[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-30) @ Knights (40-34) – June 29-July 1, 2020

The reeling Raccoons were already plenty bad, having lost 10 of their last 13 games, but the Knights were that tad bit worse coming into the series, having dropped eight games in a row. They were however 2-1 over the Raccoons in 2020, so they had at least that going for them. Offensively, the Knights were relying on power, mashing the fourth-most runs while having a batting average near the bottom of the league. Their bullpen was in the top 3, with a decent rotation in front of it, and together they were allowing the third-fewest runs in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (8-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Luis Calderon (1-3, 3.76 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-4, 4.46 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (6-7, 3.92 ERA)
Travis Garrett (0-2, 5.50 ERA) vs. Dave Priest (4-2, 4.12 ERA)

Flores would be a southpaw on Tuesday, the only one in their rotation.

Gil Rockwell was even for the ABL lead in home runs with Dumbo Mendoza, both sitting at 21 as the series began.

We were also in the string of games before the All Star Game, with this being games 4 through 6 of 17 consecutive contests.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P Calderon

Offense was slow to start the game, but by the third inning both teams managed to reach third base, although they would leave their runners there. Cookie had doubled and advanced as Yoshi Nomura grounded out for the second red dot on the board, but McKnight’s drive to right was just barely grabbed by Jonathan Lyle before it could become an RBI double near the base of the wall. McKnight then committed a throwing error in the bottom 3rd to put Calderon on second base with one out, Santos through a wild pitch after Jamie Wilson popped out, but Tony Jimenez struck out in a full count. Lyle also robbed Matt Nunley of extra bases in the fourth inning, and was also in the center of attention in the fifth. The Coons had Kevin DeWald on second base with two outs as Cookie singled to right. DeWald was sent to score, Lyle fired a rocket to home plate, and DeWald barely snuck past Ruben Luna – safe – but was still out of the game, having tweaked his calf on his mad dash home. Bareford replaced him. Cookie was left on second base when Yoshi grounded out.

Santos was still undefeated, had gotten four no-decisions in his last five starts, and now had to defend a fragile 1-0 lead. Through five, he allowed only two hits to the Knights, but Jamie Wilson opened the bottom 6th with a double to left center. Jimenez popped out, but Luna got hit by a pitch, and then Gil Rockwell singled to right to chase home Wilson. Cookie’s throw was kinda late, the runners advanced. Tied game, and something bothered Santos … and he left the game. That made for two injured players in a 1-1 game, with runners in scoring position and one out. Chris Mathis replaced Santos, and his first pitch netted the Knights a 3-1 lead on Antonio Esquivel’s single to left. Santos was heading for his first loss – besides a trainer’s appointment – with the Coons putting their first two guys on in the seventh as Nunley and DeWeese singled, only for Bareford to rumble into a double play. The Coons’ top of the order did nothing in the eighth, while the Knights tagged Joel Davis with an additional run in the bottom of that inning. Mendoza singled off Harry Merwin to open the ninth before Margolis livened up an 0-3, 3 K day with a pop out to short. Nunley flew to left, but Rockwell dropped the ball, bringing up DeWeese as tying run. It was a mad dream, but it was all we had. DeWeese flew to deep right, but that dream died with Lyle like all other flyballs in the game. Bareford was the final out, but dinked a single into shallow center, scoring Mendoza, 4-2. Olivares batted for Davis, and lined a pitch up the middle and into center! Nunley in, 4-3, runners on the corners for Cookie, who never got much to hit, but wasn’t fooled by Merwin, either. He walked, loading them up for Yoshi, who chipped the 0-1 to shallow center, Rockwell coming in – too late! The ball was in! Bareford scored, Olivares scored – score flipped! New reliever Danny Martin retired McKnight to end the inning, and Thrasher held the Knights down in the bottom 9th, securing an odd comeback. 5-4 Raccoons!! Carmona 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Nomura 2-5, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4; Nunley 2-4; Bareford 1-2, RBI; Olivares (PH) 1-1, RBI;

All four runs scored with two outs in an improbable comeback.

