[Westheim]

Raccoons (33-18) @ Thunder (27-22) – June 1-3, 2026

Division leaders clashed to start the month of June, with the Thunder holding just as much of a dicey lead in the South as the Raccoons did in the North. Their stats were however not quite as pretty as the Raccoons', ranking just ninth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed. Oklahoma had been through a weird stretch, losing seven of their last nine games in May, which included four days without a game from the 24th through the 28th, except a double header with the Titans on the 27th. Terrible weather had washed out all their other games in that time frame. The Raccoons held a 2-1 edge over them in '25.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (5-0, 1.72 ERA) vs. Mike Homa (5-3, 3.78 ERA)
Lance Legleiter (2-4, 4.06 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (1-4, 5.53 ERA)
Mark Roberts (8-2, 1.65 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (6-2, 2.93 ERA)

After seeing only ten left-handed starters so far this year, the Raccoons would get two southpaws to start this series with "Handyman" Homa and "Butch" Diaz.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – LF Gomez – 1B Gonzalez – CF Mora – RF Alfaro – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – 1B M. Rucker – CF D. Garcia – RF Sagredo – C Burgess – LF O. Millan – 2B Ts'ai – P Homa

The second inning continued our first-place nightmare as the Raccoons couldn't score after getting Gonzalez and Mora aboard with two singles to begin the inning, while Dan Delgadillo got flogged in the bottom of the inning. Luis Sagredo hit a leadoff double, Omar Millan singled, and then Zhang-ze Ts'ai buried a liner deep in the right-center gap for a 2-run triple, coming around to score on Homa's groundout. Delgadillo struck out nobody the first time through, and it put him in a 3-0 hole that these Coons were unlikely to emerge from. Truth to form, Delgadillo and Ramos hit singles to begin the top 3rd, and then Spencer hit into a double play and nobody scored once Gomez grounded out. Not that it mattered – Mike Rucker, the ancient messenger of doom, buried Delgadillo five deep with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning, at which point all your worries were over, really. Delgadillo lasted five innings, giving up another run in the fifth, although that was unearned after a throwing error by Spencer. The Raccoons eventually got on the board, but Abel Mora's 2-run double yielded only unearned runs because without a grim throwing error by Alex Serrato there would not have been anybody to drive in to begin with. Not that it polished up the final score; the Thunder put two more runs on Kevin Surginer in the eighth inning to win by six in a complete stinker of a game. 8-2 Thunder. Gonzalez 2-4; Mora 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Gomez – 1B Gonzalez – C O'Dell – RF Kopp – 2B Stalker – 3B Gerster – P Legleiter
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – 1B M. Rucker – CF D. Garcia – RF Sagredo – C Burgess – LF O. Millan – 2B Ts'ai – P J. Diaz

Legleiter began his day with a 4-pitch walk to Lorenzo Rivera, who stole second and score on consecutive productive outs, then also got taken deep by Dave Garcia to get cozy in Delgadillo's early-deficit burrow from Monday, 2-0 after the first, and that only grew from there. Singles by Diaz (…), Serrato, Rucker, and Garcia produced two more Thunder runs in the bottom 3rd, extending the home team's lead to 4-0 and getting the Coons closer to 0-4 in their last four games. Legleiter lasted only five-and-a-third innings, conceding five runs eventually, while the offense did absolutely nothing. Brett O'Dell had a leadoff double in the second, never moved off second base, and that was pretty much it for them through five innings.

"Butch" Diaz was still going strong in the seventh despite a leadoff single to Terry Kopp. How long was that runner gonna last? Not past Tim Stalker's at-bat, as Stalker expertly hit the ball to Rivera for a 5-4-3 double play. The actual Butch, Gerster, then singled, with Omar Alfaro pinch-hitting for Josh Boles in the pitcher's spot. He hit a dying quail to shallow left that fell uncatchable for a single and brought up Ramos with two on and two out. Young Alberto finally got that big knock we hadn't seen in … uh… weeks? Ramos tripled into the gap, plating both runners, but was stranded when Spencer grounded out to Serrato. So for three second there was some rage around the Coons, and then it all died quickly, and they were still down by three runs. Putting runners on base from this point forward would probably help with that, but no Raccoon reached in the eighth against Diaz, and no Raccoon reached in the ninth against Ryan Corkum, either. 5-2 Thunder. Ramos 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Alfaro (PH) 1-1;

