[Westheim]

Raccoons (34-34) vs. Crusaders (34-35) – June 20-22, 2022

There was not much scoring going on in Crusaders games; they ranked second from the bottom in runs scored, but had the best pitching in the league. Oh if only they had some batters! I heard the Raccoons Players Shop is going to open soon? The ‘best pitching’ was mainly the rotation, which held a 3.04 ERA – leading the Continental League – but their relievers were more average. The Crusaders had so far handled the Raccoons well enough, beating them for four of six games this year.

Projected matchups:
Frank Kelly (5-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. Cody Zimmerman (4-8, 3.62 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (4-7, 4.67 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (3-1, 2.65 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (1-1, 2.29 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (3-5, 3.81 ERA)

We weren’t sure about the Crusaders’ rotation setup for this series exactly, especially as far as Wednesday was concerned. Zimmerman and Butler were their two left-handed starters; between “Ant” Mendez and Mike Rutkowski (8-2, 1.99 ERA) it was a toss-up on Wednesday, since both of those had pitched in a double header on Saturday.

Game 1
NYC: SS R. Avila – 3B Schmit – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Perkins – C A. Gonzales – CF Loya – LF J. Williams – RF Peters – P Zimmerman
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – 2B Stalker – C Rice – CF Stevenson – P Kelly

This game’s story began the week before, with Jonathan Toner’s move to the disabled list, probably for the balance of the season, maybe with enough time for a cameo in September. In his absence, Frank Kelly was going to be the ace of staff (as long as he wasn’t traded? And who’d gonna be it then? TRAVIS GARRETT??), and he was on tap for the opener of this series, the Raccoons’ first game back at home since the Toner injury. The fans knew their team was doomed at this point – there was no nice-talking it anymore. From 34-34, there was only one way – down hard. How down and how hard it was going to be became apparent quickly not because of Kelly’s pitching in the game, but even before the game, in one of the more infamously botched ceremonial first pitch stunts in the history of the game. Someone in the Raccoons’ front office hadn’t entirely thought things through when they invited a 17-year old former Portland gymnast to throw out the first pitch … after he had been rendered a quadriplegic in a training accident. There the kid sat in his wheelchair, unable to move, a baseball in his lap, when the public address announcer, after a friendly introduction, warm applause from the crowd, and the odd tear or two, declared that Justin would now deliver the first pitch of the game. Then nothing moved, for 20 seconds in stunned silence, until the last smile had faced from the roughly 22,000 faces in the park. What now? After an eternity, during which I opened a fresh bottle of trusty ol’ Captain Coma, and during which cameras had enough time to catch even four different Crusaders hiding their faces in their palms or behind their caps, or, in the case of their manager, a tablet PC, Matt Nunley – who had presented the kid with a uniform signed by all the roster inhabitants (and the DL dwellers) – came forth again, grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and wheeled Justin to home plate, where Danny Rice picked the ball from his lap and held it up, joyful and triumphant. Success! Everybody cheer again!

From here, it was only going to go down.

Jake Williams’ ninth home run of the season was a leadoff jack in the third inning, a huge bomb surrendered by Frank Kelly, who had ended the second inning by grounding to Andy Schmit for a double play with the bases loaded. Williams’ homer tied the game, negating Danny Rice’s RBI single in the bottom 2nd, plating Gil Rockwell, who had drawn a leadoff walk off Zimmerman. That was the Coons’ second double play grounder in the game, following Bullock’s in the first, which erased Cookie from first base; Cookie made it to second base in his next appearance, walking and stealing, but was then left there stranded.

