[Westheim]

Raccoons (16-21) @ Crusaders (20-15) – May 13-16, 2058

This is where it was probably going to go really ugly. The Crusaders had won the season series against the Raccoons 13-5 in both of the last two years, they had won the CL pennant twice in a row, they were just half a game behind the Titans after a middling start, and they were only allowing the second-fewest runs in the CL. Where were we going to score against them? Their offense had trouble getting going, though, with just the seventh spot in runs scored (though with the fewest games) and a +13 run differential. No injuries, though.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (1-3, 4.31 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (1-5, 4.85 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-4, 5.83 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (4-0, 3.43 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-4, 6.44 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (3-0, 3.33 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-2, 3.56 ERA) vs. Kennedy Adkins (2-0, 1.25 ERA)

Adkins was the sole southpaw, and three fourths of that rotation had been either a Raccoon until last July or had been actively courted by the Raccoons in the offseason. And then there was Joel Luera.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – C Lathers – P Carreno
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF O. Caballero – 3B J. Ojeda – P Cantrell

As far as former Raccoons went, Oscar Caballero gave New York a 1-0 lead with a second-inning home run, while the Critters had Lonzo on with a single and a stolen base in the first inning, while in the third Carreno and Labonte hit a single each, and then Lonzo found a double play to hit into. Same in the fourth: Royer and Pucks opened the inning with a pair of singles, and Brobeck bobbed into a 4-6-3 double play. The remaining runner scored on a wild pitch before Jesus Martinez grounded out to short…

Carreno meanwhile had no stuff and no strikeouts through five innings, which was alarming, but that Caballero homer aside gave up very little hard contact and only three base knocks in total, instead feeding persistent grounders to the middle infielders. His reward was seeing Noah Caswell hit a leadoff double to right in the sixth inning, then get stranded at second base, followed swiftly by Omar Sanchez legging out an infield single, stealing two bases, and scoring on a groundout by Zach Suggs for a 2-1 New York lead, which sugged. Carreno churned on for another two innings to complete eight, all the way up to a 65-minute rain delay right at the end of the eighth inning when the weather turned Oregonian.

Since the game was close, the umps at least didn’t wave it off, and eventually the Raccoons got their shot at Ben Lussier in the ninth inning, starting with Royer, who drew a leadoff walk. Brass batted for Pucks against the left-hander and also walked. Brobeck then grounded to Omar Sanchez in a bid for another double play, but Sanchez butchered the play and all paws were safe. Three on, nobody out! Oh boy… Martinez promptly struck out before the Raccoons threw their remaining right-handed bench bats at Lussier. Marcos Chavez hit a sac fly to center, which tied the game and took Carreno off the hook, and Arturo Bribiesca got his first RBI of the year with a clean 2-out RBI single to leftfield…! Labonte singled to center, Lonzo singled to the edge of the infield dirt by Sanchez to get an insurance run in, and then Lussier was dismissed for Jose Ortega, who immediately gave up a bases-clearing triple to Noah Caswell in the right-center gap…! The inning ended like it started, with Royer, this time flying out to center. Neal Hamann pitched the bottom 9th to get the W in the books. 7-2 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4, BB; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Caswell 2-5, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-3; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, RBI; Carreno 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3) and 1-3;

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Brassfield – P DeRose
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Luera

Luera nicked the Coons’ 2-3 batters in the first inning, which created some bickering from the brown dugout, but no actual base hits and no runs. Caswell would put the Raccoons up 1-0 with a solo jack in the third inning, while DeRose looked treacherously competent, allowing a single to Tony Rodriquez in the first inning, but had Suggs hit into a double play and otherwise faced the minimum through three innings, but K’ed only Luera. But, hey, that was already more strikeouts than Carreno piled up on Monday!

