[Westheim]

No, Nick, the Raccoons can’t clinch the division while you’re in town. – Because your’re only here for a day, thank god, and even if they win and the other teams lose they’re only up 4 1/2 with 12 to play. – What did I mean with “thank god”? Uh. … Uhm. …….

Raccoons (85-64) vs. Thunder (58-91) – September 21-23, 2037

Let’s get into this real quick (claps paws) – the Raccoons had already taken the season series from Oklahoma (5-1), for the fourth straight years, but they also had never won *more* than five games from them in the previous three years… The Thunder couldn’t score a lick, but were being beaten up vigorously by everybody – they were at the bottom of the CL in *both* runs scored and runs allowed, which was not a fun place to be. Their run differential was a screaming -200 (Coons: +93).

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (9-7, 4.24 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (10-13, 4.35 ERA)
Gene Tennis (2-3, 4.44 ERA) vs. Paul Peters (8-10, 4.78 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (10-11, 3.84 ERA) vs. Mike Hanneman (1-3, 5.40 ERA)

The Raccoons had two more players on the roster to begin this series; Josh Weeks came off the DL and would have to do rehab in a relief outing in some fashion. We also added an infielder to the thinned out roster, promoting 23-year-old 2034 first-rounder (#20) Jon Caskey, who could play more or less all positions on the infield. He was a righty batter, which was not exceptionally helpful. He had also hit .215 in AAA after a midseason promotion there. But we needed another option for third base, and he had to be added to the 40-man roster this fall anyway. To make room on said 40-man roster, Matt Triolo was designated for assignment.

Since Robinson was the only left-handed starter coming up in this series, Caskey would make his major league debut in the starting lineup right away on Monday.

Game 1
OCT: CF Shamhart – 2B Martell – C Urfer – 1B D. Cruz – RF Celaya – LF Nuno – SS Agosto – 3B Laue – P J. Robinson
POR: SS Maldonado – C Garcia – RF Greenway – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – 3B Caskey – LF Pinkerton – P Sabre

The Raccoons rested Berto (we couldn’t afford to break him too) and Manny (slight slump, and, well, lefty opponent) and gave Maruyama a start for platoon purposes, but I really feared that this was the best lineup the Thunder could muster at this point. Caskey got to hand his first chance right away, throwing out Nate Shamhart on a poor drag bunt, then legged out an infield single for his first career hit in the bottom 2nd. That came with Maruyama already on first, nobody out, and after the Critters had stranded a pair in the first inning. Preston Pinkerton struck out, Sabre bunted, Maldonado walked, and Garcia struck out again to strand a full set of runners.

It came as it had to cum – Sabre struck out four in the first run through the lineup, but allowed back-to-back singles to Danny Cruz and Lorenzo Celaya, about the only serious major leaguers in that lineup, in the fourth inning and conceded the go-ahead run on Federico Nuno’s sac fly to right. Bottom 4th, Maruyama and Caskey opened the inning with a pair of singles yet again, and this time Robinson plunked Pinkerton, loading the bases with nobody out and, well, Sabre up. No, Nick, we can’t bat for Sabre here. – Yes, because, well, we only have 11 men in the pen…? … Sabre slapped a 3-2 pitch through the hole on the left side, Maruyama scored, and the game was tied at one in any case, and now the top of the order could do some real damage! Maldonado hit a so-so grounder for the go-ahead RBI, but Garcia cracked a ball off the wall for a 2-run double, then was stranded when Fowler’s drive to right died just ten feet short of the fence and in Celaya’s glove. The Thunder responded with a runner and a double play in each of the next two innings, and the runner in the sixth was even unearned after a Rich Vickers error. In response, Garcia seemed to put the game away in the bottom 6th, following up Maldonado’s double to center with a home run to center, stretching the lead to 6-1! Raffaello Sabre pitched into the ninth inning, but allowed a leadoff single to Al Martell and walked Rick Urfer (who?) before being removed. Mauricio Garavito retired the next three batters to end the game, and without a run scoring. 6-1 Raccoons! Garcia 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Maruyama 2-4; Caskey 2-4; Sabre 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (10-7) and 1-3, RBI;

Good game, wasn’t it, Nick? – Nick Valdes is content, but still would have loved to clinch the division. Well, come back next week.

