[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-3) @ Crusaders (6-7) – April 18-20, 2028

The Crusaders were middling throughout early on, hugging the .500 mark as closely as possible while having as many runs scored as they had allowed. They really struggled to stand out in any way so far; their pitchers had the most strikeouts in the Continental League, and that was really the only major stat in which they ranked in either the top 3 or bottom 3 in the CL. The Raccoons had not lost the season series to New York for three straight years, taking home 10 wins in 18 games in 2027.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (1-0, 2.19 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (1-1, 6.97 ERA)
George James (1-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (1-1, 2.25 ERA)
Mark Roberts (3-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (1-2, 3.44 ERA)

All right-handers to come up here; we expect them to skip Jesse Wright (0-0, 9.00 ERA) utilizing their off day on Monday. The Coons also used that off day to venture forth on just four starting pitchers and would only add another starting pitcher on the weekend.

Meanwhile we were also a paw short; Abel Mora's sprained finger would hold him out of at least this series.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – LF Millan – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Delgadillo
NYC: 2B Jam. Wilson – 1B Elder – CF Hatley – 3B Schmit – LF Espinosa – C Asay – RF Torruellas – SS Cameron – P E. Cannon

The Raccoons stacked them in the first inning with walks to Ramos and Hereford as well as a Harenberg single, but Rafael Gomez cracked a bouncer at Joe Cameron for a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, but at least the Crusaders, after Delgadillo put on both Jamie Wilson and Jay Elder to begin his night, Nick Hatley also hit into a double play. Unfortunately the second inning ALSO began with the Crusaders putting two men on base, which soon devolved into a 1-out RBI single by Cameron, then a 2-out RBI single by Wilson, on which Cameron was thrown out at home to end the inning. While Delgadillo fooled nobody at all, the Raccoons at least kept pace. Alberto Ramos opened the top 3rd with a double to left, and then Tim Stalker hit a booming homer in the same direction to tie the score right away. And then? Bottom 3rd, Delgadillo offered a leadoff walk to Jay Elder, then a single to Nick Hatley. Nobody out, but Elder was thrown out at third base on the single, and while Hatley moved up to second base, he was then caught stealing third base. Two outs at third base in one inning – magnificient! And then Andy Schmit hit a 400-footer to right-center and put up the Crusaders, 3-2, anyway.

Sigh! At least he could get a bunt down in the fourth, moving Tovias (reached on error) and Magallanes (walk) into scoring position with one out. Ramos tied the game with a sac fly Hatley, and then Stalker hit a ball behind Hatley for a 2-out RBI double, before Rich Hereford burned Eddie Cannon with a deep fly to right that clanked off the foul pole and extended the Raccoons' new lead to 6-3. Once Harenberg followed that up with a single, the Crusaders yanked Cannon and dove into the pen. That worked for the moment, while nothing worked for Delgadillo. He barely got through five innings, but not without giving up a long 2-out, 2-run homer to Hatley in the fifth that cut the lead back to a single run. Dan McLin worked hard to blow that 1-run lead as well in the sixth, issuing a leadoff walk to Juan Espinosa, who however was also caught stealing by Tovias. He followed that up with a 2-out RBI single that cashed Harenberg in the top 7th, but Elder had an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the inning. That one plated Nick Shaffer, who had hit a leadoff single against McLin, had been balked over by Brotman, and now scored handily. Could Raccoons hitting outdo Raccoons pitching? Danny Morales drew a leadoff walk from Steve Casey in the eighth, batting ninth after a double switch. Ramos then lined to right, where Rafael Torruellas tried to make a play, couldn't and instead gave the Coons two bases rather than one when the ball got under his glove and behind him. One run scored on a Stalker sac fly to deep center, the other on Hereford's single to right. Those runs finally stuck – Billy Brotman got another out in the eighth, Fleischer got two, and even Josh Boles pitched an inning without getting rocked deeply. 9-6 Raccoons. Ramos 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Stalker 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Hereford 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Harenberg 3-5, 2B;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – LF Millan – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P James
NYC: 2B Jam. Wilson – 1B Elder – CF Hatley – 3B Schmit – LF Espinosa – C Asay – RF Torruellas – SS Cameron – P Rutkowski