Kelly struck Andy Schmit with a pitch leading off the fourth inning. The following mound conference, with two power left-handers coming up and the smell of decay all around the park, was sniped at the perfect moment and was on the front page of the Portland Agitator the following morning. Kelly, Bullock, Rockwell, Nunley, Rice, and the pitching coach – all looking down at the same time. Above all that, ten letters: END OF AN ERA. Schmit would not score; both Sergio Valdez and Josh Perkins made hard outs to deep left, Cookie being all over the place to stave off the inevitable. While the Crusaders didn’t plate Schmit in this inning, they sure did in the sixth, plus a whole host of others. Schmit then hit a leadoff single through an increasingly unmovable Gil Rockwell, who had less range than the quadriplegic kid that took in the game from the good seats behind home plate and saw singles by Valdez, Perkins – that one claiming a 2-1 lead for New York – then a run-scoring groundout by Alfonso Gonzales. Two down, Jake Williams hit an RBI double to right center, 4-1, before Kelly finally clambered out of the inning. He would finish seven, but Zimmerman went eight, hardly allowing anything but soft grounders and pops in the middle and late innings. The Raccoons had nothing cooking at all, then faced unseeming-but-ridiculously-tough Steve Casey in the ninth inning. Rice’s 1-out walk was all they got between Stalker’s pop out, Zach Graves whiffing, and Ruben Pelles rolling the final ball of the game over to Schmit. 4-1 Crusaders. Carmona 2-3, BB; Stevenson 1-2, BB; Pelles (PH) 1-2;

Nowhere to go but down.

Tuesday brought a rainout, so even the weather was going down. A double header was scheduled for Wednesday with weather still iffy and only maybe permissible to play two. We’d roll the dice, huh? In any case, the starters for the displaced middle game remained the same. The double header itself was not that hard for us, since we had a scheduled off day on Thursday, although between Guerrero and Nielson you don’t know whom to pencil in the long man for.

We started the day in fourth place. If the double header would go particularly badly, we could easily wind up in fifth place behind the Elks…

Game 2
NYC: SS R. Avila – 3B Schmit – 2B S. Valdez – C A. Gonzales – CF Loya – LF J. Williams – 1B A. Young – RF Peters – P D. Butler
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Bullock – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 2B Pelles – CF Stevenson – SS Stalker – C Olivares – P Guerrero

Straight singles by Pelles, Stevenson, and Stalker loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning, with nobody out for Olivares, who was valiantly fighting off the Mendoza line (not *that* Mendoza) that tried to swallow him. The count on Ezequiel ran full, and before he could make a fool out of himself he decided to just stick his fat hairy bum across home plate as the 3-2 pitch whizzed in. Hit by the pitch, he forced in the first run of the game – great success! Guerrero helped himself with a run-scoring groundout, but that was the Coons’ last run in the inning. Cookie grounded out to Adam Young (…!!) at first base, holding the remaining runners pinned, and after Bullock walked, Mendoza (…!!) struck out with the bases loaded. Guerrero would come to bat again with the bases loaded right in the next inning, and again one run (Rockwell after a leadoff single) was already in, having been scored on Stevenson’s sac fly. Apart from that, Pelles and Stalker were on with singles, and Olivares had reached on Butler’s throwing error on a grounder that should have ended the inning with a double play, really. Guerrero grounded slowly to the left side, Schmit had to hurry and fielded the ball barehanded and without much in terms of righting himself; it promptly sailed over Young’s head and plated two runs. Cookie would hit an RBI single, 6-0, and the inning would reliably end again with Mendoza.

The Crusaders in the fourth responded with some quick action. Sergio Valdez hit a jack, 6-1, before Gonzales singled to left and Ricky Loya walked. Two on, no outs, Williams was caught out on a borderline 3-2 pitch before Adam Young, ever the sucker for negative attention, hit into a double play, causing the Crusaders manager to once more press a tablet to his forehead in agony. Yeah, right, Bob! I also endured that for years!! Suck it!!

Talking of sucking… the Crusaders had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth inning. Following Chris Peters’ single, Guerrero had walked both PH Amari Brissett and Ricky Avila, and the 6-1 lead looked like a deficit already. All runners would score; Schmit’s sac fly, Valdez’ grounder to Rockwell, and Gonzales’ 2-out single all plated one run each before Loya struck out in the 6-4 game. While the Raccoons had nothing going offensively at this stage, Guerrero was on close watch – one more guy reaches base, he’s gonna get flogged! Wonderously, the Crusaders failed to put a man aboard in either the sixth or seventh innings, with Guerrero retiring the last seven batters he faced in the game to reach the same mark as Kelly two days earlier: four runs over seven innings, a.k.a. what ****ty teams qualify as passing grade. Bottom 8th, ****ty Tim Stalker hit a leadoff double, the first loud noise coming forth from the Critters camp in a while. Rice batted for Olivares and walked, Nunley batted for Noah Bricker and struck out, Crusaders right-hander Jeremy Waite balked, and then Cookie got walked intentionally. Zach Graves batted for Daniel Bullock and struck out, bringing up everybody’s darling Mendoza again with 0-for-4, 6 LOB on his ledger already. Now, the ****er poked at a 3-1 pitch and fouled out to Schmit, after which Brett Lillis got torn in half, right down the middle.

