[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-5) @ Titans (5-3) – April 16-19, 2065

The Titans had scored the fewest runs in the CL so far, but I knew a pitching staff that was coming to the rescue. They were also stingy with the runs allowed, giving up just 2.63 runs per game so far, with a starters’ ERA of 1.30. If that wasn’t reason for concern… The Titans had won the season series for the last three years straight, 10-8 in 2064.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (0-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (0-1, 1.26 ERA)
Josh Elling (2-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (0-0, 1.13 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (1-1, 6.97 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (2-0, 2.08 ERA)
Angel Alba (0-2, 5.54 ERA) vs. Bryce Wallace (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Good luck with that. Only right-handers were lined up for the Raccoons here.

Two weeks into the season, the Raccoons were already shifting Malcolm Spicer to rightfield, where he had little experience, but surely had the arm to survive out there. The more we could keep Jack Kozak out of centerfield, the better for everybody involved.

Game 1
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Burkart – SS Aoki – 1B Vargas – CF Garmon – P Fox
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 1B Joyner – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – RF Joe Washington – 2B Onelas – SS Spehar – P Brenize

To anybody’s surprise, Chance Fox was able to stink up to Jason Brenize in the Thursday opener, as both pitchers lined up zeroes incessantly on the scoreboard. Both teams would have a pair of singles in the second inning, neither scored, and from there it was mostly offensive ineptitude on display. The Titans especially liked to pop out a lot, while Brenize dialed up the strikeouts, but was befallen by the old mojo again that Boston never scored for him. Fox glitched a leadoff walk to Ryan Spehar and another walk to Steve Humphries in the fifth, but then got a double play from Bill Joyner to wrap up the inning.

Surprise #2 was Alex Vargas, who was the one Raccoon that Brenize was unable to retire at all. Vargas hit a pair of singles, then drew a 1-out walk in the seventh of the scoreless game, following a Burkart single, that got Brenize removed from the game. Roberto Navarro got a fielder’s choice out of Corey Garmon before serving up a ridiculous 2-out, 2-run double to left-center to Chance Fox. The L didn’t stick to Brenize though, because Fox had his own half-inning of coming unglued just on the other side of the stretch. Marcos Onelas hit a leadoff double to right, and with two outs Steve Humphries doubled and Bobby Ellwood singled to bring in the runs to tie the game back up. Jesse Dover then retired Eddie Marcotte to get out of the inning. Dover got three outs before the Coons wanted just one out from Sansao Tyson against Joe Washington, but both Washington and Onelas reached and Juan Carrillo had to come in to get rid of Spehar and finish the bottom 8th.

The ninth inning was largely uneventful except for a pinch-hit single by Carlos Matas off Tony Castellanos for his first ABL hit, but the game went to extras as the second consecutive overtime effort for the Critters, who quickly scored on Castellanos in the tenth, thanks to Kozak reaching on an error by the pitcher. Monck, who had looked particularly awful against Brenize, socked a tie-breaking RBI double, and Burkart and Aoki landed soft singles, the latter of which plated Monck. A walk to Vargas and Arellano’s pinch-hit RBI single against Matt Taylor helped the Coons to a third run before both Matas and Spicer, who ended up 0-for-6, both struck out. McGinley put the lid on it without drama. 5-2 Coons. Burkart 3-5; Aoki 2-5, RBI; Vargas 2-2, 3 BB; Arellano (PH) 1-1; Matas (PH) 1-2; Fox 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K and 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Burkart – SS Serrano – 1B Vargas – CF Matas – P Elling
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 1B Joyner – 3B D. Mendoza – 2B Onelas – SS Spehar – P Glaude

Elling had walked just one batter in his 14.2 innings to begin the season, but walked both Humphries and Washington to start the Friday game, then nicked Bill Joyner to make him joyn them for a 2-out, bases-loaded situation and an early intervention on the mound. Diego Mendoza then kindly grounded out to Monck to strand all the runners. Humphries singled home Spehar with two outs in the second then for a 1-0 Boston lead, but Vic Morales would even the score with a 2-out RBI single of his own in the top 3rd. It was unearned because Josh Elling reached when his bunt got bungled. Vargas scored, but the remaining runners were stranded when Kozak lined out to Joyner.

