[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-53) @ Thunder (54-51) – July 29-31, 2030

Despite sitting in second place in the South, the Thunder’s season was already over. They trailed the South-stomping Condors by a whopping 16 1/2 games, a margin that was not likely to shrink any time soon despite the Thunder’s ongoing 6-game winning streak. They were third in runs scored, but gave up even more than they put on the board themselves and had a -4 run differential thanks to the third-most runs conceded. They had a decent rotation, but the worst defense and bullpen in the Continental League. Nevertheless, they had beaten the Raccoons four out of six attempts this season.

Projected matchups:
Dave Martinez (10-7, 3.97 ERA) vs. Zach Warner (10-4, 3.50 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-7, 4.27 ERA) vs. Alex Contreras (4-6, 4.90 ERA)
Tom Shumway (5-11, 4.13 ERA) vs. Peter Gill (7-7, 4.56 ERA)

Southpaw in the series finale, with “Graveyard” Gill trying to bury the Critters once more.

I was left at home again for this single-city road trip, but at least surrounded by friends, and everything was lovely. (swallows another one of the Druid’s pills)

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – LF Jamieson – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Martinez
OCT: SS Felicame – RF Sagredo – 3B D. Garcia – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF J. Lopez – 2B A. Rojas – CF Tegan – P Warner

Despite a successful Ramos Special in the first inning in which Alberto walked, stole second, and finally scored on a Harenberg single, he found himself outdone by Thunder rookie Antonio Felicame, who singled, stole TWO bases off a sleepy Martinez/Tovias battery, and scored on Dave Garcia’s sac fly. Oklahoma took the lead the following inning, when Alfredo Rojas tripled into the left-center gap and came around on Kirk Tegan’s grounder to short. Martinez held them there for the moment, but the Coons’ offense was slow to get going despite Zach Warner suffering from ill control and unable to command any breaking pitches that could have wiped out some Critters. Portland tied the score in the fifth on a 1-out, seeing-eye single by Ramos past the aging Dave Garcia, a Stalker groundout, and then Matt Nunley’s RBI single to center. Harenberg popped out, but Warner walked Hereford to begin the sixth, his fourth walk against one strikeout. Jamieson and Tovias made outs, but Magallanes drew another walk, and that brought up… the pitcher. Oh well, maybe we’ll win tomorrow. Martinez though hit a liner into the gap for 2-out RBI double, giving himself the lead at 3-2. Warner lost Ramos to another walk to load the bases, and fell to 3-1 on Tim Stalker, who then poked like an idiot and grounded out to Rojas, stranding the full set. In turn, Martinez allowed a leadoff single to Danny Cruz in the bottom 6th, Mike Burgess hit a ground-rule double off the warning track in rightfield, and while Jorge Lopez whiffed, Alfredo Rojas tied the score with a single to left. Burgess was sent from second base and thrown out by Jamieson, with Rojas moving to second on the throw. Martinez walked Tegan in a full count before getting yanked, despite a right-handed .167 batter, Danny Briseno, coming out to bat for Warner. The Coons sent Garavito, sure that he could get Briseno, and would then be able to face the lefties atop the order in the seventh. Briseno hit a hard grounder to deep short that Ramos intercepted, but could not turn into an out – bases loaded for Felicame, who flew out to Jamieson, and another full set of sad runners were left on base. It was not that long for the next three-on plate appearance to crop up, and it was Stalker again to approach the plate for it after Dusty Kulp leaked three 2-out walks to Magallanes, Allan, and Ramos in the top 8th. This time, Stalker struck out.

Now, critically, the Raccoons had used Billy Brotman to help get Kevin Surginer unstuck in the seventh inning. Thus, when Jonathan Fleischer was assaulted with multiple left-handed pinch-hitters and was not up to the task, no lefty relief was available again. Carlos Rosa hit a single in the #7 spot, Alberto Velez hit a homer in the #9 hole, and the Thunder loaded the bases on another hit and two walks issued by Fleischer, who got shanked from the game in favor of the rookie Chris Wise, who rung up Burgess to strand three, but this time the Thunder had actually scored. Portland went down silently against Franklin Alvarado in the ninth. 5-3 Thunder. Ramos 1-2, 3 BB;

