[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-62) @ Knights (47-58) – August 2-4, 2066

The Knights’ season was also winding down with a 17-game deficit to first place and no areas in which the fundamentally cruddy team, which hovered right around league average or below in all major categories, managed to stand out. They were 4-2 up on the Raccoons for the year, but who wasn’t?

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (2-2, 3.12 ERA) vs. Adam Lunn (7-10, 4.97 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (5-8, 3.77 ERA) vs. Luis Briseno (0-0, 15.00 ERA)
Nick Walla (9-6, 3.49 ERA) vs. Angel Alba (4-12, 4.80 ERA)

The Knights offered up only right-handers in this series. Briseno was a 28-year-old quad-A starter that had really been poured on with boiling oil, trying to scale the ladder up the Loggers’ castle last week.

Jamie Colter’s sore calf would leave him day-to-day for the entire series.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 2B Caballero – P Gaytan
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – CF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – LF J.D. Johnson – 1B M. Medina – 2B Fumero – P Lunn – 3B Baxley

Justin Hart and Jake Evans reached base for Atlanta in the first inning, but Casey Ramsey’s double play ended that threat; however, Gaytan was taken deep by J.D. Johnson to begin the bottom 2nd. He wasn’t much impressed, though, and when Jorge Caballero began the third inning with a double to right, struck another one of those, tying the game himself with his first RBI of the year. Jaden Wilson made an out, but Lunn walked the bases full with Corral and Lopez, then allowed a 2-run single to Monck and a sac fly to Starr for a 4-1 score before Novelo’s groundout to short ended that inning. However, a walk to Victor David Morales and a hard Hart homer helped hugely to get the Knights right back into the thick of things, shortening the score to 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning. So, no, Gaytan was nowhere near as good as in his last couple of starts. His first strikeout didn’t come until Carlos Fumero whiffed to begin the fourth, and then he walked John Baxley and Morales with two outs. Hart singled to right, and Jose Corral threw out Baxley at the plate to bugger out of the inning.

Rich Monck tacked on a run with a fifth-inning home run, but 2-out knocks by Johnson and Miguel Medina scraped it right back off the board, and Gaytan wasn’t seen after the fifth inning. The Coons pen then appeared to blow the 5-4 lead effortlessly in the bottom 6th, as McMahan allowed a single to Adam Goldesberry – this was the first career hit of the 26-year-old infielder – and walked the bags full, and Dover came in with three on, one out, and Evans batting. He grounded to second base, from where Caballero went home and got Goldesberry thrown out at the dish, and then Ramsey swung and missed on a 3-2 pitch to strand the bases loaded. Ubaldo Piteira would be next, pitching a 1-2-3 seventh before being taken deep by PH Willie Acosta to tie the game in the eighth inning. The Raccoons didn’t come close to scoring in those late innings, and instead Manabu Yamauchi appeared to lose the game with two outs in the bottom 9th when he allowed a single to Johnson and a double to left to Medina – however, Johnson became the THIRD Knights runner thrown out at the plate by Malcolm Spicer to extend the game into overtime. Both Yamauchi and Brad Fales for Atlanta pitched the ninth and tenth innings, with Fales recording six strikeouts, and Yamauchi returned to pitch the 11th as well, but by then was thoroughly squeezed out. The Raccoons only had Pedro Mendoza left, and two relievers (Cullum, Quinones) that had pitched two days in a row already.

The tie was broken in the 12th inning when Josh Doyle walked Spicer to begin proceedings. Spicer stole second, and came around on productive outs by Tallent and Joe Gardner, who batted for Yamauchi and emptied the bench, but hit the tie-breaking sac fly to left. Pedro Mendoza thus inherited a lead and had a chance for a save, but allowed a leadoff single to PH John Austin in Johnson’s spot. Medina flew out to center, and Fumero’s grounder to Novelo was good to erase the lead runner. That brought up the pitcher’s spot – and the Knights were out of bench pieces. Doyle struck out looking. 6-5 Critters. Monck 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Flowe (PH) 1-1; Yamauchi 3.0 P, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (2-0);

