[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-9) vs. Knights (7-11) – April 22-24, 2030

Next so-so team in were the Knights, although in this case so-so meant that they had run up the highest tallies in both runs scored and runs allowed. Both values were pushing six runs per game, so the Raccoons were in for a special treat here. The Critters had also lost the season series in 2029, dropping five of the nine games.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (1-1, 6.56 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (1-0, 5.14 ERA)
Tom Shumway (1-2, 4.94 ERA) vs. Andy Purdy (0-1, 5.50 ERA)
Dave Martinez (2-1, 0.86 ERA) vs. Enrique Guzman (0-1, 5.04 ERA)

This series would open with a southpaw, and then we’d get two righties in.

Game 1
ATL: C S. Garcia – CF M. Hamilton – SS Showalter – RF Pincus – 2B J. Johnson – LF Curro – 1B B. Lloyd – 3B M. Mendoza – P Rosas
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – LF Jamieson – RF Rodriguez – C Tovias – 1B Gomez – CF Magallanes – P Roberts

The Coons got the quicker start, with base hits falling out of Mario Rosas against each of the first three batters. Ramos singled to left-center, Tim Stalker hit a liner up the rightfield line and all the way into the corner for an RBI triple, and Nunley cashed that runner with a single for a 2-0 edge. Roberts retired the first six before Bob Lloyd hit a leadoff jack in the third, and overall there were again a lot of wasted pitches by Roberts, and many of those with two strikes. Oh well, at least we still got Sluggin’ Roberts to the plate from time to time. In the fourth inning he broke out of a dire 0-for-3 spell to plate Juan Magallanes, who had doubled to left, with a sharp RBI single up the rightfield line, establishing a 3-1 lead. With one down in the inning, Rosas proceeded to walk Alberto Ramos, who openly kept wondering why Roberts always parked his wide bum in Ramos’ spot – second base. Nothing came of the pair of runners; Stalker grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Nunley flew out to Corey Curro in left. The Raccoons stranded two more in the fifth when Magallanes grounded out to short, then had another thing going in the sixth. Ramos dropped a single behind Mario Mendoza, Nunley and Jamieson coaxed 2-out walks, and the bags were full for Wilson Rodriguez … and to be honest I had more confidence in Wilson than in, say, Harenberg right now, especially against a left-hander. Rodriguez turned out to be Rosas’ final batter, with the pitcher yanked after Rodriguez hit a bases-clearing double in the left-center gap that doubled the Coons’ tally to six. Tovias lined out to end the inning, but the Coons made more from next to nothing in the bottom 7th against right-hander Armando Zaragoza. Abel Mora batted for Magallanes, walked, then stole second with Roberts, who had not allowed a runner since the third inning, at the plate. Roberts ended up rolling over to John Johnson for the second out, with Mora to third base. Ramos was unretired in the game and remained as such, put on intentionally to bring up Stalker, who slogged a single through Mendoza for another run. Nunley grounded out to strand them on the corners. Roberts’ day ended on a 1-out Mendoza single in the eighth on his 103rd pitch and after 14 consecutive outs made by the Knights. Kevin Harenberg and Mike Pizzo would further run up the score with back-to-back pinch-hit homers off Jesse Schiebout in the bottom 8th. 9-1 Coons! Ramos 2-2, 3 BB; Stalker 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, RBI; Harenberg (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Pizzo (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Roberts 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (2-1) and 1-4, RBI;

Gee, that was fun! I would have hoped Nick Valdes would be around for this one, but instead he only flew in to watch the last two games of the series, now that the Raccoons had slugged all the runs out of their system and needed a week to recharge…

Game 2
ATL: C S. Garcia – CF Houghtaling – SS Showalter – RF Pincus – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Keen – LF M. Hamilton – 3B M. Mendoza – P Purdy
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – C Pizzo – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – P Shumway

By contrast, Tom Shumway got beaten the crap out of him right in the first inning. Jeremy Houghtaling, the disgusting ex-Elk, and Andrew Showalter hit back-to-back doubles for a run, and it looked like John Johnson might add two more, but Jamieson caught his deep fly right at the fence to end the inning. Portland countered with Ramos and Stalker singles, a double steal, Nunley tying the score with a grounder to Johnson, then walks drawn by Pizzo and Hereford to load them up for Harenberg, which was such an obvious plot to generate a double play that I was shocked - *shocked* - when Harenberg actually got the ball past Josh Keen for an RBI single. Jamieson and Mora made the last two outs on soft flies.

