[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-32) vs. Thunder (42-33) – June 30-July 2, 2014

The Raccoons were in a wild offensive slump and now came across the South-leading Thunder, who were third in runs scored, yet eighth in runs allowed with considerable pitching issues. There were a couple of 6+ ERA starters on that roster, and one of them was old friend Ralph Ford. On the other hand, they had scored seven or more runs in a game seven times in their last 14 games. We had lost two of three to them earlier in the season.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (5-3, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (4-6, 3.11 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-3, 2.76 ERA) vs. Ralph Ford (2-4, 6.82 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-3, 2.10 ERA) vs. Ed Michaels (5-4, 6.26 ERA)

The latter two are southpaws, horrible southpaws. There’s also an asterisk to the Wednesday game, with Michaels and Curtis Tobitt (8-5, 2.90 ERA) both starting in a double header on Saturday after their Friday game had been rained out. Michaels had thrown less pitches, however, so he was still the likelier choice over Tobitt, who had thrown 122 pitches against the Crusaders.

Somewhere in this week, all regular starters would get at least one day off as we’re in a stretch of 17 straight game days.

Game 1
OCT: 1B O. Torres – LF Britton – SS Farias – RF Bailey – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – 2B A. Martinez – CF Kim – P Gine
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Conway

The Thunder from the start weren’t shy to hit a few singles here and there, but stranded all of the five runners they had in the first three innings. The Coons, looking to extend their 5-game losing streak, had little to nothing until Carmona tripled with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, but Sambrano flew out softly to Ape Britton. Bednarski was on base in the fourth when Quebell fired a bouncer up the rightfield line. Will Bailey looked very bad on the play as the ball kept bouncing away from him as Bailey went in a rather circuitous route, and Quebell had a stand-up RBI triple(!), later scoring on Rob Howell’s groundout. The 2-0 lead was swiftly blown by Conway when he walked Oliver Torres and Britton at the start of the fifth inning, and conceded the runs on singles to Emilio Farias and Jalen Parks, immediately restoring the tie. Cookie Carmona walked and stole a base in the bottom 5th, but was left on third base. Conway was less effective the longer the game went and was finally removed after Torres’ 2-out double in the top 6th. Ron Thrasher came in, conceded two singles and the go-ahead run, and the Raccoons would most likely have been sent spinning in a 3-2 deficit if it hadn’t been for a pretty bad and fat pitch by Jorge Gine that Bednarski mauled into a leadoff jack in the bottom of the inning. Thrasher, Constantino, and Mathis managed to hold the Thunder at bay the next two innings, but the Coons’ offense was not really helping the cause. Palmer Taylor doubled in the seventh, but was left on, and in the eighth it was Alexander with a 2-out single to pose the least little threat. Seeley hit for Mathis and jocked a ball to deep center, where it got past Vinny Diaz and made it to the wall. D-Alex was screamed home by 23,829 attending people on the double, and the Coons took a late lead! Angel Casas continued to be plain bad and issued a 4-pitch walk to Emilio Farias to start the ninth inning, but was then dumb and lucky enough to get a perfect double play bouncer served by Bailey. Parks flew out to Carmona, ending the losing streak. 4-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-3, BB, 3B; Bednarski 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Seeley (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Taylor 1-1, 2B;

Bednarski is the first Coon to 10 homers this year, and Cookie is the first dasher to reach 25 SB in the CL. Danny Flores also stole his 25th on Monday, but he’s in the FL and not our main concern.

Game 2
OCT: 1B O. Torres – C J. Martinez – SS Farias – RF Bailey – 2B A. Martinez – 3B J. Soto – LF V. Diaz – CF Kim – P Ford
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Bergquist – 1B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 3B Nunley – SS Howell – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – P Brown

