[Westheim]

The Loggers had a good pen, but their starters ranked 11th in ERA, so: hit them hard, and hit them early. Loggers starter Eduardo Jimenez had nothing of it. The game was hitless through four innings, before jumping from 0-0 to 2-2 in the sixth. Evans left with a no-decision. Jimenez stayed until the eighth, where he was crushed finally. Johnston slammed a 3-run homer that made it 6-2, and was the game winner as Tony Lopez collapsed in the bottom 9th. Gaston came in and struggled to contain the fire. The Loggers scored three and old Wyatt caught a line drive whizzing through the gap that uncaught would have won the game in walkoff fashion for the Loggers. The Raccoons won 6-5, just barely.

Juan Berrios’ line in game 2: 3 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 R, 2 ER in 1.0 IP; then he left with the 6-0 loss and a back strain. Raccoons whiffed ten times and have stopped hitting altogether apparently with only 4 H for the whole team, of those three were by Bocci. Berrios raised his ERA to 7 flat and went to the DL for a few weeks. Nobody was called up. Simmons had the flu and nobody else could be put on the 40-man roster, which was full.

The Raccoons weren’t going anywhere in this series. Romero was out of control in game 3 and took the 5-2 loss. Pitchers and batters were completely out of their game now. I was making frequent lineup changes to no avail. The Raccoons only split the series with a 7-1 win in the final game because of Powell’s fine pitching (3-2 with a 1.96 ERA now) and because they got a couple of walks and the Loggers committed three errors.

The team had struck out 36-times over the 4-game series! That was more than just terrible, or horrible, that was … I don’t know, I might have to create a new word here. It was a pain to create a lineup. Sánz and Nixon were in slump mode now for a week or so, Simon has been since the season started.

Interleague play was up against the Miners in Pittsburgh. It was likely to become a series of misery against suffering, with the two teams ranking 12th in offense in their leagues. Of course, this meant 108 runs scored for the Miners. For the Raccoons it meant 89 (and we had played one more game than the Miners…), for 3.85 and 3.07 R/G averages, respectively.

The Miners gave a crap about those numbers, they rolled up the Raccoons 8-6 to start the series. Both starters were chased by rain after five. The Raccoons scored three on homers by Nixon and Simon in the sixth to put Logan Evans in line for the win, but this time the bullpen collapsed. Ben Jenkins was asked to pitch two innings, and allowed three in the latter that saddled him with the loss. Gary Simmons was pressed to start game 2, of course it was an epic fail. Miners won 8-2 and the Raccoons were dumped into last place in the CL North. They crushed Miners starter Dean Botts for seven runs in four innings, before crumbling. Gaston eventually saved a 7-4 win after O’Rearden and Justice had been tattooed. Romero wobbled through 6.1 innings with 7 H, 4 BB, 4 K to his fifth win.

(Strange coincidence: was watching the Royals-Angels game and played out game 2 of the series. Beach balls rolled onto the field in L.A. and in Pittsburgh within ten seconds of each other!)

The loss in that series meant that the Raccoons had one less team they had an overall winning record against, as they went from 2-1 to 3-3 against the Miners. Only the Cyclones (2-1) and Loggers (30-28) remain in that regard. They are .400 or worse against 16 of 23 ABL teams…

The 14-18 Raccoons hosted the 14-18 Pacifics now. Powell lost game 1 on a throwing error by himself that plated the unearned winning run in the fifth, Raccoons lost 2-1 and had only five hits. Simon was on third with one out in the bottom 9th and Costa and Henderson were unable to get him in, popping up and whiffing respectively. We wouldn’t have won the middle game either hadn’t the Pacifics walked in the run to tie it 2-2, and then nailed Nixon with a pitch to tie it 3-3 later. Sánz singled in the winning run following that and Gaston moved to 9/9 in the safe department.

This lucky win did something between special and strange: it moved the 15-19 Raccoons to second place in the CL North! The Canadiens, Crusaders, and Loggers were all tied at 14-18, and the Titans were 14-19. So I guess we should enjoy it as long as it lasted.

Chances were, with Gary Simmons to start the rubber game, it wouldn’t last long. He walked three in the opening inning, where two runs scored. Nixon and Sánz brought in runs to tie it in the third. Sánz was responsible anyway for a close game. He made no less than four catches ranging from awesome to you-should-have-joined-the-circus in the first four innings! The Raccoons scored two more in the fifth for a 4-2 lead, but when Wyatt Johnston was rung up on a pitch by David Burke that was far from being a strike, he argued intensely with the umpire and was tossed (he was eventually suspended for FIVE games, creating an opening for Hoyt Cook). The Raccoons held on from there and put up another run to win 5-2. Gaston went to 10/10 in saves/opportunities, but had trouble this time. The first three he faced were lefties and he gave up two hits. Zuniga made a sprawling catch for the tired Sánz, whom he had just replaced for his better range (and to get the spider webs off his legs from rotting on the bench). Gaston then struck out the next two righties coming up. This was Gary Simmons’ first ABL win, as he went all fives in hits, walks, and strikeouts over six innings.

In other news:
May 6 – Career over: Loggers outfielder Francois Dédé is forced to retire at the age of 25 after sustaining head injuries and a very bad concussion by crashing head first into the fence trying to catch a flyball. The Nova Scotian is left with a .297, 14 HR, 125 RBI line as well as post-concussion syndrome.
May 8 – Richmond’s Riley Simon has a 20-game hitting streak. The first baseman is hitting at a .386 pace!
May 10 – Rebel Mike Clarke pitches a 2-hitter against the Canadiens, completing a 2-0 shutout. At the same time, the Canadiens chilled Riley Simon’s streak at 21 games.
May 14 – Jose Salgado 3-hits the Scorpions as the Canadiens win 5-0.
May 14 – Oklahomas’ 3B Alfonso Aranda has hit in 20 straight games.
May 15 – Knights LF Armando Delgado sufferes a concussion crashing into base and will be sidelined a few weeks with his .337, 4 HR, 14 RBI batting stats.
May 15 – Richmond’s Mike Clarke throws back-to-back shutouts, this time blanking the Condors on four hits in a 2-0 win.

The draft pool was revealed today, May 15. The Raccoons will have the #1 pick thanks to our earthquake-flashflood-hellfire like 1979 season. After that we won’t pick until #68, so we should choose wisely. I will look at the pool later.

Next up that 13-game road trip going to Indianapolis, Boston, Las Vegas, and Charlotte. We will return home to play the Bayhawks on June 30.

Despite our win against the Pacifics in the rubber game, we lost second place due to an off day after the series. The Crusaders played that day and won, moving past us, so Raccoons won, still dropped in the division.