Fleischer’s ERA keeps exploding – 5.32 now.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – CF Allan – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – P Gutierrez
OCT: CF Tegan – C Burgess – 1B D. Cruz – 3B D. Garcia – SS Serrato – 2B A. Rojas – RF Sagredo – LF J. Lopez – P Contreras

Rico Gutierrez retired the first six batters he faced, who all faced him right-handed, then of course put the left-handed Luis Sagredo (single) and Jorge Lopez (double) on base to begin the third inning. Contreras put the first run on the board with a productive grounder. It was 2-0 after Tegan’s RBI double, then 4-0 when Burgess hit a monster jack, and with two outs the Thunder kibbled another run together against Gutierrez, who was once more and as usual beaten into a formless pulp in a single inning, down 5-0. He got only one more out, Contreras’ bunt in the bottom 4th after Sagredo and Lopez were already on the corners with a leadoff walk and a clean single. The Coons’ pitching coach spared himself the hassle of trudging out to the mound to tall him in; they just pulled him off the mound from the dugout with the 70-foot hook around his neck, a tool specifically manufactured for this sad purpose. That was what the Critters need – more inning from Sean Rigg! The Thunder stranded the runners on Tegan’s grounder to Nunley and a Burgess pop to Ramos, but what difference did it make?

Well. After Pizzo hit into a double play in the fifth to erase Jamieson’s leadoff single, Rigg batted for himself and singled, but was left on first when Ramos flew out easily to Sagredo. Rigg held his ground on the hill, though, and Stalker opened the sixth with a single off Contreras. He stole second, then came around on a Nunley single, the Coons’ first marker in the game. Harenberg singled. Hereford singled – bases loaded, no outs. Alright! (excitedly claps hands) More cruel jokes by the baseball gods inbound! Ryan Allan dropped in a soft RBI single, 5-2, and then Jamieson made the first out, rolling over to Garcia, who could only get he batter at first base, 5-3. That brought up the dismal Pizzo again, .221 with nine homers, and every day I realized more that $1.3M would have made for a pretty great bonfire if stacked up in $1 bills – the Coons hadn’t even gotten that by signing Pizzo. He grounded out (of course he did), which did bring Hereford across, but now the Coons had to vacate Sean Rigg for an actual batter. Rafael Gomez came out with the tying run at third and two down….. and struck out. Down 5-4, Portland got scoreless frames from Brotman in the sixth and Wise in the seventh; the latter allowed leadoff singles to Tegan and Burgess, but then rung up Cruz and Garcia before Serrato rolled out to Stalker.

The Coons went on to tie the score in the eighth against Danny Arguello and Ying-ha Ou. Hereford singles off the former, then scored when Jamieson singled with two outs against the latter. But we were also about out of bullpen, forcing replacement closer Ricky Ohl into the bottom 8th of a tied game where he’d face all left-handed bats after Carlos Rosa hit for Rojas to get going. He got Rosa and Sagredo, then walked Lopez in a full count, but rung up PH Liam Riley in another full count to keep the Thunder from scoring. Ohl remained in the game for the ninth – then with the lead. Chris Baldwin had singled in the #9 hole (Ohl was batting sixth) to begin the ninth against Alvarado, then had been parked while Ramos whiffed and Stalker popped out. Matt Nunley – old man Nunley! – came through however, hitting a double over Kirk Tegan that plated the go-ahead run with two outs! And yet, it was no good. Mike Burgess homered off Ohl with one out in the ninth, and the game went to extras, tied at six. There, the Coons left Hereford on third base in the 10th, then had to pick from Garavito, Surginer (both would pitch in their third game in a row), Barzaga (merely two days removed from 83 pitches), and Shumway (tomorrow’s starter). Surginer lost to Garavito in Rock, Paper, Pine Tar and had to come in to face the #5 batter Serrato. That was all Oklahoma needed to win the game – Serrato hit his 17th jack off Surginer’s 1-0 pitch. 7-6 Thunder. Nunley 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Hereford 3-4, 2B, RBI; Jamieson 3-5, 2 RBI; Rigg 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K and 1-1;

You know what’s funny? Yeah, we’re still just fur games out of first place, but … (giggles) … but Cristiano tried to draw a raccoon with pen on my leg cast, and it looks like a wombat’s ***hole. (giggles) Yes, Maud, I am taking my pills on schedule.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Baldwin – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – RF Rodriguez – P Shumway
OCT: CF Tegan – C Burgess – 1B D. Cruz – 3B D. Garcia – SS Serrato – 2B A. Rojas – RF Sagredo – LF J. Lopez – P Gill

There was speculation as to why the Raccoons were playing without Kevin Harenberg on the day of the trade deadline while the game was in progress, too. Nobody was concerned about Nunley, who had 10/5 rights and was widely expected to invoke them or to already have invoked them in some form, but Harenberg looked like he was going to be gone any minute now.