Despite Nick Valdes helpfully pointing out at every other pitch that Tom Shumway didn’t look quite right and walked two in the third inning, but nothing came of that. There were positive developments, though; Rich Hereford hit a homer in the bottom 3rd that may have tickled the right foul pole and thus got back to .200, and Harenberg reached .250 with a single after that. The bases filled up with two outs there after a Jamieson single, wild pitch, and intentional walk to Mora, but Shumway got struck out by Purdy to strand all the runners. Shumway struck out two in a clean fourth, then ran nothing but 3-ball counts in the fifth. That netted him two outs, then two walks drawn by Steve Garcia and Houghtaling, and ran his total to 89 offerings. A full count walk to Andrew Showalter loaded the bases, and Nick Valdes kept nagging that he didn’t look quite right. Roy Pincus was up, batting .250 with four homers. Shumway had already been tended to by the pitching coach before the Showalter walk, and the Raccoons pulled the emergency parachute. Kevin Surginer came in right here and got a fly to Jamieson from Pincus, stranding three here, too. By contrast, the Coons added on in the bottom 5th while Shumway sat miffed on the bench. Harenberg narrowly missed a homer and hit a 1-out double after Hereford had opened the inning with a K. Jamieson reached on a Showalter error, bringing up Mora, who hit a BLAST, 400 feet to left-center for a 3-run homer, doubling the tally to 6-1. The same inning then saw Ramos retired on a grounder for the first time in the series…

How about a good scare? The bottom 6th began with Ernesto Lozano, former starter, on the mound for Atlanta. He nailed Matt Nunley flush in the forearm and Nunley threw the bat away and hopped around home plate like a witch on fire, holding his paw in agony. He came out of the game; Hereford moved to third and Gomez entered as pinch-runner, but before long X-rays came back negative. The Coons took revenge their own way. While some bench players snuck into the Knights dugout and stole a big-bag of sunflower seeds, the Raccoons unleashed fiery hell on Knights relievers in the seventh. One guy after another reached, some intentionally (Ramos), and Stalker, Gomez, and Hereford all hit RBI singles. Harenberg came up with the bases loaded and two down facing new righty Eric McKee, who threw only two pitches before the game officially became a real rout. Drive to right, high, deep, and gone …!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

A homer fell out of Billy Brotman in the top 8th, but so did another one fall out of McKee in the bottom of the inning. Tim Stalker hit one that counted for three runs, while Roy Pincus’ off Brotman had been a solo job. That was the final blow in the game. 16-2 Raccoons!! Ramos 3-4, 2 BB; Stalker 3-6, HR, 4 RBI; Gomez 2-2, RBI; Hereford 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Harenberg 4-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Catella (PH) 1-1; Rodriguez (PH) 1-2; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Yes, Nick, Shumway sucked. – Yeah, totally. – No, I’m not gonna… – No, I won’t address that right now because we scored SIXTEEN and I have to wear my underwear upside down on my head and drink some of the GOOD stuff before they can lose the next one, two-zip!

Matt Nunley had no structural damage, but considerable discomfort from a big bruise. We decided it best to keep him out of the Wednesday game, allowing him two days off before the Indians series.

Game 3
ATL: C S. Garcia – 2B J. Johnson – RF Pincus – CF Houghtaling – SS Showalter – 1B Keen – LF C. Mendoza – 3B M. Mendoza – P E. Guzman
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – RF Gomez – P Martinez

Odilon seemed angry with Dave Martinez given the first inning of the Wednesday game, which started with a rock-hard single by Steve Garcia and saw Martinez walk two and concede one run on a Jeremy Houghtaling double before Chris Mendoza popped out to Jamieson with the bases teeming and stranded a full set. Rich Hereford would put that right with a 2-out, 2-run double plating Ramos and Stalker in the bottom of the opening inning, and found Ramos and Stalker on base again in the third. That time he hit an RBI single, while Harenberg found another RBI single in his own bat to score Stalker and get the score to 4-1, all Coons runs having scored with two down. All the while Nick Valdes was whispering in my ear that Martinez didn’t look the same as the last few games and that he wasn’t going to get it done and that we needed to sign real pitchers now.