The Coons just couldn't get any decent starting pitching – George James walked the bags full with one out in the bottom 1st, and then the Coons failed to turn a double play on Espinosa's grounder. That scored one run; Jason Asay's clean single to center scored a second one, after which Torruellas struck out. Rutkowski would make the 2-0 hold up through the early innings before hitting Rafael Gomez with two outs in the fourth, then gave up a single to Omar Millan. Elias Tovias hit a liner over the head of Jay Elder that bounced fair just once in the outfield, then made its way for the jutting part of the seats in foul territory, where it took Torruellas sufficiently long to make a play to allow the tying runs to score on the 2-out double. Magallanes, hitless in '28, was then walked intentionally, after which James struck out to end the inning. Over this, he showed great anger, which was some relief – he knew about the concept of strikeouts after all! Not that it stopped him from issuing another 2-out walk to Hatley in the fifth, then with two outs and Elder already on base. Millan made a fine play on a Schmit fly to end the inning anyway.

That 2-2 tie was tough to break, even with James on the mound. The Raccoons tried every trick in the book after getting only one guy – Magallanes with a single! – on base the third time through the order when Harenberg reached base in the eighth. Spencer ran for him, was caught stealing, and that was it for tricks. Jay Elder's leadoff double in the bottom 8th ended James, but not the 2-2 tie. Kearney and Ohl would come in to quell the threat that got to 90 feet away, but would not cross. Then, when Elias Tovias opened the ninth with a leadoff single off Travis Giordano, there was no pinch-runner left to throw out there. Magallanes bunted the runner to second base, after which Jaden Booker walked, which was not furthering our cause. Ramos and Stalker made the last two outs in the inning. Ohl moved the game to extra innings where Hereford was denied extra bases in deep left by Ivan Vega before Spencer and Gomez hit a pair of singles that put them on the corners with one out. That brought up the #6 spot occupied by the pitcher at this point, so Armando Leal grabbed a stick and in a full count drew a bases-loading walk from Giordano, who normally was not the walking sort. Here came Tovias again, popped out, and the Coons went all out and sent Danny Morales to bat for Magallanes, the last bat off the bench. That count also ran full and ended up with Giordano missing grossly on the 3-2, pushing home Jarod Spencer with the first run in six innings. Jaden Booker then grounded over to short, Cameron to first… vaguely. Elder couldn't smother the spiked throw, the ball went into the dugout, and the Coons got two runs free or charge! Giordano then got directions first to walk Ramos onto the open base, then to the dugout himself, after which Jared Stone, a righty with a 16.20 ERA, nailed Tim Stalker to push in another run. Kevin Surginer ended the game after Hereford struck out aiming for the fences. 6-2 Coons. Spencer 1-1; Gomez 2-4; Tovias 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Morales (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – CF Millan – C Leal – 2B Spencer – P Roberts
NYC: C F. Delgado – 1B Elder – 3B Schmit – LF I. Vega – CF Hatley – SS Cameron – 2B Jam. Wilson – RF Torruellas – P Moffatt

Mark Roberts didn't even get an out before he loaded the bases in his first inning. A single by Felipe Delgado, a walk issued to Jay Elder, and then he nailed Andy Schmit outright. Ivan Vega hit an RBI single up the middle right away, and while Hatley struck out, a Joe Cameron grand slam to dead center surely moved this game away from Roberts and the Raccoons, who also had to swallow Alberto Ramos leaving the game with an injury right after the first inning. Stalker moved to short, Booker entered the game, and I was checking out where the next subway entrance was so I could throw myself in front of a train. It was a game entirely worth being flushed down the toilet without asking any further questions. While Roberts lasted five innings without allowing another run and struck out seven, the bottom line was ghastly, because Doug Moffatt at the same time shut down the Raccoons' offense more or less completely, allowing only two hits in five innings while ringing up six. The Crusaders piled three hits and two runs on Steve Costilow in the bottom 6th, putting the Raccoons in a 7-0 hole.