The Thunder took an early lead on another Serrato homer in the second inning, although Jamieson would level the score with a solo homer of his own in the fourth inning. Wilson Rodriguez came up with a 2-out triple in the fifth, but the Coons could not afford to hit for Shumway; a move their pen would not be able to withstand under any circumstances. Apart from those one or two blips, “Graveyard” Gill was ON and the Coons were dead as soon as they dared to let the Thunder get aw- … and just like that they shook Shumway for three singles and a run in the bottom 6th. Serrato did the honors of putting his team ahead for the third time in a row, chipping a 2-out RBI single to score Burgess for the 2-1 advantage. Shumway expended 101 pitches through seven innings, whiffing only three to Gill’s 9 K through eight frames. Shumway was hit for with two outs and nobody on in the eighth inning, but then it was Nunley to send Sagredo to the warning track for the catch and third out. Harenberg still was unengaged in the dugout. Top 9th, the Coons faced long-ago Furball farmhand Danny Arguello as Alvarado had pitched two innings on Tuesday (for the win) and one on Monday (for the save. Arguello was a lefty, got Ramos on a pop, Baldwin on strikes, and Stalker singled up the middle to create needless suspense. Jamieson singled to right, moving the tying run to second base for Rich Hereford, who put the first pitch into play – a soft grounder to third, but no challenged for Alberto Velez. The former Logger retired Hereford with a perfect throw to first base, and the Coons were swept out of Oklahoma. 2-1 Thunder. Jamieson 2-4, HR, RBI; Shumway 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (5-12);

Maud? The team’s coming home now, aren’t they? – Yeah, yeah… say… can they rather… just stay gone? – No, the pills are empty. – Maud, why do you have Mena on speed dial?

Raccoons (52-56) vs. Crusaders (50-59) – August 1-4, 2030

New York was bottoms in the CL in many offensive categories, well including runs scored with only 402 markers total (3.7 R/G). Their pitching was very much decent. They were allowing only a hair more than four runs per game, good enough for fifth place in the CL. They were 4-3 against the Coons this season.

Projected matchups:
Juan Barzaga (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (11-7, 3.94 ERA)
Mark Roberts (11-4, 3.58 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (3-6, 3.44 ERA)
Dave Martinez (10-7, 4.01 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (9-9, 3.82 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-7, 4.57 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (5-6, 3.64 ERA)

All righties coming up.

No trade of any Raccoon ever happened late on Wednesday, and everybody was still here. Only a scheduled off day, huh? What a lame bunch. That’s not me talking, that’s actually the Agitator’s headline on Thursday morning. “WHAT A LAME BUNCH”.

There was a roster move, however, with Wilson Rodriguez (.212, 0 HR, 6 RBI) axed to make room for right-hander Bryan Rabbitt, 24. The 2027 second-rounder was an extra arm expected to piggy-back with Barzaga in the opener. Rabbitt had a 7.27 ERA in AAA this year, but that was the result of a rough April, and with “rough” I mean that he got run through the woodchipper once, and then the finely grained bits were run through the same woodchipper twice more. He had recovered in a stint in Ham Lake, and was unscored upon in his last six outings in St. Pete since returning there in early July.

