[Westheim]

The Raccoons’ 2056 season ended on their off day before flying out to Indianapolis in the afternoon. Trent Brassfield went for a morning session of hoverboarding with some friends, one of whom had his hoverboard suddenly malfunction. Brassfield was right behind him and couldn’t stop in time, crashing into the suddenly stationary guy and was thrown off and into the nearest rack for communal cargo bikes. He got some scratches and a bloody nose, but most importantly blew out his shoulder and Luis Silva was a bit mum about how he’d treat it, but assured me that Brassfield was for sure out for the season.

I wept, and more than Brass did.

Raccoons (4-8) @ Indians (3-9) – April 18-20, 2056

The North’s 1-2 finishers from 2055 had started the season 5-6 in the division, so there was a lot of room to tally for both of them, technically. Indy was tenth in runs scored and runs allowed so far, though, with a -33 run differential, which could be a small sample size or the first tolls of the bell. Their rotation had a 7.25 ERA, which somehow wasn’t even the worst in the league (the Condors: 7.41). We had won the division against them last year, partly because we won the season series, 11-7.

Projected matchups:
Sean Sweeton (1-0, 2.51 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (0-2, 9.35 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (0-1, 4.85 ERA) vs. Salvatore Calderon (0-2, 9.31 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-2, 4.00 ERA) vs. Juan Vasquez (0-0, 4.00 ERA)

The Indians had been through two rainouts and as many double headers last week and their rotation was jumbled. They didn’t have any right-handed starters one way or another, though.

The Coons reflexively called up Prospero Tenazes for the Brassfield injury while the youngsters in AAA would sort out among them who’d actually get the roster spot in the long run.

Game 1
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – LF Caballero – C Fiore – 3B Venegas – P Sweeton
IND: 2B A. Rios – RF Perry – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B D. Sandoval – CF McIntyre – LF J. Garza – C Mi. Gilmore – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Fetta

The Raccoons scored a run in the first inning with singles from Lonzo and Ramsay, but I didn’t really show any reaction to it, nor did I feel any reason to get upset anymore when Sweeton got rapped for three runs in the bottom 2nd in the most stupid fashion. First, a leadoff walk to Dan Sandoval, always the bane of my existence, and then the Indians put out 2-out singles with Mike Gilmore and Edwin Ortiz to tie the game. Which was still acceptable, while the opposing pitcher fetting a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run double into the gap in right-center was decidedly not.

Top 4th, the bags were full with the 4-5-6 batters, and there was nobody out. The bottom three were hitting negative eleven with lots of tears so far this season, and Matt Fiore promptly grounded a ball back to the pitcher, who got an easy out on Ramsay at the plate. Venegas at least tried to break out, though, crashing a bases-clearing triple over the head of Will McIntyre. Sweeton struck out, Royer flew out, but we had a 4-3 lead … at least until McIntyre and Jose Garza hit singles to begin the bottom 6th against Sweeton, and Mike Gilmore’s sac fly got the teams even at four. In between those two scoring events, the Raccoons had not only frittered away Venegas parking his thick bum at third base with less than two outs in the fourth, but another three singles in the two frames after that, and when Royer and Lonzo opened the seventh with another two singles, Pucks hit into a double play to Antonio Rios and Ramsay found Ortiz for a third out, leaving Royer, too, starved at third base. Sweeton got one more out from Rios in the bottom 7th before leaving for Eloy Sencion against the left-handed array starting with Jason Perry, who whiffed. Bill Quinteros, bereft of his longtime terror partner Bobby Anderson in this lineup, singled, and Sandoval homered to right to break the tie…