The Titans retook the lead in the fifth with no fewer than four straight 2-out hits against Elling. The 2-3-4 batters filled the bases before Joyner doubled home a pair and Mendoza struck out. Glaude response in the top 6th involved allowing leadoff singles to Spicer and Morales and walking Kozak for three on and nobody out. Monck and Serrano each singled in a run around a K to Burkart to even the score at three again, but Vargas hit into a double play.

The Coons, who were strapped for pitching after two extra-inning wins, had to remove Elling after five frames thanks to 100 pitches expended mostly uselessly, and then ended up with Jarod Morris having a big old meltdown in the bottom 7th, in which the Titans got him for four hits, two walks, and five runs. Two wild pitches were also involved. That was before Cruz Madrid walked the bases full in the bottom 8th, nailed Joyner to bring in a run, and gave up a bases-clearing triple to Mendoza. Dustin Archambeau then got the fifth run of *that* inning around with a sac fly. 13-3 Titans. Morales 2-4, RBI; Serrano 2-4, RBI; Vargas 2-3; Garmon 1-1;

Sigh. There was no right-hander in that bullpen that you couldn’t cast into the Boston harbor and nobody would miss him before season’s end……

Game 3
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – 1B Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – SS Aoki – LF Garmon – CF Tallent – P Nakayama
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – 1B Joyner – 3B D. Mendoza – 2B Onelas – C S. Moreno – SS Spehar – P M. Bell

Spicer reached on an infield single to begin the game and was stranded by the next three batters, while Arellano hit a leadoff double in the second, advanced on a wild pitch, and was thrown out at the plate by Washington on Garmon’s fly to right for an inning-ending double play. Instead, Boston scored first again, in the bottom 2nd, when Sandy Moreno doubled home Onelas after Mendoza had already hit into a double play to clean off leadoff batter Bill Joyner from the bases.

Calmness broke out for the rest of the first five innings, with the two teams totaling just five base hits between them until Randy Tallent hit a leadoff single in the sixth. He was bunted to second while Spicer reached on an error by Spehar, putting runners on the corners. Vic Morales flew out to deep right, but it was a sac fly for real this time and tied the game at one. Spicer remained at first base on that play, but stole second on the next pitch before Kozak popped out to Joyner to end the inning.

However, Boston regained the lead in the seventh with straight hits by the 5-6-7 batters before Spehar hit into an outfield double play himself, this one involving Garmon throwing out Onelas at the plate to end the inning. Nakayama went eight innings, which at least bailed out the battered bullpen, but still trailed 2-1 into the ninth inning, in which the Raccoons brought the top of the order up against Jason Rhodes, whom Spicer got for a leadoff triple in right-center to put the tying run just 90 feet away immediately. There, he remained, as Morales struck out, Kozak hit a roller in front of the plate that couldn’t have advanced the Flash, and Monck flew to deep right, but it was caught by Washington on the warning track. 2-1 Titans. Spicer 2-4, 3B; Nakayama 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (1-2);

By now the thing was that both Monck and Kozak weren’t hitting anything and with what was already on the DL that made the lineup rather harmless. Monday was gonna be off, but maybe a 2-day break could help them realign better, so neither of them were in the starting lineup on Sunday as the Raccoons pretty much intentionally pissed away the series finale.