Brownie threw three pitches in the first inning, netting three outs on two grounders to Nunley and a pop to Bergquist, which was a good result, but perhaps indicated that he was hurling in plain view of everybody and had nowhere to hide. In any case, he made it through the order once in perfect fashion and on 25 pitches, whiffing three, while Bergquist put the Coons 1-0 ahead with a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning. While not much happened in the bottom halves of innings otherwise, the top halves were pretty dull as well. The Thunder didn’t reach base until Myeong-keun Kim wrestled a full-count walk from Brown in the sixth inning, then was quickly swept up in Ralph Ford’s horrible bunt that Brownie took for a double play. Fans were a bit antsy as Brown took the mound for the seventh inning, but that was laid to rest soon enough: Emilio Farias hit a 2-out double, and gone was the no-hitter. Bailey then singled before Armando Martinez flew out to Bednarski, keeping runners on the corners. Those three Thunder batters hit three consecutive pitches, but somehow Brown had whiffed seven as well. Things got worse, though. Jesus Soto hit a leadoff single in the top 8th, and Nunley butchered Diaz’ bunt into a 1-base error, but Bergquist’s lunging grab in foul territory was all that kept the Thunder from another extra base. Then Brown drilled Kim. The Thunder didn’t bat for Ford, who was a left-handed batter, so Brown stayed in to extinguish him, but conceded the tying run on a double play grounder, 4-6-3. That left Diaz on third with two outs and another left-handed batter, Oliver Torres, stepping in. Brown assured the pitching coach he knew how to get him out, but I’m not exactly sure whether his “plan” actually included a headlong diving play by Jimmy Fucito in the gap in left center…

Ralph Ford also made it through eight innings, despite walking two. Nunley batted with two outs and had a chance to redeem himself, but ****tily popped out to centerfielder Kim. Brown was on 87 pitches and wasn’t going to let go of the ball, implying to the bench coach he’d go 1-2-3 on the Thunder in the top 9th, then hit a walkoff homer, but maybe seeing your former elite stuff eroding away after an injury and not getting a K on the pitcher in a dire spot is what drives people nuts. Well, he did get the ball, and he went 1-2-3, with another hair-raising play by Fucito in left that retired Will Bailey to end the inning. Bottom 9th in the 1-1 game, the Coons faced closer Robert Parsons, a right-hander, who faced three pinch-hitters in Sandy, Quebell, and D-Alex, and erased them all – no decision for Brownie, and extras for everybody else. Sakellaris was completely useless in the 10th, conceded the go-ahead run on two singles and a walk before walking even Parsons, and requiring help from Sugano. The Raccoons went down entirely feebly. 2-1 Thunder. Merritt 0-1, 3 BB; Brown 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Brownie was grumpy, I was grumpy, the fans were grumpy, and the Crusaders won, and Mike Rivera stole two bases to leapfrog 0-5 Ricardo Carmona.

Game 3
OCT: 1B O. Torres – 2B A. Martinez – SS Farias – RF Bailey – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – LF L. Taylor – CF Kim – P Michaels
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – SS Howell – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – P Santos

Carmona drew a leadoff walk and when he was itching and twitching on first base got Michaels to balk him to second base. Michaels also threw a wild pitch, but the Raccoons still managed to leave Carmona stranded. Both teams stranded runners on second and third in the second inning, and both did so when their pitchers struck out their opposite number. Santos was merrily allowing hits, with another two against him in the fourth inning that had runners in scoring position for the Thunder, but Santos also struck out three to prevent damage. He also became the first Raccoon to 100 K this season in that inning.

Offense then came from the unlikeliest source in the brown-clad lineup. Merritt and Howell both reached base to start the bottom 4th, but Hernandez’ sorry pop to the shortstop seemed to indicate another frustrating end to this particular effort. Then came Jimmy Fucito, not hitting a like since being promoted after Joe Cowan’s demise, and raked a harmless Michaels pitch to deep left – and over the fence, 3-run homer! Santos would squeeze his ERA under the 2.00 mark when he retired Farias to start the sixth inning, but Jalen Parks negated the effort with a 2-out homer, bringing the Thunder back to a 3-1 deficit. Jesus Soto struck out after that, giving Santos 10 K on the day. He’d add one more in the seventh, but reached almost 100 pitches in the inning which became a drag after Ed Michaels’ 2-out single and another single by Torres. The Coons regained a run in the bottom 7th with a pair of 2-out doubles by Merritt (off Michaels) and Howell (off Tommy Costello). Santos didn’t make it back out for the eighth, being replaced by Thrasher with no right-handers in the next five batters in the order, but two of the first three coming up (Farias and Parks) were actually switch-hitter. Thrasher had been pretty unhelpful on Monday, and here opened proceedings with a leadoff single hit by Farias. Parks also singled, but that one was of the infield variety and partly owed to Merritt’s 38-year old legs at third base, a sorry chopper that a younger guy (cough, Nunley, cough) might have played. Anyway, no damage resulted since Thrasher struck out Soto, and Logan Taylor would ground out. Angel Casas issued a 2-out walk to Torres, but otherwise struck out the side in the ninth. 4-1 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, BB; Merritt 2-3, BB, 2B; Howell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Fucito 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, W (9-3);

