[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-7) vs. Bayhawks (5-13) – April 25-27, 2022

Worst team in the Continental League, the Bayhawks had already piled up a -29 run differential after only three weeks. They were in the bottom 3 in runs scored, and merely tied for 8th in runs allowed, and both their starters and relievers had racked up ERA’s just short of five. Now, the Critters were not exactly shining idols on a pillar with their decisive averageness and only a slim +9 run differential, but maybe we could stave off a record correction for a wee bit longer before facing the Titans on the weekend? Would be great to play for first place, even if it’s still only April and doesn’t count for crap… We lost the season series, decisively, in 2021, winning only two of our nine games against San Fran.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-1, 7.16 ERA) vs. Mark Roberts (0-3, 5.06 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-2, 7.00 ERA) vs. Graham Wasserman (0-4, 7.30 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (2-1, 2.63 ERA) vs. Brad Smith (2-1, 2.31 ERA)

Three pitchers with 7+ ERA’s that would like to point out that technically it’s early in the season. Then there was Roberts, who was supposed to be the challenger for Toner’s thrown as best pitcher in the game, but so far had been shackled. Brad Smith had suffered through a sad, mediocre season in his first year in San Francisco, but early on was pointing in the other direction. At 37, there was usually only one direction, down into the abyss. Roberts would be the only southpaw in the series.

The Bayhawks had some injury woes, missing Dave Garcia (although we should just rather kindly point out whenever he can actually play instead…) and Mike Stank, their anointed closer.

Game 1
SFB: 3B F. Guzman – 1B Light – 2B Claros – LF R. Gomez – C W. Jones – SS Sanks – CF Duarte – RF Sarabia – P M. Roberts
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Spencer – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – C Olivares – SS Stalker – 3B Bullock – CF Stevenson – P Garrett

The Raccoons were retired in order in the first three innings, which was not something you could say about the Bayhawks, but with runners on the corners in the first inning William Jones softly grounded out, and in the second Victor Sarabia hit a hard single to left, but was thrown out trying to make it a double – he wasn’t even close against Cookie’s throw in. The Bayhawks started to hit the ball better though in the fourth inning, with Raul Claros and Rafael Gomez hitting a pair of sharp singles to lead off the inning. William Jones grounded to short, Stalker started a 6-4-3, but the first run of the game scored from third base. That was the end for Garrett as well, who signaled for the trainer and then left the game with the Druid. Back pains were soon relayed from the trainer’s room, and the Raccoons had another bullpen day. The raw joy.

The loss wouldn’t stick to Garrett, with Logan Sloan retiring Shane Sanks to end the inning, and the Coons scored a wild-pitch-aided run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cookie led off with a single to center, moved over on the wild pitch and then scored on Mendoza’s double into the leftfield corner. Mendoza drove in Cookie again in their next turns at wielding a stick. Cookie led off the bottom 6th with a scorched liner into the gap in right center, and neither Duarte nor Sarabia managed to cut off the ball before it reached the fence. Cookie had a triple, Spencer popped out, but Mendoza hit a ball to deep center that Duarte caught, but that was always going to be deep enough to allow Cookie to score with the go-ahead run. Gil Rockwell upped the tally by one right afterwards, chopping a solo homer to left center, 3-1. Sanks hit a triple off Sloan (his fourth – partial or whole – inning), bringing up the tying run with one out, but Alex Duarte was always prone to a whiff, and then we moved to Manobu Sugano to get out of the inning against the left-hander Sarabia. The Bayhawks would bring the tying run up three more times. The leadoff man reached in both the eighth (against Davis) and ninth (against Lillis). Twice they hit into a double play. Lillis then walked Sanks with a clean infield, bringing up the tying run the final time. Oh well, it’s just Duarte. What can even happen? At 2-2, Duarte drove a ball high and deep to center that dropped my jaw for sure. Yet, it was too high, and not far enough. Stevenson had to race back, but made the catch in front of the track, well short of the fence. 3-1 Raccoons. Carmona 3-4, 3B; Sloan 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Garrett’s back issues were termed mild by the Druid and he would not miss a start. Now, is that good news or …?