In eleven out of ten cases, the Raccoons were dead. Armando Leal hit a 2-run homer in the seventh that didn't make much difference. Rich Hereford hit a 2-run homer in the eighth and suddenly they were in save distance. If they wanted to rally all the way, though, they had to do it with the bottom of the order in the ninth inning against … Chris Klein? Well, the Crusaders probably knew best what to do with their countless millions. He struck out Leal. He struck out Spencer. Elias Tovias poked a 3-2 pitch into play, but grounded out. 7-4 Crusaders. Ramos 0-0, BB; Hereford 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Leal 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Spencer 2-4;

What happened to the team that knew how to pitch well and never scored a run?

Raccoons (11-4) vs. Knights (6-9) – April 21-23, 2028

The Raccoons were tied for second place in runs scored at this point, which had been the Knights' specialty for years with a strong hitting core around Ruben Luna. But Luna was no more, the Knights as a whole were not all that much anymore, and they were ninth in runs scored and tied for fifth in runs allowed, roughly equal with the Raccoons in the latter regard. The Raccoons had won six of nine games from Atlanta in 2027.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (1-1, 2.95 ERA) vs. Tim Wells (1-2, 2.77 ERA)
Billy Ramm (0-0) vs. Jim Shannon (0-1, 4.15 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (2-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (0-3, 7.79 ERA)

Left, right, and left from the Knights here, who had three southpaws in total in the rotation.

The Coons made roster moves; Steve Costilow (6.00 ERA) was sent back to AAA for Billy Ramm (5.14 ERA in AAA) who would make the spot start for Gutierrez. Furthermore, we put Alberto Ramos on the DL with a squishy shoulder (oh goody!) and brought up right-handed batting, 25-year-old INF German Sanchez as spare infielder. Sanchez had been a trash heap signing a few years back after originally signing with the Crusaders in 2019.

Oh by the way, when Ramm makes his spot start, ownership will be in the house!

Game 1
ATL: RF M. Walker – SS Duling – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Tadlock – CF N. Hall – 3B A. Alvarez – LF G. Ramirez – C Ayala – P Wells
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Morales – CF Magallanes – P Nomura

The mess continued. Adrian Alvarez hit an RBI single in the second inning, in which the Knights hit a total of three singles, and the fourth inning saw the singles by Nate Hall and Alvarez, a throwing error by Juan Magallanes that allowed Hall to score, and then a Harenberg error put Victor Ayala on, too. Nomura drilled the opposing pitcher to load up the bases with one out. Mark Walker grounded a ball to Hereford, who tried to get two but couldn't. Alvarez scored with only the pitcher put out at second base. Mike Duling walked on four pitches to restock the bases, but at least Josh Johnson flew out to Rafael Gomez, keeping the score at 3-0. While the Knights were running circles around them, and the game took place in rain that had started in the fourth inning and got steadily worse, the Raccoons amounted only to one base hit in the first five innings before Magallanes led off the bottom 6th with a soft single. Nomura bunted him to second base, Stalker flew out to right, but Spencer dropped a ball into the gap between Guadalupe Ramirez and Nate Hall for an RBI double. Yay, life! Except, no, death. The game went into a rain delay at this point, and never emerged from it. It was finally called hours later. 3-1 Knights. Magallanes 1-2;

Well, at least THIS was not the game Nick Valdes attended…

Who's going to pitch again on Saturday?