Game 4
POR: RF Spicer – SS Aoki – 3B Morales – C Burkart – 1B Vargas – 2B Serrano – LF Garmon – CF Matas – P Alba
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 1B Joyner – 3B D. Mendoza – 2B Onelas – SS Spehar – P B. Wallace

The Titans took the lead in the second inning again on hits by Joyner, Mendoza, and Spehar, which would have been alright if that had been it, but the one that hurt was the 2-out single that Bryce Wallace hit off Alba, and then Humphries added a 2-run double to bury the Raccoons 4-0 down. The Titans did not tack on in the next few innings, but it was highly concerning to see them make contact on the first pitch for several batters in a row in the third inning. Alba wasn’t fooling anybody, not even his old GM, while the Coons had no base hits into the fifth inning when Garmon and Matas hit soft 1-out singles. Alba bunted them into scoring position before Spicer buried another one in the gap for another triple, this time less uselessly than on Saturday and bringing in two runs to cut the gap to 4-2. And then Aoki whiffed.

Alba lingered into the sixth like a bad smell, where Diego Mendoza got him for a leadoff triple in right-center before Onelas and Spehar made two bad outs on the infield to keep the runner waiting for his time to go. That brought back Wallace, and he wasn’t gonna do it twice, was he? He was, and the 2-out RBI single was the perfect ****** ending to a ****** start for Alba, who was yanked. Not that there was any relief to be gotten from the tossers in the bullpen; Dover came in, walked Humphries, and then gave up a 2-run double to Washington before Marcotte surrendered himself on a grounder to Aoki to end another perfectly ****** inning. From there, Aoki and Morales had base hits in the eighth but were stranded in scoring position by Burkart and Vargas, but the Coons went down without much fuzz in the seventh and ninth innings. 7-2 Titans. Garmon 2-3;

Monck and Kozak both pinch-hit. Both struck out.

Raccoons (5-8) vs. Loggers (5-7) – April 21-23, 2065

The Coons had a -22 run differential by now which was highly alarming, but at least the Loggers came in. The Coons had finally regained the upper paw against them last year, winning 12 of 18 games after several years of confusing failure against the CL North’s second-most-adorable team. Milwaukee was third in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed after two weeks, with a -2 run differential. Their starters were the main problem, getting beaten to the tune of a 6.25 ERA. Maybe that trend would continue at the same rate as the Titans’ starters invincibility on the weekend…? Please?

Projected matchups:
Jeff Crowley (0-0, 11.74 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Chance Fox (0-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Tony Espinosa (0-0, 6.00 ERA)
Josh Elling (2-0, 3.20 ERA) vs. Bobby Herrera (1-2, 6.27 ERA)

Espinosa was the only lefty starter in sight.

Game 1
MIL: LF Franks – 1B C. Ramirez – CF Merrill – 2B F. Carrera – C Guitreau – RF D. Wright – SS Reber – 3B V. Velez – P Pizzichini
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – 2B Monck – 1B Kozak – SS Aoki – LF Garmon – CF Matas – P Crowley

Crowley got rid of the four left-handed batters atop the Loggers order without issue before getting bopped by three right-handers in the second inning as Tommy Guitreau singled, Dave Wright doubled, and Kyle Reber singled in a pair for another second-inning deficit. Those were Milwaukee’s only hits through five, but the Coons had just two singles and were entirely harmless with that output. Fidel Carrera hit a solo home run in the sixth to up the score to 3-0, and the Loggers added an unearned run in the seventh when Vic Velez drove in Dave Wright, who had reached on a 2-base throwing error by Aoki. The Raccoons appeared cursed as a whole, like in the bottom 7th when Aoki hit a double and then had himself picked off second base for no good reason at all. Failing Cruz Madrid allowed another run in the ninth inning, which still brought his ERA down by more than a full run… “Pizza” pitched eight shutout inning, and Aiden Shaw nailed the coffin shut in the bottom 9th. 5-0 Loggers.

Good news! The Coons didn’t lose on Wednesday!

They were rained out.

A double header was planned for Thursday, even though the weather promised to remain iffy. The Loggers moved “Tipsy” Bobby Herrera into the first game then, while the Raccoons kept Fox as the next guy up. For the lineups, we tossed all our weight into the platoon advantage side of the scale; all paws were on deck for the double header – assuming that Espinosa would indeed start the second game of the day.

Or that there was gonna be a second game.

