[Westheim]

Completion of the trunk week and a full week after that coming here.

Raccoons (24-18) vs. Condors (19-21) – May 20-22, 2011

The Condors seemed to be on the way up out of the cellar. After a quarter of the season, they were fifth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +9 run differential. But their rotation was a bit of a weak spot, running a below-average ERA. But they could score any way they wanted, outhomering and outstealing the Raccoons so far. The Raccoons have won the season series against the Condors for six years running, including a 5-4 outcome in 2010.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (3-2, 3.23 ERA) vs. Dave Hogan (0-6, 4.44 ERA)
Gil McDonald (1-5, 3.70 ERA) vs. Colin Sabatino (2-4, 5.34 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. Ted Scott (3-4, 3.91 ERA)

The Condors had an entirely right-handed rotation, so no surprises from that front.

Game 1
TIJ: SS Valles – 3B D. Jones – 1B R. Morris – CF Tanner – C Leach – LF M. Cruz – RF Crum – 2B Dougal – P Hogan
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Morales – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – SS Howell – P Conway

Conway continued to reduce his rations vigorously. After allowing a run in the second inning after allowing a walk and two singles with two outs, Conway really turned up the volume in the third, and issued a leadoff walk to Melvin Valles, drilled Dan Jones quite hard, and then walked Rob Morris. Three on, nobody out, the Condors left the rotting Coon corpse with some good flesh still attached, scoring only one run on Rowan Tanner’s groundout before the ending came to an end. Foster Leach struck out and Manny Cruz rolled out to Howell. After bringing a somewhat merciful end to the third, Conway started the fourth with Johnny Crum getting smashed on the first pitch. The Condors scored their third run in the inning, and Conway’s colossal outing came to an end after that with a 75-minute rain delay chasing him.

The Raccoons’ offensive exploits through six innings were limited to getting Matt Pruitt to third base twice and plating him once. Apart from that, they were invisible. Josh Gibson entered the game in the seventh and also drilled the first batter he faced, Melvin Valles, but a Dan Jones double play relieved that sore spot and the Raccoons kept trailing 3-1 only. They actually shortened the gap in the bottom of the inning. Logan Taylor hit for Gibson and singled, then scored when Tomas Castro rammed a double off the centerfield wall, which put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Merritt flew out to center, but Matt Pruitt plated Castro with a single to right before Morales got drilled. Which didn’t surprise me all that much, to be honest… Bird people, please, it’s not intentional, these guys ARE that inept!

Talking about ineptness. In a 3-3 game through seven I didn’t see the need to remove Rob Howell for defense, but when Nick May hit a leadoff single against Ron Thrasher and Howell got a double play grounder from Foster Leach, he threw it away. The bases would be loaded with one out, when Thrasher struck out Stanley Dougal. Jorge Garcia, the sixth right-hander in the inning, hit for Hogan, drew a walk off Thrasher to shove home a run, and Thrasher also walked Valles. When Angel Casas came in, because we were out of pitchers otherwise, he allowed a bases-clearing triple to Dan Jones and another RBI double to Morris as the Raccoons were swiftly wiped off the field in a 6-run eighth. Except that the Condors suffered their own eighth inning implosion. Adrian Quebell’s leadoff jack cut the score to 9-4, and their pen got rocked as Howell and Taylor got on base, Castro singled in a run, and Merritt doubled in a pair. Pruitt fouled out for the second out – and Angel’s spot was up next, as he had replaced Morales in a double switch. Keith Ayers hit for Casas as the tying run, but grounded out on the first pitch. Out of pitching, Sergio Vega was thrown into the ninth and was stomped for four runs, the last two of which were waved in by Tommy Ward. 13-7 Condors. Castro 4-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Pruitt 2-5, RBI; Nomura 2-5, 2B; Quebell 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Taylor (PH) 2-3; Slayton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

We had 14 hits. They had eight. They drew ten walks, and were plunked four times. This was about the ****tiest pitching performance I’ve seen in a whole good while.

Sergio Vega, his 5.79 ERA, and his 11 walks were designated for assignment after the game. We were in BITTER need of at least one fresh arm in the pen. Luis Beltran was called up to fill the roster spot.

