[Westheim]

Raccoons (12-11) vs. Indians (12-13) – May 5-8, 2064

Indy sat eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed, with a -9 run differential (Critters: +1), and came in for a 4-game series as the Raccoons slogged through their monthlong ordeal without an off day. The Indians were almost offensively average in every major statistic. SP Blake Sparks was still on the DL from a Tommy John procedure he had in ’63, but apart from that they had no injuries to complain about.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (0-1, 4.55 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (1-2, 5.14 ERA) vs. Justin DeRose (1-2, 3.94 ERA)
Angel Alba (0-3, 4.94 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (1-2, 5.76 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (3-2, 2.59 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (3-1, 4.01 ERA)

A southpaw, three right-handers, including two former Critters, and the lingering question whether anybody on this roster knew how to play the bloody game.

Rich Monck had a day off to begin the week.

Game 1
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 2B J. White – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – 3B M. Martin – RF Lovins – LF G. Lujan – SS Cirelli – P R. Pritchard
POR: CF Kozak – RF Campos – 1B Starr – C Burkart – LF Valencia – 3B Morales – 2B Tallent – SS Novelo – P Fox

Pritchard walked three Coons in the first inning, but we only got one run when Bruce Burkart doubled home Marco Campos. After that Valencia and Morales also reached, but Randy Tallent grounded out to strand a full set. Another run came in the bottom 2nd when Novelo and Foxie Brown went to the corners with hits and Kozak bowled into a double play, but Novelo at least came home from third base. Campos then singled and was caught stealing to end the inning. The 2-0 lead was then thrown into the bin over the next two innings; Pritchard drove in Guillermo Lujan with a double to left in the third inning, and Alex Gomez took Fox deep to left in the fourth to get the teams even again.

Overall, Fox pitched quite tolerable through five innings, but then exploded in the sixth – again. Eddy Ramirez’ leadoff single, Jim White getting nicked, and Danny Starwalt coming back from 0-2 to draw a walk loaded the bases with nobody out and it was depression from there with Alex Gomez’ 2-run single and RBI singles by Lujan and Cirelli with two outs. The result was a 6-2 deficit that an inept offense could not possibly fix, regardless of the amount of scoreless relief that would be put up there by Kurihara (4 outs) and Mike Hall (5 outs). The Coons did not have a single base hit after the 4-run blow-up. 6-2 Indians. Burkart 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
IND: CF E. Ramirez – RF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – 3B M. Martin – LF McInnis – 2B J. White – SS G. Lujan – P DeRose
POR: RF Corral – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Burkart – CF Maldonado – 3B Morales – SS Aoki – P Applegate

DeRose seamlessly found back to his former Raccoons Ballpark success by giving up jacks to Corral and Monck in the first inning, the latter finding Starr on base for a quick 3-0 lead. But right in the next inning the Raccoons frittered away a leadoff double by Applegate and I immediately began waiting for the inevitable collapse. Another run was added in the third inning, though, when Aoki batted with one out and Burkart and Morales on the corners and grounded to White well enough that the Indians only got an out on Morales at second base and Burkart scored from third, 4-0. Similarly, Rich Monck found himself in a corners, one out situation in the fourth inning and grounded out to Lujan to get Kozak in with an unearned run from third base. Burkart then popped out, leaving Starr at second base.

The Indians had no base hits in four innings, but Matt McInnis took Appyjuice deep to right to start the top 5th to wipe that no-hitter off the board. It was the innocent-enough beginning of another blowout inning, but at least I had seen it coming, not that that made it hurt less. After the homer, White walked and Lujan singled. PH Steve Thompson grounded out to move the runners into scoring position. Ramirez’ RBI single and a wild pitch then scored the runners before Bryan Johnston drew another walk, Danny Starwalt singled, and Alex Gomez hit a ball over Elmer Maldonado’s head for a score-flattening, 2-run double. (buries face in paws)

Even at five, and with Jarod Morris being hustled out there again to see whether we could make his arm fall off soon, the Raccoons came up against Melvin Guerra in the bottom 6th. Novelo drew a walk in the #9 spot, having entered in a double switch with Morris, and after Corral whiffed, Kozak hit a single to right-center that Ramirez and Johnston between them “you take it – no YOU take it” played into extra bases, bringing up Starr with a pair in scoring position. He hit a 1-1 pop behind short that looked like another piss poor out, but Lujan going up ended up dropping the ball and the Raccoons got the go-ahead run to score that way. Monck’s long drive to right then wasn’t long enough for three, but for a sac fly at least, 7-5. Starr was left on base, same for Morales and Novelo and their pair of singles in the bottom 7th.