Raccoons (44-33) vs. Canadiens (41-37) – July 3-6, 2014

The Stinkers were back in town for another 4-game set. We had swept the last one of those from them after suffering a sweep in Vancouver before that, and the season series stood at 4-3 in the Coons’ favor. The Elks were fifth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. The rotation had a better ERA than the bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Daniel Dickerson (2-2, 4.21 ERA) vs. Bill King (1-3, 5.45 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-5, 3.20 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (8-3, 2.93 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-3, 2.62 ERA) vs. Dustin Burke (3-8, 5.09 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (3-3, 3.14 ERA)

We will miss Rod Taylor (6-6, 3.57 ERA), although we won’t miss him emotionally. He was second in the CL in strikeouts with 129, behind Curtis Tobitt’s 142. Santos (105 K) was third, so the air was rather thin at the top of the leaderboard. McMullen is their only left-handed starter.

Game 1
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – 2B Madison – SS Irvin – P B. King
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Dickerson

Ray Gilbert whacked a 2-run homer in the first inning, which was only insufficiently countered by Bednarski’s leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd. But we were even again after three. Carmona singled, stole two bases, and scored on Nunley’s groundout. It was a 2-2 tie that could topple in the Elks’ favor at any moment given that Dickerson was no impediment to them for reaching base, but they weren’t very smart on the basepaths as indicate by two outfield assists for the home team by the fourth inning. In the fifth, a Nunley throwing error put Jeremiah Irvin on second base, and that was even the leadoff man. King bunted him to third, but Ross Holland and Enrique Garcia had poor groundouts and the runner was stranded. Bottom 5h, Palmer Taylor reached with an odd single and was bunted to second base by Dickerson. Cookie singled to right, unretired on the day and extremely unnerving to King, Taylor was sent and scored ahead of Garcia’s throw. Carmona went to second on that throw and scored on Nunley’s 2-out double, 4-2.

Miguel Torres, playing a few days straight thanks to Freddy Rosa suffering from the flu, almost hit a game-tying homer in the sixth, but Sambrano picked it off the wall. Steve Madison also fell less than ten feet short of a dinger leading off the seventh, and Dickerson’s game ended with a 2-out walk to PH Robbie Luxton in the same frame. Sugano entered and struck out Holland to keep the Elks at bay. Bottom 7th, Fucito hit a pinch-hit double, after which the Elks walked Cookie intentionally and got a double play from Sandy to end the inning. Sakellaris and Casas ended the game without allowing a runner, extending the Coons’ spell over the Elks to five straight games. 4-2 Critters. Carmona 3-3, BB, RBI; Fucito (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dickerson 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-2);

Cookie was supposed to get his day off against McMullen on Friday with Seeley playing centerfield, but then the Elks toppled their rotation and called up 32-year old righty Sean Lewis to start the game, his first big league appearance since 2011, and his first start since 2010. He had a career 5.76 ERA and no wins in the Bigs.

Game 2
VAN: 2B Lawrence – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – CF K. Evans – C Dunn – SS Irvin – P S. Lewis
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

The Coons had the bases loaded on a Nunley single and two walks in the bottom 1st, but D-Alex grounded out pathetically to waste the opportunity. Enrique Garcia robbed Carmona of an RBI double with a tremendous play in the second, but the Raccoons were nibbling away at Sean Lewis from the start and got onto the board in the third. Sandy with a hard leadoff double, Nunley with a single, and then an RBI double by Bednarski got the scoring underway. And then Quebell flew out to right, Alexander K’ed, and Howell rolled one to short. The offense was and remained completely outrageous.

