[Westheim]

Raccoons (41-40) @ Loggers (36-44) – July 4-7, 2022

We’d do the smooth four-and-four with the Loggers this year; first four in Milwaukee, then four at our little dump after the All Star Game. That amounted to just enough games to get blasted into last place real hard, and I still couldn’t quite figure out how the defending champions were still in last place in the CL North in July, and by now also 15 1/2 games behind the Titans, who looked like a damn lock to the playoffs this year – their first since 2005! The Loggers had won two of three games from the Raccoons during our first encounter this season. They were tenth in both runs scored and runs allowed, which was not a good base for success. Their run differential was -62, and they were actually as rotten as they appeared, the reasons for which were mysterious and beyond me.

Projected matchups:
Matt Huf (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Chris Sinkhorn (6-3, 3.12 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (6-6, 3.71 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (3-1, 1.51 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (1-6, 5.67 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (5-7, 4.15 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (4-7, 4.08 ERA)

So Matt Huf will make his Raccoons and starting debut against the current Pitcher of the Year – oh it’s gonna be just fiiine! Sinkhorn is their only left-hander.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – RF Stevenson – 2B Pelles – CF Romero – C Olivares – P Huf
MIL: SS Tadlock – 2B March – RF Gore – C Wool – LF Berntson – 3B A. Velez – 1B Reese – CF Tesch – P Sinkhorn

Matt Huf didn’t only have to compete against six left-handed batters, but also fought nature which threw a 30-minute rain delay right in the second inning at him. The Loggers would take a lead in the same inning, with Jon Berntson scoring on two productive outs after his leadoff double into the rightfield corner. The balls were flying quite hard off Huf, who had almost allowed a leadoff jack to Ron Tadlock in the first; Cookie made the catch right at the wall. Offensively, Cookie was no big help, contributing two strikeouts to Sinkhorn’s tally of seven after the first five innings, including striking out to strand the unearned tying runs in the top of the fifth. Olivares had singled, Huf had reached on an error; the Loggers had been up 2-0 since the bottom 4th, and would add another run to get to 3-0 in the fifth against Huf, both times slowly moving leadoff singles around the bases; in the latter case, that leadoff single had been hit by Sinkhorn. Huf was almost on his way out in the bottom 5th, with Dan March on second, Brad Gore on first, one out, and a full count against Josh Wool, until Wool struck out and Olivares threw out Gore among the moving runners, ending the inning with a 2-4 double play.

The Critters had the bases loaded in the sixth, with Stalker and Rockwell singling, and Stevenson getting nailed with one out. Pelles flew out softly to Gore in rightfield, but Ricardo Romero smacked a bouncer threw the diving Alberto Velez. The ball worked its way into the corner in deep left, and all runners scored on the double, tying the score at three. Huf made it through the seventh inning without allowing another baserunner, and the Loggers hit for Sinkhorn with Kevin Jaeger in the bottom 7th, so we got into their moist bullpen. Gil Rockwell was the first guy up against their reliever Ivan Morales, a right-hander with a decent 2.64 ERA. Rockwell knocked a double over Brad Gore’s head, but Stevenson flew out. After that Ruben Pelles was walked intentionally to get to Romero for whatever reason, except that we pretended the last three weeks hadn’t happened and sent Dumbo Mendoza to pinch-hit. The success was spectacular – despite falling behind in the count, Mendoza met a 98mph heater and blasted it right outta the goddamn park! The stunned Loggers did not offer major resistance the rest of the way. Sugano and Davis took care of the eighth, and Brett Lillis did the ninth, striking out three after an initial walk to Alberto Velez. 6-3 Coons! Carmona 2-5, 2B; Rockwell 2-4, 2B; Romero 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Mendoza (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Huf 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

This was the 500th career appearance for Joel Davis, and more significantly also the 3,800th regular season win for the Raccoons, claimed by their first-time starter and recent rebuilding block, Matt Huf.

