[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-41) @ Canadiens (46-34) – July 1-4, 2013

The boys – whatever was left of them – were sent off to Canada to compete with the smelling Elks, which could hardly go well. The Elks had fallen back to third place in the North, but they had eight free wins coming up in the next 11 games. Holding the third place in both runs scored and runs allowed, the Canadiens had a solid team throughout, and they were also already 2-1 against Portland this season.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (2-5, 3.36 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (11-4, 3.16 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-7, 4.28 ERA) vs. Bill King (5-5, 5.63 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-5, 4.68 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (2-4, 4.06 ERA)
Jack Berry (6-6, 5.06 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (8-4, 3.52 ERA)

Sjogren will be the first left-hander we’ll see in a while. The Elks had only one injury, outfielder Don Cameron, who had batted .352 and still hadn’t led his own team, as Ray Gilbert, the pest of pests, was batting .362 with ten homers, but had missed a few weeks of games.

Game 1
POR: CF Sambrano – 2B Palmer – LF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Rodgers – SS Whitehouse – P Conway
VAN: RF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – CF Holland – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – 2B C. Aguilar – C Hurtado – P Fujita

To the home crowd’s disbelief, Juichi Fujita not only allowed a leadoff single to Sandy Sambrano, but also issued three walks in the first innings to concede two runs on a bases-loaded walk to Bednarski and a groundout by Quebell, then hit Ken Rodgers, but Whitehouse struck out to keep it at 2-0. Something had been off with Fujita all season, as he came into the game with less strikeouts than Bill Conway. Then there was also the special adventure the Canadiens embarked on by playing Daniel Sharp – always an average third baseman at best – at short as he was entering really old age. It came to bite them in the third inning. D-Alex had opened with a double, and then Fujita – totally out of whack – smacked Bednarski. Quebell grounded to César Aguilar, perfect double play ball, but Sharp dropped the service from Aguilar and the Elks got nobody, while the Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out. And then – Rodgers popped to Sharp at short, no accident this time, and Whitehouse lobbed softly out to Ross Holland in shallow center. CONWAY came through, though, and singled to left center, plating two to run the score to 4-0.

However, it was still CONWAY pitching, too. Fujita (!) hit a single to get the Elks going in the bottom 4th, and Kurt Evans and Daniel Sharp added two more singles to score a run before Ray Gilbert hit into an inning-ending double play. At least Fujita’s shenanigans were ended forcefully in the fourth inning: Adrian Quebell whacked a 2-out, 3-run homer and after a walk to Rodgers, Fujita was removed from the game. Michael Palmer homered off Lou Cannon in the fifth to get the score to 8-1, but Cannon became the second Vancouver pitcher to single off Conway in the bottom of the inning. Conway got his revenge, though, leading off the top 7th with a double off Cannon. Sambrano got on, and Dylan Alexander romped a 3-run homer of his own to put the Raccoons into double digits. Bill Conway not only had a high scoring effort behind himself, but also pitched for long enough to come to the plate five times and to pitch into the ninth inning. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get through and loaded the bases with a single and two walks. George Youngblood had ONE job to do with two outs, and get Kurt Evans. Instead, he balked, then walked Evans and TWO more batters before the game finally ended. 12-4 Critters. Sambrano 3-5, BB, 2B; Palmer 2-5, BB, RBI; D. Alexander 3-6, HR, 3 RBI; Quebell 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Rodgers 1-2, 2 BB; Conway 8.2 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (3-5) and 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

Youngblood! YOUNGBLOOD!! HAAARGGHH!! I assume my furious screams could be heard in Canada all the way from Portland…

Game 2
POR: 2B Sambrano – SS Palmer – LF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Rodgers – CF Seeley – P Santos
VAN: RF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – CF Holland – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – 2B C. Aguilar – C Baca – P B. King