Game 2
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – 2B F. Carrera – C Guitreau – CF Merrill – SS Reber – 3B V. Velez – P B. Herrera
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Arellano – 2B Monck – SS Aoki – 1B Vargas – LF Garmon – CF Matas – P Fox

The *Raccoons* took a lead in the second inning after two silently effective innings from Fox, when Aoki walked, scored on Alex Vargas’ double, and Garmon and Matas added soft singles to get a second run across before Fox bunted badly into a force out at third base and the inning derailed from there. The Loggers had no runners the first time through the lineup, but quickly made up for that in the fourth inning when Wright doubled and scored on Cesar Ramirez’ single to center. Worse, Tommy Guitreau slapped a 2-out, 2-run homer to flip the score for the Loggers, 3-2. Fox was torn to shreds for another four runs in the next inning, beginning with straight hits for Vic Velez, Bobby H., and Wright, then a bases-clearing triple by Ramirez. Dave Robles walked and Carrera’s fielder’s choice grounder brought home Ramirez, 7-2. Jarod Morris would then pitch scoreless garbage relief for the rest of the game, which didn’t help all that much anymore. The Raccoons only scored once more on a solo home run by Marcos Arellano and apart from that went down mostly cluelessly against Tipsy Bobby and Vincent Hernandez for the rest of the game. 7-3 Loggers. Arellano 2-4, HR, RBI; Aoki 1-2, BB, 2B; Morris 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

(extends paws and looks pleadingly up to the baseball gods)

Game 3
MIL: LF Franks – 1B C. Ramirez – CF Merrill – 2B F. Carrera – RF D. Wright – SS Reber – C Jack – 3B V. Velez – P T. Espinosa
POR: LF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – 1B Kozak – CF Garmon – 2B Serrano – SS Novelo – RF Tallent – P Elling

Elling gave up three hits to the four left-handers leading that Loggers lineup in the first inning, but Franks was caught stealing and Ramirez and Merrill were stranded on the corners once Randy Tallent tracked down Wright’s fly to right to end the inning. Kyle Reber and Vic Velez had more singles for Milwaukee in the second inning, but Reber was caught stealing third base and they didn’t score again. But Elling just kept getting beaten around and in the third inning a Franks single, Merrill’s RBI double, and a Carrera homer gave the Loggers a 3-0 lead. Sadly, Elling was a much better hitter than pitcher in this game, and also a much better hitter than most hitters in the lineup, teaming up with Vic Morales for a pair of doubles in the bottom 3rd to at least get the Raccoons on the board. And then Burkart grounded out and Kozak struck out.

That didn’t make his pitching better, and the Loggers put a fourth and final run on him in the sixth inning with two more hits from Carrera and Wright, a double steal, and a run-scoring grounder by J.P. Jack. Bottom 6th, the Coons had the tying run at the dish (!!) with nobody out as Burkart singled and Kozak walked against Espinosa, but then Garmon and Serrano both popped out rather uselessly. Novelo snapped a 2-out RBI single to left, 4-2, and in despair the Coons sent Rich Monck to bat for Tallent, but he only drew a walk to fill the bases. Vargas batted for Elling, who would have been removed anyway, flew out to Scott Franks, and that was the inning.

The Coons pen had its obligatory step on the rake in the eighth inning; Tyson, the ex-Logger, had a scoreless seventh, but then walked Carrera to begin the eighth inning. Dover replaced him, was absolutely useless and gave up a Wright double, a sac fly to Robles, and an RBI single to Jack for two tack-on runs, before also walking Velez. Matt Ruskin then hit into a double play. The ninth inning was McDaniel’s. He loaded the bases with left-handed batters, and then was left to sort his own **** out, which he did in he form of a bases-loaded walk to Wright and a grand jack served up to J.P. Slam. The Raccoons scored two meaningless runs in the bottom 9th with a Vargas double, Spicer triple, and Morales sac fly. 11-4 Loggers. Novelo 2-4, RBI;

Jesus Christ in a cat café …!