Kevin DeWald was day-to-day for Tuesday, which was against the lefty and thus a Bareford start anyway. Santos was not diagnosed as of now.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Olivares – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P L. Flores

The Knights’ 9-game losing streak was going to end in the Tuesday game. They batted around in the first inning, rolling over the clueless Guerrero for five runs. Guerrero retired the first two before loading the bases with two outs, falling to a bases-clearing double by Jeffrey Walrath, an RBI double by Jeremy DeFabio, a single by Jonathan Lyle, and then a wild pitch to brought home DeFabio. Another run flew onto the board in the second, with Wilson singling, advancing on another wild pitch, and coming home on Rockwell’s HARD single to left. Guerrero had one of those games, bunting into a force when he came up to bat in the third inning, and misfielded a Walrath grounder into an infield single (generous call there), although Walrath would be caught stealing by Olivares. Guerrero was yanked after three-plus, issuing a pair of leadoff walks to Flores (sic!) and Wilson in the bottom 4th. Castaneda replaced him, retired absolutely nobody as Jimenez singled, Luna walked to force in a run, and Rockwell and Esquivel both hit RBI singles. Chun replaced that chronic loser, struck out Walrath, but allowed a 2-run single to DeFabio before the Knights made two outs on the base paths, Esquivel being tagged out at third, and DeFabio being then caught stealing.

The Coons’ futile rally started with a Cookie RBI single in the fifth, and mostly ended there. Flores struck out the side in the sixth and they never gave much of a squeal after that. At least the bullpen held up, with Chun, Boynton, Kaiser, and Thrasher holding the Knights at bay for the rest of the game. They didn’t reach scoring position past the fifth inning. This was a rout nonetheless. 11-1 Knights. Carmona 2-4, RBI; Petracek 2-4; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Boynton 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We got some pretty bad news after the game: Hector Santos was done for the season with a torn rotator cuff, tearing a hole right into the part of the pitching staff that hadn’t been horrible.

The Raccoons were pretty much done at this point just as June turned into July.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Garrett
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P Priest

Pretty much the best recipe for the kind of hangover the Raccoons had after that pitch-black final day of June was to load the bases on straight singles with nobody out in the first inning against Dave Priest. The Critters trumped the Knights’ opening-frame 5-spot from Tuesday with a 6-spot in this inning, although Mendoza’s grounder looked like two and only barely scored a run when Esquivel got to it. Margolis however lined up the leftfield foul mark for a 2-run double past Gil Rockwell and after Nunley grounded out to short it was R.J. DeWeese with a blast to right center to get the team to 5-0. Back-to-back 2-out doubles by DeWald and Garrett added the last run of the inning. Garrett then had a bottom of the first inning that was chewy to say the least, with a full count walk to Jamie Wilson and a single by Jimenez putting two on right away. But the Knights failed to make decisive contact, Garrett escaped and soon began to rack up a few strikeouts. The Raccoons had the bases loaded in the second inning when Nunley hit into a double play that left Priest off the hook. Priest made it to the fifth inning eventually, where a 2-out RBI single by DeWeese scored Mendoza, 7-0, and finally knocked him from the game. A leadoff single by DeFabio in the bottom 5th was only the Knights’ second hit in the game, and he didn’t get past second base. Garrett would end up with six shutout innings, but hadn’t been very efficient and was done after 102 pitches. Hidden beneath two base hits and three walks issued there were also two batsmen that Garrett drilled. As soon as Garrett was removed from the game, the Knights awoke and poured four hits and two runs on Boynton and Kaiser in the seventh inning, and the well overworked bullpen would keep crumbling. While the offense had largely gone home after the first inning, the bullpen never arrived at all. Castaneda was in again, trying to end a game with a 5-run lead, somehow, but it just wasn’t working. Ruben Luna hit a 2-run homer in the ninth to get the Knights back within three, and although the runs were unearned (Nunley had dropped a foul pop by Devin Hibbard, who ended up reaching base), Castaneda’s major league stint was over. Joel Davis secured the W when he got Rockwell to ground out to McKnight. 7-4 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5; Nomura 3-5; McKnight 2-4, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Garrett 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (1-2) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

That was Garrett’s first major league win in his fourth attempt this season. He already got a W in six starts in 2019, and overall is 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA in ten starts.

Castaneda (16.20 ERA) and his four walks and five runs allowed in 1.2 innings were banished back to St. Petersburg. Will West was brought back in his place.

