[Westheim]

Still off-sync after the draft. I finally got the new PC to work so that sucked a lot of attention this weekend, driving cars in circles like a maniac, and now screw it; the All Star Game is just 1 1/2 weeks away, and things will regulate itself then automatically. This update runs Thursday through Thursday.

Raccoons (47-32) vs. Loggers (36-42) – June 29-July 2, 2017

The Raccoons were 5-3 against the Loggers this season. Milwaukee was sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed with a -1 run differential, but they were playing worse than that. One thing might be their bottomless bullpen, the second-worst in the league, that was actively harming them.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (9-3, 1.88 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (6-4, 2.89 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-4, 3.47 ERA) vs. Ricky Mendoza (8-2, 4.29 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (8-7, 2.94 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (2-11, 3.88 ERA)
Damani Knight (2-2, 4.34 ERA) vs. Luis Guerrero (2-7, 4.58 ERA)

The Loggers will have left-handers at either end of this series. We are also in terrain where we might give the regulars a breather in this series, in order to have everybody ready for the important Crusaders tilt afterwards. McKnight would take a seat in the opener, which left our starting outfield and Shane Walter as guys to give rest to during the series.

Game 1
MIL: RF Hodgers – 3B Landeros – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – 2B Best – CF Gore – C Porter – 1B Betancourt – P V. Scott
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Petracek – RF H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 3B Nunley – SS Walter – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

Maybe it was the sudden challenge to his top dog status (at least where career credentials were concerned; he certainly wasn’t the top dog on the team even without Mendoza), but all of a sudden R.J. DeWeese was doing real damage to opposing teams. He drove in the first four runs for the Coons against Victor Scott, who only went five innings and allowed as many counters. DeWeese hit a 3-run homer in the first, plating Petracek, who had walked, and Mendoza, who had singled, then hit an RBI single in the third inning, plating Petracek again as the same three guys hit three singles to get going. Jonny Toner allowed no hits until Steve Best hit a bloop single in the fifth, but hit a triple himself in the bottom 4th, scoring on a wild pitch, 5-0. Jonny found no great challenge in the Loggers order and whiffed ten by the seventh inning, in the bottom of which the Raccoons turned reliever Jimmy Young inside out. Mike Denny hit a 3-run homer to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, and they scored four runs total in the inning. Although his pitch count ran high at the end after two full counts in the eighth inning that ended in strikeouts anyway, Jonny pitched a quick ninth to claim a shutout on 121 pitches. 9-0 Coons! Mendoza 3-4, 3B, RBI; DeWeese 2-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Toner 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K, W (10-3) and 1-4, 3B;

This was Jonny’s first shutout this year and the 10th of his career. Also, the recent scoring surge has catapulted the Critters to sixth place in the Continental League in terms of runs put on the board.

Cookie and Shane Walter were given days off in the Friday game. Bergquist started at second, and after an 0-for-4 on Thursday sat squarely behind the eight ball. Never mind the total lack of qualified batters in our minor league system.

Game 2
MIL: 3B Landeros – 2B Aponte – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – RF Gore – 1B Betancourt – P R. Mendoza
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Petracek – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 2B Bergquist – P Santos

Hugo chugged a 370-footer off Ricky in the bottom of the first to extend his own hitting streak to 15 games and put the Coons up 1-0, but Santos wouldn’t hold on to it at all. David Betancourt had the third single of the inning with one out in the top 2nd, tying the game, but Santos still would have gotten out of it relatively unscathed if he hadn’t spiked the throw to first on Mendoza’s grounder. Our own Mendoza couldn’t come up with it, and the Loggers took a 2-1 lead on the error, then extended it to 3-1 when Ruben Landeros hit a sac fly to right. Santos made another bad play in the fifth with a poor throw on Guillermo Aponte’s grounder, which then put runners on the corners following a Landeros double into the left corner, but a K to Chris LeMoine and a foul pop by Andrew Cooper bailed him out. With Santos almost at 100 pitches through five shoddy innings, the rest of the team were still soul-searching. When Bergquist singled with one out in the bottom 5th, Young hit for him, but popped out to short. Nunley fouled out, ending the inning, but things got definitely better in the next inning. Denny singled to extend his streak to 16 games, but before that even, DeWeese had drawn a 2-out walk and McKnight had smacked a jack to right to knot the score at three.