And there's that vaunted 4-game losing streak. Will we ever win again? All chips are on Roberts now, who is 7-0 in his last seven starts, getting 5.4 runs of support per game.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Roberts
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – CF D. Garcia – 1B J. Elliott – RF Sagredo – 2B Ts'ai – C Pizzo – LF Camarillo – P Palomares

The Coons grabbed an actual lead for the first time in the series after Kopp and Nunley began the top 2nd with sharp singles, almost the best team hitting effort we had seen in Oklahoma. Cookie however hit into a fielder's choice at 3-1, which was not so funky. Tovias flew out to left, just deep enough to get Kopp home from third, and Roberts popped out foul, then had to protect the 1-0 lead, which worked in the bottom 2nd even after he hit Sagredo with an 0-2 pitch, which was followed by Ts'ai hitting into a double play. Kopp hit an unearned RBI ground-rule double in the top of the third, bringing in Mora from second base after Jon Gonzalez had only reached with two outs on Rivera's fielding error. Nunley's pop kept them aboard, and Mike Pizzo's leadoff double in the bottom 3rd led to the first Thunder run on Rivera's 2-out RBI single, keeping Roberts afloat only at a 2-1 rate through three, and that ended in the fourth, in which the Thunder scored the tying run on Ts'ai's sac fly after John Elliott and Luis Sagredo had begun the inning with base hits off Roberts. Danny Camarillo lashed a 2-out single to right, with Sagredo making for third base, but Kopp threw him out right there. The Thunder made the third out on the base paths again in the fifth inning, which Palomares opened with a single (deep sigh) and after Rivera's bunt was on second base when Serrato flew out to Mora. For reasons known only to the running pitcher, he was actually making for home, although the ball was clearly caught, and the Coons had no trouble doubling him off to end the inning. That's what it took them to not lose outright – utter stupidity by the other team.

Top 6th, Kopp began by flying out before Nunley and Cookie whacked singles. Before throwing a pitch to Tovias, Palomares was called out for a balk, advancing the runners, which then led to an intentional walk to Tovias, bringing up Roberts with the bags full and one out. The Coons' ace somewhat came through, hitting a ball to centerfield for a sac fly to score Nunley, giving the Coons the lead back at 3-2 before Ramos struck out. Bottom 6th, Roberts's struggles as well as the Thunder's breakneck baserunning continued unabated. Leadoff singles by Garcia and Elliott, with Garcia being thrown out at third base by Mora. The home crowd was getting slightly annoyed now. The Thunder didn't score on Roberts in that inning, nor in the next with Camarillo's 1-out single and two nifty plays by Nunley, who didn't look much like 35 when he was donning the glove. Bottom 8th, leadoff single up the middle by Serrato, so the tying run was on yet again. Roberts battled with Garcia before striking out the elite slugger, which was only Roberts' fourth K in the game. John Elliott came up, fell to 0-2, then crashed the party with a homer that flipped the score when it went over a non-moving Cookie's head and landed well up the leftfield stands. All our dreams were dead – until Elias Tovias hit a leadoff jack off Corkum in the top 9th, tying the score again and taking Roberts off the hook. Since Roberts had finished the bottom 8th, he could still extend his winning streak if only the team could crumble a few runners together, or maybe the Thunder would make four errors to aid them. Gomez grounded out in his spot; Ramos singled, Spencer lined out, but Mora singled, bringing up Gonzalez with two outs against a wonky Corkum. But that wonky Corkum got Gonzalez to ground out to Serrato on the first pitch, so the winning streak was over, as was the inning. The game didn't end until the 10th, then with Ts'ai's leadoff single plating Sagredo with two outs against Ricky Ohl. 5-4 Thunder. Ramos 2-5; Mora 2-5; Kopp 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-5; Tovias 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

And that is a 5-game losing streak. Wonderful.