Unfortunately for Yamauchi (2-0, 2.16 ERA), going three innings in the current bullpen squeeze, and having options, meant that he was optioned to AAA after this game. He would however be back by September 1, if not earlier. Matt Schmieder rejoined the team, although he only beat out Rich Read on account of already being on a full 40-man roster when Read wasn’t.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – C Flowe – LF Spicer – 2B Arantes – P Sanchez
ATL: LF V.D. Morales – C Hart – 1B M. Medina – RF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – CF Fumero – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Baxley – P Briseno

Nobody scored in the first four innings, as the Raccoons didn’t know what to do with Briseno, who appeared non-edible, and Sanchez faced the minimum; although the Knights had an Evans hit in the second and Morales drew a walk in the fourth, both runners were eventually doubled off to shorten the innings, which was fine by us. Evans then homered leading off the bottom 5th and Ramsey walked and was brought around to score with two outs on a Baxley single, which was less fine by us…

However, somehow that solved the knot the offense was trying to unpick, as Briseno now walked Jaden Wilson to lead off the sixth and he was doubled home by Jose Corral with one out, and then Monck struck a homer to right to flip the score to 3-2 Portland – only for V.D. Morales to tie the game with another leadoff homer in the bottom of the same inning.

The Knights then made more questionable decisions. With Wilson on second base and one out in the eighth, they walked Corral intentionally so Briseno could face Rich Monck again for some reason. Monck doubled to left now, giving the Critters the lead for the second time in the game. Starr then drew another walk, and Briseno was yanked for Kody Mello, who gave up consecutive RBI singles to Jake Flowe, Spicer, and Leon Arantes before the entire Portland battery was retired on a fly by Sanchez to right that was caught by Evans, who then threw out Flowe at the plate. Sanchez then continued tossing until the bases were loaded in the bottom 8th, which took him only four batters, and Morales, Medina, and Evans were then inherited by Cullum. Ramsey doubled to center against him, driving home two, but Evans was thrown out at the plate, with the out at the plate rapidly becoming the theme song of the series. Fumero’s pop to short ended the inning, Portland still up 7-5. Cullum finished the game, getting around a Consuegra single in the ninth inning, and won himself a spotty save. 7-5 Raccoons. Wilson 2-3, 2 BB; Corral 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Monck 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Spicer 2-4, RBI;

Monck getting hot JUST as the deadline has passed. Sneaky bugger.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 2B Gardner – P Walla
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – CF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – 1B M. Medina – 3B Baxley – LF Consuegra – 2B Fumero – P Alba

Atlanta was 1-0 up quick in the game on Wednesday as Morales singled, moved up on Hart’s grounder, and scored from second easily on another single by Jake Evans. Walla’s offerings had no bite whatsoever, and the Knights continued to make ready contact, even though Ramsey hit into an inning-ending double play. But they bashed him for three more hits in the second inning, getting two more runs, and a Medina homer made it a 4-0 game in the third inning. It was bad enough that Schmieder and a couple of left-handers were warming as early as the top of the fourth in which Joel Starr hit a homer to right to get the Coons on the board.

In the event, Walla was chased by rain after four innings before the Knights could finish him off, but left trailing 4-1 anyway, and battered. The Coons asked Schmieder for two innings, which they got, but he also walked two and gave up a run on those walks in the bottom 5th before Pablo Novelo could bash a 3-run homer off ex-Coon Alba, who was still going after the rain delay, but was hauled in when the score was swatted down to 5-4. Luis Morales got the ball for Atlanta in the seventh, allowed a pinch-hit double to Arantes, who then stole third base on a mistaken sign (!) and yet was stranded by Wilson and Corral.

