[Westheim]

Oscar Alcala was a crummy pitcher. A 25-year-old left-hander, he had been signed as scouting discovery out of the Dominican Republic in 2038. He had never been a hot prospect, not even a prospect. He had just been there, and had slowly failed his way up the ladder in the organization, arriving in St. Pete last year. There he ha posted a 5.75 ERA in 11 starts. This year, he was at 5.30 in 19 games (17 starts). He threw baseballs at 93 that would be turned into rockets to exit the ballpark much faster. His secondary stuff was crummy. He walked more than five batters per nine innings.

And on Monday, he’d make his major league debut with the Raccoons marred in a roster crunch, mired at the Bay, and maimed from top to bottom.

Alcala had probably never been mentioned before in the Raccoons dispatches, and we didn’t think of him as much of a pitcher. Pat Degenhardt sighed deeply when he dug out his scouting report and blew the dust off. Even Mama Alcala thought he should hang up the cleats and do something he was actually qualified for, like apprenticing as a butcher with Uncle Jose.

And there he was, sitting in the dugout for the opener, waiting for his turn in the nightcap.

And I was afraid.

Raccoons (88-41) @ Bayhawks (67-62) – August 26-28, 2047

By now, both CL divisions were no-contests, with the second-place Bayhawks being even further behind the stomping Thunder than the Critters were ahead of the Indians at this point. San Fran was sixth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and had really embraced mediocrity at this point. We led the season series, 3-2, and of course that meant a makeup game double header on Monday.

Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (3-2, 3.60 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (11-11, 4.54 ERA)
Oscar Alcala (0-0) vs. Chih Ke (10-8, 3.72 ERA)
Victor Merino (13-7, 3.24 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (12-5, 2.89 ERA)
Carlton Harman (0-3, 9.00 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (7-8, 3.96 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition here, while Harman was the only right-hander put up by Portland.

Roster moves for Portland? Manny Fernandez went on the DL on Monday, but we’d carry Ruben Gonzalez through this series while he soothed his bum knee. Jimmy Dalton was brought up as third catcher. He had appeared in eight games last season, batting .250 with one RBI. The roster spot for Alcala came from Jeremy Chaney, who was yoinked for A) sucking, and B) not going to pitch in this series anyway.

Somehow, make it to Sunday and roster expansion, will ya, boys?

Game 1
POR: CF Mercado – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 2B Martell – RF Pellicano – 1B Gurney – C Morales – P Baker
SFB: SS Del Vecchio – C J. Hill – LF B. Nelson – 3B R. Sifuentes – 2B Quiroz – CF A. Marquez – RF Fink – 1B P. Colon – P Pedraza

The early innings were an orgy of stranded base runners, as the Raccoons left on pairs in the second (Morales whiffed) and third (Toohey flew out to leftfielder Bob Nelson), while the Bayhawks left the bases loaded in the bottom 2nd (Pedraza struck out) and stranded one more in the third. After that a pitching duel seemed to break out. The Coons put only one runner on base in the middle innings, while Baker looked good through five, then faltered in the sixth. Nelson hit a leadoff single, Ramon Sifuentes smacked a double, and it went downhill from there. Sergio Quiroz’ sac fly gave the Baybirds a 1-0 lead, and after Baker walked Alex Marquez, he was removed for Jake Bonnie, having exploded his pitch count to 103 in a real hurry. Bonnie walked John Fink and conceded a run on Pedro Colon’s grounder before getting out of the inning.

