[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

If he pitched the whole game, he should get a complete game, even if it only goes 5 innings.

P.S. 2nd best record in baseball! But no playoffs....

Ha, fact. I got that mixed up with no-hitters, of course. What a GM we have here! In my defense it was late / late-enough-to-be-early and I was just so hanging on.

And there's only so much non-offense your $25M pitching can cover for when the other team has 60% more to blow on players.

Originally Posted by Trebro

I'm honestly surprised the Agitator hasn't been, well, agitating for expanding the playoffs. Not the first season the Raccoons could benefit from extra teams.

The Agitator is busy with a lot of things, mainly calling for my public drawing and quartering. After that, set fire to the dismembered parts, and stone whatever is left over.

+++

Raccoons (68-48) vs. Miners (68-50) – August 18-20, 2014

Here were two teams with almost identical records, one of which led its division by some margin, the other being more or less a playoff afterthought by now. We’re of course the latter. The Miners ranked third in runs scored in the FL, fifth in runs allowed, with a top 3 rotation, but a wonky bullpen. Offensively, the Miners were thumping it, leading the FL with 117 home runs. The Raccoons haven’t won a series against the Miners since 2005. The last meeting between the teams went 2-1 in Pittsburgh’s favor, back in 2012.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (7-3, 2.29 ERA) vs. Miguel Rodriguez (15-4, 3.14 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (6-5, 3.90 ERA) vs. Jeremiah Bowman (14-6, 3.28 ERA)
Nick Brown (10-6, 2.96 ERA) vs. Ron Funderburk (4-9, 5.30 ERA)

The Miners have an all-right-handed rotation. Speedy on-base terror Earl Clark was on the DL with knee woes, but that didn’t make the Miners’ middle of the order look any less impressive, with three 20+ dinger hitters in Tom McWhorter (25 HR, 84 RBI), Steve Butler (23 HR, 83 RBI), and Bartholomeu Pino (21 HR, 69 RBI). Not only did we have nobody with more than 60 RBI for the team (Richards’ total was of course split between here and Vegas), but we also had nobody with even 18 HR for Portland (ditto).

Looks like Dickerson can make his start, which is great, since neither Constantino, nor Brown and Santos on short rest sounded like splendid ideas.

Game 1
PIT: RF J. Hudson – 3B Walter – SS McWhorter – LF D. Carter – C Pino – CF Stewart – 1B Carbajal – 2B Rivas – P M. Rodriguez
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS Taylor – 2B Bergquist – P Conway

Alex Rivas’ double with the bases loaded, followed by Rodriguez’ sac fly, gave the Miners a 3-0 lead in the second inning over the Coons, despite their pitcher Rodriguez walking people left and right. Carmona and Nunley had drawn walks in the first, only for the middle of the order to collectively tune out of proceedings. Carmona singled in a run with two outs in the second inning, and when D-Alex drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 3rd, the bases were loaded for Taylor, and Rodriguez was on six walks already. And yet, one pitch later he was out of the mess, with Taylor grounding a room service double play to Tom McWhorter, and I had my Monday rage a bit earlier than usual. When McWhorter made a throwing error to put Bergquist on base to start the bottom 4th, Conway failed for the second time to get a bunt down, dropping his average to .021, and Bergquist was left on. Bottom 5th, Murphy hit a leadoff single and Richards drew the seventh walk off Rodriguez, who was over 90 pitches in the fifth inning. The melting process accelerated with a 4-pitch walk to Bednarski. Bases loaded, no outs. And of course – no luck today. Alexander plated one run with a grounder to first, Taylor bounced right back to the mound, Bergquist was ignored, and Conway struck out. 3-2 Miners after five. And just when Maud was worried enough about my alternatingly bright red and pale white face to get the oxygen bottle from the cabinet in the corner, Murph and Richards hit back-to-back homers in the bottom 6th to flip the score. Those of course were solo shots.

