[Westheim]

Raccoons (43-38) vs. Crusaders (45-37) - July 3-6, 2062

The busy week with not one but two 4-game series crammed into it began with a set against the Crusaders, who were scoring the most runs in the league, but were having only average pitching and a creaky defense. They had a +30 run differential (Coons: +38), but no injuries, while the Raccoons were as broken as they were, and still had Brassfield day-to-day on the roster. We had a 3-1 edge in the season series, with eight games played between these teams in the next two weeks.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (7-5, 3.03 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (8-5, 3.66 ERA)
Nick Robinson (9-4, 2.92 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (3-5, 3.41 ERA)
Angel Alba (6-7, 2.94 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (10-5, 3.76 ERA)
Chance Fox (4-5, 3.95 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (7-6, 3.35 ERA)

Only righty pitching lined up by New York here.

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – LF Austin – CF Branch – 1B McLaughlin – RF A. Romero – 2B Onelas – 3B B. Anderson – P Luera
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – C Perez – CF Crumble – LF Kozak – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera remained not sharp and gave up a 2-run homer to Alex Romero in the second inning, in between a Jared McLaughlin single and Marcos Onelas’ double. The Raccoons answered though, and weirdly enough through Jack Kozak again, who whacked his second homer of the year, a 2-out, 2-piece in the same inning after Sowell led off with a single.

For Tipsy Bobby, it was long count after long count though, with over 60 pitches on his ledger through four innings. In a bid to offer some relief, he gave himself a lead with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 4th, beating the vertical available to Onelas for a looper into shallow right-center. Malik Crumble scored from second base on that play. Fowler, who had been walked intentionally, and Herrera were stranded when Christopher struck out, though. Herrera then fought through a tedious, chewy, endless ninth inning, around a Bobby Anderson double, and somehow ached through five innings, but it took him over *90* pitches, and got two more outs from right-handers Aubrey Austin and Tommy Branch in the top 6th – including Austin hitting a searing rocket right at Christopher – before the last out of the sixth was collected by Ricky H., who was then hit for with Jim White for no greater gains in the bottom of the inning. Murdock held the 3-2 lead in the seventh, even though he walked Sean Zeiher on four pitches to get going, and Omar Sanchez added a single. Matt McLaren ended the inning with a K though, the first at-bat in which Murdock looked semi-competent. Austin then opened the eighth with a single off Murdock, but Branch whiffed. Rocco struck out McLaughlin upon replacement, then got taken deep by the pinch-hitting Pedro Gonzales to flip the score…

There was no immediate reaction from the Critters in the eighth inning, but after a scoreless ninth from Pohlmann, Nick Fox batted for that right-hander and doubled to right against Jason Rhodes, bringing the winning run to the dish with nobody out in the bottom 9th. Christopher singled, and they were on the corners. Now, watch closely, Honeypaws. Choke job coming…! Lonzo indeed popped out, but Joel Starr ticked a single to center, and that tied the score at four. Sowell whiffing and Perez grounding out sent the game to extras… and DeRose. But McLaren grounded out to first and then DeRose struck out two in the tenth, so that was nice enough. Malik Crumble led off the bottom 10th with an infield single. And that was as far as we got. Thunder clapped, lightning flashed, and the game went to a hasty weather delay from which it didn’t emerge anymore that night.

Ya, because we needed more disruption to our pitching staff…!

At this point we summoned a couple of scrubs (Sensabaugh f.e.) to Portland from St. Pete that would be activated in case the resumption of the game on Tuesday would take longer than welcome.

It got even wickeder on the New York side, as the Crusaders traded Joel Luera (8-5, 3.71 ERA) – the starter of the suspended game – to the Bayhawks for UT Jake Cline (.257, 3 HR, 25 RBI) and a prospect.

Game 1 (resumed)
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – LF Austin – CF Branch – 1B McLaughlin – P Rhodes – 2B Onelas – 3B B. Anderson – RF B. Quinteros
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – P DeRose – C Perez – CF Crumble – LF Kozak – 2B Fowler – 3B N. Fox

The game resumed with Rhodes still pitching, Crumble on first base, one out, and an 0-1 count Fowler. On the first pitch of the resumed contest, Crumble stole second base. Fowler whiffed, though, and Nick Fox grounded out to Sanchez, ending the inning. DeRose resumed pitching and didn’t allow anything in the 11th, then came up to bat after righty Alex Flores had walked Christopher and Starr in the bottom 11th, and one out. Brassfield was ready to pinch-hit here, but he HAD to get a hit, because our pitching situation was *not* good if this game went much longer. The move was made, Brassfield fanned miserably with snodder dangling from his pokey black nose, and Perez grounded out kill the inning for good. The tie instead was broken in the 12th on Walters, who allowed a single to Sanchez, who stole second, an error by Fowler with two outs, and then a balk by Walters to wave Sanchez home from third base… The Raccoons produced nothing of value against Flores in the bottom of the inning. 5-4 Crusaders. Christopher 2-5, BB; Sowell 2-5; Crumble 3-6; DeRose 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Well, ****.

