[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-21) vs. Canadiens (27-27) – June 5-8, 2045

Home, sweet home. Maybe. No idea yet what the over-under was on hosting the damn Elks for four. The Raccoons had dropped two out of three games in Elk City in April. The Elks continued to be all about big numbers: their offense had them, and their pitchers had them, too. They led the CL in runs scored, but were also giving up the third-most markers, for a +15 run differential (Raccoons: 3rd, 2nd, +36). They had also shed a bunch of pitching in Matt Sealock, David Arias, and Michael Donovan, and also had Kenichi Saito and Chris Robinson on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (6-4, 4.34 ERA) vs. John Roeder (3-4, 4.35 ERA)
Corey Mathers (6-5, 5.21 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (6-4, 4.75 ERA)
Victor Merino (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Alexander Lewis (5-3, 5.06 ERA)
Brent Clark (4-5, 5.22 ERA) vs. Omar Uribe (3-0, 3.92 ERA)

Left, right; left, right. They had issues. We had issues. They had two southpaws lined up. We offered three.

Game 1
VAN: RF J. Becker – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Hutson – 1B Zuazo – LF V. Vazquez – SS Price – P Roeder
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Okuda

Okuda’s first three pitches were put in play for two outs and a Jerry Outram single before Julio Diaz grounded out. The Raccoons put their first three batters of the game on base on 15 pitches by John Roeder, two of which nailed Waters and Maldonado. Armando Herrera singled in between. Bryce Toohey cleaned up, belting a drive to deep left on a 1-2 pitch – GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!! … Yes Maud, that was quick – I didn’t even have time to wrap Honeypaws and myself into our comfort blanky!

Dan Hutson took Okuda deep to begin the top 2nd, but Derek Baskins pulled that run back with a 2-out triple, driving home Herrera the inning after that. The damn Elks didn’t get all that much off Okuda, four hits through five innings, and most of that was on Outram. The Raccoons tacked on in the bottom 5th, hitting a 1-out jack to left, his first as a Raccoon, and then Toohey hit a solo blast to left in the same inning. Real trouble only brewed for Okuda in the eighth after he walked Oscare Aguirre and allowed another single to Jerry Outram, all with one out. Julio Diaz would be his last batter, since no matter how many rings we’d ever win, I remained allergic to switching lefty-for-lefty. Hesitation paid off, with Diaz hitting into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Norris and Kelly had a bit of a fumble in the ninth inning, though. Norris put them on the corners before yielding to Kelly with one out. Rick Price hit an RBI single for the damn Elks, but PH Tim Phillips found his way into a game-concluding double play. 7-2 Raccoons. Herrera 3-4, HR, RBI; Toohey 3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Okuda 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (7-4);

Good, good, boys! Now let’s keep the old knee right there on the throat…!

Game 2
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – 1B Zuazo – CF Outram – 3B Hutson – LF J. Becker – C T. Phillips – RF van der Zanden – SS Price – P Godinez
POR: LF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – CF Dustal – C Zarate – 2B Martell – P Mathers

Fanning Oscar Aguirre to begin the game put Mathers on 50 K for the year, when the number we’d actually hope he’d reach sooner rather than later was the 4 to begin his ERA again… He had a scoreless first in any case, and then the Raccoons had another 4-spot in the first. Matt Waters opened with a homer, before Maldo and Manny reached the corners with singles. Jonathan Dustal’s 2-out gapper plated them both, and he scored on Jose Zarate’s single. Also identical to Monday: Dan Hutson’s leadoff jack in the top 2nd. Mathers then angrily struck out the next three. And then he walked the bases full for Outram with one out in the third. You didn’t have to beg the chief Elk twice for damage, and he promptly hit a 2-run single to narrow the Coons’ lead to 4-3. Hutson struck out, but Justin Becker singled to right, with Alvin Zuazo rounding third base to make for home – where he was thrown out by Manny Fernandez to end the inning. Nevertheless the bases were loaded AGAIN in the fourth inning, with singles by Phillips and Arnout van der Zanden, then another walk to Aguirre. Now Zuazo was batting with two outs, but flew out to Dustal in deep center to strand everybody.