The worst thing is not the losing; it's that the goddamn Elks just keep winning.

Raccoons (33-21) @ Crusaders (29-23) – June 5-7, 2026

As all things Coons crumbled, the Crusaders had been looking for third gear ever since the season started, but seemed to get better on track now and were only 4 1/2 games back of the Elks at this point, tied for fourth in the North. Their problem was offense (who's wasn't though…) with the fourth-fewest runs scored in the Continental League, while their pitching retained second place in terms of fewest runs conceded. The Coons were 5-1 against them in the season, but at the rate things were developing at they were ripe for three 1-0 losses.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (7-1, 2.63 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (4-2, 1.36 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (3-2, 3.51 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (5-3, 4.70 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (5-1, 2.22 ERA) vs. Ben Jacobson (5-5, 5.79 ERA)

Right-right-left. There were significant injuries to the Crusaders, not least SP Chris Klein, but they were also missing three regulars from the lineup with Nate Ellis, Andy Schmit, and Tom McWhorter all on the DL at this point, them combining for a .290 clip and 11 homers when healthy this season.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Gutierrez
NYC: 3B R. Soto – CF Espinosa – C J. Ramirez – LF R. Allen – RF I. Vega – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Richardson – SS Vacarri – P Marron

The Coons scratched the tough customer Marron for a run in the first, coming together on Ramos' single and stolen base, Spencer's single, then Gonzalez' sac fly. And the Coons kept putting them on base, loading the bags with nobody out in the second on a sequence of Nunley single, Cookie getting nicked, and another single by Tovias. They would only get one more run; Rico struck out, Ramos got one man in with a groundout, but Spencer's soft fly ended up with Ivan Vega. The Crusaders erased the deficit at once in the bottom 2nd with Roger Allen's leadoff jack, then a double by Vega and Sergio Valdez' single. Gutierrez was more or less lucky to elope with all his whiskers still attached as they were really hitting rockets off him.

Top 4th, Cookie had a moment in the sun for once. He led off with a single past Jamie Richardson, then stole second, going to 5/5 on the season. Tovias struck out, but Gutierrez singled to right, Cookie was sent, and Vega didn't have much of an arm for a rightfielder and wasn't going to nip Cookie, who slid across with the go-ahead run. Gutierrez was left on base, then juggled his way through a walk to Allen and an error by himself to add Vega to the on-base population with one out. A lack of stuff meant that everything had to come from the defense, and the defense was at least ready to bail him out of this tough spot. Cookie caught Valdez' fly, and Ramos made a good play on Richardson's grounder to end the inning. There was no defending against Giacobbe Vacarri's monstrous leadoff shot in the bottom 5th though, and that one tied the game once more…

Rico was notoriously shaky throughout the middle innings. Alberto Ramos made another strong play in the field to turn an inning-ending double play for him in the sixth, then made another bid for his maiden homer again to lead off the seventh. He came up short again, but tripled off the leftfield wall anyway. Spencer walked, which was inconvenient NOW that we wanted the go-ahead runner to come home from third base, but Mora hit a sac fly to Roger Allen to get Ramos home and give the Coons a new 4-3 lead. That was also the end for Marron, who was replaced with Jon Ozier, who immediately got a double play from Gonzalez to end the inning. One pitch was all for Ozier in the game as he was hit for with Jeff Rinehart in the bottom 7th after Gutierrez, trying to grind his way through the left-handed bottom of the order, had drilled Vacarri with two outs. Rinehart softly lined out to Spencer to end the inning. Rico faced two more batters, departing after a 1-out single by Juan Espinosa in the eighth. That was the tying run once more thanks to Cookie grounding into a double play in the top 8th. He was removed in a double switch that brought on Rafael Gomez in left and Jonathan Snyder to pitch. The 3-4-5 batters were all right-handed; the plan was to have Snyder face those, then use Brotman to close the game. Jose Ramirez almost beat Mora in deep center with a drive on a 2-2 pitch, but Mora made the catch on the jump, with Espinosa advancing to second base on the play. Allen struck out, though. No insurance run came forth despite a 2-out triple by Ramos (his second in the game) off Steve Casey in the top 9th, and Snyder didn't figure in the bottom 9th with lefty Justin Godown coming out to pinch-hit right away. Brotman came into the game at once, and couldn't have been farther from dominating. Godown singled, but Valdez popped out. PH Armando Leal walked before Vacarri flew out softly. Lance Douglas, another left-handed bat, pinch-hit in the #9 hole, ran a full count, then singled through between Nunley and Ramos. Godown scored, save blown, and the game went to extras after Robby Soto grounded out.