Toner didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, a 1-out single by Don Cameron, but no threat resulted from that runner. The Coons had Carmona thrown out at second base when Sambrano flailed on a hit-and-run, ending that inning, but at least Sandy made up for it with a leadoff walk in the fifth, scoring on Nunley’s much-awed long bomb to centerfield that made this a 3-0 game. It didn’t look like Toner would need much more, but he was also in a strikeout frenzy and also crossed 100 K for the season with a 10 K game, but with four outs to go he was at 109 pitches, and with lefty Robbie Luxton hitting for Lewis there were three left-handed bats coming up. No need to ruin the kid, so we called on Thrasher (with Angel not going to pitch three days in a row with the way things were for him). He got Luxton on an easy fly to center, and then even received an insurance run when Pat Treglown drilled Quebell in the bottom 8th and the hurting first baseman came around to score on singles by Alexander and Taylor. Thrasher finished the game, but not without allowing a leadoff single to Jaylin Lawrence, walking Gilbert, and he only bailed out on a 4-6-3 double play. 4-0 Critters. Sambrano 1-1, 3 BB, 2B; Nunley 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Quebell 1-2, BB; Taylor (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 7.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (7-5) and 1-3; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

Things seemed a bit improved with three straight wins, six straight against the Elks, which was always sweet, and a 2 1/2 game gap re-established against the Crusaders. Behind the scenes, the trade wheels were turning, however…

Game 3
VAN: 2B Lawrence – CF Luxton – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – RF K. Evans – SS Paull – P McMullen
POR: 1B Sambrano – SS Howell – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – CF Seeley – P Conway

Torres doubled and scored on Evans’ single which escaped Howell in inexplicable fashion to plate the first run in the second inning. The Coons struck back a frame later, when Merritt batted with two outs and Conway and Sambrano on second and first, respectively. He doubled up the leftfield line (after being denied a double to right by Kurt Evans in the first inning) and scored Conway, but Sandy had to hold and was stranded along with Merritt when Bednarski’s hard grounder to left was amazingly intercepted by Eric Paull AND lasered to first in time for the third out. Middle infield D was lacking however for the Raccoons. Bergquist had a single roll right past him, and in the sixth it was Howell again who couldn’t come up with what looked like a sure third out right off Mitsuhide Suzuki’s bat. Instead, the Elks had runners on the corners after the single, and it took a bare-hand play by Merritt on Torres’ grounder to end the inning without incurring a deficit. Merritt also hit another double in the bottom of the inning, but nothing came of that. Bednarski was walked intentionally, and Bergquist and Hernandez failed miserably.

Conway went seven without winning much love from his team and the game remained tied at one into the ninth inning. Sugano, who had cleared up Josh Gibson’s mess in the eighth, issued a walk and got only one out, but when Sakellaris came in, he was quick to walk PH Jeremiah Irvin. Luxton flew out to deep left, leaving runners on the corners with two outs for Gilbert, who bounced a ball to Merritt, ending the inning, and Merritt, poor old Merritt, also ended the top 10th with a lunging grab, with the go-ahead run, some shadowy figure with a pink cap, lying in ambush at second base, and that shot was a real rocket off the bat of pinch-hitter Ross Holland. The heroics didn’t end there, as Merritt reached to start the bottom 11th, lining a blazing shot to second base that Steve Madison could stop, but not hold on to, and it rolled far enough away to allow a 38-year old to reach first base. The Coons were facing Pedro Alvarado, the closer, who had already struck out the side in the tenth, and, worse, Cookie was already in the game after hitting for Fucito in the ninth. Nobody could run for Jon Merritt, and Bednarski soon enough rolled into a double play. Bottom 12th, Hernandez with a leadoff single to center against Treglown. That brought up Cookie in the box, not on the basepaths. He flew out to right, Seeley failed, and Quebell, hitting for Mathis, failed even harder. The third time was the charm, however. Rob Howell livened up an 0-5 day with a 1-out single in the 13th, moved up on a hit-and-run in which Merritt grounded out to second, Bednarski walked in a cautious approach by the Elks, and then Bergquist found a hole on the left and rammed a 2-0 pitch right through. With two outs, Howell was in full flight, and scored handily ahead of Don Cameron’s throw. 2-1 Blighters! Merritt 3-6, 2 2B, RBI; Bergquist 2-6, RBI; Conway 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Constantino picked up the win, getting him to 3-3. So by now, his relief work has made up the three ugly losses he took starting for Dickerson earlier in the year.

The following night was a bit sleepless for me. There were A LOT of phone calls with another GM on the west coast, and early in the morning, the Raccoons shoved their chips into the middle of the table and parted with a big-time prospect in an attempt to get the ****ing offense going.

