[Westheim]

Four games against the Indians, who led by … much. Doesn’t sound like much fun. Juan Berrios opened the series against Jose Murillo and got a 1-0 lead in the first to work with. The Raccoons were held to one hit and one run through eight, while Berrios pitched a 2-hitter until the eighth, when the Indians singled and then slapped him with a Marvin Roy home run, pinch hitting for Murillo. Cook led off the top 9th with a pinch hit double but was left stranded. 2-1 loss. And it sucked a ton. Game 2. Powell pitched six scoreless with a 2-0 lead, then was burned for four hits on two home runs. Raccoons lost 4-2. Of course they did.

We looked at Salah Brunet in game 3, but rocked him for four runs in the first inning. Ray was back from his dismal outing four days ago and kept his stuff together this time, allowing only one run in seven innings. Raccoons won 5-1 and I would have been very happy to beat Brunet hadn’t it been for the two highly depressing losses before this. Johnston and Maloney both had two RBIs in that key first inning. Game 4 saw both Sullivan and Costa on the bench for being very tired. Simon had already skipped game 2. Freddy Lopez was at third and Hoyt Cook at second – not really his strong position. Cook made an error on a critical play in the eighth that loaded the bases with two down and a 4-3 lead for the Raccoons. Justice was in and struck out the next batter. Gaston got the save.

The Raccoons had scored first in all four games and they should have won all four to be honest. But where we were, we took those two wins and soldiered on. Already July, only three more months of suffering ahead. One tiny bright spot came through in the BNN stat of the week: Wally Gaston was ranked #4 among active pitchers with the most K/9 with 8.16 K/9. Bayhawks reliever Seung-ook Yi led the category with 8.69.

The Canadiens were next, at home, for four games. They were more or less average throughout after the first half of the season. LF Miguel Guzman led the CL in home runs with 16.

The Raccoons took another early lead, 2-1, in the first Canadiens game. Gaston came in the ninth with another insurance run behind him, and the Raccoons needed it. A passed ball by Maloney almost would have spelt desaster, scoring a run, but Gaston finished striking out the side eventually with the tying run on second, and we won 3-2. This was only the fourth win for Juan Berrios this year. He had 12 losses already.

The win streak continued, with a 5-2 win in game 2. Both runs were on Tony Lopez, who had not much oomph at the moment. Powell had pitched six scoreless. Simon and Johnston had hit home runs, Simon’s had plated three. That was already the last win here. Game 3 was lost on a massive blow up in the top 8th, where Lopez loaded the bases with a 5-2 lead. Justice walked in one run and by the time it was over Hatfield was also in the game and the Canadiens led (and then won) 6-5.

That was it for Lopez. He was botching too much this season and was demoted to AAA. Jose Vazquez came back to the Raccoons once more. He was in his last option year – he either made it stick this time or I would send him down the river happily. Gustavo Zuniga’s back was hurting and he was day to day until the All Star break. Dolder would start for him in CF.

And just like I wasn’t hurting enough, Pedro Sánz suffered a setback in his recovery that would cost him another two weeks. Why!? Why!? Why is it always me!! (plants face into doorframe in agony)

Oh, yeah. We ended the Canadiens series with a 6-1 win, scoring five in the bottom 6th. Morris had pitched six scoreless frames, only O’Rearden had been stained. He was on the borderline of going back to AAA by now, walking too many and not even getting lefties out with reliability. Vazquez pitched the seventh, 1-2-3. Dolder was the only hitless starting position player. Hoyt Cook scored at least two for the second consecutive time in a bases loaded pinch hit appearance and was batting .244 now after dipping below .200 in June.

Anyway, 5-3 in the last two series made for 21-21 since May 22. Keep pushing, boys, keep pushing!

Daniel Hall came off the DL in time for the Loggers series. He was taken back to the majors roster and Robby Davis was sent to AAA. Davis had tanked it back time batting around .150 – he was in his last option year (at age 21) and I had given up hope on him by now. Hall was back playing LF and Cox was shifted to RF. Cox was batting just over .300 in over 120 at bats now and was thus better than his downgraded ratings. I started to lose confidence in my scouts. They also had upgraded Hall a bit again. Hall was slotted to #6 against righties with Cox leading off followed by Maloney, who was batting a solid .250 this year and was now moved up to #2. Simon, Sullivan, Johnston followed. Hall batted #2 against lefties and when Maloney was rested for Lawson, who was sub .200 …

The boys from Milwaukee came to town before the break. Berrios pitched in game 1 and in the first inning already walked in two in a horrible outing. Raccoons lost 6-4, the only highlight being a 3-run long ball by Hall in the top 8th, then came back the next day with a 3-2 win, in which Simon was 3-4 with the game-winning home run. Powell and Justice combined for the win and save. Justice was given preference over Gaston since the tough lefty battery of the Loggers was up in the bottom 9th. But what good was it all for? The rubber game was lost with only a Wyatt Johnston home run to account for in the 3-1 loss on Ned Ray, who went eight only to crumble late.

All Star break. Only Ben Simon went for the Raccoons (and he didn’t deserve it either), Simon went 2-4 with a run batted in as the Continental League lost 9-3.

In other news:
July 2 – Clint Rhodes and the Canadiens might have lost the series opener against the Raccoons, but Rhodes landed a hit for the 20th straight game in the 3-2 loss.
July 3 – The Rebels’ biggest bat, Juan Medine (.383, 13 HR, 57 RBI) will be out of action for two weeks with an elbow sprain.
July 4 – Juan “Mauler” Correa pitches a 3-hitter as the Scorpions beat the Gold Sox 3-0.
July 8 – The Indians lose their biggest weapon in the playoff campaign, pitcher Salah Brunet, to a rotator cuff inflammation for the rest of the season.
July 8 – Rhodes’ hitting streak has reached 25 games.

Raccoons will play four in Vancouver, then have a 2-week home stint against the Titans, Falcons, Bayhawks, and Aces. Not that it would matter. Raccoons will lose against anybody.