[Westheim]

All Star Game

Tijuana's Shane Sanks was named the All Star Game MVP, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run in the Continental League's 2-0 win over the Federal League in Richmond. The Elks' Brian Wojnarowski drove in the only other run of the game.

The Coons' Rin Nomura pitched one perfect inning for the win appearing right after Tijuana's Jeff Little held the FL scoreless to begin the game. Josh Boles and Ricky Ohl also had scoreless appearances. Billy Brotman did not pitch.

Kevin Harenberg started the game at first base, but was 0-for-2 before being replaced by Pat Fowlkes. Rafael Gomez had an unsuccessful pinch-hitting appearance.

Raccoons (54-36) @ Crusaders (48-40) – July 15-18, 2027

The All Star break couldn't have been long enough for lineup as dead as the Raccoons' before the next series rolled around. Off they were to a 3-city road trip that would begin in the Northeast with a 4-game set against the Crusaders, who the Coons were up 6-2 against this season after taking three of four in the week prior to the All Star Game. All of that success had come before the Coons had been made complete laughs by the Elks on the weekend, and didn't count anymore. Runs counted – and the Coons weren't scoring any. They had dropped to sixth in runs scored by now, while the Crusaders ranked first. Their pitching was still miserable, with the second-worst rotation and the fifth-most runs conceded overall.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (8-3, 2.81 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (4-5, 5.60 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-8, 3.70 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (5-2, 3.45 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (4-7, 3.04 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (9-5, 4.28 ERA)
Rin Nomura (11-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (11-5, 3.37 ERA)

The exact order of their right-handers might vary, but they were all that: right-handers. No surprises expected here.

While the Crusaders were still without Andy Schmit to begin the series, he was expected to return during the weekend. The Coons' Cookie was … old. He was still listed as OUT to begin the series.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Spencer – 3B Nunley – 2B Rock – P Roberts
NYC: 1B N. Ayala – SS R. Allen – RF Ellis – C F. Delgado – LF Espinosa – 2B Ts'ai – CF Shaffer – 3B Kane – P Rutkowski

Both teams dropped the odd single here or there, but the odd single wasn't going to create a run unless paired with some extra-base prowess, and who was merrier than Mark Roberts in surrendering home runs? While that was certainly the booming question in my head, he held up nicely early on and the Coons were actually the first ones to get a ball in for extra bases when Abel Mora hit for a 1-out double in the third inning. Gomez flew out, but Harenberg got a ball into centerfield that allowed Mora to score with the game's first run, and the top of the order was on it again in the fifth inning when starting with Stalker they chopped off straight singles to run the score to 2-0 on Rafael Gomez' single to center. Harenberg grounded out, creating an open base at first that the Crusaders walked Elias Tovias onto to face the struggling Jarod Spencer – yes, all the Coons were struggling. Spencer grounded a ball to Rutkowski for a sure out at home, and Nunley popped out to short as the misery continued unabated. Bottom 5th, Zhang-ze Ts'ai's leadoff triple signaled that the fun was due to be over. Roberts foolishly plated him with a wild pitch, then walked Nick Shaffer, who stole second and came around on two groundouts to tie the game.

While resignation was hardly ever uncalled for with this summer's Raccoons, they actually moaned and scored again. Trey Rock hit a leadoff single in the sixth, was bunted over by Roberts, and scored on a Stalker single, and in the seventh inning Spencer reached base with two outs, nipped second base (his 13th base this year), then came home when Ts'ai could not reach Nunley's roller over the second base bag and it escaped for an RBI single, 4-2. Too bad Roberts got stuck in the bottom 7th; Shaffer hit a 2-out double and he lost Mike Kane on balls, bringing up Jose Gutierrez, old enough to have witnessed the first Spanish landing in Central America, as pinch-hitter for Rutkowski. That removed both starting pitchers; Kevin Surginer would be tasked with this batter, and rung him up with blazing heat. That solved the problem in this inning, but Billy Brotman created a new mess in the eighth in which Nelson Ayala and Felipe Delgado reached. Snyder replaced him with two outs and PH Jason Asay batting for Juan Espinosa, and four days after his infamous Sunday meltdown in Vancouver got the K this time. The Coons failed to tack on when Shaffer caught Nunley's soft fly to center in the top 9th, ending the inning with Greg Borg and Jarod Spencer stranded on the corners after a pair of singles off Steve Casey. That made the ninth Ricky Ohl's first appearance as official closer; he struck out Ts'ai and Shaffer before Kane reached on Stalker's throwing error. Oh please god no – Shane Walter flew out to center to end the game. 4-2 Coons. Stalker 3-4, RBI; Mora 2-5, 2B; Gomez 2-5, RBI; Borg (PH) 1-1; Spencer 2-5; Nunley 2-5, RBI; Roberts 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-3);

You would think that 15 base hits would yield more than four runs, but not when you mix in 14 singles. Only Abel Mora had that lone double.