It was more fly balls than Carreno had, too, but that included a few pops. Sean Zeiher, the rookie wonder, sent Caswell back to the warning track in the fourth inning, but apart from that, the Crusaders remained spectacularly harmless. Bottom 6th, Jeff Standard opened with a first-pitch single up the middle though, and sharply hit. Juan Ojeda hit another sharp ball, but that was a liner that Lonzo reached for and snagged, and Standard had been going and was doubled off first base with a zinger to Royer. Luera then doubled, just in case you felt too comfy with DeRose on the hill, but Sanchez flew out easily to Brassfield. The Coons then gained some distance; after being silent for the entirety of the middle innings – both teams had three hits apiece through six – Pucks drew a leadoff walk, and Jose Ortega relieved Luera, only to serve up a homer to Brobeck, 3-0. Ortega’s appearance was brief and disastrous as he went on to allow singles to Brass and DeRose to put those on the corners, balked in one run, and conceded the other on Labonte’s double to left before Kyle Turay restored order, but then allowed the 5-6-7 batters on base without retiring anybody in the top 8th, Chavez walking and the other two hitting singles to left. Brass hit a sac fly all the way to the fence in leftfield (…!), DeRose bunted, and Labonte singled in two more.

DeRose went seven and two thirds, but put Mike Seidman (double) and Juan Ojeda (walk) on base in the bottom 8th. When Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for the shaken Turay, the Coons went to Ricky Herrera, who got the catcher to ground out to Royer. Top 9th, and Caswell socked another homer to right off Austin Guastella. Ricky Herrera returned for the bottom 9th, but allowed a single to PH Chad Williams and an RBI double to Rodriquez before pointing out an issue with his thumb and left the game. Reynaldo Bravo allowed two more singles and Rodriquez to score before finishing out the game. 9-2 Raccoons! Labonte 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Caswell 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Brobeck 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; DeRose 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-4) and 1-3;

Ricky Herrera was probably gonna be fine, but was day-to-day with a sore paw. And before the Crusaders put two runs on him, they briefly had a -1 run differential.

Lonzo and Steve Royer both got a day off on Wednesday, with Caswell scheduled a day off for Thursday against the lefty Adkins. That should get everybody through this long string of games, since everybody else was rotating right now anyway.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – LF Puckeridge – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – SS Sheilds – P Sensabaugh
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B J. Ojeda – P Taki

Pucks homered to left against Taki in the first inning, 1-0, and Taki allowed another two singles in one of those first innings, which conveniently for the Raccoons stretched into the second as well. Brass walked, Sheilds smashed an RBI double to right, and then scored on Pucks’ 2-out RBI single. The inning ended with Pucks being caught stealing – that infectious #2 spot, huh? Brobeck also doubled home Chavez in the third inning for a 4-0 lead, but there came the point where we had to talk about J.J. Sensabaugh, and not even through a fault of his own. While New York didn’t score through two innings, they sure hit the ball much harder than against any of the other two failing starters that went before him. When the Raccoons started punching the walls on defense, the game threatened to go south in a real hurry. Sheilds’ bobbled Taki’s grounder to begin the bottom 3rd for an error, Rodriquez hit a 1-out single, and Pucks dropped Suggs’ fly for ANOTHER error, which REALLY sugged. Three on, one out, and a mound conference. Sean Zeiher fell to 1-2 before hitting a fly to right. Martinez made the catch, out #2, and Taki went for home – and was thrown out with a murderous throw! No runs scored in the inning…!

The Coons had the bags full with one out in the top 4th as Sheilds walked, Sensabaugh singled on a 1-2 pitch after failing to bunt, and Pucks would draw another walk after Labonte popped out. Caswell’s sac fly ended Taki’s day, but Zachariah Alldred got Chavez to ground out to strand a pair. The score remained 5-0 through five innings, even though nobody knew how the Crusaders were NOT scoring against Sensabaugh, who was backstabbed again by Labonte with a throwing error in the fifth inning, but stumbled through that, too, all the while striking out absolutely nobody, not even Alldred on an 0-2 pitch in the same inning…! It was a game on the very edge of reason. It took New York seven innings to score against Sensabaugh, who allowed a walk to Wiliams in the bottom 7th, then 2-out knocks to Rodriquez and Suggs, which plated a run and put runners on the corners, and brought on the cavalry in Eloy Sencion. Zeiher hit a lazy liner to left, and Pucks was on it, making the catch to strand the pair on base. Gunner Epperson singled off Sencion in the eighth, but was then doubled up to end the inning when Seidman grounded to Sheilds against Siwik.