Endless agony. I went into a numb daze on the Douglas single and didn't get much from the 10th and 11th innings and just got back to my senses when the game was in the 12th and the Crusaders' comedy of errors saw a throwing error by J.D. Laughery, a wild pitch by Brandon Smith, and then a Mora base knock score Rafael Gomez for the go-ahead run. Lead, the fourth on the day! The Coons now wanted to be smart; since the Crusaders were out of bench players, they could ill pinch-hit anymore. Josh Boles thus started the bottom 12th in relief of Kevin Surginer and would face Robby Soto, who struck out and got ejected when he gave the ump quite an explanation of why he sucked, then Espinosa, who grounded out to Gonzalez. With that, the Coons went on to Jeff Mudge, who only had to get one out. Jose Ramirez grounded to short, Ramos' throw was high, but Gonzalez went up and collected it AND came down again in time to log the final out before Ramirez could crash into first base. 5-4 Blighters. Ramos 3-6, 2 3B, RBI; Kopp 3-5, 2B; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K and 1-3, RBI; Surginer 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (3-2);

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – C O'Dell – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – P Anderson
NYC: LF Espinosa – 3B R. Soto – RF Richardson – 1B Godown – C Leal – CF Douglas – 2B Rinehart – SS Vacarri – P Cannon

After merely 145 at-bats in the year, Terry Kopp logged his first home run in 2026, a 2-piece in the second inning for the initial dot of scoring on the board. Jon Gonzalez had preceded him and had reached with an infield single. That wasn't even all the Coons' output in the inning, with singles by Nunley, Alfaro, and Ramos plating a third run before Spencer grounded out to Vacarri. Neither was Terry the only Raccoon to get their first homer of the year in the game; Matt Nunley rammed a solo homer to right in the fourth after merely 158 fruitless at-bats. The same inning, singles by Alfaro and Ramos plated another run, with a nice bunt by Anderson in between, running the score to then 5-0. Even earlier, the Crusaders got Leal, Douglas, and Rinehart on base in the bottom of the second inning, but Leal was thrown out at home plate by Alfaro on Rinehart's single, and nobody scored for them once Vacarri flew out easily to Abel Mora, and defense continued to assist Anderson, who struggled considerably against a mostly left-handed lineup. But he kept the New Yorkers in the park, and the defense did the best they could, amounting to five innings of 3-hit shutout ball for Anderson at qualifying distance. The Coons put the game ostensibly out of reach in the seventh inning when Kopp rapped Cannon for his second homer of the game, that one a 3-piece to right-center, upping the score to 8-0 in the process. But Anderson stopped working in the bottom 7th, allowed an infield single to Douglas, then a raging RBI double to Jeff Rinehart, and at 102 pitches came out of the game after six and a third. Jeff Mudge replaced him, loaded the bases with walks to Vega and Espinosa, then somehow escaped on Ramos' strong defensive play on Soto's grounder up the middle. Ramos hit an RBI single in the top 8th to get that run right back, 9-1, and then the Coons got cocky and longed for two innings from Nick Derks and his 6.00 ERA. It really didn't matter how many runs he surrendered; he would come out long before he'd surrender eight. He gave up one on two hits in the eighth, which wasn't aiding that ERA of his, but it was all about getting outs for the Raccoons. Bottom 9th, J.D. Laughery and Juan Espinosa both reached on infield singles (…!), and when Derks put Jamie Richardson on with a 2-out walk, he got the hook. Ricky Ohl ended the game with a K to Leal …… but only AFTER he allowed a bases-clearing double to Roger Allen… 9-5 Coons. Ramos 3-5, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5; Kopp 2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Nunley 3-4, HR, RBI; Alfaro 3-3, BB; Anderson 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R; 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (4-2);

No lefty on Sunday; the Crusaders would send right-hander Matt Rosenthal (5-5, 4.64 ERA) instead!

