good play on his sharp grounder and ended the inning.

Almanza, just arriving on the Titans’ roster, left the game in the fifth inning after hitting the ground hard on catching a McKnight fly to left. Xavier Williams replaced him. Almanza had already missed a month of this season with an ankle injury, but this time it looked like back pain. The baseball gods had a good laugh about that one, with some drops falling from the sky. The sun made a brief reappearance in the sixth inning before rain returned in the seventh and eventually forced a delay of over an hour that knocked Ricky Mendoza from the game after 76 pitches with a man on first and one out in the bottom 7th. Ron Thrasher appeared when my hopes for a rain-shortened win were dashed. Strikeouts to Jose Avila and Tim Robinson ended that inning and kept the Coons afloat with their tender 1-0 lead. Just as Robinson trudged back to the dugout, the rain started yet again. Before a decision could be obtained by the forces of nature, McKnight hit a leadoff triple off lefty Matt Branch in the top 8th, the fourth hit for the Coons on the day and the seventh in the game. Branch lost Denny to a walk, which was hard to do, but then got an easy fly to shallow left from Eddie Jackson. Xavier Williams, a defensive rock, dropped the ball to the ground regardless and McKnight scored, 2-0. Just as Cookie stepped up to the plate, a second rain delay interrupted proceedings. Again the game didn’t end. After 45 minutes, play resumed with Cookie grounding to short for a fielder’s choice at second base, and after Duarte whiffed and Mendoza grounded to Robinson, the Coons stranded a pair. After Kaiser held on in the bottom 8th, Walter opened the top 9th with a single. Hudman batted for DeWeese against the left-hander and singled to center well enough to plate Walter. Titans pitching then collapsed; Petracek hit for Nunley but was put on intentionally (!?), before McKnight walked unintentionally. Denny hit an RBI single before Eddie Jackson hit into a run-scoring double play, which allowed the Coons to move out to a 5-0 lead and to send Chet Cummings into the bottom of the ninth, but Cummings just couldn’t pitch a meaningful inning without getting at least bruised. Steve Butler and Xavier Williams broke up the shutout with back-to-back doubles, and even though that was all the Titans did, Cummings stock continued to be pretty worthless. 5-1 Coons. Hudman (PH) 1-1, RBI; McKnight 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B; R. Mendoza 6.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (4-3);

Including the rain delays, this game that was largely starved for offensive heroics and thus should have passed quickly took almost four and a half hours, but the Coons now had a 9-game winning streak.

There was a change in the rotation for the Titans, who moved Dave Priest (2-1, 3.46 ERA) into the middle game after having skipped him on Thursday. This might remove Rick Ling from the series, so no southpaw for Coon City to fail against.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Margolis – P Nielson
BOS: CF Mata – 3B T. Thomas – LF Almanza – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – SS Lawson – RF Blake – 2B M. Rivera – P Priest

Cookie again knocked a hit to start the game, this time a double to left on which he exploited Almanza’s bad back. After Duarte’s single, the Tiger plated Cookie with a sac fly, but Walter hit into a double play. DeWeese chopped a homer to start the second before Nunley reached on an error for the third time this week, but nothing came of that anymore with consecutive groundouts by McKnight and Margolis, and Nielson whiffing. Margolis’ throwing error put Tim Robinson on second base to start the bottom of the second inning, but a pop, a whiff, and a foul pop ended the inning for the Titans. After not allowing a hit through two innings and retiring Alex Mata to start the third, a black hole opened and Ryan Nielson was swallowed whole by it. After the Mata out, Nielson allowed the Titans to reach with a single, walk, single, and walk; David Lawson struck out, but Nielson walked Jonathan Blake to tie the game, then hit Mike Rivera to give the Titans a lead. Priest flew out to Duarte to end the nightmare inning; Nielson had five walks and five strikeouts in three innings in the game. Nothing got better in the fourth. Mata singled to center and scored on Tom Thomas’ double, after which Nielson was removed from the game. Chun came in and allowed a single to Butler and a wild pitch to plate the fifth run for the Titans.

Initially, defensive shortcomings allowed the Coons to make a challenge in the fifth inning. Margolis hit a 1-out single, with Priest attempting to take Chun’s bunt to second base, which didn’t even work against Margolis, since the bunt was pretty good. Cookie grounded to short, but legged out Rivera’s throw to first to keep runners on the corners with two outs before most of the Titans around the infield toppled over another on Duarte’s infield grounder that he legged out for an RBI infield single. That pulled up the Tiger, who was also violently not hitting right now. Come on, Hugo – a 3-shot would be totally liberating! Priest wouldn’t let him and smacked him with a 1-2 pitch instead. Shaken, Tiger pawed his way to first, then to second on Walter’s single to center that chased Duarte home along with Cookie to tie the score at five. When DeWeese got hit by Priest, somebody threw a ball out of the Raccoons dugout. Then a glove flew out of the Titans dugout. Also unseen was the Raccoon that threw a bat from the dugout after that. But when the Titans threw out a sack with sunflower seeds and it almost like it was on any second now, Denny and Toner came scurrying from the Coons’ dugout and stole the sack before retreating to their assigned confines. There were still bases loaded with two outs for Matt Nunley, who was also due a breakout hit and knocked the 2-1 high to center. Mata had spoiled a few drives in the series already and ran after that with confidence that ended dashed when going back he missed Nunley’s ball by about five feet. DeWeese had been hit in the thigh and could not run fast enough, holding Nunley to two RBI on the double, but the Coons had the lead back, and immediately built on it when McKnight rammed a 2-run triple off the rightfield wall against Kanichiro Miura. Margolis grounded out to keep the score at 9-5 after piling a 7-spot on the Titans.