And for what it is worth: we scored six RBI in the #7 spot in the order, which doesn’t seem like a minor feat to me…

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – CF Stevenson – 2B Armetta – P Gutierrez
MIL: CF Tesch – 1B Jaeger – RF Gore – C Wool – 3B A. Velez – SS Dasher – LF J. Morales – 2B March – P Foreman

Suddenly, Mendoza was on acid or some other rancid ****; after singles by Cookie and Daniel Bullock to begin the game, and Nunley’s not-at-all helpful pop over the infield, Mendoza blasted another helpless ball for another 3-run homer. Michael Foreman surely didn’t have the best of days, continuing to surrender a triple to Gil Rockwell that would end up being the fourth and final run in the top of the first inning once Josh Stevenson legged out an infield single. Armetta also singled, but Gutierrez’ fly to left was taken care of by “Dingus” Morales. The Loggers would pull one run back off Gutierrez right away in the bottom 1st, but actually hit four hard drives to the deep outfield. They could have wound up with four home runs just as easily, but Stevenson spoiled two extra-base bids, and only those of Jaeger and Gore fell in for doubles.

Either pitcher could be the first to get bowled off the turf in the early innings; Foreman because he had already bled four runs, and Gutierrez because the Loggers were hitting hideous drives all the time, but through the next three innings, neither team managed to score. Foreman sure looked done in the fifth, however, with Mendoza drawing a leadoff walk, followed by Rockwell and Rice singles. Stevenson came up with the bags full and no outs, and knocked a grounder hard up the middle. On grass, the middle infielders would have had a shot. On turf, they didn’t. Stevenson had an RBI single, and when Foreman walked Armetta to force in another run, his day was over. Ex-Coon was replaced by ex-Coon, as Pat Slayton inherited a persistent three-on, no-outs state and would see all the runners towards home plate after a promising start with a K to Gutierrez. Cookie singled to right, plating two, and Bullock’s groundout allowed Armetta to score, however, giving Gutierrez a 9-1 lead. The Loggers would shorten the score by one in the bottom 5th, in which – hold on to something! – Dan March reached on Bullock’s error, but got forced on Slayton’s bad bunt, yet Slayton then stole second base and would score on Kevin Jaeger’s groundout eventually…! There would be one more run on Gutierrez in the bottom 7th, in which he drilled Tom Reese AND Kevin Jaeger, and allowed a 2-run RBI single to Brad Gore, upon which he was replaced by Quinn MacCarthy in a rare lefty-for-lefty move. MacCarthy struck out Josh Wool, keeping the Coons up by six, and between him and Logan Sloan the remaining six outs were to be collected as well. 9-3 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, 2 RBI; Rockwell 2-5, 3B; Rice 3-5; Stevenson 3-5, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-1); MacCarthy 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Pat Slayton’s career total for stolen bases is now … three! His most recent bag taken occurred in 2017 with the Gold Sox. While I am known for wacky ****, he never stole a base as a Raccoon during his five years here.

Meanwhile Cookie is back atop the batting leaderboard, and Mendoza’s double-whammy in this series has seen him back to lead the RBI race with 56. That is PUNY compared to what ex-Logger Justin Dally is doing over in the Federal League. The Stars outfielder has already driven in *82*.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Bullock – 3B Nunley – RF Mendoza – 1B Rockwell – 2B Stalker – C Rice – CF Stevenson – P Nielson
MIL: CF Tesch – 1B Jaeger – SS Tadlock – RF Gore – LF Berntson – C Wool – 3B Ladd – 2B March – P Shepherd