Regardless of his pitching, which was indeed not nearly as dazzling as prior to this start, Martinez remained wicked. With Gomez on first base in the second inning he bunted into a double play, and the next time around Gomez was on first again after a Steve Garcia error in the bottom 4th. Martinez bunted again and this time the Knights got into each other’s hair and Martinez legged out a bunt single. Loading the bases was a single by Ramos, who was absolutely wrecking the Knights for three straight days and was on base for the third time in the game. That also made for three on and nobody out, and as if on command, Tim Stalker grounded to short. Andrew Showalter might have had a decent bid for Gomez at home plate, but tried to nip a pair with Ramos at the front… and threw the ball over John Johnson’s head for a run-scoring error. Stalker got the RBI, hinting at the scorer’s opinion about the Knights’ double play chances. Another run scored, 6-1, on a Jamieson groundout, and Pizzo’s RBI single ended Guzman’s day in the sun. Ernesto Lozano surrendered an infield single to Hereford that loaded the bases again for Harenberg, and it was just too comical how the Knights kept falling apart with Harenberg’s double past Houghtaling bringing in two more runs. Mora’s RBI single made it 10-1, and the inning only ended when Gomez hit into a double play, this time an actual one and not one somebody imagined. The 6-spot in the fourth were the final runs in the game; the Knights were dead on the ground, having encountered the wonders of niter and musket balls that had ripped holes all over their steel plate armors. The Coons brought in some reserves after the sixth inning to try to duck away from potential injuries. Martinez lasted seven innings, and Stonecipher and Brotman finished the deal after him. 10-1 Raccoons. Ramos 3-3, BB; Jamieson 2-5, 2B, RBI; Pizzo 2-5, RBI; Hereford 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Harenberg 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Baldwin (PH) 1-1; Martinez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (3-1) and 1-3;

Now the boys just must not get cold over the day off …!

Raccoons (12-9) vs. Indians (8-12) – April 26-28, 2030

The Indians were in for four and were a little bit in trouble. Through 20 games they had only managed to score 68 runs, 3.4 runs per game, which was not exactly the stuff that winners were made of. Their pitching was decent with the fifth-best rotation and a bullpen that could use adjustment, but … uh, that offense… The season series stood tied at one after the season-opening set had been cut short by nature. Thus this series would open with a double-header on Friday.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (2-1, 5.28 ERA) vs. David Saccoccio (1-2, 3.10 ERA)
Jose Menendez (2-1, 3.81 ERA) vs. John McInerney (0-3, 7.43 ERA)
Tom Shumway (1-2, 4.45 ERA) vs. Sal Bedoya (1-1, 2.78 ERA)
Sean Rigg (0-0) vs. Mark Morrison (2-0, 3.24 ERA)

McInerney was the only southpaw they could offer… and maybe offering him to the God of Poisoned Arrows was not such a bat idea right now…

The Critters would bring up Sean Rigg for a spot start on regular rest. Shumway would go on short rest, but he also hadn’t made it out of the fifth inning on Tuesday and this was the only way to make this work out. Rigg had a 2.38 ERA in three games (two starts) in AAA this year. Barring broken bones befalling bonafide batters better bemarveled, Sean Catella would make the trip to St. Pete on Sunday.

Game 1
IND: SS Pizano – 1B Jon Gonzalez – CF Suhay – RF Plunkett – LF I. Vega – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – 3B E. Sosa – P Saccoccio
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – RF Mora – CF Catella – P Roberts

The cold shower came immediately. Mark Roberts was mercilessly clobbered for sucking once again. The Indians scored two runs on three base hits in the first inning, with Jon Gonzalez hitting a single against his own team, scoring on Ben Suhay’s triple, which raised the flawed Suhay’s average all the way to .171, and Ivan Vega added a 2-out RBI single. The Coons were still hoping for a base runner when Roberts bled for three more hits AND nailed two batters in the third inning. Somehow the Indians scored only two additional runs… with Mike Plunkett being thrown out at home plate by Matt Jamieson. Roberts was so ludicrously terrible, the Coons almost would have batted for him as early as the third inning (with Mora on first after a leadoff single), but then were mindful of the double-header and tried to get length any way they could. So we dragged Roberts through five, by the tail, and with his tongue hanging out and all paws stretched skywards. It cost another run that probably wouldn’t matter because Saccoccio made the Coons look like Knights and we had only two hits through five innings, and only three as the late innings dawned. Surginer pitched two innings of damage control in the sixth and seventh, and Stonecipher came on afterwards and was absolutely out of control, walking Elias Sosa, nailing Mario Pizano, threw a wild pitch, and somehow got Jon Gonzalez and Ben Suhay both to swing on terrible 3-2 pitches. Both missed, stranding runners in scoring position. None of the strikeouts changed the outcome of the game, which Saccoccio finished with a 4-hitter, whiffing four Coons. 5-0 Indians. Nunley (PH) 1-1; Rodriguez (PH) 1-1; Surginer 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

We never reached third base in this game.