There was no cushion for McDonald, who would throw 100 pitches, no matter what. He had to take one for the team, and better be good at it.

But – the ****ty weather prevailed and the Saturday game was wiped out. We would have a double header on Sunday. We moved Nick Brown into the first game, giving the guy with a better chance to win first selection of the pen, but nobody would leave a game today without throwing 100 pitches at least.

Game 2
TIJ: SS Eroh – 3B D. Jones – 1B May – CF M. Cruz – RF Feldmann – C Leach – LF Tanner – 2B Dougal – P J. Martin
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – 1B Pruitt – LF Morales – 2B Nomura – RF Taylor – C Bowen – SS Palmer – P Brown

Nick Brown struck out five and walked one between the first six batters, but threw at least two balls to all but one of them. That was not a recipe for a long outing, but of course it was always going to get worse. Dougal hit a leadoff single in the third inning. Jaylen “Midnight” Martin (4-1, 2.76 ERA) bunted him over, and he scored on Ron Eroh’s single. From there, Nick Brown walked FOUR straight batters and the Condors took a 3-0 lead, and Brown wouldn’t amount to more than five innings in this one. He struck out nine … and walked six. Pat Slayton put up three shutout innings to no avail, and Luis Beltran somehow wobbled through the ninth inning. The Coons had scratched out a run in the fifth on Quebell’s pinch-hit 2-out RBI single. They faced Jayden Reed in the bottom of the ninth, with Yoshi striking out, except that the ball got away from Leach and Yoshi reached first base on the uncaught third strike, bringing up the tying run at the plate. Logan Taylor grounded to second base, and Nomura was forced out. Keith Ayers hit for Bowen, grounded out on the first pitch, and Palmer whiffed to end the game. 3-1 Condors. Quebell (PH) 1-1, RBI; Slayton 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Game 3
TIJ: SS Eroh – C Leach – LF Crum – 1B R. Morris – CF Tanner – 3B I. Reed – RF Zackery – 2B Dougal – P Sabatino
POR: 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – CF Morales – RF Taylor – SS Palmer – C Owens – 3B M. Gutierrez – P McDonald

While Yoshi Nomura hit a leadoff single in the first only to get picked off first base right away, the Raccoons actually took an actual lead in the bottom of the second inning, with a Travis Owens groundout bringing in a run. Surprisingly, McDonald walked five less than Brown through five innings, and with the seven strikeouts less he put up over five he maintained a shutout pace, which was even better since the Coons didn’t seem willing to add a run in anybody’s lifetime until Quebell hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth. Logan Taylor doubled with two outs and came in on Palmer’s single to center to run the score to 3-0. The Condors put two men on in the seventh with Johnny Crum getting drilled by McDonald, but didn’t score after two pops. Both pitchers tossed eight innings, but McDonald’s pitch count was too advanced to send him into the ninth with a 3-0 lead. Angel Casas got that assignment and retired the Condors on short notice. 3-0 Coons. Nomura 2-4, 2B; Quebell 2-4, HR, RBI; Palmer 2-4, 2B, RBI; McDonald 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-5) and 1-3;

Nick, I hope you’re ashamed…

Raccoons (25-20) @ Bayhawks (22-23) – May 24-26, 2011

The Bayhawks were nursing a +3 run differential with the fourth-best offense in the Continental League, but were held back by their eighth-place pitching. The bullpen was quite a bit in shambles, posting a 4+ ERA. We have won the season series five straight seasons, and beat them 5-4 in 2010.

Projected matchups:
Jong-hoo Umberger (3-2, 2.54 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Moreno (2-1, 4.30 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Julio Munoz (3-4, 3.16 ERA)
Bill Conway (3-2, 3.51 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (5-3, 2.87 ERA)

This is another team without a left-handed pitcher, and they are also without Ron Alston, who’s batting ****ing .409, at this point. He’s expected to come off the DL about Saturday, so we will dodge him.

