[Westheim]

Hey, the Raccoons are back in town – and you may even still recognize some of them. It was not going to be an easy week to the deadline for the city though. All over Coon City, kids refused to let go of their Cookie Carmona and Jonny Toner and Matt Nunley and Hugo Mendoza bobblehead collection, going as far as taking them to bed with them, because you couldn’t possibly know whether any or all of these would still be there tomorrow, or whether they would be GONE FOREVER.

Raccoons (52-46) vs. Bayhawks (48-51) – July 26-28, 2021

Abysmal pitching, especially starting pitching, was not something that was unique to the Raccoons, no, the Bayhawks were also plagued with it, especially after losing Mark Roberts (5-2, 1.49 ERA) to radial nerve compression in June. They were ninth in runs allowed, and only sixth in runs scored, and a -30 run differential would rarely work out to a winning record, but hey, they got a nice midweek opponent here that was already down on the ground and the count had officially reached nine. The Baybirds held a 2-1 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Michael Foreman (9-4, 2.62 ERA) vs. Brad Smith (5-10, 4.51 ERA)
Ricky Martinez (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (6-6, 3.61 ERA)
TBD vs. Kevin Woodworth (3-9, 6.53 ERA)

The Raccoons’ man on Wednesday depends on whether Jonny Toner (11-4, 3.49 ERA) can have his back realigned by the Druid in time and whether he can shake off the depression after losing that previous start of his, 1-0, on an unearned run. I sure know I had trouble with the latter.

We would get one left-hander from the Bayhawks in Joo on Tuesday.

Game 1
SFB: LF R. Allen – 2B Claros – CF D. Garcia – 1B R. Gomez – RF Sarabia – SS Sanks – C D. Alexander – 3B Light – P B. Smith
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Parks – SS Bullock – CF Stevenson – P Foreman

After a leadoff walk to Roger Allen, Foreman whiffed Raul Claros for his 100th strikeout of the season, a number Jonny Toner surely considered cute in late July. Despite an infield single hit by Rafael Gomez with two down, the inning didn’t blossom into something ugly. The Bayhawks would score in the third inning, though, again getting Allen on base leading off, but this time he hit an 0-2 pitch for a double to right. Claros also hit a hard drive that Josh Stevenson contained in centerfield, but that advanced the runner still, and Allen scored on Dave Garcia’s groundout to Daniel Bullock at short. Allen turned out to be the one guy that Foreman just couldn’t retire; he reached again in the fifth inning on a 2-out bloop single, but Claros grounded out without exploiting that lucky runner. At that point, the Raccoons had two hits and two double plays they had hit into, with Nunley in the first and Graves in the fourth the guilty parties. In the bottom 5th, Jalen Parks rocked a leadoff single to left, only to be caught up in Bullock’s grounder to Claros for yet the next double play.

A sad game turned into a tragedy by the sixth inning, in which D-Alex, the Coons’ catcher many moons ago, blasted a 2-out, 3-run homer in a full count that more or less wrapped the game against a completely inept Portland lineup. Foreman had allowed singles to Garcia and Gomez to begin the frame, had received two pops from Victor Sarabia and Shane Sanks, but D-Alex bombed him, ran the score to 4-0, and it was time to look for booze. D-Alex would make his presence felt again later in the eighth inning, facing Jeff Boynton then and taking him deep as well, this time for a 2-run homer. Counting runs was irrelevant by then, with the Raccoons managing only six total hits against Brad Smith which were sufficiently countered by the four total double plays they would hit into, with Yoshi throwing one onto the pile in some later inning – but at that point it was all a blur. Smith finished what he started, cashing in his first shutout of the season. 6-0 Bayhawks. Bullock 2-3;

Smith, 36, who had been an outright star with the Pacifics for all those years and had led the Federal League in strikeouts four times and in K/9 five times, struck out only four Raccoons in this game. Despite him being a 6-time Pitcher of the Year (there’s a lofty goal for Jonny to aspire to!), Smith only pitched his *fifth* career shutout. That’s right – he has MORE Pitcher of the Year trophies than shutouts!