Interlude: Trade

The team we had conversations with were the Aces, who were quite close to the lead in the South, but were struggling with their pitching, and in fact were only two games over .500 in a division where nobody really had an edge over anything.

The Raccoons were after Ron Richards, a corner outfielder, who had 14 homers on the season when talks started on Thursday, and reached 15 by Saturday, already a career high. But the Raccoons, in the hunt themselves, could appreciate every bit of thump they could get, and the biggest bats in the sport were unavailable, because those teams were in the thick of things themselves.

Getting Ron Richards, 29, was not too hard. The Aces knew exactly which prospect they wanted for him (and no, it was not Carmona this time around). But I felt horrendously bad with a one-for-one trade and went after a player that I had inquired in already a few years ago, a right-handed reliever. A basic package was soon agreed on, with the Raccoons adding two more prospects that are perhaps dubious for the future. The Aces wanted another player, however, and we ultimately agreed on a useful bat that the Coons didn’t put too much value in, because they could find a replacement in AAA, and so it was done:

The Raccoons acquire 29-year old RF/LF Ron Richards (.271, 15 HR, 46 RBI) and 28-year old MR Zack Entwistle (2-1, 3.02 ERA, 2 SV) from the Aces, parting in turn with 19-yr old A SP Vic Mercado, 22-yr old AA MR Dan Moon, 21-yr old AA 3B Bobby Burke, and 29-yr old C Raúl Hernandez (.244, 2 HR, 10 RBI).

Mercado was our big international free agent addition two years ago, but the stuff might not be as blistering as it looked back then. He is certainly a good control pitcher, who, if he learns to mix his three pitches well, will certainly become a valuable starting pitcher in a few years, but the lack of velocity and the WIP changeup indicate that maybe he’s not the gold standard.

Moon was drafted as a starter, but the third pitch remains junk and he’s been moved to the pen a while ago. Burke looks like a good defensive player, but nothing else. And Hernandez has hit well in select appearances, certainly well enough for his $300k contract, but he was the one piece the Aces wanted to get the deal done, and I will send a backup catcher down the river for much less than Richards.

The best thing about the deal: since the Coons and Elks would continue their hateful relationship with another in the Sunday Night Primetime Baseball showcase, Richards and Entwistle easily made the trip from Las Vegas in time to be assigned lockers.

The trade required three roster moves. Jimmy Fucito (.300, 1 HR, 3 RBI) was sent back to AAA. He had an option left, Seeley did not. To get Entwistle onto the roster, Josh Gibson was designated for assignment, struggling through a horrible year. Finally, we called up Danny Margolis as the new backup catcher. Margolis, 23, had been acquired along with Joe Cowan from the Buffaloes last December. He was from Visalia, CA, half-Japanese, and had batted .267/.321/.427 in AAA before being promoted. He also has a very strong throwing arm.

Raccoons (44-33) vs. Canadiens (41-37) – July 3-6, 2014

Game 4
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – 2B Lawrence – SS Irvin – P Burke
POR: CF Carmona – SS Howell – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Brown

The Elks pounced on Brown for two early runs in the first inning when Don Cameron beat Quebell for an RBI triple with two outs, and then scored on Suzuki’s single that went past Howell. For the oddest reason, left-handed batters would completely devour Brown in this game. Two of the three left-handers near the top of the order (Holland, Garcia, Cameron) hurt him in the first inning, and all three had base hits in the third inning, costing another run and giving the Elks a 3-1 lead, but in the fourth it would be the right-handers to hurt him, with Irvin singling home Torres after a double to start the inning, 4-1. The Raccoons got leadoff singles from Howell and Nunley in the bottom 4th, bringing up the revamped thump division. Bednarski had already doubled and scored in the second inning, but now ruined the inning with a double play. Ron Richards had his first team RBI with a 2-out single, plating Howell, but the Coons remained down 4-2.

Brown, who had come in with an 0-2 record and a 1.88 ERA in his last four starts, continued to struggle, but at least beat Ray Gilbert for a strikeout in the fifth inning, his fifth in the game, and #2,700 overall. The Raccoons continued to sabotage him every way they could, however, and hit into more double plays in the fifth and sixth innings. The Elks were up 5-2 in the bottom 9th after an insurance run off Constantino, when Carmona opened the inning with a homer off Alvarado, and that was certainly a surprise. But the rest of the team couldn’t have felt less inspired, and Alvarado nixed the next three, with Taylor grounding out and Nunley and Bednarski being handed K’s. 5-3 Canadiens. Carmona 2-4, HR, RBI;

That’s not within the definition of “spark”. Richards went 1-for-3 with the RBI, but that was it. The other two additions did not appear in the game.