The Raccoons did a whole lot of nothing for a pretty long time, but finally stirred again in the bottom 5th. Baskins led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch, and also on a flyout by Waters, and scored on Maldo’s groundout, 6-3 on the field, 5-3 on the board. Godinez threw another wild pitch in the bottom 6th, this time with Dustal and Zarate on the corners and thus scoring a run for Portland. Al Martell hit a single, Pat Gurney hit a sac fly in the #9 hole, upon which the remains of Drew Johnson, ex-Critter, took the ball. Martell stole second off him, then scored on a Baskins single to left, 8-3. Waters grounded to second, which should have ended the inning, but Zuazo dropped Aguirre’s throw for an error. Maldonado grounded to second, which should really end the inning this time, and did. Mathers had only pitched into the sixth inning, but the Raccoons put up 3.2 perfect innings between Jones, Porter, and Craig, and put another W in the books. 8-3 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5, RBI; Dustal 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Zarate 2-4, RBI; Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Porter 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Unfortunately the Crusaders were also winning and we remained stuck in second place.

Game 3
VAN: RF J. Becker – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Hutson – 1B Zuazo – LF van der Zanden – SS Price – P A. Lewis
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Merino

The Raccoons took a lead in the first, but only one run at this point; Waters hit a single, advanced on a grounder, and then scored when Maldo singled up the middle. Toohey then cleaned up again, but in double play form. Oh well, at least Merino held Hutson to a single the first time through. The second time around, with two outs and nobody on in the top 4th, Hutson drove another ball to the wall in leftfield, but this time had it caught by Manny Fernandez to preserve a 1-0 lead for the home team. The damn Elks got only two hits off Merino in the first five innings while striking out four times. Not that the Raccoons were much more productive: they had only one addition hit in the four innings after their first-inning blip.

Justin Becker tied the game with a homer in the sixth, sending the Critters back to the drawing board. Could somebody reload our catapult that had worked so well in the first two games? Merino opened the bottom 6th with a single to right, for what it was worth, but then got doubled up by Matt Waters. Seven innings of 3-hit ball didn’t seem good enough for a W now, at least until Toohey and Manny unfurled back-to-back doubles in the bottom 7th to take a 2-1 lead. Toohey went into the gap, Manny went up the rightfield line, then was stranded by Kilmer and Jimenez. Merino went back out and retired left-hander Rick Price and pitcher Alex Lewis to begin the eighth before yielding for Nelson Moreno, who retired nobody as he put the 1-2 batters on the corners with a pair of 2-out singles. With Jerry Outram, the .370 plague, angrily wiggling his twig in the left-handed batter’s box, Chuck Jones was brought in. In an anticlimactic development, Jones balked in the tying run, walked Outram, and then somehow got an out from Diaz to end the bedeviled inning. Portland did nothing in the bottom 8th, and Josh Rella retired the 5-6-7 in order in the ninth, setting up Sebastien Parham against the 2-3-4 hitters in the bottom 9th, with Rella in the #5 hole after Jones had originally entered in a double switch. Hutson fudged Herrera’s grounder for an error, putting the winning run on base. Pat Gurney was sent to hit for Maldonado, but flew out to center. Toohey found the shortstop for a double play and extra innings.

While Cristiano explained to me how Toohey was costing us wins with groundballs, none of which I wanted to know in the 10th inning of any game, Rella had another clean frame to keep the game tied, then was hit for by Dustal against new pitcher, right-hander Matt Fries. He ended the game with one stroke, hitting a fastball over the fence in right. It’s a walkoff…! 3-2 Critters. Fernandez 2-3, 2B, RBI; Dustal (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Rella 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-1);

Come on boys! One more!

Not ignoring the 103 games left after that, of course.

