[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-4) @ Crusaders (7-1) – April 15-18, 2060

The Crusaders had a 6-game winning streak going already while scoring the most and allowing the fewest runs in the Continental League, but what else was new? The Raccoons had still beaten them over the season series in ’59, going home winners ten out of 18 attempts.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-2, 5.02 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (2-0, 3.46 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-1, 4.05 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (0-1, 3.75 ERA)

The Crusaders had only right-handed pitchers. *Pitchers*. That included their bullpen. What, left-handers are suddenly overvalued…!?

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Fox
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B R. Wright – P Taki

Chance Fox had fire set to his furry tush immediately with Omar Sanchez legging out an infield single and Ryan Spehar dishing a double to center in the bottom 1st. The runs scored on Aubrey Austin’s groundout and a Tommy Branch single, respectively, although Branch also ended the inning by being caught stealing, and the Raccoons then flipped that score around in the top 2nd. Ryan Wright’s error put Joel Starr on base, and Trent Brassfield added a double. Nick Fowler, the third third baseman the Raccoons tried in the 10th game of the season, brought in the tying runs with a solid double to right, then scored on Foxie Brown’s own hit to center for a 3-2 lead. The top of the order then left Fox on base, but Caswell’s leadoff walk led to a fourth run on Brass’ 2-out double to left in the third inning. In between, Fox had put another pair on base with generally befuddled hurling, but had also started a double play on Taki’s bunt to resolve that unhappy situation. It just wasn’t helping, because it wasn’t good enough. The Crusaders beat another four hits, including three from their 1-2-3 hitters leading off the inning, in the bottom 3rd, and tied the game while leaving Aubrey Austin and Sean Zeiher in scoring position on John Rosenstiel’s sharp groundout to Joel Starr.

Taki was knocked out first on Cas’ 2-out RBI single in the top 4th. That brought home Fowler and his leadoff single for a 5-4 lead, while in between Fox with a good bunt and Lonzo with a 2-out walk had proven somewhat useful. Ken McDonald, right-handed (duh!) replacement, then walked Nick Nye on four pitches, but Joel Starr, the one struggler in the middle of that order right now, popped out to short and three runners were wasted. Fox offered a walk to Omar Sanchez in the fourth, but Sanchez was caught stealing – Lonzo’s old stolen base foe had zero thefts on the season compared to Lonzo’s one.

Make that two; in the sixth, Joe-Chris and Lonzo went to the corners with 1-out hits, and Lonzo then stole second off an inattentive McDonald. Poor outs by the 3-4 hitters meant that the Coons did not CASh in and were deNYEd further runs, though. Instead, Fox fooled around long enough to blow the lead on a leadoff walk to Zeiher and a 2-run homer by Curt Goodwin in the bottom 6th. That gave the lead back to New York, 6-5, and the Raccoons failed to make any offensive impression in the next two innings while at least holding the Crusaders in place with solid relief by Rios and Ricky Herrera. In the top 9th, Noah Hollis retired Lonzo to begin the inning, but then allowed singles to Cas and Nye to create some commotion. Starr was 0-for-4 on the day, but laid off four balls to fill the bases nice enough to bring up Brass, who with the bases loaded flew out to Tommy Branch in shallow center, and then Perez flew out to Tommy Branch in deep center… 6-5 Crusaders. Caswell 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Fowler 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Kozak – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – LF Austin – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B Spehar – 3B R. Wright – P Seiter

Bobby Herrera allowed one hit, one walk, and no runs the first time through the Crusaders lineup on Friday, which somehow took him 46 pitches with one long at-bat after another. This would not correct itself in any way during this start, and he was used up in just five innings. The decision to send him home for the day was made easier by the fact that he eventually also came unglued, allowing a run in the fourth inning with a leadoff single by Austin, a walk drawn by Rosenstiel, and a 2-out RBI single by Ryan Spehar, but he at least got rid of Wright to end the inning. The bottom 5th then saw Seiter nicked don one pitch, and Sanchez legging out the next one for an infield single, then a 3-run homer to right by Matt McLaren. That was before the Crusaders scored five runs in the sixth inning… on ONE base hit. Elijah LaBat walked the bags full to begin the miserable inning, then handled a Seiter comebacker for an out at home before Nye fudged a Sanchez grounder for a run-scoring error and McLaren singled in a second run. Bravo then oversaw the rest of the meltdown with a bases-loaded walk to Austin, Zeiher’s sac fly, another walk to Branch, and then Rosenstiel struck out… but Perez couldn’t come up with the BLOODY BASEBALL and everybody zoomed up a base and McLaren scored the fifth and final ru of the inning before Spehar flew out to left. Sean Zeiher would run up the score with a 2-run homer off ex-Crusader Ryan Sullivan in the eighth inning. 11-0 Crusaders. Christopher 2-4, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1; Nye 2-4; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

The funny bit about the box score here was that both teams ended up with eight base hits. Ha-hah. Ha-hah.

