[Westheim]

Raccoons (23-31) @ Titans (33-22) – June 9-12, 2031

The Titans were two games behind the division-leading Loggers (sic!) and looked forward to boost their record against the sad-sack Critters that came crawling in. The Titans were 3-0 against the Raccoons this season. They were scoring the most runs, but were also giving up plenty, sitting only ninth in runs allowed. They might want to shore up that pitching staff! Like I need to talk a big game about *that* …

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (3-3, 4.76 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (6-2, 2.95 ERA)
Ed Hague (4-2, 4.33 ERA) vs. Mario Gonzalez (1-1, 3.71 ERA)
Jason Gurney (1-2, 3.16 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (5-6, 3.63 ERA)
Dave Martinez (3-3, 3.06 ERA) vs. Eric Williams (6-3, 3.55 ERA)

After an initial serving of a right-hander in Adam Potter, the Critters would see three straight southpaws in this set (and would have a chance for more on the weekend). Two Titans regulars were missing with injuries; Adam Braun had been on the DL for a while now with shoulder woes, and Rhett West had missed two weeks with a sprained thumb, but could now return to the lineup any day. However, like the Critters’ Matt Jamieson, he was not in the battle formation on Monday.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 1B Howden – RF Wallace – LF Hereford – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Baldwin – CF Vanatti – P Roberts
BOS: 2B M. Avila – SS Spataro – 1B Uliasz – RF Acor – LF W. Vega – CF Reichardt – C Lessman – 3B Perkins – P Potter

Elias Tovias continued a 10-game hitting streak (!) with a single in the second inning, then was doubled up by Matt Nunley’s grounder to Moises Avila. And while so much was upside down on this team right now, one of the constants remained Mark Roberts looking like ****, tossing like ****, and the results being ****, too. He walked Justin Uliasz on four pitches in the bottom 1st after getting two outs at first, then surrendered the run on sharp base hits by Dustin Acor and Willie Vega. While Potter issued just 30 pitches and whiffed three in facing the minimum the first time through, Roberts was kept being hit against, although it took the Titans til the fourth inning to add more to the board. Adrian Reichardt hit a solo homer, and further down the order a slow trickle sort of death produced a Justin Perkins single, Potter bunting him over, and then Avila landing a 2-out single to get to 3-0.

Through five, Potter remained unscored upon. Ramos drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning and was antsy about going, because he had not had many chances lately on accounts of slumping and was far, far away from approaching his mark from last year again. He never got a chance – Jarod Howden hit a jack to right before he could take off. This narrowed the gap to one run, but the Critters failed to make that up in either this inning or the next, where Baldwin was on base and stole second. Roberts batted with one out, hoping for a glimmer of his batting prowess he had shown in the last few years, but he popped out feebly, and Ramos went down looking to strand the tying run. Roberts got stuck in the bottom 7th, walking Acor and nailing Willie Vega with two outs. Ricky Ohl replaced him against Reichardt, who immediately continued to be the lifelong pest he was and singled past a diving Nunley for an RBI single, although to be fair, there is no such thing as a diving 40-year-old man. It was more like falling over with sunstroke. Ohl threw a wild pitch at 0-2 to David Lessman, walked the catcher, and then almost gave up another hit to PH Corey Curro, but Hereford made the catch hustling in. Despite this setback, the Coons made up the difference in the eighth against Potter. Wallace and Hereford hit back-to-back doubles, and Nunley dropped in a 2-out single to get Hereford around to equalize. From there the game soon went to extra innings, which was something the team with the bombed-out pen desperately needed… David Fernandez actually had to pitch to the middle of the order (wildly not predominantly left-handed) because he was the only well rested arm we had at that point. He was kept around in a tied game in the 10th inning, walking Dan Knudson in the #8 hole. Vince Murry grounded out, moving Knudson to second with two outs and Avila flew to deep left, and that was really deep, and Hereford was nowhere near it – walkoff double. 5-4 Titans. Howden 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Wallace 2-5, 2B;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Wallace – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – C Tovias – 1B Howden – CF Baldwin – P Hague
BOS: 2B M. Avila – LF W. Vega – 1B Uliasz – C Lessman – SS Spataro – RF Acor – CF Reichardt – 3B Knudson – P M. Gonzalez