Pedraza carried his shutout into the eighth before walking Mercado to begin the inning. Adame forced out the runner, but then scored on singles by Maldo and Martell by the time there were two outs. Derek Baskins batted for Pellicano with runners on the corners, but grounded out to the disagreeable Ted Del Vecchio. The ninth began with right-hander Ricardo Ordas, but he left with an injury after Tony Morales lobbed a 1-out single to left, which also put the tying run on base. Ben Coen batted for Rella, but no pinch-runner was available – the last warm body on the bench was Jimmy Dalton. No pinch-runner was needed anymore once Coen was done grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game. 2-1 Bayhawks. Mercado 1-2, 2 BB; Martell 2-4, RBI; Rella 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: CF Mercado – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Martell – LF Baskins – 1B Gurney – C Dalton – P Alcala
SFB: SS Del Vecchio – RF Fink – LF B. Nelson – 3B R. Sifuentes – 2B Quiroz – CF A. Marquez – C Suggs – 1B P. Colon – P Ke

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, with Mercado, Maldo, and Martell all hitting singles; Al Martell got an RBI, as did Toohey for his sac fly in between. So far, so smooth, but then came Alcala. He struck out Del Vecchio to begin his major league career, but then walked Fink and Nelson in a real hurry. Ramon Sifuentes singled to center, Fink turned third, but was thrown out at home plate by Mercado. Quiroz’ fly to left ended up with Derek Baskins, easing Alcala out of the inning. Somehow he kept the Bayhawks off the board for three innings, despite hard balls hit all around the ballpark, but his luck would run out by the fourth. Sifuentes single, a walk to Marquez, and Sean Suggs singled home the first run. Five pitches later, a Pedro Colon blast for a 3-run homer to right flipped the score to 4-2 Bayhawks.

The Coons had two on and one out for Maldonado in the fifth, but he hit into a double play, and the sixth saw Toohey hit a leadoff single, followed by a Baskins double with one out. Pat Gurney ran a 3-1 count before poking a comebacker, but at least it went to the wrong swide of Chih Ke, who scrambled late and got nobody out for an RBI infield single, 4-3. Jimmy Dalton came through, too, hitting an RBI single through the right side to tie the game. Gurney went to third, and with runners still on the corners, the Raccoons aggressively batted for Alcala, with Ben Coen walking in a full count to load the bases. Ke leaked another full-count walk to Mercado, and that pushed home the go-ahead run, 5-4, before Waters borked the whole effort with a double play grounder to Quiroz… The lead was short-lived, with Bob Ibold giving up a single to Suggs and an RBI double to PH Dan Riley in the bottom of the inning, getting everybody even at five…

Top 7th, Maldo and Martell hit singles, then pulled off a double steal that *really* seemed to catch the Baybirds battery off-guard. Baskins cashed in both runners with a clean single through the right side, but the tying runs reached against Preston Porter in the bottom 7th. Mercado dropped a Nelson fly, Sifuentes singled, but Marquez grounded into a fielder’s choice before Suggs got rung up swinging to strand the runners. Pedro Colon homered off Aaron Curl to begin the bottom 8th, erasing the cushion, and Moreno had to dig out Curl from that inning, ringing up Adrian Ringel to strand the tying run on base once more. No insurance run came about; the Raccoons stuck with Moreno to begin the bottom 9th, just so they still had one unused pitcher left, which happened to be the nominal closer, Mike Lynn. After groundouts by Sifuentes and Quiroz, Juan Brito hit for the pitcher Dan Minelli in the #6 hole. He was a lefty hitter with considerable power and huge holes in his swing. *Now* came Big Man Lynn – he got Brito to 1-2, then gave up a single. Suggs socked a liner through Maldonado at 1-0, and it went up the line for extra bases. Uh-oh. The Bayhawks sent Brito to home plate, but so did Derek Baskins with the baseball, getting a nice bounce off the sidewall in leftfield. Adame with the relay to home plate, Dalton throwing himself into Brito – and the runner was called out! Ballgame! 7-6 Critters! Maldonado 2-5; Martell 2-5, RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Adame (PH) 1-1;

Derek Baskins!! Whee!!