Game 1
NYC: LF Olszewski – C Dear – SS Obando – CF Coca – 1B Jam. Richardson – RF Reardon – 2B T. Fuentes – 3B Czachor – P E. Cannon
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – CF Allan – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – P Barzaga

Eddie Cannon became the first Crusaders on base with a 2-out single in the third after Barzaga had somehow retired eight in a row, but was stranded. The Coons were already 1-0 ahead at that point, courtesy of a Jamieson homer in the bottom of the second. The Crusaders would pose an actual threat soon enough, however; Matt Dear drew a 4-pitch walk to begin the fourth, Guillermo Obando singled, and Barzaga lost Tony Coca, too, on another four balls. Next up was .176 batter Jamie Richardson, who struck out in a full count, and the Crusaders would have to settle for a 1-1 tie after Chris Reardon’s sac fly to center, with Ramos shagging a Tony Fuentes liner to end the inning. The Crusaders did take the lead on another sac fly the following inning, though, this one off Matt Dear’s bat. Ryan Czachor drew a leadoff walk, Cannon swung away (!) and singled (…!), and Drew Olszewski grounded out to advance them. Obando stranded Cannon on third when he flew out to center, but now it 2-1 New York.

Pizzo led off with a single in the bottom 5th and was bunted over. Ramos ripped a double down the rightfield line, which tied the score, but even after New York intentionally walked Tim Stalker and the runners pulled off a double steal, Nunley hit a comebacker and Harenberg grounded out to Richardson to keep the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Bottom 6th, Hereford led off with a double rammed off the fence in leftfield, then had to hold at third when Olszewski was all over Ryan Allan’s clean single to leftfield. Still, runners on the corners with no outs! Jamieson struck out (visibly deflates), and what on earth was Pizzo, the raw personification of utter disappointment, gonna do? Well, he dropped a single in front of Chris Reardon to put Portland ahead, 3-2. There was actually still vigor in the home crowd, despite them paying to watch a team in utter shambles here. Then apparently somebody mixed up a sign* because at 2-2 to Barzaga the runners took off. Dear, shocked yet ready, threw out Pizzo at second base, while Allan made it to third. The count was now full on Barzaga, so the bunt was off, too, and with two down the career AAA reliever flicked a single to center to bring in the insurance run, 4-2. Ramos also singled, but Stalker struck out to end the inning.

Barzaga was not around much longer; the Crusaders had two hits to put PH Joe Cameron and Olszewski on the corners with one down in the seventh, and Portland moved on to Kevin Surginer, who got Dear to smack into a 6-4-3 double play. Surginer and Garavito handled the eighth, and Ohl allowed a leadoff walk to Reardon in the ninth, but then struck out Fuentes. Czachor grounded the 2-2 up the middle, Stalker cut it off, made a step to tap second base and threw to first in time to double up the opposing third baseman. 4-2 Coons. Ramos 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4; Hereford 2-4, 2B; Allan 2-3, BB; Pizzo 2-4, RBI; Barzaga 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, RBI;

Second career RBI for Juan Barzaga, and the fifth major league win at age 33… and only 11 days short of turning 34. He doesn’t even have 100 major league innings.

Game 2
NYC: LF Olszewski – C Dear – SS Obando – CF Coca – RF Reardon – 2B T. Fuentes – 3B Czachor – 1B Jam. Richardson – P Marron
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – CF Allan – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – P Roberts

Matt Dear’s jack off “Launchpad” Roberts put the Crusaders ahead in the first inning, and while Marron walked two in the bottom of the inning, neither Harenberg nor Hereford could find a base hit to get Stalker and Nunley around. Neither team had a base hit other than the Dear homer the first time through the order, and before the Coons could rally the second time through, a tiny cloud over the ballpark turned violent and doused the field for an hour in the bottom of the third. The rain delay was sure to further mess up the Coons’ beleaguered pen… Roberts came back a mess, allowed a single to Dear, a double to Reardon, and then a 2-out single to Fuentes in the fourth to dig the hole all the way to 3-0, and the Crusaders flogged him for another three base hits and two more runs in the fifth, an inning the former Pitcher of the Year (long, long ago!) did not complete. Chris Wise got the third out from Tony Coca to keep the deficit at five runs. The Critters’ first hit of the game would be a Jamieson jack to begin the bottom 5th. Now that all was said and done on the season, Jamieson was suddenly swattin’ it? Fine by me. I have resorted to put all their offenses on paper and as soon as my leg’s healed up I will dole out the outstanding bum kicks.