Odd start to the game – the Raccoons had four runners in the first two innings, none by a base hit, and none of them scored, either. Cookie, Mendoza, and Stevenson had all walked; Tim Stalker had reached on Ron Tadlock’s error. The Loggers got a run in the first inning, with Tesch opening the game with a double and swiftly scoring on Kevin Jaeger’s single. They had Wes Ladd (and that after Craig Dasher; the Loggers were really into obscure has-beens for their left-side infielders now…!) on base with a walk in the bottom 2nd, but also had him thrown out by Stevenson at third base on Dan March’s single to center. Stevenson murdered another base runner in the following inning, throwing out Jaeger at home, but at this point we were also worried about Nielson’s effectiveness because the balls were howling all over the place. Brad Tesch had led off the inning with his first homer of the season, increasing his team’s lead to 2-0, and Jaeger had driven a screaming double to the fence in rightfield afterwards. Ron Tadlock’s fat single to center got the eager Jaeger erased, but Tadlock reached second base on the throw, then third base after a walk to Gore and Wool getting bitten by a fastball. Wes Ladd, age 37 and last serving in a meaningful capacity in the majors for the 2019 Cyclones, lined out to Mendoza to strand a full set of runners.

Portland got a hit and a run in the fourth. Rockwell hit a single, while Mendoza scored the run after getting nailed leading off and stealing second base, moving to third on the single and scoring on Rice’s groundout. That was it for the Coons as long as Nielson was in the game. The southpaw lasted six innings, somehow expending 107 pitches on the way, without getting totally torn apart, but remained on a 2-1 hook. Zach Graves batted for him in the top of the seventh inning, struck out, then was put on the bus to St. Petersburg. With the Raccoons still at one base hit in the eighth inning, Cory Dew first put Josh Wool on with a single, then fell to a Wes Ladd bomb. Top 9th, the tying run did come to the plate; after Mendoza’s sorry pop to lead off the inning against right-hander Justin Guerin, random pinch-hitting yielded a Romero single and an infield single for Sam Armetta, bringing up Rice with one out. His soft bloop on the first pitch fell for a single, Romero scored, 4-2. Stevenson walked, loading the bases for Ruben Pelles, the only non-.195 bat (Olivares) left on the bench, to bat for Manobu Sugano. He flew out to center, with Armetta coming home for a sac fly. Guerin walked Cookie in a full count, making Bullock either the last guy in the game or getting somebody ready for the bottom 9th. He put the first pitch in play, grounding to first base, and Jaeger had no problems with that one. 4-3 Loggers. Romero (PH) 1-1; Armetta (PH) 1-1;

With Graves demoted back to St. Petersburg, I decreed the Age of Omar to have arrived.

Signing with the Capitals for $364k in the 2017 International Free Agent signing period, we had acquired this 21-year old slugger last July in the trade that decooned Matt Hamilton to the Capitals. Alfaro was still rough around the edges, but had batted .292 with ten homers in 246 AB this season in St. Petersburg, with 45 walks drawn for a .401 on-base percentage. He had a bit of speed, but he didn’t really need it to become a star. There was really just one position for him on the field. Blessed with a murder arm, this Dominican switch-hitter HAD to play rightfield.

Now I just have to make room for him.

Game 4
POR: LF Carmona – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Rice – 2B Pelles – SS Stalker – CF Stevenson – P Guerrero
MIL: SS Tadlock – 2B March – RF Gore – C Wool – LF Berntson – 3B A. Velez – 1B Reese – CF Tesch – P Prevost

The Loggers scored two unearned runs off Guerrero in the first inning, courtesy of a walk by Guerrero to March, Nunley’s throwing error, and then Berntson’s 2-run single to center. Omar Alfaro’s career started pretty inauspiciously with a strikeout in the first inning, but by the fourth he hit a leadoff single off Prevost. Fun on base was limited for the kid, however, with Matt Nunley’s sharp grounder to Tom Reese soon getting him forced out and sent back to the dugout. By the bottom of the fifth, Alfaro also had his first career error, nonchalantly fielding Dan March’s single into an extra base that also sent Ron Tadlock to third, from which he would soon score on Brad Gore’s grounder to Pelles. I let it be relayed to the first base coach that he should inform Alfaro as soon as the inning was over that another one of those maybe-I-will-maybe-I-won’t plays would get him sent back to a rat-infested tobacco plantation on Hispaniola quicker than he could text “llegué a las ligas mayores!!” to his drug-addicted childhood friends in Huguey.