Matt Nunley livened up a 1-for-20 stretch with his pair of hits.

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Spencer – 3B Nunley – 2B Rock – P Roberts
NYC: 2B J. Gutierrez – SS R. Allen – RF Ellis – C F. Delgado – CF Hatley – LF Espinosa – 1B N. Ayala – 3B Kane – P Marron

Tim Stalker reached on an uncaught third strike to begin the game, which was one way to make something happen. Abel Mora singled, and then Gomez popped out, Harenberg popped out, and Elias Tovias grounded out to short on a 3-0 pitch. Stay awesome, boys, stay awesome …! By contrast, the Crusaders – leadoff single by Mummy Gutierrez, then a 2-out, 2-run homer by Felipe Delgado, and BAM – a 2-0 lead. But leave it to the Coons – even when the first bite was not very tasteful, they kept nibbling. Stalker hit a leadoff single in the third, scored on Rafael Gomez' triple to dead center, and Harenberg's fly to right was deep enough to get Gomez home to tie the score. The following inning Rico's spot came up with Nunley and Rock on second and first, respectively, and one out. Now, Rico was a terrible batter and nothing good would come of letting him swing with one out and a double play waiting to be made. So he bunted, badly, to third base, where Mike Kane got Nunley forced out. The Crusaders' Carlos Marron however lost Tim Stalker to a 2-out walk, then also lost control of his fastball, throwing a yummy one to Abel Mora. That ball was never seen again, breaking the plane over the wall in rightfield at lightning speed – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Funny thing, Rico Gutierrez almost blew the lead in the same inning. Nate Ellis, Felipe Delgado, and Nelson Ayala all singled off him, bringing a run across already, and Mike Kane unleashed some sort of rocket to center with two outs and a 1-2 count. Abel Mora had to race into the deep gap, where he made the catch, to prevent a once 6-2, now 6-3 lead from blowing up instantly. Instead, Nate Ellis slapped a 2-run homer the following inning…

While Rico got some clear signals that his day was ****ing over when he somehow got Delgado out to complete five, the Coons showed some more rally and counterstruck in the sixth inning despite Casey Moore getting two of them out to start the frame. Then Gomez and Harenberg reached, Tovias hit a looper onto the leftfield line for an RBI double, and Jarod Spencer flicked a 1-2 pitch into centerfield for a 2-run single. This bled into Spencer getting caught stealing, then Kearney getting flogged by left-handed batters. Nick Hatley singled, Juan Espinosa homered, it was 9-7, and the game was far from over. At least the Coons lucked into four accident-free outs from Dan McLin after that, then went to Josh Boles when the same part of the lineup that had fried Kearney came up again. Hatley and Espinosa both struck out this time in the bottom 8th. Top 9th, Rock got on base, as did Stalker. Abel Mora batted with two outs and two on against Blake Lowrey, hit a ball into the shallow gap in right-center, Nate Ellis tried to make a sliding catch but MISSED it, and Abel Mora scooted into second with a 2-run double that put the game away. Josh Boles struck out the side to finish the contest. 11-7 Coons! Stalker 3-5, BB; Mora 3-6, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Gomez 3-6, 3B, RBI; Harenberg 2-4, RBI; Spencer 2-5, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB; Rock 2-4, BB; Boles 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, SV (5);

Whoop-whoop, offense!

Oh if only every game could be like this. Maybe with better pitching.

Game 3
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – C Rocha – 3B Bullock – P Delgadillo
NYC: 3B Schmit – CF Hatley – RF Ellis – C Asay – LF Espinosa – 2B Kane – SS Ts'ai – 1B Walter – P Moffatt

To put it mildly, Dan Delgadillo SUCKED in the Saturday game, starting with a 29-pitch first inning that saw a Nick Hatley homer in the middle of Delgadillo's spirited search for the strike zone. Early on, the Crusaders scored off him in every inning, the second seeing a 2-out combo of a Moffatt single and Schmit RBI double, then Juan Espinosa hitting a triple in the third and coming home on Mike Kane's rock-hard single past Trey Rock. In the fourth, Moffatt scored again, this time after a leadoff single (…), then on Nate Ellis' double. Somewhere in between, Mora had singled home Daniel Bullock, but, eh, who gave a ****… Like Gutierrez he lasted only five innings, while conceding one fewer run, and then was thankfully gone, only for Jeff Kearney to continue to get socked. Andy Schmit hit a leadoff double in the bottom 6th and was eventually plated by Kearney with a wild pitch. And if you had to rely on Daniel Bullock to get your team back onto the board… while Bullock hit a 2-out RBI double, plating Trey Rock, in the seventh inning, that was just not enough… and the run was also unearned, Rock having reached on Ts'ai's throwing error. On top of that "success", Billy Brotman got ripped in the bottom 8th, surrendering a leadoff walk to Schmit, then a triple to Hatley, who scored on Ellis' groundout to add two runs to New York's tally. 7-2 Crusaders.