Meanwhile the Raccoons were shut out for the second time in four games, but I am sure it will all be fine, and consider this: for all this suffering we endure as Raccoons fans in our earthly existence, we shall be bountifully rewarded in the afterlife.

At least that is what my hopes are clinging on right now.

Game 2
SFB: LF R. Allen – 3B Light – CF D. Garcia – 1B R. Gomez – 2B Claros – SS Sanks – RF Booker – C Frasier – P Joo
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – CF Stevenson – C Olivares – 2B Aponte – 3B Petracek – P R. Martinez

Is that the lineup of a team that even honestly tries to win?

A walk, a single, and a confused defense allowed the Bayhawks to put their first two men not only on base, but also into scoring position in the game, after which Ricky Martinez struck out both Garcia and Gomez, and then still fell to Raul Claros’ clean 2-out, 2-run single to left. The bottom of the inning saw Cookie Carmona single (to extend a 10-game hitting streak), steal second base (his 15th of the season), and then be universally ignored by those that followed behind him. It was left to Ezequiel Olivares to level the score in the following inning. Josh Stevenson drew a walk ahead of him, and Olivares got all of a Joo fastball and powered it over the fence in left center, tying the game at two. Ricky Martinez displayed a bit of volatility in the top of the third, where the Bayhawks had the bases loaded after a leadoff bloop single by Joo and then a pair of 1-out walks. Martinez came roaring back with strikeouts against Gomez and Claros to strand a full set of runners, and stranded Jaden Booker and Craig Frasier in scoring position in the fourth inning with another key strikeout to Roger Allen.

The persistent traffic jam on the bases however eroded Martinez’ pitch count pretty fast. He was only good for five innings, striking out eight nonetheless, but also had to throw 104 pitches to get even that far. He was pinch-hit for with Yoshi leading off the bottom 5th, but the Coons made three quick outs and Martinez remained decisionless in his major league career. Cory Dew was pitching for the Coons in the sixth and was hurrying towards a decision for sure, allowing a leadoff single to Raul Claros, who stole second base and was still lingering there with two outs. Although the 29-year old Frasier was technically still a rookie and not a proficient batter at all, the Coons elected to walk him intentionally to get to Joao Joo, not the worst career batter, but nothing to use in marketing, and batting only .136 on the season. Of course, Dew dorked, Joo doubled, and the Bayhawks took a 2-out, 3-2 lead. Allen somehow got himself out, while Dew was removed after Sean Light’s leadoff double in the seventh inning. Bricker and Kaiser rotated in and out of pitching duties, but couldn’t keep the add-on run from scoring. The eighth saw Seung-mo Chun pitching for the fourth time in five days, which went as well as you’d expect, with Craig Frasier, that 29-year old rookie, hitting him for a 2-bomb, and after that Joao Joo hit a ****ing triple off Chun. Allen walked, Jeff Boynton had to fill into long relief, but three more runs scored on a fielder’s choice on Sean Light’s grounder, and then a monstrous shot that Dave Garcia parked in the upper rows of the leftfield stands. Joao Joo narrowly was denied a complete game win, running up on 120 pitches by the ninth inning and was removed after holding the Coons mostly silent for 8 1/3 innings. Mike Stank finished out a game that had turned into a rout late. 9-2 Bayhawks. Carmona 2-4; Olivares 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Parks (PH) 1-1;

Interlude: waiver claim

In striving to reach new lows, the Raccoons on Wednesday claimed RF/CF Alex Duarte (.215, 7 HR, 34 RBI) off waivers by the Crusaders. You may recognize this 28-year-old Puerto Rican from the 2016-19 Raccoons that sent him up to bat a total of 929 times, usually with mixed-to-rotten results. Duarte, making $316k this season, was a career .247 batter with 27 HR and 163 RBI.