Five innings in, Guerrero trailed 3-0, two unearned, none deserved. He made it through the sixth inning, which dragged considerably. Tom Reese converted a full count into a 2-out infield single, and then Tesch singled on a 2-2 pitch that bounced by Pelles and might even have brushed the edge of his glove. The Loggers weren’t hitting for Prevost, who had a 3-hit shutout going, and his pop to Stalker ended the inning and also Guerrero’s day after 109 pitches. The Loggers added a run against MacCarthy in the seventh, as the Coons southpaw allowed a triple to March, then threw a wild pitch. Logan Sloan produced a bases-loaded situation in the bottom 8th, with Berntson’s leadoff double being followed by Reese taking another one for a bruise, and Tesch walking on four pitches. “Dingus” Morales pinch-hit for Prevost now, with Noah Bricker entering the game for the first time in this series. Morales hit a sac fly, Tadlock singled, but with the bases loaded again, March flew out to Cookie. Down 5-0, the Coons faced Mike Kress, a right-hander with a 3.99 ERA in the ninth inning. Cookie led off and singled up the middle, and Alfaro singled to right. Okay, another sixteen batters until the tying run comes up, or something like that. Nunley got Alfaro forced out with a grounder to first for the second time in the game, but maybe Mendoza could find another 3-spot! Nah, he struck out. Danny Rice fouled out, and this series ended in a split. 5-0 Loggers. Alfaro 2-4;

First game in the Bigs, already the best on his team!

No, we will not compare Omar to real major leaguers just yet, thanks.

Raccoons (43-42) @ Titans (57-30) – July 8-10, 2022

…especially not with another beating drawing up. The Titans could already seal the season series with the Critters in this final pre-All Star Game weekend matchup, having so far won seven of the nine games against them in ’22. They also had a 4-game winning streak and led the North by double digits – oh to be a Titans fan right now! Offensively ranking second in runs scored, they were also in the top 3 in runs conceded, with a third-place rotation and a fourth-place pen. And they were also playing .655 ball despite sitting DEAD LAST in home runs in the Continental League – they had only *30* dingers at the All Star break! Tony Casillas led the team with five bombs.

Projected matchups:
Trevor Taylor (0-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Alan Farrell (4-10, 4.33 ERA)
Matt Huf (1-0, 2.31 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (10-5, 2.47 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (3-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (7-7, 3.56 ERA)

Gutierrez was the veteran among our three starters, holding four of their six total career starts. I felt like leading the Children’s Crusade. The Titans still only had right-handed starters, but also four left-handed relievers. Off the five they had carted up last time, Brent Beene had ended up on the DL; they still had Ron Thrasher, Mike Tharp, Edwin Balandran, and Matt Branch, and three of those had a legitimate case to be a closer.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – 2B Pelles – SS Stalker – CF Stevenson – P Taylor
BOS: LF W. Ramos – RF Cornejo – 3B Jam. Wilson – CF K. Evans – C Leonard – SS Kane – 2B Stephens – 1B Flack – P Farrell

Matt Nunley tripled in the first inning, unfortunately not until after Omar Alfaro had hit into a double play. Dumbo Mendoza was the odd one out in this game, although by now this could mean anything. Trevor Taylor in turn had a bear of a task ahead of him – there were NO right-handed batters in the Titans lineup, not even Farrell, a switch-hitter. Between the first two innings, the Titans stranded five runners, of which two had singled and three had walked. The Coons hadn’t done anything with the Nunley triple in the first (Rockwell struck out) and wouldn’t do anything with the Cookie double leading off the third, either. That inning saw Alfaro drilled, but the middle of the order flunked out collectively, and when the Raccoons had Cookie and Alfaro on base with a pair of singles in the fifth, Nunley hit into an inning-ending double play. Taylor meanwhile had waded through a quagmire of runners for four innings, then struck out the side in the fifth, which was a bit unexpected. A leadoff walk to Keith Leonard in the bottom 6th gave the Titans their ninth runner in the game, and the first one they would cash in on a 430-foot blast by Mike Kane. That one also ended Taylor’s day.