Raccoons (5-11) vs. Falcons (8-7) – April 24-26, 2065

The last-place Coons got to face the Falcons on the weekend, who had lost their last three games, which we could only snicker over, proudly posting an L6 coming into the series. The Falcons had a +10 run differential; while scoring was a chore for them, they allowed the second-fewest runs in the league. Well, it only takes one run to win against this team. They were without infielders John Schmidt and Rick Healey, though, who were on the DL for a while. Portland had won five of nine games from the Falcons in ’64, and had won the season series for seven years in a row, which was going to end now.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (1-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (3-0, 1.89 ERA)
Angel Alba (0-3, 6.75 ERA) vs. Tom Kies (1-1, 6.35 ERA)
Jeff Crowley (0-1, 7.98 ERA) vs. Ivan Rodriguez (0-2, 2.18 ERA)

Southpaw on Saturday against Kies. Both teams had played a double-header on Thursday, so both teams arrived in this series off two losses in the past 24 hours as well.

Game 1
CHA: CF Geiger – RF Nakamura – C O. Matos – 1B Jes. Martinez – SS T. Taylor – 2B Duhe – LF Padgett – 3B O’Donnell – P Craddock
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – 2B Monck – CF Kozak – SS Aoki – 1B Vargas – LF Garmon – P Nakayama

Spicer singled and was caught stealing in the bottom 1st as the Coons seemed like they wouldn’t be able to catch a break soon. The same vibe returned in the bottom 2nd when Monck and Kozak led off with singles, Aoki flew out, but Vargas filled the bases with a single before Garmon struck out, which left Nakayama with two outs – and he hit a 2-run single to left-center. Of course, even with that lucky break, Spicer couldn’t keep the line movig and grounded out to Jared Duhe.

Nakayama did not allow any base runners in the first three innings before offering a leadoff walk to Dan Geiger in the fourth, but Natsu Nakamura (Caution! Don’t mix them up!) hit into a double play. Oscar Matos doubled to left, advanced on a balk, Jesus Martinez reached on a walk, and then Nakayama plated the lead runner with a wild pitch in a sequence that made my fur fall out by the bushel. Trent Taylor flew out lazily to Garmon to at least preserve a 2-1 lead for the Coons. The Falcons had the first two batters on in the fifth as Duhe walked and Cody Padgett reached on catcher’s interference, at which point Cristian shouted “Bingo!”, but Nakayama buckled down and retired the Falcons on a Chad O’Donnell strikeout, Craddock’s bunt, and another K to Geiger.

However, after Spicer was caught stealing *again* in the bottom 5th, the game still went all to **** in the sixth inning. Another leadoff walk to Nakamura was a GREAT start, and from there two outs were made before the 5-6-7 batters rapped off a double, single, and double and drove in three runs to flip the score in favor of the Falcons, 4-2. O’Donnell whiffed again to end the inning. It only got worse. Cruz Madrid allowed another run in the eighth in his second consecutive outing where he did so while lowering his ERA, and Bruce Burkart hit a 1-out double in that inning only for Monck and Kozak to croak again as their slumps only further deepened. McGinley got the ninth in a 3-run deficit and got whacked for another two runs. 7-2 Falcons. Spicer 2-4; Novelo (PH) 1-1;

At this point the Raccoons were last in the North, and last in runs scored *and* runs allowed in the CL.

Game 2
CHA: CF Geiger – RF Nakamura – C O. Matos – 1B Jes. Martinez – SS T. Taylor – 2B Duhe – LF Padgett – 3B O’Donnell – P Kies
POR: 2B Serrano – CF Garmon – 3B Morales – C Arellano – LF Kozak – 1B Vargas – SS Novelo – RF Tallent – P Alba