Jesse Dover got four outs and Quinones two more to get the team through eight innings before they appeared before Fales again, who had completely eviscerated them on Monday. This time Novelo chopped the first pitch he offered into play and Medina bobbled Goldesberry’s throw for an error, which put the tying run on base. Spicer grounded to Fumero at second base, who thought of two, but got only one with a flick to Ramsey, who had no time to get out of the way before he was clobbered by Novelo, landed awkwardly on his hand, and appeared to break a finger. He left the game for long-ago three-time Player of the Year Willie Acosta to take over, who then turned a double play with Fumero on Joe Gardner to end the game. 5-4 Knights. Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Novelo 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Arantes (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Raccoons (43-64) vs. Titans (74-34) – August 5-8, 2066

There was no reason to not expect this series to turn ugly. The Titans were up 5-2 in the season series, and while they had not beaten the Raccoons quite as convincingly and insultingly as the Crusaders this season, they *had* a 4-game sweep on the books as well, with 34-6 runs against the Critters, although that had been in May, and we won’t talk about May anymore here. They were in a groove now, 4-0 in August and 16-3 since the All Star Game, as if their #4 offense and #1 pitching were not intimidating enough. Cesar Pena was the only injury for Boston.

Projected matchups:
Evan Alvey (2-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (14-5, 2.63 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (7-9, 3.58 ERA) vs. Bryce Wallace (8-8, 3.34 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (2-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (4-4, 4.00 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (6-8, 3.91 ERA) vs. Matt Taylor (14-4, 2.71 ERA)

All-righty rotation, and the Coons would miss Jason Brenize (15-1, 1.70 ERA), who had pitched on Wednesday. Oh, how terrible…! Oh, how will I live…!

Jamie Colter was fully ready to go again, having pinch-hit twice in Atlanta.

Game 1
BOS: SS I. Diaz – LF S. Humphries – CF Marcotte – 3B Z. Suggs – RF Joe Washington – 1B Joyner – C S. Moreno – 2B Onelas – P M. Bell
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Colter – 2B Caballero – P Alvey

Colter returned to the lineup and immediately drove in the game’s first run on Thursday with an RBI single to plate Novelo, who had reached on Zach Suggs’ 2-base throwing error, which sure sugged for the Titans.

Alvey didn’t allow a base hit the first time through the Boston lineup, but was then tagged for three knocks to tie the game in the fourth, as Steve Humphries doubled, Eddie Marcotte (who was just back from injury) singled, and then Joe Washington rolled one up the middle to plate Humphries after Alvey had rung up Suggs for the first out of the inning. He also struck out Bill Joyner, but then fell to a 2-out RBI single by backup catcher Sandy Moreno that put Boston on top. Marcos Onelas flew out to Wilson. Alvey hung in there after falling behind, although his pitch count was approaching 80 after five frames. Bottom 5th, however, and the Coons flipped the score back on a knock by Corral and then Ramon Lopez’ 2-run homer – and that was before Rich Monck hit another homer on the very next pitch! Starr doubled after that, but was left on when Novelo whiffed. Bill Joyner then took Alvey deep to shorten the score to 4-3 in the sixth.

The Coons squeezed seven out of Alvey and carried the 4-3 lead to the stretch, after which Cullum got quick outs from the right-handed 2-3-4 batters in the eighth. Jason Rhodes got the ball for Boston after seven innings from Bell and allowed Starr and Colter on base, but lefty pinch-hitters Spicer and Flowe didn’t leave much of a mark and the runners were stranded. The Titans now brought up lefty hitters Washington and Joyner, so the Raccoons went to McMahan in the ninth with their 4-3 lead. He struck out those two, then walked Moreno on four pitches, which put the tying run on base. He would face Onelas, while Dover was up potentially get a righty pinch-hitter in the #9 spot, but we didn’t get that far, because Onelas swung at and missed a 3-2 from McMahan to end the game. 4-3 Coons. Lopez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 3-4, 2B; Colter 2-3, BB, RBI; Alvey 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-2);

Game 2
BOS: SS I. Diaz – LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – CF Marcotte – RF Joe Washington – 1B Joyner – 3B Macomber – 2B Onelas – P B. Wallace
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Colter – 2B Caballero – P Nakayama

Uncharacteristically, Shoma Nakayama was behind in the count a lot on Friday, walked two and allowed three singles in the early going, but didn’t buckle enough to actually allow a run to the Titans. He did not get a strikeout until he faced Phil Macomber for the second time, 16 batters into the game, in the fourth inning. Portland had a Caballero double the first time through and not much else, although Wallace also issued two walks in the first three innings. The game was still scoreless when he began the bottom 4th by nicking Monck, Starr singled, and Novelo walked, which made it three on and nobody out for Colter, who poked at a 3-1 pitch, hit a comebacker, and Wallace gladly took it to home plate to get Monck out on a force play. Caballero fanned, and Nakayama rolled over to Onelas, who flipped the ball at Joyner very poorly, the Gold Glover couldn’t come up with it, and the Coons took the lead on a rather baffling 2-out error. Even Honeypaws looked disgusted with that play. Wilson flew out to left before we could add more unearned runs.