Williams and Jason Travis began the ninth with floating bloop singles, and a walk to Josh Perkins loaded the sacks with nobody out. Left-handed pinch-hitter Steve Witt struck out, and after that Ricky Avila grounded to short. That was gonna be it – off the hook after aAAAHH STALKER OVERRAN THE BALL…!!! The error scored a run and the Crusaders were so befuddled they almost got Perkins picked off second base after the fact. Bases still loaded for Schmit, who grounded the first pitch he saw from Lillis back to the mound. Excited like a young puppy at a new plaything, Lillis fell on the ball, scrambled and mightily windmilled with all four limbs, but that wasn’t gonna get him an out. Generously scored an RBI single for Schmit, this particular farce tied the game. Valdez grounded to Pelles, who threw to Stalker for one, but Stalker’s throw to first was late, the runner safe, and the go-ahead run across home plate. Gonzales’ single to right added an insurance run before Loya struck out to end a 4-run ninth. Stunningly, back-to-back home runs by Ruben Pelles and Josh Stevenson would stave off defeat in the bottom of the ninth inning – and off Steve Casey nonetheless!

In what quickly turned into one of these “maybe it will last forever” games, the Raccoons had Gil Rockwell reach and steal a base in the bottom 11th to no avail. Matt Nunley, batting ninth after remaining in the game, made an error in the 12th that almost, but not quite, unhorsed Joe Moore, with the Raccoons getting Tim Stalker as far as third base in the bottom of the inning, but neither Nunley nor Cookie could get him in against left-hander Tim Dunn. By then, all pitching assignments had been wiped clean off the table. Ryan Nielson, who was ready to go for his start in the second leg of the double header, entered the fray in the 13th inning, with Travis Garrett sent to the pen to warm up to make the start instead, should this game ever end at all. Schmit and Valdez singled off Nielson in the 13th, but couldn’t overturn him. Nielson led off the bottom 13th by striking out (hey, we’re out of players…) bringing up an 0-for-6, 9 LOB Mendoza. Hey, there’s nobody on base, maybe he can knock one. (nervous, crazed laughter) And then he knocked one. 9-8 Furballs. Rockwell 2-6; Pelles 3-6, HR, RBI; Stevenson 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Stalker 4-6, 2B; Moore 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

Okay, that was a good investment of a starting pitcher. **** Mendoza? However, Nielson had thrown only 12 pitches, and given the off day we could weave him back into the rotation on the weekend. Garrett took over the second game of the day on short rest, but it’s not like he’s any good with regular rest either.

Game 3
NYC: SS R. Avila – 3B Schmit – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Perkins – CF Loya – LF J. Williams – C Travis – RF Peters – P Rutkowski
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Rice – CF Romero – 2B Aponte – P Garrett

Four pitches into the game, the Crusaders had a 1-0 lead, with Ricky Avila singling, getting balked to second base, and scoring on Andy Schmit’s single. Josh Perkins would drive in another run in the inning, in which Garrett saw five batters and threw only ten pitches. #11 would be whopped over the rightfield fence by Williams in the second inning, and I was not sure whether Garrett knew that we only had three relievers left in the pen: Sloan, Sugano, and Dew. Walks to Avila and Schmit were bad ways to start the third inning, too, and Garrett soon got raked some more with Valdez’ RBI double and Perkins’ sac fly, running the score to 5-0. After Jason Travis’ leadoff jack in the fourth inning, Logan Sloan had to come in, because there was some basic human decency left in the management of this team and this was precisely the right time to kick Garrett down the stairs to the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. Not that Sloan on the mound brought a noticeable improvement; Jake Williams hit a 2-piece off him in the fifth…