Pizzo actually went back-to-back with Jamieson, becoming only the third Coon to hit double digit dingers on the season. Then came the top 6th and the major league debut of Bryan Rabbitt, who effortlessly achieved an infinite ERA with a leadoff walk to Reardon, a wild pitch, then Fuentes’ RBI single. Czachor and Richardson both made DEEP outs to right, and then Rabbitt threw a wild 1-2 pitch to Marron. Oh boy! Marron eventually struck out. Bottom of the inning, Jamieson was up with three on after a Nunley single and walked to Harenberg and Allan, and he was the tying run in the 6-2 game, which of course meant that he choked and hit into a double play to Czachor. Top 7th, Olszewski hit a leadoff jack off Rabbitt, 7-2, and Dear and Obando both singled to knock out the debutee. Sean Rigg took over, defused the inning with a 4-6-3 double play, and actually finished the game. The Coons never scored again. Tovias and Gomez had base hits off Travis Giordano in the bottom 9th, but Ramos flew out to Olszewski to end the contest. 7-2 Crusaders. Tovias (PH) 1-1; Rigg 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Something weird was going on. Since I ran out of pills, my leg is not hurting at all (nor has it before the Druid gave me those pills), but I feel very angry about the on-field performance. Where’s that been all the time?

Only one explanation for all this – … but what is it, Slappy?

Game 3
NYC: LF Olszewski – 2B T. Fuentes – SS Obando – CF Coca – 1B Jam. Richardson – RF Reardon – C Wool – 3B Czachor – P Rutkowski
POR: SS Ramos – CF Allan – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 2B Baldwin – C Tovias – P Martinez

One base hit was enough for two runs for New York in the opening frame; Chris Reardon’s 2-out single plated two after Martinez – apparently in disgrace with Odilon the Great – nailed Fuentes and walked Coca and Richardson to set Reardon up with the bases loaded. They added two more on Czachor’s bloop single to lead off, an Olszewski RBI single that saw the #1 hitter reach second on a hopeless throw to home plate, a Fuentes groundout, and finally a passed ball charged to Tovias in the second. Hooray, 4-0 after only two innings! While nothing happened for the Coons, only *to* them, Martinez lasted five innings while getting crapped on for six runs, the last two scoring in the fifth on a 2-run single by Tony Coca. At that point, Portland had a sole base hit, a Ramos single to begin the bottom 1st. Alberto stole his 45th base, was stranded, and nothing good happened ever after until Baldwin hit a double into the corner to begin the bottom 5th and came around on two groundouts. The RBI was Rafael Gomez, who was still alive, and still getting paid about $10k for putting on pants day in, day out, even though that was every sign of him still being around this forsaken place.

There was some mild commotion in the sixth inning when Billy Brotman nailed Mike Rutkowski in a game that was already well out of hand. The Crusaders wouldn’t turn the free runner into a tack-on run, though, nor did they rip out all of Brotman’s limbs which at least would have allowed us to collect insurance on some of our broken dreams. Bottom 6th, base hits by Nunley and Jamieson put them into scoring position for Hereford to strike out and Baldwin to roll over to Obando. It was the final rage in the game, because when the Crusaders routed Mauricio Garavito for four additional runs in the ninth inning, it ultimately didn’t matter as far as the universe as a whole was concerned. Nothing moves or stops moving from beating a dead body with a stick, you know? Josh Wool hit a 3-run homer with two down to turn a game, that was over in the second inning, into a full rout. 10-1 Crusaders. Ramos 2-4;

With this drubbing, we’ve made it – finally – to a negative run differential for the season. 460 plated, 462 surrendered, finally.

Game 4
NYC: 3B Czachor – C Dear – SS Obando – CF Coca – 2B T. Fuentes – LF Henneberry – RF N. Ayala – 1B Jam. Richardson – P Prevost
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – RF Gomez – CF Baldwin – C Pizzo – P Gutierrez