Game 2
ATL: RF M. Walker – SS Duling – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Tadlock – CF N. Hall – LF C. Mendoza – 3B A. Alvarez – C Ayala – P Shannon
POR: SS Stalker – CF Millan – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – LF Spencer – C Tovias – 2B Sanchez – P Ramm

Two debutees at once – oh jolly! The Knights had no trouble reaching base against Billy Ramm, putting two on in the first before Ron Tadlock hit into a double play, after which Nate Hall hit a solo homer in the second inning. Mark Walker then hit into a double play to end the third inning, while the Coons had another slow start against Jim Shannon, but German Sanchez' first plate appearance of his major league career yielded a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd, after which Ramm bunted him to second base. Tim Stalker put a clean single into centerfield and the speedy Sanchez dashed around third base to score the tying run. But while Tim Stalker stole second base, the Raccoons couldn't get him around to score, other than the Knights and Nate Hall in the fourth inning. Hall hit a single, stole second base and made it to third before the Coons walked Ayala with two outs to get to the pitcher Shannon. Ramm, however, was not even close to getting out of this one, surrendering a sharp RBI single to break the tie again. Only a nifty play on Mark Walker by Tim Stalker ended the inning, down 2-1.

The misery wasn't close to an end. The Knights had two more 2-out hits before Ramm ached his way out of the fifth inning, and in the bottom of that frame, Elias Tovias led off with a double to left, then was thrown out at third base when he misguidedly thought he had a triple. I could hardly believe it and I was sure that Nick Valdes wouldn't be able to believe it either. Tovias continued to suck on defense then in the sixth. Adrian Alvarez led off the top 6th with a single, Ramm leaked a walk to Ayala, and then Tovias threw away Shannon's bunt for a 2-base, run-scoring error. The gates were wide open now; Mark Walker grounded past Sanchez, which plated both runs, and Gomez' throw home also allowed Walker to second base. The Coons lifted the useless Ramm after five innings, nine hits, and four walks, and five runs and counting. It would end up being six after Jonathan Fleischer failed to keep Walker on base. The runner moved up on Mike Duling's fly to right, then scored on John Johnson's groundout. Even with Shannon out after the seventh inning, the Coons couldn't get a paw up against them. There was no miraculous comeback this time. The Raccoons lost feebly and entirely meekly. 7-1 Knights. Booker (PH) 1-1;

Four of the six runs on Ramm were unearned, somehow leaving him with a 3.60 ERA after this shambling appearance.

Game 3
ATL: RF M. Walker – SS Duling – 1B Tadlock – LF C. Mendoza – 2B J. Johnson – CF N. Hall – 3B A. Alvarez – C Ayala – P Rosas
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – CF Mora – LF Morales – C Leal – P Delgadillo

Another game, another early deficit, as the Raccoons starters kept and kept and kept stinking it up. Chris Mendoza hit a leadoff double in the second inning, Adrian Alvarez added a single, and with runners on the corners, Ayala landed a 2-run double behind Rafael Gomez to put the Knights up 2-0 in the second inning. Delgadillo kept fooling nobody, but at least the Raccoons made some vague motion for offense in the bottom of the third inning. Tim Stalker hit a 1-out single, then was in motion when Jarod Spencer found the gap in left-center for an RBI double. Too bad that Hereford grounded out and Harenberg whiffed… But somebody else came through – not necessarily Rafael Gomez, who was batting .209 and struggled to find even second gear for his season, but at least he drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 4th. Danny Morales, bit piece at best on the roster, was the one coming through, rocking a 410-footer to right-center to flip the score and give the Raccoons their first lead since New York.

Unfortunately, Delgadillo kept being pushed around… sixth-inning doubles by Ron Tadlock and John Johnson would tie the score while the home team still sat on just three base hits. Hadn't they been second in runs scored just a few days ago?? Yusneldan lumbered through seven before being hauled in, after which Ricky Ohl saw to the 3-3 tie in the eighth, and Billy Brotman did so in the ninth. The Coons were still on three base hits as the bottom 9th blossomed and with it a walkoff chance to end a 3-game losing streak. Lefty Adrian McQuinn was the pitcher, and secured three quick outs from the 4-5-6 batters that were now a combined 0-for-10 in the game. Top 10th, McLin struck out Ray Collado and Walker before Duling grounded out to Rich Hereford, bringing up the bottom of the order against right-hander Ray Blair. Morales whiffed and Leal flew out to right, but Magallanes walked. However, Tim Stalker had no magic in him right now and grounded out. Top 11th, McLin walked Mendoza with one out, and then a potential double play grounder eluded Spencer for a single to right with Josh Johnson at the plate. Guadalupe Ramirez broke the tie with a clean single to left, and only then did Alvarez hit into a double play, keeping the score at 4-3. Ed Blair yielded a 1-out single to Hereford in the bottom 11th, upon which the royally useless Kevin Harenberg immediately bopped into a game-ending double play. 4-3 Knights.