Game 4
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Carmona – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – P Nomura
NYC: 2B J. Gutierrez – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – RF Ellis – SS Ts'ai – CF Hatley – LF Espinosa – 1B N. Ayala – P Klein

Tim Stalker thumped Chris Klein with a leadoff jack five tosses into the game, and the Raccoons would make more hard contact against the Crusaders' starter, but were not nearly as successful with that as one might wish for. Nunley hit a 2-out double in the second, but was stranded when Nomura struck out, and he made the third out with two on in the fourth as well. In between, not a whole lot had happened for Portland, but at least Nomura was still facing the minimum despite a second-inning single by Ts'ai, who then had been wrapped up on Hatley's double play grounder.

The fifth inning saw the Coons make softer contact, but with more success; Stalker opened with a weak single, but who was I to complain about a leadoff single dropped near the rightfield line? Mora struck out, Gomez walked, and a wild pitch advanced the runners, after which Harenberg squeezed a grounder through the right side to score both runners and extend the score to 3-0. Before the inning dwindled away, the Coons added another run on 2-out singles by the returning Cookie and Jarod Spencer. Nomura led off the sixth with a single past Gutierrez (still 42, but playing like 84), and Mora and Gomez flocked on base to present Harenberg with a slam chance with one out. While he did knock out Klein, a slam was not in the cards for the struggling slugger right now, although his RBI single, 5-0, continued to make daylight appear over those far hills. The Crusaders imploded between Casey Moore and Jesse Wright, who went on to allow a 2-run double to Tovias, a run-scoring groundout to Cookie, an RBI double to Spencer, and an RBI single to Nunley; a 6-run sixth that ran the tally to 10-0. With that, the Coons started to remove the regulars (Mora and Gomez being gone by the seventh), and this was all Nomura's in a shutout bid which lasted into the bottom 8th before the annoying Ts'ai hit a solo homer to left. That, however, was all the rally in those New Yorkers – Rin Nomura finished the game on 95 pitches. 10-1 Coons! Stalker 3-6, HR, RBI; Harenberg 2-5, 3 RBI; Tovias 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Spencer 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Nomura 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-3) and 1-5;

In other news

July 16 – The Aces pick up 1B/3B Eddie Moreno (.281, 11 HR, 36 RBI) from the Falcons, sending a prospect to Charlotte.

Complaints and stuff

The Coons' schedule has no games on Monday in July. Yes, there is the All Star Game, yes, there was a rain delay. But the schedule looks weird. I don't like it. Maud! Maud…! – I want to write a letter. No, two letters. One to the league, and one to the guy from the weather channel.

Rafael Gomez retains the CL lead in RBI by one. Rin Nomura has claimed the CL lead in wins, also by one. Alberto Ramos still holds the CL lead in steals by five, but who knows how long that will last while he's relaxing in the hammock over there. None of these players hold the ABL lead, though, or are even remotely close. They are outpaced by, in order, 19 RBI, two wins, and 19 sacks claimed.

We ended up not signing ANY international free agent for the first time since… I don't know. There was really nothing lovable about the 2027 bunch, except for one or two that asking for more money than the Raccoons had left in their budget.

That 3-city road trip mentioned at the top of the Crusaders series will next bring us to Boston to face the Titans that already swept the damn Elks over the long weekend. I fully expect the division to be decided this time around.

Fun Fact: Nine years ago this weekend, the Condors' Andrew Gudeman no-hit the Aces in a 3-0 win on July 17, 2018. It was the first of three no-hitters in the month.

OCT Brian Furst on the 26th and PIT John Key on the 29th would join the party before the end of July. The 13-day span is by far the quickest three no-hitters have been spun in the ABL. The next-closest triplet of no-no's are the efforts by LAP Bob Haines (May 23, 1984), RIC Roger Weaver (June 14, 1984), and NYC Eric Edmonstone (June 28, 1984), 37 days apart.

The longest between three no-hitters? IND Salah Brunet (June 29, 1977), MIL Bill Warren (September 6, 1980), and the Bob "Butcher" Haines no-hitter, merely six years, 10 months, and 24 days removed.