[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-17) @ Crusaders (13-24) – May 13-16, 2030

I was not quite able to figure out what exactly was going so heavily pear-shaped in New York, but they were quite easily getting pummeled. Not on the pitching side – their hurlers were allowing the fifth-most runs – but on the offensive side. They were absolutely atrocious with the stick, scoring merely 3.6 runs per game and the fewest in the Continental League. They were in the bottom three in all of batting average, on-base percentage, and power. They stole a few bases. The main problem was probably their front office, who thought they could get a struggling Doug Moffatt through waivers and promptly lost him to the retooling Scorpions on Monday morning. The Coons had won the season series in 2029, 10-8, and had won it four years running.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (3-2, 5.81 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (0-0)
Jose Menendez (4-1, 3.43 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (0-2, 2.51 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (1-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. Robby Gonzalez (1-3, 4.15 ERA)
Tom Shumway (2-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (2-4, 3.81 ERA)

All righties here.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 2B Hereford – LF Jamieson – C Tovias – RF Gomez – P Roberts
NYC: RF Olszewski – 2B T. Fuentes – CF Coca – C Dear – 1B Jam. Richardson – 3B Czachor – LF N. Ayala – SS J. Brown – P Marron

Mark Roberts retired the first ten batters, whiffing five, before Tony Fuentes hit a 1-out single to center in the bottom of the fourth, which was in fact the first base knock for either team in the game. The Coons had gotten on Hereford with a walk and Jamieson by getting nicked in the second, but Elias Tovias had immediately hit into a double play, and Fuentes was also left on base in the fourth. Roberts got around a Ryan Czachor double in the fifth, but it took the Critters until the seventh inning to rob Carlos Marron in his first start of the season of the no-hitter… and then it was a 2-out roller on the infield that Rich Hereford managed to leg out for a 35-foot single. Jamieson grounded out to end the inning. Bottom 7th, Roberts got stuck. He walked Matt Dear in a full count, got PH Joe Cameron to lift one out to Rafael Gomez for the second out of the inning, but then nicked Czachor in another full count. His pitch count had reached 108 and the Crusaders sent Josh Stevenson, the ex-Coon, to bat for the left-handed Nelson Ayala. The Critters responded with Kevin Surginer, who secured a K to defuse the situation. Before long, he was also in line for the win, result of a solo shot to left by Gomez, sadly enough Rafael’s first dinger this season. Portland progressed with two more outs from Surginer, one from Mauricio Garavito, then sent Josh Boles into a game where either side had only two base knocks, and we would have wished for Josh to keep it that way, but after Team Tony – Fuentes and Coca – had made the first two outs, Matt Dear doubled to left. And on the very next pitch, Joe Cameron popped out. 1-0 Coons. Hereford 1-2, BB; Gomez 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Roberts 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K;

That is now two games in a handful of days which we won 1-0 on a solo homer by a lower-third batter. I mean, a win is a win is a win, but…

BUT! Progress is inbound, because Alberto Ramos was back in the leadoff spot by Tuesday!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – RF Gomez – C Pizzo – 2B Baldwin – P Menendez
NYC: LF Olszewski – C Dear – RF Jam. Richardson – CF Coca – 1B Moreira – 3B Czachor – 2B T. Fuentes – SS J. Brown – P Prevost

The no-offense show continued. Alberto Ramos led off with a single, then was picked off, and the Crusaders hit two singles in the bottom of the first, but wouldn’t score either. Nobody really did much of anything to show they had a pulse; Luis Moreira gave a ball a ride in the bottom 4th, but Hereford made the catch on the warning track, and the same fate befell Matt Dear in the fifth inning. Through five, three hits for Portland, four for New York, and they hadn’t touched third base since the opening inning. So that was what New York baseball was like these days? I remembered vividly the days where the Martin Brothers would destroy entire pitching staffs just by sneezing at them!