No roster moves were made in between games, but we needed a good one from Robinson now…

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Cline – RF Austin – CF Branch – 1B McLaughlin – 3B B. Anderson – LF Weir – C P. Gonzales – P Musgrave
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – LF Crumble – CF Oley – C Arellano – 3B Fowler – P Robinson

Portland went up in the first inning of the scheduled game. Lonzo was nicked by Musgrave on an 0-2 pitch, stole his 25th base, and then scored on Sowell’s 2-out single. The Crusaders had nothing against Robinson for two innings, then piled on four singles and two runs in the third inning when Hector Weir and Gonzales got on base to get going, and then scored on Sanchez’ sac fly and Cline’s first hit as a Crusaders. Austin also hit a 2-out single, but Branch then struck out. Same inning, Robinson opened the home half with a K looking, but Christopher then whacked a double, and Musgrave hit Lonzo with an 0-2 pitch *again*. The Coons, somewhat miffed, engaged in a double steal, Gonzales’ throw was high, and that was the 700th career steal for Lonzo! The scoreboard went berserk, but for actual runs the Coons would only get the tying run home on a pair of groundouts by Starr and Sowell. The third member of the 700 steals club was left on third base.

Robinson threw 74 pitches through five, allowing no hits outside that third inning, and whiffing five, then opened the bottom 5th with a single to left, but couldn’t get any help with the offense. He was forced out by Lonzo after Christopher made a meek out, and Lonzo was caught stealing, getting too greedy out there. Bottom 6th, the Raccoons then somehow filled up the bases against Musgrave, which involved an error by Sanchez. With two outs, Fowler zinged a grounder up the middle, over the bag, and drove in Starr and Crumble to get up 4-2. Even better, Robinson ran a full count, then rushed a single past Cline that sent Arellano around to score, 5-2, and knocked out Musgrave! Left-hander Pedro Mendoza then provoked the Coons to bat Kozak for Christopher, which led to a bases-filling walk. Lonzo added a clean single to left and drove in a run, but the inning ended with Starr striking out. Mendoza allowed another run in the seventh; Sowell and Oley hit singles to go to the corner, and Arellano’s fly to center was good for a sac fly.

The Raccoons then squeezed every ounce of blood out of Robinson, pressing him for 108 pitches and eight innings before relenting on the guy. The Crusaders did not reach in those last two innings, though. Middleton handled the Crusaders in order in the ninth. 7-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, RBI; Sowell 2-4, RBI; White (PH) 1-1; Robinson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (10-4) and 2-3, RBI;

The pen needed that, but it wasn’t like we were all rested and cozy on Wednesday, either. Sensabaugh remained on standby while Angel Alba would go out there to mess with the Crusaders.

Maud, maybe I should start drinking before the game, I feel like I’ll need it.

Day off for Lonzo on Wednesday, and probably Sowell on Thursday. Brass was back in the lineup at least after getting that snot all picked out of his fur by Wednesday.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – CF Branch – 1B McLaughlin – LF Cline – 2B Onelas – 3B Webler – P Seiter
POR: LF Crumble – SS White – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – RF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Oley – 3B N. Fox – P Alba

Wednesday saw a first-inning solo home run by Joel Starr to get the Coons on top, and then we waited for Alba to blow that because we sure were not threatening much after that. Alba had constant traffic on base, scattering six hits through five innings and running up that pitch count (…), before allowing another single to McLaughlin in the sixth, and a walk to Cline. With two outs, John Webler’s 2-out single on a 2-2 pitch tied the game at one. Seiter flew out to center to strand the other two runners, but Alba was also done after 113 pitches in six messy innings – not exactly what we had been looking for – and would get a no-decision.