Astonishingly, Rodriguez made it to the seventh inning despite walking TEN and whiffing seven. Conway pitched seven-plus, putting the leadoff man on in the eighth, the Miners’ first base hit after their 3-run second inning. Sugano came in to clean up. The Coons got Cookie on base with an infield single in the bottom 8th, but he didn’t get a jump against the former Gold Glover Pino and Hudman (hitting for an 0-3, 3 K Nunley) and Murphy were no help either. Angel Casas allowed McWhorter on base with a leadoff single in the ninth, but Dave Carter rolled into a double play before Pino (also 0-3, 3 K) lined a full count pitch to Hudman, ending the game. 4-3 Critters. Carmona 2-4, BB, RBI; Murphy 3-5, HR, RBI; Conway 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-3);

Outside of Cookie, Murphy, and Richards, nobody had a hit for the home team and they made precious little out of their ten walks. Let’s whistle softly while chalking it up in the W column and then never talk about the game again.

Game 2
PIT: CF Waggoner – 3B Walter – SS McWhorter – 1B S. Butler – LF D. Carter – RF J. Hudson – C Carbajal – 2B Chappelle – P Bowman
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS Taylor – 2B Bergquist – P Dickerson

McWhorter made his second 2-base throwing error in the series on the first Portland at-bat of the game, putting Cookie in scoring position where he would then wither away with no attention paid to him by Nunley, Murphy, and Richards. Dickerson was not flashy at all on the mound, but at least made it past 20 pitches. The Coons had Cookie on with a leadoff single, but he was caught stealing by Jesus Carbajal, which cost the Critters a run when Nunley doubled into the gap. Murphy also came close to a double, but was robbed by John Hudson after being retired deep in left by Carter in the first inning. The Coons then did take the lead in the fourth on a wild-pitch-enabled sac fly by Taylor, scoring Richards. That was it with offense for the Coons. Dickerson pitched seven silent shutout innings, Sakellaris did the eighth, and the ninth saw the top of the order come up. William Waggoner, Shane Walter, and Steve Butler were all left-handed batters, and for a bit I contemplated sending Thrasher into the game. But no, here comes Angel, and he hung a 1-2-3 on the Miners. 1-0 Raccoons! Taylor 1-2, RBI; Dickerson 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (7-5);

This was the 399th save for Angel Casas.

Sergio Vega was designated for assignment on Wednesday as Chris Mathis came off the DL and was sorted back into the bullpen. Let’s just say that I liked the 2013 Vega better than the 2014 Vega.

Now, Brownie. 2-5 in his last 13 starts, despite a low-3 ERA.

Game 3
PIT: CF Waggoner – RF J. Hudson – SS McWhorter – LF D. Carter – 1B S. Butler – C Pino – 2B D. McCormick – 3B Rivas – P Funderburk
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 2B Taylor – SS Howell – P Brown

Carmona and Murphy both had doubles for an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, and they weren’t the only guys to hit the ball hard off Funderburk. Brown was better than recently early on, despite a Miner on base in all of the first three innings. But the hits they had were rather soft, one was an infield single, and Brownie ended two innings with glaring strikeouts in full counts. Bottom 3rd, Nunley hit a leadoff double before Murphy grounded to McWhorter, who flubbed it for his third error since coming to town. Runners were on the corners for Richards with no outs … at least until Murphy was picked off… (breathes heavily) … Richards lined out to Butler at first base, but Bednarski singled to left to FINALLY score Nunley, 2-0. The next inning, the Coons had two on after Taylor singled and Howell was hit by a pitch, and we rolled the dice and let Brownie swing away … right into a double play. Cookie came through with a bloop single into left to still plate Taylor and make it 3-0 in the fourth.