Santos didn’t allow a hit in the first three innings, but Evans opened the fourth with a double to right. Sharp struck out, and then Santos totally by accident hit Gilbert, and this was totally unrelated to Bednarski getting hit again in the second inning. Ross Holland took revenge in his way, hit a single to center that scored Evans, and that was the first run in the game. The Coons would load the bases in their next attempt with a leadoff single by Quebell, walks drawn by Rodgers and Sambrano, but Palmer flew out to fairly deep rightfield to leave everybody on base. Bases loaded again in the sixth as D-Alex walked and Bednarski and Quebell both singled. Rodgers with one out stayed out of the double play by a whisker’s width when he grounded to Sharp, bringing in the tying run before Seeley was another obvious and sad third out. Santos needed every bit of the eight innings of 1-run ball he pitched in this game to get a chance at an elusive win. The Coons had Rodgers and Seeley on base in the ninth with one out. Bowen batted for Santos, but flew out to left, but Sambrano came through with a bloop single that plated Rodgers with the go-ahead run. Palmer drove in Seeley with a single, before John Alexander completely exploded closer Pedro Alvarado with a booming 3-run homer! Five runs with two outs in the ninth, with the Coons having their own stutterer in the bottom of the inning. Vega put two on while getting two outs, with lefty Enrique Garcia getting to face Sugano. The count ran full before Garcia struck out on a 3-2 right down the middle, glaring in disbelief. 6-1 Coons. Palmer 2-5, RBI; J. Alexander 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Quebell 2-4; Santos 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-7);

Game 3
POR: 1B Sambrano – 2B Palmer – LF J. Alexander – RF Bednarski – C Bowen – SS Whitehouse – CF Seeley – 3B Canning – P Baldwin
VAN: CF Holland – LF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – 2B Madison – 3B Suzuki – SS Sharp – RF Medina – C Hurtado – P Sjogren

Sjogren issued two walks and three wild pitches in the third inning, but the Raccoons still only scored one run, Baldwin crossing the plate after drawing a leadoff walk. Baldwin had his own issues, pitching with heavy traffic and stranding pairs in the first two innings. Gilbert hit a single in the third, but was left on, and Pedro Hurtado rolled into a double play to end the fourth and keep the Elks off the board. But while the Raccoons got only one hit off Sjogren in the first five innings, the Elks kept swinging away, with the pest of pests, Ray Gilbert, driving in Holland, another pest, with a 2-out single in the bottom 5th, tying the score. Steve Madison and Mitsuhide Suzuki both singled to loed them up, but Sharpie struck out to leave them on.

The Coons would get their own chance with the sacks full in the sixth. Bednarski hit a 1-out double, Bowen walked, and Whitehouse singled to center. Unfortunately that brought up Seeley – nah! Quebell pinch-hit for him, right into a double play, and on one pitch. Baldwin went six and a third for a no-decision before Gibson took over for the right-handed heart of the Elks’ order, but surrendered the Elks’ winning run in the eighth on a Juan Medina double. The Coons, hapless the entire game, went down in order against Alvarado this time. 2-1 Canadiens. Sambrano 2-4;

Anybody remember Matt Pruitt? Deflated anyway, Pruitt had been hurt on Saturday, and Ivan the Druid could finally be bothered to check him out. Turns out Matt had an oblique strain and was going to miss most, perhaps all of what was left in July. So! Another disabled list dweller for a battered team!

In some kind of triangle movement, Pruitt thus went on the DL, Yoshi Nomura went to the Alley Cats for rehab, and Keith Ayers got a promotion to the Raccoons, batting .244/.338/.447 with 14 homers in AAA.

Game 4
POR: SS Palmer – CF Seeley – LF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Rodgers – 2B Bergquist – P Berry
VAN: RF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – 2B C. Aguilar – CF Medina – C Hurtado – P R. Taylor

Juan Medina was on second with two outs in the bottom 2nd when Pedro Hurtado poked out, except that Dylan Alexander couldn’t come up with the pitch and it hit off his ankle and rolled far enough away that the hurting Alexander could not make a play on Hurtado who dashed to first base as quickly as his clubfeet allowed him to. Catchers moving – a sight to behold! Berry then completed the misery by conceding an RBI single to the pitcher Rod Taylor, the first run of the game. Berry did little remarkable in the game except serving up the lead to Taylor and killing two innings for the Raccoons with his own stick before putting Hurtado on third base in the bottom of the fifth and then waving for the trainer to relieve him from his misery. Some kind of injury was apparently in play here, and who would even fake surprise at another Raccoon keeling over?