Game 2
IND: SS Pizano – 1B Jon Gonzalez – CF Suhay – RF Plunkett – 2B Schneller – LF McClenon – C Paiz – 3B E. Sosa – P McInerney
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – RF Hereford – LF Jamieson – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Menendez

This time around the first three Coons reached base with four balls to Ramos, a dying quail single by Stalker and Nunley legging out an infield grounder he had no business out-legging but the Indians defense broke out into disagreement about where to get the first of a zillion outs and ended up getting not a single one at all. Unnerved, McInerney lost Hereford on four pitches, pushing home the first run of the game, but to be clear, walks had not been the southpaw’s problem so far this year, but he was allowing about 1.5 hits per inning, which was not quite a sustainable rate. The Raccoons turned him into dinner without much of a fuss, with Jamieson squeaking out another bases-loaded walk in a full count, Gomez bringing in Nunley with a deep sac fly, and then Elias Tovias came up with a booming 3-run homer to left – six-oh in the first! So it was on the Indians to rally now; Mike Plunkett got them going with a leadoff jack in the top 2nd, Dan Schneller singled, Joseph McClenon tripled to the fence in the gap, Edgar Paiz calmly walked, and Elias Sosa singled. That made it 6-3, and the tying run (the pitcher) was at the plate with nobody out… except the Arrowheads yanked McInerney straightaway. Ivan Vega batted, right into a double play. Stalker handled Pizano’s grounder, and the inning ended. And only seven and a half more to go…

Top 3rd, the tying runs were on right away. Free pass to Gonzalez, then two singles, and Menendez looked like gassed ass. The Coons had only four relievers available and would have liked some length here, especially with Shumway going on short rest tomorrow, but Jonathan Fleischer got up in this damn inning. Schneller hit a sac fly to center, 6-4, and McClenon hit into another double play, but there was hardly a way Menendez could be dragged on his own tail much longer especially with a lead. He walked Sosa in the fourth but the Indians didn’t hit for reliever Juan Melendrez, who bunted successfully, but Pizano grounded out to his rival Ramos to strand him. Menendez also bunted in the bottom 4th, getting Magallanes to second from where Ramos scored him with a liner for a single into rightfield, offering some brief respite from the Indians’ scoring orgy. It was now 7-4, and the Indians’ 2-3-4 went in order in the fifth as the Coons tried to get every single out that was in Menendez’ arm.

The Raccoons had Jamieson on second base after a leadoff single and a groundout by Gomez in the bottom 5th. Indy walked Tovias intentionally after his earlier power display, but then ran into Magallanes singling to left. Jamieson was waved around and scored, 8-4, and the runner moved up on McClenon’s bad throw. The Coons smelled another run here and now, with the left-hander Antonio Quintana up and one out, batted for Menendez. Wilson Rodriguez struck out, and Ramos grounded out to Schneller; nobody scored. Pitching in relief in the bottom 6th was… Dan Delgadillo! The former Raccoons had a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings coming into this mess of a game and walked Tim Stalker right away. Nunley popped out, and Hereford would have done so, too, but Paiz dropped the ball in foul ground. That shook Yusneldan! He balked, walked Hereford, Jamieson reached on an error, and then the Coons sent Harenberg to bat for Gomez against the righty. He hit the ball hard… right at short… and the inning ended 6-4-3. DAMN YOU, KEVIN!! (flings Coons cap against the window)

