[Westheim]

Raccoons (44-31) vs. Thunder (29-45) – June 27-29, 2072

The Thunder, who had finished last in the South last year for the first time in decades, had started 16-8 in April, but since then had piled up a wretched 13-37 run to plunge into the basement again, just narrowly ahead of the Falcons. They ranked seventh in runs scored, but very much bottoms in runs allowed, 5.7 per game, and had a -103 run differential. The Raccoons had swept them in the first meeting of the season.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (7-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Chris Hale (3-8, 5.82 ERA)
Steve George (3-2, 4.09 ERA) vs. Ray Rath (4-5, 3.98 ERA)
Crispino D’Urso (6-4, 3.86 ERA) vs. Harrison Hunt (5-6, 3.43 ERA)

The Thunder had four left-handed starters assembled, but we’d get the only exception, righty Ray Rath.

Game 1
OCT: CF J. Reyes – SS Maciel – 1B I. Stone – RF A. Gordon – C O. Matos – LF Talavera – 2B Patton – 3B Mabe – P Hale
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – 1B V.D. Morales – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS Vigil – P Walla

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!! – the first hit of the ballgame was a four-piece dinger by Edgar Gonzales with two outs in the bottom 1st, coming after Chris Hale had walked the bags full with Humph, Yocum, and the Otter! That was certainly one way to end a homer drought, but the Coons weren’t done, as Gabe Rivas walked and Omar Vigil doubled, and then Nick Walla smashed a 3-run homer over the wall in leftfield! That was the end for Chris Hale: just two thirds of an inning, seven runs, all earned. Ramon Carreno took over against one of his many old teams, and allowed another run in the second inning after a leadoff double by Yocum and Hamel’s RBI knock that made it 8-0. That was the only run the Coons got off Carreno in 3.1 innings, while Walla was not dominant, and not especially efficient either and didn’t get anywhere near a complete game, but kept the Thunder to a reasonable amount of offense. Mike Mabe and Jon Reyes put two hits together or a third-inning run. Ian Stone mashed his 11th homer of the season in the sixth, but it was a solo job (and still no Coon had more than five on the year). The Raccoons reclaimed that run in the bottom 6th on hits by Hamel and V.D.; and in the eighth inning the Otter would also chip in a 2-out, 2-run double to drive in Humph and V.D. against lefty Randy Nichols. Walla was at 79 pitches through six innings, but then had two quick frames after that and entered the ninth inning having already thrown 103 offerings. Victor Talavera grounded out to Luebbert, giving Yocum a spell by taking over second base, on the first pitch in the ninth, but Shawn Patton singled and the Raccoons then pulled the plug and sent Jackson, who got the game over with. 11-2 Furballs! Yocum 2-3, BB, 2B; Gonzales 1-5, HR, 4 RBI; Rivas 2-4, 2B; Walla 8.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (8-2) and 1-4, HR, 3 RBI;

The Raccoons had 11 hits in the game – but every guy in the lineup had at least one.

This was also the first career home run for Walla in 518 at-bats.

Game 2
OCT: CF J. Reyes – SS Maciel – 1B I. Stone – RF A. Gordon – 2B Ang. Flores – LF Talavera – C A. Rivera – 3B Mabe – P Rath
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Woodley – RF V.D. Morales – CF LeVan – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS McFarland – P George

George was all over the place right out of the gates on Tuesday. He walked Juan Maciel in the first, then was 3-0 before Stone poked and grounded out, which helped him out of the inning, but he then began the second with a walk to Angelo Flores, then nailed Talavera. He got a grounder to short from Arturo Rivera, but McFarland ****** that one for an error, and the bases were loaded with nobody out. George struck out Mabe and the pitcher Rath, but then gave up a 2-out single to right to Reyes, and Morales fired an awkward throw to the infield from there, then – after Maciel grounded out to short to end the inning – did not appear in the box to begin the bottom 2nd as he was replaced by Jack Hamel. He grounded out, but LeVan and Gonzales hit singles, and a run scored when Flores made an error on McFarland’s 2-out grounder. George grounded out for good, so three runs scored in the second inning – all unearned after errors by middle infielders.

