[Westheim]

The Raccoons faced David Burke in game 1 of the interleague series against the Pacifics. He was the team’s ace and had a 6-1 record under his belt just one month into the season. Alex Miranda? 0-5. Miranda had to be removed in the fifth inning with an undiagnosed injury. The Raccoons held the Pacifics to a 2-2 tie until the 12th inning, when Ben Green, my pathetic excuse for a closer, was shelled for three runs, which the Raccoons’ offense only countered with two in the bottom of the inning and lost 5-4. Next night saw an 11th-inning loss to a grand slam by Carlos Sandoval, 7-3, when the bullpen collapsed once again. At least Miranda’s injury was just a mild abdominal strain that would not kick him out of the rotation. Berrios and the Raccoons came back in the last game against L.A. and won 6-0.

The Raccoons went onto the road for two weeks with a start against the Indians, who led the CL North. The Indians were a strange team. They were 19-13, but had a pythagorean difference of +4, actually allowing more runs than they scored at 112-122. The 11-24 Raccoons had a difference of -4, and were at 134-159 runs scored/allowed. Mentally I was already getting ready for three 1-0 16-inning games. Although there was hope: since Berrios’ no-hitter ten days ago, the Raccoons had always scored three runs or more, and four runs or more in all but one game.

Before the road trip began, I did something else. I tried to shop Ben Green, my miserable closer. I got one offer, from the Salem Wolves, who offered a bullpen prospect in Bob Haines. He was prospected at five stars. But the problem was, that I needed a top reliever NOW. I was tempted, but it was not a trade that would help even the least little bit now.

Jose Flores was tossed for arguing with the home plate umpire in the second inning of the first Indians game. He was not suspended, luckily, since the alternative to LF Flores at the moment would be moving Dolder over and playing Anderson in CF, and Anderson had dropped to .190 at the plate. The Mets went up against Jorge Vallejo in the first game, and were fanned nine times, but they broke through in just one inning, the fifth, scoring three, which was enough to win the first game, 3-1. Following was a walkfest with 12 BB’s distributed, and most of them by the starters. Miranda (still 0-5) left after five, leading 2-1, but Jenkins blew it and the game was tied 2-2 through seven, before the Raccoons broke through the Indians’ bullpen and scored six in the last two innings in an 8-2 win. This win also meant they were not the worst team anymore, as they were now .5 games better than Tijuana, at least for now. Also, Ben Simon became the first ABL player to launch 10 home runs in his career. The last game of the series was never in question – Matt Huber was ravaged by the Indians, who scored all of their eight runs in two innings and won 8-0.

Pedro Sánz was named player of the week after a 13-28 performance with two homers and 8 RBI. His production would be needed against the Boston Titans, whom the Raccoons would face for four games in Boston, and who led the CL in runs, but also were second-to-last in runs allowed.

During the series in Boston I got a trade proposal from the Crusaders, who offered infielder Julio Luján and a prospect for two of my prospects. Well, one of the youngsters on each side had very little potential, it was really a deal for my AAA corner infielder Craig Payne, who was average throughout. As was Luján. I was not inclined to make the trade at all and ultimately declined.

Hitting was poor throughout the Boston series for both teams, as was pitching. Both teams racked up 15 K’s each over the four games, while the Boston pitchers walked 20, and the Raccoons hurlers even gave 23 free passes, and 10 alone in game 3. Adding to that five hit batsmen and four wild pitches one had to wonder how the Raccoons had managed to not get blown away completely. They lost the first three 4-3, 5-2, 3-2, before returning to save some dignity with a 5-3 getaway win.

The draft pool and order were announced on May 15. The Raccoons would pick second after just barely nipping the Condors a few days earlier. My thoughts about it below.

The Aces were quite strong in every aspect (they were atop the CL South for a reason), and this looked much like another low-scoring game. The Raccoons scored first in game 1, but a 3-run bottom 7th turned the fortune in favor of the Aces, who won 3-1. Game 2 was a microcosm of the Raccoons’ first season. Dolder homered to start off the game, but Ned Ray blew it all apart in the bottom 3rd, allowing four runs on a couple of walks (including walking one in), and a wild pitch. The game seemed lost as the Raccoons couldn’t get the offense going until the eighth, when they exploded for five runs, leading 6-4. The Aces came back and tied it, before the Raccoons scored two more in the top 9th. I didn’t trust Ben Green with this. Justice finished the game. Game 3 saw Guillermo Heredia on the mound for the Aces – he truly was on the right team with superb movement and control and an ERA of 1.33 going into the game. He shut down the Raccoons for five innings with a 1-0 lead for his team, but then ran out of steam in the sixth. Greg Swift and Jorge Lopez produced big at bats, as the Raccoons scored five runs in the sixth, forcing Heredia out. The team jumped to 9-1 against the Aces bullpen (who played more than a pair of black 4s and the King of Diamonds), before our own bullpen melted away. Still, we won the game 9-5, taking the series 2-1. This was also the first win for Alex Miranda. Had been about time for a #1 starter.

After an off day, we went to Charlotte to play the Falcons. They had started just as badly as the Raccoons, but had gone on a romp since and were at 21-23. They were scouted as mostly average, with a weak bullpen. Well, sounds like my Raccoons. Yet it was Matt Huber who lost the first game. With a fragile 3-1 lead he walked the first two Falcons in the sixth inning, and all went awful from there. Raccoons lost 6-3. Ed Sullivan was activated from the DL for game 2, going to be tested at 3B, platooning with Freddy Lopez, while outfielder David Correa was sent down to AAA. Sullivan splashed right back in, going 3-4 and scoring once in a 6-1 win over the Falcons in game 2. After the Raccoons had soundly out-hit the Falcons in the first two games, they were shut down heavily by Kent Doyle in the rubber game and managed only three hits, losing 1-0.

In other news:
May 13 – Jorge Munoz of the Las Vegas Aces tossed a 1-hitter against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
May 14 – Sacramento’s CF Jorge Chavez suffered a strained lat that would sideline him for about a month. Chavez was batting .403 with two homers over 62 AB’s.
May 15 – CF Bruce Farrell of the Crusaders hit for 20 straight games
May 16 – CF Ryan Childress of the Nashville Blue Sox hit for a natural cycle in a 6-6 day as his team dumped the Pittsburgh Miners on the road 13-2.
May 19 – Farrell’s hot streak ends at 22 games in a 5-1 loss of his Crusaders against the Canadiens.
May 25 – The Salem Wolves lost SS Beau Horn to a shoulder injury for at least four weeks. Horn was batting .356 with 6 HR and 29 RBI, so this was a pretty big blow to our neighbours.

The team was playing about .500 ball at the moment (in fact the last eight games had seen alternating W’s and L’s for the team), which was not too bad. A few areas needed work, through. One was the #4 starter. Ned Ray was just out of place there. Another was the backup catcher. Sanderson was hitting sub-.100, which was unaccetapble even for a backup catcher.

Next up for the Raccoons was one home series against the Bayhawks, followed by a short trip to Oklahoma City and New York going into June.