Another run trickled onto the board in the fifth, a really huge solo homer by Richards, before Brownie found his first serious trouble in the top 6th. Hudson had a soft single to center to get going, and while Brown kept finding 2-strike counts, he couldn’t get people struck out. He had 4 K the first time through the order, and only one since. Here, McWhorter grounded out with two strikes, and Carter was hit with two strikes. Butler then drilled a 1-0 pitch to deep right, deep, deeeep, but it fell into Bednarski’s glove right in front of the wall. Pino, rake-happy, struck out, stranding a pair. He picked it up for the seventh, despite another leadoff single by Dave McCormick (the former Thunder). Funderburk struck out with a foul bunt, and Waggoner was then blasted by the heat, Brown’s eighth K and the last in the game, as he had crossed the 100 pitches mark in the inning. And as soon as he was out of the game, the bullpen ****ed it up. Mathis came out for the eighth, allowed a leadoff single to Hudson, but then got two grounders that both times killed off the lead runner at second base. Thrasher came in for Butler, hit him, then conceded a 2-run double to Pino, almost a homer. McCormick was retired on a strong defensive play by Alexander, who when McCormick dinked a ball in front of home plate, slinged a rocket up to first to end the inning, 4-2. Bottom 8th, Funderburk was somehow still there. Bednarski singled. D-Alex singled, very gently, past McCormick. Taylor … double play. Seeley hit for Howell, who was 2-for-2, but I desired the lefty bat. Seeley ripped and missed twice before he ripped and didn’t miss, a HUGE fly to deep right, wrapping around the inside of the foul pole for a pinch-hit 2-run homer!! Entwistle axed the Miners in the ninth and sealed the sweep. 6-2 Brownies!! Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Bednarski 2-4, RBI; Alexander 2-4; Howell 2-2; Seeley (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Torruellas (PH) 1-1; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (11-6);

This sweep extends a streak of consecutive decades in which he have swept the Miners at least once, which goes back to the 80s. Sweeps occurred in 1989, 1997, 2005, and now in 2014.

Raccoons (71-48) @ Canadiens (66-55) – August 22-24, 2014

The malodorous Elks were sixth in offense and fourth in pitching in the Continental League. Much the opposite to the Miners we just played, the Elks were power-starved and in the bottom three in homers in the CL with 70 bombs. They weren’t really excelling in any category, and they were 4-7 against the Raccoons in 2014.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (12-7, 2.65 ERA) vs. Dustin Burke (5-12, 4.56 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (13-6, 2.76 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (13-5, 3.32 ERA)
Bill Conway (8-3, 2.36 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (8-6, 2.95 ERA)

McMullen is a southpaw, the only one we get this week, but we could get one or even two in Oklahoma next weekend. For the Coons, Sandy Sambrano is still out. He might be available by Sunday. Jon Merritt must remain on the DL until Wednesday next week at least.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 2B Taylor – SS Howell – P Santos
VAN: C M. Torres – RF K. Evans – 1B Gilbert – LF E. Garcia – 3B Suzuki – 2B Lawrence – CF Luxton – SS Paull – P Burke

Cookie opened the series with a double into the rightfield corner, but it took until two outs were made for him to score. Ron Richards singled to right. After that, Bednarski walked, and Alexander reached on an error by Mitsuhide Suzuki. Burke, befuddled, thinking he was out of the inning, threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded to score a second run for Santos before Taylor struck out. The Critters continued to crowd Burke as Rob Howell hit a leadoff single in the second. Santos struggled to get a bunt down. At 0-2, Howell took off in a run-and-hit, Santos didn’t even swing, the pitch was low, and Miguel Torres’ throw was bad and Howell was safe. Cookie hit a bloop single, and the bags were full. And then Burke plunked Nunley! Two more runs came onto the board on RBI groundouts by Murphy and Richards, running the lead to 5-0.

But the Elks weren’t the only team in the park that could create a mess… Bottom 2nd, Enrique Garcia hit a leadoff single. Suzuki grounded to short, where Howell somehow kept the ball in the glove for long enough to get a pizza, and Suzuki had an infield single. Jaylin Lawrence flew out to left before Santos whacked Robbie Luxton to load the sacks. While Carmona disregarded his own life real hard as he dashed across the outfield to make a headlong play on Eric Paull’s drive, Santos still ****ed up the inning when he served a 2-out, 2-run double to Dustin Burke, pulling the Elks right back to 5-3 before Miguel Torres struck out. While the Raccoons killed their further offense with a Murphy double play in the fourth, the Elks got Suzuki on via the HBP to start the bottom 4th. Lawrence singled, Luxton singled, Richards’ throw was ****ty enough to not only not get Suzuki at home, but also allow both runners to get into scoring position with nobody out. Paull got the tying run home with a sac fly. Santos finished the inning (other than Burke, who was hit for with Ross Holland), but back home in Portland, I was knotting a rope with his name on it.