Geiger and Nakamura singled and Matos was drilled by Alba to begin the Saturday game, but the Falcons were held to one run after Jesus Martinez popped out on the infield, Trent Taylor bringing in the only run with a sac fly to left. Duhe flew out in left-center. Both sides scored a run in the third inning on two hits each; for Portland, Novelo and Tallent led off with singles before Alba bunted them into scoring position and Novelo scored on Serrano’s groundout. Garmon grounded out to short to leave Tallent on third base. O’Donnell’s fourth-inning homer extended the Falcons’ lead to 3-1, but the Coons got two singles to start their half of the fourth as well, with Morales and Arellano getting on. However, between the 5-6-7 batters the Raccoons only added hot air and a couple of whiffs and the runners never advanced…

A Serrano error put Geiger on base in the fifth inning, but he got himself caught stealing. The sixth began with a walk to Martinez (…) and a Taylor single before Duhe lined out to Novelo, who caught Martinez off the base for a 6-U double play, derailing the inning for the Falcons. The Coons answered with Arellano and Kozak hits in the bottom 6th, but they came with two outs and before Vargas popped out most unhelpfully.

Geiger singled off McDaniel in the seventh inning and was caught stealing again, while the Coons didn’t get on base again until the eighth when Garmon singled against Kies, who was still holding out, and was doubled off by Morales to end the inning. Left-hander Ryan de Jong then retired Arellano and Kozak to begin the ninth inning, but Vargas singled past the reach of Taylor at short. Monck batted for Novelo, because that was the tying run, and ended the game with a grounder to second. 3-1 Falcons. Arellano 2-4, 2B;

It ain’t working…

Maybe we need to switch some things up? (cracks open bottle of Capt’n Coma before the Sunday game even begins)

Game 3
CHA: CF Geiger – RF Nakamura – C O. Matos – 1B Jes. Martinez – SS T. Taylor – 2B Duhe – LF Padgett – 3B O’Donnell – P I. Rodriguez
POR: SS Aoki – RF Spicer – C Burkart – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – 3B Novelo – 1B Vargas – CF Matas – P Crowley

Geiger finally succeeded in stealing a base against the Coons in the first inning on Sunday after hitting a leadoff single against Crowley, but was nevertheless stranded on base by the 2-3-4 batters. Instead Aoki drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 1st, was forced out by Spicer’s grounder, but Spicer stole second and scored on a Burkart double to left for an early run before Monck and Kozak suffocated the team out of the inning. Crowley then tried his best to blow the lead with deep flies that were caught or in the third inning when he walked O’Donnell to lead off, then misguidedly took Rodriguez’ bunt to second base for no out whatsoever, but the Falcons made three straight outs after that without scoring.

Rich Monck drove in his first run in NINE days with a solo jack to right in the bottom 4th, also becoming the first Raccoon to a lofty three homers on the season. Crowley celebrated by putting Duhe and Padgett on base to begin the fifth, but O’Donnell found a double play and Rodriguez struck out as the Falcons appeared hellbent on ending the Raccoons’ 8-game losing streak. The Raccoons added two more runs in the bottom 5th as Matas and Aoki hit singles, Aoki stole a base, and the runners scored on Spicer’s groundout and a wild pitch, 4-0. Two innings later Novelo drove in Burkart, who had been nailed by Matt Stephens, with a single to center. Crowley was still pitching at that point, whiffing O’Donnell to begin the eighth before Scott Moore pinch-hit for the pitcher and that lined up enough left-handed sticks to remove Crowley after 102 pitches in favor of McDaniel, who walked Moore, allowed a 2-out single to Nakamura and then was bailed out on defense by Kozak on a Matos fly to left…

Bottom 8th, Tallent batted for Matas leading off, tripled to left-center off Brett Lillis jr., and then hurt his knee sliding into third base, for which he was replaced with Serrano as a pinch-runner. Morales batted for McDaniel and doubled home the runner, was balked to third by Lillis and scored on Aoki’s groundout. Cruz Madrid then finished the game without even blowing the shutout. 7-0 Coons. Burkart 2-4, 2B, RBI; Matas 1-1, BB; Tallent (PH) 1-1, 3B; Morales (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Crowley 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (1-1);

Not that Crowley was easy or fun to watch, but you gotta give him 7.1 scoreless…. SOMEHOW…