In signs that things would not work out today, either, Ramos, Stalker, and Wallace all hit deep flies to center in the first inning, and Adrian Reichardt denied all of them. The Titans, on the other hand, had three on with nobody out on an Avila double and two walks against Hague, who didn’t bother throwing a strike to either Vega or Uliasz. All three runs would score against the appallingly terrible Hague, who allowed a 2-run double to Lessman (and on a 3-1 pitch…), and Keith Spataro plated the third run with a groundout before Acor popped out and Reichardt grounded out to Ramos. Lessman doubled in another pair in the third inning against Hague, who opened the frame with a four-pitch walk to Vega, then surrendered a double to Uliasz. That run also scored on Reichardt’s sharp 2-out single, but the two catchers also became entangled in a home plate collision, with Lessman sliding awkwardly enough to slam his chest into Tovias’ armored knee. He had the breath knocked out of him and had to be removed with a rib cage injury, but the run counted, deepening the score to 6-0.

****head Hague was done after four innings of absolute gutter ball. Wilson Rodriguez batted for him against Mario Gonzalez with two on in the fifth inning, but flew out to Acor. In fact, that was the first time the Coons had somebody in scoring position in the game after not reaching base until Jimmy Wallace walked in the fourth, and not getting a knock until Howden singled in the fifth. Baldwin hit a double, but Rodriguez ended the inning. The Coons would get Ramos and Stalker on base to begin the sixth, and the runs scored on a balk, Wallace single, and Jamieson’s groundout, but then again Nick Derks gave the two runs right back on a Dan Knudson homer in the bottom of the same inning, so we weren’t gaining any ground, we were just bleeding out more profusely… The Coons were beaten, the Titans let go in the final innings, and that one run that Howden doubled in at the end, plating Hereford, didn’t really make a difference anymore… 8-3 Titans. Howden 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nunley (PH) 1-1; Vanatti 1-1;

There was a roster move after this disaster of a game. Wilson Rodriguez, batting .120, was sent back to St. Pete, and we brought up Victor Anaya, that Cuban international free agent, who had been squeezed off the roster on Opening Day. The 28-year-old had run up a 5.76 ERA in St. Petersburg though…

The move was rendered pointless when the Wednesday game was rained out, but we still retained Anaya around for the double header on Thursday and would piece it together from there…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 3B Nunley – CF Catella – C Leal – 1B Baldwin – P Gurney
BOS: LF W. Vega – SS Spataro – 1B Uliasz – RF Acor – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – C R. Avila – 3B Perkins – P Wingo

The Raccoons scored first (!) … on a wild pitch … in the fifth inning … with two outs and two strikes… to Gurney. Hey, Dustin Wingo’s follies isn’t something I was going to hold against him. If my guy did this, I’d blast his face off with the blunderbuss. But Nunley and Catella had opened the inning with singles and the former scurried home on the errant delivery before Gurney struck out on the next pitch. Himself, Gurney was tossing a 1-hitter at this point, but had also walked a pair. Roberto Avila drew another walk with one out in the bottom 5th, then reached third base when Perkins singled in a hit-and-run. Wingo bunted badly, with Perkins forced out at second base, and the inning ended with strike three to Willie Vega. Uliasz singled in the sixth, yet was doubled off by Acor, and no Titan reached base in the seventh inning, but Gurney was not only on 93 pitches at the conclusion of the inning, he was also still only ahead by a skinny run.

Both pitchers batted for themselves in the eighth inning. Gurney was up with two outs and nobody on, then reached on a Perkins error, but Ramos grounded out. Wingo grounded out to Nunley for the second out, also with nobody on, but Gurney then lost Vega on balls and was removed. The Raccoons committed to ending the game with Ricky Ohl rather than use both him and Boles in the first game of the twin-bill. Unfortunately, Spataro singled up the middle, and Uliasz hit a fly to deep left, but Matt Jamieson caught up with it on the track. Ohl was back on the mound in short order, Jermaine Campbell having done away with the Critters briskly in the top of the ninth. Acor grounded out. West whiffed. And Reichardt whiffed, too! 1-0 Blighters! Nunley 2-3; Gurney 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (2-2);

Another game and another lefty was coming right up, and do I have to mention we have a plane to catch?