Game 1
POR: 3B Merritt – 2B Nomura – LF Pruitt – CF Morales – 1B Quebell – RF Ayers – SS Palmer – C Bowen – P Umberger
SFB: CF Holt – SS K. Sato – LF Guerra – 1B R. Vargas – 3B Hashimoto – RF Black – 2B Rodgers – C A. Ramirez – P R. Moreno

The game opened with a pair of singles by Merritt and Nomura, who went to the corners, and progressed with a Pruitt sac fly and a double play dutifully hit into by Jose Morales. Ayers reached on an error in the second inning, but the Coons weren’t going to exploit another team’s unfortunate defensive accident just like that. That would be naughty. Umberger was allowing hard contact from the start, but wasn’t in trouble until Yuji Hashimoto’s leadoff double in the bottom 5th. He represented the tying run of course. Luke Black (.230, 7 HR, 20 RBI) grounded out to Merritt, moving the runner to third with one out. Umberger wiggled out with a strikeout to Ken Rodgers; Antonio Ramirez flew out to center.

When Matt Pruitt hit a leadoff double in the seventh inning, it was the Coons’ first base knock since the first inning. As if that wasn’t bad enough, injury was added to insult when Pruitt jammed his thumb sliding head first into second base and had to be removed for Castro. Morales was walked intentionally, with Quebell bringing in the second run with a double, and Ayers hit a sac fly, 3-0. Umberger maintained a low pitch count into the eighth, but was done in by a pair of leadoff singles by Black and Rodgers. He faced Ramirez, who hit into a double play, but was then removed with young Adam Young, a wannabe slugger and left-hander at that, hitting for Moreno. Ward came in to face him, and allowed an RBI single. Huerta had to enter right on Ward’s heels to strike out Jasper Holt. Angel Casas got the ninth with no more offense being brought forward by Coon City, and while Roberto Vargas reached with a 2-out single he struck out Hashimoto to end the game. 3-1 Furballs. Nomura 2-4; Pruitt 1-2, 2B, RBI; Morales 0-1, 3 BB; Umberger 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-2);

This was the 2,800th win in franchise history.

Matt Pruitt was placed on the disabled list after the game. The 15 days minimum DL time might be enough for him to recover from a thumb contusion. In the meantime, we will call up Pat White, who was batting .337 in St. Petersburg.

Game 2
POR: 3B Merritt – CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Morales – 2B Nomura – RF Taylor – SS Palmer – C Owens – P Baldwin
SFB: CF Holt – SS Ishikawa – 1B R. Vargas – RF Black – 3B Hashimoto – C A. Ramirez – LF Guerra – 2B Rodgers – P Jimenez

Jimenez was perfect the first time through the order, while Baldwin issued a leadoff walk to Luke Black to start the bottom 2nd, but picked him off later and faced the minimum through two, before he faced about everybody in the third. Fernando Guerra singled, Rodgers walked, and after Jimenez’ bunt, a passed ball blamed on Owens scored the first run of the game. The Bayhawks would plate three in the inning, with Baldwin continuing to melt quite badly. To anybody’s considerable surprise, the 3-run deficit was erased by the Coons in the top of the fourth. Merritt walked, Castro singled, and after Quebell avoided hitting into a double play, Jose Morales fired a 3-run homer to right. Baldwin initially seemed to have none of that. Hashimoto singled to lead off the bottom 4th, but was caught in a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with Ramirez to clear the bags again.

But Baldwin was never right in this one, and the Bayhawks battered him for three hard hits and two runs in the bottom 6th. Another run fell out of Josh Gibson’s pants in the bottom of the seventh. Nothing in particular could be gained anymore by the Coons from Ramón Jimenez. Ron Thrasher pitched in the bottom 8th, allowed a Hashimoto single and a Ramirez double to get started, but then retired the side on two pathetic grounders and a roller to short by Bill Miller without anybody scoring. Of course there was hardly a difference between a 3-run deficit and a 5-run deficit for this team. Morales hit a leadoff jack off Valentim Innocentes in the top of the ninth, but that was well not enough. 6-4 Bayhawks. Morales 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

Game 3
POR: CF Castro – 2B Nomura – 1B Quebell – LF Morales – RF Taylor – SS Howell – 3B M. Gutierrez – C Bowen – P Conway
SFB: CF Holt – SS Ishikawa – 1B R. Vargas – 3B Hashimoto – RF Black – 2B Rodgers – LF B. Miller – C A. Ramirez – P J. Munoz