Matt Nunley did not appear in this game. This leaves only two Critters to have featured in every contest of the season, Mendoza and Rockwell, but every position player has appeared in at least 12 games, and only the catchers, Armetta, and Romero failed to appear in 16 of 19.

Game 2
SFB: 3B F. Guzman – 1B Light – 2B G. Gonzalez – LF R. Gomez – C W. Jones – SS Sanks – CF Duarte – RF Booker – P Wasserman
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – C Rice – 2B Spencer – CF Stevenson – P Guerrero

The Critters’ middle infielders turned Bobby Guerrero three double plays in the first five innings, but even that could not prevent a Gerardo Gonzalez solo home run for a first inning deficit. That was the only earned run in the game in five innings, with the Raccoons’ lone tally in the fifth inning unearned. Jarod Spencer had reached second base leading off on Frank Guzman’s throwing error and had somehow wobbled around the bases, scoring on Guerrero’s sac fly. Their best earned chance had been a Cookie double right in the bottom 1st, but the middle of the order had completely not woken up yet at that point. Bottom 6th, the Raccoons would give three balls a good ride, but Mendoza, Rockwell, and Rice all flew out to an outfielder, twice to Duarte. Only Matt Nunley reached base on a soft single. Oh baseball, thou art the cruelest game!

Roger Allen’s pinch-hit single to lead off the seventh was reason for alarm because it was the first hard-hit ball the sleepy Baybirds had knocked off Guerrero in a while after some totally dozy middle innings. Guerrero walkd Duarte in the eighth with one out, then got Jaden Booker to bounce a ball back to the mound, but was a bit too slow and could only get the lead runner. That brought up another ex-Coon to the plate, Dylan Alexander pinch-hitting for Wasserman (technically also an ex-Coon), and he was of course a left-hander and still had teeth, so we sent for Quinn MacCarthy to appear ASAP. D-Alex grounded out to the shortstop and the 1-1 tie was preserved, presumably to last for the rest of time. Or maybe not. Bottom 8th, the Bayhawks sent left-hander Mike Homa, who had a ghastly 22.85 ERA after some early season sexual harassment done to him by opposing batters. Cookie grounded out to lead off, but Stalker singled, stole second, and Mendoza walked. Rockwell was a right-handed power bat and I had great hopes here, and he did hit a drive to center, but couldn’t get it past Alex Duarte. Nunley, however, singled to shallow right center, out of everybody’s reach, and that scored Stalker, who had moved up to third base on the Rockwell fly out. That was the go-ahead run, and that made the ninth a save situation in a 2-1 game, and it went to Bricker, who would face the top of the order. Brett Lillis had been out three times in four days, no outing quick and easy, and there was only one lefty bat visible right now. Bricker walked Guzman on four pitches, because nothing can be easy, ever. Allen struck out, but Gonzalez singled to right. Guzman held at second base, and Tyler Gooch struck out. Jones ran a 3-1 count before mashing a liner to center. Oh dear paws in heaven …!! Stevenson in, in, in, in, in …….. made the catch! 2-1 Blighters. Nunley 3-4, RBI; Guerrero 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K and 1-2, RBI;

Whee, another squeeze game. At some point we’ll lose six of those in a row and then the whining will start…

My whining, foremost.

Game 3
SFB: 3B F. Guzman – 1B Light – 2B G. Gonzalez – C W. Jones – SS Sanks – CF Duarte – LF R. Allen – RF Booker – P B. Smith
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – C Rice – 2B Spencer – CF Stevenson – P Toner

In more baseball cruelty, the Raccoons couldn’t cash in Cookie, when he hit a leadoff double in the first inning to run a hitting streak to 12 games, but then nobody Shane Sanks homered off Toner in the second inning to give the Baybirds a 1-0 lead. San Fran would add a run in the fourth on a Gonzalez double to center and then William Jones dropping a single into no man’s land, while Toner struck out eight in five innings. The Raccoons and their batting prowess? Between the Cookie double leading off the first and a Rice double leading off the fifth they pretty much had nothing cooking it all. Spencer singled over the leaping Sanks to place runners on the corners for Stevenson and his .125 clip. Ugh. Max Erickson batted for him in a swift move, but only managed a sac fly and the Raccoons remained 2-1 behind after five. He would wind up with a dozen strikeouts eventually, tallied up in seven innings, but would also end up on a much larger hook. Walking Sanks was bad enough in the seventh inning, but then Victor Sarabia pinch-hit for Duarte (good move!) and walloped one over the wall to get the Bayhawks to 4-1. Looking at the outright pathetic offense the team had displayed the entire series, there was no reason to doube that Jonny was a loser for this one. No way they make up three runs in three innings. Or ten.