Guastella’s ninth saw the bags full again with hits by Labonte and Lonzo (hitting for Pucks), and Caswell walked, all with one out, but Chavez smacked into a double play, 6-4-3, to end the inning. Siwik put the game away without any more accidents, though. 5-1 Critters! Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brobeck 2-4, 2B, RBI; Siwik 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Four hits, four walks, no strikeouts for Sensabaugh, who looked crummy despite shortening his record to 3-4 in this game. It was enough to keep his job for another week, though.

Now that the terrible trio posted three wins in a row and with only five runs conceded in total by everybody combined, there was no reason not to expect Bobby Herrera to get run over by a hover cab well before making it to the ballpark in the first place on Thursday…

Game 4
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P B. Herrera
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Adkins

Pitchers’ duel! Neither team did much of anything for five innings, being held to two hits each by the other team’s pitcher, although New York had a double from Adkins (!) and had a few juicy flies to left that Brassfield all pulled down, though. The Raccoons would break through first, getting Bribiesca on base with a leadoff walk in the top 6th before Lonzo snapped a single to left. Unexpectedly, the Raccoons went for a double steal and pulled it off, but Royer and Chavez made poor outs with a pop and a K; but Brobeck came through with a single to left-center that plated both runners and gave Herrera a 2-0 lead. Adkins answered with a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, which gave him a supermajority of his team’s base hits in the game, and threatened to be stranded again until Zach Suggs singled to center with two outs. Adkins was held at third base, though, and wisely so, but when Sean Zeiher grounded out to Bribiesca, the team was turned away altogether.

Adkins was gone after seven innings, while Herrera had a 1-2-3 bottom 7th before giving up a leadoff triple to Ojeda, over Royer’s head, in the bottom 8th. Kissler singled in the run, 2-1, but Herrera starved that tying run on base and the Raccoons still led into the ninth. Ben Lussier got on his big mouth again when Jesus Martinez hit a homer to center for an insurance run, but Herrera didn’t return for the ninth inning with left-handers Zeiher and Epperson leading off there. Sencion was brought in, beaned Zeiher out of the game, but got a pop from PH Oscar Caballero to Bribiesca. Tanizaki then replaced him, got a double play grounder from Alejandro Silva, and the Raccoons completed a staggering sweep! 3-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-4; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-2);

Hu-wheeeee!!!

The Raccoons jumped all the way to fourth place with this sweep, while the Titans suddenly had a 3 1/2 game lead atop the CL North again.

Raccoons (20-21) vs. Aces (22-20) – May 17-19, 2058

The Aces were living on their offense exclusively, putting up the second-most runs in the Continental League, but they were also allowing the most markers to the other teams. The rotation was crummy, and the pen was the outright worst with an ERA well over five at the first quarterpost. Portland had won the season series five years in a row, with a 7-2 rush in ’57.

Lots of injuries for the Aces, though, including pitchers Scott Evans, Ray Benner, and Hugo Saucedo, as well as outfielder Jose Ambriz and his replacement Scott Laws, the rookie switch-hitter having left the Aces’ last game with an injury that was undiagnosed as of Friday at game time. Their ace Evans (6-1, 2.66 ERA) was dealing with back stiffness while still on the roster, so the Aces were entering with 23 available players.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (4-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (5-0, 3.91 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (2-3, 3.97 ERA) vs. TBD
Justin DeRose (2-4, 4.93 ERA) vs. Andres Flores (2-1, 5.21 ERA)

Saturday would be Evans, but he was not going to be available. Josh Wilson (1-6, 6.34 ERA) would be next in line if the Aces sent guys on short rest. All living starters within sight were right-handed.