Constantino inherited runner on third, two outs, and struck out Sharpie (batting .250-ish with five homers now) to end the inning and close the book on Berry. Sharp’s limited defense at short then cost the Elks their 1-0 lead when he couldn’t get to an entirely gettable Bednarski grounder that escaped into left for a 2-out RBI single. Quebell and Rodgers both singled after that, with Bednarski crossing home to put the Coons on top, and then Taylor walked the easily victimizable Bergquist on four pitches. Sandy batted for Constantino – and struck out. Sergio Vega then took over to pitch long relief, shutting the Elks down for three innings, facing only ten batters, twice among them Ray Gilbert. Taylor went eight without regaining the lead, and it was on Hoshi to seal a series win. Suzuki hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth, and Watanabe spent 26 pitches on three batters, but then Suzuki was still on second base. Steve Madison hit for Medina with two outs, popped up the first pitch and Palmer reeled it in to end the game. 2-1 Critters. J. Alexander 2-3, BB; Rodgers 4-4, RBI; Vega 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Jack Berry was diagnosed with a tender elbow and that would need a whole lot of rest and a whole lot of vomit-inducing weed extracts smeared onto the elbow by Ivan the Druid. He was out for about two months.

The Raccoons continued to spin their paws, but while Berry was DL’ed, Pat Slayton was added to the pen for at least the next few days. We will only need a fifth starter again on the 15th.

Raccoons (43-42) @ Titans (52-35) – July 5-7, 2013

The series win in Vancouver would allow the Coons to post their 3,000th regular season win before the All Star break. Slightly in the way, though, were the Titans. They had the best concept of preventing runs, allowing less than 3.8 per game, while scoring the fourth-most in the Continental League. Their rotation and their pen both ranked second in terms of ERA in the CL, and they held a 5-4 advantage over the Raccoons so far.

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (5-5, 4.71 ERA) vs. Ian Rutter (6-5, 3.82 ERA)
Bill Conway (3-5, 3.43 ERA) vs. Melvin Andrade (5-8, 5.12 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-7, 4.04 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (8-2, 3.33 ERA)

Three more right-handers. Can’t say I’m mad.

Game 1
POR: CF Sambrano – SS Palmer – LF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Canning – 2B Bergquist – P Hood
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 3B A. Gomez – 1B Butler – RF R. Garcia – C Suda – LF Hayashi – 2B Moultrie – CF R. Pena – P Rutter

Offense was non-existent early on, but patrons were awoken in the fourth inning by Ricardo Garcia’s LOUD shot to left, that was outta there right off the bat and put the Titans ahead, 1-0. Garcia hammered a double his next time up in the sixth, quickly followed by a 2-run homer by “Quasimodo” Suda bending around the inside of the left foul pole. The Raccoons had had a Bednarski single in the second inning, and that was their last baserunner against Ian Rutter, who retired 20 straight Raccoons after that. It still didn’t win him a shutout, with Iemitsu Rin being sent out to close the 3-0 game, which he did on seven pitches. 3-0 Titans.

Game 2
POR: LF Sambrano – 2B Palmer – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Rodgers – SS Canning – CF Seeley – P Conway
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF R. Pena – RF R. Garcia – C Suda – 2B J. Ramirez – LF J. Gusmán – 1B Hayashi – 3B Butler – P Andrade

The Raccoons scored two in the second when Bednarski and Quebell went into scoring position to start the inning after a single and double, respectively. Rodgers brought home a run on a groundout, while Canning singled to plate Quebell. The Raccoons continued to get a few runners, but couldn’t get a long fly past any outfielder and stranded everybody in the following innings. Conway allowed one hit while whiffing four the first time through the Titans’ lineup, but they started to hit the ball a bit harder the second time through, still not scoring however. He then issued walks to Mike Rivera and Roberto Pena in the bottom 6th, but Rivera was caught stealing before Pena got on and the inning still yielded nothing for the Titans, but they didn’t have to wait for much longer. Javier Gusmán and Toki Hayashi hit back-to-back doubles with one out in the bottom 7th, 2-1, and while Butler struck out, Andrade grounded to short, where Canning, the ****ing piece of ****, colossally botched the easiest play and put runners on the corners.