(looks like he could murder someone)

The Crusaders nevertheless took an L, with Ryan Spehar (.387, 1 HR, 6 RBI) spraining an ankle from too much rounding the bases in merriment, and ended up on the DL for the next month.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Caballero – 3B Benitez – P DeRose
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C McLaren – LF Austin – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – SS Zucal – 3B R. Wright – P J. Ortega

Portland took the early lead on three hits by Lonzo, Cas, and Starr, all singles, in the first inning, going up 1-0 when Joel Starr finally found his stick at the back of the team bus. Three more hits came together in the second inning, beginning with singles by Caballero and Benitez. DeRose bunted the runners into scoring position, but Brass popped out behind home plate, foul. Lonzo came through, however, singling through the left side to drive in both runners before getting left on base by Cas. Tommy Branch’s leadoff triple in the bottom 2nd saw him score on Roger Zucal’s groundout after Rosenstiel initially struck out, and the Raccoons loaded the bases in the third inning with their 5-6-7 batters before Benitez popped out and DeRose struck out and nobody scored. Brass and Cas were on base in the fourth, but were also stranded…

Somehow, though, DeRose held on to the 3-1 lead for a while at least, and the Raccoons would tack on in the sixth inning. DeRose was no help, striking out against Ortega to begin the inning, but then Brass lobbed another single. And Lonzo effortlessly slapped a ball over the fence in left for a 2-run home run…! Lonzooooo!!!!

That was the end of Ortega in this game, but DeRose didn’t last much longer, giving up another Tommy Branch triple and another run from that in the bottom 6th, an inning that kept dragging on with full counts, Roger Zucal also reaching base, and eventually DeRose prevailed to hold a 5-2 lead, but was over 100 pitches. Kozak batted for him in the top 7th after Benitez hit a 2-out triple (with nobody on of course), but whiffed.

Kelly Konecny hadn’t hit a homer for all of last year as a Coon, but then clubbed one off Ricky Herrera to begin the bottom 7th, narrowing the tally to 5-3. The Coons got back at former Critter Alex Mancilla, a late signing by the Crusaders, in the top 8th though. Lonzo legged out an infield single, stole second, and came around to score on Cas’ double to center as he tried to dismantle the Crusaders pretty much single-pawedly. Nye singled to put runners on the corners, while Cas then scored on Mancilla’s wild pitch, 7-3. This still became a save chance for Matt Walters when Rios put Rosenstiel and Zucal on base with two outs in the bottom 8th. Wright grounded out to Benitez to end the inning and dispel the most immediate threat. Walters entered in a double switch in Starr’s spot, while Joey Christopher got into the #9 hole, playing rightfield (with Caballero to left and Brass to first). Joe-Chris promptly doubled against the battered Mancilla in the ninth inning, and Brass also got on base before Lonzo dumped his fifth base hit of the day, an RBI single to center! Cas piled on with a 2-run double to right, and the inning went on long enough to have Walters come to the plate … and hit a 2-out RBI double to center off Noah Hollis. On the flip side, the excitement of running the bases knocked him out of alignment for the bottom 9th and the Crusaders in turn knocked him for two meaningless runs. 11-5 Raccoons! Brassfield 2-5, BB; Lavorano 5-6, HR, 5 RBI; Caswell 4-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Nye 2-6; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Benitez 2-5, 3B; Christopher 1-1, 2B;

BNN named Lonzo the Man of the Day for his performance, which still wasn’t enough to get him to a league-average OPS after the rotten start to the season that he had.

Still; if you don’t love Lonzo, we can’t be friends.

Sunday would have been a scheduled day off for Lonzo, but after that riot of a Saturday we weren’t quite sure whether there weren’t any more hits left in that bat and he was back in the lineup, getting Monday in Boston off instead.