Despite being right-handed, Duarte replaced the luckless Dwayne Metts on the roster, who was assigned back to AAA.

Raccoons (52-46) vs. Bayhawks (48-51) – July 26-28, 2021

In potentially, hopefully good news, Jonny Toner was not traded overnight – although I am sure a number of kids in Portland spontaneously broke into tears at the mere mentioning of a Raccoons roster move on the morning radio – and would indeed make his start on Wednesday.

Game 3
SFB: LF R. Allen – 2B Claros – CF D. Garcia – 1B R. Gomez – RF Sarabia – SS Sanks – C D. Alexander – 3B Light – P Woodworth
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Parks – SS Bullock – CF Stevenson – P Toner

Jonny started with two strikeouts before conceding a first-inning run on a Garcia single, Gomez walk, and again a Sarabia single. The Raccoons couldn’t get a ball even out of the infield in the first two innings, a clear indication that this series was already a sweep, and confirmation to that came in the top of the third, in which Toner basically retired nobody for a good long while. After Roger Allen drew a leadoff walk, Claros homered right away, 3-0, and Garcia and Gomez would occupy the corners after a pair of singles. Another run scored on Sarabia’s groundout before Shane Sanks struck out and D-Alex popped up to second base, Yoshi ending the inning. Down 4-0, the Coons couldn’t get a base hit against a pitcher with an ERA over six until the fourth inning. Yoshi’s leadoff single was followed by Nunley walking, and then Dumbo Mendoza hitting into a double play. Graves grounded out as well.

Toner lasted only five, just like the surprise rookie Martinez the previous day, but ended up conceding five runs. The last one was unearned in the top of the 5th and owed to a throwing error by Jalen Parks, which didn’t make his dismal outing any better. Bottom 6th, the Raccoons had maybe one last chance to get to Woodworth and the Bayhawks in general, with Cookie opening with a leadoff single and Yoshi working a walk from a pitcher that would normally issue them in bushels. Nunley hit into the obligatory double play, and continuing to count on the ****head Mendoza to do anything was akin to throwing ever more money down a wishing well – he flew out to Garcia in center. Mendoza drove in a run by accident in the bottom 8th, his 2-out RBI single off Mike Stank breaking up the shutout and soiling Woodworth’s line just slightly after all. With two on and two out, Eddie Jackson batted for Zach Graves and even doubled off the right-hander Edgar Bermudez sent in to counter him. One run scored and the tying run was now Parks, batting against the fourth pitcher of the inning, lefty Francisquo Bocanegra, who had been a Raccoon even before Alex Duarte, and with even less success. Parks’ single plated a pair, brought in ANOTHER pitcher in Mike Homa, who finally ended the inning with a K to Daniel Bullock. The Raccoons were basically out of pitching and had to resort to Brett Lillis in the top 9th while trailing 5-4. Lillis – in some odd meltdown – hit two batters in the inning without allowing a run, but Yoshi Nomura was injured handling a groundball and had to be replaced by Petracek. Edwin Silva in turn retired the Coons in order in the bottom of the ninth. 5-4 Bayhawks. Nomura 1-2, 2 BB; Jackson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Parks 2-4, 2 RBI; Duarte (PH) 1-2; Dew 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

And in the newest, bestest development … Thursday was off.

Oh, was there something else I wanted to talk about…?

Interlude: trade

As the Raccoons continued to fall apart, they struck a deal with the Loggers on Thursday. Milwaukee would reunite with 30-yr old SP Michael Foreman (9-5, 2.76 ERA) and also receive AA INF Ismael Pastor, 22 and the #100 prospect in the league, while the Raccoons would receive 33-yr old SP/MR Evan Carrell (2-1, 3.14 ERA), #79 prospect AAA INF/LF Jarod Spencer, and AA OF/1B Greg Borg.