Well, the tying run was up at least in the bottom 7th. Brad Smith, who had struck out only two batters in the game, walked Ricardo Romero in the #8 spot, then allowed a single to Olivares, who batted for Toner. Cookie came up as the tying run and was reasonably warm right now. His liner over Sean Light fell for a single, cut off by Sarabia, allowing Romero to score. That was all, though. Stalker grounded into a fielder’s choice, Mendoza walked to not have to do anything, and Rockwell flew out to Booker in centerfield to strand a full set of runners. Bottom 8th, Smith still in the game, Matt Nunley led off by crushing a homer to right. Maybe THIS was the exact point where the Bayhawks should consider sending a replacement. They didn’t. Spencer’s 1-out double was the point where they threw a reliever over the wall, finally, and then it was Mike Homa, who had already lost last night’s game. Ricardo Romero was a ****ty batter, but snipped a single past the infielders that allowed Spencer to score – tied ballgame! But again, the Coons stopped right there, and did not press the issue; Bullock batted for Dew and hit into a double play. Bricker had another *interesting* ninth inning, placing Sanks and Allen on the corners with one out before getting a pop from Rafael Gomez and Cookie to catch Gooch’s howling liner to left to strand them. The Raccoons were then vexed by Francisquo Bocanegra for two innings (spilling into overtime) before Joel Davis was overcome by Jones, Sarabia, and Allen for three base hits that scored two runs in the 11th inning. Right-hander Tony Harrell would face the bottom of the order in the bottom of the 11th, meaning we were dead anyway. 6-4 Bayhawks. Carmona 3-6, 2B, RBI; Spencer 2-5, 2B; Romero 1-2, BB, RBI; Olivares (PH) 1-1; Armetta (PH) 1-1, 3B;

Raccoons (13-8) @ Titans (14-8) – April 29-May 1, 2022

Losing on Wednesday cost us a shot at the division lead going into the 1-2 tilt here in Boston, but oh well, we just gotta win two, right? The Titans had the best batting average in the league at .283, but were only scoring the third-most runs due to an acute lack of power. Their eight home runs had them tied for the bottom in the league. They were sixth in runs allowed, with a pen much better (2.35 ERA) than the rotation (3.85 ERA). They held a 2-1 edge in the season series, attained in the first games of the season.

Projected matchups:
Frank Kelly (1-0, 1.55 ERA) vs. Alan Farrell (1-1, 4.28 ERA)
Ricky Martinez (0-2, 5.30 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (1-1, 4.21 ERA)
Travis Garrett (1-1, 6.30 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (3-2, 2.68 ERA)

Three right-handers!

The Titans had just buried INF Jamie Wilson (.321, 0 HR, 11 RBI) for the next month due to a quad strain suffering while running the bases. They just threw him onto the pile that also contained Willie Ramos (hip strain) and Antonio Esquivel, who was day-to-day with a sore ankle. Give the man a break – he’s 41. At that age, you are all sore, every day!

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Spencer – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – SS Bullock – C Rice – CF Stevenson – P Kelly
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – RF Cornejo – 1B J. Duran – 3B Kane – 2B Casillas – LF Flack – SS Baptiste – P Farrell

A season win away from potentially occupying first place, the Coons had Frank Kelly implode right in the first inning. Straight singles by Keith Leonard, Gil Cornejo, and Jose Duran loaded the bases with one out, before Kelly walked Mike Kane to push in a run. Another run scored on Tony Casillas’ groundout, and Adam Flack plated two with yet another single. Down 4-0 after one, the game was more or less over. In good news – a term that was increasingly used very loosely around this team – Kelly would make it through five innings without causing any further harm, which on paper gave the Raccoons a comeback chance. Through five, they scored a grand total of one run against Farrell, however, and that run was tallied up by Kelly crossing home plate. Him and Cookie hit back-to-back doubles in the third inning. In the sixth, singles by Nunley and Bullock and then a disputed walk drawn by Danny Rice loaded the bases with one out for … Stevenson, batting a grand total of .140, up from .122 his last time around thanks to outracing the defense for an infield single. Is that what actual doom looks like? It was only the sixth, but we sent Olivares to bat for him, with Erickson going to bat for Kelly, if Olivares could keep the line mov-