Game 4
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Caballero – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – P Stewart
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – SS Zucal – 3B Murillo – P Luera

Lonzo sure found a first-inning single after Joe-Chris’ leadoff walk to begin the Sunday game, and the pair did the double steal before Cas walked the bags full anyway against Joel Luera. Nobody out, though, until Nick Nye hit into a 1-2-3 double play and Starr flew out to center, leaving no runs to be scored. That was one thing, and the other was Zach Stewart being completely off the rolls. He walked the first two batters he faced in the bottom 1st, but somehow wiggled out of there, but the Crusaders destroyed him altogether in the second inning. Roger Zucal singled and Alex Murillo doubled to take a 1-0 lead right away, but Luera’s bunt was the last out he registered. Sanchez walked and stole second, Rosenstiel hit a 2-run single, Austin doubled, Branch walked, Zeiher doubled home two, and a wild pitch scored another runner before Curt Goodwin drew yet another ******* walk. Six hits, five walks, six runs (so far) and four outs collected was the end for Stewart. Luera didn’t get the W either, as he left in the fourth inning with an injury while the Raccoons used up Bryan Erickson for eight outs on 35 pitches (and no runs!) before filing papers to return him to AAA. We then put up a brave face and tried to cover the remaining four innings with just LaBat and Rios, also inspired by a lack of rally in between the early ******* and the later innings. The Raccoons only scored one run in the sixth inning on back-to-back doubles by Starr and Caballero, and apart from that were largely unimpressive. Also unimpressive: Alex Rios, who in his second inning of work allowed a leadoff walk to Aubrey Austin, then a wallbanger RBI double to Sean Zeiher and another walk to Goodwin before getting yanked. Ricky Herrera wasn’t much better, walking the bags full before surrendering a sac fly to Murillo. 8-1 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4; Starr 2-4, 2B; Caballero 2-4, 2B, RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 2B; Erickson 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; LaBat 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Ow.

Raccoons (6-7) @ Titans (9-3) – April 19-21, 2060

The Titans were tied for fewest runs allowed in the league, and fourth in runs scored so far with a +18 run differential. Their rotation had an ERA under three so far, while their bullpen was trying to get to the vaunted six mark of all entertaining relief corps up and down the land. Matt Gilmore was already on the DL with a sprained ankle, and Jon Elkins was also on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (0-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (0-0, 3.21 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-1, 5.73 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-0, 1.59 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-3, 5.59 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (1-0, 4.76 ERA)

The Titans had swept a double header from the damn Elks on Sunday, but still had enough starters to have everybody go on regular rest for this series. All their starters were right-handed.

The Raccoons had optioned Bryan Erickson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the minors again and brought back a fresh arm in Nick Brown Memorial Pick Brad Loveless.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – 2B Gonzales – P Riddle
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B D. Mendoza – C Burkart – 2B W. de Leon – P Glaude

The early innings were scoreless despite the best efforts of the Raccoons’ struggle bus platoon, as Benitez and Gonzales led off the third inning with a pair of singles, only to then be stranded in scoring position by the top of the order. The Titans also had only two hits the first time through, one by Bruce Burkart, who was doubled off on Willie de Leon’s grounder to Gonzales, and then another one by pitcher Will Glaude, but Riddle struck out Eddie Marcotte, the Titans’ golden boy and three-time #1 prospect in all of baseball, batting .250 with one homer in the early going.

Benitez and Gonzales were on base *again* to begin the fifth inning, then with a leadoff walk from Tony Benitez and David Gonzales chipping in another single that sent Benitez to third base. Riddle popped out, but Joe-Chris finally came through with something, plating the game’s first run with a single to left, but that was where that inning, too, ended as Brass and Cas made meek outs. Boston answered with a leadoff single up the middle by Yoslan Valdez and a double off the wall in left hit by Diego Mendoza to begin the bottom 5th, but the pair was stranded in scoring position on Burkart and de Leon both popping out in shallow left, and Glaude fighting off an 0-2 to line out to Gonzales. Boston got even the inning after, though, with Marcotte leading off with a single to right-center and scoring after two productive outs on Ted Lloyd’s soft single.