Indy won, but the Crusaders lost, dropping into a tie with the Titans for third place, five games out.

Game 2
OCT: LF E. Moore – 2B Martell – C Urfer – 1B D. Cruz – RF Celaya – SS A. Rojas – CF Pack – 3B Laue – P Peters
POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Greenway – 1B Stedham – 2B Brito – 3B Caskey – P Tennis

Portland scored before making an out with three straight singles to begin the bottom 1st. Brian Pack, one of those unspectacular 25-year-old rookies (but with great sideburns!) overran Manny’s single for an extra base, but Berto probably would have scored anyway; the other two runners reached scoring position on the play, though, where they held out while Fowler lined out to Martell (unlucky) and Greenway fanned (eek!). Jesse Stedham salvaged the inning with a 2-run single to left, staking Gene Tennis to a 3-0 lead. The left-hander then blew that one instantly, loading the bases with nobody out in the second. Pack walked to force home a run, Tommy Laue hit an RBI single, and Peters managed a sac fly to tie the game before Ethan Moore hit into a 4-6-3 double play. The Raccoons scratched out a new lead in the bottom 2nd, which Caskey opened with a triple to center, scoring on Ramos’ groundout, but Tennis cocked that up, too, giving up a pair of singles to Martell and Urfer to begin the top 3rd; Cruz hit into a double play, but Celaya singled to left, the score was even at four, and Tennis was yanked. No patience for that kind of bull****!

Nate Ward initially picked up the slack, but also put Laue on second base with one out in the fourth. Josh Weeks’ rehab began right there, entering against the top of the order, with four of the first five batters being left-handed or switch-hitters; only Urfer was a righty. Weeks struck out Moore, but gave up an RBI single to Martell and an RBI double to Urfer to dig a 6-4 hole for the team. Portland had a few silent innings before finally scrambling for a run in the bottom 6th, Stedham doubling in Fowler with two outs. Ed Hooge batted for Brito in a critical RISP spot, but grounded out to first.

Weeks threw 43 pitches and after the early “hiccup”, as we will call it generously, allowed only one more hit while whiffing five in three innings, and while he left trailing in the seventh, he had won Tennis’ starting spot for sure. The seventh was not helpful for Portland, but in the eighth they put Tony Morales and Troy Greenway aboard with singles, but there were also already two outs for when Stedham faced right-hander Matt Bosse. The Raccoons needed a third RBI knock from their first-sacker, but got a walk instead. Jesus Blanco replaced Bosse, righty-for-righty, with Rich Vickers batting seventh at that point. Blanco fell to 2-0, had to come into the zone, and Vickers was there, lacing a ball up the leftfield line, past Moore, and for a bases-clearing double!! THE ****, VICKERS!! – Caskey would hit a single, but the inning ended with Maruyama, but Yeom Soung retired the Thunder in three snuffs in the ninth inning, putting this one into the W column, too! 8-6 Furballs! Morales 2-4; Stedham 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Vickers 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Caskey 2-4, 3B;

Derek Barker pitched the eighth and got the win. That was his *11th* win this year, all in relief, and seven of them for the Critters!? The Raccoons had only two *starters* with more wins…! (Bernie, Sparkes)

Indy also won, so did Boston; the Crusaders lost and dropped six out.

Game 3
OCT: LF E. Moore – 2B Martell – C Urfer – 1B D. Cruz – SS A. Rojas – RF Nuno – CF Heskett – 3B Laue – P Hanneman
POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Greenway – 1B Stedham – 2B Vickers – 3B Maldonado – P Ottinger

Portland scored two runs on four singles by Berto, who stole a base, and their 4-5-6 batters in the first inning. Fowler and Stedham got RBI’s, but Greenway was axed in a rundown to end the inning. Maldonado doubled the score in the bottom 2nd with a homer, collecting Vickers, while Ottie legged out an infield roller for a single, then stole his first career base on Hanneman. The first time through the order, the celebrated Gobble star and side-hustle starting pitcher for your local professional baseball team walked one and struck out four, and when Al Martell hit a leadoff single to cruelly take the no-hitter away in the fourth, Urfer hit into a double play.