Top 8th, and with just seven pitches Juan Carrillo loaded the bases with two singles by Gomez and McInnis and nicking Matt Martin in between – and nobody out. Vinny Atencio batted for White at this point, which prompted a move to McDaniel, who rung up two lefty pinch-hitters in Atencio and Chris Lovins, but in between allowed an RBI single to the equally left-handed Lujan. Up by one with two out and three on, the Raccoons made another move to have Jesse Dover face Eddy Ramirez, resulting in a full count and eventually a 2-run single through the hole between Novelo and Morales… (screams into pillow) … then, in the bottom of the same inning, three different Indians pitchers loaded the bases with Kozak, Monck, and Burkart until Jeff Caldwell faced Elmer Maldonado with one out. He grounded out to first, allowing the tying run to score again, getting even at eight, before Vic Morales plainly whiffed.

Dover finished regulation with the 8-8 tie intact, but the Coons only got Novelo on base and he was caught stealing in the bottom 9th, sending the game into overtime where Jon McGinley struck out the side in the tenth inning, including the pitcher Caldwell since the Indians were outta sticks (while the Coons were soon outta arms). After the Raccoons’ 2-3-4 made embarrassing outs against Caldwell in the bottom 10th, Eddy Ramirez took McGinley deep in the 11th to break the tie. Cody Kleidon saved the game for Indy then with another 1-2-3 inning. 9-8 Indians. Corral 2-6, HR, RBI; Monck 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Morales 3-6; Novelo 1-2, BB;

Slappy, I think we’ll need to organize some One-Eyed Jack’s soon. This Capt’n Coma barely mulls the pain of watching them.

Game 3
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – C Atencio – 1B Starwalt – LF Lovins – RF B. Johnston – 2B M. Weber – SS J. White – P Pichardo
POR: RF Corral – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Burkart – CF Maldonado – 3B Morales – SS Aoki – P Alba

Ramirez’ leadoff triple and a sharp groundout by Martin gave the Indians a near-instant 1-0 lead on Wednesday, and they seemed to be making obnoxiously loud contact off Alba overall. After a few rough early innings he seemed to settle in though, and struck out five in as many frames while keeping the score close, although he did that for a team that had no base knocks against Pichardo through five. Pichardo struck out four and once struck Monck with a breaking ball for the Critters’ only base runner.

Top 6th, and an Aoki error put Martin on base to begin the inning. Atencio promptly doubled for a pair in scoring position with nobody out before Alba reached back, struck out Starwalt, and then got infield pops from Lovins and Johnston to stall the Indians’ attempt to tack on. The following inning, *another* Aoki error, this time for two bases, and a pinch-hit single by Alex Gomez in place of Ramirez brought a second Indians run across. Martin hit another 2-out single before Alba got out of the inning. Pichardo meanwhile had not put anybody on base since nicking Monck, but walked Starr and Burkart in the seventh. However, Maldonado flew out to Johnston in right to keep them on base. Alba needed over 100 pitches through seven and was replaced with Mike Hall, who immediately ****** another run onto the board, allowing three singles in the top 8th, two to lefty hitters. Vic Morales then drew a leadoff walk off Pichardo, but was doubled off by Aoki, who was having some sorta game. Tallent grounded out in Hall’s place to complete eight. Pichardo, on 92 pitches, was then up against the top of the order in the ninth, but lost the no-hitter to Jose Corral, who lobbed a single over the head of Mike Weber. Pichardo still faced Kozak, who flew out, then yielded for Kleidon against the pair of left-handed thumpers. Kleidon nicked Starr on base, bringing up Monck as the tying run, but he popped out. Burkart’s scratch single loaded the bases. Marco Campos then pinch-hit for Maldonado and with the tying runs all assembled on base, swatted away at the first pitch by Kleidon; the zinger went past Martin at third base and up the line and into the corner! Corral scored! Starr scored! Burkart was waved around and scored! Tied ballgame!!?? Better yet, after the Indians changed pitchers to Bob West, Morales drove home Campos with a walkoff single…! 4-3 Blighters! Campos (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Alba 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K;

So, Cristiano? Any smug opinions about how they pulled that one outta their tush?