John Korb, in his second inning, got ruffled in the top 7th, though. Victor Hodgers opened the frame with a pinch-hit single in Betancourt’s spot, stole second base and finally scored on another Landeros double (wonder where that was coming from…). Ron Thrasher replaced him to keep the deficit to a run, which he succeeded in. McKnight grounding to short with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom 8th looked like sealing one of those sad losses, but he actually beat out Aponte’s relay throw to break up the double play, which allowed Petracek to score with the tying run, then getting us even at four. Unfortunately, Hodgers continued to wreak havoc and hit a leadoff jack off Jayden Reed in the top 9th, putting the Coons in the hole for the third time, and they clambered out a THIRD time, and again Petracek had a hand in the comeback. Troy Charters allowed a leadoff walk to William Waggoner in the bottom 9th, after which Cookie hit for Bergquist and popped out to shallow center. Margolis hit for Reed, singled, but Nunley whiffed to get to 0-for-5. Petracek was up, hit a 1-0 pitch hard to left, where it fell in. Hodgers hurled it in; Cameron Konrath had his back to the plate and wouldn’t get Waggoner, but Margolis hadn’t looked left and made for third, where he was totally dead on Konrath’s short throw, but not until after Waggoner slid across home plate belly first. Inning over, here’s another one.

The Loggers had by now removed their most dangerous batters in the 3-4 holes with defensive replacements (although Steve Best, batting third now, was far from shabby; but he did strike out against Beaver to start the 10th), which oughta give the Raccoons an edge if they could just stop getting hurt by Landeros (batting a glorious .200) and Hodgers. Beaver pitched a clean top 10th, while Charters was still in the game in the bottom of the inning. He lose Mendoza and DeWeese to walks to begin the frame, then lost the game when McKnight singled into the gap in left center. 6-5 Raccoons!! Petracek 2-5, RBI; DeWeese 2-3, 2 BB; McKnight 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1;

Kevin Beaver now has more wins than Hector Santos, five to four.

Since DeWeese was barely short of a dumpster fire against left-handed pitching, he was assigned Sunday off. Saturday off belonged to Mendoza, along with Denny, so there was no hitting streak race going on for now, although Mendoza was a key bat and would be hard to keep on the bench in a tight spot…

Game 3
MIL: RF Hodgers – 3B Landeros – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 2B Best – CF Gore – 1B Betancourt – P Foreman
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – 1B Young – P Abe

The Critters scored two in the first inning, but could have scored more since Cookie initially walked and was caught stealing by Orlando Castillo. Nunley and Walter reached, and DeWeese and McKnight plated them with a groundout and single, respectively. While they then had two on with nobody out for Cookie in the bottom 2nd, and Cookie hit into a double play, the top 3rd became a defensive nightmare. Abe started out by walking Betancourt, before Young threw Foreman’s bunt to second base where he had no chance to get the runner. Then Hodgers loaded the bases with a blooper to center, and there were no outs. Landeros hit an RBI single on an 0-2 pitch, and then LeMoine hit a 400-footer to right center for a slam that sucked all the air out of the home crowd that had been re-energized over the last few days. Abe went on to hit Konrath with a 1-2 pitch, and that run scored on Betancourt’s 2-out double.

The Loggers were up 6-2, and had only twice this year scored more runs in a game that poor Michael Foreman (2-11…) had started. More so, the Raccoons were blitzed and went down 1-2-3 in the next few innings until Cookie hit a leadoff double in the bottom 5th. He scored on Walter’s single, but that was all they managed, and they really wouldn’t get another base hit until they had the tying run at the plate with two on in the bottom 9th through other means. Troy Charters was at it again and had gotten a head start to another blown save. He had walked Young on four pitches, then nicked Petracek. Cookie was the tying run, nobody out. He popped out to right, Nunley popped out to short, and in a desperate bid, Mendoza pinch-hit in the #3 slot, which had been populated by pitchers after an earlier double switch, and that while he was only the tying run. He flew out to Brad Gore in center, ending the game and his hitting streak. 6-3 Loggers. Walter 2-4, 2B, RBI; Chun 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Mathis 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 4
MIL: RF Hodgers – 2B Aponte – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 3B Landeros – 1B Betancourt – P L. Guerrero
POR: LF Carmona – CF Petracek – 3B Walter – RF H. Mendoza – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – P Knight