Pastor may be ranked, but he has never hit anything in the minors in four years. Never – anything. In an uncharacteristically short two-liner, the most recent scouting report from the Riddler just read:

It is best to sell;
That is all I can tell.

Spencer is a Yoshi-like strong defensive second baseman with high contact ability, although he should not walk as much. Borg does not have much power for a corner outfielder, but he is very agile and has huge range, so he should also be able to slot into centerfield. Spencer is 23, Borg is 22. Brock Hudman, 31, was released from AAA to make room there for Spencer. Borg was assigned to AA again.

There were no other roster moves. Carrell slid into the rotation for the Raccoons, who had obviously given up completely at this point.

Raccoons (52-49) vs. Knights (57-44) – July 30-August 1, 2021

Next to stomp the Coons were the Knights, who were already 4-2 against them this season, and there was no realistic way that the Raccoons could recover from that to win the season series. Despite being second from the bottom in terms of team batting average, the Knights were putting out the fifth-most runs, combining that with the fourth-best rotation and third-best pen for second place in the South, 4.5 games behind the Condors. The Condors? The Condors.

Projected matchups:
Dave Dyer (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Jonathan Ryan (6-6, 4.71 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-4, 4.11 ERA) vs. R.J. Lloyd (7-3, 3.33 ERA)
Evan Carrell (2-1, 3.14 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (13-6, 2.88 ERA)

Flores, their only southpaw, pitched on the same day as Lloyd in a double header on Monday, so they could still flick those two.

The Coons started a string of 20 straight games without an off day against the Knights, and they did so with Yoshi Nomura’s dead body on the roster, with the Druid having ordered a worrying amount of embalming liquid and a hacksaw. No actual news on him yet; he had played in all 101 games so far this year.

Game 1
ATL: LF M. Reyes – 3B Jam. Wilson – C Luna – 1B Herlihy – SS T. Jimenez – 2B Hibbard – CF Walrath – RF Lyle – P Ryan
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Parks – CF Stevenson – 2B Aponte – P Dyer

Cookie singled, stole, and scored in the bottom of the first, which was mainly thanks to Mendoza getting drilled before he could do something stupid with two outs. Zach Graves singled to right afterwards, chasing home Cookie, before Jalen Parks grounded out to Devin Hibbard. However, not only was the lead short-lived, no, I was also huddling up on the brown coach with a comforting blanket by the second inning. In that frame, Tony Jimenez tied the game with a homer, but that was far from all. Dyer allowed a single to Hibbard, then walked FIVE consecutive batters, including the pitcher. The Knights had a 4-spot and potentially more before Ruben Luna popped out and Trent Herlihy went down flailing. Top 3rd, leadoff walk to Jimenez, and then Hibbard singled to center. Jimenez scored when Josh Stevenson unleashed a throw at no single teammate in particular that Matt Nunley ended up having to dig out of from under the rolled up tarp in foul ground.

Dyer became the third straight Coons starter to not get past five innings, lasting only four and two thirds before running up on 100 pitches. With Herlihy on second base – thanks to throwing error by Guillermo Aponte, whose presence on the roster was difficult to explain to an outsider – the ball went to Sugano, who got Jeffrey Walrath to ground to short to keep the score at 5-2. Hugo Mendoza had hit a meaningless solo home run in the third inning. The situation was so hopeless, that Sugano was sent to bat with two outs and nobody on in the bottom 6th, since we were confident to get more value from him pitching to two more left-handed batters in the top of the seventh after sitting down twice than from sending any sucker from the bench to ground out instead. In a bizarre development, Sugano turned around a 1-2 pitch by Ryan for a single to left. This was the 36-year old Sugano’s first major league hit! At least this achievement drew a round of applause. It had taken him ten attempts for his first hit, with seven strikeouts to his career batting slash line of .100/.100/.100. No major magic developed from the Critters, with Cookie grounding out to Hibbard solemnly. The Knights would tack on a run in the eighth inning, in which Jonathan Lyle hit a leadoff double off Boynton and came around to score when Parks misfiled the baseball to leftfield on Lyle’s attempt to swipe third base with Marty Reyes batting and one out. The Raccoons were never a factor after Dyer’s blowup. 6-2 Knights. Graves 2-3, RBI; Aponte 2-3; Sugano 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K and 1-1; Kaiser 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