Nope, nobody saw that one coming!

Kozak and Morales got days off on Thursday.

Game 4
IND: CF E. Ramirez – RF B. Johnston – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – 3B M. Martin – LF McInnis – 2B J. White – SS G. Lujan – P Carreno
POR: RF Corral – LF Campos – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Maldonado – C Arellano – 3B Tallent – SS Aoki – P Riddle

The Raccoons had three singles and no runs the first time through, while the Indians loaded the bases with Lujan, Ramirez, and Johnston in the third inning and got the 1-0 lead on Starwalt’s sac fly to center before Riddle struck out Alex Gomez. Riddle bled two more singles by McInnis and Jim White in the fourth, but then struck out the 8-9 batters to escape. Ramirez and Johnston only hit more singles to begin the fifth, though, and a wild pitch and Starwalt’s sac fly to right gave Indy a 2-0 lead, both on their first-sacker’s sac flies.

After the three early singles off Carreno, the Coons had nothing the second time through until Carreno walked Starr with one out in the bottom 6th. Monck singled, sending Starr to third base, and when Maldonado grounded to short he managed to beat the throw to first base to stay out of the double play, allowing Starr to score and narrow the score to 2-1. Arellano singled to center after that, but Tallent had a liner being caught on a headlong dive by Eddy Ramirez to end the inning. That run was back on the board real quick, too, as the Indians got a pinch-hit single from Steve Thompson to knock out Riddle in the seventh, and then Kurihara was ***** again, allowed another single to Johnston, and then plated Riddle’s run with a wild pitch. Nothing came of doubles by Valencia in the bottom 7th and Martin in the top 8th (off McDaniel). Ernesto Rios and Bob West then retired the remaining Raccoons in order in the last two innings. 3-1 Indians. Starr 1-2, 2 BB; Arellano 2-4; Valencia (PH) 1-2, 2B;

Arf.

Raccoons (13-14) @ Buffaloes (16-13) – May 9-11, 2064

The Raccoons arrived in Topeka without Angel Alba, who had developed a flu by Thursday evening and was not scheduled to pitch in the series anyway, and so was left at home before he could spread the plague to everybody. Meeting up with them were the Buffaloes, who had a narrow lead in the FL East despite a -4 run differential and at-best average performance in most major statistics (bit like the 2063 Coons!), and that wasn’t even beginning to cut with their 4.81 starters’ ERA. These teams hadn’t met in *seven* years, and the Raccoons had not won a series from the Buffos for *20* years…!

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (3-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Ben Karst (1-2, 5.93 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-3, 6.23 ERA) vs. Pablo Lara (1-4, 7.76 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (1-2, 5.81 ERA) vs. Scott Carroll (1-2, 5.96 ERA)

The Buffos brought up their three worst starters by ERA, but only one of their three southpaws (Lara).

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – C Burkart – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – CF Maldonado – 3B Morales – SS Novelo – P Elling
TOP: CF Ambriz – 2B A. Rodriguez – RF Austin – 3B A. de los Santos – 1B M. Delgadillo – SS Buss – LF Branch – C Reyna – P Karst

Jose Ambriz hit a leadoff double in the first inning, but was thrown out trying to steal third base before an Aubrey Austin single to left-center would likely have scored him from second. The Coons were hitless the first time through, although Karst walked the bags full with Morales, Corral, and Burkart in the third inning, but then got Joel Starr to pop out to Alex de los Santos in foul ground… That was before the Buffos scored three unearned runs in the bottom 3rd. With two outs, Ambriz singled and Alex Rodriguez reached on an error by Morales. Aubrey Austin’s double and de los Santos’ single then ran up the tally on the scoreboard before Mario Delgadillo was out on a comebacker to Elling. When Kozak and Maldonado then found the first hits for the Critters in the top 4th, a pair of 1-out single, Morales also found our first double play of the series to kill the inning. In the fifth, Corral walked and Burkart doubled with two outs, but Starr struck out…..