Game 4
VAN: LF Escobido – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Hutson – 1B Zuazo – RF J. Becker – SS Price – P O. Uribe
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – LF Baskins – RF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – 2B Martell – P Clark

No Maldo, no Toohey on Thursday, as both got a day off, leaving only Waters go give a rest to. He was penciled in for Friday. Also, no first-inning lead this time, and instead a second-inning deficit as Brent Clark continued his unsettling decay. He walked three the first time through, including Hutson and Zuazo to begin the top 2nd. Becker hit into a double play, but Rick Price found a hole for an RBI single to put the Elks on top. Portland countered, though, even before I could get my snout wrapped around a bottleneck. Kilmer hit a 1-out double to right in the bottom 2nd, and Jimenez worked a walk in a full count. Al Martell jabbed a single over the shortstop, with Kilmer turning the corner at third base and Angel Escobido’s throw cut off by Uribe, but not before the other runners also took an extra base in a tied game. Clark gave himself a lead with a groundout to second base, scoring Jimenez, and while Waters stranded Martell, Clark at least made it through one inning without giving the 2-1 lead back.

Then it grew in the bottom 3rd, with Herrera and Manny on base and Pat Gurney fooling Outram with a fly to center. Outram first made a step in, then realized his mistake, but now couldn’t catch up with the drive on the way back. Gurney got a 2-run triple out of it, and Portland zoomed out to a 4-1 lead. A Kilmer single made it 5-1 in the inning. I grabbed Honeypaws tight, waiting for Brent Clark’s inevitable collapse.

The Elks had two hits in the fourth, but a stunning grab-and-toss on the run by Ricky Jimenez retired Rick Price to end the inning with runners on the corners. Clark then reached base on an Aguirre error in the bottom 4th and scored an extra run on a Herrera single, 6-1. A clean fifth dipped his ERA under five, and Al Martell homered off Juan Dias with Kilmer and Jimenez (pair o’ walks!) on base to blow the doors off the damn game, 9-1. Like Herrera already in this series, he hit his first bomb as a Raccoon therewith.

Just when Clark found a groove, retiring 10 in a row to end his start, he ran into the 100-pitch barrier. He ended up going seven innings of 3-hit ball, holding on to the 9-1 lead. Nate Norris added a scoreless inning in the eighth before the Raccoons insisted on some selfmade kerfuffle in the ninth inning; between Kelly and Craig they walked the bases full, although the only Elks run scored on a wild pitch… Price struck out to end the game and complete the sweep. 9-2 Raccoons! Castner (PH) 1-1; Herrera 3-5, RBI; Baskins 2-5, 2B; Kilmer 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Martell 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Clark 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (5-5);

…and it still wasn’t enough! Just like the Raccoons swept the damn Elks, the Crusaders blew away the Titans in four games in a ruckus series that saw them outscore Boston “only” 34-22.

Raccoons (35-21) vs. Warriors (29-31) – June 9-11, 2045

The Warriors were both the team the Raccoons had their worst all-time record against, but also the team they had not faced in the longest time, with the last meeting occurring in 2039. The Raccoons had not WON a series from the Warriors since *2020*. It was about ******* time then! They were fifth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed in the Federal League. Their rotation was second-worst with a 4.92 ERA, while the pen was even over the 5 mark. Their defense was questionable, but they also had the second-highest team OBP, and could hit both homers and steal bases off you. Some injuries, though, with middle infielders Hugo Acosta and twice-a-Critter Tony Hunter on the shelf.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (4-5, 3.66 ERA) vs. Juan Arrocha (2-6, 4.52 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (7-4, 4.03 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (7-4, 3.86 ERA)
Corey Mathers (7-5, 5.20 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (3-5, 5.50 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday? Pinter was at least scheduled for then, but they had been off on Thursday and had leeway in terms of wiggling a righty into the spot.