Raccoons (44-31) @ Indians (39-39) – July 2-5, 2020

The Indians held a 4-3 edge on the Raccoons in 2020 and had a 4-game winning streak going, so we were warned. They were eighth in runs scored and third in runs allowed with a +19 run differential that hinted at some hidden ambitions and untapped potential in terms of a winning record.

They did, however, have a flurry of injuries, including Jayden Jolley, Lowell Genge, Danny Morales, Jong-beom Kym, and even their backup catcher to Jolley, Nolan Mancuso. Jared D’Attilo was the only pitcher they had on the DL, but their lineup was badly decimated.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (7-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (4-6, 3.31 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-4, 3.12 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (9-4, 2.70 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-0) vs. Tom Shumway (6-5, 3.51 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-5, 5.18 ERA) vs. Zach Weaver (5-6, 4.13 ERA)

Bad news here, as the Indians have three left-handed starting pitchers, and we will face ALL of them, and ALL of them to start the series. Only Weaver on Sunday is going to be a right-hander, and never before did I long to see Dan Lambert (7-5, 3.98 ERA) this hard. We needed strong performances from Toner and Abe to start the set, else things were going to go really pear-shaped. The Raccoons entered this series half a game behind the Loggers in the division.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – 2B Prince – P Toner
IND: RF Faulk – CF D. Young – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – 3B Georges – C I. Gutierrez – P Lamb

Lamb conceded a run in the second, which saw Margolis and McKnight both hit singles to left to start the inning. Nunley and Prince both came up with deep fly balls that didn’t get past A.J. Faulk and Danny Young, respectively, but were deep enough to advance Margolis every time, and thus scoring him on Prince’s sac fly. Toner hit a 2-out single after that, but Cookie grounded out to strand runners on the corners, while on the mound Toner retired the first eight including five strikeouts before Lamb reached with a bloop single in the third. Faulk grounded out to end the inning. Toner struck out the side in the fourth, then came to the plate in the top 5th with Prince on base after a leadoff walk. Jonny failed to bunt, but with two strikes on him hit another line drive for another single, moving Prince to second. Cookie flew out to Cesar Martinez, but Bareford singled, loading the bases for the middle of the order. Lamb threw only two pitches, enough for Jackson to pop out to first and Mendoza to ground out to second, nobody scoring in the inning. Of course, things had to go bust at some point. Toner issued a leadoff walk in a full count to Raul Matias in the bottom 5th, and Bobby Eason hit a double past Jackson to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs. Toner dug himself a trench on the mound, determined to get out of here – AND HE DID. He struck out Ryan Georges; Israel Gutierrez popped out on the first pitch; and Kyle Lamb was simply mutilated as Toner grabbed his 10th K of the game! But there was no beauty to the Raccoons’ game right now. Toner walked two including the leadoff man AGAIN in the sixth, and Faulk would come around on a 2-out RBI single by Matias to center. Eason flew out to Cookie to end the sixth.

So with the lead blown and in a 1-1 contest, what would the Critters do? Cookie was in a 3-1 count leading off the seventh, was going to ground out to Eason, except that Eason spiked the throw and undressed poor Mike Rucker, with Cookie safe on the error. Right-hander Lou Cannon replaced Lamb, and off him Bareford hit one up the leftfield line for a double, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Of course nothing came of it. The ****ed up offense would load the bases with an intentional walk to Mendoza after Jackson had already grounded out pathetically, and then Margolis hit into a double play, 6-4-3. Toner labored through the seventh, the sparkle of the first four innings being completely gone by now, and was dead shot and done after 111 pitches, just barely stalling the go-ahead run on third base. That runner, Juan Gonzales, had walked as pinch-hitter, giving Toner four walks in the game. For his efforts, he got the W. The Raccoons loaded the bases against Allen Reed in the eighth, starting with a Nunley single, although Nunley was erased on Prince hitting into a fielder’s choice, Yoshi dipping a pinch-hit single into shallow left, and Cookie walking. Bareford fell to 1-2 before rolling a grounder to right – and through between Eason and Rucker! The go-ahead run scored in Prince, and then Jackson singled to center to score two more. Killian Savoie replaced Reed and caught Mendoza’s comebacker to end the inning, before Chris Mathis started the bottom 8th with a 3-0 count to Martinez, who then foolishly poked and grounded out to McKnight. Mathis made it through the inning, and the Raccoons tagged on a run in the ninth, one catcher (Olivares) plating the other (Margolis) with a sac fly; the primary had doubled to get the inning underway. Will West was in for the ninth, allowed two singles, but struck out two, including Jeremie Ventura to end the game without another pitcher having to be bothered. 5-1 Critters. Bareford 3-5, 2B, RBI; Jackson 2-5, 2 RBI; Margolis 2-5, 2B; Nunley 2-4; Prince 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 11 K, W (8-4) and 2-3;