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Gomez – LF Kopp – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – 2B Stalker – C Tovias – P Delgadillo
NYC: LF Espinosa – 3B R. Soto – RF Richardson – 1B Godown – C Leal – CF Douglas – 2B S. Valdez – SS Vacarri – P Rosenthal

Dark clouds overhead, the Coons went up 1-0 in the first inning on Ramos' single and Gonzalez' RBI double, but the Crusaders didn't take long to flip the score against Delgadillo who seemed overwhelmed with so many left-handed bats. Leal tied the game with a leadoff jack in the second, and then Douglas singled, stole second, and regrettably scored on Rosenthal's 2-out single. This one could well go either way, with Rosenthal also bleeding base hits. Stalker doubled with one out in the fourth, and Tovias walked onto the open base. The Critters let Delgadillo swing away, but he struck out, yet Ramos tied the game anyway with an RBI single to left that scored Stalker and wouldn't have scored Tovias anyway. Gomez struck out, ending the inning. Teams remained tied at two through five innings, with the fifth concluding just as the rain started to come down.

Both starters' days ended soon after that. Tim Stalker hit a leadoff single past Vacarri in the sixth after which it really came down and the game went into a delay of more than an hour, on the other side of which Jared Stone took up the gauntlet for New York, while Delgadillo stood in the on-deck circle as decoy, waiting for things to develop with Tovias at the plate. They developed for a double to left-center that put runners in scoring position with nobody out. We wanted the ball put in play here, sending Spencer to the plate and thus forewent the platoon advantage against the right-handed Stone. Jarod delivered, singling to left to score the go-ahead run, 3-2. From there, the inning unraveled with a fly by Ramos to left, Tovias being nailed out at home by Espinosa, and Gomez flying out to center… The Coons threw Josh Boles into the 3-2 game now given the endless parade of left-handers in the Crusaders' lineup. He got seven outs before Richardson singled off him in the bottom 8th and the Crusaders sent Roger Allen to bat for Godown, prompting a move to a righty. Surginer replaced Boles, was doubled against by Allen, and now the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with one out. Here, Leal popped out in shallow left, nobody daring to run on Kopp's arm, and Lance Douglas' .226 bat appeared in the box. The Coons twitched, moving to Brotman, and the Crusaders sent Jose Ramirez' .279 bat with six homers instead. Billy looked to the dugout, where all the faces were frozen. Pitch to him, NOW! The first pitch to Ramirez was cracked hard to the left side, and Nunley jumped and caught it!! MATT NUNLEY THE ****ING BEAST!!! No insurance run came forth in the top 9th despite a leadoff single and stolen base by Cookie, because the top of the order collectively crapped out. The Coons now had to get through the bottom of the order; Brotman would start the inning, but Snyder was ready and would come in as soon as the Crusaders sent another right-handed pinch-hitter. Maybe this would never happen; Valdez reached on an 0-2 infield single, which was bitter to the n-th degree. Vacarri grounded out, J.D. Laughery grounded out, and Espinosa still was no right-handed batter. And for the umpteenth time this week, the Coons blew a lead with two outs; Espinosa doubled to right-center, the game was tied, and Rinehart batted for the pitcher and struck out to send the game to extras.