That was it for Conway. Sugano was assigned to the left-handed Rivera, but the Titans sent Aurelio Gomez to bat instead. Sugano remained in against the .238 batter, who hit a double on a 2-2 pitch, and everything went up in flames. Hayashi scored anyway, and Andrade was sent around third, but was thrown out by Sambrano by a good bit, ending the inning with a 2-2 tie. But somehow it seemed like Andrade was shaken up now. The Raccoons blew him up in the top of the eighth, along with Tommy Wooldridge who came to his supposed relief. Okay, stupid luck was also a thing. The Raccoons hit THREE run-scoring infield singles in the inning. THREE. Canning, Sandy, and Palmer all grounded into the general vicinity of an infielder and they were unable to make any play despite a tardy runner on third base. With two outs, the bases loaded, and in a 1-2 count D-Alex would then crash a bases-clearing double off Wooldridge, ending his night in tears, before Scott Hood replaced him and drilled Bednarski with an 0-2 pitch, and Bednarski went down like a rock, immediately adding the taste of blood in the mouth to a 7-run outburst. Youngblood drilled Suda in the bottom 8th and everybody knew what was going on. That was not the last injury suffered by the Coons in this game, by the way, as Sergio Vega was supposed to pitch in the ninth, but only got one out before showing a blister to the Druid. 9-2 Bloody Coons. Sambrano 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; D. Alexander 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Bednarski 2-4; J. Alexander (PH) 1-1; Conway 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Walt “Stupid ****” Canning. Can we get any takers shopping him? Nah. Not one highly drunk GM among 23 in the league.

Vega was DTD and unavailable for the rubber game, but diagnosing the blister took all of the Druid’s mental capacity and Bednarski went untended to on his stretcher.

D-Alex was nominated as the Raccoons’ lone All Star and got Sunday off to get proper rest over the break.

Game 3
POR: 2B Sambrano – SS Palmer – LF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – 3B Rodgers – CF Seeley – RF Ayers – P Santos
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF R. Pena – RF R. Garcia – 2B J. Ramirez – LF J. Gusmán – 1B Hayashi – C Dunn – 3B Butler – P Tobitt

Patterns! The Titans also had their backup catcher in the game, and Melvin Dunn promptly homered off Santos in the second to put the Titans 1-0 ahead. By the fifth, the Raccoons led, 2-1, both runs scored by Sambrano on 2-out singles, once by Palmer in the third, and once by J-Alex in the fifth. Also, Craig Bowen had been up with two outs and two on three times by then, and had left six men on with two hacks and a pop against him. More things we already knew: Keith Ayers remains a nightmare on the bases, hitting a 2-out double in the sixth only to get thrown out stretching it for a triple.

Santos struck out the side in the fifth (7-8-9) to reach 100 K for the year. He got on with a bloop hit in the seventh inning, and the many, many singles had worn out Tobitt, who was replaced by Dusty Balzer. The bases eventually became loaded, and with two outs, here came Craig Bowen. Oh for ****’s sake… He flew out to left on the first pitch. Top 8th, Ayers hit another 2-out double. STOP! STOP YOU IDIOT!!! Good, he stopped. D-Alex batted for Santos… and flew out to left. Sambrano was caught stealing in the ninth (which had happened to him twice on Saturday), and with two outs in the bottom 9th Jesus Ramirez hit a first pitch from Watanabe to deep, deeeeep left, is it gonna tie – no. John Alexander made the catch right against the wall. 2-1 Coons. Sambrano 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Palmer 2-5, RBI; J. Alexander 2-5, RBI; Quebell 1-2, 2 BB; Ayers 2-4, 2 2B; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (4-7);