The Raccoons’ turn to have a pair in scoring position and nobody out came in the eighth inning of the 1-1 game, when Perez and Starr led off with a pair of hits to center. Ex-Coon Mike Lane struck out Nick Fowler, but gave up the go-ahead sac fly to Tony Benitez before erasing Gonzales. Tyler Riddle retried Ethan Torrence, Marcotte, and Jonathan Watson in order in the eighth inning to finish out his day, then was hit for as the ninth inning commenced with right-hander Mike Bell on the hill. The Raccoons put Christopher and Caswell on base, but Angel Perez struck out to leave them on, then went to Walters. Ted Lloyd gave us a bit of a scare with a fly to deep right, but Christopher had the ball on the warning track. Jorge Arviso then struck out to end the game. 2-1 Critters. Christopher 3-4, BB, RBI; Benitez 1-2, BB, RBI; Gonzales 2-4; Riddle 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caballero – 3B Benitez – C Maresh – P Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B D. Mendoza – C Burkart – 2B W. de Leon – P Musgrave

Chance Fox had another rough one, starting the bottom 1st by filling the bases on two walks sandwiching a Jonathan Watson single and nobody out. The Titans scored one run on Lloyd’s fielder’s choice grounder to Lonzo, and another on Yoslan Valdez’ sac fly, but Diego Mendoza hit another single off what looked like a pretty clueless left-hander on the hill. Burkart flew out to Brassfield to end the inning. Marcotte doubled home a third run after de Leon’s leadoff single in the second inning to give Boston an early 3-0 lead. The Raccoons also did nothing against that. Their total sum of base runners through five innings was two: Trent Brassfield was on base twice, once after getting nicked and once after hitting a single. Both times he was doubled off by Caballero.

Fox was hit for after five horrible, tedious, no-good innings, even though the Titans didn’t tack on any runs. His spot came up after Benitez and Maresh had dinked in soft singles to begin the sixth inning, so what better spot to have Noah Caswell put down the casserole on his day off and swing the twig? He walked in a full count, loading the bags with nobody out, at which time we should usually go home. Joe-Chris popped out, Lonzo lined out to Mendoza, but on a 3-1 pitch, and then Musgrave nicked Nick Nye, nodding home the Coons’ first run of the game. Joel Starr hit a fly to deep center, but it was tracked down by Marcotte to end the inning. With that, the last serious attempt to get anywhere by the Raccoons in this game died. Musgrave and Josh Carlisle retired another nine straight for Boston to see out the game. 3-1 Titans.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B W. de Leon – 2B D. Mendoza – P MacKinnon

Bobby Herrera remained ******* atrocious; after starting the game on Wednesday with two strikeouts to Marcotte and Watson, he gave up a single to Arviso, but got out of the inning. Not so in the second, which Lloyd opened with a single, and Valdez and Mendoza would sock a pair of RBI doubles to get Boston on top, 2-0. The third inning was even worse despite also starting with two outs. After that, Manny Rubin singled, Valdez walked in a full count, Lloyd singled home a run, de Leon singled home another run in a full count, Mendoza walked in *another* full count, and MacKinnon finally struck out to leave the bases loaded in a 4-0 game. It took Tipsy Bobby EIGHTY pitches to get even THAT far! He only pitched one more inning, ****** up another run on Marcotte’s leadoff double and Arviso’s RBI single before getting a double play grounder, 5-4-3, from Rubin. Even then he had found another two full counts and the double play came on his 100th pitch of the game.

The Raccoons, down 5-0, started with Perez and Fowler hits in the top 5th before David Gonzales pinch-hit into a 7-2 double play with the catcher Perez thrown out at home by Yoslan Valdez, and Fowler was left on base by Christopher, at which point the game was basically over. Brad Loveless pitched a tedious garbage inning in the bottom 5th, leaving two on base after another bunch of full counts and little clue, and then Lonzo popped out on the first pitch to begin the sixth. Cas then walked in another full count as the game was determined to take forever, and Nick Nye hit his second Coons homer, a 2-piece to left that narrowed the score to 5-2. Starr struck out in a full count, Brass walked in another full count. Perez singled, and Nick Fowler doubled into the right-center gap with two outs, plating both runners and making for third base on a late throw to the plate. That was suddenly the tying run on third base – Loveless had been supposed to pitch multiple innings, but was now hit for with Kozak, who of course struck out. The bullpens then were rather effective to get the game through eight innings without any more runs, although LaBat put on a pair in the seventh, and the Coons had Bras on in the eighth, but Perez hit into a double play. Nick Fowler opened the ninth with a single to left against Josh Carlisle. Caballero batted for the pitcher, but hit a comebacker into a double play, and the Raccoons were back to square one. Carlisle walked Joe-Chris, and Lonzo singled to right, moving the tying run to second base. Caswell went down on strike three looking in a 2-2 count, though. 5-4 Titans. Caswell 2-4, BB, 3B; Brassfield 2-3, BB; Perez 2-4; Fowler 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Oh boy, the rotation – 4.77 ERA at this point, and it was getting worse every day.