There was a roster move before the Saturday game, but it had nothing to do with another crippling trade. No, the Druid came up with a diagnosis for Yoshi Nomura. The 37-year old had a herniated disc in his back, which at his age was probably a permanent condition. The best estimate was a 3-week stint on the DL, where he swiftly was placed, and the Raccoons had to pick through the detritus in St. Petersburg to find a replacement, which turned out to be recently acquired Jarod “Pop” Spencer, who had played in only one AAA game since arriving with the Alley Cats.

Luis Flores indeed moved up to Saturday to oppose Santos, a.k.a. a sure win for Luis!

In terms of the little things that make life easier, Matt Nunley ever since ending his 18-game hitting streak has been batting .125 (4-for-32), shedding 24 points of batting average in ten days.

Game 2
ATL: LF M. Reyes – 3B Jam. Wilson – C Luna – 1B Herlihy – SS T. Jimenez – 2B Hibbard – CF Hubbard – RF Lyle – P L. Flores
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – 2B Spencer – C Olivares – P Santos

For both teams, their first hit would be an infield single in this game. Nunley hit into an inning-ending double play after Stevenson’s infield single in the bottom 2nd, while Jimmy Hubbard legged out one in the top of the third. The Knights weren’t giving up runners all that easily, and Santos was in trouble at least after a 2-out walk to Marty Reyes, with three left-handers coming up in the order. On his first offering to Jamie Wilson, the Knight hit a 3-piece to center, and the Raccoons were going to extend their losing streak here. Despite there already being two outs in the inning, the Knights put another FOUR men on base with three singles and a walk somewhere in between. Devin Hibbard’s single made it 4-0 before Cookie hurled himself into a Hubbard liner to keep the Knights at least in slam range, which was an ironic proposition to begin with, assuming that team could get three men on base in the same inning to begin with.

Debutee Jarod Spencer singled to center in his first career at-bat, leading off the bottom 3rd. Flores would find pressure here; he walked Olivares in a full count, and Santos bunted the runners over. Cookie and Bullock both scored single runs with sharply hit singles to the outfield, presenting Eddie Jackson with the tying runs aboard. He ran a 3-1 count and I already projected the horrors that would happen with Mendoza batting with three on and one out if he walked, but Jackson didn’t walk. He hammered the 3-1 to right center and past Jonathan Lyle for an RBI double, instead presenting Mendoza with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and one out. Dumbo was predictably retired on a foul pop, and Stevenson grounded out to Jamie Wilson to end the inning with a 4-3 deficit. Ruben Luna’s RBI double in the fifth sent the score to 5-3, but when Santos struck out Hubbard to begin the top of the sixth he at least became the first starting pitcher still on the team since himself last Sunday to get an out in the sixth inning. That is progress, ladies and gentlemen! Santos got one more out from Reyes, a poisonous liner to left that should be credited solely to Cookie Carmona, who had lost all fear apparently, before we went to the pen with Santos on 103 pitches and left-handers up once again. Kaiser, Chun, and Bricker would get the Raccoons through the game, but the Knights’ 5-3 lead was not challenged in the last few innings. The closest the Raccoons came to a comeback was when Harry Merwin plunked Spencer with two outs in the ninth. Olivares grounded out to end the game anyway. 5-3 Knights. Spencer 2-3;

One game in the Bigs and already the best man on the team, Jarod Spencer.