All Star Game

The top 3 teams in the CL North loaded the All Star roster, with six Titans, five Elks, and four Crusaders on the team. The Coons’ lone representative was Dylan Alexander, who had an RBI single after replacing Eduardo Durango halfway through. The Federal League was up by six after six, but the Cincy duo of Juan Garcia and Ian Johnson was torn to shreds by the CL in the seventh when they threw up an 8-spot to win the game, 10-8. Gil Rockwell hit a slam and was named MVP.

With the All Star game out of the way, the Raccoons got SOME of their starters back. Yoshi Nomura and Ricardo Carmona both returned to the roster, with Jason Bergquist (.200) and Jason Seeley (.147) being sent back to AAA. We also eventually got a report on Mike Bednarski, who had a bad bruise on his knee (presumably from falling onto it after being plunked into what he thought was his empty skull), and would be out for another week at least. With that, we were already pretty close to 15 days anyway… so he was put on the DL. Pat White was still alive, 30 years old now, and had spent the entire last season in St. Petersburg. This year, he was batting .305/.370/.437 against the poor kids and took the open roster spot. To put him on the 40-man roster, Daniel Dickerson was transferred to the 60-day DL.

Raccoons (45-43) vs. Canadiens (49-38) – July 11-14, 2013

Ugh! Elks! Don’t open the windows!

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (3-5, 3.30 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (11-5, 3.44 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-7, 3.87 ERA) vs. Bill King (6-5, 5.49 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-5, 4.47 ERA) vs. Jimmy Sjogren (3-4, 3.61 ERA)
Rich Hood (5-6, 4.63 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (8-5, 3.43 ERA)

We won’t have Monday off, but rather Thursday. We might use a long man for a spot start on Monday, which buys us another week to find some warm body for the fifth slot. Slayton and Vega both come to mind.

On July 9 the Canadiens picked up OF Robbie Luxton (.176, 5 HR, 17 RBI) from the Wolves, along with cash, while parting with a dubious AAA infielder.

Game 1
VAN: RF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – CF Luxton – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – 2B C. Aguilar – C Hurtado – P Fujita
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Rodgers – P Conway

The Coons jumped on Fujita quickly, with Sambrano and Yoshi (YOSHIIIII!!!) hitting singles in the first, and advanced into scoring position on Enrique Garcia’s error, and both scored on D-Alex’ 2-out double to deep right. After that early 2-spot Fujita also encountered rotten luck. In the bottom 2nd, Rodgers reached on an uncaught third strike, before Conway walked on a ridiculous 3-2 call. Carmona grounded to short, but Sharpie only got the out at second, and the Coons got a 2-out bloop single from Sandy to plate Rodgers and go up 3-0. Next, Fujita dinked the most terrible bunt, which was converted into a double play by Conway, third-and-first (!), leaving the Elks with Pedro Hurtado at second base, who ended up stranded. Quebell would homer off Fujita in the third, making it 4-0, before the Elks’ co-ace finally settled in and allowed nothing in the middle innings, with the Coons leaving the bags full in the sixth. Conway was gone after six after surrendering a 2-spot in an arduous top of the sixth, but the Raccoons were still up 4-2, though that changed in the eighth. Josh Gibson allowed a single to Sharpie before being taken the hell deep by the pest of pests, Ray Gilbert. Fujita was just at 100 pitches through eight and reappeared for the ninth, where Canning, having entered in a double switch, walked with one out before Carmona doubled to right. Canning, the winning run, went to third base, with Sandy and Yoshi getting chances. Actually, Sandy didn’t get one, being walked intentionally, and Yoshi grounded to César Aguilar, who threw home to kill off Canning. J-Alex came up, lined to right, and Kurt Evans couldn’t get there. Walkoff single! 5-4 Raccoons! Nomura 2-5; J. Alexander 2-5, RBI; Quebell 2-4, HR, RBI;

We might not be going anywhere this year, but ruining the Elks’ chances is wonderful indeed.