Corral, Monck, and Starr all scratched hits together to add a run in the fifth inning, 2-0, but Novelo popped out and Colter flew out casually to Humphries to keep a pair stranded. This had to come back and bite at some point, and did so quickly when Nakayama melted down for good in the sixth inning. Marcotte led off with a single over Caballero’s head, but Joe Washington flew out to Wilson. Joyner walked, though, and Macomber filled the bases with a single. Nakayama talked his way into staying in the game, but allowed an RBI single to Onelas and then walked in a run against the opposing pitcher to tie the game before being disposed of. Pedro Mendoza came in to run a full count against Israel Diaz, who then hit into a 4-6-3 double play to preserve the 2-2 tie.

Quinones got the ball in the seventh after Mendoza was hit for to no great effect with Arantes in the bottom 6th. Humphries and Marcotte got on base for Boston, but Zach Suggs pinch-hit and whiffed, and Joyner flew out to Corral to keep the runners stranded. The Coons then hit back-to-back jacks between Corral and Lopez off reliever Jose Gomez in the bottom 7th to take a new 4-2 lead. The Coons felt like they needed to try and steal outs from the bottom of the order with Schmieder in the eighth, who allowed a single to Macomber before striking out Onelas. McMahan then found out of the inning beginning with the left-handed Brendan Snyder in the #9 hole. No further runs were tacked on, but Dover axed the Titans in order in the ninth inning. 4-2 Critters. Corral 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Monck 2-3; Starr 2-3, BB, RBI;

Jaden Wilson got a day off on Saturday. The Raccoons’ next off day was not until Thursday next week.

Game 3
BOS: 2B Onelas – LF S. Humphries – C Arviso – CF Marcotte – RF Joe Washington – 1B Joyner – SS Z. Suggs – 3B Macomber – P Glaude
POR: RF Corral – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Colter – CF Tallent – C Flowe – 2B Caballero – P Gaytan

Joel Starr hit into a double play after the first two Critters reached base against Will Glaude, but Monck continued his strong week with an RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead, which Gaytan blew immediately with a walk to Eddie Marcotte, nicking Joyner, and a Suggs single in the top 2nd, which sugged. Macomber flew out and Glaude popped out to keep the score even at least. He allowed another leadoff walk to Onelas in the third inning, but got around that one, and then hit a leadoff single to right himself against Glaude in the bottom 3rd. Corral also singled, but was forced out on Novelo’s grounder to Suggs, which sugged, but Glaude then uncorked a wild pitch and Gaytan scored to give himself a new lead. Starr and Monck, however, left Novelo in scoring position.

Gaytan didn’t have a clean inning until the sixth, when he sat down the 5-6-7 batters with strikeouts beginning and ending the inning, but then was taken deep by Macomber to begin the seventh, and immediately melted down completely. Glaude singled, and he drilled (!) the bags full by hitting Andy Lee and Humphries. All of his runners would score with the generously ******ed bullpen issuing bases-loaded walks to Marcotte and Joyner (Mendoza), and a wild pitch (Cullum) without the Titans ever making contact.

The Raccoons hit into double plays in the seventh and eighth innings, but in between managed to get Spicer on with a pinch-hit single. He stole second, advanced on wild pitch by ex-Coon Sansao Tyson, and then scored on a sac fly by Corral to shorten the gap to 5-3. The Coons then got the tying runs on base in the ninth against left-hander Tyler Gleason as Monck and Tallent hit singles by the time there was one out on the board. Ramon Lopez batted for Flowe against the southpaw, but struck out, and Caballero flew out easily to Washington to end the game… 5-3 Titans. Corral 1-2, BB, RBI; Monck 2-4, RBI; Tallent 2-4; Flowe 2-3; Spicer (PH) 1-1;

Well, you can’t beat them all the time, I guess. There’s a reason why they lead the division by double digits. However, even a decently conducted L on Sunday for a split would still be a bit of a success for these Coons.