Ian Prevost retired the first nine Coons and by the time the Coons got on base at all, they were already in the ropes again, courtesy of plenty of runs off Rico Gutierrez. Dear and Obando plated one run with back-to-back doubles in the first inning, and in the fourth Rico put Tony Fuentes on with a leadoff walk, and then conceded a single to Rob Henneberry. The runners were in scoring position with two outs and the pitcher at the plate, a situation that Gutierrez masterfully dissolved with a wild pitch even before he allowed an RBI single to Prevost. Ramos drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 4th but was doubled off by Stalker before he could even get his hindpaws pointing in the direction of second base. Nunley walked, Harenberg hit a 2-run jack, but oh, what could have been… What was was Fuentes doubling home a run in the fifth and Gutierrez getting thrown into the pit in the sixth after a leadoff single by Prevost (……) and a walk issued to Czachor. Surginer somehow made it out of the inning, although it was Gomez to spear a Fuentes drive on the warning track with three on and two outs. Yet, despite their DISMAL performance, the Coons somehow remained vaguely near contention. Ramos singled, stole second, and scored on Stalker’s 1-out triple in the bottom 6th, but Stalker – the tying run – was stranded by both Nunley and Harenberg… GODDAMNIT!!!

Bottom 8th, after two scoreless innings by Chris Wise (could have been yours, Crusaders!) the Coons had another chance. Alan pinch-hit and singled off reliever Casey Moore, and Ramos hit an infield single against new reliever Chris Farinas, which in rapid order brought on the third pitcher of the inning, Keith Roofener, to pitch to Stalker. Tim popped out, Nunley hit into a double play, and everything was always coming up tails again… It was still 4-3 in the ninth against Giordano. Harenberg popped out to short. Hereford batted for Jamieson and grounded out to first. And Rafael Gomez singled to left to give another sliver of hope. A K to Chris Baldwin dealt with that sufficiently. 4-3 Crusaders. Ramos 2-3, BB; Baldwin 2-4; Allan (PH) 1-1; Wise 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In other news

July 30 – In the morning, the Titans deal SP Lorenzo Viamontes (7-10, 4.40 ERA) to the Warriors for 1B Justin Uliasz (.333, 1 HR, 5 RBI), who had spent most of the season in AAA after batting .230 with 20 homers for Sioux Falls in ’29. Late at night, Uliasz (.375, 2 HR, 6 RBI) becomes a winner already, beating the Knights, 1-0, with a solo homer in the 14th inning.
July 30 – The Loggers send backup middle infielder Jason Rauser (.308, 1 HR, 14 RBI) to the Cyclones for 28-year-old LF/RF Ricardo Ferrales, who had yet to play in the majors this year.
July 31 – DAL SP Nate Ward (4-4, 2.69 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals and whiffs eight in a 4-0 shutout.
July 31 – SFB 1B Tomas Caraballo (.282, 18 HR, 60 RBI) has his team’s only base hit, a single, in a 6-0 loss to the Crusaders’ SP Keith Roofener (6-3, 3.15 ERA) and Casey Moore (2-3, 4.00 ERA, 2 SV).
August 1 – Charlotte SP Chris Rountree (10-10, 4.93 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 4-0 shutout.
August 1 – TOP SP Ernesto Lujan (9-10, 3.66 ERA) will miss up to ten months with a stretched elbow ligament.
August 2 – A throwing error by TOP LF/RF Pablo Sanchez (.353, 3 HR, 48 RBI), who will not allow Washington’s Dave Menth (.242, 16 HR, 58 RBI) to tag and reach third base in the bottom of the 10th inning, allows Menth to come around and scored the only run in a 1-0 Capitals walkoff win.

Complaints and stuff

“All is well.” – Who stitched that onto the cushions on my good old brown couch?? I demand answers! Who!?!?

Not much to say after your run-of-the-mill 1-6 week. But look at where the Elks are and where we could be relative to them.

Turned out even Kevin Harenberg had but negligible value at the trade deadline. The entire roster has negligible value for any purpose. That’s gonna be a FUN rebuild.

The IFA period is still going on; there is one 16-year-old Panamanian shortstop, Jose Agosto, left over, and we’re also bidding. The price is currently quickly escalating through the $150k range. In total we have so far signed three players – all position players – for $178k, so the soft cap is not anywhere near us. We will not have taken a pitcher this time around.

Fun Fact: The Elks have not made the postseason in 18 years.

Ray Gilbert of course. ****ing Ray Gilbert. That was a final weekend for the ages. If you’re an Elks fan. Which means you’re also dumb and ugly. (manically and with eager claws peels the rubber off the wheelchair’s tires)

*Nah. I actually did try run-and-hit there. No clever strategy. All despair.