Both Sugano and Sloan were charged with an extra run before the Coons got through eight innings, and then still trailed 4-0. Julio San Pedro appeared in relief, walked Rice and Pelles, then yielded for Ron Thrasher, who inherited two on, no outs, and the bottom of the order. Bullock batted for Stalker and struck out. Stevenson flew out to Gil Cornejo. Then came Mendoza, batting for Sloan in the #9 hole. He hit a grounder right back to Thrasher, who casually ended the game. 4-0 Titans. Carmona 3-4, 2B;

This final groundout for the Raccoons by Mendoza … was the final groundout by Mendoza for the Raccoons.

Interlude: Trade

The Saturday before the All Star Game, the Raccoons announced that Hugo “Tiger” Mendoza (.256, 16 HR, 56 RBI) was not a Raccoon anymore. The 31-year-old left-handed batter has been traded off to the Cyclones for a pair of right-handed pitching prospects, AAA SP Jonathan Shook and AAA CL Chris McKendrick. Neither of them were ranked, and the Raccoons sent Shook back to AA Ham Lake upon arrival from Cincy.

Dwayne Metts was promoted from AAA to fill the vacated roster spot.

Raccoons (43-42) @ Titans (57-30) – July 8-10, 2022

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Stalker – RF Alfaro – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – SS Bullock – CF Romero – C Olivares – P Huf
BOS: CF Reichardt – 1B Flack – 3B Jam. Wilson – SS Kane – C Leonard – RF Braun – LF K. Evans – SS Casillas – P Klein

Huf struggled with walks, issuing three the first time through. He escaped runners / walkers on the corners in the second inning when Chris Klein popped up, and when Adam Flack tripled in the third, Jamie Wilson’s pop also helped to bail him out. And, yeah, Bullock’s stretch-and-grab on Kane’s liner also helped. The wholly and fully forsaken Raccoons, who hadn’t scored a run in a while, first got their hopes up in the fourth inning when Daniel Bullock hit a ball to deep right, although ultimately it was not that deep and no major challenge for Adam Braun.

Huf would end up being held to five shutout innings in the game, courtesy of timely pops at least until a cloud overhead popped and doused the area. It was the Raccoons’ third rain delay of the week, with zero games being played in Portland, the city built under a sprinkler. Not that the delay was long – just some 25 minutes – but Huf had already been on 91 mostly errant pitches. Chris Klein continued his work day undeterred, consistently mowing down the hapless Critters, who still hadn’t scored since the ninth inning on Wednesday. Klein was well enough to bat and hit a leadoff single off Cory Dew in the bottom 7th, but Quinn MacCarthy would prevent him from scoring, retiring the top of the order. The contest remained scoreless into the ninth, which Klein still entered pitching, but then allowed a leadoff double to rightfield to rookie Omar Alfaro. O-mar! O-mar! No, nobody in the park was gonna chant that. The attendance was wondering, A) who that was, and B) how dare he!? Quick, someone throw rocks at him! – After Rockwell walked and Nunley singled, the Raccoons had the bases loaded and nobody out, but would send up the struggling-or-maybe-dead Bullock, the pitcher’s spot, and Olivares, which bore an 82% chance of not scoring. Bullock – still facing Klein – grounded sharply to first base, Jonathan Stephens launched the throw home, Alfaro out, throw back to Stephens, Bullock out. Rice batted for the pitcher and struck out. When Joel Davis walked two, but struck out three in the bottom 9th, the game scorelessly went to extras, where the Raccoons continued to not score real hard in the 10th inning until Brett Lillis walked leadoff man Mike Kane, who would be replaced on base by Gil Cornejo on a 1-out fielder’s choice, then allowed singles to Kurt Evans and Tony Casillas to soak the loss. 1-0 Titans. Alfaro 2-4, 2B; Nunley 2-4;

That makes 28 innings without having scored a single run.