Top 6th, the Coons had something going, and it was of the softest variety. Harenberg was hit with two outs, and then Hereford legged out another infield roller and Gomez hit a clean single to center. That brought up the .214 batter Pizzo, who managed to poke a 1-2 pitch to left, but not well enough to give Drew Olszewski any sort of trouble, and three Critters were left stranded. Through seven innings, both teams had amounted to six base hits, but still no runs; Prevost was out of the game, having been replaced with Mike Baker after Ramos’ 2-out single in the top 7th, but Menendez was still around. Through seven, he had neither a walk nor a strikeout on his ledger, which was also a way to go about things. The game would go to overtime thanks to solid pitching by Brotman and Fleischer on our side, as well as Travis Giordano for the Crusaders. Giordano, a pretty stingy deep-end guy, had come into the series with an ERA over seven. But Giordano after a clean ninth walked Ramos to begin the tenth, and although the Crusaders knew what movie would be shown here, Ramos stole second base in a pitchout. Nunley doubled him home with a liner down the rightfield line, but then was left on base while the Crusaders navigated around the middle of the order. Boles sawed off the bottom of the order to put another squeaker into the books. 1-0 Blighters. Ramos 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-5, 2B, RBI; Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB; Menendez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

You know, we moved into a virtual tie for first place with this particular win, but slowly but surely, three 1-0 wins in the last four games have me a tad worried…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – CF Magallanes – P Gutierrez
NYC: RF Olszewski – LF J. Stevenson – CF Coca – C Dear – 1B Jam. Richardson – 2B T: Fuentes – 3B J. Cameron – SS J. Brown – P R. Gonzalez

The Critters’ daily run came in the third inning this time out, with Stalker singling home Ramos, who had hit a hustle double with two outs. This followed Ramos’ leadoff single in the first, but then the Crusaders had actually caught him stealing. And while Rico Gutierrez began the game with three innings of 1-hit ball, unfortunately the fourth inning developed into a bit of trauma. Josh Stevenson led off with a looper that fell into right, bounced over the glove of the sliding Hereford, and then Stevenson pulled something hustling, then limping into second base. Nelson Ayala replaced him. Tony Coca lined a ball at Stalker, who dropped the ball, booted it, and was charged an error, and now the Crusaders had them on the corners with nobody out. Rico wavered, walked Dear, and we knew that this one was going to slinger out of control very soon. Jamie Richardson singled to left, plating two, and another run scored on Fuentes’ RBI single. Magallanes threw home in attempt to nip Matt Dear the plate, but the throw was so late and so bad that it instead allowed the other Crusaders runners to advance, then score on Cameron’s sac fly, and regrettably also a 2-out RBI single by Gonzalez. When the dust settled following Olszewski’s fly to Hereford, the Crusaders were up 5-1, or as they called it, a week’s worth.

The Raccoons made up one run in the top 6th, which could have given them so much more after leadoff singles by Ramos and Stalker, as well as a fielding gaffe by Olszewski, who overran Stalker’s ball and allowed the two into scoring position with nobody out. Nunley grounded out to third base, Harenberg hit an RBI single, and then Hereford jacked a ball into a double play. Bottom 6th, Rico nailed leadoff man Tony Fuentes and was yanked, and nothing got better with Matt Stonecipher. Cameron grounded out, moving the runner to second, Stonecipher walked Josh Brown, and when Gonzalez dropped down a bunt, Pizzo threw that one over the head of Nunley in a vain attempt to get the lead runner, who instead scored on the 2-base throwing error. Billy Brotman ended the inning with a pop and a whiff without allowing any more runs, but 6-2 was bad enough. Another run fell out of Chris Wise in the seventh; the rookie walked the first two batters and couldn’t back up his boldness with strikeouts. Top 8th, Tovias led off with a single to right, and Ramos also hit one there. Gonzalez lost Stalker on balls, which put three on with nobody out, but it wasn’t like the Critters would score in such a situation. Nevertheless, the Crusaders casually got the pen going. Matt Nunley hit a liner to center, Tony Coca made the catch, Tovias was sent and thrown out after moving at glacial pace, and then righty Mike Baker got a pop from Harenberg to strand the remaining Critters, and they would not get another chance in this game… 7-2 Crusaders. Ramos 4-4, 2B; Stalker 2-3, BB, RBI; Hereford 2-4, 2B; Mora (PH) 1-1; Tovias 1-1;

Wickedly, the Elks and Titans lost their games to the Indians and Loggers. This created a FOUR-WAY tie for the lead in the division, at least of the virtual sort. The Loggers and Elks tied at 21-17, the Titans and Coons joining in at 22-18.

This is too cuddly – I long to break free!