Alcala (0-0, 7.20 ERA) was returned to AAA after the games, with the question of Sunday’s starter remaining unresolved for now. Kevin Hitchcock joined the team for the next few days, once more. He really had to have a lot of bonus miles by now…

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – 2B Waters – RF Maldonado – LF Toohey – CF Baskins – 1B Gurney – 3B Coen – C Morales – P Merino
SFB: SS Del Vecchio – C J. Hill – LF B. Nelson – 3B R. Sifuentes – 2B Quiroz – CF A. Marquez – RF Fink – 1B P. Colon – P Nolte

With Maldo playing the outfield for the first time in two years, and Merino lacking control and walking three in the first three innings to quickly escalate his pitch count, the Raccoons appeared to tumble into another loss, despite the game remaining scoreless; Merino also whiffed four in the early innings to help keep the Baybirds off the board. Baskins hit a leadoff double in the top 5th, but was stranded by the bottom of the order, Gurney and Coen whiffing while Morales grounded out. Merino was at five walks after five innings, which made absolutely nobody happy, but opened the sixth with a single to right. Adame hit into a double play then… Merino issued a sixth walk to John Fink in the bottom 6th, and was gone after getting a groundout from Nolte to begin the bottom 7th, having thrown 99 pitches. Moreno replaced him, gave up a double to Del Vecchio (grrrr!), but rung up John Hill and got a fly out from Nelson to Gene Pellicano, who had entered with Moreno in a double switch – Gurney was removed, and Toohey moved in to first base.

Moreno continued in the bottom 8th after the Coons frittered away a Morales double in their half of the inning, but allowed a leadoff single to Sifuentes and was then ushered out in favor of Curl, who again sucked and blew the game by giving up an RBI single to Marquez after Sifuentes stole second, and with Marquez scooting into second base on Maldo’s throw home, Sean Suggs’ single to center was enough to get a second run on the board. Come the ninth, right-hander Brad Barnes offered a leadoff walk to Waters, bringing the tying run to the plate; well, at least until Maldonado hit into a double play… Toohey then walked with two outs, but Baskins grounded out. 2-0 Bayhawks. Baskins 2-4, 2B;

Sigh.

Game 4
POR: CF Mercado – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – 1B Gurney – C Dalton – P Harman
SFB: 2B Quiroz – C Suggs – 1B D. Riley – CF A. Marquez – RF P. Colon – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF Fink – SS Del Vecchio – P Bulas

Another game with no runs scored in the first three innings. John Fink was the only player to land a base hit, a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, as Harman pitched deceptively non-*****, while the Raccoons only got Waters on with a walk in the second – he was stranded after stealing second base – and Dalton on an error in the third. Toohey walked in the fourth, but was forced out by Waters, while a Suggs single and a walk to Colon put Bayhawks on the corners for Sifuentes, but he grounded out to Adame to end the inning.

A leadoff double by Quiroz and two productive groundouts finally put a Bayhawks run on the board in the sixth inning, as the Raccoons continued to be entirely terrible at the plate against Bulas. They still did not have a base hit through six – but Toohey would break up the bid with a leadoff single in the seventh. Bulas was yanked right away for righty Orlando Altreche. Waters lined out, but Baskins singled to center. Gurney was next, banged a grounder past the falling Altreche and the ball went up the middle, over the bag, and into centerfield. Toohey threw caution to the wind and turned third base, making it home just before Alex Marquez’ throw to tie the game, while the trailing runners advanced. Al Martell then batted for Dalton, but grounded out to first base, keeping the runners in scoring position, while Tony Morales batted for Harman, and also found Riley with a grounder, stranding the runners for good.

Teams remained locked at 1-1 through eight innings, with Bonnie and Hitchcock turning in three outs each for Portland without allowing a run. Baskins’ 2-out single off Minelli in the ninth went nowhere, but Aaron Curl retired the Bayhawks in order in the bottom 9th to send the game to extra innings, which began with Pellicano batting for Curl in the #8 hole, and bending a homer around the left foul pole on a Minelli hanger, which broke the tie rather nicely, but was also all the Coons got in the inning. Lynn got the ball in the bottom the inning; Sifuentes struck out, Fink struck out, and dismal Ted Del Vecchio ran a 3-1 count before popping out to Waters. 2-1 Blighters. Baskins 2-4; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Harman 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

With this win, the Raccoons were up 15 games on the Indians in the CL North, which was the same as the magic number to clinch the division.