The Raccoons made up the deficit in the eighth when with two outs Fiore reached on an error by Quinteros, Venegas reached on a throwing error by Sandoval, and new pitcher Sam Heisler couldn’t put rakin’ Carlos Solorzano away. The pinch-hitter drove in the tying runs with a single to left, but Royer flew out to left. Right-hander Randy Slocum would give up straight singles to Pucks, Rams, and Waters in the ninth inning for the go-ahead run, though. Walters then came in for the same lefty group that had bopped Sencion earlier, but surely he'd cruise through the bottom 9th, huh? Perry singled. Quinteros singled. Winning run on base. Ay. A strikeout and a groundout followed before Walters nailed Jose Garza to fill the bases. Mike Gilmore, batting all of .171 as a switch-hitter, ran a full count before knocking a ball up the middle. Lonzo over, and a sure through to first to end the game. 7-6 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5; Ramsay 4-5, RBI; Waters 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Solorzano (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – P Brobeck – C Fiore – 3B Venegas – LF Solorzano
IND: 2B A. Rios – C Mi. Gilmore – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B D. Sandoval – CF McIntyre – LF J. Garza – RF Lovins – SS Ed. Ortiz – P S. Calderon

Two in the top 1st, two in the bottom 1st. Two in the top 2nd, three in the bottom 2nd. Not runs, but batters reaching base, and all were stranded in a rather desolate display of RISP batting by both of the 5-6 teams in the North. It got better in the third; only Pucks with a single and McIntyre by getting nicked reached base … and were stranded. The Coons got further down on the LOB though by disappearing 1-2-3 in the fourth inning while Brobeck walked Ortiz, but that runner also was left out there to fend off the beasts for himself.

Things got only more sublime from here, with Carlos Solorzano appearing to hit a double to right in the fifth inning, except that the Indians appealed to first base and the ump brought up the puncher – Solorzano had indeed missed first base… and by at least two feet, too. Bottom 5th, Brobeck walked Gilmore (which gave him five on the day) and bruised Quinteros (two), was yelled at by the pitching coach in a conference, and then still bled with a 2-run double by Sandoval and an RBI single to center by Garza.

Portland scored a run in the sixth when Lonzo singled, stole second – #400, which was briefly acknowledged by the Indians on the scoreboard – and was brought home by Waters’ single to center, while Brobeck gave up a leadoff single to the ******* opposing pitcher. Calderon was on third base with two outs and Quinteros in the box, and the Raccoons brought Lillis, who secured a K to bugger out of the inning. The Coons didn’t reach base again facing Calderon until Pucks singled (and was stranded) in the eighth, while Lillis logged five outs across three innings before pawing it off to Bravo, who was … no bravo. He needed 31 pitches, two singles, a wild pitch, a walk, and somehow only one run to get the final two outs in the inning. Slocum retired the Coons in order in the ninth this time. 4-1 Indians. Lavorano 2-4; Puckeridge 2-3, BB; Lillis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

(si-hi-hi-hiiiigh)

Game 3
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – LF Caballero – 3B Venegas – C Philipps – P de la Cruz
IND: 2B A. Rios – RF Perry – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B D. Sandoval – CF McIntyre – C Mi. Gilmore – LF French – SS Ed. Ortiz – P En. Ortiz

The Indians sent Enrique Ortiz (0-2, 12.27 ERA), but the Raccoons hadn’t exactly torn the two guys with ERA’s around nine to shreds so far, so I wasn’t exactly ecstatic. But the Coons would put their first three batters on base, and all three of them stole a base in the first inning, too. Royer scored on Pucks’ single, while Lonzo came home on Rams’ sac fly, but Pucks was left on base. Raffy had not allowed a base hit his last time out, but Rios singled off him on the first pitch on Thursday. Jason Perry walked (…), and Quinteros singled to right to fill the bases. 12 pitches in, we had the first mound conference, which at least *worked* as McIntyre grounded into a run-scoring, 6-4-3 double play, and Gilmore also grounded out to end the inning, the Coons still up 2-1.

Raffy tried his best to fail bravely forward and held the lead for a hit, but Ortiz was suddenly brilliant, striking out EIGHT in four innings, including the sides in the second and fourth innings. Raffy in turn began the bottom 4th with a single served to McIntyre, a wild pitch, and then a four-pitch walk to Gilmore. Bobby French found Waters for a 4-6-3, though, and Edwin Ortiz popped out to strand the tying run on third base again. Raffy got yet another double play from Perry in the fifth after Rios singled.