The Coons then poured out five singles in the sixth inning, knocking out Karst partway through, and I know what you’re asking with your big black begging googly eyes; well, yes, but did they *score*? Yes, they scored two runs, Morales and Elling hitting RBI singles to plate Monck and Kozak, respectively, before Corral hit another single to fill the bags and Burkart popped out to short to leave on a full set in a 3-2 game. Against Justin Cullum in the seventh, another three singles by Monck, Maldonado, and Morales – the 3M? – brought in the tying run. Aoki then batted for an 0-for-3 Novelo against the right-hander and found a hole on the right side to fit another RBI single through and take the lead after merely 13 hits (12 singles) of trying. Elling, who still had pitches to go, then hit the hardest ball in a while, but flew out to Tommy Branch in deep left to end the inning.

Elling completed eight innings without allowing another run or more drama, while the Raccoons were silent in the eighth, but then put out more singles against Bill Hernandez in the ninth inning as Monck and Kozak dropped soft hits to begin the inning. Elmer Maldonado fired a streak over the second base bag then for an RBI single, 5-3. The remaining runners reached scoring position and Morales was walked intentionally, but Aoki then hit a comebacker for an out at the plate. Marcos Arellano batted for Elling and hit a pinch-hit sac fly, and Corral dropped another RBI single with two outs. Burkart raked an RBI double off new pitcher Joe Toth before Campos batted for an 0-5 Joel Starr and made the last out. Jesse Dover then ended the game in three batters. 8-3 Coons. Corral 3-5, BB, RBI; Burkart 2-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Monck 3-5; Kozak 3-5; Maldonado 3-5, RBI; Morales 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Aoki (PH) 1-2, RBI; Elling 8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (4-1) and 1-3, RBI;

18 base hits! Besides Burkart’s pair of doubles, all were singles.

Joel Starr had Saturday off, not only because of the 0-for-5 while everybody went out having fun, but also because we were up against a lefty and the opportunity was good.

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – CF Campos – 1B Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 3B Morales – LF Valencia – SS Novelo – P Fox
TOP: CF Ambriz – 2B A. Rodriguez – RF Austin – 3B A. de los Santos – SS Buss – LF Branch – 1B M. Delgadillo – C Reyna – P P. Lara

Hopes were modest for Fox facing a nearly all-right-handed lineup (minus Delgadillo and the pitcher) amid his monthlong struggles, but at least he held up long enough for the Raccoons to score the game’s first run in the third inning when Corral singled home Novelo, who had singled, been bunted over, and had advanced on a wild pitch. Campos then found a double play… Fox had two strikeouts against a hit and no walks through three, and while Aubrey Austin hit a double off him in the fourth, Fox kept him on base. Austin drew a leadoff walk his next time up, by which time we were in the bottom of the seventh, advanced on a groundout by de los Santos and then stinkingly scored on a Branch single to center with two outs. This tied the game at one; neither team had more than three base hits to show for on this Saturday.

That’s when Rafael Valencia and Pablo Novelo unwrapped the doubles, hitting a pair of them off Lara in the eighth to give the Raccoons and Foxie Brown a new 2-1 lead. Lusting for blood, the Coons sent Joel Starr to pinch-hit, but he grounded out, and Corral popped out to third base to keep Novelo stranded right there. Carrillo struck out the first two batters in the eighth inning before Jose Ambriz hit a ball over the wall with two outs – but on the bounce, and it only counted for a double! …until he scored after all when Corral then clunkered Rodriguez’ fly to right into an error, two bases, and the tying run. Corral caught the next rocket hit by Austin, but I was already plotting his demise in a stampede at that point…