Things then obviously had to come crashing down in the fifth. Alfredo Rojas and Federico Nuno opened with singles, Laue hit an RBI single, and Nuno was criticially caught stealing third base by Tony Morales before the pinch-hitting Lorenzo Celaya homered to right, narrowing the score to 4-3. No problem though – just get the 7-8 batters back up! Vickers reached base again in the bottom 6th, and Maldonado hit *another* jack off Nick Celmer, extending the lead again, now at 6-3. Ottinger was removed after a leadoff walk to Rojas in the seventh inning, but David Fernandez cleaned up behind him, and the Raccoons looked decently good for a sweep now. But, oh well, baseball, huh? Jake Markley singled, Ethan Moore walked, and Al Martell hit an RBI double off Fernandez in the eighth – all but Markley left-handed batters. The tying runs were in scoring position, there was nobody out, and I was starting to panic. Antonio Prieto came in, allowed a sac fly to Urfer (seriously, who??), and then a game-tying double to Cruz. I slumped into a crying pile on the couch, bad enough for Slappy to pat to change his bottle from one hand to the other so he could pat my shoulder without having to reach.

The bottom 8th brought no relief, but at least Citriniti held the Thunder at bay in the ninth, giving the Coons a walkoff chance against right-hander Raul de la Rosa, who walked about six-and-a-half per nine innings. He walked Manny Fernandez in the ninth after a leadoff single by Morales, also walked Fowler to load the bases, and that brought up Greenway, who poked and grounded to Laue, who fired home to kill the winning run, and they got Greenway at first base, too! 5-2-3 went the Critters, with Maruyama batting sixth after pinch-hitting for Stedham earlier for no good reason. No lefty bat was left on the bench, so we’d have to do with Maruyama… until de la Rosa took all the pains away with a wild pitch. Ballgame!? 7-6 Raccoons. Ramos 2-4, BB; Greenway 2-5; Maldonado 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

Complications were introduced into the division race at this point. While we took that game by dumb luck, the Indians’ series finale with the Knights was rained out. Since the teams had no matching off day left, the game was rescheduled for the Monday after the initial end of the regular season.

The rest of the competition won on Wednesday, so it was Indians four games out, Titans five, and Crusaders six.

Thursday was off for Portland – and every other important team in the North, so nothing changed by the time we made it to Milwaukee.

Raccoons (88-64) @ Loggers (62-91) – September 25-27, 2037

Bad things had happened to the Raccoons in Milwaukee before, as I vaguely remembered an excoriating 4-game sweep that had appeared to derail the season for good earlier this year. We were ahead 8-7 in the season series, though, while the Loggers showed many qualities of last place teams, namely not scoring, and giving up many runs. They were second-worst in scoring runs (although we hadn’t exactly shut the Thunder out…), and were giving up the fourth-most runs.

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (14-7, 2.82 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (10-19, 4.40 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (12-9, 3.14 ERA) vs. Tommy Iezzi (9-11, 4.12 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (10-7, 4.02 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (9-13, 3.36 ERA)

Probably all right-handers here.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – RF Greenway – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – 3B Maldonado – 1B Stedham – 2B Vickers – P Sparkes
MIL: CF T. Romero – 2B Paul – LF J. Nelson – 3B Conner – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio- 1B S. Ayala – C M. Cooper – P Olguin

Berto opened the game with a walk, stole not one, but two bases, and eventually scored on a Matt Cooper error while the Raccoons kept putting runners aboard. Greenway and Fowler scored on a Fernandez double to left, giving Manny 93 RBI in his attempt to join Fowler in triple digits. The inning died after that, but the Raccoons were up 3-0 for Sparkes, who came in and … uh… what? Tony Romero homered. Jared Paul singled. Justin Nelson whacked an RBI double. Josh Conner walked onto the open base, and Danny Valenzuela tied the game with a single. There wasn’t even an out on the board yet…! Ted Del Vecchio legged out an infield single before Sal Ayala popped out. Cooper gave Milwaukee the lead with a groundout, and Olguin popped out, but … what the ACTUAL ****??