George was torn a new bum hole by the Thunder in the third inning, allowing three runs (earned) on four sharp hits, and put Stone and Austin Gordon on the corners with yet more 2-out hits in the fourth inning before being yanked. Flores grounded out to third against Newhard to end the top 4th with a 5-1 score. Bottom 4th, LeVan led off with a triple to center, and Gonzales smacked his second homer in as many days to cut the gap in half. Vigil and Humph hit 2-out singles in the inning, but Yocum popped out to second to end the inning, and the Coons then inserted Vinny Morales for long relief – except that that plan got torpedoed by a 55-minute rain delay after he had pitched one inning. That delay occurred while the Coons had Hamel and LeVan on the corners with one out in the bottom 5th. Rath did not return after the interruption and lefty Randy Nichols’ first pitch after the game resumed was wild and scored Hamel, 5-4. Gonzales lined out, but Rivas tied the game with a double to left. McFarland hit a scratch single, and the Otter batted for Vinny in a bid to gain the lead, but grounded out to end the inning.

So five innings into a soaking wet 5-5 game, the Raccoons had burned their starter, one middle reliever, the long man, and 60% of the bench. Thankfully Walla’s long outing on Monday left plenty of pen available, including Gabriel Rios, another famously failed starter on the roster that could get length. He got five outs in order – then had Luis Silva jump out of the dugout and remove him from the game. With a sigh, I very calmly unscrewed a fresh bottle of Capt’n Coma. Jackson then got four outs after that, keeping the game tied. LeVan had singled his way on base in the bottom 7th, but had been caught stealing. Sam Brown pinch-hit for Jackson with two out and nobody on in the bottom 8th, got drilled, but then left on base by Humph, who flew out to left. Valentin then held the game tied in the ninth, while the Thunder brought in Brad Fails. Yocum led off with a single to center, asked for a double, but got trouble and thrown out at second by Jon Reyes. Woodley walked, but Fales then struck out two and sent the game to extras. Valentin had a 1-2-3 tenth, and McFarland had a 2-out double (actually) against Fales in the bottom of the inning, at which point we used our last body on the bench, Luebbert, who walked. Talavera ran down a Humph fly to left, and the game continued with Rismiller pitching (and only McMahan left). He gave up a leadoff single to Rivera, who got run for by Eduardo Zambrano to no avail as the Coons’ righty rizzed two of the next three batters, and the Thunder then had to send Oscar Matos in to catch afterwards, emptying their bench as well. He oversaw the end of the game as Yocum singled off Luis Ramirez, advanced on Woodley’s groundout, and then scored from second on Hamel’s single to right-center. 6-5 Critters. Yocum 3-6; Hamel 2-6, RBI; LeVan 4-5, 3B; Gonzales 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; McFarland 2-5, 2B, RBI; Vigil (PH) 1-1; Valentin 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

V.D. had a sore wrist and would be day-to-day for a couple of days at least. No news were available on Rios on Wednesday, and with no off day coming anytime soon, the Raccoons made a roster move and sent Omar Vigil (.258, 0 HR, 3 RBI) back to St. Petersburg to bring up a spare arm in lefty David Delgado, the only rested option on the 40-man roster in AAA, and chose to go with a 3 1/2 man bench for the series finale rather than risk run out of pitching behind Crispy Bear. Delgado had made one appearance earlier this year for a 6.75 ERA.

Game 3
OCT: CF J. Reyes – SS Maciel – 1B I. Stone – RF A. Gordon – 2B Ang. Flores – C A. Rivera – LF J. Evans – 3B Mabe – P Hunt
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – 1B Woodley – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS McFarland – P D’Urso

Gordon and Rivera reached against D’Urso in the second inning, but he got a couple of groundouts to strand those runners, and instead the Raccoons scored first in the series finale; Rivas drew a leadoff walk, even though he was then forced out on a bad bunt by the pitcher. Humph also walked, and Yocum, who had hit into a double play when Humph had reached base to begin the bottom 1st, then stuck a 2-out triple into the rightfield corner. Hamel then flew out.

Crispy Bear allowed just two hits and two walks in the first five innings, but back-to-back singles to Reyes and Maciel to put the tying runs on the corners with nobody out in the sixth, and that was before Maciel stole second. Stone lined out to first, which actually gave some room for hope that the Coons could maintain the lead, and Gordon struck out. McFarland contained Flores’ hard bouncer and played it to first in time to extricate Crispy Bear from second-and-third, nobody out, without conceding any run. Woodley doubled the lead to 4-0 with a 2-run homer to left in the bottom 6th, going deep after a Hamel single.