The Raccoons decided on giving the ball to Pohlmann for three innings and close up shop in the pen behind him. He entered with Christopher in a double switch, Brass sitting down after making the last out in the sixth. Pohlmann made it for eight outs before piling up Sanchez and McLaren on 2-out hits, and Austin with a four-pitch walk, in the top 9th, and still in a tied game. Begrudgingly, the Critters brought Murdock, who popped out Tommy Branch in foul ground to Nick Fox to strand another bazillion runners for New York. Alex Flores got the ball for New York in the bottom 9th, with Sowell leading off. Him, Lonzo, and Perez went in order, and the game went to extras, exactly what we didn’t need. Matt Walters went 1-2-3 in the 10th inning on mostly loud contact right at people as he started to live up to that grim scouting report, and Flores put Christopher and Crumble on the corners with two outs, on a walk and single, respectively. Jim White’s grounder to short kept the game going, and then he made an error at short to get the New Yorkers going in the 11th, putting Pedro Almaguer on with one out. And Walters just didn’t have anything. He walked Sanchez, and then Starr made ANOTHER error to load the bases against the other New York catcher… Aubrey Austin singled in two runs to clinch the W for New York. Starr singled against Kody Mello to begin the bottom 11th, but was doubled up by Sowell. Kozak chucked a pinch-hit double, then scored on a Perez single, 3-2. Oley singled, too. Fox’ pop to short ended the game. 3-2 Crusaders. White 2-5; Starr 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1, 2B; Perez 3-5, RBI; Pohlmann 2.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

This is only getting worse and worse.

The Crusaders kept wheeling, dealing OF Tommy Branch (.226, 13 HR, 46 RBI) to the Buffos between games, acquiring SP Josh Barcellona (6-5, 4.14 ERA). Lee remained the Thursday starter, though.

Game 4
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Cline – RF Austin – 1B McLaughlin – LF Zeiher – C McLaren – 3B B. Anderson – CF Weir – P E. Lee
POR: CF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – RF Christopher – 2B White – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox

The Raccoons kept needing good starts, but they got Chance Fox, and Chance Fox burned the ballpark down. He walked two in the second inning, then gave up extra-base smashes to the 7-8 batters Bobby Anderson and Hector Weir, and managed to allow another walk to Sanchez in a 3-run second inning, and that was before the Crusaders added another run on Sean Zeiher and Anderson hits in the third inning. At this point he had to wear it while getting smacked all around the ballpark, but even then he amounted to only five absolutely ***** innings, getting wiped for six runs on nine hits and four walks on a disgusting 110 pitches. The Coons had scattered four hits and two double plays for no runs in the first four innings, although when Jim White struck a leadoff triple in the bottom 5th, Fowler at least got him home with a grounder.

Middleton was thrown in for garbage relief, not that he was rested in any way to go multiple innings. In fact, he got only one out before the Crusaders sent him back to mommy, crying, with his pants down, as five of them beat him around for two hits, two walks, and two runs, with two more on base. Ricky Herrera boogied out of the inning with two grounders, but then got bopped by Weir and Sanchez for two hits and a run in the seventh as his career kept disintegrating. DeRose had to dig him out, making him unavailable for the double header, while Lee, up 9-1, stumbled a bit in the bottom 7th. He walked Christopher, allowed a triple to Jim White, and then served up a homer to Fowler. DeRose was supposed to get the game over with, but completely ran out of anything resembling juice in the ninth inning, walking the bags full with one out. No runs were charged to him as the Coons burned Rocco and got a double play grounder from Sean Zeiher to crawl out of the inning, and the game. 9-4 Crusaders. Starr 2-3, BB, 2B; White 2-4, 2 3B, RBI;

This… This is how a dying team plays.

The collapse was real.

Raccoons (44-41) vs. Loggers (43-41) – July 7-9, 2062

The two bottom teams in the CL North (yes, still!) were up for a 4-game set in three days with the Raccoons not knowing how to complete even ONE game on Friday at this point. The Loggers were up 6-2 in the season series, too, and brought in the #4 hitting and #8 pitching. They had the worst pen by ERA, but we were giving it a go to relief them there. They also had spotty pitching to deal with, having Bob Ruggiero and Oliver Graham out injured, as well as outfielder Scott Franks.