Ortiz had 11 strikeouts after K’ing Ramsay to begin the sixth, but then got bogged down and issued his third and fourth walks to Waters and Caballero, shooting his pitch count into triple digits. Venegas and Philipps did him no harm, though, popping out to short and flying out to right in order. Ortiz ended with 11 K, not returning for the seventh, but on the hook. Raffy did come back for the seventh, struck out Gilmore, but then walked French and was gone. Salazar would navigate through the rest of the inning, while Sam Heisler created trouble in the top 8th, allowing hits to Rams and Waters before plonking Caballero, which loaded the bases with one out. Fiore pinch-hit for Venegas, offering a lefty sub-.200 stick for a right sub-.200 stick against the right-handed Heisler, but also ultimately a double play grounder on an 0-1 pitch.

…and then Sencion, Lane, and Pucks conspired to blow the skinny 2-1 lead after Raffy had tried oh so hard to do it himself for so long. Sencion got Perry and Quinteros out in the bottom 8th, but Sandoval singled. Pucks overran the ball and gave the runner an extra base, while Mike Lane conceded the run on McIntyre’s single, then gave up another single to Gilmore for good measure before finally retiring Chris Lovins. Nobody reached in the ninth inning, sending this miserable game to extras. Adam Haller walked Rams in the top 10th for no greater effect, while Lillis walked Quinteros with one down in the bottom 10th. Sandoval struck out, but McIntyre rushed the first pitch to left-center for a double. Prospero Tenazes, by now in the game, made a nice play though and Quinteros was waved around anyway to brute-force an end to the game – but instead he was brute-forced out by sliding into Tyler Philipps’ knee and glove containing the ball at the plate and was ruled out, for the game to continue.

The Coons got two scoreless innings from Reynaldo Bravo while not coming near the bases themselves in the 11th and 12th, so Rams’ 1-out single off a long-going Haller in the 13th was their very next chance. Waters whiffed, and Rams was then picked off by Haller, who went five shutout innings with six strikeouts. Tanizaki pitched the bottom 13th so Haller’s efforts went unrewarded. Lefty Bill Dewan replaced him in the 14th. Caballero didn’t get on, which led us to use our last stick off the bench (and also meant that Walters, the last guy in the pen, was going to enter the bottom 14th no matter what, AND that He Shui wandered out to the pen to warm up between innings). Carlos Solorzano singled, then stole his first base of the year. The Indians walked TYLER PHILIPPS (.143, 1 HR, 2 RBI) intentionally to get to Adriano Chavez and potentially Prospero Tenazes when I wouldn’t have trusted either of those three to get a base hit, or to not lose my winning lottery ticket. Chavez popped out to Ortiz at short, and Tenazes grounded out to Ortiz. So Walters entered the tie, got three quick outs in the 14th, but the game dragged on. Rios hit a leadoff single in the bottom 15th and advanced on Garza’s groundout. Quinteros knocked a liner to the right side, but Ramsay leapt and snatched it!! What a game-saver! Sandoval whiffed to end the inning.

That was over 30 pitches for Walters, who was thus pretty much used up. His spot came up against Dewan with nobody on base in the 16th and two down, but we batted Brobeck anyway. He struck out. So that was how He Shui’s 69th career appearance was his first in relief. McIntyre hit another leadoff single, but was left at third base for the 69th time in the series. The 17th inning began in a ballpark that at this point was mostly occupied by people that were paid to be there. Dewan got Philipps and Chavez, but Tenazes singled over Rios’ tired head. Lonzo lined loudly to left … and light to lecherous Lovins. Bottom 17th, and I didn’t know who the **** Bob Keels was, potentially a loyal fan the Indians were rewarding with a one-day contract here, but he was catching now and drew a leadoff walk. Keels moved to second on a grounder, then to third on Garza’s single. And I was fine with Quinteros hitting a walkoff sac fly here. Just make it ******* end. He put a 2-2 pitch into play, but at Ramsay. Keels went for home! Ramsay went for home! Another noisy collision, and another fisting by the home plate umpire, and this game kept going. …for two more pitches, and then Sandoval hit a walkoff single to right. 3-2 Indians. Ramsay 3-5, BB, RBI; Solorzano (PH) 1-1; Bravo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Walters 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

We didn’t score for the last 16 innings.