Game 1
LVA: CF Thayer – 1B Jacinto – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B J. White – SS Huddleston – LF Grewe – C Mathews – P Robbins
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – RF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – P Stewart

The game was scoreless through three innings, with only a Chavez single on the Portland side, while Stewart gave up a hit in both of the first two innings, but also struck out four to stifle traffic. The fourth inning began less promising with an Alex Alfaro double to left, and Jim White singling to right. They were on the corners, at least until White stole second base. Phil Huddleston grounded out to Brobeck, and the runners held. Bobby Grewe whiffed, after which the Raccoons gave Kyle Mathews directions to first base intentionally to bring up the left-handed batting pitcher Robbins, casually hitting 9-for-19 with 4 RBI on the year. He struck out… in a full count…

Chavez and Royer singled with two outs in the bottom 4th, but Brobeck flew out to left. Nick Thayer hit a leadoff single in the fifth, stole second, but the Aces kept striking out, with K’s on Aubrey Austin and Alex Alfaro, and didn’t score, but finally broke through in the sixth with another leadoff single and stolen base for White. Huddleston also singled, and Grewe’s groundout and Robbins’ 2-out RBI single (gnashes teeth) gave Vegas a 2-0 lead. Thayer then flew out.

The tying runs were in scoring position immediately in the bottom 6th as Labonte singled to center and Lonzo doubled to left against Robbins. Caswell hit a sac fly, 2-1, but Robbins struck out Chavez and Royer to kill the inning. Stewart ran out of juice in the seventh and was rescued by Siwik with a guy on base, while Ornelas then had a clean eighth, all waiting for a Raccoons rally to keep the winning streak going and reach .500 again. Lonzo singled his way on with one down in the bottom 8th, but before he could even think about stealing a base, Caswell wrapped him up in a double play to end the inning. Ricky Herrera’s ninth was fine and he kept the Aces to their lonely run’s worth of lead, while the Aces sent left-hander Justin Rocco into the bottom 9th. Chavez struck out, but Royer and Brobeck hit singles past either side of Phil Huddleston. The Coons had only two right-handed bats left on the bench (Brass had been used) for the 7-8-9 batters coming up here, so Pucks still hit for himself, flying out easily to left. Martinez then batted for Toushi… and struck out. 2-1 Aces. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Chavez 2-4; Royer 2-4; Stewart 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, L (4-4);

(looks dismayed)

Game 2
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – RF A. Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF Manley – 3B D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P An. Flores
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – P Carreno

The rookie Flores was sent on short rest and fell behind 1-0 in the first with singles to Lonzo, who stole his 16th bag of the year, and Caswell, who drove him home. Next time Lonzo was up he batted with the bases loaded and two outs after walks drawn by Brass and Labonte, with a Carreno single in between, but flew out to Ken Hummel on the first pitch. Caswell then opened the bottom 3rd with a jack to right, 2-0. Carreno, when not being a terror with the stick, didn’t look nearly as stoic and solid as on Monday, and the contact was harder from the beginning, but the Aces took a while to get going, hitting singles through Gustavo Jacinto and Matt Manley in the top 4th before Carreno was torched for a score-flipping 3-run homer by Danny McMullen, who hit his second career bomb at age 28-and-quite-a-bit, five years after the first one, and who hadn’t appeared in a major league game in nearly three years, then with the Knights – this was his season debut.