Novelo was off on Sunday.

Game 4
BOS: SS I. Diaz – 1B Joyner – CF Marcotte – 3B Z. Suggs – C Arviso – RF Joe Washington – LF A. Lee – 2B Onelas – P M. Taylor
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – 2B Arantes – LF Spicer – SS Gardner – P Sanchez

The Coons had Wilson on with a leadoff walk in the first, but he was caught stealing, then slapped three straight singles in the bottom 2nd, but Monck was thrown out at the plate by Washington on Arantes’ 3-2 single, and then Spicer lined out to Onelas, with Arantes caught far off base and doubled off to end that inning quite shamefully. Sanchez only allowed a walk to Suggs and no hits the first time through, then reached when Andy Lee dove for his floater to shallow left, but it hit off his wrist rather than into the mitten and dropped in for a hard-luck error. Wilson and Corral hit soft singles, but the Coons new better than to send their pitcher against Washington’s weapon attachment in rightfield. Three on and one out for Ramon Lopez, he lined out to Suggs on the first pitch, but Sanchez had still been standing there with a hindpaw on the base and was not doubled off. Monck fell to 0-2, poked a blooper to left, Lee dove for another ball – and this time made the catch to leave a full complement of (unearned) runners on base.

The Titans found the H column with back-to-back 1-out singles by Marcotte and Suggs in the fourth, but poor outs by Arviso and Washington left them stranded, too. Starr came close to a homer to left in the inning, but had that thing caught at the fence by very active backup outfielder Andy Lee, who opened the top 5th with a single, but was picked off by Nakayama, who then walked Taylor with two outs as the game continued as another episode straight out of a madhouse. Israel Diaz singled, but Joyner flew out to Spicer to end the inning. Bottom 5th, Wilson singled and was caught stealing AGAIN, and then the Coons put two more runners on as Corral doubled with two outs and Lopez walked, but Monck could not get them home, either. 12 hits between the two teams and still scoreless through five…!

Juan Sanchez had a 1-2-3 sixth for a change, while Taylor walked Arantes with one out in the home half of the inning. Spicer’s grounder moved him to second and the Titans walked Gardner intentionally to get to Sanchez – who hit an RBI single to put the Coons on the board. Baffling! Wilson then of course grounded out easily to Onelas, inning over.

The lead didn’t last, because Sanchez allowed a single to Washington in the seventh, who gained a base on Lee’s groundout, and then scored when Monck fired Onelas’ grounder away for two bases. Sanchez retired Taylor and PH Bobby Ellwood and then left the game at the stretch. He got a posthumous 2-1 lead when Lopez doubled off Taylor and was brought in by a 2-out wild pitch that almost took Starr’s legs off in the box. Starr would reach base on a walk, but was stranded by Arantes, and the Coons’ Quinones and Cullum then blew the lead with hits allowed to Joyner, Suggs, and Arviso in the top 8th… What a game. (unscrews Capt’n Coma) Colter batted for Cullum with two out and nobody on against Jason Rhodes in the bottom 8th and drove a rocket into the gap that was somehow caught by Washington.

Top 9th, McMahan walked righty pinch-hitters Macomber and Moreno, then got a double-play grounder from Ellwood in the #1 spot to bugger out of the inning with a 2-2 tie. Rhodes remained in the game or Boston against the top of the Portland lineup, and allowed a leadoff single to Wilson in the bottom 9th, who was then caught stealing for the third time in the game, which went to extras, where the Coons arrived at Schmieder, who gave up a leadoff double to Steve Humphries in the #2 spot, at which point I mentally resigned from the game, but he then allowed just one more base to the runner on Marcotte’s fly to left before striking out Suggs and Arviso! Arantes hit a 2-out single in the bottom 10th and was caught stealing by Arviso, and maybe at one point the Raccoons would get the message. Schmieder pitched the 11th as well before the ball went to Piteira, who allowed long fly outs to Moreno and Ellwood before striking out the pitcher Gleason – Boston was out of bench, but the Raccoons still had plenty. Sansao Tyson got the ball for the bottom 12th, and Wilson hit a leadoff single, then stayed his ******* *** on first base until Ramon Lopez smashed a walkoff double! 3-2 Blighters! Wilson 4-5, BB; Corral 2-6, 2B; Lopez 2-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Arantes 2-4, BB; Sanchez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-3, RBI; Schmieder 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