We had nine hits and 20 strikeouts. We did not have an extra-base hit.

I have a metallic taste in my mouth.

Which is good, because after three days, I’m finally feeling something again!

Raccoons (5-10) @ Aces (7-9) – April 21-23, 2056

The Aces were in the bottom three in both starters’ and bullpen ERA, as if that would help the Critters to score, and had given up the third-most runs in the CL so far. They were fifth in runs scored with a -11 run differential (Portlanders: -6). Their offense was rather average in most categories, but they had already shed two pieces of their lineup with Jeremy Welter and Ken Hummel off to the DL. Portland was 17-1 over two years against Vegas, with a perfect 9-0 last season.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (1-2, 4.26 ERA) vs. Scott Evans (1-0, 7.20 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (1-0, 3.48 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (0-1, 5.84 ERA)
He Shui (2-1, 3.26 ERA) vs. Josh Wilson (1-1, 4.05 ERA)

The Aces had two southpaws, and we’d miss them both unless they’d use their Thursday off to skip Jorge Quinones (2-2, 5.06 ERA) into the series. Yes, we had played an excess 17 innings in the last 24 hours. Oh well, only our pitchers were tired. THE HITTERS VERY ******* WEREN’T.

The Raccoons had to make a roster move, and not even because of the jumbled rotation. The off day on Monday meant that Taki could go on regular rest on Friday, but Sweeton would be on short rest on Saturday. But Shui had gone nearly two innings of futility with lots of on-base business on Thursday, and I didn’t feel well sending him one day’s rest either. So this above was ONE option, the other would be to spot-start Salazar (0-0, 2.45 ERA) on Saturday if he wasn’t needed in Friday’s game. Salazar had gone for two outs on Thursday, his only appearance in the Indians series. Craig Kniep was not an option for a spot start on Saturday; he had gone on Tuesday in AAA, just like Sweeton.

But the pen was in utter disarray now. Reynaldo Bravo (0-1, 5.40 ERA) had thrown 67 pitches between the last two days and would probably take all weekend to recover. So the falling piano hit him through no fault of his own. Bravo was sent to recuperate in AAA while we brought up a fresh reliever. And – hey-hey! – it was… Ryan Harmer. (takes an annoyed sip from an over-sized Caipi)

Game 1
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – LF Caballero – C Fiore – 3B Chavez – P Taki
LVA: SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Kaniewski – CF Epperson – 1B Blair – C J. Dixon – P S. Evans

The Raccoons ended a 16-inning scoreless streak (gnashes teeth) with a Lonzo double, a wild pitch, and Pucks’ sac fly in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead. Lonzo was later caught stealing in the third inning, but Caballero snuck a base in the fourth and was then doubled home by Matt Fiore for the game’s second run. It was 3-0 in the fifth with Lonzo scoring on another sac fly, this time hit to deep right by Ramsay with the bases loaded. The remaining runners, Pucks and Waters, were stranded by Caballero grounding out to Jim White. All the while, Seisaku Taki spent just 43 pitches to get through five innings, despite scattering five base hits. One runner, John Kaniewski ran himself out on the base paths, though, and the Raccoons also turned a pair of double plays for Taki to accelerate the collecting of outs. Jim White hit another single in the sixth, but was also stranded once Alex Alfaro struck out. Top 7th, Pucks reached leading off on Dave Blair’s error, then moved up on a wild pitch. Before we could score a run on that defensive mockery, we scored two when Matt Walters hit a belter to right-center to extend the lead to 5-0 with his second homer of the year, which also made him the first Coon to ten RBI, and who had that on his bingo card…?

Evans’ day was over, but the Raccoons grabbed another run off reliever David Zaragoza when Rams singled, Fiore doubled, and Adriano Chavez at least got the lead runner home with a well-placed groundout. Taki was still on a good pitch count through seven innings, despite another single by Gunner Epperson, while the Raccoons – despite leading by plenty, but not *a lot* – their starting middle infielders for the last inning-and-a-half, with Espinoza and Venegas getting into the game. Miguel Veguilla hit yet another single off Taki in the eighth, but was caught stealing, and Taki entered the bottom 9th on 90 pitches, facing the meat of the Aces order, and Aubrey Austin started with a zinger up the rightfield line that bounced barely fair, then off the sidewall and past a befuddled Prospero Tenazes. Taki rung up Alfaro, but walked John Kaniewski, and then gave up a fly to center that was deep enough for Epperson to bring in Austin, ruining the shutout with one out to go. Dave Blair grounded out to Espinoza at short to still give Taki a complete game. 6-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-4, RBI; Fiore 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Taki 9.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-2);

That was a clutch outing from Taki! We really needed that one…!