Carreno wobbled on, allowing a single and a walk in the fifth before Lonzo hit his first home run of the year to tie the game at three in the bottom 5th. Caswell also reached base, but was stranded in the inning. Carreno walked Jacinto to begin the sixth, then gave up a liner to Manley that Lonzo caught, and a liner by McMullen that nobody caught and that fell for a double. Manny Castillo popped out, but when Nick Thayer pinch-hit for Flores, Carreno was yanked along with him. The Aces took the lead when Thayer legged out a silly grounder on the infield for an RBI single, 4-3, but Jim White popped out after that… Bottom 6th, Brass and Lathers were retired by Andy Younge before Toushi pinch-hit and singled. Labonte got on, Lonzo got on – three on and two outs, and Caswell with a fly to deep right…! Go! Go! Go! No, the ******* thing was caught on the warning track by Austin…

Siwik and Hamann then stepped on their own tails in the seventh. Each allowed a run and a hit, and McMullen singled home a pair of insurance runs with three on and nobody out against Hamann. The Raccoons wound up with a scoreless eighth from Bravo, but no rally of their own, and then sent Kyle Brobeck out against the meat of the order in the ninth inning, as if that wasn’t a recipe for further disaster. Brobeck walked two, but struck out the D. McMullen – the D stood for DEVIL – to end the ******* inning, which I would go to proclaim as my moral victory for the day. No actual victory was to be had, and instead Caswell got dinged up on the basepaths in a collision with Miguel Veguilla at second base after hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 9th and getting forced out by Royer. Brobeck hit into a double play to end the game. 6-3 Aces. Lavorano 3-5, HR, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1;

Caswell had to hit the DL with a sore/strained shoulder, but there was hope that he would only miss 15 days and then return as good as new. The Coons brought up OF/1B Joey Christopher, age 22, who had been acquired from the Miners last year in the Sean Sweeton deal. He had hit .346 in 52 AB by then for Pittsburgh, but had been assigned to AAA since then, batting .275/.446/.443 in 74 games in St. Pete. Center was not his strongest position, but he was more agile than anybody besides perhaps Royer and Pucks among our remaining outfielders. He was in the lineup on Sunday right away.

Game 3
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – RF Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P Jo. Wilson
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose

Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, but only the Aces’ runs were earned, coming on Ken Hummel’s 2-out single after White walked and Alfaro doubled against DeRose in the top 1st. Lonzo reached base on a crazy throwing error by Veguilla before being doubled home by Steve Royer, who himself scored after a Chavez single and Pucks’ groundout.

Things could still go either way from here, but DeRose was absolutely ravaged in the third inning when first Alfaro and Hummel had base hits, and then four runs scored on back-to-back homers by Gustavo Jacinto and DANNY MCMULLEN. DeRose hung around for the fourth, but the Aces kept making loud noises and he was disposed of after that. The Coons tried to rally in the bottom 4th, getting Pucks and Martinez into scoring position with a 1-out walk and double, respectively. Joey Christopher had whiffed his first time up, but now rolled a ball under Wilson’s glove for an infield single, getting his first Coons RBI along with it. Sheilds came up as the tying run, whacked an RBI double to left-center, but Christopher was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base. Toushi batted for DeRose, but flew out to McMullen to end the inning.

Hummel homered off Ornelas in the fifth, 7-4, while Jacinto singled his way on after that, but was forced out by McMullen, whom Ornelas would pick off to end the inning. Bottom 5th, the tying run was back in the box following Lonzo’s 1-out single and a walk drawn by Royer. Chavez fanned, Pucks grounded out, and the whole effort remained futile. Pucks at least threw out Aubrey Austin at the plate, trying to score from second base on a Hummel single in the seventh inning, still with Ornelas pitching, then caught Jacinto’s fly to left off Hamann to end the inning.