Scoreless efforts by Kurihara and Buffos closer Justin Round in the ninth sent the game to extras, with Round adding another scoreless inning in the tenth. The Raccoons went to Jarod Morris, who probably wondered how many more innings he had to throw with a flat zero ERA before he’d get a whiff at starting over any of the dimwits currently employed. He got around a single in the bottom 10th to keep the game going. Bill Hernandez was up for the 11th and retired Novelo, behind him Randy Tallent was playing third base after some pinch-hitting and stuff, and who hit a 1-out single, then stole second base before Corral drove him in with a 2-out single to right-center. After Campos found another double play to stab it into, McGinley came out for the bottom 11th. The pesky Austin drew another 2-out walk, but de los Santos’ groundout ended the game and gave the Coons their first series win over the Buffos in decades. 3-2 Critters! Corral 3-5, 2 RBI; Tallent 1-1; Fox 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

Rafael Valencia (.182, 0 HR, 1 RBI) wound up on the waiver wire after this game to make room for … sigh… Todd Oley, who was hitting .279 in AAA at least…

Game 3
POR: RF Corral – C Burkart – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – CF Maldonado – 3B Morales – SS Aoki – P Applegate
TOP: CF Ambriz – 2B A. Rodriguez – RF Austin – 3B A. de los Santos – SS Buss – LF Branch – 1B M. Delgadillo – C Reyna – P S. Carroll

Scott Carroll walked Corral and departed with an injury, so that was that. The Buffos had to patch together nine innings with their pen now and started that exercise with Brett Lillis jr., an 8-year Critter, eight years removed, who gave up a 2-run homer to Joel Starr to potentially pin a tough-**** loss on Carroll, although against Applegate, Aubrey Austin already added a run to the scoreboard when he was doubled home by Alex de los Santos in the bottom 1st. In turn, Maldonado hit a leadoff single and scored on an Aoki triple into the corner in the top 2nd, 3-1. Applegate whiffed and Corral grounded out to abstain from scoring Aoki.

Bottom 3rd and Carroll got hope when Applegate walked leadoff batters Danny Hernandez and Jose Ambriz. Rodriguez flew out to Maldonado, who then threw away the ball that Austin singled on with one out. A run scored, 3-2, and the back runners reached scoring position. However, de los Santos’ pop and Buss’ fly out left the Buffos short again. Top 4th, Morales and Aoki were on base to start the inning, but Applegate bunted into a ****** out at third base and the Raccoons didn’t score. Same inning, Applegate offered another leadoff walk to Tommy Branch, then a 3-2 single to Delgadillo. Branch hurt himself sliding into third base and was replaced with another former Critter, Joey Christopher, but the Buffos had them on the corners with nobody out. Reyna singled to tie the game, Oscar Aredondo hit another single, and while Ambriz popped out on the infield, Rodriguez’ fly to right was deep enough to get the go-ahead run home. Corral also threw *that* ball away and the trail runners advanced into scoring position, both scoring on another single to right by Aubrey Austin, at which point it was 6-3 Buffaloes and bedtime for Applecore.

Morris took over pitching duties and Joel Starr shortened the score to 6-4 with a homer in the fifth, but Morris then fumbled an earned run on the board in return after 21 innings in mostly garbage relief without giving up an earned run to begin the season. Corral and Burkart produced another run with a pair of 2-out doubles off Justin Cullum in the sixth, 7-5, but a soft Starr single only moved Burkart to third base and Monck’s fly to right was caught by Austin to end the inning.

The Coons stirred again in the eighth when Bill Hernandez allowed singles to all of Todd Oley (sigh!), Corral, and Burkart, with one down. This time Starr grounded into an inning-ending double play…! Justin Round then retired Monck to begin the ninth before Kozak singled and Maldonado drew a walk to put the tying runs on base again. A shy single by Morales stuffed the bases, and Aoki poked a bouncer through between Jeff Buss and Alex Rodriguez to drive in a run and narrow the score to 7-6. Campos batted for the pitcher Kurihara, but before he could drive in the tying run, a wild pitch already plated Maldonado with it, leveling the score at seven apiece. Campos then grounded out poorly to keep the runners in scoring position pinned, but Corral got them home with a 2-out, 2-run single, breaking up Round in the process. Joe Toth had to find a way out of the inning, while the Raccoons handed a 9-7 lead to McGinley, who loaded the bases inside four batters in the bottom 9th as de los Santos doubled, Buss walked, and Delgadillo hit a 1-out single. Oh boy. Reyna singled in a run on a 3-2 pitch before Toth was a free out – the Buffos were entirely out of reserves. Ambriz ended the game – by also striking out. 9-8 Critters. Corral 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Burkart 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Starr 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Maldonado 3-4, BB; Morales 2-5; Aoki 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Oley (PH) 1-1; Morris 3.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