Thursday was off, which allowed for enough time for Ruben Gonzalez to heal up for good, and Armando Herrera was ready to come off the DL, too.

Here, we started to poke at the loopholes in the rulebook. Jimmy Dalton would have to pass through waivers to return to AAA, only to be brought back on Sunday when rosters would expand. We’d rather keep him around to begin with. Since nobody else was obviously expendable and Kevin Hitchcock looked like a nice alternative for the postseason, we instead sent Armando Herrera on a rehab assignment in AAA for a few days, which would keep him in the DL contingent for postseason eligibility.

(looks upwards to wait for baseball gods’ lightning)

Raccoons (90-43) vs. Loggers (49-83) – August 30-September 1, 2047

Last and forsaken, the Loggers had won but one of their 11 games with the Critters this year so far. They were second from the bottom in runs scored, worst in runs allowed, and already had piled up a -227 run differential. They were not only bad – they were real Loggers-bad!

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (11-7, 3.00 ERA) vs. Carlos Vasquez (7-9, 3.83 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (3-3, 3.58 ERA) vs. Walt Wright (6-11, 5.23 ERA)
Jeremy Chaney (0-2, 8.40 ERA) vs. Tomas Ruiz (3-18, 6.49 ERA)

A righty and two southpaws coming up here. How Tomas Ruiz was holding on to his spot in the rotation was his and the Loggers’ dirty little secret.

Chaney was of course not on the roster yet; he would only arrive on Sunday with the roster expansion group and whoever else was being parked in AAA right now.

Game 1
MIL: CF B. Allen – RF McIntyre – 2B Loyola – SS R. Espinoza – C Payne – LF Reeves – 1B Lovell – 3B M. Grant – P C. Vasquez
POR: CF Mercado – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – 3B Martell – RF Pellicano – C Morales – P Okuda

Portland went up in the first, scoring a first-inning run on singles by Adame, who stole his 28th bag, and Waters. That was enough to have Okuda cruising; despite throwing 39 pitches, he retired the Loggers in order the first time through, and the Raccoons would tack on in the fourth inning. Waters and Baskins got on base, pulled off a double steal, and then scored following a Martell RBI groundout, a Pellicano single, and Tony Morales’ sac fly to center, extending the lead to 3-0.

Okuda retired 13 in a row and looked like ready for more before Ricky Payne reached on an error by Nelson Mercado in the fifth inning. Bill Reeves hit into a double play right away, but the perfect game was out of the window at that point, of course. Bottom 5th, the Coons tacked on two more; Adame got on base, then scored on a Waters double. Baskins singled, and so did Martell, extending the lead to 5-0 by scoring Waters. Morales then flew out to end the inning.

Then the Loggers actually rose from their slumber. Pat Lovell broke up the no-hitter with a single up the middle to begin the sixth, and the Raccoons went on to shed two runs on another single by PH Ricky Lopez, a throwing error by Morales, and a walk to Brent Allen. Okuda dug out of the inning, then was sent into early retirement as a storm moved through and doused the ballpark for an hour. When play resumed, Preston Porter conceded a run on three hits in the top 7th, narrowing the score to 5-3, and Nelson Moreno allowed one hit in the eighth, but kept the Loggers off the board. The Raccoons were not keen on adding more runs themselves, so Mike Lynn had to hold up in the ninth, but gave up a leadoff single to Ricky Espinoza. Payne struck out, PH Sergio Pena hit into a fielder’s choice, and the game ended with a K to Pat Lovell. 5-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-5; Waters 4-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Baskins 2-4; Morales 2-3, RBI; Okuda 6.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (12-7);

Game 2
MIL: CF B. Allen – 1B Bush – 2B Loyola – SS R. Espinoza – C Payne – LF Reeves – RF McIntyre – 3B M. Grant – P W. Wright
POR: SS Allen – RF Pellicano – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – CF Mercado – P Baker

The Raccoons’ Jeremy Brigade kept being dispiriting, with Jeremy Baker giving up three runs on five hits in the opening frame, getting whacked around pretty well to all fields. When Alex Adame opened the bottom 1st and was not scored for the duration of three outs, I accepted the loss. Baker shed another run in the third, in the bottom of which the Critters loaded the bases with one out, Maldonado briefly interrupting an August slump with a single, sandwiched in between walks drawn by Pellicano and Toohey. Waters was up with the bags full, squeezed out another walk to push home a run, but after that Baskins and Gonzalez struck out. Bottom 5th, the Critters tried again, now with Pellicano and Maldonado singling, and Bryce Toohey opening a big can of BOOM, SEE YA for Walt Wright, homering to left-center to tie the score at four.