Game 2
VAN: RF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – CF Luxton – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – 2B C. Aguilar – C Hurtado – P A. Rios
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Rodgers – P Santos

Our assessment of the Elks’ rotation for the set was incorrect, as Alfredo Rios (6-7, 3.35 ERA) was getting the ball for this game.

Santos walked leadoff man Kurt Evans and after a passed ball by D-Alex the pest Gilbert almost hit one out again, but Sandy caught it on the track. Oh well, shrugged Robbie Luxton and peppered a 2-piece himself. The Raccoons had a leadoff double for D-Alex in the bottom 2nd, and he scored on a sac fly before Rodgers’ double play ended the inning. Bottom 3rd, Santos led off with a single and batters continued to flock onto base. D-Alex batted with the bases loaded in a tied game and cracked another double to center, this one emptying the bags and giving the Raccoons a 5-2 lead. So, Rios was not any good, but neither was Santos. He plated a run with a wild pitch in the fourth inning and loaded the bases in the fifth with a hit, a walk, and a hit batter (sorry, Sharpie! He sucks…) and that was with Gilbert coming up. Gilbert was the go-ahead run and would face Gibson (…), who got off easy with a deep sac fly by Gilbert, 6-4, but then surrendered a triple to Luxton and a double to Suzuki to go onto the hook and get clubbed with spiked bats in the dugout following his removal. The general meltdown continued with Youngblood, who conceded Suzuki’s run, too, and the Elks threw up five to take an 8-6 lead. The worst pitching staff in many years was hard at work again…

The Raccoons did have a comeback on the plate however by the seventh inning. Yoshi hit a leadoff single and J-Alex doubled off Jason Long to put the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out. Pat Treglown replaced Long, a right-hander with a 13.5 K/BB and 1.52 ERA. The ****ty Raccoons were held to Dylan Alexander’s run-scoring groundout, though, with Quebell’s drive to left intercepted by Garcia in mid-flight. Pat Slayton gave the worthless single run right back in the top 8th. Bottom of the inning, Pat White hit a pinch-hit single. Aurelio Garcia, a southpaw, came out to face the many, many left-handers to come, but the first one, Carmona, singled to center, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and bringing the go-ahead run back up. Even though Garcia was about to blow up, walked both Sandy and Yoshi, 9-8, the Alexander failed and made pathetic outs to end the inning with three men left on base. The bottom of the order had no chance in the ninth against Pedro Alvarado. 9-8 Canadiens. Sambrano 2-4, BB, RBI; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; D. Alexander 3-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI; White (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
VAN: CF K. Evans – C Hurtado – 1B Gilbert – 2B Madison – 3B Suzuki – SS Irvin – LF Luxton – RF Southcott – P B. King
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF J. Alexander – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Rodgers – P Baldwin

The Coons had Carmona and Sambrano on the corners with nobody out in the bottom of the first and ****ed themselves out of the inning on three consecutive pops over the infield. Carmona would be on third once again with one out in the fifth, and then wasn’t scored either. The game was then still scoreless, with only Steve Madison’s leadoff single in the second inning charged against Baldwin. Madison would also have the Stinkers’ second hit of the day, another single with one out in the seventh that moved Gilbert, who had walked, to second base. Mitsuhide Suzuki dissolved the inning in a double play in what was an orgy of offensive offensiveness. When the first run finally came onto the board, it was of course a head-scratcher. Baldwin had hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, and had moved up on consecutive groundouts. Nomura nursed an oh-fer with a ton of LOB’s, and lined to Jeremiah Irvin, who misplayed the liner and had it bounce off the heel of his glove for an error. Baldwin scored, 1-0 Coons. John Alexander reached on an infield single, but when Ayers pinch-hit for Dylan Alexander against the lefty Long, he struck out. Baldwin was virtually unchallenged through eight with the Elks running more errors than hits, and started the ninth despite the tiniest of leads (but it wasn’t like we had a reliable closer, anyway…). Sharpie pinch-hit to start the inning, and singled sharply into center. A bunt moved him to second before Baldwin struck out Hurtado. Oh ****, Gilbert up. Intentional walk! That brought up Madison, and also Watanabe to face him. Strikeout – ballgame. 1-0 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4; Baldwin 8.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (5-5) and 1-3;