Damani Knight very visibly continued to have no business being here and got strafed early and often. After Aponte’s single in the first he walked the bases full and allowed two runs to score on Konrath’s single to center, and by the fourth just kept getting hit and hit and hit. The Loggers piled on him for four runs in the inning, three earned because Denny found it necessary to chip in a throwing error. Worse yet, Knight was the only Critter with a base hit the first time through, and when he was finally yanked after a walk to Castillo in the fifth inning, the Loggers were cruisin’, up 6-0. Young singled and Bergquist walked in the bottom 5th. Since we required John Korb’s presence to log innings, he was sent to bunt, and got the runners into scoring position, too. Cookie and Petracek both hit RBI singles, and Walter’s single to right loaded the bases for Tiger Mendoza as the tying run. That hadn’t worked on Saturday, and it didn’t work today, as his mighty hacks missed the ball three times. Mike Denny came through with a 2-run single to center (hitting streak reaching 17), but thanks to the early meat grinder action, the Coons were still two short at 6-4.

Betancourt hit a leadoff double in the sixth inning, but was knocked out by Denny on Guerrero’s poor bunt attempt, thrown out at third by about 25 feet. Young made it two leadoff doubles for first basemen in the inning when he found the rightfield corner with a line drive, bringing up the tying run again in … Bergquist, who grounded out to short, which kept Young pinned and cost a run eventually. Waggoner moved up the runner with a groundout, but Cookie couldn’t get the ball past the most annoying Hodgers in the outfield, and Young remained on third base. LeMoine spoiled a Mendoza drive right at the wall in the seventh inning, before the Coons loaded the bases in the most fake way imaginable in the bottom 8th. Bergquist reached on a grounder that went under the diving Konrath’s glove for a 2-out single, DeWeese was grazed by a pitch, and Cookie reached only on Aponte’s error. While the Loggers were begging for it in even leaving Guerrero on the mound despite having thrown 115 pitches, the Raccoons hadn’t necessarily shown a knack for high-leverage situations in the last two games. Accordingly, Petracek grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning. Nunley’s pinch-hit 2-out single in the bottom 9th brought up the tying run again against Troy Charters, but McKnight grounded out to Landeros to end the game. 6-4 Loggers. Nunley (PH) 1-1; Young 2-4, 2B;

I see, raging success after the Mendoza trade lasted only five days.

Raccoons (49-34) vs. Crusaders (40-42) – July 3-6, 2017

The Crusaders had just been swept by the Elks, so our situation could be worse, but we were also 4 1/2 behind Indy again. They were falling apart at an advanced pace, with injuries and age both contributing factors that also pretty damn sure influenced another. They were fifth in runs scored, but ninth in runs allowed, and the latter was getting worse now. The Coons were 3-1 against them so far in 2017.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (7-6, 3.35 ERA) vs. Bob King (9-6, 4.21 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (10-3, 1.73 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (3-8, 7.27 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (8-5, 5.24 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (8-8, 3.30 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (8-9, 3.23 ERA)

Cruz would be another southpaw to contend with. We really need a right-handed bat, but Jason Bergquist is not an answer… I would love to flip Young for a useful right-handed outfielder, but nobody wants a piece of that.

I just realized that Jonny Toner will damn sure make the All Star team, but would pitch the final game before the break. That’s a tough one. I guess now that we plundered the farm to acquire Tiger Mendoza, we also have to commit to him pitching in the regular season game rather than in the exhibition bling-bling.

Game 1
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – 3B M. Salinas – 2B C. Martinez – C Lowe – RF Richards – SS Paull – P B. King
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Morrison

The Raccoons scored two in the bottom 1st, but left them loaded. Cookie singled, Tiger doubled, and Nunley singled to score the runs, while a Denny single and an error by Bob King loaded the bases for Waggoner to ground out to Carlos Martinez. The Crusaders immediately pulled a run back on Eric Paull’s sac fly that followed a leadoff walk to Drew Lowe and a Ron Richards double into the rightfield corner. With the Coons offense fast asleep again after a wild week (not even quite a week…) and Morrison’s unnerving tendency to walk batters, a 2-1 lead was not a pleasant thing to hold. The Coons did nothing, and the Crusaders kept poking, finding success in the fifth. Martin Ortíz hit a 1-out single and stole second base, but Morrison walked Jose Paraz anyway. Ortíz stole third base(!), Paraz moved up, and Ray Gilbert’s single to center tied the game. Paraz scored on Miguel Salinas’s sac fly and the Crusaders were ahead, 3-2.