To aid us in the quest, the Coons made a roster change. Wilson Rodriguez (.231 with no homers) was sent to AAA and we recalled Ryan Allan. I was really worried about Matt Jamieson’s .210 bat though…

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – CF Mora – LF Jamieson – C Tovias – P Shumway
NYC: 2B Hurtado – SS T. Fuentes – C Dear – LF Olszweski – 3B Czachor – 1B N. Ayala – CF Henneberry – RF Jam. Richardson – P Roofener

The Crusaders made a switch in the pitching assignment, giving a start to right-hander Keith Roofener (1-1, 2.79 ERA) in this game. Roofener struck out four of the first five Coons, then walked Mora and Jamieson, but Elias Tovias was more or less a hollow husk stuffed with disappointment at this stage of his career and popped out, then lost a Shumway offering with two outs and runners in scoring position in the bottom 2nd that allowed the Crusaders to bring Drew Olszewski across with the game’s first run. Jamie Richardson then struck out to end the inning. That was the only run through five innings, too, and even worse, the Raccoons for the second time in the series were still chasing their first base hit against the spot starter Roofener…

It rained on and off in the middle innings, but that also didn’t help the Critters decipher Roofener, who kept carrying a no-hitter through six, through seven. It took the Furballs until the eighth inning to drop in a 1-out single; Jamieson did the honors. Tovias hit into a fielder’s choice, but that he still remained at first base with two down was reason enough to send a once-upon-a-time power hitter to the plate rather than Shumway; Rafael Gomez struck out. The bottom of the eighth inning saw a major explosion rock the park as Jonathan Fleischer and Mauricio Garavito got absolutely destroyed. Fleischer allowed four hits and as many runs; Garavito allowed three more hits, including a bases-clearing 2-out double to grizzled veteran Wade White, and an RBI triple to debutee Rob Henneberry after that, and three runs. Henneberry had opened the inning with a double off Fleischer. Not too ****ty for a first major league game… ****ty remained the Coons, though, tumbling into another numb defeat. Though they did so in style and with rubbing it in: two down in the ninth, Rich Hereford scored Pizzo and Nunley with a 3-run homer to right. Good job, boys. Good job. 8-3 Crusaders. Pizzo (PH) 1-1; Jamieson 1-2, BB; Shumway 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (2-3);

Let’s just say I am none too happy with the way the offense has looked the last five, six games…

Raccoons (22-19) @ Condors (27-15) – May 17-19, 2030

Oh bother – an actual baseball team. The Condors sat fifth in runs scored, but allowed the second-fewest runs in the league. Their rotation was the best with a collective 2.90 ERA, and I did not see the Raccoons get back on the horse in this series… We had lost the season series against the reigning champions Condors, 4-5, in each of the last two seasons.

Projected matchups:
Dave Martinez (5-2, 2.80 ERA) vs. George Griffin (1-2, 2.40 ERA)
Mark Roberts (3-2, 5.10 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (5-0, 3.33 ERA)
Jose Menendez (4-1, 2.96 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (2-1, 3.25 ERA)

Southpaw on Sunday; the Condors lacked any sort of injuries as well as any sort of power. They had the fewest dingers in the league, although cheatster fraud Shane Sanks already had seven on his account.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – LF Jamieson – RF Allan – C Tovias – P Martinez
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – C Zarate – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – SS C. Miller – LF Braun – RF Camps – 2B D. Williams – P Griffin

The Raccoons had three runners in the first, with Stalker and Hereford hitting singles after Ramos had popped out, but Harenberg hit into a fielder’s choice, and after Mora walked, Jamieson grounded out poorly to short. Shane Sanks, whom I hated more than words could say, hit a first-inning double, but was stranded, and when Odilon made Dave Martinez nail consecutive hitters with Adam Braun and Juan Camps in the bottom 2nd, Dan Williams hit into a double play. While the Coons stranded Rich Hereford, who singled and stole second, in the top of the third, the Condors had a little 2-out rally in the bottom of the third. Danny Zarate singled off Martinez, who lost Sanks on straight balls. Kevin McGrath murdered a pitch to right, but didn’t get the angle correctly and it fell in front of Ryan Allan for a single. Zarate had been moving with the pitch and scored the game’s first run. Chris Miller then flew out easily to Allan to strand the other two.