Craig Bowen was surprised as anybody that he was the first base runner of the game after a third inning single. To nobody’s surprise at all, Conway’s bunt was **** and Bowen was forced out, and nobody scored. Conway didn’t allow a hit until Hashimoto hit a 2-out blooper for a single in the fourth, at which point the Raccoons were ahead 1-0 after Morales’ third homer in the series, a solo shot to center in the top of the inning. Top 5th, Gutierrez hit a leadoff single before Bowen finally met a ball in his vain hacking attempts and homered to right, fair by about four feet. With one out, Castro got on, Yoshi grounded to first, but when Vargas tried to get the lead runner, his throw was high and Castro was safe at second. Quebell would add a run with a single, bringing home Castro for a 4-0 score. While Munoz would be chased after a 2-out triple by Yoshi in the seventh that would not lead to a run, Conway was still maintaining a 1-hitter through six. The closest the Bayhawks got to a run through eight was a drive by Bill Miller to deep left, which Morales intercepted. While the Coons added two unearned runs on Vaughn Higgins when Morales launched a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 9th, Conway entered the bottom of the inning with the shutout still in one piece and having thrown only 74 pitches. Lefty Adam Young led off batting for Higgins, and struck a ball hard to right where it fell in for a single. After Jasper Holt grounded out, Sadaharu Ishikawa singled, putting runners on the corners for Roberto Vargas, who bounced back to the pitcher, and Conway started a 1-4-3 shutout-sealer. 6-0 Furballs! Morales 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Bowen 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Conway 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-2);

Bill Conway threw only 88 pitches in his first career complete game and shutout. 88! Nick Brown took more than that through five innings his last time out… AND walked half a dozen.

Raccoons (27-21) @ Knights (25-21) – May 27-29, 2011

The Knights were in the top 4 in runs scored and runs allowed in the Continental League, with a +17 run differential. Their rotation ranked 7th, but their bullpen was 2nd. Stunningly, they ranked behind the Raccoons in both home runs and stolen bases. They ranked last in the CL in the latter category, with 10 sacks claimed. The Coons were 11th, with a whopping 11.

Projected matchups:
Gil McDonald (2-5, 3.10 ERA) vs. Johnny Krom (3-4, 2.59 ERA)
Nick Brown (5-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Kurt Doyle (3-2, 4.60 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (4-2, 2.38 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (5-2, 2.70 ERA)

Keith Ayers is happy: left-handers are bookending this series in Atlanta, and he will get two starts in rightfield.

Game 1
POR: 3B Merritt – CF Castro – RF Ayers – LF Morales – 1B Quebell – 2B Palmer – C Owens – SS Howell – P McDonald
ATL: CF Kelsey – SS J. Hernandez – LF G. Munoz – RF J. Garcia – 1B Echevarria – 3B Kester – 2B Hilderbrand – C J. Clark – P Krom

A Jamie Kester error in the first inning allowed Ayers to stay out of a double play with Merritt aboard, and once Morales singled to right, the bases were loaded for Quebell, who, along with Owens, would draw a bases-loaded walk each to give McDonald a 2-0 lead. The Coons added two more in the second off Krom, who scuffled with his control and also allowed frequent singles. McDonald struck out four in the first two innings before allowing a leadoff double to T.J. Hilderbrand in the bottom 3rd with led to a run on Johnny Krom’s sac fly. That would be the last success for Krom in the game. Merritt and Castro reached base with one out in the fourth, and Keith Ayers cranked a 3-run homer to chase him from the game with the score at 7-1. The Knights would not get a second hit off McDonald until the seventh, but once Gonzalo Munoz had hit that leadoff single, things unraveled quickly. Jorge Garcia walked, and while Ramón Echevarria flew out to left, Jaime Kester chased McDonald with an RBI double. Hilderbrand hit a sac fly off Huerta to get the Knights to 7-3, but Jason Clark then grounded out. While the Coons hadn’t done much at all in the middle innings, and left Jon Merritt in scoring position in the eighth, Pat Slayton held the fort in the bottom of the inning. When Luis Beltran entered the bottom 9th with a 4-run lead, I had the musket ready and loaded. He got two outs before he walked Echevarria, but Merritt would retire Kester with a nifty defensive play to end the game. 7-3 Raccoons! Merritt 3-4, BB; Ayers 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Morales 2-4, RBI;