May 5 – PIT C Nick Dingman (.277, 5 HR, 12 RBI), the twice-defending FL home run champion, will have a harder time taking the power crown this year, since he’ll miss the next six weeks with a strained hammy.
May 5 – The Warriors beat the Pacifics, 10-6 in 15 innings. L.A. leads the game 6-0 through seven innings before blowing the lead in the last two innings and ends the game with eight goose eggs on offense.
May 6 – The hitting streak of DEN INF/LF Willie de Leon (.325, 0 HR, 11 RBI) ends after 21 games with a hitless appearance in a 5-3 win against the Stars.
May 7 – TOP 1B/LF/RF Aubrey Austin (.362, 3 HR, 15 RBI) reaches 2,500 career hits at 38 years old, going 3-for-4 in a 7-3 win against Richmond. Austin, who is hitting .291 with 267 homers and 1,249 RBI for his career, gets the milestone with a single off RIC MR Jesus Ordonez (0-0, 3.97 ERA).
May 7 – Cincy will be without RF/1B/LF John MacDonnell (.294, 2 HR, 4 RBI) for a month due to a case of shoulder tendinitis.
May 8 – SAC RF/LF Juan de Luna (.219, 3 HR, 4 RBI) calls it quits on a 16-inning game against the Wolves with a walkoff homer that gives the Scorpions a 4-3 win.
May 9 – BOS SP Jason Brenize (4-0, 0.98 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves in a 7-0 shutout, whiffing eight.
May 9 – The Bayhawks take a big hit with elbow tendinitis putting 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.294, 7 HR, 18 RBI) on the DL for up to two months. To add insult to injury, the same day the Bayhawks blow a 9-3 lead against the Gold Sox in the last two innings for a 10-9 loss.
May 10 – SFB SP Jon Mendosa (1-3, 7.67 ERA) is diagnosed with a flayed flexor tendon in his elbow and is expected to miss a full year on the sidelines.

FL Player of the Week: CIN OF Melvin Avila (.337, 2 HR, 19 RBI), batting .652 (15-23) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR RF/LF Jose Corral (.284, 2 HR, 13 RBI), hitting .414 (12-29) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Jose Corral stole on there, or he’s lucky that D doesn’t count for the Player of the Week award. But fine. (puts the sock with the bar of soap in it away) Good boy! (pats Jose Corral, whose whiskers jiggle excitedly)

Jeff Applegate will not travel to Portland with the team because Morris needs to start and Fox handed in a nice start now and it only got worse for Applecore. Yes it took us a while to make changes to this highly irritating roster, but they’re coming now.

The Raccoons are currently fourth in homers in the CL with 22 bombs, but have only 11 stolen bases, which is second from the bottom, and just one bag ahead of the bottom-dwelling Thunder. What a weird looking game after the last few decades, where we always had some speedster or other (and sometimes several) on duty.

And then all the not-hitting…!

The drums keep on beating for the Raccoons – another 17 games want to be played before a day off. We will spend the next two weeks in the Northwest, hosting the dismal make-up game with the Condors on Monday, then regularly scheduled sets against the Pacifics and Loggers, before heading to Elk City for four games and hosting the Bayhawks on the following weekend before heading out East again.

Funnily enough the Condors won a day off on Sunday with a rainout in Cincy, so they had time to recuperate on the way in – but then have to go back to Cincy in June ahead of an already-rain-induced double header in Oklahoma City. That would have been their last off day before the All Star Game, so they’ll now play *39* games in *38* days without a day off.

Fun Fact: Jarod Morris (2-0, 0.38 ERA) is only six innings short of qualifying for the ERA title.

And he’d win it! Eat your heart out, Jason Brenize (0.98 ERA)!