At that point, down 8-0, the Coons were still being no-hit by Rutkowski, although Danny Rice would single in the bottom 5th to stave off that threat. Meanwhile the Crusaders continued to score in every inning. After allowing two more base hits, Sloan was yanked with two outs in the sixth, but Manobu Sugano brought no noticeable relief. Josh Perkins hit an RBI single, 9-0, and he walked the right-handed Loya before K’ing Williams, who smelled three dingers in a game going onto his resume. Sugano managed a scoreless seventh, though – let’s just not go in to Mike Rutkowski’s 2-out infield single much… A particular highlight in the game would soon be Ricardo Romero drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth inning – then getting caught stealing. This was one pitch before Guillermo Aponte hit a home run. Two more base hits got Rutkowski out of the game, with Nunley hitting an RBI single off left-hander Bryce Neal, but the inning would end with Cory Dew grounding out in the vacated cleanup slot – and he was our last pitcher of any kind. He also prevented Williams from going deep again in the ninth inning … but not Jason Travis hitting a blast to centerfield, giving him two in the game as well. That was the Crusaders’ last homer; the Raccoons would plate two runs on Adonis Foster in the bottom 9th, both scoring on Stalker’s 2-run double with two outs, but they had lost the game a long time ago… 10-4 Crusaders. Nunley 2-4, 2B, RBI; Aponte 2-4, HR, RBI; Stalker 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

Aponte’s decent game helped him nothing; when Sam Armetta came off the DL by Friday, Aponte was sent back to St. Petersburg.

Raccoons (35-36) @ Falcons (43-30) – June 24-26, 2022

The Falcons were leading the CL South, and their Pat Fowlkes had since overtaken a floundering Cookie Carmona in the batting title race in the Continental League, too. We had taken two out of three games from them earlier in the season, but that had been during the first week of the season when they had been clearly soul-searching, getting off to a 3-5 start. After that they quickly reeled off a 9-game winning streak to still go 17-7 in April, but things had slowed down noticeably for them in June, with an 11-10 month on the table for them so far. They were fifth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, so far from a team owning a convincing set of stats. As a matter of fact, they were more games above .500 than they had out-scored their opponents in terms of runs, with only a +6 run differential and they had been routinely beaten around the last few weeks, conceding seven or more runs nine times this month. For what it was worth, even the lowly Raccoons had only conceded 7+ five times in June.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (1-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (7-6, 5.01 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-1, 2.18 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (5-7, 3.55 ERA)
Frank Kelly (5-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (3-2, 3.44 ERA)

Look at that – only winning records for our guys! Such a great team!

The Falcons had only right-handed starters even with one of their young pitching hopes, Kyle Anderson (6-5, 3.07 ERA) on the DL. They were also without their third baseman, Ryan Czachor, although he had only batted .211 with three homers in his first 45 games of the season. Meh, I’ll stick with Nunley.

Game 1
POR: 2B Good – CF LeMoine – 1B Fowlkes – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – C T. Robinson – SS J. Estrada – 3B A. Walker – P Benjamin
CHA: LF Carmona – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Graves – C Rice – SS Stalker – 2B Pelles – P Gutierrez

Rico Gutierrez issued a leadoff walk to speedy Matt Good, made a throwing error and threw a wild pitch, all in the first inning, and somehow still didn’t allow a run. The Coons would score first, Pelles singling in Stalker with two outs in the second inning, and in the third a wild pitch by Benjamin plated Cookie, who had laced a leadoff triple. Up 2-0, Gutierrez issued a leadoff walk to the opposing pitcher in the bottom of the third inning, bur somehow that runner was still on first base when Pat Fowlkes popped up with two outs. Danny Rice under it, waving, waving… screaming? The ball dropped behind him… he never saw it. It was a foul ball, giving Fowlkes another attempt at adding to his 12 home runs this season. Two pitches later, he singled to center, but Ryan Feldmann struck out to leave the runners on base anyway.