Game 2
POR: CF Castro – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Morales – RF Taylor – SS Palmer – 2B Nomura – C Bowen – P Brown
ATL: SS J. Hernandez – C J. Clark – RF J. Garcia – 1B Echevarria – CF Keller – 3B Kester – LF Kelsey – 2B Hilderbrand – P Doyle

Castro started the game with a stand-up triple. Quebell scored him with a single, and although the Coons got two more singles in the inning, they left the bases loaded once Yoshi Nomura struck out. The following inning, Brownie would help his own cause with a 1-out double and scored on Castro’s hard single to right, 2-0 Raccoons in the second. The Critters added another run in the third, and Brownie was about to get through three innings with only a double allowed until he made contact with Hernandez with a 1-2 pitch. Jason Clark would walk before Garcia struck out, adding 10 unnecessary pitches to the third inning, and it was about to get worse again. Echevarria led off the fourth with a double and scored on Jaime Kester’s single. Brown would fool around with the order, and didn’t even get Doyle out with two outs. The pitcher singled, and with the bases loaded Merritt would make a nifty grab on Hernandez’ grounder and sling it to first in time to end the inning with the score still at 3-1. He would again not see the sixth inning, needing 110 pitches for five messy innings, but at least the Knights didn’t overwhelm him outright and were held to one run. Left-hander John Kelsey would homer off Tommy Ward in the sixth to get to within a run, though, 3-2.

The Coons had something left in the bats, though. Quebell hit a double in the top 7th, and Morales was intentionally walked. Taylor struck out for the second out, but Palmer and Nomura would each drive in single runs with base hits. Bowen would strike out to keep runners in scoring position, and the 5-2 lead was by no stretch of the imagination safe. Thrasher walked a pair in the bottom 7th without actually imploding, and the Coons scratched out an extra run in the eighth. Merritt had walked with one out, and Quebell ran a full count with two down before doubling to right. With Merritt in motion, he scored quite easily, 6-2, and they still were about to blow up. Merritt made a throwing error to start the bottom 8th, and Huerta would allow singles to Munoz, Clark, and Garcia, loading the bases with one out, and those were the tying runs. Angel Casas was rushed into the game in this dire moment and turned the Knights down with strikeouts to Ramón Echevarria and Tommy Keller. Angel would actually produce the final crisis of the game himself. Two outs in the bottom 9th, and nobody on, he allowed a single to T.J. Hilderbrand before Freddie Jones wrestled a full count walk from him. But Julio Hernandez had no chance: he struck out, and the win was ours. 6-3 Brownies. Castro 3-5, 3B, RBI; Quebell 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Palmer 3-5, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Casas 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, SV (16);

Shaky, shaky…

Game 3
POR: 3B Merritt – LF Castro – RF Ayers – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 2B Nomura – C Bowen – CF White – P Umberger
ATL: CF Kelsey – SS J. Hernandez – RF J. Garcia – 1B Echevarria – 3B Kester – 2B Hilderbrand – LF Keller – C Delgado – P D. Butler

Merritt doubled, Ayers singled, Quebell hit into a double play (…), but at least the first run was in in the first inning. Jong-hoo showcased ill control from the get-go, but the Knights couldn’t wrestle a hit from him to aid them with their three walks through four innings. Little happened until the fifth, in which Umberger hit a 2-out double with nobody on. Merritt singled, bringing up Castro, who struck out to waste his third RISP opportunity in the game. Bottom 5th, Umberger issued yet another walk to Keller, and with two outs an infield single jabbed by John Kelsey blew whatever no-hit bid that would have been with over 80 pitches through less than five innings. The Knights didn’t score, though, when Hernandez flew out to Keith Ayers to end the inning. He was almost at 100 pitches through six (but the bid had been lost anyway), then had Bowen on first with one out in the top 7th. His bunt was thoroughly embarrassing, with Butler leisurely throwing out Bowen at second base, but Merritt then hit a long single to move even the lead-footed Umberger to third base. That had Castro up with a runner in scoring position for the FOURTH time in the game, and the score was still only 1-0. While he met the ball this time and lined to center, Kelsey was there. Through eight innings, the Coons had TEN hits for ONE run. Umberger was replaced to start the bottom 8th with Ron Thrasher facing left-handed pinch-hitter Gonzalo Munoz. Thrasher got a grounder to Yoshi, then struck out Kelsey. Then I longed for one measly out from Josh Gibson, to get the soft-hitting Hernandez, who dutifully grounded out to third base.