He still didn’t get the ball in the fifth. The Coons had two infield singles in the top 5th to load the sacks against Bill King, and Santos’ spot came up with two outs. Seeley grounded out to Lawrence in his spot. Bottom 5th, Mathis allowed singles to Kurt Evans and Ray Gilbert to get going. Garcia grounded out before Mathis hit Suzuki – the second time Suzuki got hit and the third Elk overall. With two lefties up, this was a spot for Sugano, who lasered out Lawrence and Luxton to end the inning. Bottom 6th, another leadoff single, now by Paull off Constantino. That one came around to score on another sorry bloop into right, just like Paull’s, by Kurt Evans, giving the Elks a 6-5 edge. Could the Coons get the bats restarted? Before we could get an answer on that, Lawrence homered off Constantino in the seventh to put the Coons in a 2-run hole. Howell had a hit in the eighth, which didn’t lead anywhere nice, but against Pedro Alvarado we had Nunley on with a leadoff single. Hey, here come the big guys! While Richards walked with one out, Murphy struck out, Bednarski struck out, and Alexander struck out. 7-5 Canadiens. Carmona 3-5, 2B; Howell 3-4;

Well. ****.

The only thing worse than that ninth inning showing was Miguel Torres, who failed hard enough for a platinum sombrero.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – SS Howell – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – 2B Bergquist – C Torruellas – 3B Hudman – P Toner
VAN: C M. Torres – RF K. Evans – 1B Gilbert – LF E. Garcia – 3B Suzuki – 2B Lawrence – CF Medina – SS Irvin – P McMullen

The Coons’ early offensive production was largely limited to Ricardo Carmona getting on and getting caught stealing (denying him #40), while Toner was generally blazing it, but when the Elks put the ball in play they tended to find holes between the infielders. They got runners onto the corners with no outs on two singles to lead off the fourth inning, and Toner didn’t get out of that. While Juan Medina grounded out to Bergquist for a force at second base, the relay was not in time, and Suzuki scored from third anyway. Irvin and McMullen struck out to end that inning, giving Toner half a dozen. The Critters were not necessarily bothered by the 1-0 deficit. They did get runners onto the corners in the sixth, but Murphy grounded out way too casually to evoke any sense of urgency. Toner had long fifth and sixth innings, almost reaching 100 pitches while not conceding a run. He did hit a total of three batters in the game, one in each of those innings, and Suzuki got hit for the third time in the series.

Toner managed to finish another long seventh inning, then was hit for with Nunley. Brock Hudman had just hit a single past Ray Gilbert to start the eighth inning, and Nunley singled to center to become the go-ahead run. Come on, guys, help Jonny Toner! Carmona grounded rather softly to left, but STILL PAST SUZUKI! Hudman was called back after already turning third base, with Enrique Garcia getting to the ball really fast. BASES LOADED. NOBODY OUT. GET – **** – DONE!!! Howell fell to two strikes, then knocked a liner to right, hard line, falling, and in before Evans got a claw on it. One run scored, tied ballgame. Bednarski popped out to short. Murphy faced reliever Chris Spindler, grounded to short, Irvin, to Lawrence, to Gilbert. YOU ****ING ASSHOLES!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!