Crispy went 7.2 innings on 108 pitches, all in shutout fashion. The Coons then double-switched in Luebbert at third along with the spare Delgado against the left-handed Stone, who fanned to end the eighth, and Gordon, who homered off the rookie to set up a save situation to begin the ninth. Since Valentin had pitched two innings the day before and Jackson had been engaged in both of the last two games, Rismiller got the ball for that one. He gave up a 1-out double to Rivera, but otherwise completed the sweep against the dead-eyed Thunder. 4-1 Raccoons. Humphries 1-2, 2 BB; Luebbert (PH) 1-1; D’Urso 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7-4);

The Crusaders had lost two and the Indians had lost one game in their midweek series, so the Raccoons traveled to Indy as division leaders by half a game. All three teams had a real chance to lead the division by Sunday night.

Raccoons (47-31) @ Indians (46-31) – June 30-July 3, 2072

Indy led the season series, 4-3, and would try to make their #5 offense and #3 pitching work against the Raccoons. They had a +45 run differential (Portland: +14). The rotation was better than the bullpen, but there were no real weaknesses about this team, and not even any injuries, while the Raccoons arrived still with a 23 1/2-man roster.

Projected matchups:
Jimmy Wharton (8-5, 3.94 ERA) vs. Pablo Apodaca (5-7, 3.79 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (4-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (9-3, 3.53 ERA)
Nick Walla (8-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Willie Castellanos (8-4, 3.82 ERA)
Steve George (3-2, 4.34 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (6-2, 3.27 ERA)

Apodaca was the third southpaw of the week for the Raccoons, but also the last one.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – 1B Woodley – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS McFarland – P Wharton
IND: 2B W. Richmond – LF Marazzo – CF Hilario – 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – C A. Morris – RF T. Torres – 1B Ma. Rogers – P Apodaca

Why Matt Rogers and his 13 homers were batting eighth was best answered by the Indians, while the Coons got a double from Humph to begin the game and then produced nothing in the next three plate appearances to waste that runner. Nate Marazzo took Jimmyboy deep to left for a 1-0 Indy lead in the bottom 1st instead, but the Coons unpacked five hits to barely score two 2-out runs in the second to flip the score around. The Otter led off with a single, but was doubled up by Gonzales and his grounder to Walter Richmond. Three straight singles by the 7-8-9 batters then tied the game, and Humph hit an RBI double, but Yocum grounded out to short, leaving a pair in scoring position. Jimmy then walked Andy Morris, allowed a double to Tony Torres, blew the 2-1 lead on Rogers’ RBI groundout, and was down 3-2 after Apodaca hit a 2-out RBI single…..

Jimmy got no strikeouts through five innings, while Apodaca whiffed six, and got around the two walks to Hamel and Woodley he issued in the fifth inning and maintained the 3-2 lead, but the sixth began with a Gonzales single and Brown doubling to left-center, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. McFarland was walked intentionally here to bring up Jimmy with the bases loaded and nobody out. He struck out, but that was as far as the Indians got with their fiendish plan. Apodaca tied the game himself with a wild pitch, walked Humph, and then gave up a 2-run single to right to Yocum and was yanked. Yocum stole second, but Justin Esch struck out Hamel and got Woodley to turn it over to second base to end the inning.

The 5-3 lead survived Jimmyboy walking Jose Hilario and allowing a single to Fernando Valadez in the bottom 6th, and saw off Torres and Rogers, lefty hitters, in the bottom 7th, all without getting a K in the game, then was relieved after 101 pitches. Newhard and LeVan entered in a double switch that also ended the Otter’s day, got an out from PH Alex Gomez, and then Humph homered to extend the lead to 6-3 in the top of the eighth. Luebbert pinch-hit for Woodley and walked in the ninth, and V.D. pinch-hit for Newhard and singled, but then got doubled up by Gonzales. Brown’s groundout kept the runner at third and Valentin got the save chance, but the pinch-hitters remained in the game, taking to the corners, as V.D. notably stayed in at first base.