That gave Baker a no-decision for five shoddy innings I’d rather unsee, with scoreless frames by Hitchcock and Bonnie tacked on after that. Bonnie got in line for the W when Pellicano was on base against Dave Peluso with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, then was driven in by Maldo with a gap triple in right-center. Maldo had entered the game 6-for-34 in his last 10 games, so a 3-for-4 was right up everybody’s wishlist. The Coons’ 4-5-6 hit a bushel of singles to not only score Maldo, 6-4, but also load the bags with nobody out. Gonzalez popped out, but Mercado added an RBI single, which was the end for Peluso. Bubba Poss replaced him, the lefty striking out Ben Coen for the second out, but then gave up two runs on an Adame single to center. After that came another three straight RBI singles as Raccoons players got their second swings of the inning that was rapidly escalating away from the Loggers, even before Matt Waters cranked a 3-run homer to left. New pitcher Luke Schwartz popped out Derek Baskins, which ended an *11-run* inning that saw the Coons go up 15-4. Way to break a tie! Scoreless innings by Rella and Ibold would then end the game. 15-4 Raccoons! Adame 2-6, 3B, 2 RBI; Pellicano 3-4, 2 BB, RBI; Maldonado 4-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Toohey 3-4, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Waters 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI;

Rout!

So here was the roster expansion. The Raccoons needed a fifth starter, any starter at all really, and thus brought up Jeremy Chaney once more. Adam Bates was an extra right-handed reliever, while Arturo Carreno and Armando Herrera joined the team from AAA as well. That only made for a 29-man roster, but we also had Wheats about to return shortly, and then also a bit of a squeeze on the 40-man roster and so far no inclination to waive additional players.

The Loggers brought on a right-hander, blowing up Southpaw Sunday – boo! – with Nicholas Pollock (1-3, 5.30 ERA) getting the baseball for them.

Game 3
MIL: LF Reeves – 1B Bush – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – 2B Loyola – CF Pate – RF B. Allen – 3B Farfan – P Pollock
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – RF Pellicano – C Morales – P Chaney

Alex Adame reached 30 stolen bases in the first inning, hitting a leadoff single, stealing not one, but two bases, and coming home on Armando Herrera’s sac fly. That wasn’t gonna be enough to make Chaney a winner, though – he walked three of the first five Loggers, who also hit into two double plays in the first two innings, but Jose Farfan’s leadoff double and two productive outs did him in come the third inning. Reeves’ sac fly tied the game, and Erik Bush homered to right to give the Loggers a 2-1 lead. John Pate added a 2-piece the inning after, and the Raccoons took until the fifth to actually shake themselves and get to hitting. With two outs, Tony Morales doubled to right, Chaney singled to left, and Adame hit an RBI double to center, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Herrera didn’t wait around either and smashed Pollock’s first pitch into the right-center gap for a 2-run triple, tying the score at four…! Maldo popped out in foul ground, ending the inning.