Add to the misery a 25-minute rain delay, Fleischer’s inefficiency both before (two walks in the sixth) and afterwards (walk to Pizano, two singles), and then Ricky Ohl inherited the bases loaded, Plunkett with the tying run at the plate, and nobody out in the top 7th. He exited on four pitches – Plunkett hit the first into a run-scoring double play, and Schneller bounced out to Nunley three offerings later, keeping Portland afloat, 8-5. In turn, Ohl was completely eviscerated in the eighth. Leadoff walk to McClenon, RBI double by Paiz. One lucky pop out from Sosa, and then Herlihy hit an RBI single, Pizano singled to left, too, and Magallanes overran that ball for an error, putting the tying AND go-ahead run in scoring position with one out. The Coons only had Garavito and Boles left – they went to Garavito against Jon Gonzalez, who was not a left-handed batter, you may remember. Garavito allowed a fly to center at 0-1 that was certainly gonna tie the game. Mora caught the ball, Herlihy chugging for home, Mora with a do-or-die throw into Tovias’ mitten – OUT!!! THE RUNNER WAS OUT!!! Inning over!! No insurance run would come forth though, and the single-run lead had to be protected against the meat of the order in the ninth inning. And Josh Boles? …lost Suhay in a full count. Plunkett ran to 2-2 before bouncing the ball back to the mound, but Boles only got the lead runner at second. Schneller struck out. Right-hander Juan Herrera pinch-hit with Indy down to their last out… and ended on three pitches. 8-7 Blighters! Stalker 2-3, 2 BB; Tovias 1-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Magallanes 3-4, 2B, RBI;

(has visibly aged in the last eight hours)

The Critters opted to send Sean Catella (.200) away a day early to bring up an additional reliever for the Saturday game only. The guy had to be rested, on the 40-man roster, with options, and with good stamina to go several innings.

No such pitcher existed. The Coons would try to make it work with Steve Costilow instead, who had not yet pitched in AAA action and had allowed two runs in his only major league inning in ’29.

Game 3
IND: SS Pizano – 1B Jon Gonzalez – CF Suhay – RF Plunkett – LF I. Vega – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – 3B E. Sosa – P Bedoya
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – 3B Nunley – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – CF Mora – P Shumway

Tom Shumway was not fine. Yes, he logged two innings on 15 pitches. But that was because the Indians liked what they saw. Depending on your mileage on liners right at precious shortstops, four or five of their six outs were LOUD and HARD. That Sal Bedoya hit him in the bottom 2nd certainly wouldn’t make him any better. It loaded the bags with down for Ramos, but Suhay caught up with his fly to center and nobody scored. It went on like that for a few more innings – the Indians not reaching and the Raccoons not scoring, that was. The weather turned from drab to rainy, and the contact off the Shumster got a little less harsh, but the Indians were still hardly fooled. Schneller reached base after 14 straight retirements … with a Nunley error in the fifth, but Juan Herrera grounded out to keep him stranded.

The no-hitter lasted through six innings, but the seventh began with a Harenberg error putting Jon Gonzalez on base, and vile Ben Suhay hit a ball over Mora’s head for an RBI double. First Indians hit, first run in the game. Plunkett singled, and the Coons had to get the pen going, though Costilow was not such a bright choice right now. The situation dissolved on Schneller’s 6-4-3 grounder, but the Raccoons now had a problem… Bedoya was still pitching a 3-hitter and they had yet again not yet touched third base again since the second inning. There was an opening in the bottom 7th though – Jamieson turned a full count into a disputed walk, Pizzo singled up the middle, and Mora also drew a walk. Three on, one out, and Shumway was certainly gone here. Rafael Gomez batted for him, grounded up the middle, Pizano to Schneller, to Gonzalez – LATE! The tying run scored on the play, and Shumway was off the hook for his valiant effort. Valiant, yet futile. Ramos flew out to center AGAIN, and the game remaind tied… at least until Stonecipher walked two in the top 8th and gave up a 2-out go-ahead RBI single to Gonzalez… Another run scored with two outs in the ninth off Garavito, this time with Herrera singling home Vega. The Raccoons failed to answer either call. 3-1 Indians. Mora 0-1, 2 BB; Shumway 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

Costilow was designated for assignment without having made an appearance to get Sean Rigg onto the roster.

Game 4
IND: SS Pizano – 1B Jon Gonzalez – CF Suhay – RF Plunkett – LF I. Vega – 2B Schneller – C J. Herrera – 3B E. Sosa – P M. Morrison
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – 3B Nunley – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – C Tovias – P Rigg

The Indians blew up Rigg for six before the Raccoons ever reached base. After two muddled innings to start off, Rigg began the third inning with a single hit by Morrison (…), and before long the runners piled up. Gonzalez got on, Plunkett walked, Vega hit a 2-out, 2-run single, Schneller got nailed, and then Juan Herrera homered to left for a grand slam that sucked all the air out of the Raccoons once more. Or at least out of me. Mora opened the bottom 3rd with a triple, scored on a Tovias single, and Ramos, Stalker, and Harenberg all came up with more singles to cut the gap in half.