Projected matchups:
John Bollinger (2-2, 5.26 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (6-5, 3.84 ERA)
TBD vs. Jake Frensley (7-5, 3.69 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-5, 3.04 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (0-1, 17.18 ERA)
Nick Robinson (10-4, 2.88 ERA) vs. Jesus Hinojosa (7-5, 3.96 ERA)

We LITERALLY didn’t know who would pitch the nightcap in the Friday double header. We had no fewer than THREE AAA pitchers sitting around in Portland, but off the roster, as Friday began: Sensabaugh, Jose Rosa, and for giggles, the old 11th rounder Brad Loveless. There was a good chance that Bollinger would get yoinked off the roster after his start in the first leg of the double header – regardless of the result – and that Rosa would start the second game with Sensabaugh for garbage relief.

There was just as well a good chance that I would club them all to ******* death if they kept tossing like this.

The Loggers, who were having a 2-12 meltdown but had won against the Elks on Thursday, looked like they would only bring right-handers against us.

Game 1
MIL: CF Merrill – RF Whetstine – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – C Waker – 3B D. Miller – 2B Gilliam – LF Reder – P L. Wilson
POR: CF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – LF Brassfield – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Bollinger

The only hits the first time through were solo homer by Malik Crumble in the first and Tristan Waker in the second, and the game was thus tied at one. Bollinger was pitching for his life and relatively efficient, when even a complete game might not save his roster spot, but I appreciated the effort while having steam come out my fuzzy ears over the *********** of a pitching staff. I was so annoying that even Slappy moved one cushion further away on the trusty brown couch.

Brass and Christopher got on base to begin the bottom 4th for Portland. Perez grounded out, moving the runners into scoring position for Fowler, who was walked with intent. Bollinger lined out to Fidel Carrera and Crumble grounded out, and no runs were scored. Bollinger didn’t allow a hit after the Waker waker until the sixth inning, when Wilson singled to center against him, but then was doubled up 4-6-3 by Jonathan Merrill to end the inning. Waker singled in the seventh after Bollinger clipped Dave Robles with two outs, but the runners were stranded on Danny Miller’s groundout to Fowler. Bollinger, who was on *71* pitches through seven, even led off the bottom of that inning. …and he singled off left-hander Vincent Hernandez! Crumble hit another single, sending Bollinger with the go-ahead run to second base. The 2-3-4 made ****** outs, however, and the runners were left in scoring position.

Instead the Raccoons got two outs from Bollinger to begin the eighth before he gave up a double to Jake Jackson in the #9 hole, an RBI single to Merrill, who stole second base, and then another RBI single to PH Ralph Lange. And that was that. Middleton had a scoreless ninth, while the Raccoons had not gotten on base in the eighth. They were up against right-hander Alex Diaz in the bottom 9th. Fowler was nicked to lead off before Kozak and Crumble made meek outs. Lonzo hit a 2-out single to put the tying run on base and bring up Starr with a shot to end the game as a winner after all. Starr’s fly to right was of the lame duck variety, though, and the Raccoons dropped another game. 3-1 Loggers. Crumble 3-5, HR, RBI; Bollinger 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L (2-3);

And with that, Bollinger (2-3, 4.81 ERA) was off the roster, falling to a roster squeeze after making his first six career starts. Up was Jose Rosa, who had made a single start for the Raccoons in 2060, pitching 6.2 innings without allowing an earned run (but walking five) for a no-decision. DeRose (1-0, 3.50 ERA) was also optioned to AAA to make room for a different punching bag that had come over from the Crusaders in the Kennedy Adkins deal at the 2057 deadline.

Game 2
MIL: CF Merrill – RF Whetstine – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – 3B D. Miller – 2B Gilliam – C Jack – LF Reder – P Frensley
POR: RF Christopher – SS White – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – LF Brassfield – 3B N. Fox – CF Oley – C Arellano – P Rosa

Single, single, triple, sac fly – the Loggers had a 3-0 lead by the time they made their first out, then got Danny Miller to draw a walk and J.P. Jack to chuck an RBI double for a fourth run off Rosa, who fooled absolutely nobody. Dave Robles hit a 1-out single in the third inning, then raced around to score on a Danny Miller double to center. Miller was tagged out *and* injured on the play, hitting second base awkwardly and spraining his ankle before nosediving in the kitty litter behind the bag in agony, where Jim White casually tagged him out. Ralph Lange replaced him as Miller went to the DL.

The Coons made the scoreboard in the bottom 3rd. Arellano and Christopher took to the corners with singles, and Frensley plated the catcher with a wild pitch while Joel Starr plated Joe-Chris with a 2-out RBI single to left. Sowell flew out to left-center to keep the score at 5-2.