With Fernando Salazar and the rest of the bullpen unused on Friday, the Raccoons called a pitching change for Saturday. Sweeton, who had thrown 113 pitches on Tuesday, was pushed back to Sunday, and Shui to next week, and Salazar made a spot start in the middle game of the set.

Game 2
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – C Fiore – LF Venegas – P Salazar
LVA: SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Kaniewski – CF Epperson – 1B Blair – C J. Dixon – P Robbins

First inning, Lonzo singled, stole second, and then scored when Matt Walters lobbed a double to right. Just as I designed it! Then Salazar walked White, Austin doubled, and Alfaro socked a 3-run homer right away in the bottom 1st, which I now needed some scapegoat to blame it on. That would also be far from the last homer allowed by Salazar in this game. He was taken deep by Austin for one and by Epperson for two in the bottom 3rd, and then Kaniewski slapped another 2-piece in the fifth inning, running up an 8-1 score while the Raccoons had scored zilch while stranding five runners in the previous three innings… Ryan Harmer would get the ball before the bottom 5th was over and batted for himself in the sixth inning even with a guy on base, because what were our bench players gonna do? Strand Venegas any harder than a reliever?

Steve Royer’s leadoff triple in the seventh at least led to a run as he scored on a single by Lonzo, who was then again caught stealing. Pucks singled, as did Ramsay. Oh good, now we had lost a run. Brobeck batted with two outs, ran a full count against Robbins, and then livened up his 3-for-21 batting clip of the early going with a 3-run jack to right, narrowing the score to 8-5.

And for some reason we weren’t done yet. Aaron Erwin replaced Robbins and got out of the seventh, but put Venegas on base to begin the eighth inning. The Aces went to Cruz Madrid, the Coons this time batted for Harmer, sending Oscar Caballero, and Caballero socked another blast into the rightfield stands, and now we were back to 8-7…! And, hold on – here’s Steve Royer. And Royer, deep to center, and THAT ball was gone…!! Tied game after a 7-run rally inside three outs…! Lonzo reached on an error, but was stranded as the middle of the order didn’t get a hit between them, so we remained in an 8-8 tie for the time being. Tanizaki would retire Vegas 1-2-3 in the bottom 8th, while Matt Fiore hit a ninth-inning single off lefty Bob Kelly, but was also left on base. Sencion and Lane combined for a scoreless ninth, which gave everybody what we needed most – more innings.

Hits off Kelly by Royer and Lonzo put them on the corners to begin the 10th inning, which was a solid start. The Aces nailed Lonzo to the base to prevent him from running out of the double play, but in turn Austin couldn’t reach a zinger Pucks dished through the right side (although it would have been the catch of the year if he had actually made it from his usual position) and the Raccoons took the lead on the RBI double to right. The Aces went the nasty route then, intentionally walking Waters: three on, no outs. Kelly nailed Rams, pushing home a run, and while the team really failed at batting now despite sending out righty pinch-hitters with Philipps and Tenazes, Kelly waved home another run with a wild pitch. Thus it was a 3-run lead for Walters, and put the Aces away… though not without allowing two soft singles. 11-8 Furballs! Royer 4-6, HR, 3B, RBI; Lavorano 4-6, RBI; Puckeridge 3-6, 2B, RBI; Fiore 2-5, 2B; Venegas 2-6; Caballero (PH) 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Harmer 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

First Raccoons win for Mike Lane, first Raccoons home runs for Caballero and Royer, and maybe this W can energize the team, glue them together, and make them rally after the damn Elks, who were somehow already 6 1/2 games away.