In other news

April 16 – A broken elbow will cost Bayhawks OF/1B/3B (.371, 5 HR, 10 RBI) four to five months on the sidelines.
April 17 – CIN MR Marc Timmons (0-0, 1.23 ERA), who as a rookie was sent out 92 times to pitch in 2064, was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation and would miss most if not all of the remaining season.
April 18 – The Stars beat the Wolves, 3-2 in 11 innings. All runs score in the 11th inning as Salem first takes a 2-0 lead before having it reversed in a Stars rally that sees them walk off.
April 19 – DAL 3B/SS/LF Xavier Reyes (.453, 0 HR, 11 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after a first-inning single in a 6-1 win against the Wolves. The streak obviously started in 2064 with hits in the last seven games there.
April 20 – A groin strain will keep CHA INF John Schmidt (.111, 0 HR, 0 RBI) from struggling at the plate for at least six weeks.
April 22 – Aces SP Chris Monahan (1-1, 2.70 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 2-0 shutout.
April 23 – Los Angeles would be without SP Joel Luera (1-1, 4.29 ERA) for a month after the 33-year-old right-hander was diagnosed with a sprained ankle.
April 24 – The Loggers get buried by the Thunder, 14-1, with OCT OF Johnny Parker (.256, 1 HR, 8 RBI) driving in five runs from the #8 spot.
April 25 – Dallas’ Xavier Reyes (.447, 0 HR, 13 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a ninth-inning single in a 4-2 win against the Miners in Pittsburgh.

FL Player of the Week (2): RIC LF/RF/1B Brady Terrell (.365, 3 HR, 16 RBI), batting .400 (12-30) with 2 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week (2): POR INF/RF Victor Morales (.327, 2 HR, 9 RBI), hitting .414 (12-29) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

FL Player of the Week (3): SFW OF Alex Barnes (.333, 5 HR, 14 RBI), socking .500 (11-22) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week (3): OCT 1B/LF/RF Ben Laity (.625, 1 HR, 6 RBI), picking his spots to hit .800 (8-10) with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Eight in a row. The Portland Schmucks lost eight in a row there…

To be honest, I didn’t have vibes that Morales was gonna win Player of the Week in the second week of the season and was kinda confused when the notification arrived on Monday. Morales who? Our Morales? When?? Maybe isolated good performances can be completely drowned out by the chorus of a thousand suckers around the guy in question.

Randy Tallent was headed to the DL with a sore knee, maybe sprained. He probably wasn’t gonna miss a lot of time, but he was here as Swiss Army knife and with a bum knee we could probably find somebody else to sit on the bench and hit .200 for two weeks.

Things are bad enough right now that a look at the AAA roster can’t hurt. Tetsu Kurihara is pretending that he can pitch down there, and Nick Walla had a fine three starts to begin the season for a 2.38 ERA. For batters there’s not a lot to go around except a pair of outfielders that are hitting .390-ish. The first one is Randy Harrop, a 2059 eighth-rounder that was already 26 years old and was filed away under “organizational chuff” a few years ago, while the other was 23-year-old 2063 fourth-rounder Jamie Colter. Neither was a power hitter or centerfielder. Colter played all corner positions with some form of competence, however, so maybe he could cover for Tallent for two weeks…? Grain of salt, though: he only had 22 AAA games under his belt, 12 of them this year, and last year had just hit .235 in September. You couldn’t find a much smaller sample size for your last straw.

And in April…!

Two more teams coming in on this homestand, with the Thunder and Indians both visiting for three more games each. No off day on Monday, so we’ll need to come up with a plan for a spot starter. And soon.

Fun Fact: Despite rumors to the contrary, Jack Kozak (3-for-his-last-31) is not leading the league in strikeouts.

Dan Sandoval has 23 K on those Bayhawks, which is five more than Kozak at this point. There’s also five other players in between those two, including Danny Starwalt (20 K) which might go some way to explain why the Indians are the only team more blue in the face than the Critters.