While Ricky Ohl held the Crusaders very short (5 K) in the 10th and 11th, the Raccoons didn't reach base either until Ramos' leadoff single in the 12th. Rafael Gomez utterly failed to get a bunt down, and eventually flew out poorly. Terry Kopp was the next batter to face Ozier, and somehow had lit fire by now. Kopp really murdered a fastball to deep right, and outta here! That was all that Snyder was gonna get in the bottom 12th, but he also got a head start besides the 2-run lead, because the Crusaders' bench had already been empty and reliever Brandon Smith had to bat to begin the inning! Snyder greatfully took the free strikeout there, then gave up a homer to Richardson. OH FOR ****'S SAKE!! And it wasn't gonna get better. Snyder walked Allen, walked Leal, and blew the lead on Ramirez' RBI single. No help could be expected from the bombed out bullpen right now. This was Snyder's to lose now. And he needed only one more pitch to do so, serving up a 3-run bomb, some 400 feet to left-center, to Sergio Valdez. 8-5 Crusaders. Ramos 2-5, BB, RBI; Kopp 2-6, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-6, 2B, RBI; Stalker 3-5, 2B; Spencer (PH) 1-1, RBI; Carmona 1-2; Boles 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ohl 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

June 1 – A home run by TIJ OF Nick Hatley (.250, 3 HR, 15 RBI) is all the scoring in the Condors' 1-0 win over the Crusaders.
June 1 – Even better, in Salem SAL LF/RF Matt Owen (.248, 6 HR, 29 RBI) hits a home run off WAS CL Marcus Owens (1-4, 4.35 ERA, 6 SV) for a 1-0 walkoff win in the 10th inning.
June 2 – LVA OF Danny Serrano (.358, 4 HR, 17 RBI) extends a hitting streak to 25 games with one hit in a 6-1 loss to the Titans.
June 2 – The Bayhawks expect to be without 1B/LF/RF Jon Correa (.308, 6 HR, 25 RBI) for a month as the 33-yr old is suffering from a herniated disc.
June 3 – CIN CF Nando Maiello (.328, 1 HR, 18 RBI) will be out for a month after being DL'ed with shoulder soreness.
June 5 – The Buffaloes score FOURTEEN runs in the second inning of their 18-8 madhouse against the Rebels, eating up three different pitchers in the process. RIC SP Eddie Krumm (1-6, 12.17 ERA) is saddled with ten runs in 1.1 innings.
June 5 – BOS CF/LF Adrian Reichardt (.298, 4 HR, 28 RBI) powers his team with three base hits and 5 RBI in a 15-3 clubbing of the Indians.
June 5 – Season over for IND SP Mark Matthews (3-4, 3.83 ERA). The 23-year-old right-hander is being shut down to rehab a stretched elbow ligament.
June 7 – LVA OF Danny Serrano (.370, 6 HR, 23 RBI) stretches his hitting streak to 30 games with three hits he bangs out in a 3-1 win over the Condors, missing the cycle by the triple.
June 7 – The Pacifics score two 7-spots in their 14-3 destruction of the Warriors, one in the fifth and another one in the eighth.
June 7 – NAS SP Jose Menendez (2-6, 4.38 ERA) will be out for a year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.

Complaints and stuff

Why. Just… Just why.

Maybe the team was fake from the beginning, I have no idea. This was a completely disgusting week. The offense sucks. The bullpen sucks. The weather sucks, even outside of Portland. How, for ****'s sake, can you trail the Elks??

Oh by the way, the Elks are coming in on Tuesday. It will be a massacre.

In lesser injury news, ex-Coon Justin Hess had made just five appearances for the Cyclones after being stashed away with their AAA team for the first two months. He was now out with shoulder inflammation, ending the 35-year-old's season.

Daniel Bullock will start a rehab assignment at St. Petersburg and will probably come back in a week or so. Speaking of St. Petersburg… Did I mention that George James had an ERA in the low 2's in AAA? Well, since then he's gotten stuffed with five runs in a complete game effort against Akron, then six runs twice against Toledo and Chula Vista, and the ERA is now up to 3.54 …

Fun Fact: The ****ing Elks have not made the playoffs since the 2012 season.

Which was of course the final weekend of the season where they unfurled the Raccoons after both teams entered the series at 92-67, and Brownie won a 5-2 game on Friday. Angel Casas balked in the winning run for the Elks on Saturday, and the only scoring that occurred on Sunday was a pair of Ray Gilbert home runs.

**** Ray Gilbert. **** him forever.