The Coons would not get a glimpse of R.J. Lloyd after all; the Knights moved Leon Hernandez (12-5, 3.94 ERA) into the Sunday game, where he would oppose a makeshift swingman that had been a throw-in to a deconstruction trade three days earlier. Carrell had 25 starts to his 223 career appearances, all of them coming in 2019 and 2020 for the Miners and Warriors. In fact, three of the players in the lineup hadn’t been in the organization at the start of the week, and that number rose to four if you went back to the McKnight-Parks trade last week. Only Cookie, Mendoza, and Nunley had been on the roster two weeks ago.

Game 3
ATL: LF M. Reyes – 3B Jam. Wilson – C Luna – SS T. Jimenez – 2B Hibbard – CF Walrath – 1B M. Rivera – RF Lyle – P L. Hernandez
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – C Parks – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – 3B Nunley – 2B Spencer – CF Duarte – P Carrell

Let’s assume the Knights’ scouting report was hastily compiled and spotty at best after the midweek trade and they probably didn’t have much video on a long reliever / spot starter on the Loggers, who were not in their division. It was the only explanation I had of a few zeroes that Carrell lined up to begin this outing, and he also chipped in a double in the bottom 2nd, a frame in which the Coons hit four times for extra bases after amounting to roughly that many extra-base hits in their last three games combined. Mendoza and Graves led off with doubles, and Nunley made a bid to break out of the funk with a 2-run homer to right. Carrell’s double came with two down and was inconsequential, but the Raccoons would have the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 3rd for a chance to increase their lead. Bullock and Parks had led off with singles and Mendoza had been walked haphazardly, pulling up Graves, one of the bushel of rookies in the lineup. He flew out to Lyle in shallow right, too shallow for Bullock to score, but that particular youngster would come home on a wild pitch to Nunley, who ended up walking to restock first base. Spencer grounded to short, but beat the throw to first by Hibbard to break up the double play and thus allowed Parks to come home. Duarte flew out to right, stranding two on the corners in a 5-0 game.