It wasn’t like we had any options either. Damasceno and Sensabaugh had both gotten on the snout in AAA in their last start, Cameron Argenziano (…) had left his last outing with an injury, and there just wasn’t anybody else that was making audible promotion noises.

Raccoons (7-9) @ Knights (7-9) – April 23-25, 2060

The Knights had similar issues, struggling with the rotation while having the second-best bullpen in the league, although they were only managing the chaos by the point those guys got involved. They ranked eighth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed for a -8 run differential. The Raccoons were even worse, eleventh, eighth, and -12, respectively… The Knights had won the last two season series, both times five games to four. The only player on the DL for the Knights was David Hardaway. The closer had flayed his labrum last July and still wasn’t back to action.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (2-0, 1.38 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (0-3, 12.86 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-2, 7.36 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (1-1, 3.00 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P DeRose
ATL: LF Abercrombie – CF del Toro – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – 1B C. Rice – RF Ellwood – SS Moya – 3B N. Fox – P Aben

Marco Nieto doubled home ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead in the first inning, so after taking a break from losing on Thursday with no game scheduled to lose, were right back to it. Both teams then frittered away a pair of singles in the second inning, and DeRose kept putting them on base with a walk to Nieto and a Willie Acosta single in the bottom 3rd, but those were left on base with Chris Rice’s groundout and Bobby Ellwood’s fly to Cas. The line kept moving. Joaquin Moya and Nick Fox hit singles to begin the bottom 4th, and after a bunt Abercrombie drew a four-pitch walk from DeRose, who proceeded to walk in a run against Juan del Toro, and then Nieto singled home a pair. Acosta hit into a fielder’s choice, but Rice drew another walk, and DeRose was stuffed down the nearest drain without even completing four innings. LaBat came in, walked in a run against rookie Bobby Ellwood, walked in another run against Moya, and didn’t walk Fox, but gave up a 2-out, 2-run single. That made it 8-0, and I went to the hotel to scream into a pillow. I didn’t miss too much. Aben, previously romped remorselessly three times, had seven shutout innings and only conceded something when he ran out of steam in the last innings. Brass singled home Nye in the eighth, and Lonzo singled home two to knock Aben out for good in the ninth. The tying run still didn’t get remotely near the bat rack. 8-3 Knights. Lavorano 3-5, 2 RBI; Starr 1-2, BB; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Elijah LaBat (0-0, 4.22 ERA) was demoted to AAA after this game. Ruben Mendez came off the DL and LaBat had just not been any good so far.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – 3B Fowler – P Stewart
ATL: LF Abercrombie – RF Ellwood – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – CF del Toro – 1B C. Rice – SS Moya – 3B N. Fox – P C. Ellis

Speaking of not being any good, after the Raccoons briefly explored the concept of leading a baseball game when Nye and Maresh hit singles for a run in the top of the second inning on Sunday, Zach Stewart struck Joaquin Moya’s hand with a fastball, knocking the shortstop out of the ballgame and giving 21-year-old J.P. Gallo his major league debut as pinch-runner and eventual replacement at shortstop. Also his first run scored, because while there were two outs and nobody else on, Stewart then gave up enough singles to Nick Fox and Cory Ellis to allow Gallo to score the tying run. Abercrombie then struck out looking, ******* finally.

Ellwood and Nieto singles and del Toro’s sac fly put Atlanta up 2-1 in the third inning, and Gallo drew a leadoff walk off a befuddled Stewart, but didn’t manage to go anywhere in the fourth. In the fifth, and while the brown team was not doing anything that could vaguely constitute a really, sitting on two base hits through five innings, the Knights opened with Ellwood and Nieto singles again, then had the bags filled when Fowler bungled del Toro’s 1-out grounder at third base. Atlanta scored a run when Chris Rice *also* grounded to third base, and Fowler flung that one wildly to pull Nye off the base at second, again getting nobody out for all of Stewart’s bothers. Gallo struck out, but Fox slapped home two runs with a 2-out single to center, and Ellis gigglingly chimed in with an RBI single to left before the inning ended with Abercrombie again. Consolation for Stewart, and only him: the four runs in the inning were all ******* unearned. The run that Acosta scored in the bottom 6th after walking, a sharp del Toro hit, and a wild pitch, wasn’t though.