Bottom 6th, Kelly put another zero on the board; while Tony Casillas reached base, he also got caught stealing, so there was that. Kelly would last six and two thirds before being replaced with Sugano in the bottom 7th, and just when you didn’t think they could twitch their whiskers once more with feeling, the Raccoons brought the tying run to the plate against Farrell in the eighth. Mendoza hit a leadoff single, and then, well, it took two outs until Bullock singled, but here was the tying run: Danny Rice, batting all of .200! No home runs. He grounded out to the pitcher. The Titans scorched Sugano and Sloan for four singles in the eighth, three of those with two outs, to extend their lead unnecessarily. 6-1 Titans. Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Bullock 2-4;

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – C Olivares – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – 2B Armetta – CF Romero – P Martinez
BOS: 3B Baptiste – 1B A. Esquivel – CF Reichardt – LF Almanza – 2B Casillas – C McPherson – RF Cisneros – SS Kane – P Cope

Olivares walked, Mendoza singled, and then the first inning when the course of all things human on earth and died, Rockwell hitting one hard to Casillas for a double play. While Martinez wasn’t rocked for four in the opening inning, the Titans sure got good whack on him, and his complete lack of control was not helping either. Leading off the second inning, Casillas singled, Eric McPherson walked, and then Javy Cisneros sent one up the line and into the leftfield corner for a 2-out double. Kane was retired on a good play by Mendoza before the pitcher and Tristen Baptiste struck out, leaving Cisneros stranded in scoring position. The next inning began with singles by Esquivel and Adrian Reichardt before Martinez threw a wild pitch. Mendoza caught Chris Almanza’s drive, but that was still going to be a sac fly, 3-0, and McPherson drove in another run with a single to make it 4-0. Cisneros also singled, but Kane struck out to end the inning and strand a pair.

After five innings, there were five runs and 11 hits in the game. All the runs were the Titans’. Almost all the hits were – the Raccoons hadn’t landed a base knock since Mendoza’s useless single in the first inning. Martinez was yanked to begin the sixth inning, with Erickson batting for him. Slugging at a strong .161 clip, Erickson got lucky enough to be hit by a pitch coming out of Brian Cope’s hand. That was at least a base runner! Cope then also drilled Cookie. Okay, calm down now. I do appreciate the motion, but we need those bones! Even with two gift runners on base, the Coons’ performance was still incredible, blinding bad. Olivares and Nunley would both pop out over the infield. Mendoza hit an RBI double to score at least one run, but Rockwell grounded to third base with runners in scoring position, and the Raccoons remained behind 5-1. On to the eighth, still behind by the same score, where Olivares singled after Cookie reached on an error by Casillas. That was two on, no outs, Mendoza up, and Mendoza grounded one right into Kane’s mitten for a double play before Rockwell flailed himself out. The team was held to three hits overall and moribundly crawled towards their third straight loss. 5-1 Titans. Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Cookie ended a 13-game hitting streak, seamlessly blending in with the rest of the suckers.

I built a lot of hopes on Tim Stalker. He is batting .192 by now.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Rice – SS Stalker – RF Erickson – CF Stevenson – P Garrett
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – RF Cornejo – 1B J. Duran – 3B Kane – 2B Casillas – LF Flack – SS Stephens – P Klein

The bottom five in the Coons’ lineup were all batting under .200, and I wasn’t quite sure how this collection of ice pickles was supposed to stem the tide here, much less with “Tragic” Travis on the mound. Casillas sent a ball soaring in the second inning that just managed to squeeze over the fence in leftfield, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead. That Garrett drilled Flack right afterwards did not lead to a brawl probably only because everybody knew how **** a pitcher he was… Bottom 3rd, Chris Klein led off with a double, which was not something you were used to see from a common pitcher, but eh, the Garrett Factor was probably… The game swiftly became ugly with a single by Reichardt, who stole second base, a 2-run single by Keith Leonard, and then Gil Cornejo getting stuffed in the ribs. A Jose Duran single loaded the bases, Kane grounded to Spencer, but the Critters only got one, while another run scored, and then Garrett drilled Casillas – his third hit batsman in less than three innings. Flack’s sac fly ran the score to 5-0 before Stephens grounded out mercifully.