Game 1
SFW: LF M. Villa – C Clemente – RF Diskin – 1B Liberos – CF Krabbe – SS Lara – 2B Kaufman – 3B Arris – P Arrocha
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – 2B Gurney – C Zarate – SS Martell – P Wheatley

Wheats came off his first career shutout last Sunday, allowed leadoff singles to Mario Villa and former Elk Timóteo Clemente to begin the game, but somehow retired Matt Diskin, Manny Liberos, and Clay Krabbe in order on the infield to keep the Warriors from scoring. While Carlos Lara hit another leadoff single in the second, the Warriors were turned away again in that inning, and instead the Raccoons had a 1-0 lead from the bottom 1st, with Herrera singling, advancing on a grounder, and scoring on Toohey’s 2-out single. Bottom 4th, Jose Zarate drew a leadoff walk, then scored on Martell’s triple to center for a 2-0 lead. Wheatley struck out for the first out in the inning, Baskins walked, and Herrera singled, but by then Martell had already scored on a wild pitch. Maldo hit into a 1-6-3 double play to kill the inning after that.

The fifth brought rain, a 25-minute delay, a leadoff walk to Villa before that intermission, and a 2-out Liberos RBI single afterwards. While the bullpen was stirring, the Raccoons put them on the corners to begin the bottom 5th, Toohey and Manny finding center for a double and a single, respectively. Pat Gurney hit into an unhelpful fielder’s choice, Toohey holding, but Zarate hit a wheezer on the infield that three Warriors would converge on, and none of them would have a play anywhere, giving Zarate an RBI single…! Martell grounded out, advancing the runners, but there were two outs for Wheatley and – … and Wheats! Single to right, two runs score, 6-1 …! (jumps up and down on the old brown couch while patting Slappy’s arm with both paws) Wheee! Wheeeats!

Wheats did 6.2 innings on 101 pitches, departing with Mario Villa on third after a 1-out triple in the seventh inning. Kelly came in for Matt Diskin, who was hitting well north of .400 with his lefty bat, but grounded out to Toohey to strand the runner. Then Kelly retired absolutely nobody in the eighth. Liberos doubled to right, and he walked the bases full after that before being yanked for Moreno, who was on again after his lapse on Wednesday, struck out Brian Kaufman, conceding a run on a David Arris sac fly, and then getting a pop on the infield from Jose Rivera to stand the remaining pair of runners. The bases were also full in the bottom of the eighth inning, Maldo and Toohey singling, Manny forcing out the latter, and Kilmer drawing a walk in Moreno’s place in the #6 hole. Jimenez hit for Zarate, notched a sac fly, and that would be the only marker for the Raccoons, too. Martell grounded out. Preston Porter put the 5-run lead away in the ninth. 7-2 Coons! Herrera 2-4; Maldonado 2-5; Toohey 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, BB; Martell 2-5, 3B, RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (5-5) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons reached a tie for first with this win… but only because the Crusaders were rained out against the Stars. They’d play two on Saturday.

Game 2
SFW: LF M. Villa – 2B E. Stevens – RF Diskin – 1B Liberos – C Urfer – CF Krabbe – 3B Kaufman – SS C. Lara – P S. Chavez
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 2B Gurney – C Kilmer – P Okuda

The Warriors took the lead in the first, getting both Villa (single) and Erik Stevens (walk) on against Okuda. Diskin hit into a double play, which caused everybody to blink, but Manny Liberos found the hole on the right for the RBI single. The Coons pulled even in the second; Manny Fernandez ripped a leadoff double into the corner in right, then scored on two well-placed groundouts. Then, a double-whammy in the third: Stevens homered to center to put the Warriors on top again, and by then the Raccoons had already replaced Waters with Al Martell, after the starting shortstop seemed to have hurt himself on a routine grounder hit by Sal Chavez. The Raccoons then put six runners on base in the bottom 3rd through 5th, but also hit into two double plays. While Okuda whiffed seven in a mostly fine start through five innings, he only managed to get back into a tie when Derek Baskins singled home Kilmer in the bottom 5th, and no more. Diskin got him for a leadoff single in the sixth, but was doubled up by Liberos. Rick Urfer then singled, but Clay Krabbe was out on strikes, keeping it 2-2.