Gutierrez made it through five unharmed, although it constantly looked like the ground was going to open underneath his feet and swallow him whole. Matt Good hit a 2-out triple into the rightfield corner in the bottom of the fifth, followed by former Logger Chris LeMoine, batting a mysteriously low .216 with seven homers, drilling a ball HARD to centerfield. Stevenson had played deep, but what good was that when the ball would break the plane over the fence? It didn’t, dropping into Stevenson’s glove on the warning track in centerfield – too high, not long enough, but a mighty blast nevertheless. Teams scored no runs and stranded five combined in the sixth inning, with Gutierrez leaving two on when Juan Estrada popped out to Mendoza, who had been one of the three batters left on base in the top of the inning when Tim Stalker had sailed out easily to centerfield. Andy Walker led off the bottom 7th with a blooping single to right center, but then got forced out on a poor bunt by Benjamin that Matt Nunley hurled vigorously to second base. Good grounded into a double play, with Gutierrez consistently eloping every threat. Gutierrez struck out LeMoine to start the eighth before getting a pat on the bum for a job tremendously well done; he had reached 100 pitches, and right-handers were coming up, and “Bloody” Bricker was going to come in and finished the inning without allowing a runner. The Raccoons had another chance to increase the score in the ninth inning, bringing up the top of the order with one out and the bases loaded against Dusty Balzer and his mixed career record. Stalker had singled, Rockwell had reached on an error, and then Sam Armetta had singled to center. Cookie disappointed us here, hitting into a force at home, but Stevenson and Nunley both hit singles to center, scoring three runs total before Mendoza predictably whiffed. 5-0 Coons. Stevenson 2-5, 2 RBI; Nunley 3-5, RBI; Stalker 2-4, 2B; Armetta (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – C Rice – 1B Rockwell – RF Graves – 2B Stalker – CF Stevenson – P Nielson
CHA: 2B Good – SS Tanaka – 1B Fowlkes – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – C T. Robinson – CF LeMoine – 3B J. Estrada – P Bryant

The game dingled along for the first few innings without either team getting much of an upside over the opposing pitcher. Matt Nunley’s deep fly to center to lead off the fourth inning was a bit of a wake-up call perhaps, although it was caught by LeMoine. Bryant walked the next two batters, but Graves’ grounder that forced out Rockwell at second base, and Stalker’s easy fly to center were not going to get anybody in. Both teams would have three base hits through five innings. In the Raccoons’ case, all the hits were Cookie’s who thus in a live scoring update reclaimed first place in the batting race from Fowlkes, .343 to .342!

Rice would become the first non-bakery item to land a base hit for the Raccoons, singling to right with one out in the sixth inning, and Rockwell became the first non-edible batter with a base hit, doubling past Feldmann. Rice was too slow to score, presenting a foundering Zach Graves with runners in scoring position and one out. Graves was 1-for-his-last-16, and that included a lot of pinch-hitting. He wasn’t getting regular playing time, and it showed; he struck out. Tim Stalker however came through, cracking a 2-2 pitch over the head of Estrada and up the leftfield line, where it bounced barely fair and then went into the corner for a 2-out double, the first runs in the game. Stevenson got walked intentionally, but Nielson knocked an RBI single past Estrada to get the score to 3-0 in his favor. Cookie laced a ball to center, but LeMoine was to be found on the other end of that line drive, giving Cookie his first retirement in the game.

Nielson pitched six scoreless for the time being, while Bryant didn’t make it past the seventh, or through it. Bullock led off with a double to right, and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Nunley and Rice made poor outs, however, keeping the runner stranded while J.J. Rodd, a southpaw, had taken over. He walked Rockwell and had Graves in the ropes again before drilling him. That pulled up Stalker with the sacks stacked, and Stalker turned on another 2-2 pitch and dished it to deep left. Uh, that one looks good. Good – better – gone! GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!!

Nielson pitched eight shutout innings and started the ninth, but a lengthy battle with Ryozo Tanaka resulted in a leadoff walk and 108 pitches on the clock, and that was enough. Sloan replaced him, got a double play grounder from Fowlkes, and then another grounder from Feldmann to end the game. 7-0 Critters! Carmona 3-4, BB; Stalker 2-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Nielson 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (3-1) and 1-4, RBI;

For the record, the Falcons were now leading their division in late June despite a -6 run differential. They were also the only winning team in that division, whatever that said about the division.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 2B Stalker – CF Romero – C Olivares – P Kelly
CHA: 2B J. Estrada – C T. Robinson – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Good – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – SS A. Walker – CF LeMoine – P Durr