Of course things had to go to **** at some point, and that point was right in the fourth inning. Carrell got two loud outs to begin the inning before loading the bases on a Jimenez double, a walk to Hibbard, and outright striking Walrath with a pitch. Mike Rivera’s bases-clearing double put the Knights right back in business, now down only 5-3, before Lyle popped out. The same part of the lineup gave Carrell trouble again in the sixth: Jimenez and Hibbard had base hits to go to the corners with one out. Walrath drove a ball to center that Duarte contained in mortal danger, keeping the runners on, and then Cookie had to sell out in the gap on Rivera’s drive to deny him of another double and multiple runs scoring. Maybe an insurance run would be insuring? Parks had killed the fourth inning with a double play after 1-out singles by Cookie and Bullock, but the Coons got their add-on run from an unexpected source in the sixth inning, in which Alex Duarte hit a leadoff jack, his eighth of the season. The Critters also put Cookie and Bullock on base again in the inning, but Parks and Mendoza couldn’t get through right-handed reliever Joey Hopkins and his 4.50 ERA. Carrell’s day ended with a 1-out walk to Jimmy Hubbard in the #9 hole in the seventh. Jeff Boynton replaced him, faced only Reyes, whom he walked, but Sugano then came in and put **** right with strikeouts to Wilson and Luna. From there, Dew got two outs and Brett Lillis got four, plus an increasingly rare save, and he only got that one because he came in to face pinch-hitter Trent Herlihy in the eighth already, because the Critters would tack on a fourth run to their lead in the bottom 8th, in which Josh Stevenson, entering in a double switch with Lillis, hit a leadoff single and eventually scored on Jalen Parks’ groundout. 7-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Bullock 2-4, BB; Graves 2-4, 2B, RBI; Stevenson (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 26 – Ten runs scored in the ninth inning of the Crusaders’ 9-6 win over the Knights. The Crusaders enter with a 3-2 lead and add six in the top of the ninth, while narrowly staving off the Knights’ 4-run counterattack in the bottom of the inning. NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.282, 7 HR, 54 RBI) provides the margin of victory with a 3-run home run in the ninth.
July 27 – The Loggers trade LF/RF Jason Seeley (.302, 5 HR, 19 RBI) to the Thunder for 1B Mike Gershkovich (.238, 1 HR, 21 RBI) and a dubious prospect.
July 27 – The Rebels lose 2B/3B Justin Cramer (.234, 2 HR, 21 RBI) for the rest of the season and maybe even for early 2022 with a badly broken elbow.
July 28 – In one of three trades involving the CL North, CL Mike Tharp (7-5, 2.30 ERA, 13 SV) is traded from one losing team in the division to another, joining the Indians in a trade from the Canadiens, who receive three prospects in return for the 34-year-old left-hander. Both teams make another trade on this date, with the Canadiens trading 3B/SS Chris Grooms (.263, 3 HR, 16 RBI) to the Buffaloes for 39-year-old MR Micah Kirchberg (0-3, 4.42 ERA), and the Indians acquired C Jamal White (.240, 10 HR, 51 RBI) from the Rebels – along with a prospect – for their SP Jared D’Attilo (4-7, 5.12 ERA).
July 28 – 16 innings are played in Vancouver, where the resident Canadiens blow a 6-5 lead in the ninth inning. Both Aces and Canadiens score one run in the 14th, and the Aces score another run in the 16th, but still fall to a home run by RF/LF Moises Berrones (.247, 5 HR, 18 RBI), a walk to Jonathan Morales, and a leadoff double by OF Jeremy Houghtaling (.245, 5 HR, 20 RBI).
July 28 – Miners and Wolves do not score through nine innings, with the Miners eventually plating two in the top of the 10th, the only runs in this 2-0 game.
July 30 – Vancouver’s utility player Brody Folk (.244, 0 HR, 9 RBI) is done for the season after being laid up in a cast with a broken kneecap.
July 30 – Topeka’s Chris Owen (.285, 10 HR, 46 RBI) hits a leadoff single in the second inning of the Buffaloes’ game against the Scorpions that does not amount to anything. It is the Buffaloes’ only hit in the game, and they will soon be swiftly pummeled by Sacramento, who rout them 12-0 before the day is over.
August 1 – The Rebels undo an early Wolves lead with a 10-run sixth inning, beating them soundly, 11-6, eventually. RIC 3B Jesus Soto (.247, 4 HR, 19 RBI) has four singles and drives in two runs.

Complaints and stuff

The moment I got confirmation that this was a re-issue of a ****ty tune from 1997 came on Wednesday, when Guillermo Aponte batted for Jonny Toner in the bottom of the fifth with a catcher that hadn’t been on the roster even two weeks ago at third base … and stranded him with a grounder to second. Aponte? Parks? And why is Toner done in the fifth?

There is a cover-all explanation for this: they all suck. Claiming Alex Duarte off waivers in a vague bid for improvement was also another white flag, of which we raised plenty this week.

I had offers for Jonny Toner this week, but they were grossly insufficient. The problem is that he has been terrible for over a month, and people are now trying to buy low. I am willing to wait out the season and see what develops in wintertime.

I also had an offer from the Gold Sox, bidding 38-year old Joey Mathews for Travis Garrett, which was tempting to say the least.

Oh here is one more to boggle your mind: when the Coons ended their 5-game spill on Sunday with Evan Carrell’s six-and-a-third of decent, but uninspired pitching being just enough for a win, that was the first W for a Raccoons starting pitcher in two full weeks. The pitcher back then, in a 10-2 rush of the Elks on July 18, had been Tadasu Abe, who was not on the team anymore, and had been followed by Carrell, who had fallen asleep on Wednesday as a ****ing Loggers reliever. And THAT IS how deep we’re in the ****s.