Sparkes retired nobody in the bottom 2nd, with Nelson singling home Romero before the hammer came down and Travis Sims replaced the ****ing sucker. Down 5-3, two on, nobody out, Sims walked Conner before getting a pop and a 4-6-3 grounder. While the Raccoons made up one run with the help of Manny Fernandez’ leadoff double in the third inning, Sims succumbed to his own rectal examination in the bottom of the inning. TWO leadoff walks, another Tony Romero homer that counted for three, and then he put Paul and Nelson on the corners after that. Nate Ward came in, conceded a run on a wild pitch, and at 9-4, this game was lost. Thus, here came another attempt at putting Colt Willes back together – he’d have all the time in the world beginning in the bottom 4th. The Raccoons actually rallied for three runs in the top 4th, with Berto getting on and stealing another base before Morales (single), Fowler (sac fly), and Fernandez (single) each brought in a run, 9-7. The Critters’ bed was made though, and Willes got into the game in the bottom 4th after all. Single, wild pitch, RBI single. Promising start! After that he struck out Cooper and got a double play bunt from reliever Adam Giovenco, who gave up that extra run in the top 5th with Stedham and Ramos chipping in base hits. And Willes? Was ravaged for three more runs in the bottom 5th. We couldn’t help but wonder whether he was irreparably broken after missing most of two seasons with various injuries. He walked Romero, Josh Conner hit a homer, and they got another run on two doubles after that.

Top 6th, bases loaded with one out, Greenway, Fernandez, and Hooge being on for Stedham against Giovenco. A single up the middle made it … wait… (counts on claws) … 13-9? …and brought on Rob Clack, who gave up a sac fly to Vickers before getting out of the mess. In the bottom 6th, Romero walked against Francisco Pena, stole second and scored on Paul’s single, giving the Loggers a run in every inning in the game until they FINALLY ran dry in the seventh. Portland was on base in the eighth against Clack, who allowed a single to Fowler and nicked PH Fernando Garcia before giving up a 2-out RBI single to Vickers. Righty Carlos Padilla replaced Clack against Caskey in the #9 hole, who was also the tying run, singled to left, narrowed the gap to two runs, and brought in the next reliever in Mike Leeth, who had been bombed for four runs in 1.2 innings in his first September call-up, but got Berto to fly out. The Loggers scored a run off Citriniti in the bottom of the inning, Victor Acosta singling home Matt Cooper and his double, while Alex Banderas (5.22 ERA) would see after the Raccoons in the ninth. Morales singled to center, and Greenway hit jack to right, narrowing the gap to … I don’t know, the scoreboard said 15-14, but maybe I was seeing spots from being happy drunk. Fowler struck out, but Manny reached base on an Acosta error, before Maruyama and Stedham both flew out to center. 15-14 Loggers. Ramos 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Morales 2-6, RBI; Greenway 3-4, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4, BB, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

The first five for Milwaukee on the scoreboard read 41413. That’s the zip code of Crockett, Kentucky, I am told.

Fine.

That’s where I’ll ****ing deport our ****ing pitchers to if they don’t ****ing stop ****ing up.

The Indians beat the Titans, 6-2, while the Crusaders overcame the damn Elks. The gaps to those three teams were thus three, five, and five games now, respectively. The Elks were nine out and one game from elimination, but we hadn’t really bothered with them in a while.

But we also hadn’t bothered with the Titans for a while, and here they were, just waiting to decimate our tossing stuff, suddenly comprised of a dozen identical copies of Bumpy McPuddingface.

Mmm, pudding.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – RF Greenway – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – 3B Maldonado – 1B Stedham – 2B Brito – P B. Chavez
MIL: CF T. Romero – 1B S. Ayala – LF J. Nelson – 3B Conner – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – 2B V. Acosta – C M. Cooper – P Iezzi

I spent some time to beg Bernie to be good, then wandered off to find a bowl of vanilla pudding, and when I came back it was a 1-1 game in the third inning. Bernie walked Nelson with two outs, then gave up a homer to Conner. Valenzuela singled, Del Vecchio homered, and it was 5-1 Loggers. – (turns to attendant at the bar) Sir, excuse me. I will need high-proof booze with this vanilla pudding.