The Loggers fell to Boston’s Jose Diaz (6-4, 3.10 ERA) in a 7-1 defeat for them, so the lead in the North changed hands on this Thursday.

Game 2
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – 1B Petracek – LF DeWeese – P Abe
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – RF Faulk – 2B Ventura – C Tanner – P Broun

Three singles by Gonzales, Martinez, and Rucker escaped through various holes in the infield and put Abe 1-0 behind right in the first inning, and Abe would be guilty of a terrible bunt that forced out DeWeese in the third inning and cost the Raccoons a run. They would end up loading the bases on a Bareford walk and Yoshi’s single, but Abe as the lead runner had no chance of scoring on a single to left, while we would have sent DeWeese with reckless abandon. Jackson grounded out to Pedro Cruz, stranding three runners. The following inning the Raccoons had Margolis and Prince on with one out, both having hit singles. With the 7-8-9 batters we had coming up, there was basically no hope, unless a ball eluded C.J. Tanner and made it to the backstop. The passed ball on Broun’s first pitch to Petracek moved both runners to scoring position, but Petracek still struck out. DeWeese was walked intentionally just to be sure, and Abe struck out, leaving the bases loaded AGAIN. While Abe was tip-toeing his way through the Indians’ lineup with no great stuff and some decent help from the defense, f.e. Margolis erasing Matias when the shortstop tried to steal second after a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, the offense was still meh. Jackson rolled a single to left in the fifth inning, but that was with two down already. Margolis ran a 3-0 count against Broun and then thought to himself why shouldn’t he, and ripped. He met a fastball and killed it outright, flipping the score with a long 2-run homer to left center.

The Indians continued to employ selectively the intentional walk to great effect. Prince hit a double to lead off the sixth inning. The Indians walked PETRACEK to get to DeWeese, who complied and grounded to Jeremie Ventura for a 4-6-3 double play. Abe dutifully struck out, then was torn to shreds in the 4-run bottom of the inning. Cruz doubled off the wall, Martinez singled, and Rucker hit a 3-piece, but Matias also singled his way on base and would score on Ventura’s single. Down 5-2, the Raccoons loaded the bases AGAIN in the seventh inning. After Bareford made a poor out, Yoshi doubled to right, Jackson walked, and Margolis singled. One out for Nunley, who bounced a ball straight to Ventura for a 4-6-3 double play. Top 8th, Petracek stumbled onto base. Facing right-handed reliever Shane Baker, just into the game, Cookie hit for Abe with two outs and singled hard to center to bring up the tying run, with Mendoza batting for Bareford, and left-hander Killian Savoie coming in to face him after already retiring him in the series opener, and he got him again, this time on a fly to left. Jarrod Morrison would try to close the game in the ninth and had a 1.73 ERA among his credentials. Yoshi led off with a single, and then Jackson rammed a ball high to left and outta here. And if they had been a little less ****ty in the previous umpteen chances, that could have been the tying or go-ahead or whatever, but now the home run only got the Raccoons to within a run. Nobody out yet, though, so still plenty of time to make up another run. Two groundouts to short later, Prince singled with two outs to become the tying run on base. McKnight hit for Petracek, but grounded out to Ventura. 5-4 Indians. Nomura 3-5, 2B; Jackson 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Margolis 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Prince 2-4, BB, 2B; Carmona (PH) 1-1;

And we lost the division lead again to the Loggers with this shameful loss. And why play DeWeese against the left-hander? Easy: if we sit him for three straight days, he will bite the minimum salary players, so we had to work him into there somehow.