But before anybody gets cocky, the Raccoons instantly suffered their own pitching implosion. Chun retired nobody in the bottom 5th, and neither did Jason Kaiser. The first four Titans all reached base, putting the tying runs on for Tom Thomas in a 9-6 game. Chris Mathis’ first pitch was grounded to Walter for a run-scoring double play, which at least took the tying run off the bases, and Mathis struck out Almanza to stay at 9-7. The scare was far from over. Wade Davis got only two outs in the bottom 6th, with Thrasher having to clean up. Ideally, Thrasher would have somehow (somehow!) bridged the way to Ramirez without touching Chet Cummings, but instead he walked the bases loaded in the bottom 7th. Thrasher still had not been charged with an earned run this season. Here he faced Steve Butler, left-handed batter, with three on and two outs. Butler hit the first pitch high to center, but Duarte hardly had to move and made the catch. With a plundered pen, there were only two options left for the eighth: Ramirez and Cummings. The inning started with two right-handers, so the better option was perhaps to send Cummings and stick to him until there was trouble. Unfortunately the Coons did nothing offensively after their huge inning, and the score was still 9-7, so trouble could draw up quickly on Cummings, who allowed a single to Robinson on his second pitch, and then a double to Lawson on his fourth. There was hardly a way to fix that ****ing mess. Cummings was yanked, Ramirez came out, the last reliever from that pen, which closed up for the night. Ramirez’ second pitch was lined hard to right by Jonathan Blake. Robinson scored and Lawson tried, but was thrown out by Cookie Carmona. Blake went to second, hardly improving the overall situation, but Rivera grounded out to Walter, and Xavier Williams grounded out to Nunley to keep the tying run glued to third base. Harry Merwin held the Coons short in the top of the ninth, and Ramirez had no cushion, nor backup. It was him until the grim end. Nunley made a flying catch on Mata’s sharp liner to left to start the inning, while the last two outs were grounders to short that McKnight took care of. 9-8 Blighters. Carmona 2-5, 2B; Duarte 2-4, BB, RBI; Walter 2-5, 2 RBI; Hudman (PH) 1-1; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (15);

If this 10-game winning streak goes much longer, I will need heart surgery.

Some pitching, huh? Eight guys out there, two of which got no outs. This was the end for Cummings (4.50 ERA), who was completely unreliable in a tight spot, and even a long man has to get an important out from time to time. He found himself on waivers before the day was over.

Matt Schroeder had been a trash heap signing in March of 2012. Drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 draft by the Knights, he soon hurt his elbow and was released late in 2011. The Coons picked him up and he marched fairly quickly up through the system, reaching AAA in 2013, where he had remained ever since. He had started for a while with mixed success, but was now mostly relieving. He had a 2.57 ERA in four long man appearances this season and received his major league call-up two days shy of his 26th birthday. I’m sure his mom was happy, finally.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P Toner
BOS: CF Mata – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – LF Almanza – 3B T. Thomas – RF Blake – SS Lawson – 2B M. Rivera – P J. Fuentes

Cookie did not get on to start this game, which automatically killed off the Coons in the first. Actually, Mendoza’s double play roller after Duarte singled did. The second saw McKnight reach on a single and steal second base. Nunley rammed a ball through Tom Thomas up the leftfield line for an RBI double, but hurt his ankle sliding into second base. He hobbled off the field and was replaced by Petracek. Jonny Toner had three strikeouts before Blake and Lawson hit back-to-back 2-out singles in the bottom 2nd, but Mike Rivera popped out over home plate to end the frame. It was Jonny’s turn to lead off the top 3rd, where he wrestled a walk in a full count from Fuentes before stealing second base. Duarte walked with one out, and the Tiger stayed out of the double play and singled to center to plate Jonny, 2-0. The Coons left their two runners on when DeWeese twistered himself out on sliders, and McKnight grounded out to first. Two more were stranded (in scoring position) in the fourth. Petracek walked, Mathews singled, no outs, and no runs thanks to a K and two groundouts. Duarte was stranded on third base the following frame, and the whole experience was outright maddening, even more so when Lawson hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th and the miscarriage Rivera hit a double to deep right. Cookie tried in vain to get Lawson thrown out at home, which only served to move Rivera to third base with nobody out. Fuentes struck out, but that helped only marginally once Mata singled to left to tie the game. Mata stole second, Toner lost Galan to a walk, both pulled off a double steal on the hapless Denny, and Butler gave the Titans a lead with an infield single that Mathews failed to convert into an out. Mentally undressed for everybody to see, Jonny plated their fourth run with a wild pitch that boinked off the umpire’s knee and caromed hard into the depths of foul ground.