The main difference to Friday’s game soon turned out to be that the Raccoons couldn’t score. As soon as they got on, they’d hit into a double play, so happening in the fourth and fifth innings, and if they didn’t hit into a double play the main reason was that they didn’t get on base in the first place. A slight variation in procedure occurred in the seventh inning, where Fernandez hit a leadoff single, then was picked off by a solid Iezzi, just before Maldonado walked and Stedham hit an RBI double. I was grumbling into my bottle, the pudding long gone, but that was the only run the Critters got in the inning, and the Loggers got that run back from Garavito in the bottom of the inning, with Nelson doubling and Valenzuela tripling to get to 6-2. Iezzi departed after a leadoff walk to Berto, who was doubled up by Morales in a sad eighth inning, in which Nate Ward gave up a 2-out double to Kymani Farmer and an RBI triple to Tony Romero for a tack-on run. The Raccoons remained terrible to the very end. 7-2 Loggers. Ramos 0-1, 3 BB; M. Fernandez 2-4; Stedham 2-4, 2B, RBI; Barker 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Alright. Looks like our condition is terminal, but maybe we can at least lose everything to the Indians rather than the Titans, with another game between those two going into the Indians’ W column. They were now two behind. Boston and New York, both losing, remained five out.

Come on, boys. ONE game. Just ONE.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Maldonado – RF Greenway – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – C Garcia – 1B Stedham – 2B Caskey – P Sabre
MIL: CF T. Romero – 2B Paul – LF J. Nelson – 3B Conner – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – 1B S. Ayala – C M. Cooper – P S. Chavez

Facing Sal Chavez (11-9, 3.91 ERA), and with rain moving towards the city, the Raccoons had to get something on the board early, very much didn’t, but at least Sabre made it through three innings before being hit with high-explosive ammunition, and the game was scoreless through three, with the drizzle already beginning. There was a half-hour delay in the top of the fourth, but neither pitcher suffered terminal damage during the waiting time. Both teams would tally three base hits through five shutout innings, but of course the question was when either team would resume the cannonade.

Turns out the Raccoons broke through first, getting a Ramos double to begin the sixth, but then struggled to actually get him across. Maldonado grounded out, Greenway walked, and Fowler was rung up in a full count. Manny Fernandez came to the rescue, crushing a 3-run homer to right, the first meaningful offense in the game! Sabre rung up two in the bottom 6th before Valenzuela singled, but then got Del Vecchio on a grounder to third base, and retired the bottom of the order without issue in the seventh. That was all from him – he threw 102 pitches around a rain delay, and the Raccoons wouldn’t dare sending him back out for the eighth. Greenway was on base in the top 8th but got doubled up by Fowler, which was not helpful, but we also needed only six outs with a 3-0 lead. Prieto came in to face the top of the order, Hooge replaced Fowler for defense, and they wouldn’t dare to blow it, would they? At least not Prieto, who gave up a Romero single on his first pitch, but then dug in and got the next three Loggers on poor outs. The Raccoons got pinch-hit singles from Maruyama and Morales in the ninth inning, but stranded the runners when Vickers, hitting for Prieto, popped out. Well, Warden, honor your name then. Valenzuela single. Del Vecchio single. Oh for ****’s sake!! PH Maxime Garnier hit a grounder to short that was only good for an out second base, but Cooper hit a fly to shallow right that Greenway snatched on the run, denying even Valenzuela and his blitzing speed to score from third base. Left-hander D.J. Mendez pinch-hit in the #9 spot, fell to 2-2, then hit a gapper for an RBI double. SOUNG!!! There wasn’t even a pitcher ready, because how could he ruin this!? Tony Romero drew a ball, then fired a liner to left and – MALDONADO!!! A leap and a grab! And the ballgame was over!!! 3-1 Blighters!! Greenway 2-3, BB; M. Fernandez 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Maruyama (PH) 1-1; Caskey 1-2, BB; Morales (PH) 1-1; Sabre 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (11-7);

(is soaked in sweat, but grabs the passing Maldonado in the clubhouse tunnel and smooches him fat on the lips)