In other news

June 30 – CIN CL Luis Hernandez (4-4, 3.48 ERA, 10 SV) notches his 400th career save in the Cyclones’ 4-3 win over the Warriors. Owning a career 1.92 ERA, the 34-year old Hernandez has been a closer since 2003, winning a ring with the 2005 Falcons, and was Reliever of the Year in 2010.
June 30 – The Aces pick up MR Robby Delikat (1-2, 5.06 ERA, 1 SV) from the Blue Sox, dealing them two prospects including #186 3B Pat Rosebrough.
July 1 – The hitting streak of NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.349, 10 HR, 46 RBI) ends after a hitless performance in a 6-4 Crusaders win over the Falcons.
July 2 – Another “400” event in the ABL: SFB LF/RF Ron Alston (.337, 15 HR, 58 RBI) swats his 400th home run in a 9-8 Bayhawks win over the Indians. It’s not any home run, either, but a game-winning grand slam off Anthony Bryant in the eighth inning. Alston, 34, an 11-time All Star, 3-time Hitter of the Year, and 5-time Platinum Stick winner, is a career .303/.392/.492 batter with 1,324 RBI to his credit. He’s only the third player to reach 400 HR, and is only 16 off the all time mark of Raúl Vázquez (HOF).
July 2 – The hitting streak for ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.317, 25 HR, 53 RBI) continues, as the 30-year old slaps two extra base hits, including a home run, in the Knights’ 8-7 win over the Loggers. Rockwell has now hit in 25 straight games.
July 2 – The Titans pick up INF Jaime Mateo (.315, 1 HR, 24 RBI) and an outfield prospect from the Canadiens for C Melvin Dunn (.240, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
July 3 – The Rebels acquire 1B Alberto Rodriguez (.309, 4 HR, 46 RBI) from the Capitals for MR Juan Jimenez (2-1, 1.77 ERA, 1 SV) and #75 prospect SP Pat Collins.
July 5 – Hitting streak over! After 27 games of continuous production, ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.314, 26 HR, 55 RBI) is held dry by the Falcons in a 7-2 defeat.
July 5 – SFW SP Billy Bengston (7-7, 4.58 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves in a 5-0 shutout.
July 6 – As the trading season heats up, the Thunder pick up the Blue Sox’ closer Steve Rob (1-3, 3.21 ERA, 25 SV) to shore up that bullpen, parting with two prospects.
July 6 – The Titans deal MR Dusty Balzer (2-2, 2.41 ERA, 1 SV) to the Pacifics for two prospects.

Complaints and stuff

June was the first month in this season, where a non-Raccoon was Rookie of the Month in the CL. The Aces’ Ricardo Marrero (showcased before) took home the laurels with a .382, 3 HR, 12 RBI month.

The Knights play Rockwell in left a fair bit, but I would really only play his immobile body at first base. He would be a trade target, and the Knights might even be listening given the fact that they were going nowhere, but there’s something about Rockwell that repulses me greatly. He’s 30 years old and makes the minimum, not even having reached three years of service time so far. That’s so odd, I can’t even make an offer for that despite the possibility to unload the annoying first baseman we have right now. Quebell has one more year guaranteed on his 6-yr, $8.88M contract ahead of a 2016 team option that is worth the $380k buyout and not one cent more than that.

And how about finding a less atrocious catcher? That’s been on the to-do-list for some 30 years!

The international free agent window opened on Tuesday. The Raccoons incurred penalty last year by splurging on Danny Arguello and can only sign cheap players for $31,500 or less (per nose) this season. I have found two catchers that aren’t all bad (one Australian) and we might try to get one of those, or heck, even both.

If the Coons can win 14 of their next 23, they will make it to 3,100 wins before they incur 3,000 losses (regular season). Our next 11 games will be against the bottom two in the CL North, and after that is a week with competitive teams on the road, including the Crusaders. In between, nine days from now, the All Star Game. We might stack the CL field with our pitching, and the country is full of morons, because the latest numbers show that Dylan Alexander leads the catchers’ field.