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – RF Wallace – 3B Hereford – C Tovias – 1B Howden – C Vanatti – P Martinez
BOS: RF Acor – LF W. Vega – 1B Uliasz – SS Spataro – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – C Murry – 3B Perkins – P E. Williams

Bottom 2nd, the Titans had the bags full with nobody out again, having loaded them on straight singles by West, Reichardt, and Vince Murry, the latter reaching first base when Elias Tovias failed to peel a lazy spinner out of the dirt in front of home plate. Boston went ahead 1-0 on a Perkins sac fly, and after Acor walked to reload the bases, Vega squelched out another walk in a full count to push a 2-out run across. On the very next pitch, Justin Uliasz hit a 420-footer, and another game was in the bin. Martinez was gone after three innings, and a first-pitch near-homer by Acor to begin the fourth, that couldn’t have been worse if he had just mooned the fans before the first pitch and then had gone back home. The Titans scored a seventh run in the bottom 3rd, Reichardt and Murry hitting singles – and again Murry’s was an infield single – and Perkins knocking in the run with a double to left. Anaya thus good his major league debut in mop-up duty. He would get eight outs without allowing a run, and also hit a single in his only plate appearance, making him the sole blip of offense in the middle innings for Portland. Williams went on to leak four singles in the seventh inning, with Matt Nunley hitting a pinch-hit RBI single with three on and two outs, and then Ramos squeezed out a bases-loaded walk, but Stalker fouled out and the inning ended with the team still well short of being an actual threat. Boston got a run right back in another soul-killing inning. Uliasz legged out an infield single, again no defense whatsoever from Tovias, West reached on a Ramos error, Reichardt singled to center, and after all of that had gone on around him, Jonathan Fleischer walked Murry with the bases loaded to push home a run. Perkins hit into a double play to end the inning… like it mattered…

Before long, it almost mattered, if only for the Titans falling asleep considering Williams had the game in the bag at 8-2. He hadn’t. The Raccoons dished out a bevvy of singles in the eighth inning; Tovias doubled home a run, Leal singled in a run batting for Howden, and Vanatti brought in the third run with a groundout. Finally Tim Zimmerman replaced Williams with two outs and Leal on third base and struck out PH Chris Baldwin in the #9 hole, keeping the Raccoons three short. With Garavito holding up in the bottom 8th, Jermaine Campbell pulled up the tying run with nobody out in the ninth inning. Ramos tripled to right, Stalker walked, and now we could pull off a stunner! Jamieson struck out, which stunned nobody. Wallace hit a long sac fly, which looked neat, but was no help either. Hereford, however, singled to center and sent Stalker to third, so the team remained alive with the tying runs on the corners, and Campbell remained in to face Elias Tovias, who had hit a walkoff homer with two down and two on just last Sunday. While he couldn’t hit a walkoff here, for this was not our place, Elias To- HO-LY WHISKERS!! Deep to right, deep, up, GONE!!! The Raccoons complete a 7-run comeback!! Turns out, saving up Josh Boles for the second game had not been quite as pointless after all! And he’d also face the meat of the order… Rhett West drew a walk in the bottom of the ninth inning, but that lone walk was surrounded by a sea of strikeouts, the last one thrown at Adrian Reichardt. 9-8 Furballs!! Hereford 2-4, BB; Tovias 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Leal (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Catella (PH) 1-1; Vanatti 2-5, RBI; Anaya 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

We will be watching a lot of video to analyze how exactly we came back from 7-0 and 8-2 to win this one. But not now – hush, hush! Onto the bus, we gotta get back home now!!

Raccoons (25-33) vs. Pacifics (40-20) – June 13-15, 2031

Now, here was an actual first-place team! They were not scoring all that much (eighth in the FL), but they were giving up the fewest runs and had the best rotation. In fact, their rotation was so good, they had an aggregate ERA of 2.89! The Coons had lost the last two season series against L.A., including two out of three games just last season.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (2-6, 6.13 ERA) vs. Gavin Lee (8-0, 2.68 ERA)
Mark Roberts (3-3, 4.82 ERA) vs. Jorge Beltran (6-3, 3.31 ERA)
Ed Hague (4-3, 4.90 ERA) vs. Ramiro Benavides (4-3, 3.61 ERA)

We would get a fourth southpaw this week, and that would be Benavides on Sunday. I would not see that game in person, because I would already be in New York on Sunday for the draft.

Meanwhile, the Coons had won enough games this week (two) to have a chance to limp past the Elks with another win here.