August 5 – Both the Loggers and Canadiens lose their starting pitchers Luis Palacios (7-5, 4.42 ERA) and Ray Rath (2-12, 4.40 ERA), respectively, to minor injuries early on and then use a total of 17 hurlers in a slogfest that becomes a somewhat Pyrrhic 13-10 Loggers win.
August 6 – OCT SP Jose Ortega (10-7, 4.29 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Falcons as the Thunder win 6-0.
August 6 – To add insult to already existing insult and injury, the Canadiens beat the Loggers, 6-5, in *20* innings on Friday in a game that includes 11 consecutive scoreless innings and another 16 pitchers being driven to exhaustion before VAN OF/1B Chad Whetstine (.240, 2 HR, 23 RBI) ends the misery with a walkoff home run off MIL SP Tony Espinosa (3-6, 5.49 ERA).
August 7 – The Canadiens beat the Loggers, 2-0, on just three hits, two of which are home runs by outfielders Roberto Lozada (.295, 10 HR, 59 RBI) and Nick Vaughn (.301, 16 HR, 61 RBI). VAN SP Ken Nielsen (10-8, 2.93 ERA), who pitched in relief on Thursday, gets the win, while the Loggers claim a moral victory with MIL SP Oliver Graham (6-6, 4.30 ERA) at least chalking up a complete-game loss to revive their pen.
August 8 – The wild Loggers-Canadiens series concludes with a 15-12 Loggers win, fueled substantially by a 6-RBI day by MIL 1B Dave Robles (.239, 5 HR, 26 RBI), who has two hits, including a grand slam.

FL Player of the Week: PIT OF Sal Andon (.270, 9 HR, 47 RBI), batting .464 (13-28) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL OF Jonathan Merrill (.331, 3 HR, 31 RBI), poking .467 (14-30) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

How close was Rich Monck to Player of the Week honors? Not particularly close. He batted .367 (11-30) with 3 HR and 8 RBI. He’s just so eager to hit dingers that he’s readily exploited right now. He has not waited out a walk in almost a month! His last walk came on July 15, the first game after the All Star break…!? Granted, he makes contact, in that time he has also only struck out SEVEN times, against 11 multi-hit games. But those three homers were his first since the break, so it’s not all going great… and he is STILL under 100 for his OPS+…

Every time Ramon Lopez gets a day off, I find a dead butterfly in my breakfast bowl the next day. I feel like this is supposed to be a message, but I don’t speak the language.

Also, Maud, please stop adding chunks of banana to my chocolate sugar puffs, I’m not eating that. – What do you mean, that’s not chocolate sugar puffs?? – Why did you coat more banana with chocolates???

THE BETRAYAL!

This was a surprisingly competent week by the Critters, who beat the Titans three outta four, not that it put a big dent into their division lead. The Crusaders can’t get going, and it looks like the division is well over, even though the Coons still have 51 games to play. Three of those will be at home against the Loggers starting on Monday, and then a single-city trip to Dallas over the weekend. That latter series is framed by off days. After that we’ll have a 2-week homestand including that Condors double-header that’s still looming.

Fun Fact: Milwaukee’s Cesar Ramirez has been in the majors since ’62, but he now seems to develop power.

Ramirez debuted at 21 after being named the league’s #1 prospect prior to that 2062 season, and has been hitting over .300 in every season since, but never hit more than five homers. This year he’s at .348 with 14 HR and 79 RBI, all of which are career-best marks by a significant margin. His .953 OPS and 167 OPS+ fill me with envy. He was an All Star for the first time this year, and looks like a menace for years to come – unless the Loggers lose him to some FL team when he reaches free agency after the 2068 season.

So far for his career he’s batting .321 with 28 HR and 258 RBI – not shabby for a scouting discovery that wasn’t signed until 17 years old.