Mario Villa’s sac fly broke the tie with the second out in the seventh inning, bringing in Kaufman to put the Warriors up 3-2. Craig replaced Okuda after that and got PH Jose Rivera to pop out. In turn, Sal Chavez put them on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 7th, allowing a leadoff walk to Gurney and a single to Kilmer. Dustal struck out, while Baskins walked the bases loaded. I was whipping back and forth in agony, until relieved by a Herrera knock to right-center. It fell between Diskin and Krabbe, tying the game for sure. Kilmer was sent around, Diskin’s throw was late and off the line, and the Coons took the lead, 4-3 …! The trailing runners advanced as Urfer contained the ball in foul ground. Maldo added a sac fly before the inning fizzled out. Jones walked Diskin, Moreno walked Krabbe, but PH Clemente grounded out to Maldonado to strand the tying runs in the eighth then. Portland did not tack on in the eighth, but we had Rella, right? I can just as well get my keys. Hubris was something the baseball gods liked to punish, and so Herrera fumbled Carlos Lara’s fly to center for a 2-base error to begin the ninth. Rella got a K, then a running catch by Herrera on a soft Mario Villa fly, neither of which advanced the runner. Victor Acosta was hitting in the #2 hole and ran a full count, behind that was Matt Diskin, all .417 of pain he represented. Diskin didn’t get a chance – Acosta swung over a 3-2 pitch to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Baskins 3-3, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Kilmer 2-3, BB; Okuda 6.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

The Crusaders got a split from the Stars – but that meant that the Raccoons took sole possession of first place on Saturday!

No news on Waters so far. Dr. Padilla somehow went out of my way when I wanted to inquire about the injury.

Game 3
SFW: LF M. Villa – C Clemente – RF Diskin – 1B Liberos – CF Krabbe – SS C. Lara – 3B Kaufman – 2B V. Acosta – P Pinter
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – SS Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Kilmer – RF Dustal – 3B Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Mathers

The ruffled Raccoons lineup loaded the bases with Kilmer, Dustal, and Jimenez, as well as nobody out in the bottom 2nd of a scoreless Southpaw Sunday showdown. That brought up the .148 non-revelation of John Castner, who grounded to third base. Kaufman tapped the base, then fired to first in time. Oh well, at least a run scored….. Mathers grounded out to complete the inning, then walked Acosta to begin the third. Bunt, infield single, Toohey error, walk… This was not a great inning for the Raccoons…! Liberos found the hole on the left side for an RBI single, followed by a sac fly and a run-scoring wild pitch. Down 4-1, Castner fielded Lara’s grounder for the third out… but didn’t return for the next inning, needing to have a sore paw checked out. – Cristiano, make him also check out the hoverbus’ timetable to St. Pete, be so kind…

Maldo pulled the Coons to within one, hitting a homer to left with Herrera on base in the bottom 3rd. Toohey singled, but Kilmer found a double play. Mathers kept grinding his pokey black nose on the Warriors, holding them in place for the next pair of innings before opening the bottom 5th with a singe to left. Pinter lost Baskins on balls, but Acosta got him on a fielder’s choice on Herrera’s grounder. The tying run reached third base, with Maldo back at the dish, and he got Mathers home with a slow grounder between the hill and third that only allowed Brian Kaufman to go to first base…! Pinter walked Toohey, but rung up Kilmer to end the fifth, the score even at four.