Game 1
LAP: RF O. Mendoza – 3B Schmit – CF Fowler – C Henley – LF Kopp – 1B Tutt – SS L. Rivera – 2B Fagan – P G. Lee
POR: SS Ramos – 1B Howden – RF Wallace – LF Hereford – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Stalker – CF Vanatti – P Gutierrez

Gutierrez was behind everybody from the very start and surrendered a first-inning run on singles by Andy Schmit and J.J. Henley – both old CL North foes – with a crucial walk issued to Justin Fowler in between. Terry Kopp, the former Raccoon, and Zach Tutt made deep outs in left-center to end the inning… Howden, Hereford, and Tovias loaded the bases in the bottom 1st, but Nunley’s fly to left ended up with Kopp to keep the Critters off the board. The next jam was right around the corner; Stalker and Vanatti hit singles to begin the bottom 2nd, with Oscar Mendoza mishandling the latter ball for extra bases for the runners. Gutierrez flew out to shallow right for the first out, Ramos was retired on a comebacker, and Howden hit one to left that… Kopp going back, back, back… nope, there’s the fence! Home run! 3-piece for Howden!

The undefeated Lee was soon in more trouble. Bottom 3rd, Tovias led off with a single. Nunley flew out to Mendoza on the warning track, and Stalker stuck a single through the hole between Tutt and Kevin Fagan. Vanatti hit a fly into the gap, Mendoza couldn’t reach it, and Vanatti had an RBI double, 4-0! Rico batted again with a pair in scoring position and less than two outs, and this time struck out, and Ramos was no more useful at this point, grounding out to Fagan to strand the runners. And stranding runners all over was not a good idea. Up 4-1, yeah, true, but we were also up 4-1 with Rico Gutierrez, The Human Run Machine, on the mound. He avoided outright disaster for the fourth, but then put Mendoza on base on balls in the fifth and hung a ball to Andy Schmit that was frankly just gone and cut the lead to 4-3. The Pacifics made outs on four pitches in the sixth, and Gutierrez hung around to begin the seventh inning, but allowed a single to Fagan before being yanked. With the tying run aboard and the pitcher’s spot up, Dan Tugwell hit for Gavin Lee, who really hoped for a run and better two in the inning. He would be disappointed. Chris Wise replaced Gutierrez, got a double play grounder from Tugwell, and then struck out Mendoza to end the seventh. The Critters tacked on a pair against Vincent Alfaro, a former starter, in the bottom 7th. Hereford walked and Tovias doubled him in to begin the inning, with Nunley chipping in a single to move Hereford to third, from where Vanatti would plate him with a sac fly to center, 6-3.

Top 8th, Henley singled off Derks, Fernandez walked Kopp, but somehow Zach Tutt hacked himself out to end the inning. The Coons had nothing cooking in their hopefully final half-inning, and then it was Boles against the bottom of the order, leading to Lorenzo Rivera and Kevin Fagan hitting singles, and Chris Hollar striking out in the pitcher’s spot. PH Danny Serrano flew out to deep left, Hereford making a backwards dash to prevent damage, and that made the former Crusader Schmit the keep-it-moving batter with two outs, while we would kindly ask Boles to move everybody’s bums to the showers. He walked Schmit on four pitches, loading them up with the tying runs and inviting the .326 hitter Fowler with 13 homers on his ledger to take a swing at it. Fowler hit the 1-1 to right-center… and deflation hit instantly. That was just gone. Also gone – Boles. The ****tard now had an ERA rivalling Rico Gutierrez’, and Fleischer took over, nailing Henley with his very first pitch, which led to an instant brawl. That one took a while to sort out, and at the end of it a few whiskers and stripes remained on the field just like a half-eaten Pacifics cap. Fleischer and Henley were tossed, and Garavito was the third pitcher in an inning that should have been long over. Terry Kopp struck out, southpaw Chun-yeong Chah came in and Hereford, Tovias, and Nunley were retired in order in the ninth. 7-6 Pacifics. Hereford 2-4, BB; Tovias 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Stalker 2-4; Vanatti 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Well, there were a few shuffles happening in the bullpen. First, Jonathan Fleischer was suspended for five games, so Anaya kept hanging around. Second, Josh Boles was stripped of any honorable insignia and degraded to private in the penal bataillon.

Our new closer? (Do we need one?) ****ing Chris Wise! He had to date no saves in 71 ABL outings, but had a 2.48 ERA for his career, and a 1.32 ERA this season.

No, Ricky, I don’t WANNA HEAR **** FROM YOU!! You’re just as bad as the other turd!! Did you just HISS AT ME??