Geez.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Stalker – RF Alfaro – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – CF Stevenson – C Rice – SS Bullock – P Gutierrez
BOS: 2B Casillas – CF Reichardt – LF Almanza – RF Braun – C McPherson – 3B Jam. Wilson – 1B Cornejo – SS Kane – P J. Fuentes

Omar Alfaro missed ending the Coons scoring drought by about six inches, hammering a double off the top of the wall in rightfield for a 2-out double in the first inning. The streak grew to 29 innings when Gil Rockwell struck out. The Titans effortlessly raked Gutierrez for four hits, two walks, and three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and that was with one runner getting thrown out at home plate. Oh well, so it’s a loss! Big deal!

By the second inning, Josh Stevenson was ejected for comparing the home plate umpire to a mole and replaced by Dwayne Metts. Oh well… big deal. The scoring drought lasted 30 innings, finally being broken up when Bullock reached on an Eric McPherson error in the third inning and got moved around by a bunt, Cookie’s single, and then … a passed ball. Stalker struck out, Alfaro walked, Rockwell was useless and probably born that way. Still, it was a(n unearned) run. THAT ONE COUNTS!! Also, the Titans would pull the run right back from Gutierrez, who offered as much resistance as bubbles in a bath and countinuously got whacked.

The Titans lost Fuentes to injury after four innings in the 4-1 game. Matt Branch replaced him, the lousiest of the Titans southpaw relievers, but he still struck out Bullock and Gutierrez to begin the fifth inning, then closely lost Cookie to a walk. Stalker doubled, but with runners in scoring position and despite a 6-for-12 start to his career, Alfaro chose that moment to rather strike out as the tying run. The Coons had two on with nobody out in the sixth as Rockwell would always gladly single to begin an inning, but never with anybody on base, and Nunley also singled. The triple-D threat in the 6-7-8 holes, Dwayne, Danny, and Daniel then unfurled three absolutely horrendous outs to leave those runners on base as well. Gutierrez would not last longer than 5.1 innings, allowing a leadoff single to Kane in the bottom 6th, then received Branch’s bunt on the way to the showers. When Alfaro hit a leadoff double in the eighth, Rockwell promptly went down flailing against San Pedro. Nunley flew out to left facing left-hander Edwin Balandran; Metts struck out. Somewhere, somehow, a lousy reliever allowed another run to the Titans, and the Coons entered the ninth inning trailing 5-1. Armetta and Bullock opened the inning with doubles to right, however, knocking out Balandran in favor of right-hander Javy Salomon, a rookie, and Bullock also casually drove in the Coons’ first earned run in 37 ****ing innings. Romero batted for MacCarthy but grounded out to first, moving Bullock to third, where he remained when Cookie blazed up the line to beat a throw from Salomon on his ****ty grounder. That single pulled up the tying run in … eh, Tim Stalker. He struck out, and thus it was Alfaro with two outs to put things right and --- pop out to short. 5-2 Titans. Carmona 2-4, BB; Alfaro 2-4, 2 2B; Armetta (PH) 1-1, 2B;