Mathers managed another 1-2-3 sixth inning, then was hit for with Jimenez on third base and two outs. Manny Fernandez fell to 1-2 against Pinter, but then jabbed a ball through the right side for an RBI single…! Baskins grounded out, while Craig got two outs in the seventh before yielding a double to Clemente. Chuck Jones came out for Diskin again, and this time prevailed, getting a bouncer to end the inning and preserve the 5-4 lead. Maldo socked a homer off Rafael Zacarias in the bottom of the seventh, adding an insurance run, but the lead went bust in the eighth anyway. Liberos and Krabbe hit singles off Jones, and Jose Rivera hit a 2-out, 2-run single off Norris to tie it all up at six. Rella this time did run into Diskin, but didn’t take damage, despite a leadoff walk to Clemente. Diskin and Liberos grounded out, Krabbe struck out, and the Coons had a chance for a walkoff. It would be on the top of the order against right-hander Philip Wise and his ERA over seven. The 1-2-3 went down in order, and Rella continued… right into annihilation. Lara opened with a double in the 10th. Acosta singled him home with one out, and Villa hit a 2-out double. And then the real meltdown began. Run-scoring balk, walks to Clemente and Diskin, and then a bases-clearing double to left from Liberos. Zack Kelly struck out Krabbe – well too late. 11-6 Warriors. Maldonado 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Dustal 2-4, BB; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

June 6 – SAC SP Keith Black (2-6, 3.72 ERA) would miss a full year to repair elbow ligament damage.
June 6 – A throwing error by WAS INF Cody St. Peter (.256, 6 HR, 15 RBI) ends the Capitals game against the Buffaloes in a 6-5 walkoff loss, allowing both the tying and winning run to score for Topeka.
June 8 – Blue Sox SP Tim Steinbach (7-3, 3.53 ERA) allows two hits in a complete-game shutout of the Rebels. NAS CF/RF Jim Price (.269, 6 HR, 34 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the game, a 1-0 Blue Sox win.
June 9 – The Capitals trade 1B Jamie King (.343, 5 HR, 22 RBI) to the Stars for two prospects.
June 9 – The Thunder acquire OF/2B Alfonso Cedillo (.258, 6 HR, 20 RBI) from the Scorpions, parting with five prospects, four of them appearing to be relief pitchers.
June 10 – Knights LF/RF Billy Hester (.312, 3 HR, 27 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak with a first-inning single in Atlanta’s 6-3 win over the Gold Sox.
June 10 – Sacramento expects to be without LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.233, 2 HR, 17 RBI) for two weeks; the 26-year-old is down with a quad strain.
June 11 – The hitting streak of Atlanta’s Billy Hester (.307, 3 HR, 27 RBI) ends with an 0-for-4 day in an 8-4 loss to the Gold Sox.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF Armando Luis Herrera (.367, 7 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .393 (11-28) with 4 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB LF/CF Jamie McGuigan (.270, 7 HR, 40 RBI), batting .516 (16-31) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A four-game sweep of the Elks! At home! Had I had any faith beforehand, I would have bought a barrel of honey to cover myself in and then run around the ballpark naked with! We dropped the damn Elks 27-9 in terms of runs scored.

And then came the Warriors series, another two injured middle infielders and a giant bullpen blowup on Sunday to end a 7-game winning streak. We allowed 14 runs total in those seven games, then 11 on Sunday, five on Rella in the 10th inning. That was in a game where we ended up with a 3-man bench and running out of bullpen, too. Porter would have been available. Maybe we should have gone to Porter…

What’s next? Hoping Matt Waters can be screwed back together, firstly, and then we’re off to the east coast, visiting the Rebs and Crusaders. The draft will also take place on Thursday, which is an off day.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez is the Raccoon longest on duty, in his 13th season, all with Portland.

He has also reached second place in RBI for this little mom-n-pop franchise with 986. Only Matt Nunley has driven in more runs than Manny, having plated 1,053 runners (including, 172 times, himself). Manny has an additional homer over Nunley, sitting third in homers for the Critters behind Daniel Hall and Mark Dawson, who have 223 and 221, respectively.

He has yet to break the top 5 in hits, trailing with 1,864 behind Berto (2,474), Nunley (2,457), Cookie Carmona (2,299), Neil Reece (1,983), and Dan The Man (1,886). You can’t blame Manny – all those guys played 16+ seasons for the Raccoons and had more opportunities.

Manny Fernandez is *signed* for a 16th season, though.