I know it didn’t work.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – P Knight
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – RF Georges – C Tanner – P Shumway

Cookie singled, stole, scored in the first, with Mendoza driving him in with a double to the corner in rightfield for his 70th RBI of the year, but the run was pretty much worthless, since the Raccoons became unhinged and collapsed into a heap of rubble pretty much from the get-go, with a Gonzales double to center leading things off for the Arrowheads before McKnight unleashed a catastrophic throw for a 2-base error on Cruz’ grounder. Game tied, Knight threw a wild pitch, and the run scored on Cesar Martinez’ loud sac fly. The Fourth of July fireworks were off early, and it pretty much had to do with Knight alone, whose career ERA coming in was a flat five. The defense made a few outstanding plays, and the Raccoons even took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning as Jackson homered to tie the game, and Yoshi doubled and advanced on productive outs to get ahead, but Martinez’ leadoff jack, which was a real no-doubter, in the bottom 4th leveled the score at three without much discussion. There would be discussion about Knight’s fifth inning, however. The leadoff walk to the .159 batter Tanner was one thing. The completely and mind-bogglingly stupid play on Tom Shumway’s bunt however, in which Knight tried to get Tanner out at second, was doomed from the start and only served to put two on with nobody out. Then Juan Gonzales homered, deep, deep, three times deep to right and the Indians were 6-3 ahead. Cruz would single to center with authority, which ended Knight’s day and brought in Joel Davis, who made it through the fifth alright, but allowed a solo bomb to Ryan Georges in the sixth, and he was not the last Coon to get bombed. Matias homered off Boynton in the eighth, also a solo shot. The Raccoons hardly hit a ball out of the infield in the last five innings. 8-3 Indians. Carmona 2-4; Nomura 2-3, 2B;

No lead change today, and in fact there would not be one on Sunday either with the Loggers taking their third game against the Titans and putting the Coons 1 1/2 out.

Game 4
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Guerrero
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – RF Faulk – C Tanner – P Weaver

Guerrero had been nothing but a horror show ever since the middle of May, winning only one of his last ten starts, and he had been especially gruesome in his last five starts, going 0-3 with an ERA over ELEVEN. The Coons were counting on him to at least secure a series split with Indy, which was a bit like counting on the odd-smelling milk to not banish you to the privy with explosive diarrhea.

Starting with two strikeouts and a perfect first, Guerrero quickly returned to resembling a cucumber nailed to a spring that was lobbing baseballs in the general direction of the nearest warm body. The Indians hit three singles in the bottom 2nd, with Tanner’s 2-out roller up the middle chasing home Rucker with the first run of the game. Cruz, Martinez, and Rucker were on the bases with one out in the bottom 3rd, after which four straight balls nowhere near the zone to Matias forced in the second run. Bobby Eason fouled out, Faulk flew out to Cookie, and in a perfect world, or even one that was at least occasionally just, the Raccoons would punish them for not slicing Guerrero open neck-to-scrotum right here and there. So far, the Coons did not have a base hit, but got one before making an out in the fourth. Yoshi led off with a walk, and then McKnight singled to left. The tying runs were on for Dumbo Mendoza, who hit a ball for about six feet, with Tanner starting a casual 2-6-3 double play. Margolis flew out to right, nobody scored, as usual. To make up for the road team’s persistent offensive ineptness, rookie Zach Weaver hit his first career home run off Guerrero in the bottom of the inning, bringing the score to 3-0.

Funnily enough – if there was ANYTHING even REMOTELY funny about this team anymore – Guerrero would outlast Weaver in the game. Weaver allowed a single to McKnight in the sixth, then served a snoozer to Mendoza that even Dumbo couldn’t hit into a double play with. A 390-footer later, the score was 3-2, and Weaver didn’t retire anybody else. Margolis singled, Nunley walked, Allen Reed replaced him, which also meant that Jackson batted for DeWeese to face the southpaw. Jackson rammed a ball to deep left, over Martinez’ head and to the base of the fence for an RBI double. That one tied the score, and the Coons plundered their bench. Bareford batted for DeWald, but was walked intentionally, and then Prince batted for Guerrero, who suddenly stood a chance for his first W since May if Prince could get at least one man home. Or, you know, if Reed did something stupid, like throwing a ball completely past Tanner and Nunley scoring on the wild pitch, 4-3. Prince struck out eventually, and Guerrero didn’t get the W either, because the Indians would get straight 1-out singles off Seung-mo Chun in the bottom 6th, Gonzales, Cruz, and Martinez doing the honors; in the seventh they stranded the go-ahead run on third base, where A.J. Faulk arrived after singling off Joel Davis, and making it to third when Margolis threw away the ball on Faulk’s attempted steal of second base. Tanner struck out, Ventura popped out to Yoshi. This was not Margolis’ last terrible throwing error in the game. He made another one in the bottom of the ninth, that one putting PH Silvestro Roncero on second with one out and Mathis pitching. Mathis guided the game to extra innings, retiring Faulk on a groundout and Tanner on strikes.