Oh, going back to the first question of why Matt Rogers and his 13 homers were batting eighth – that was so he could hit a 3-run homer off Valentin after our bum of a closer walked Valadez and Torres in the bottom 9th. The game went to extras from there, tied at six, and with the Coons out-hitting the Arrowheads, 12-4, for ***** sake. Vinny Morales got the ball, had a clean tenth, but got no offensive support, and then nailed Valadez, walked Torres, and gave up a walkoff single to ******* Matt Rogers in the bottom of the 11th inning. 7-6 Indians. Humphries 3-5, BB, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; V.D. Morales (PH) 1-2; Brown 3-5, 2B;

After 160 conversions and 27 times of ******** the bed in the brown hat, this was Valentin’s and his 6.75 ERA’s last blown save. The Raccoons went to closing by committee from here … unless they could find a free closer to trade for in the next 31 days.

Rios’ injury report came back as “back tightness”, and the old man (30) would be day-to-day for the rest of this extremely critical series.

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Woodley – CF LeVan – RF Hamel – C Rivas – SS McFarland – 3B Luebbert – P Gaytan
IND: 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – CF Hilario – 1B Ma. Rogers – 2B W. Richmond – RF T. Torres – C A. Morris – LF Marazzo – P V. Perez

Gaytan pitched positively infuriating, and allowing a leadoff double to Matt Martin in the bottom 1st and then somehow stranding the runner despite a 2-out walk to Rogers was already included in the “positive” part there. To begin the bottom 2nd he’d drill Tony Torres with a 1-2 pitch, then walked Marazzo after Morris popped out. Marazzo got himself caught stealing on an 0-2 ball to Perez, who then turned that count around to draw a 2-out walk … but Martin grounded out to short and the Indians ultimately left them on the corners again. Torres then doubled and Marazzo homered in the fourth inning to give the Indians a 2-0 lead after all. Martin and Hilario both singled and individually stole second base in the fifth inning, and Martin scored on Hilario’s knock to extend that lead to 3-0 against entirely hapless Raccoons.

The Coons did not make a stir until the seventh inning when LeVan led off with a single and Hamel hit a long fly to right that ended up with Torres at the fence. Rivas singled, but then was forced out on McFarland’s fielder’s choice grounder. Luebbert, of all people, then hit an RBI double to right, but with the tying runs in scoring position, two gone, and V.D. Morales pinch-hitting, the Indians sent the lefty Ryan Croft, who rung up Morales to quell the uprising. Jackson got two outs and Delgado got four despite being behind in almost every count after that, but the Raccoons went down meekly in the last innings and the heroics were all for naught. 3-1 Indians. LeVan 2-4; Rivas 2-4; Luebbert 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI;

Delgado (0-0, 6.00 ERA) was sent back to St. Pete after this game and we brought back Ramon Mata for a change. V.D. was back in the lineup on Saturday at least…

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Woodley – RF V.D. Morales – CF LeVan – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – SS McFarland – P Walla
IND: 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – CF Hilario – 1B Ma. Rogers – RF T. Torres – C A. Morris – 2B C. Pena – LF Marazzo – P W. Castellanos

Walla struck out the first three batters he faced, but then nobody else for a while, whilst the Raccoons had only one hit the first time through, but that was a Gonzales homer that tied him for the pathetic team lead of five, and gave the Raccoons a 1-0 lead. The second time through the brown team also got only one hit, a Gonzales single, but Walla scattered only three singles to carry the 1-0 score through five innings, ending the bottom 5th with a K to Castellanos, his first since getting Martin and Valadez in the first inning. Woodley hit a leadoff double in the sixth to prove that somebody other than Edgar Gonzales was still carrying a stick… and then was stranded at second base.

The whole thing blew up in the bottom 6th; Valadez and Hilario hit 1-out singles, and then Rogers’ fly to center wasn’t reached in time by LeVan and fell for an RBI double. Torres’ single and a fielding error by Humph cost two more runs. Walla drew a walk in the seventh against Croft and was driven in by Yocum with a 2-out single (Yocum was then caught stealing to end the inning), but ended up giving up a leadoff triple to Marazzo and surrendered the run on a groundout by J.P. Jack, departing the game down 4-2. McMahan finished the inning, and Woodley led off the eighth with a single. Morales’ long fly to center was caught by Hilario, but LeVan singled to right to put the tying run on base. Justin Esch came in, got a fielder’s choice grounder from Gonzales, but gave up an RBI single to Brown through the left side, 4-3. Hamel batting for a hit- and hopeless McFarland took Walla off the hook, as he snapped a single into shallow center to tie the game. The Otter batted for McMahan, but flew out to Torres in right, leaving two on.