The Raccoons would – oddly – show some reaction to a deficit. Starting with Spencer, they reeled off four straight singles to lead off the fourth inning, at least until Tim Stalker killed the inning with a double play; two runs scored. Klein got revenge, leading off the bottom 4th with a hard single to right, but Reichardt knocked the ball to Spencer. Unable to bat, the middle infield kits were now also unable to field. Stalker bobbled the feed and the Coons only got one out on the play. On two pitches to Keith Leonard, Reichardt would steal two bases and also score, thanks to Rice’s mailing his throw well over Nunley’s head on the second attempt. That made it a … 6-2 game, I believe. Scoring was sorta frantic in some of the half-innings. I must admit, the rest of the game I barely noticed. I was busy plundering the bar in our suite and the next two suites over and senselessly drowned my sorrow in alcohol. Garrett, six runs, five earned, was banished after four innings – Leonard almost homered to make it seven – and the pen had another long outing to contend with. The Titans made errors in the fifth and sixth innings that the Coons failed to exploit. Stalker hit into another stupid out in the sixth with Mendoza and Rice on base. I was still barely aware of my surroundings when Cookie doubled home Stevenson with one out in the seventh, but of course Spencer and Nunley both got caught up in Casillas’ glove and left him stranded. I was already comatose in the ninth inning, however, when the Coons were still down 6-3 after some good relief by Dew, MacCarthy, and Lillis (those were dire times!) and singles by Stevenson and Olivares (who hit for Lillis, as an aside) pulled up Cookie as the tying run with one out. But Cookie grounded into a force at second base, and Ron Thrasher had Spencer for breakfast. 6-3 Titans. Mendoza 2-4; Rice 2-4; Stevenson 2-4; Olivares (PH) 1-1; Dew 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;


In other news

April 26 – CHA SP Brian Benjamin (3-2, 3.82 ERA) sheds only one hit in a 4-0 shutout against the Canadiens. Vancouver’s Alex Torres knocks a single to lead off the game, but it is the Canadiens’ last base knock. Benjamin further issues a walk in the ninth inning to Chris Tanzillo. There has not been a no-hitter in the ABL since 2020.
April 26 – The Crusaders’ SP Cody Zimmerman (3-2, 1.95 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the Knights.
April 27 – CIN CF Nando Maiello (.325, 2 HR, 11 RBI) will miss three weeks with a quad strain.
April 27 – The Canadiens trade utility player Brody Folk (.269, 2 HR, 12 RBI) to the Knights for 1B Mike Rivera, whom the Knights had parked in AAA.
April 27 – The Loggers acquire BOS 1B Kevin Jaeeger (.333, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and a prospect in a trade for SP/MR Julio San Pedro (0-1, 3.86 ERA, 1 SV).
April 27 – The Indians manage only two hits to the Canadiens’ eight, but still beat them 1-0.
April 29 – CIN SP/MR Chris Munroe (3-0, 2.86 ERA) might miss the rest of the season with shoulder inflammation. The 29-year old right-hander was off to a very good start after a so far mixed career.
April 30 – While the Blue Sox beat the Rebels, 11-10 in ten innings, both teams score in only three innings each. Both tally a run in the first, before the Rebels score six in the fifth and three in the sixth inning. The Blue Sox rout them for nine runs in the eighth and then walk off in the tenth. RIC LF/RF/1B Jon Correa (.247, 3 HR, 21 RBI) has two hits and plates five runs, including a grand slam.
May 1 – SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.298, 0 HR, 13 RBI) not only knocks five hits in a 17-7 Scorpions rout over the Pacifics, but also walks twice in the ninth inning in order to reach base safely seven times in the game.
May 1 – Season over for TIJ MR Cole Pierson (0-0, 8.44 ERA); the 32-year old left-hander has been diagnosed with a torn flexor tendon.