The Coons had landed only five base hits in regulation, and it didn’t get any better in extra innings. Petracek hit a single pinch-hitting in the 11th, but that was literally all they did, with Cookie flying out to get to a particularly aggravating 0-for-6. With Petracek’s PH appearance, neither team had any bench left. Bottom 11th, this came into play, with Will West pitching for Portland, and Cesar Martinez hitting a leadoff single, but being caught stealing quickly. Rucker flew out, but Matias singled … but the Indians had the pitcher in the #6 slot, and Shane Baker struck out. Mendoza walked in the 12th, Margolis hit into a double play. Cookie took Pedro Cruz’ fly to left with two on and two out to further extend the capital misery. Baker allowed singles to Nunley and Jackson as the 13th inning began. Bareford flew out to right, after which we shrugged and sent Jonny Toner to bat for Will West. Toner hit the first pitch slowly up the third base line, Cruz couldn’t make the play in time, and the infield single loaded the bases for the aforementioned 0-for-6 leadoff man, who rolled a grounder in the vicinity of Jeremie Ventura at the keystone, but Ventura missed it, and the RBI single broke the 4-4 tie. Manny Ortega replaced Baker to try and limit the damage, but allowed a 2-run double to left to Nomura, who so far had also been left dry. The Indians’ pen collapsed. McKnight struck out for the second out, but Mendoza plated two with a single to left center, then scored on Margolis’ single to center. The inning ended on Nunley’s grounder, and Boynton opened the bottom 13th with a walk and a balk, but the Indians wouldn’t score, stranding Martinez on third base when their pitcher struck out for the second time to end an inning, and this time the game. 10-4 Blighters. Mendoza 2-5, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Jackson (PH) 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Petracek (PH) 1-1; Toner (PH) 1-1; Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; West 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

We were out-hit 17-13 in this game, so by no means was this win deserved…

In other news

June 30 – A 9-run second inning fuels the Indians in their 16-3 crushing of the Bayhawks. IND C C.J. Tanner (.162, 1 HR, 9 RBI) drives in five runs in the #8 hole.
July 1 – The Capitals crumple the Stars in a 15-3 rout. WAS OF/1B Terry Kopp (.316, 9 HR, 49 RBI) has four hits with a homer and two doubles and drives in four.
July 2 – The Titans send RF/LF Victor Hodgers (.277, 4 HR, 17 RBI) to the Cyclones for two prospects.
July 5 – MIL SP Luis Guerrero (3-6, 4.75 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
July 5 – The Knights will be without INF Jamie Wilson (.241, 4 HR, 32 RBI) for at least a month. The 32-year old has broken a rib.

Complaints and stuff

We are pretty much completely arsed. That is the short version of what is going on.

As June ended, the Raccoons – once far ahead in runs scored – had dropped to fourth in the CL in counters already, and I feel like their freefall hasn’t stopped yet although they are t-2nd in runs scored right at this point thanks to 6-spots on Wednesday and Sunday, one in the first, one in the very, very last inning.

Also, with Santos gone, our pitching is quite definitely a mess now. Damani Knight is in the rotation *in addition to* Bobby Guerrero and Travis Garrett being routinely set ablaze. And it’s not like Toner has been impeccable this year, or Abe (shivers), or the bullpen.

Four weeks ago, they looked like a lock for the division. Now they look like some of them will be sold before the month is over. Or maybe a few more guys get injured, that would be fun and games, too…

One more week to the All Star break, and we will have four with the damn Elks next week, which I am not in the mood for.