Game 2
LAP: RF O. Mendoza – 3B Schmit – CF Fowler – C Allomes – 1B Tutt – SS L. Rivera – LF Serrano – 2B Fagan – P J. Beltran
POR: SS Ramos – 1B Howden – RF Wallace – LF Hereford – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Stalker – CF Vanatti – P Roberts

Fowler hit an easy one off the launchpad in the fourth inning, a leadoff jack that was the first run in the middle game, and for funsies Dylan Allomes went back-to-back with him to put the Pacifics up 2-0, bam-bam. Danny Serrano doubled in the same inning, but was stranded when Fagan popped out. That made Beltran lead off the fifth inning. Roberts continued to suck, hung a 2-0, and Beltran belted it to left-center, and outta here. That made Beltran all of a .099 career batter, albeit with three homers to his name. Probably all off Raccoons pitchers, but I was too sad to check. There was some emergency counselling on the mound, with the pitching coach advising Roberts that his contract didn’t mean we wouldn’t throw him off Mount Hood if he didn’t stop blowing. Schmit and Fowler hit singles in the inning anyway, but the inning would fizzle out without further damage.

And no, the Coons offense did nothing worth reporting. They had four hits through six innings, none of them worth jumping up and shouting encouragement. Roberts lasted seven innings, whiffing as many, mainly thanks to every Pacific wanting to hit the next bomb, but they remained up on nothing but their three solo homers as long as Roberts was around. Portland did get on the board in the bottom 7th on a Vanatti solo homer, a cheapo that cleared the fence and the right foul pole by less than six inches each and was measured kindly at 333 feet. Anaya put two on in the eighth before Terry Kopp pinch-hit for Serrano, prompting a move to Fernandez with two outs. That particular rookie got the whiffing strikeout in a full count with the runners in motion, ending the inning. David Fernandez also pitched a quick ninth, bringing in Chah again for the bottom 9th and now a 2-run lead. Hereford opened with a groundout to Fagan, but Tovias hit the gap for a double. Catella hit for Nunley against the southpaw, but struck out, bringing up Tim Stalker as the last man standing. Chah fell to 3-1, which was also the game’s score, then threw a 95mph heater that changed the score for Stalker fired it out of left-center – tied ballgame!! Vanatti also struck out to send the game to extras. Ohl was pitching in the 11th, walked Tutt on four pitches to begin the frame, and then surrendered the run on a Terry Kopp bouncer through Howden, the dumb pig, that eluded Wallace for an RBI double. Fagan popped out and – critically – Chah struck out with the Pacifics’ bench empty! That ended the inning, and while the Raccoons still had Leal on the bench, they brought up the middle of the order first against Joe Moore, the right-hander. The pitcher’s spot and Leal never came up. Hereford drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 11th, but Tovias flew out to Kopp to rob us of much hope. Sean Catella was still in the #6 hole and hit a lame fly to end the game. 4-3 Pacifics.

…and with this they dared to send me on a plane to New York, along with the scout guy… maybe I can catch a glimpse of his ticket and find out his name…? The final game in the set I’d watch from a filthy bar opposite league headquarters waiting for the draft to begin.

Game 3
LAP: RF O. Mendoza – 1B Tutt – CF Fowler – C Allomes – LF Kopp – 3B Schmit – SS L. Rivera – 2B Fagan – P Benavides
POR: SS Stalker – 1B Howden – LF Jamieson – RF Wallace – 2B Hereford – 3B Nunley – C Leal – CF Baldwin – P Hague

Oscar Mendoza opened the game with a double off Sunday’s punching bag, Ed Hague, and scored on a 2-out single up the middle that Allomes hit. Now, the Pacifics didn’t get another base hit through five innings and Hague struck out six, but at the same time the home team’s offense remained pathetic and the innings cruised by. Over in New York I was worried that I would have to run out of game and drunkenness well before the draft would begin, because five innings passed in just *70* minutes. The Raccoons offered up just as many base hits through five as the Pacifics (two), but couldn’t find a run. Then out of the blue, they found three base hits in the bottom 6th. Stalker hit a 1-out double into right-center, and after Howden lined out to Fagan, Jamieson hit an RBI single through the left side. Wallace also singled, but Hereford struck out, keeping the game tied. Surprise, surprise – the Pacifics also landed three hits in the top 7th, but their hits by Allomes, Kopp, and Serrano were all singles, loaded the bases with one out, and then Hereford started an inning-ending double play on Fagan’s grounder to keep the game tied. Hague ended up throwing 95 pitches in eight innings of 1-run ball, which was all for him since his spot led off the bottom of the eighth inning against right-hander Joe Moore. The slumping Ramos got the assignment on a day off and drew a 4-pitch walk. Now – caution. I held on tight to the bar counter in New York, while the guy next to me kept listing all the stuff the aliens had done to him and his dog, something that had started without a prompt on my part in about the sixth inning. Ramos hadn’t stolen a bag in ages, and everybody knew how he was burning to keep the counter going. Allomes had a weak arm, too! But he never went with Stalker at the plate… and Stalker hit into a double play. Howden struck out. The dumb pig! I cursed and hit my fist on the counter. Josh Boles would pitch the ninth, not because he was the closer anymore, but because we needed a left-hander to begin the inning at least. Allomes with the leadoff single, but Kopp flew out, and Schmit hit into a double play. There was still a chance to walk off! Moore retired Jamieson to begin the bottom 9th, but Wallace singled on 0-2, and Hereford got a ball through Tutt for what turned out to be a double as the ball made its way into foul ground behind the bag, slightly ticked with the glove to keep it away from Mendoza for a wee bit longer. Winning run on third, one out for Matt Nunley – nope, they walked him intentionally. That brought up Leal, except that Tovias hit for him and popped out on the first pitch. Baldwin struck out, extra innings. This team…