When Thomas popped out, the Titans were up 4-2 after their cavalcade of bull****, but they weren’t yet done completely blasting the Raccoons out of the park. The Raccoons had the tying run up in the sixth and seventh, but crapped out each time. Toner stumbled into the seventh, only to allow a single to Jose Avila and a walk to Alex Mata. Kaiser appeared to his relief, surrendering on eight pitches Armando Galan’s annual home run, a real cannon shot to left. Kaiser was done after Butler doubled to right, with Matt Schroeder making his major league debut in the ****tiest of circumstances. He walked Almanza right away before getting two outs on a pop and a strikeout. Lawson walked, and Schroeder was 3-0 against Rivera, the ****ing idiot, with the bases loaded, when Rivera swung and popped out. Hugo Mendoza would hit a 2-out, 2-run double in the top of the ninth, which was pretty much meaningless. Eric Rasmussen ended the game when Shane Walter grounded out, hitting for Schroeder. 7-4 Titans. Duarte 2-3, 2 BB; Mendoza 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Nunley 1-1, 2B, RBI; Mathews 2-4; Jackson 1-1; Schroeder 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 29 – 37-year old veteran 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.273, 4 HR, 21 RBI) connects for a home run off Denver’s Mo Robinson for his 2,500th major league hit. A Blue Sock since being drafted 37th overall in the 2000 draft, Esquivel has been through everything with them, batting .303 with 192 HR and 1,131 RBI along the way while collecting six Gold Gloves and a Player of the Year award in 2015.
May 29 – DEN SS/2B Piet Oosterom (.237, 1 HR, 11 RBI) will miss a month with a sore shoulder.
May 30 – New York’s 1B Ray Gilbert (.250, 8 HR, 28 RBI) is suffering from a sore shoulder. The 36-year old will probably not be available for at least two weeks.
May 31 – SFW SP Fernando Cruz (6-3, 1.68 ERA) spins a 1-hitter against the Capitals, claiming the win in the 7-0 shutout. The lone hit for Washington comes from Josh Baker legging out a drag bunt in the fourth inning.
May 31 – A broken elbow ends the season of CHA RF/LF Travis Benson (.258, 8 HR, 32 RBI).
June 1 – The Falcons trade for the Condors’ 1B Adrian Quebell (.261, 1 HR, 3 RBI), sending 3B Jesus Soto (.302, 0 HR, 7 RBI) and decent but unranked pitching prospect Alfredo Morua to Tijuana.
June 1 – A 6-6 tie after seven innings between the Gold Sox and Wolves blooms late with the Sox putting three on the Wolves in the eighth and another seven runs in the ninth for a 16-6 mood killer. Tim Bean (.269, 1 HR, 16 RBI) has five hits for the Gold Sox, driving in two.
June 2 – The 300 home runs mark is reached by DEN 1B Stanley Murphy (.327, 8 HR, 26 RBI) in the Gold Sox’ 3-2 loss to the Wolves. The home run comes off closer Mike Tharp. Murphy, the 2012 FL Player of the Year and winner of two World Series rings, including in 2011 with the Pacifics when he was both FLCS and World Series MVP, is a career .327 batter with 300 HR and 1,243 RBI. He led the league in home runs twice in his career, which was mostly spent with the Pacifics before shorter stints with the Raccoons and Warriors.
June 2 – The Stars fall to the Warriors in a tremendous rout that ends 17-1 in favor of the Sioux Falls team.
June 3 – NAS SS Andrew Showalter (.286, 9 HR, 30 RBI) is out for two weeks with an intercostal strain.
June 3 – The Warriors beat the Stars, 1-0, on a home run by Dave Fletcher (.232, 6 HR, 20 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Stan Murphy’s 1 1/2 years in Portland? The worst of his career. It’s not close.

Another week that kills those not used to the way games are played around here, or those with weak hearts. They played that 4-0 game on Monday that was almost casual, and after that it was nightmare upon nailbiter upon nightmare. Somehow they won five games, but the weak opposition was certainly a factor. Weak opposition will not be a thing next week against two winning teams in the Elks and Pacifics.

I would have preferred to call up Adam Cowen or Will West from AAA, but they had both been out for long outings the previous two days, and I needed somebody capable of taking the ball after the Saturday game bled the pen dry. Even if it’s Jonny pitching on Sunday and you can probably make it through there with only two or three pitchers – **** always happens when you need it least. Also, Jonny had had only two outings in which he retired somebody in the eighth inning the entire season, and none since May 8. Schroeder was the only other right-handed reliever on the 40-man roster. Happy him.

And didn’t **** happen, or what? It’s always that way. At some point, everything goes wrong.

… which is the point to bring the good news, finally, that Matt Nunley is not seriously hurt and might be good with a day of rest at most. We’ll see how he feels Monday morning.

This week we released Tom McNeela. The persistent third-string catcher was batting .157 in 89 AB in Ham Lake, which was a bad place to be for a 30-year old catcher in the first place. In the majors and across eight seasons, he was a .236 hitter with 2 HR and 23 RBI in 309 AB.