Game 4
VAN: CF K. Evans – SS Sharp – 1B Gilbert – 2B Madison – 3B Suzuki – LF E. Garcia – C Hurtado – RF Luxton – P R. Taylor
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Canning – C Bowen – P Hood

Rich Hood was in a heap of trouble right out of the gate, failing to retire any of the first four batters. Sambrano threw out Kurt Evans at home, however, and the Elks left the bases loaded after Suzuki fouled out and Garcia grounded out to Canning. And this was not the only safety net that Sandy had to throw the horrible Hood in this game. After J-Alex and Kurt Evans had exchanged solo homers for a 1-1 score, Hood loaded the bases in the fourth inning with walks to Pedro Hurtado and Robbie Luxton before also drilling Rod Taylor. With one out, Evans lifted a fly to left, caught by Sambrano, who then proceeded to gun down Hurtado at home to end the inning. Hood wouldn’t stop being ****, however, issued leadoff walks to Sharp and Gilbert in the fifth and conceded one run on a single while other defensive heroics limited the damage. Hood was hit for in the bottom 5th (success could not be gained, though), and the pen took over the 2-1 deficit.

The lineup continued to be unproductive, but a bout of wildness on Taylor’s part, walking Bowen inexplicably, led to two on and nobody out in the bottom 7th for the Furballs. Whitehouse popped out to second, bringing up Ricardo Carmona with one out. Carmona was still looking to extend a 13-game hitting streak, and cracked the first pitch by Taylor to right, and PAST a diving Gilbert! All the way to the wall, and then misplayed by Luxton, Canning scored the tying run, Bowen scored the go-ahead run, and Carmona parked casually on third base with a 2-run triple. The third base coach enthusiastically hugged Carmona and I planned to do the same after the game. Sandy brought him in on a sac fly to extend the newly-won lead to 4-2. Too bad that Constantino put the first two batters in the eighth on base with a walk and a single, and they moved up on Hurtado’s grounder to third, which Canning played but then shook his arm long enough to gain attention. He was eventually replaced with Rodgers, while Sugano took over the unsightly compliment of runners, conceded the lead run on Jeremiah Irvin’s groundout, but got Clint Southcott to pop out to Nomura to end the inning with the Coons still up 4-3, but that lead was blown by Watanabe in the ninth. Sharp singled, the ****head Gilbert doubled, and Madison’s groundout produced the tying run. The game went to extras, where Watanabe had to pitch the 10th for punishment, and then Slayton threw 53 pitches over four scoreless without the faintest offense by the Coons. Bottom 14th, Palmer led off with a single off Treglown. Rodgers bunted to the left side, where Suzuki was slow and Sharp had a bad angle and spiked the throw to first so that Gilbert had no chance to come up with it, but at least managed to knock it down and keep it around to avoid having the losing run (for the smelling Elks) on third base with nobody out. Yet, Bowen was batting next, and D-Alex had long been used. Bowen was rung up for the golden sombrero before the last bat came off the bench. Keith Ayers batted for Pat Whitehouse, who was 0-3, but also struck out. Carmona fouled out…

George Youngblood was in for the 15th, putting Garcia on with a leadoff single before beating the already overpowered Bowen for a capital wild pitch. Somehow the Elks fouled out enough to leave the go-ahead run on second base. Treglown made the third out on a K, with no bench left for anybody. Youngblood even had a ****ing 2-out single in the bottom 15th, moving Yoshi to second base, but Palmer grounded out, before falling apart for three singles and a run in the top 16th. Bottom of the inning, Rodgers and Bowen made rapid outs before Ayers hit a single to left. Aurelio Garcia replaced Treglown with a walk to Carmona. Sandy Sambrano was nursing an 0-6 day, a really bad spot to come up as the final out, and struck out. 5-4 Canadiens. Palmer 3-7; Canning 2-3; Slayton 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