The Coons got only five innings out of Rosa before plonking in Sensabaugh’s sorry bum. He immediately gave up a run in the sixth, 6-2, with Jack singling to lead off, a walk issued to Phil Reder, and after a bunt, a sac fly by Merrill. Chad Whetstine struck out to keep Reder on base. And when the Coons got Sowell and Brass on base to begin the bottom 6th, Nick Fox right away chopped into a double play…

Bottom 7th, and Arellano led off with a single to center. Batting ninth was Lonzo, who had already pinch-hit for Rosa earlier and had remained at short, with Sensabaugh in the #2 hole. Lonzo slapped a ball to deep center that Merrill had no whiff at, and it fell for an RBI triple! Christopher’s RBI single to left-center narrowed it to 6-4, and ejected Frensley from the game for righty Matt Pickel. Sensabaugh was retained to bunt, but Starr only drew a walk and Sowell and Brassfield were less useful than a wooden spoon, leaving the tying runs on base with meek outs. And for what? For Sensabaugh to shuffle the bags full with nobody out in the eighth, then give up a bases-clearing triple to Merrill. He hung around to finish the inning (what more was there to take away but the whiff of a comeback and whatever fraction of a soul I had left?), and Fox and Oley opened the bottom 8th by getting on base against Ricky Pippin. The right-hander got Arellano to fly out to center, but gave up an RBI single to Lonzo, then was yoinked for lefty Michael McLaughlin. Crumble batted for Christopher and got another run in with a single. Kozak hit for Sensabaugh, but flew out to right. Joel Starr hit a fly to deep right… but not deep enough and that was also caught… Thankfully Maud brought in a fresh bucket of muffins just before I could fit the hot end of the blunderbuss in my snout. Pohlmann had a clean inning (!), but Brass’ walk off McLaughlin stood alone in the bottom 9th and the Raccoons cashed another loss. 9-6 Loggers. Christopher 2-4, RBI; Crumble (PH) 1-1, RBI; Arellano 2-4; Lavorano 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI;

Rosa (0-1, 9.00 ERA) and Sensabaugh (0-0, 12.00 ERA), who was lucky that one could only assess pitchers one loss per game, were immediately purged off the roster that same night. Rosa had options, and Sensabaugh had cleared waivers 50 times before, and I didn’t give a wet paw print whether he did so for a 51st time or not.

We obviously didn’t need another starter with the All Star break almost upon us, so we called up Bryan Erickson and Brad Loveless to make up the numbers in the pen for the next two days. At least the last two games before break went to Tipsy Bobby and Robinson, the only two starters I would trust with my fuzzy tail (if not my muffin).

Game 3
MIL: CF Merrill – 3B Lange – 1B D. Robles – C Waker – 2B Wall – SS Gilliam – RF Ja. Jackson – LF Reder – P Pizzichini
POR: CF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Sowell – LF Brassfield – C Perez – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera

Tipsy Bobby promptly got romped for three runs in the first inning, giving up leadoff hits to Merrill and Lange, a sac fly to Waker, and a 2-run homer to Josh Wall. (drops the scorecard and picks up the Capt’n Coma) The Raccoons then answered with four hits and the tying run in the bottom 1st, but just to be sure I remained with the bottle. Christopher singled, moved to second on a grounder by Lonzo, then scored on Starr’s RBI single. Brass and Perez both ripped RBI doubles with two outs, and Christopher hit a long fly that Reder caught on the run to end the inning.

Things calmed down briefly after that, but Josh Wall completed the hard half of the cycle with a triple and scored on Tyler Gilliam’s groundout in the fourth inning to get Milwaukee on top again. Portland answered immediately again. Christopher singled and stole second to begin the bottom 4th. Fowler grounded out, but Bobby H. dropped an RBI single into right, and Crumble hammered a home run to left to take a 6-4 lead and end Pizzichini’s day.

While Bobby H. was trying to gut it out as good as he could, but looked far from pretty, the Raccoons would extend their lead in the fifth with a Perez homer off McLaughlin, and in the sixth when Bobby singled and scored on Starr’s 2-out double. Herrera went into the seventh, but there gave up a leadoff single to Gilliam, who came around to score on a pinch-hit, 2-out single Whetstine hit off Loveless, who came in specifically for this pinch-hitter… and then gave up a leadoff jack to the switch-hitting Lange to begin the eighth after Merrill had made the third out by accident. This narrowed the lead down to 8-6, which became 8-7 when Gilliam homered off Walters in the ninth inning. That was the only base runner against Walters though. 8-7 Raccoons. Crumble 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

First save for Walters in almost three months!