In other news

September 22 – Salem INF/CF Jeremy Camden (.265, 4 HR, 48 RBI) hits a walkoff single to beat the Buffaloes, 4-3, and with that clinches the FL West for the Wolves.
September 22 – BOS SP Tony Chavez (15-10, 2.64 ERA) 3-hits the Aces in a 7-0 shutout. Chavez fans ten batters in the game.
September 23 – For a victory lap, the Wolves dismember the Buffaloes to the tune of a 25-3 game. Salem’s Chad Armfield (.266, 6 HR, 71 RBI) leads a team effort with four base hits and 5 RBI while batting eighth.
September 25 – A 2-1 win over the Thunder clinches the CL South for the Bayhawks.
September 27 – PIT 1B Danny Santillano (.322, 22 HR, 106 RBI) joins the 300-homer club with a shot off RIC SP Jamal Barrow (12-14, 4.77 ERA) on Sunday, but the Miners lose 8-7. The 31-year-old Santillano has lots of homers yet to hit and has his Hall of Fame plaque more or less furnished for having already bagged six batting titles, five Player of the Year awards, and countless other accolades, including three homer crowns.
September 27 – NAS SP Abramo Archibugi (5-6, 3.25 ERA) clinches the FL East in style with a 3-hit shutout of the Buffaloes, the Blue Sox winning 5-0. The Blue Sox also clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs with this win.

FL Player of the Week: RIC INF Kenny Elder (.297, 13 HR, 49 RBI), hitting .450 (9-20) with 5 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS OF Willie Vega (.246, 15 HR, 77 RBI), batting .579 (11-19) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Holy ****, what the **** was this week?? Looks like if we make the playoffs, Raffaello Sabre will have to start games 1 through 7 because every else got ravaged! Alright, Ottie was *decent*. Ottie can start the even-numbered games. All of them. The rest of the starters was barely worth the effort of beating them senseless.

Sabre pitched 15 innings and allowed one unearned run for two wins. The rest of the starting corps (including Ottie)? 0-2 with an 11.20 ERA. (Don’t ask for that without Ottie… please don’t…) And I am not even getting into the weeds of Colt Willes yet, who can’t get anybody out anymore. He’s also under contract for $1.58M for another season, and I already scrawled a team option under his contract signed in ’33, but Cristiano tells me that won’t be legally binding.

Cristiano!! You killjoy!!

In good news, the Titans took the last game in their series with the Indians, thus increasing our lead to three games again (although our performance this week didn’t merit a lead at all), with New York hanging in there despite losing to the Elks. Their magic number was two, but wicked **** was going on and I wouldn’t put it beyond the Raccoons to go 0-7 next week…

POR (89-66) – IND (4), BOS (3) – .550 – 83.2% (-2.5%)
IND (85-68) – NYC (4), POR (4), ATL (1) – .549 – 15.8% (+8.5%)
BOS (84-71) – VAN (4), POR (3) – .545 – 1.0% (-2.3%)
NYC (83-72) – IND (4), MIL (3) – .493 – 0.0% (-3.8%)

I don’t like how the Indians have a game in hand *after* our last game. Oh well, if we get swept to start next week it will be the least of our troubles. I’d say a split against the Arrowheads would be *decent*. Unless the Titans swept the damn Elks a Coons/Indians split would put them out of business, maybe giving us less of a nightmare on the weekend. If we lost the Indians series, then – (shivers)

NO MORE LOSING!!

After a crisp 33 years during which they finished in the first division only six times, the Wolves are in the playoffs again! We still have a revenge thing going on for ’89 … and last time I checked Glenn Johnston couldn’t **** it up this time…

Our scout guy dragged in a 16-year-old Mexican centerfielder this week… and normally I nod off every Latin hustler boy he pretends will be a future star (they never are), but this guy looks like he can actually hit, run, and field. His name is Alberto Silva, he has great range, ability to hit for contact and power, and might get a start in single-A as early as next season! (He’ll turn 17 in March)

Fun Fact: 45 years ago today, the Condors’ Bruce Boyle hit for the first of his two cycles.

Boyle’s two cycles came more than ten years apart, the longest apart an ABL hitter has landed two cycles. The rare breed of middle infielder that lasts 25 years in the league, Boyle made his debut with the Condors in 1989 but didn’t win a regular spot until ’92, his age 22 season and the one where he hit that cycle. He stayed with Tijuana through 2006, then bounced around various teams in reserve roles. He was an All Star four times, and while he never led the league in any category, he was regularly worth 4+ WAR in his 20s, and 58.7 for his career, for which he batted .263/.360/.394 with 2,454 hits, 157 HR, 1,079 RBI, and stole 171 bases.