Top 4th, line drive singles by Matt Jamieson and Ryan Allan had something stirring on the bases with nobody out. Elias Tovias was up next, a career 99 OPS+ batter now after years of mediocrity. He struck out blindly hacking… Martinez bunted over the runners professionally before Ramos ran a 3-1 count with two outs. Instead of just letting him go and try their luck with Tim Stalker, who was certainly not hot, Griffin tried to get him out… and wouldn’t. Ramos lined to right-center for a 2-out single, and the score was flipped. Then he was caught stealing… The lead didn’t last long, either. Martinez had a lapse of ability in the bottom 4th, walked Camps and Williams on eight straight balls, and surrendered the runs on a 2-out double by Chris Murphy before Zarate fouled out… That was not the last lead blown in this game, either: Tim Stalker led off the fifth with a triple over Murphy in center, scored on Hereford’s groundout to tie it up, and with two down Abel Mora hit a jack to right, putting the Coons 4-3 ahead. Too bad though that Martinez kept issuing 4-pitch walks… he gave out another one to Sanks to start the bottom 5th (ugh!), and while Miller eventually ended the inning with a double play grounder to Hereford, Martinez had needed 92 pitches, mostly messy, through five. He’d make it through six, barely, issuing a 4-pitch walk (!) to Camps, who was caught stealing, and Williams struck out to complete the inning. That would be it for Martinez.

After a clean inning by Fleischer, the Coons faced George Barnett, a righty with a 2.04 ERA in the eighth. Jamieson led off with a single to left, and that posed a conundrum of whether to have Allan bunt, but that would bring up Tovias with one out, and then the pitcher’s spot. Nah, Allan got the swing sign, swung for a neat single to right, and Camps had to chase it down a bit into foul ground, allowing Jamieson to go to third base. Tovias poked the first pitch back to the pitcher, and was not doubled up solely because Barnett at first ducked under the bouncer, that hit his glove and bounced to the back of the mound. It was enough to get Allan at second, but not two. Pizzo batted for Fleischer – between our two lefty bats (the other being Nunley) on the bench, Pizzo probably still had a bit more power, and both were prone to the ol’ 6-4-3 trick. Pizzo struck out instead, Ramos grounded out to first, and nobody scored… Boys!! Goddamnit!! Of course this had to have repercussions. Kevin Surginer fell apart in the eighth with a leadoff single by ****ing Shane Sanks, a walk issued to McGrath, and then finally after a Miller groundout a 2-run single to right by Adam Braun. Jose Fuentes erased the Coons in the ninth. 5-4 Condors. Stalker 2-5, 3B; Hereford 2-5, RBI; Allan 3-4;

(stems fists into his sides and blows heavily out of his mouth)

Nope, no idea how to get them to score runs…

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – CF Mora – RF Allan – C Pizzo – P Roberts
TIJ: SS C. Miller – RF Camps – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – LF Braun – CF Denzler – C Dehne – 2B D. Williams – P Potter

Pizzo whiffed to strand Mora and Allan in the second, but Ramos and Stalker got a pair of 1-out singles in the third inning. Ramos bid for third base when Stalker singled, Joel Denzler tried to unleash a throw, but it was nowhere near enough and also got away on the infield while Stalker scurried into second base. Nunley and Harenberg both struck out (sigh!)… but not until after Potter had thrown a Ramos-plating wild pitch. Whatever works! Mark Roberts faced the minimum the first time through, whiffing four, which included giving up a single to Juan Camps in the first, after which Sanks hit into a double play. Ha-hah! I hate you…

Camps reached with an infield single in the fourth, but Sanks and McGrath both popped out. The Raccoons took til the sixth to land another pair of base hits; Nunley hit a 1-out single to right, and Harenberg found the gap between Denzler and Camps for a double, which brought up Hereford with runners in scoring position. Rich hit a fly to right that looked neat, but was caught by Camps, however it was deep enough to get Nunley home. Abel Mora legged out a grounder for 2-out infield single against the so-so infield defense (but the outfield defense was top notch), presenting the .625 monster Allan with a chance, but he flew out to center, and another pair was frustratingly stranded and the score remained a tense 2-0. So Dan Williams’ leadoff single to left in the bottom 6th was not exactly comforting, but Roberts had yet to allow a scary deep fly, so maybe – yikes, Juan Camps with a 2-out scary deep fly to right! Allan caught it on the track, and the Coons remained up 2-0. It all began to fall apart in the bottom 7th, though. Sanks struck out, but then McGrath, Braun, and Denzler hit straight singles, plating a run and moving the other runners into scoring position with one down when Mora threw home for no greater good on Denzler’s bloop single. Matt Dehne ran a full count before popping out, after which the Condors sent .328 batter Ken Kramer, a sophomore that had not left any impression on us in the past, to hit for Williams with two outs. He was also a switch-hitter, and the Raccoons were positively out of clue what to do. We asked Roberts whether he could retire the little ****. Roberts answered in the affirmative. Then he struck out the little ****, keeping his 2-1 lead alive.