Complaints and stuff

(sits next to Chad in full costume on the brown couch and looks very despaired)

Gee if I had known that the Loggers want to trade San Pedro that badly…

Jesus Chavez has a 4.03 ERA in AAA, but I think we need to make a switch urgently. Now, the question is just whether he will replace one of our current starters, or whether he can start three games in a row and we dump all of the ****s. Also keeping an eye on lefty Rico Gutierrez in AAA, who is 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA. Five walks per nine, but who doesn’t have five walks per nine at age 22 in AAA?

Going back to last week, say, who are the Raccoons starters with at least 50 games started by the lowest ERA?

PORTLAND RACCOONS BEST STARTERS BY ERA (min. 50 GS)
1st – Jonathan Toner – 2.47
2nd – Kinji Kan – 2.78
3rd – Nick Brown – 2.89
4th – Jose Rivera – 3.05
5th – Jong-hoo Umberger – 3.10
6th – Hector Santos – 3.11
7th – Kelvin Yates – 3.13
8th – Jorge Romero – 3.19
9th – Logan Evans – 3.22
10th – Kisho Saito – 3.30

Now, now, there are some surprises on this list! Master Kisho *barely* even makes the list! The reason is for a trio of long-forgotten pitchers that you would not remember if pressed to do so and that mostly played on losing teams and/or despite their noble efforts wound up with raging losing records. Talking about Jorge Romero here foremost, who went 40-60 (!!!) with his 3.19 ERA for the horrendous no-offense-ever Raccoons from 1979 through 1982. Jose Rivera mostly pitched for us during the first half of the Dark Ages that started in ’97, but Kinji Kan was a big signing prior to 1983, you know, the first Raccoons team that actually made the playoffs. He makes the list just barely as well despite ranking second since he only started 53 games for Portland. The losing-again ’84 Coons realigned him to Oklahoma for catcher Sam Dadswell, which is a story for a later time.

Logan Evans also mostly pitched during the early-day Raccoons and never got love, nor support. That he walked triple digits three times in his career had totally nothing to do with it. He did lead the league in wins with 18 however in 1983, so he was there when you really needed him, and for most of the early 1980s the Raccoons had “Old Chris” Powell, Evans, and then soup of the day for three long days before Master Kisho finally adjusted to the climate and forged himself a Hall of Fame plaque.

Kel Yates also only barely made the list with 60 starts in 2007 and 2008 and was also the reason for the only time I attended a baseball game in a woman’s dress.

Do we need to lose many words about Nick Brown? Brownie’s just the best, and will probably always be. (whispers) Jonny still hasn’t eclipsed him in my heart!

Honorable mentions for a few more near-misses to a quartet of 3.3x ERA pitchers. This includes “Old Chris”, who has his number retired for a reason, as well as Jason Turner, who was part of our 1990s dynasty as well as Raimundo “Pooky” Beato (if briefly, for 86 starts), and finally Tadasu Abe, wherever he may be right now. Last honorable mention to Scott Wade, who has the third-most *starts* in team history (421, behind Saito and Brownie – and Wade spent some late years as reliever, so he appeared in more *games* than those two), and would probably have made the list if he had retired two years earlier rather than bothering with the 2000-ish Raccoons any further.

You know which list Scott Wade also moonlights on?

PORTLAND RACCOONS ALL TIME SAVE LEADERS
1st – Grant West – 522
2nd – Angel Casas – 446
3rd – Alex Ramirez – 100
4th – Wally Gaston – 94
5th – Dan Nordahl – 92
6th – Ron Thrasher – 76
7th – Marcos Bruno – 68
8th – Daniel Miller – 56
9th – Scott Wade – 53
10th – Kevin Hatfield – 50

Brett Lillis should break into the list and displace Hatfield, our second-ever closer (after the quickly-ousted Ben Green), rather soon. Lillis moved past Jackie Lagarde (45 SV) into 11th place already.

Fun fact: like Hatfield, Wally Gaston was also a veteran of the inaugural Raccoons, and saved 18+ games three times in his career, first in 1979.

You know, 1979, the only time the Raccoons lost 100 or more games.

Until now …!! Excuse me, tears rushing forth again …! (presses face in agony against the mascot shoulder and is gently patted by Chad with the giant right paw, while sulking)