By the sixth it was a 7-3 game. Rigg had lasted into the fifth before Schneller had driven in another run off him and had knocked him out. He was already on the way back to the airport. The Raccoons had put Ramos, Stalker, and Hereford on base in the fifth, but that had not led to a run because Ramos had been caught stealing and then Harenberg flew out to Suhay with two outs on the board rather than one, and everything was horrible. Nunley and Jamieson drew leadoff walks in the bottom 6th. Pizzo batted for Surginer, who had defused a situation with one out and runners on second and third in the top 5th, in the #7 hole and eagerly popped out. Even Tovias could hold the **** up and drew another walk. This brought up Magallanes with the bases loaded, and we had no option to hit for him without running into a serious squeeze afterwards. He hit a grounder to Schneller, 4-6-3, inning over. Harenberg hit an RBI double in the bottom of the following inning, but that was more than made up with Elias Sosa’s 2-run shot off Stonecipher in the eighth. That ended the game for sure. The Raccoons would get Ramos and Stalker back on base in the bottom 9th against right-hander Matt Francis, but Hereford and Harenberg both went down on strikes to end the game. 9-4 Indians. Ramos 3-4; Stalker 2-4, BB, RBI; Harenberg 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Mora 1-2, 3B; Surginer 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Brotman 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

In other news

April 24 – SFB C Victor Ayala (.250, 4 HR, 14 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI in the Bayhawks’ 13-12 win over the Canadiens.
April 26 – DAL SP Jong-hoo Cho (2-1, 1.42 ERA) will miss two weeks to get better on accounts of a forearm strain.
April 26 – The Warriors walk off against the Scorpions, 3-2 in regulation, when SAC CL Jose Ornelas (1-1, 1.86 ERA, 7 SV) issues four consecutive walks in the bottom of the final inning, including a 4-pitch walk to SFW OF Dwayne Metts (.286, 0 HR, 2 RBI) with the bases loaded.
April 27 – For the second game in a row, L.A.’s OF Justin Fowler (.271, 2 HR, 9 RBI) smacks five base hits in a game against the Stars. Fowler had four singles and a homer in Friday’s 11-9 Pacifics win, and adds four singles and a triple in Saturday’s 11-7 Pacifics victory.
April 27 – SAC SP Justin Kent (1-3, 6.16 ERA) 3-hits the Warriors in a 1-0 shutout.
April 27 – A gross laceration on his hand will keep BOS OF Willie Vega (.319, 2 HR, 12 RBI) out of games for at least two weeks.
April 27 – OCT RF/LF Luis Sagredo (.333, 5 HR, 16 RBI) is headed to the DL with hamstring tendinitis, but might return after only 15 days.
April 28 – Career Scorpion LF/RF Doug Stross (.446, 3 HR, 15 RBI) goes 4-for-4 in a 14-10 Sacramento win over the Warriors and thus reaches 2,000 base hits. The first of his four base knocks, a first-inning RBI single off SFW SP Eric Barlow (4-0, 3.41 ERA) is the actual milestone. Stross won the batting title and was the 2024 and 2025 Player of the Year in the Federal League and was an All Star six times so far.

Complaints and stuff

35-4. As long as we live, we will not forget this Knights series. They came in, the Coons were not exactly firmly on the ground with their paws, and then we tore their ****ing colons and stomachs and hearts right out, just kept shredding those innards, and saddled them with THIRTY-FIVE runs. The Coons, who had come into the week eighth in runs scored, were up to second by the time the Knights were flushed off the field by the groundskeeper with the big garden hose.

Kevin Harenberg was retired TWICE (in the series) and drove in nine runs. Tim Stalker had six hits and drove in seven. Rich Hereford, who sat in the opener, had six hits and drove in five. Best of all was Ramos, though – Alberto came to the plate 15 times. He reached base… 14 times. They retired him ONCE. 8-for-9 (all singles) with six walks, four stolen bases, and seven runs! … Alberto, you filthy beast!! I love you more than words can say! (gives Ramos a thick smooch on the cheek)

And, well, then came the Indians.

(rummages in the top drawer) … I *KNOW* I had a pistol in there… Maud keeps hiding the damn thing …!

Fun Fact: Alberto Ramos and Mario Pizano, who have combined for 402 stolen bases since the start of the 2026 season, opposed one another for a 4-game series, and neither stole a base.

Ramos went 0-for-1. Pizano always got stuck behind his slugging pitchers…