Torres hit a double off Newhard in the bottom 8th, but got no support and was left at second base. Humph flew out against Josh C(arrington) to begin the ninth, but the righty then walked Yocum, who stole second successfully this time, and then also Woodley. Yocum then gunned for third base to force the issue – but was thrown out by Jack. The game went to extras after a scoreless inning by Rismiller. LeVan singled off Josh C in the tenth… and then was caught stealing.

A bit of futile poking later, Vinny Morales got the ball for the bottom 11th and faced reliever Jason Rhodes in the #7 hole to begin the inning, as the Indians were out of bench players (the Coons still had Luebbert). Rhodes singled, because of course he did, then was forced out at second on Richmond’s comebacker to Vinny. Richmond stole second (…), then got to third on Jack’s groundout. Matt Martin ended the game with a walkoff knock into the rightfield corner. 5-4 Indians. Woodley 2-4, BB, 2B; LeVan 2-4, BB; Gonzales 2-5, HR, RBI; Hamel (PH) 1-1, RBI; Rismiller 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Lotsa innings, little return.

Game 4
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Woodley – RF V.D. Morales – CF LeVan – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – SS Luebbert – P George
IND: 3B Ma. Martin – SS Valadez – CF Hilario – 1B Ma. Rogers – RF T. Torres – C A. Morris – 2B C. Pena – LF Marazzo – P Jo. Flores

Humph played in the game for a minute, enough to hit a triple and sprain an ankle on an awkward slide, then hobbled off with Luis Silva and was replaced with van Otterdijk. Yocum popped out, Woodley walked, and Morales got the blood-stained run home with fielder’s choice grounder, barely. The Otter went deep to left the first time he came to bat in the third inning, which was his sixth and set a new team high – what a milestone to have after EIGHTY-TWO GAMES. And Steve George then ****** the 2-0 lead away in the same inning, starting with a leadoff double by the opposing ******* pitcher. Martin grounded out to short, but Valadez and Hilario smashed RBI hits to tie the game before Hilario also hurt himself running the bases and was replaced with Rafael Valencia. The former Critter had a busy fifth, dropping a George fly ball for an error, but that didn’t lead to a run, and then hit a single off George in the bottom of the fifth, but that didn’t lead to a run either, somehow.

The game continued with V.D. and Morris having bids for the fence in left in the sixth inning, but both had their drives caught at the wall by the other team’s leftfielder. Gonzales hit a single that didn’t lead anywhere nice in the seventh, and George somehow got through that many innings before being pinch-hit to begin the eighth against Flores. Hamel grounded to short, but Valadez’ bobble allowed him to reach on an error. He advanced on the Otter’s groundout, then hustled home from second on Yocum’s single to right-center, and the Raccoons had a new 3-2 lead. Woodley singled, but V.D. flew out to left. LeVan found the space between Valencia and Marazzo, though, and dropped in an RBI double with two outs. The inning ended with Flores K’ing Gonzales.

Up 4-2, the Raccoons used Valentin for ONE out from Valencia in the bottom 8th, then sent Rios and his back complaint against the 4-5 batters, resulting in Rogers singling, but Torres punched out. Jackson then came in for a 4-out save, hopefully, and got Morris to ground out to get out of the inning for a start. The Raccoons found 2-out singles with Hamel and the Otter in the ninth inning, but Yocum couldn’t get the runners home for some insurance, and so it was on Jackson to figure the rest of this game out against the bottom of the order. He rung up Pena and Marazzo, then allowed a single to Jack, then walked Martin, and then left the game as the Raccoons wanted McMahan against the left-handed Valadez – and a pop to first from the shortstop won them a singular game in this series. 4-2 Coons. Humphries 1-1, 3B; van Otterdijk 2-4, HR, RBI; George 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-2);