Walt Canning has a forearm strain and will be out for a week plus. This is a bad situation… we might just disable him to clear the roster spot…

In other news

July 1 – In a bit of a lop-sided game, OCT SP Bob King (13-3, 2.41 ERA) pitches a 5-hit shutout while the Knights get romped for 18 runs by the Thunder offense.
July 1 – The Thunder have to play 1B Jimmy Roberts (.268, 11 HR, 50 RBI) on the DL with a hamstring strain. He should not be back until August.
July 1 – Pittsburgh’s 1B/2B Dave McCormick (.282, 6 HR, 30 RBI) has built a 20-game hitting streak with a single in the Miners’ 8-7 win over the Buffaloes.
July 1 – Three pitchers, four singles, three walks, and two errors – the sad bottom line of the Blue Sox blowing an 8-4 lead in the ninth inning and eventually losing 10-8 to the Cyclones. The Sox made four errors total in the game.
July 3 – The Crusaders lose INF Jorge Ortega (.311, 0 HR, 30 RBI) for the rest of the year. Ortega, 28, has broken his elbow.
July 4 – The Scorpions trade SP Fred O’Quinn (5-7, 4.42 ERA) to the Rebels, getting #30 prospect SP Cameron McSweeney, the #21 pick in the 2010 draft, in return. The Rebels also make another trade, acquiring MR Kevin Poisson (0-0, 5.71 ERA) from the Loggers for two middling prospects.
July 4 – An 0-5 day ends the hitting streak of PIT 1B/2B Dave McCormick (.287, 6 HR, 33 RBI). The Miners fall to the Buffaloes, 3-0.
July 5 – IND OF Rowan Tanner (.257, 1 HR, 13 RBI) has shattered his ankle and is out for the season.
July 5 – The Canadiens answer the Loggers’ 6-spot in the fourth inning with two in the fifth, five in the eighth, and two in the ninth to beat them 9-6.
July 6 – The Gold Sox lose LF Victorino Sanchez (.324, 6 HR, 32 RBI) for the rest of the month after the batter with the batting title subscription sprained his elbow.
July 7 – The Loggers lose OF Victor Enriquez (.231, 6 HR, 28 RBI) for the year with a torn back muscle.
July 10 – The Indians send 29-year old SS Ryan Miller (.275, 9 HR, 43 RBI) to the Falcons for MR Pat Kling (2-2, 3.47 ERA) and unranked infield prospect Steve Dykstra, who does show promise.
July 13 – BOS SP Curtis Tobitt (9-3, 3.28 ERA) is nursing a mild shoulder strain and will go to the DL, presumably for the minimum 15 days.
July 13 – Topeka’s Joe Cowan (.260, 4 HR, 32 RBI) opens the Buffaloes’ game in Pittsburgh with a double off Pedro Vargas – the Buffaloes’ last hit in the game as they are 1-hit and lose 4-0.

Complaints and stuff

Jaylen “Midnight” Martin signed a 4-year deal worth almost $12M with the Crusaders in the first week of July. My heart is full of sadness.

And the 3,000th regular season win goes to … Hector Santos! The Sunday game in Boston did the trick. Then, the Coons had dropped 2,921 regular season contests for a .507 all-time average.

Hoshi Watanabe now has logged more saves for the Raccoons than he notched for all his many teams since debuting in ’98 combined. He doesn’t even have more than three saves for any SINGLE team other than the Coons.

You know who else is injured? Jonathan Toner! The most likely pick to replace Berry and the reason Juan Calderón is salivating in his sleep, Toner was diagnosed with a biceps strain, and will miss the rest of the month. I would punch the wall now but I just got rid of the splint…

Two weeks ago I mentioned that international amateur Danny Arguello… the bidding war has been on since. We started at around $180k, and we’re up to almost $280k now. Looks like the entire league is bidding.