Chaney was dragged through another inning, then even got the lead in the bottom 6th when Toohey initially got on base, only to be forced out by Waters. The slugging shortstop at second base stole second base, to which the Loggers responded with an intentional walk to Derek Baskins. Pollock then gave up the go-ahead run on a Pellicano single, and another single to Morales that loaded the bases, but then struck out both Al Martell and Al(ex) Adame to dig himself out of his selfmade jam. He then waited to be dug out of his losing spot when Brent Allen doubled off Hitchcock and reached third base on a wild pitch to begin the top 7th, but Farfan struck out, Lovell popped out, and Reeves again struck out to keep that tying run pinned. Curl and Rella combined for a 1-2-3 eighth, but then Mike Lynn loaded the bases in the ninth inning – and without a cushion! One out, Pate and Allen singled, and a full count saw Kyle Edsell draw a walk. Will McIntyre pinch-hit in the #9 hole and struck out, bringing back Reeves, who fell to 1-2, but then singled to center. The Raccoons ended the ining on the play, Edsell being called out sliding into third base, but that was after two runs had already scored to flip the game around. The Coons had no response and lost a – hh!! – second game to the Loggers on the year. 6-5 Loggers. Adame 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI; Morales 2-4, 2B; Mercado (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 30 – 39-year-old SAL 2B Billy Bouldin (.281, 0 HR, 8 RBI) reaches the 3,000 hits mark, the 19th ABL player to do so. Bouldin, a 19-year veteran, was a batting champ as a 2036 Blue Sock and won three Gold Gloves and two World Series rings in a career hitting .329/.363/.407 with 24 HR and 1,002 RBI. DAL SP Roberto Pruneda (12-9, 4.95 ERA) gives up the milestone hit, a second-inning single, in the 7-5 Wolves win.
August 30 – The Rebels would have to do without LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.331, 8 HR, 51 RBI) for three to four weeks. The 27-year-old was down with a broken rib.
August 31 – A home run by SFW 1B Manny Liberos (.246, 25 HR, 85 RBI) is the only base hit the Warriors get off DEN Israel Mendoza (10-11, 3.38 ERA) as the Gold Sox win 5-1.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.333, 32 HR, 122 RBI), batting .528 (19-36) with 2 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 1B Sam Witherspoon (.271, 16 HR, 61 RBI), hitting .421 (8-19) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.334, 32 HR, 122 RBI), mauling pitchers at a .419 clip with 12 HR, 38 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: LVA 1B Sam Witherspoon (.269, 16 HR, 61 RBI), batting .351 with 9 HR, 32 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Zach Tubbs (13-8, 3.81 ERA), throwing for a 4-0 record with 2.51 ERA, 30 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Juan Ramos (14-10, 4.25 ERA), hurling for a 6-0 mark with 2.28 ERA, 30 K
FL Rookie of the Month: WAS C Eric Thomas (.347, 2 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .351 with 1 HR, 16 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: IND 3B/1B Nate Massey (.289, 3 HR, 21 RBI), batting .345 with 1 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

September is here, and hopefully we can shed the injuries and peace the thing back together now.

Both the Critters and the Indians went 19-9 in August, so if it feels like the gap hasn’t really moved in a while, it’s because it hasn’t in fact. Losing to the Loggers on Sunday however means that we will not go 17-1 against a CL North team for the first time ever. Shambles.

We go back on the road for 10 games in three cities, starting in Indy and Boston next week. Now, our magic number is dow to 11, which means we could technically clinch the division next week, but we have had our troubles playing the Arrowheads, so I am not expecting anything.

Fun Fact: 41 years ago today, San Francisco’s Tyler Sullivan no-hit the Falcons in a 5-0 game.

The left-handed Sullivan spent three-and-a-half of his seven full-time seasons with the Bayhawks, who picked him out of random Buffaloes detritus and turned him into a reasonable CL starting pitcher at the age of 29 – before that he had made only 34 major-league starts across six years of random cups of coffee. Sullivan ran with the chance for a while, winning the 2009 ERA title despite being traded to the Capitals in July, thanks to pumping out 164.2 innings in 21 starts of 2.24 ERA hurling – but that ERA more than doubled in Washington, and his career fizzled out within three years after that.

Overall, he was 101-96 with a 4.11 ERA in 249 games (241 starts).

One of the players going from Washington to San Francisco in the 2009 trade was a prospect Adam Young, who wound up in Portland by the end of the decade, and was one of the more pronounced frustrations of that era, with him dropping from three straight 25+ homer seasons in San Francisco (not a power haven!) to *15* in two seasons in Portland – combined!