The Elks had a single off Sakellaris in the eighth, but left their man on. Top 9th, some holes in the walls in a certain office in Portland, and I was hammering nails into a bat to then go to work on Murphy’s locker after that farce in Vancouver would be concluded. Top 9th, Pat Treglown pitching. Juan Calderón was not quite sure how he was surviving in the Bigs with his flashless stuff. Ron Richards led off with a double, representing the winning run once more. Bergquist was walked intentionally, but the Coons countered with a bunt that Torruellas executed perfectly, moving the runners to scoring position. Brock Hudman was next, except that Seeley hit for him against the right-hander. For the second time this week, Seeley came through with a BIG pinch-hit that plated a pair, a soft single to left that fell in perfectly to get both runners home, and the Coons had the lead. The inning fizzled out quickly, but here came Angel, looking for #400! Irvin hit a 1-out single, but Luxton struck out. Ross Holland hit for Torres, singled hard to right, where Bednarski corralled it, and Irvin was making for third! Bednarski unleashed a terrible rocket, which hissed over an aweing Bergquist to third base and that runner was not gonna make it. Perfect throw, tag by Nunley, and HE – IS – OUT!!! 3-1 Blighters! Carmona 4-5; Bednarski 2-4; Seeley (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Nunley (PH) 1-2; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 2B Taylor – SS Howell – P Conway
VAN: CF Holland – RF K. Evans – 1B Gilbert – LF E. Garcia – 3B Suzuki – 2B Lawrence – C Dunn – SS Irvin – P Park

Cookie led off with a single, couldn’t get a jump once more, but when Sandy singled softly between he first and second baseman he took off for third base, got there with time to spare but drew a throw that allowed Sandy to move up to second base, and Hunter Park was in trouble in a hurry. And here came the fail parade. Nunley grounded out to first, Richards walked, and Bednarski hit into a twin killing. Nobody scored, as usual. In response to that, the singles-flicker Ross Holland hit a leadoff jack off Conway, and here we go. Carmona doubled to start the third inning, and was left stranded just as well. Howell hit a leadoff double in the fifth, which brought up Conway, whose offensive ineptitude was limitless and he got Howell killed with a terrible bunt that was an easy out at third base. Cookie, seemingly broken, rolled over to short for a double play. Great, now he starts with that ****, too.

The hapless Coons, down 1-0, then shed a Nunley, when their third baseman tweaked an oblique on a defensive play and was replaced by Hudman after five innings. Of course Hudman had to come to bat in the eighth when the Coons were down 2-0 (another run on Conway in the sixth inning) and had just placed Seeley and Sambrano on with singles. Hudman rolled right over to short, another double play, another rope to get a knot into. The Elks came close to smashing through Constantino and Thrasher in the bottom 8th to put the game out of reach, but with the bases loaded Juan Medina’s soft lob to shallow left was caught by Ron Richards who hustled like the devil was after him. That ended the inning, but Alvarado was already salivating. 61 innings and 103 strikeouts, but Richards hit a leadoff single. Bednarski hit a single! And Taylor hit into a double play. 2-0 Canadiens. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Sambrano 2-4; Richards 2-3, BB; Seeley (PH) 1-1;

The annoying dumpster rats had ten hits, four double plays, and left ten on base. No wonder they won’t make the cut.

Nunley will live, but he’s uncomfortable and will most likely miss the Crusaders series. He’s listed as DTD. Of course his injury and that to Merritt mean that we will go into the blindingly important Crusaders set with a green utility infielder not especially adept at anything except breathing on the hot corner.

Or we roll the dice and send Sandy there. That would get Seeley into the lineup, who’s had a nice week, if we shuffle things a little bit.

In other news

August 20 – CHA SP John Key (4-7, 4.15 ERA) and CL Cris Pena combine for a 1-hit shutout of the Warriors, who only amount to a fifth inning single by 2B Ivan Flores.
August 21 – ATL INF Wade White (.273, 2 HR, 24 RBI) is out for up to a month with a tear in his hamstring.
August 21 – The Aces and Bayhawks are tied at four after six innings, then play ten more frames before the Bayhawks get away with a 5-4 win in 16 innings.
August 23 – The Stars have 14 hits against the Scorpions, hit into three double plays and have two runners caught stealing, but still emerge with a 1-0 victory.
August 24 – Pittsburgh’s SP Jeremiah Bowman (15-7, 3.04 ERA) allows only three hits in a 7-0 shutout of the Buffaloes.

Complaints and stuff

Cookie Carmona was Player of the Week, batting 14-for-27 (.519) with no homers and 2 RBI, and he only took one base, but he had three doubles in those 14 hits.