Meanwhile, the Aces should wonder whether they have been getting tea-bagged by this team with its routinely sturdy bullpen for two+ years because they casually allow ten unanswered runs by a team that oughta be thoroughly beaten already…

Game 3
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – LF Solorzano – 3B Venegas – C Philipps – P Sweeton
LVA: SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Kaniewski – CF Epperson – 1B Blair – C J. Dixon – P Jo. Wilson

Slight deviation from the usual plan – this time Steve Royer got on base in the first inning, stole second base, and then was singled home by Waters. Sweeton though was erratic; he allowed three hits and three walks through the first three innings. Still no runs, but that was also down to Gunner Epperson getting caught stealing, and Aubrey Austin hitting into a double play after Veguilla and White reached to begin the bottom 3rd. Alfaro then flew out to Solorzano in left. Kaniewski hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, was doubled off by Epperson’s grounder to Waters, but then Sweeton walked not one, but two batters before getting the third out from the pitcher. It was not the most nerve-conserving outing.

Sweeton got a taste of his own medicine in the top 5th, singling before being doubled off by Royer. He then had something entirely new – a 1-2-3 inning, whiffing Veguilla and White. In turn, it all came apart for good in the sixth inning. Alfaro socked a leadoff double to right, then scored with one out when Lonzo misfiled an Epperson grounder for an error, and that also tied the game, because the Raccoons had stopped the offense altogether. Dave Blair singled home the go-ahead run, John Dixon walked, and Sean Sweeton took a hike. Lane got out of the inning, but the Raccoons then flushed a return error by Veguilla which put Venegas on second base with one out in the seventh inning. Philipps and Chavez crapped out to end the inning, while Tanizaki in turn allowed a leadoff triple to White, and then the insurance run on Austin’s grounder to second base in the bottom 7th. Pucks’ 2-out single in the eighth didn’t lead anywhere, but Tenazes hit a single off Kelly in the ninth, batting for Solorzano with one out. And Venegas found Alfaro for a game-ending 5-4-3 double play… 3-1 Aces. Waters 2-4, RBI; Tenazes (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 17 – DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.302, 1 HR, 11 RBI) puts out five hits and drives in three runs in an 11-3 win over the Pacifics. Villa misses the cycle by the home run.
April 17 – An elbow contusion put Aces OF Ken Hummel (.339, 4 HR, 14 RBI) on the shelf for the rest of the month.
April 19 – The Rebels score in every inning but two in their 16-5 win in Cincinnati. RIC C Michael Lefebvre (.250, 2 HR, 9 RBI) leads the team with five RBI on three base hits.
April 20 – CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.492, 3 HR, 19 RBI) is hard to retire and now has a 25-game hitting streak. The Falcons lost 2-1 to the Aces, but Ceballos hit a double in the first inning to keep the streak going.
April 23 – Crusaders INF Prince Gates (.203, 2 HR, 12 RBI) will miss at least three weeks after suffering a tear in his hamstring.
April 23 – The Blue Sox, 3-15 to begin the year, rue the loss of Player of the Week INF Nick Nye (.321, 4 HR, 13 RBI) to a torn labrum that would cost him at least three months of the season.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.321, 4 HR, 13 RBI), batting .545 (12-22) with 1 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.378, 2 HR, 14 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We lost a game to the Aces, in other words, the sky is falling.

Losing Trent Brassfield for the season is a terrible blow, and we obviously don’t have any youth player to replace him with, and I am not sure we can make a trade for him. So is that the season? We were building for next year anyway. So is that the plug on 2056? In April?

Those are some dark thoughts for April…

For the time being, the only AAA outfielder on the 40-man roster that was hitting an appreciable amount for the Alley Cats was David Flores, .289/.481/.474 in 12 games, and while that was a ridiculously small sample size, he couldn’t be far away from a despair call-up.

For now, six more road games in Charlotte and New York, and that will then complete the first month.

Fun Fact: Yes, it took us this long to notice that there’s two M. Gilmores.

And they’re both in the division. And have been for five years (pi times thumb). MIKE Gilmore on the Indians. And MATT Gilmore on the Titans. They’re not even playing the same position…!

(calmly gulps from his bottle of Capt’n Coma)