In other news

July 4 – The Condors send 2B/SS Howard Read (.214, 5 HR, 25 RBI) to the Falcnos in exchange for 2B/SS Juan Estrada (.285, 6 HR, 22 RBI) and a meager prospect.
July 5 – The Miners hang an 11-0 rout on the Rebels and also have three players with three base hits in the game, batting second through fourth: Brian Tyer (.310, 3 HR, 22 RBI), Bill Adams (.352, 17 HR, 72 RBI) and Justin Quinn (.271, 12 HR, 51 RBI); the latter plates four runners in the game.
July 5 – The Crusaders send 1B Adam Young (.244, 3 HR, 9 RBI) to the Aces. The 33-year old left-handed bat, plus a prospect, nets them 2B/SS Bill Hebberd (.245, 1 HR, 7 RBI), who is 27 years old.
July 6 – The season of Capitals left-hander SP Jose “Butch” Diaz (4-4, 3.05 ERA) ends early; the 28-year old has been diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow.
July 6 – The Crusaders acquire RF/CF/3B Craig Abraham (.290, 0 HR, 7 RBI) from the Condors, sending them 34-year-old AAA infielder Gabriel Sauceda and a third-rate prospect.
July 7 – SAC SP Ian Rutter (7-6, 3.52 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Warriors, whiffing nine. The Scorpions win, 10-0.
July 8 – The Wolves swap LF/RF Alfredo Quintana (.296, 6 HR, 36 RBI) to the Buffaloes for two prospects including #81 CL Alex Ramos.
July 8 – WAS RF/LF Jason Stone (.321, 10 HR, 38 RBI) is going to miss three to four weeks with a fractured rib.
July 10 – NYC SP Hwa-pyung Choe (8-5, 2.08 ERA) hurls a 1-hit shutout against the Canadiens. Vancouver’s Bobby Rickard (.226, 3 HR, 22 RBI) has a single in the second inning to prevent a no-hitter.
July 10 – The Thunder trade LF/CF Steve Hollingsworth (.305, 2 HR, 20 RBI) to the Pacifics for 2B/SS Zheng-ze Ts’ai (.273, 3 HR, 26 RBI) and a second-rate prospect.
July 10 – SAL 1B Kevin Harenberg (.292, 10 HR, 47 RBI) is expected to be out for two months with a broken finger.

Complaints and stuff

Cookie acquired 10/5 rights this week in regards to vetoing trades, but truth be told I found no takers anyway. While leadoff hitters are surely appreciated, he made a bit too much dough to find any buyers and there were early signs of a beginning age curve for him as there were for most players relying on speed that had hit the big three-oh.

Speaking of 10/5 rights, Mendoza had invoked his as late as last weekend, but with all points set for disaster he probably reconsidered and elected to play for a winner after all. Good riddance, I say. No, I never liked him.

I have been trying to trade relievers – nobody wants them. Why!? No clue. But if I had any clue about how the game works, I might have managed this team to a ring or two in the last three decades…

Matt Nunley now has seven career triples, and he had more than one only once I in a season.

Back to international free agents, where at some point during this week I offered as much as $1M to a group of just six players (of which at that point two had signed), but by the weekend I dropped out of a crazy bidding war for 17-year old Dominican outfielder Edwin Rendon. The scouting reports of both the Riddler and OSA agreed on massive home run potential and a good defense in centerfield. So far, so Neil Reece, huh? Unfortunately his swing had more holes than R.J. DeWeese’s. The price raged to $560k when I called it quits. I am nuts, but not that nuts.

By the weekend, there were only five players unsigned in a quickly developing IFA season: Rendon, a pitcher that had mild potential to throw batting practice in the future according to the Riddler, but whom other teams were also throwing 500 grand at, and three more players I was bidding for.

So far we have signed a pair of pitchers, both 16-year old Dominican right-handers, who came a total of $96k. My main target now is SS Alberto Ramos, another 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic. High average, but no power is the book on him, also very good speed. He might move to second base however due to a certain lack of defense at short.

Fun fact: The Titans have indeed not made the playoffs since 2006. They owned the North in the decade before that, winning the division eight out of the previous nine years – their only eight playoff appearances.

Of course, if the Titans are back now, that means the Raccoons will go to where they spent their 1997-2005 seasons. We finished fourth three times, we finished fifth three times, and we finished sixth three times, and on average ended up 28 games out of the leader (Titans).

I sure hope I’ll be born as a stuffed toy in my next life. They have it best.

(slowly rocks back and forth while clutching Honeypaws to his chest)