After what basically amounted to spillage when the baseball gods distributed pitching abilities to newborn baby boys had shut out the Falcons for consecutive days, Frank Kelly, who was praised as valid #2 by us before the season, hit Juan Estrada to begin his day (and on an 0-2 pitch), then proceeded to concede the run on Fowlkes’ RBI single, and Ryan Feldmann did not fall far form a 2-run homer in the same inning. Estrada also stole second base when neither middle infielder broke to receive Olivares’ throw. The early deficit didn’t stand though; Gil Rockwell hit a triple in the second inning and was cashed in by Saturday’s hero, Tim Stalker, with a sac fly. Offense was mostly slow, however, in the early innings. The Falcons would reach scoring position in the second inning, but didn’t get the run across, and it wasn’t until the fifth that the 1-1 tie was broken. Romero was on second base with two outs, and from Ricardo to Ricardo, Cookie Carmona singled him in to give Kelly a 2-1 lead.

On to the sixth, where Nunley’s drive to left was caught by Travis Benson as he crashed into the rattling fence, but held on. Mendoza walked after being 0-for-2 in the game and having dropped his average even below .280, but stole second base. Rockwell came through with a howling double up the leftfield line, which added to the score, 3-1, and after that the Falcons were now scared off STALKER of all people and walked him intentionally. Nope, not wanna do business with this .244 batting rookie shortstop! Next please! Durr struck out Romero, and Olivares grounded out to short, making it the right move after all, unfortunately. The Falcons were still playing, announcing their existence with a leadoff double by ex-Titan Tim Robinson in the sixth inning. The bases got loaded with the left-handed hitters next coming up, Good singling and Benson walking, loading the sacks with two outs for Ryan Czachor’s replacement, Andy Walker, batting .236 with two homers in his age-24 rookie season. He knocked the first pitch to the right side, Stalker leapt but missed it by a few feet, and two runs scored with the speedy Good on second base, creating a 3-3 tie before LeMoine grounded out to Rockwell.

Kelly fell from grace for good in the bottom 7th. Singles by Joseph McClenon, pinch-hitting for Durr leading off, and Robinson put runners on the corners. Fowlkes flew to center, not beating Romero, but Romero also wasn’t beating McClenon scooting for home with the go-ahead run. Sugano replaced Kelly, walked Good, and only Bricker got out of the inning, with Feldmann flying out to right. The Falcons would get an insurance run in the eighth inning when Rick Farmer’s 2-out fly to left was dropped by a stumbling Cookie Carmona, allowing Andy Walker to score from second base. The Critters would get the tying run to the plate in the ninth, if only because Dusty Balzer drilled Zach Graves with one out. Rice batted for Olivares but grounded into a force, and after that Pelles batted for Bricker and grounded slowly past the mound. Estrada had to play this one quick, but lobbed it away, the ball sailing into the Coons’ dugout, sending Critters scattering all over the place and Matt Nunley to bicker furiously from the top of the dugout. The misplay also brought up Cookie with two down and the tying runs in scoring position. Balzer got two strikes on him before throwing a 93mph fastball right down the middle and Cookie sure didn’t miss that one. Lined into right center, Feldmann came flying from the side head first, MISSED IT, and it’s into the gap! One run in, two runs in, Cookie turning second base and sliding into third base with a score-knotting triple!! COOKIIIIIEEE!! I ****ING LOVE THAT SUCKER!!! Bullock would knock him in with a single to right, giving Brett Lillis an appearance in the bottom of the inning. There was the usual 2-out panic. After Robinson and Fowlkes went down, Good singled and Feldmann walked, pulling up Benson with his nine homers. Mound conference! Nunley and Rice patiently explained to Lillis with the help of an abacus that the winning run for the Falcons was already on base and that this had to stop. Oh well, Benson was a left-hander, it would sure work out well, him batting .306 and what not. Lillis had one strike on him, two strikes on him, then surrendered a 380-footer the Mendoza never bothered running after, because there was no point. 8-6 Falcons. Carmona 3-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Bullock 2-5, RBI; Rockwell 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI;