No, the Crusaders don’t ever lose. They were down by SEVEN against the Loggers on Sunday, and still pulled out a 9-8 win. They are on pace for their second consecutive .750+ month, and us poor fuzzballs are going to be walked over this coming week. The purple knights are completely healthy, by the way.

Nick Brown is at 2,756 strikeouts, and he might get two starts next week, so he should get past Robbie Campbell (7 K away) with ease. Kel Yates sits frozen at 2,773, cooking on low flame in Drummondville. Wherever the heck that is.

The situation is complicated for next week, however. We have Monday off, then go to New York for four games, opening with a double header that will be split between Brownie and Dickerson. One of these two has to go on short rest on Saturday, which is just shy of the roster expansion date. Either that or … Constantino. (shivers)

Angel wants a new contract. Oh, I’d love to, but … (exhales heavily) … I don’t know. While I’m going to spend the next two months gnashing my teeth over this (not that I would have to gnash my teeth over anything else in October), here’s some silly numbers:

ABL CAREER SAVES LEADERS

1st – Andres Ramirez – 770 (HOF)
2nd – Lawson Steward – 593 (HOF)
3rd – Grant West – 522 (HOF)
4th – Jim Durden – 519
5th – William Henderson – 498
6th – Rick Evans – 496
7th – Pedro Alvarado – 487 (active)
8th – Robbie Wills – 486 (active)
9th – Domingo Rivera – 482
10th – Paco Barrera – 468
11th – Domingo Alonso – 456
12th – Javier Navarro – 455
13th – Ian Johnson – 431 (active)
14th – Scott Hood – 427 (active)
15th – Johnny Smith – 426 (active)
16th – Ryosei Kato – 422 (active)
17th – Charlie Deacon – 418 (active)
18th – Juan Miranda – 417
19th – Mike Dye – 415
t-20th – Jon Butler – 411
t-20th – Luis Hernandez – 411 (active)
22nd – Angel Casas – 400 (active)

Further down, there’s f.e. Dan Nordahl in 29th place with 352 SV and Salvadaro Soure in 35th with 333 SV. Nordahl lost his closer’s job last year and has only picked up four between this and last season. The trade that sent him and Randy Farley to Sioux Falls for Adrian Quebell was probably a huge mistake, but then again our thing here wasn’t working out and Angel was already emerging as closing beast at that point. Maybe moving Nordahl was the right move after all, just not the right trade.

Finally, what’s up on the farm? AAA SP Graham Wasserman (6-15, 4.63 ERA) finishes the season on the DL with shoulder soreness. A level lower, SP Jeff Magnotta’s first-glance numbers are uninspiring (9-11, 3.65 ERA), but he’s struck out 100+ more than he walked in a full AA season, and he’s just 21. SP Damani Knight was still stuck in single-A two years after being drafted and was close to getting released after the draft, but there was an opening in AA, and he fought into the rotation there and had a respectable 4.14 ERA. Maybe he’ll come around still. He’s 22.

In Aumsville, SP Rich Gould (8-13, 3.30 ERA) walked over 100 in his first full season, but also struck out 163. This year’s top pick SP Roger Kincheloe (2-9, 5.09 ERA) was roughed up well and left his last start with an injury. Last year’s tenth-rounder, SP Jeremy Homer, worked his way into the rotation and went 6-9 with a 4.12 ERA, but shows some promise. Who know’s, he’s a late-round lefty. (strokes a Nick Brown Bobblehead that will be handed out in September)

Throughout the system, the hitting prospects have been gallingly pathetic, and all our minor league teams run horrendous losing records around or below .400 … we have really NO well-performing position players ANYWHERE in the minors. The lone exception might be AA outfielder Chris Thomson, our 2012 ninth-rounder, who hit for a .839 OPS in 61 games in AA in two stints. In between, he stunk it up in AAA for a month-plus. There is also the case of Andy Bareford, the 2013 top pick, who hit for a .788 OPS in single-A to start the season, but was victimized in AA after a promotion in early June. He’s on the DL with a rib cage injury now and might not make it back this season.

Nope, no hitting, nowhere.