With the score degenerated to 7-1, the Raccoons began the top 7th with Cas grounding out. Nye singled, then was forced out by Starr. Brass walked in a full count, and the third 3-ball count in a row by Ellis. Chris Maresh didn’t let it go that far, he hit a 3-run homer right away, cutting the gap in half. The Raccoons then loaded the bases again as Fowler was drilled with a fastball (good!), Jack Kozak singled, and Christopher walked. The Knights still didn’t think of maybe using their bullpen, and Lonzo hit a fly to deep left-center… that was caught to end the bloody inning.

Atlanta then tried to use all their relievers at once in the eighth inning. Nye reached on a throwing error by Fox, and Starr walked with one out, bringing Brass back as the tying run, with righty Hironobu Hanzawa coming in, the third reliever of the inning. Brass singled to fill the bases, but Maresh struck out. The Knights then brought Tim Webb, southpaw, against Fowler, and the Raccoons answered with Angel Perez, the only true righty stick on the bench. That plot worked out for 418 feet over the wall – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Brad Loveless, leftover from the previous inning, then hit a 2-out single, because we wanted more outs from him from the left-handed top of the order in the bottom 8th, but Joey Christopher punched a golden sombrero with a K. Loveless then got through the bottom 8th without blowing the lead, despite allowing a single to Ellwood and a walk to Nieto. Joel Starr drove home an insurance run against former Crusaders closer Zachariah Alldred in the ninth inning, plating Cas to go up 9-7. Walters sneered and retired the Knights in order anyway. 9-7 Furballs! Nye 2-5; Brassfield 2-4, BB; Maresh 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Loveless 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0) and 1-1;

Can we just play with two catchers? 3-for-5 with two booms and eight eggs in the basket sounds good to me!

Game 3
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – RF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle
ATL: LF Abercrombie – RF Ellwood – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – CF del Toro – 1B C. Rice – SS Moya – 3B N. Fox – P Villegas

Riddle was the one starting pitcher we had that still had to get on the snout real good before the month was out, and the Knights were sure off to a good start in the bottom 1st when they socked him for four hits and erased a 2-0 lead the Raccoons had taken in the top 1st when Brass and Lonzo had opened with singles and had both scored on a Caswell single. Cas also tracked down a Nieto drive to deep center in the bottom 1st that could have even further incinerated Riddle’s ERA, but he was getting bopped good enough with Abercrombie’s leadoff double and three 2-out singles.

Back in the game was Moya, at least for two innings before the thumb that Stewart had smacked the day before started to rue again and he was replaced with Gallo once more. Apart from that the inning after the initial onslaught were rather calm until David Gonzales opened the fifth with a single to left. Riddle bunted him to second base, and the bags filled up as Brass walked and Lonzo was plonked in the arm. The Raccoons were denyed runs, though, thanks to a 6-4-3 double play by a middle infielder supposed to solve all our offensive woes… The Knights took until the sixth inning to get another base hit, an Ellwood single, but left him on base. Nick Fox reached with a 2-out infield single in the seventh, but the Knights just had Villegas make the final out. Lonzo meanwhile hit a leadoff single in the eighth, then was doubled up by Nye for the second time in the game.

100 pitches brought Riddle exactly through eight innings, still holding the 2-2 tie from the first, and having allowed just three hits beyond that initial battering. Angel Perez opened the ninth with a single to center, was run for by Joey Christopher, and… nothing happened. Ricky Herrera then pitched a scoreless ninth to give everybody free baseball after nine innings were completed. The Coons were up against Alldred in the ninth and tenth, where Joel Starr started with a single to left in Ricky Herrera’s place, then reached third on Brass’ following single. But now, boys! Lonzo was unretired in the game… at least until he grounded out to Acosta, who scared Starr back to third base and then still had time to throw out Lonzo at first base. Nick Nye was walked with intent with no obvious double play to **** into available anymore, and then Cas drew an unintentional walk with the parking lot occupied with runners we just couldn’t seem to club home. That scored a run by definition, and ended Alldred’s day in favor of righty Joe Napier. We could not bat for Maresh in the #5 hole, though, since we were out of catchers, but his fly to Danny Munn in right was good enough for a sac fly at least, and then Caballero singled home one more run. Kozak grounded out to second to end the inning, and the Knights went in order against Matt Walters. 5-2 Critters. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Gonzales 2-4; Starr (PH) 1-1; Riddle 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