In other news

June 20 – The Titans beat the Loggers, 2-0, on Monday, in a game in which both teams get only two base hits, and both runs are unearned when Milwaukee’s Jon Berntson (.227, 1 HR, 8 RBI) loses track of a ball in centerfield that dumps in for a 2-base error and allows both Titans runners on base to score.
June 20 – CIN CF Nando Maiello (.280, 2 HR, 17 RBI) will miss six weeks at least with a quad strain.
June 21 – Atlanta’s SP Leon Hernandez (4-6, 3.65 ERA) nixes all of the Thunder’s scoring efforts in a 4-0, 2-hit shutout.
June 22 – Without irony, WAS LF/RF/1B Matt Hamilton (.290, 9 HR, 28 RBI) socks three home runs in the Capitals’ 11-3 rout of the Rebels. Hamilton, who also walks twice, reaches safely in all of his five plate appearances, homers off Rich Guerrero twice and off Hector Santos once, and drives in four runs in total. This is the 41st 3-homer game in ABL history and the second for the Capitals franchise; their other 3-homer game occurred 12 years earlier to the day, Bob Butler lifting three home runs in a 6-5 win over the Cyclones.
June 22 – The hitting streak of NAS C Armando Leal (.321, 3 HR, 25 RBI) ends at 23 games with a hitless appearance in a 4-3 loss to the Buffaloes.
June 24 – MIL SP Chris Sinkhorn (5-3, 3.35 ERA) spins a 1-hit shutout in regulation and whiffs ten Bayhawks, but the Loggers can’t score, either, and the game goes to extra innings, where the Loggers eventually claim a 3-0 victory in the 11th inning, picking four walks and a base hit from SFB MR Mike Homa (1-5, 10.55 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

It may not come as a surprise to you, but I really look forward to the International Free Agent signing period that will start next week. I have nothing else to live for anymore.

Joel Davis will come off the DL on Monday and I will then start to look into deals for veteran relievers, because we had the odd prospect in AAA still pushing up. I don’t know even who will be traded – it depends on who gives us the best deal, really. It’s not that I pressingly want to get rid of anybody, but just, y’know, get a prospect for somebody. Two trades, really, to keep Joe Moore here, and to get Billy Brotman up.

You know what else occurred to me? I must trade Cookie and Toner (the latter will only be able to be traded in the winter to begin with…) as soon as possible. I don’t want to waste those two’s careers as well like I wasted Brownie’s. Brownie never won a ring. I want those two to get rings! Heck, they have never been to the World Series even …!

If you love something dearly, let it go. Unless you love it too much, then skin it and make a muff out of it.

Technically, we could grab regular season win #3,800 next week, but that would require five wins…

You know what would have made the Hamilton barrage on Wednesday even better? If it – rather than Bob Butler’s – had been the anniversary of, say, Jimmy Oatmeal’s 3-HR game.

Despite our swath of disappointing power hitters over the years, Hamilton and Jimmy Eichelkraut are the only batters to hit three home runs in a game AFTER their time with the Raccoons organization. Ron Alston, Liam Wedemeyer, Stan Murphy (twice!), and Dumbo Mendoza all hit three homers before they became Raccoons.

What is there positive to pick from the week? Tuesday and Thursday were great! Okay, the Coons didn’t play on either day, but … eh. Oh, I know. A left-handed starter got a win in relief in an extra-inning game. Nick Brown did that once early in his career and it turned out rather well in the end for him. Doubtlessly Ryan Nielson is gonna be an All Star this year.

Not even an All Star of our hearts…

Fun Fact: No Raccoons reliever has ever reached 100 strikeouts in a season without starting at least one game. The closest anybody has come in team history is Marcos Bruno; the right-hander struck out 97 batters across 72 innings in 2008.

Ah, 2008. The year Jong-hoo Umberger was Rookie of the Year, Luke “Duke Smack” Black was The Thing, the Raccoons traded for Ron Alston in an outrageous deal in July, and won a whopping 93 games, only to still finish a dozen games out to the Crusaders.

The ****ing Crusaders that have won six championships since the Raccoons’ most recent time hoisting the trophy. And they will not get another shot for many years.

(tightly hugs Honeypaws while starting to cry) Forgive me, Honeypaws, for I have failed you …!!