In other news

June 27 – The Knights beat the Canadiens, 9-8 in 13 innings, after both teams score a run in the 12th, and the Canadiens score another run in the top of the 13th that gets answered, double, by the Knights. VAN INF Roberto Barraza (.273, 1 HR, 32 RBI) clips five singles and drives in two runs for the best day by any player in the game.
June 28 – VAN INF Roberto Barraza (.284, 1 HR, 33 RBI) puts out five hits for the second straight day, including three doubles, in a 16-6 takedown of the Knights.
June 28 – IND OF Jose Hilario (.286, 6 HR, 49 RBI) has five hits, including a homer and two RBI, to beat the Falcons, 12-6.
June 28 – The Capitals send LF/RF/1B Mike Meyer (.247, 6 HR, 31 RBI) to the Miners in exchange for veteran INF/RF/CF Jeff Maudlin (.238, 2 HR, 25 RBI) and #195 prospect SS Ramon Fernandez.
July 1 – Warriors 3B/RF/2B Matt Roller (.243, 6 HR, 30 RBI) drives in six runs on two hits, including a slam, in a 13-2 rout of the Stars.
July 2 – Dallas RF Dave Wright (.343, 11 HR, 44 RBI) could miss three weeks with shoulder soreness.

Player of the Week (FL): SFW OF Jordan Lopez (.300, 14 HR, 45 RBI), shooting .483 (14-29) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): VAN INF Roberto Barraza (.290, 1 HR, 33 RBI), spraying .586 (17-29) with 3 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 3B Rick Healey (.296, 9 HR, 51 RBI), bashing .375 with 6 HR, 30 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL 1B/RF/LF Cesar Ramirez (.326, 19 HR, 40 RBI), smashing .387 with 9 HR, 16 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAL SP Jimmy Nelson (11-2, 2.03 ERA), going 4-0 with a 1.90 ERA, 32 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND CL Josh Carrington (4-2, 4.71 ERA, 19 SV), pitching for a 3-2 mark, 3.45 ERA, 8 SV, and 13 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B/RF Ryan Gasparik (.266, 6 HR, 22 RBI), batting .309 with 4 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL LF/RF Ken Frank (.272, 11 HR, 37 RBI), poking .295 with 5 HR, 19 RBI

Complaints and stuff

This team.

So Humph will go back to the DL with the sprained ankle, which is gonna cost him at least three weeks. Never mind that the middle of the order isn’t great anyway, but now the top of the order is also done in again.

More playing time for team slugger George van Otterdijk, leading this outfit with SIX homers as we’re now officially into the second half of the season.

So. That’s that. No leadoff man, no closer, no power. Katz might start rehab once more next week, so maybe we can get six more games outta him at some point before he suffers another dislimberment…!

The July IFA pool opened and the Raccoons have already signed a Mexican right-hander, Danny Raya, for $65k, but the one player we’re really after is a 16-year-old Venezuelan shortstop, Felipe Salinas. He looks like he can bat for both average and power, and is above-average for speed and defense, although he might do better at second base since the throwing arm was not the greatest. Since he was 6’1’’ a move to first base was not completely unreasonable. The asking price had started at $1M, which was already over the soft cap, and was already pretty close to our budget space.

Four games in Elk City, which will be horrible, and then the Raccoons will be at home for 17 straight days across the All Star Game, hosting the Crusaders, Elks, Loggers, and Aces for a total of 13 games.

Fun Fact: Ramon Carreno, a $24k signing in the 2051 July IFA period, has pitched for seven different teams in a 16-year career.

The first two those were as a rather successless Raccoons starter, going 13-24 with a 4.79 ERA across the 2057-2059 seasons before being included in a package to L.A. that brought in catcher Angel Perez and Jack Kozak at the mystery position. He went through a few lean seasons and AAA stints with L.A. before being sent to Indy, where he was a fairly competent starter in the mid-60s, although he led the CL in homers allowed twice and then had a horrendous 4-21 season with a 4.59 ERA in ’65. H also pitched for the Crusaders and Loggers (twice).

For his career, he was 124-154 with a 4.16 ERA and three saves in a career spanning 491 games, 383 starts, 2,461 innings, and 1,376 strikeouts. That might be the end of it, given that after the Thunder series, he was found out to be pitching with a tear in his rotator cuff and was headed for surgery. The 37-year-old would be out for 12 months, and whether he’d come back was questionable.