After three fast and sad outs in the top 8th, Roberts came back to the mound in the bottom 8th, but left it without retiring a batter and also left a total mess to Kevin Surginer, who was supposed to clean up Chris Murphy on third after doubling, and Chris Miller on first after singling, with nobody out. He couldn’t do it. Camps hit a mighty fly to right, that was nevertheless caught, but deep enough to tie the score. Sanks hit to short for a force at second base, McGrath struck out, but where were the Coons supposed to get another run? Mora and Allan would have singles off closer Jose Fuentes in the ninth, but Pizzo hit into a fielder’s choice and Jamieson grounded out to Sanks to end the inning. Stonecipher sent the game to extras with a clean ninth, and extended it further with a less clean tenth, with McGrath grounding out to Nunley with Zarate stranded in scoring position. Top 11th, lefty Ethan Jordan pitching for Tijuana. He dropped McGrath’s feed on Harenberg’s poor grounder to begin the inning, which brought on Baldwin as pinch-runner. It helped nothing; Hereford struck out and Mora hit into a double play. That was the final inning of the game; Chris Wise came on in the bottom 11th, allowed a single to Omar Larios and then two walks, and after he was yanked it was too late for Jonathan Fleischer to do anything. He surrendered the game on a walkoff single by Miller. 3-2 Condors. Mora 2-4, BB; Allan 2-4; Roberts 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; Stonecipher 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Chris Wise, who walked everybody and their mother (7 BB in 5.1 IP) was kicked in the ass all the way to the nearest bus terminal. At the same time, Ricky Ohl was activated from the DL.

No wonder that the one time we managed to get a top 100 prospect from anybody, he immediately turned out to be a turd…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – C Tovias – CF Baldwin – RF Gomez – P Menendez
TIJ: RF Camps – C Zarate – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – LF Braun – CF Denzler – SS Bross – 2B D. Williams – P Little

The Coons had to resort to politely ask Jose Menendez to stop all the losing with a gem. To aid in the quest, the Raccoons scored a few (!) runs in the first inning. Ramos singled, scored on Stalker’s double, and Hereford singled to get the Coons up to 2-0. The heights didn’t get loftier, though, with he 4-5-6 batters all making quick outs. Menendez did his very best pitching to poor contact, and did line up a few zeroes, which was not a bad strategy with the way Little was cranking up the K’s after the initial onslaught. He struck out seven through four innings, while himself being the only strikeout on Menendez’ ledger. Zarate and Sanks reached with two outs in the bottom 3rd, but McGrath flew out to center to keep them on, and things did not look entirely bleak on the pitching side for now. They did on the hitting side, though. Ramos hit a 2-out single in the fifth, stole second, Stalker drew a walk, and then Hereford easily flew out to center. Can’t anybody on this team whack a 3-run homer that actually matters??

On command, the Condors reared their ugly beaks. Dan Williams led off the fifth with a double over Hereford’s head, was bunted to third, and while Menendez whiffed(!) Camps, Danny Zarate hit a 2-out bloop single to get Tijuana on the board. Sanks grounded out, but I had a hunch that this game would still end with a 5-game losing streak for the Raccoons.

The good thing about Little from the opposition’s standpoint was his low stamina. He didn’t get through the sixth, running out of steam until Tovias hit a 2-out double off him. Right-hander Zhuo-Cheng Li replaced him and got Chris Baldwin to pop out, ending the inning. No offense was coming forth, ever again! Menendez maneuvered into the bottom of the eighth, got Zarate, but after that the Coons made the call to bring on Ricky Ohl against Sanks and McGrath. Ohl’s second pitch was put in the gap by Sanks, the revolting skunk weasel, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the fans to roar. They didn’t. McGrath and Braun both popped out on just three more pitches, and the Coons continued to nurse their 2-1 lead, having made 24 outs since scoring their runs.