April 15 – In a game with five separate innings of four or more runs by either team, the Cyclones out-slug the Miners for a 16-11 win. CIN INF Rich Monck (.348, 3 HR, 12 RBI) goes yard twice for four RBI, with as many RBI on the other side for 2B/SS Adam DeRosia (.353, 1 HR, 6 RBI), who is a triple shy of the cycle.
April 16 – SFB CL Ryan Dow (0-1, 5.06 ERA, 3 SV) locks down an 8-6 game against the Aces for his 300th career save. The Bayhawks are the fifth different team Dow has closed games for regularly, with most of his saves coming with the Capitals in the early 2050s. He is 61-66 with a 3.21 ERA for his 13-year career.
April 16 – Indians INF Matt Kilday (.396, 0 HR, 5 RBI) has an RBI single in a 6-2 win against the Loggers, extending a hitting streak begun in the previous decade to 20 games.
April 23 – A week later, IND INF Matt Kilday (.386, 0 HR, 7 RBI) has the hitting streak up to 25 games with a late single in a 12-1 rout loss against the Bayhawks.
April 23 – DEN SP Raul Ontiveros (2-2, 3.00 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Blue Sox, striking out five in the 5-0 win.
April 23 – RIC LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.328, 3 HR, 12 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits, including a homer, in a 17-8 beating of the Stars.
April 23 – SFW LF/RF John Kaniewski (.265, 2 HR, 9 RBI) hits a walkoff single for a 13-inning, 1-0 win of the Warriors against the Cyclones, and on the first pitch offered by fresh reliever Mike Dean (1-0, 7.20 ERA).
April 24 – The Pacifics get 2-hit in a shutout pitched by TOP SP Austin Wilcox (2-0, 1.45 ERA). Topeka wins, 6-0.
April 24 – The Titans’ only hit in a 4-1 loss to the Aces is a solo homer by INF Diego Mendoza (.310, 2 HR, 6 RBI) off LVA SP Steve Hunter (1-0, 1.13 ERA), a 27-year-old making his first start in the ABL.
April 25 – The Aces lose established starter Ray Benner (0-1, 6.75 ERA) for the season due to a tear in his labrum.
April 26 – MIL SP Julian Dunn (3-0, 2.37 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Condors in a 3-0 win.
April 26 – The hitting streak of Indy’s Matt Kilday (.377, 0 HR, 8 RBI) ends at 26 games with a hitless 0-for-3 against the Bayhawks, who again rout the Indians, 11-1.

FL Player of the Week (2): PIT 1B Kevin Price (.326, 2 HR, 7 RBI), batting .429 (12-28) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week (2): NYC OF Sean Zeiher (.362, 3 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .379 (11-29) with 3 HR, 18 RBI

FL Player of the Week (3): DAL 3B/1B Dan Sandoval (.324, 2 HR, 14 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week (3): MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.349, 0 HR, 6 RBI), batting .478 (11-23) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

18 RBI for Sean Zeiher in that second week, 25 of those against the silly Coons.

The wins leaders for those silly Coons, by the way, were DeRose and Herrera. RICKY Herrera of course, the left-handed reliever of god’s kingdom, not something BASIC like BOBBY Herrera, some leftover starter…!

Oh boy. Somehow we manage to both have a pile of .300+ hitters and yet no runs on the board, the team sitting tenth in markers after three weeks, with a flat four runs per game. Wouldn’t be that terrible if the rotation didn’t have a 4.98 ERA, also in the bottom three in the league…

At least Lonzo still seems to function properly after a rough first week, but he’s now hitting .278 with five stolen bases in six attempts, which sounds like old Lonzo again. I think Cristiano heard that in Portland and will now push his wheelchair all the way from Portland to San Francisco to talk to me about Nick Fowler’s 50-points-better OPS+ *in person* before it’s too late.

After that San Francisco series to start the new week the Raccoons will return home to play the Loggers and Indians in a 7-game homestand.

Fun Fact: Trent “Leadoff” Brassfield has a .500 OBP after three weeks.

15 walks in 78 plate appearances, which is better than Christopher (11 walks in 75 PA). Even Cas has more walks than Joe-Chris, who would still be a pretty good leadoff man if he could hit just a *little* bit. He doesn’t have to hit .300 to be useful leading off. But .250 would be very nice, thank you.