Portland employed Wise for one inning and Anaya for three after that. The Pacifics didn’t get close to scoring, nor did the Coons. Joe Vanatti hit a 2-out double from the #9 spot in the bottom 12th, but Stalker pissed that chance away as well to my great dismay, because by now the barkeep had informed me three times that this Mexican guy had called and I was needed in the league office, but the game was still going on. Normally, I’d say the game kept “raging” on, but there was no rage about this game that, despite being in the 13th inning, was still just up to the 3:30 mark. Bottom 13th, fourth inning for Vincent Alfaro and his now-5.40 ERA. Howden flew to left center, Kopp couldn’t reach there, and the ball fell for a leadoff double, which would normally bring up Jamieson, except that the Coons had opted for length from Anaya after Vanatti had pinch-hit in the 10th and Anaya was in the #3 hole. Sean Catella was the last guy on the bench and pinch-hit, because what were we possibly saving him for? He singled to center on the first pitch, but Fowler was all over the ball and Howden was held at third base. All we needed from Jimmy the Rookie was a deep fly, cashing in Howden, and then I could go over to that nagging scout person. Wallace popped out instead, bringing up Hereford. All we needed from Rich Hereford was a deep fly, cashing in Howden, and then I could go over to that nagging scout person. Hereford evaded the batter’s box on an errant first pitch, and that one fooled Allomes, too! Wild pitch! Howden down the line, Allomes had to chase the ball and had no play – it was a walkoff!! 2-1 Blighters. Jamieson 2-5, RBI; Catella (PH) 1-1; Wallace 2-6; Vanatti (PH) 1-2, 2B; Hague 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K; Anaya 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

In other news

June 9 – TOP SP David Elliott (5-7, 4.04 ERA) 2-hits the Cyclones in a 9-0 whitewash.
June 9 – NAS 3B/1B Chance Bossert (.268, 1 HR, 18 RBI) was announced to miss time until after the All Star Game with an oblique strain.
June 10 – While the Miners trash the Rebels, 16-4, PIT 1B Danny Santillano (.365, 10 HR, 40 RBI) hits two home runs to drive in six runs in the game.
June 10 – SFB OF George Hawthorne (.271, 5 HR, 21 RBI) hits a home run in the third inning for the only score in the Bayhawks’ 1-0 win over the Knights.
June 13 – Vancouver infielder Nelson Millan (.222, 3 HR, 16 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI from the #8 hole in a 17-8 madhouse win over the Scorpions.
June 15 – PIT SP Jonas Mejia (7-3, 3.86 ERA) no-hits the Aces on draft day, issuing eight strikeouts and three walks while otherwise dominating the Vegas lineup. This is the second no-hitter of the season and the fifth in Miners history, who most recently had John Key spin a no-no in 2018.
June 15 – CIN 1B Dave Garcia (.272, 11 HR, 43 RBI) drives in five runs as the Cyclones demolish the Indians, 17-3.

Complaints and stuff

…sorry… no time for much talk… the draft is gonna start in like three minutes, and I have to get across this six-lane city street teeming with cars! (puts a foot into the first lane and is angrily honked at by a taxi driver approaching at 5mph) – Hey! Did you just honk at me! – Are you, are you actually shouting back at me now?? – Yeah, come on out here, I’ll reroll your turban for you!!

Fun Fact: Richmond’s Danny Flores hit for a natural cycle against the Bayhawks on Draft Day in 2014.

(would like to go into more detail, but is chased through moving traffic by the turbaned taxi driver)