In other news

April 17 – Gold Sox SP Robby Gonzalez (3-0, 0.83 ERA) not only remains unscored upon in a 6-0 win over the Scorpions, but also refuses to concede a base hit to Sacramento. This is the 53rd no-hitter in ABL history, and the first ever for a Gold Sox pitcher.
April 17 – DEN RF/1B Brad Gore (.245, 0 HR, 5 RBI) might be out for a month with a broken foot.
April 18 – The Canadiens' Emilio Farias (.333, 0 HR, 0 RBI) lands his first base hit of the season, which is also the 41-year-old's 2,500th career hit, of which 2,499 have not been for the Canadiens. Farias was a 2-time batting champion in the 2010s and is a career .317 batter with only 10 home runs.
April 19 – DAL INF Bob Rojas (.338, 0 HR, 7 RBI) is on a 20-game hitting streak that began in 2027 with the Pacifics.
April 19 – OCT CF Dave Garcia (.264, 0 HR, 7 RBI) will be out for at least six weeks with a strained oblique. Garcia, 33, amounted to only 158 games in the last two years combined.
April 20 – The hitting streak of Star Bob Rojas (.324, 0 HR, 7 RBI) that began in a different year and with a different team ends with an 0-for-3 day in a 3-2 win over the Wolves.
April 22 – The Cyclones overcome a 2-1 deficit against the Pacifics with a 10-run eighth inning to claim an 11-2 victory. In that momentous eighth inning, CIN SS Frank Eisenberg (.274, 0 HR, 13 RBI) hits both a 2-run triple and a 3-run double for Player of the Game honors.

Complaints and stuff

Well, unsurprisingly Nick Valdes gave me **** after the drab presentation the Raccoons offered on Saturday. He questioned a lot of things, foremost why the heck an undercooked pitcher like Billy Ramm was starting such an important game. I responded that we had suffered quite a few injuries already. Valdes responded that everybody had injuries. Injuries could not be an excuse.

Speaking of injuries… Alberto Ramos will miss about six weeks with the shoulder thing, which is such a good thing to hear… did you notice that ever since he left the game on Thursday, things have been going downhill in a straight line? He reminds me more an dmore and more off the young Cookie. An awesome presence on the field… WHEN he was on the field at all.

But the crisis is here and the crisis is real. Once Ramos was gone, the team scored nine runs in 38 innings. Looks like the large-scale, riotous sucking will start a few months earlier than usual this season…

Also this week, Kyle Anderson started a rehab assignment in the minors. We will see how that goes. Any sort of pitcher being even remotely decent would help right now after a week in which Raccoons starting pitchers allowed themselves to be ravished for a 4.88 ERA. Which does not sound so bad until you realize that there were also plenty of unearned runs that were really just the result of one error followed by lots more braindead pitching. Raccoons starting pitchers allowed 6.17 runs per nine innings overall this week. WHILE the offense went on the DL.

Fun Fact: Only once before were the Gold Sox involved in a no-hitter, then on the receiving end on July 25, 2025, when Richmond's Todd Wood held them hitless in an 8-0 rout.

Not that Denver is that great for cycles, either. "Only" four have been hit a mile above sea level, and then three of those by visiting players. Eugene Carter in 2011 was the only Gold Sock to ever hit a cycle at home. He was also a catcher with only 20 career triples and 51 career homers across nine years of major league service with four different teams.