Brobeck’s pinch-hit double knocked out Wilson at the start of the bottom 7th, with Jim Woods giving up a single to Labonte to bring the tying run up yet again. Lonzo whiffed, Royer hit a sac fly, 7-5, and Chavez singled to actually further our cause with two outs. Pucks found Jim White though for an inning-ending groundout. Brobeck then somehow ended up on the hill for the second straight day, walked Castillo, but struck out White for a scoreless inning. When Sheilds drew a 2-out walk off Woods in the bottom 8th, Brobeck batted as the tying run against Younge, but grounded out, and didn’t return to the hill after that, although he couldn’t have done much worse than Eloy Sencion, who gave up an infield single to Austin, then another Hummel homer. Lonzo and Chavez hit singles in the bottom 9th to remove Younge for ex-Coon and left-hander Geoff Sather, the answer to which was Brass batting for Pucks. On one pitch, he grounded out to Jacinto. 9-5 Aces. Lavorano 2-5; Chavez 3-5;

Hummel went 5-for-5 with two homers and 5 RBI, while the Coons went oh-for-bozillion with runners in scoring position…

In other news

May 13 – The Titans trade CF/RF Antonio Cruz (.135, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to the Rebels for #112 prospect INF Jordan Hernandez.
May 14 – A herniated disc forces LAP SP Jim Reynolds (4-2, 4.06 ERA) on the DL; the Pacifics hope to have him back by July.
May 16 – The Blue Sox trade SP Levi Harre (1-2, 3.48 ERA) to the Warriors for two prospects. The deal includes #178 prospect SP Nick Reaper.
May 16 – A cracked shoulder blade to which is none-pitching arm is attached will cost TOP SP Bill Hernandez (1-2, 5.30 ERA) at least a month on the DL.
May 16 – Sacramento beats Denver, 7-1, scoring all their runs in a 7-run ninth-inning rally that includes a grand slam for veteran 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.250, 1 HR, 13 RBI).
May 17 – SAL INF/RF/LF Jeff Buss (.283, 5 HR, 27 RBI) goes all-out with five base hits and hitting for the cycle in a 10-3 win over the Capitals. Buss drives in five runs in his five-hit barrage that includes two singles.
May 18 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (5-3, 4.27 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 6-0 shutout, striking out six against no walks.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B Alex Abecassis (.246, 5 HR, 23 RBI), torching .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.254, 7 HR, 32 RBI), slaying .583 (14-24) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Ka-BLAMM!! We swept the Crusaders, in New York!! (giggles madly)

And then we stumbled over the Aces as hard as anyone possibly could. Oh well. You win some, you lose more. It hurts more when you lose to Danny McMullen going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI after him spending nearly three years dilly-dallying through – in no particular order – Hampton, Fort Wayne, St. Louis, Au Sable and Corpus Christi. In short, this week made no sense whatsoever.

Lonzo’s game-tying homer on Saturday, in game #43 was then indeed the first home run by an actual infielder on the roster this year. This actually won Maud this year’s “Dumb **** These Suckers Will Do This Year” bingo, in which she had been off to a racing start when the Raccoons got swept in the first series, and the big three additions worth $81M total all having slumps in April also gave her a key space on her card… I had those two as well, but I would have needed them to lose a game in 18 innings or more to win…

Not having Caswell for two weeks sucks, but it could have come worse. Royer’s still hitting… a little. Caswell is second in WAR in the whole league as of Sunday night with a 2.7 … behind Ken Hummel (2.9);

Next week: road trip to Atlanta and Charlotte.

Fun Fact: Erik Stevens is a 15-year veteran in the league despite never hitting for much of anything.

Warriors, Buffos, Falcons, Pacifics, Crusaders, Elks, and now the Scorpions; the 36-year-old right-handed batter has been around.

He took a ring with the ’56 Crusaders, and a Gold Glove when he was much younger, but he hit for an OPS over 100 in a season in which he wasn’t traded just once, with the ’51 Falcons, going .259/.376/.371 with his career-high of ten homers included. Despite this, he still has a career 96 OPS+ as a beacon of “not great, but not killing us either” consistency. Besides, that glove also played quite nicely for many years.

Stevens didn’t become a full-time player until arriving in Charlotte at age 27, having spent his first four-and-a-half years coming off the bench for the Warriors. The Buffos first used him regularly in the second half of 2048. Overall he was a .242/.369/.323 batter with 1,215 hits, 48 homers, and 513 RBI. He also stole 64 bases.