This W ensured that all CL North teams would be over .500 at the All Star Game.

Nick Robinson was the team’s only All Star this year … but the Raccoons had to ask him to go on Sunday. Everything was *that* dire. This would prevent him from pitching in the All Star Game.

Game 4
MIL: CF Merrill – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – 3B Lange – RF Whetstine – 2B Wall – C Jack – P Hinojosa
POR: CF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – RF Christopher – 2B White – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson

The final game of this 25-day week saw both #1 hitters reach base in the first and then get doubled off by the #2 hitter on their own team. Joel Starr homered to right, though, and the Coons took a 1-0 lead. Robinson put two on before getting another double play from J.P. Jack in the second, but things remained hard. Corey Garmon doubled and Dave Robles homered in the third inning to flip the score the Loggers’ way. That same inning, Lonzo and Starr knocked 1-out hits off Hinojosa to put their tushes in scoring position and give me hope again, but we only got the tying run home on Brass’ groundout while Perez flew out to Garmon. There was a new chance in the bottom 4th though, which Christopher led off with a double to right before Hinojosa walked the bags full. Robinson batted with three on and nobody out, which was a good start for the three on, no out curse to slap us right across the snout, except that he fit a grounder over second base and right through between Carrera and Wall for an RBI single, and we reclaimed the lead, 3-2! Crumble hit another station-to-station single, as did Starr, but Lonzo popped out to first in between. Brass then flicked an 0-2 single to left and drove in two runs with that, 7-2. That was the end for the Loggers’ starter, with Ricky Pippin taking the ball and conceding Starr’s run on a grounder hit by Perez to short. Joe-Chris flew out, capping a 6-run assault!

Clouds were moving in by the fifth inning and it looked like rain. However, Robinson went through six without major hiccups, got another run from Starr’s second homer of the game, but then was taken deep by Wall to begin the seventh and put Jack and Gilliam on base as well before being replaced. The Raccoons moved on to Murdock, who wrestled with the Loggers for two outs before the rain started coming down and sent the contest to a rain delay. For the second game this week, the Coons did not pick up a game again from a rain delay, but this time the game was called and we got a cheap W. 9-3 Raccoons. Crumble 2-4, RBI; Starr 4-4, 2 HR, 2B, 3 RBI; White 1-2, BB; N. Fox 1-2, BB;

In other news

July 4 – Indians CL Cody Kleidon (1-3, 1.63 ERA, 25 SV) will miss a month with shoulder tendinitis.
July 4 – The Loggers’ SP Oliver Graham (1-7, 6.50 ERA) has his season put to rest by shoulder inflammation.
July 5 – The Warriors score 11 runs in the fourth inning of a 17-3 rout against the Pacifics. SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.329, 6 HR, 26 RBI) goes 4-for-6 with a homer in that fourth inning, and four RBI in total.
July 7 – The Stars beat the Pacifics, 5-3 in 16 innings.
July 9 – IND SP Kelly Whitney (10-5, 3.90 ERA) 2-hits the Canadiens for a 4-0 shutout, while striking out ten batters.
July 9 – Boston acquires MR Nick Leigh (3-3, 3.33 ERA) from the Pacifics for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.331, 7 HR, 31 RBI), batting .407 (11-27) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LAP/NYC UT Jake Cline (.272, 5 HR, 29 RBI), bashing .600 (12-20) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I aged six years this week. Great time for a few days off.

When play will resume, the Raccoons will not need a fifth starter until the second week and the third station of their 3-city road trip to New York, Elk City, and Oklahoma. We’ll probably look for a replacement for Loveless and then give Freddy Castillo a look. The lefty had turned 26 by now, the ERA was no longer under three in AAA either, but Bollinger had shown his cards, and his cards had mainly been sixes and fours and the like, and none of the same suit.

It was also the season of the international free agent frenzy. The Raccoons had so far spent $64k on a pair of third-rate outfielders, and we were really only after one other guy in a rather meh field of 16-year-olds. That third guy was a 16-year-old Aussie right-hander, Glen Vankrimpen, who looked like a promising groundballer. The bidding was just under $300k on him right now, and we were still far away from the soft cap.

Fun Fact: There was never a better timing for the All Star Game.

(rolls into a ball on the trusty brown couch)

+++

This week took north of four hours to play. I need to *actually* roll into a ball now.