Top 9th, lefty Ethan Jordan still on after having pitched the eighth. Baldwin singled to left, and then Gomez flew to center. Denzler might have misjudged it, but the ball beat him to the warning track and Gomez cruised in with a double. That brought up Nunley – who had entered along with Ohl and Jamieson’s expense in the previous half-inning – to the plate with no outs and runners in scoring position. He fell to 0-2, then slapped a pitch over Jordan and up the middle, Dave Bross missed it narrowly, and the Coons had an RBI single, FINALLY. Ramos hit a sac fly for the second and final run of the inning, and then the 4-1 edge was off to Josh Boles. He axed Denzler, Bross, and Williams in order. 4-1 Raccoons! Ramos 2-3, BB, RBI; Nunley 1-1, RBI; Menendez 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (5-1);

In other news

May 13 – The Buffaloes not only blow a 2-1 lead over the Capitals in the ninth; they *blow* it. Washington scores 11 runs in the ninth inning in a real team effort, burying the Buffaloes pen in a 12-2 rout.
May 15 – MIL C Jim Young (.239, 5 HR, 20 RBI) and the rest of the Loggers beat the Titans, 8-4 in 14 innings, on Young’s walkoff grand slam off Javy Salomon (2-2, 7.42 ERA). Young has a total of six RBI on two home runs in the game.
May 17 – CIN SP Danny Soto (1-2, 4.98 ERA) and CIN CL Vince Devereaux (0-4, 5.23 ERA, 7 SV) pitch a combined no-hitter in a 6-1 win over the Warriors. Soto is yanked with complete exhaustion after issuing three straight walks and surrendering a pretty deep sac fly to SFW LF/RF/1B Jon Correa (.176, 2 HR, 14 RBI) in the ninth inning.
May 17 – The Buffaloes’ Jose Lerma (7-0, 2.14 ERA) aces his way to a 3-hit shutout of the Scorpions in which he strikes out 11 batters. Topeka wins 3-0.
May 18 – After the Rebels score four in the top 9th to break a 1-1 tie with the Gold Sox, Denver rallies back to snatch a 7-5 win, the 6-run bottom-of-the-ninth rally capped by 1B Travis Zitzner (.228, 4 HR, 19 RBI) hitting a 3-run home run off RIC CL Mike Tandy (2-3, 6.89 ERA, 7 SV) to walk off his team.
May 18 – SAC SS/3B Michael Crabtree (.310, 3 HR, 15 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI in a 13-5 Scorpions win over the Buffaloes.
May 19 – The Loggers smother the Bayhawks, 18-2, with C Jim Young (.257, 6 HR, 25 RBI) chipping in three base hits and five runs driven in.
May 19 – BOS OF Willie Vega (.310, 2 HR, 13 RBI) will miss three months with a broken ankle.

Complaints and stuff

Anybody remember that I tried to trade for Jim Young?

As long as the Loggers are in first place, I claim that it is all just a fluke and that we are also much better than a .523 team. Everybody needs their hook of hope – mine is that the Loggers can’t reasonably be first in May and that thus things will shake themselves out down the road.

But we have fallen to eighth in runs scored, and this was a wholly horrendous week for hitting… my bidding to Odilon does not seem to work. Martinez says I must become a true reliever for Odilon to open his ear to me. But I only belief in a bloop, a walk, and a 3-run homer! This ain’t gonna work…

Matt Huf signed a 7-year extension worth almost $21M with the Bayhawks this week. I consider this overpaying for a pitcher with a 3.86 career ERA. He was of course also part of the Mark Roberts / Jon Gonzalez deal back in 2023.

Fun Fact: The Soto/Devereaux no-hitter is the first combined no-hitter in the ABL in almost seven years.

It is also the second consecutive combined no-hitter to feature a former Raccoons believer. Ron Thrasher had a hand along with Chris Klein in the Titans’ combined no-hitter over the Stars on August 13, 2023.

The Warriors have been on the receiving end of all but the 2023 combined no-hitters that the ABL has recognized.*

*Since OOTP does not report combined no-hitters, there may have been some that passed me by prior to me going through all the line scores since about 2000 or so.