In the top 9th, Bowen and White made quick outs against Patrick Mercier before Jose Morales hit for Gibson and dingered. FINALLY! INSURANCE!! The Coons got Merritt on with a single and Owens, batting for Castro, by getting nicked, but Ayers grounded out to first to keep them on. Angel Casas had thrown 33 pitches the day before, but I found this one quite important and didn’t trust either Ward or Beltran with the lefty Garcia and two switch-hitters. Angel struck out Garcia, Echevarria flew into a deep out with Pat White, and Jamie Kester grounded out to Yoshi to seal the sweep. 2-0 Raccoons! Merritt 4-5, 2B; Ayers 2-5, RBI; Palmer 2-4; Morales (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Umberger 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (5-2);

That’s a 4-game winning streak now, and it comes at a very good time.

In other news

May 21 – IND RF/1B Juan Ortíz (.260, 8 HR, 25 RBI) will miss about three to four weeks with a herniated disc.
May 22 – BOS 2B Jesus Ramirez (.239, 3 HR, 10 RBI) has broken his tibia and will be out for at least six weeks.
May 22 – Indy’s SP Román Escobedo (3-3, 4.50 ERA) has a fractured coracoid bone in his shoulder and is out for the season.
May 25 – The injury report grows longer: PIT SP Barney Manning (2-4, 6.70 ERA) hadn’t felt quite right all season and now will get bone chips removed from his elbow, ending his season.
May 26 – BOS OF Javier Gusmán (.217, 4 HR, 19 RBI) might miss up to three months with a torn meniscus.
May 27 – VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.372, 7 HR, 23 RBI) returns to the DL after having suffered a hamstring strain. He might be out for four weeks.
May 27 – SFB SS/2B Kunimatsu Sato (.229, 0 HR, 18 RBI) will miss a month with elbow tendinitis.
May 29 – Still more injuries; a strained hammy will put PIT 1B Steve Butler (.351, 7 HR, 23 RBI) out of action until early July.

Complaints and stuff

Adrian Quebell was the CL Player of the Week for the Titans/Condors series. He went .480 (12-25) with 2 HR and 5 RBI to nab the award. The next week’s honors went to “Dingus” Morales then, who finally made his name sound not quite as hollow, batting .444 (8-18) with 4 HR and 9 RBI. And he gets walked intentionally quite a lot…

The team can’t break out of its offensive rut. While they scored 4.33 R/G in these three series, they still bow out of their responsibility without doing anything that you can touch with a stick all too often. Like the last game in Atlanta: 12 hits, 2 runs. Castro had a particularly dark day. Merritt was on four times, and scored one, and that was not Castro’s merit either.

But the offense was indeed much improved in May, compared to April. However, could it have actually become worse? Nah.

Batters by seasons with the Raccoons:
17 – Daniel Hall
16 – Neil Reece
11 – Mark Dawson, Marvin Ingall
10 – Conceicao Guerin, Ben O’Morrissey, Daniel Sharp, David Vinson
9 – Clyde Brady, Matt Higgins, Tetsu Osanai

On average, I have been unhappy with our batters more often than with our pitchers, it seems, which fits my actual memory… Yoshi Nomura has been here for eight years right now, outlasting anybody else on the roster. Quebell has seven seasons of duty, Castro and Pruitt have six.

AA SP Kevin Denton (4-2, 3.17 ERA) can be struck off the prospect list for good. He’s out for the year with a torn rotator cuff, and that’s not his first major injury. Jason Seeley has also gone to the DL with a sore wrist, although we think right now that amputation is not necessary. Of course there is always the chance for a fatal infection with our kits…

We get the rotting Falcons to start a 2-week homestand on Tuesday, but after that we will get the Crusaders in for three, a crucial weekend set. The second week of the homestand will have us play both arrow-lobbing teams.