Morrison walked Lowe to start the sixth (…!), then made a poor throw on Richards’ grounder that left Lowe safe at second base. Paull flew out to left, King struck out, but Ortíz drew another walk to load them up. That was it for Morrison, with Thrasher coming in to face Paraz, who was a switch-hitter, but weak from the right side, and batting only .184 overall, but with five homers. He hit a 1-0 pitch hard to right, but Waggoner came in and took it, ending the inning. Mathis and Reed turned in scoreless innings after that, but it wasn’t until the bottom 8th that the Raccoons even got on base again. Walter hit a leadoff single to center, and the Crusaders stuck with King despite some serious thump scheduled to appear in the batter’s box. I was discovering a tendency in Tiger Mendoza to swing hard regardless of the situation, which was very DeWeese-ish, but sometimes success makes you right. Mendoza mauled King’s 0-2, and bombarded it over a sad Ortíz into the leftfield stands, flipping the score and erupting the crowd! DeWeese then singled. Nunley was the first out before Salinas and King made errors on consecutive ground balls that should have ended the inning, but instead chased home DeWeese and put two on for Young, batting for Waggoner, who singled to left, but McKnight was held at third, which turned out to be a mistake once Margolis grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Alex Ramirez was on it with a 5-3 lead in the ninth – his first save opportunity in 14 days! – and first got a glimpse at the charred remains of Stanton Martin, pinch-hitting to start the inning. The former scare was hitting .212 with one homer, getting hardly playing time due to a used-up body that didn’t want to play ball anymore. And Ramirez walked him. Then he drilled Ortíz, putting the tying runs on, with Paraz putting an 0-2 into play and into rightfield. Martin was sent around third base, Tiger – out in right with Young remaining in at first base – fired a mighty rocket home, and had the old former pitchers’ schreck out by 15 feet. Ray Gilbert raped the very next pitch that Ramirez threw, a mighty fly to deep right, with Medonza selling out completely on that drive, snagging it in mid-air before slamming into the ground in the gap in right center – but he held on, and Ortíz had already been almost at third base in a stunning case of lack of situational awareness for a 37-year old routine All Star. He had to come back, although Tiger had no chance to double him off. Salinas flew out to DeWeese to end the game. 5-3 Furballs. Walter 2-4; Mendoza 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-4, RBI; Young (PH) 1-1;

This W was Ron Thrasher’s first decision of the year, which is odd for someone pitching in high leverage situations. It was also Ramirez’ first save in 16 days, since he had actually blown his most recent chance, and even now I was tempted to assign Tiger at least 80% of the credit…

Game 2
NYC: C Lowe – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 2B C. Martinez – LF Richards – 3B Caraballo – SS Paull – P Choe
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Toner

I couldn’t quite grasp why, but the Crusaders put a 3-spot on Toner in the third inning, which went a bit like Morrison’s big inning the day before. Leadoff single by Francisco Caraballo, and then Toner hit Paull. Choe bunted them to scoring position, and Lowe grounded out to first, but then Paraz singled to center to plate two, Gilbert reached on Nunley’s 12th error of the year, and Winston Jones hit a run-scoring single for the final note in the inning. As always against a 7+ ERA pitcher, the Raccoons were hit- and listless the first time through the order…

Richards homered off Toner in the fourth, and Jonny walked a pair in the fifth while not exactly radiating excellence as he raised his pitch count and the Crusaders’ run tally. Toner was done after six, having completely failed on all accounts, while Choe was still handling the Raccoons with a 2-hitter. DeWeese had hit into a double play in the fourth, and two doubles with two outs hadn’t led anywhere pleasant. The Raccoons required the services of friggin’ Adam Young to get onto the ****ing scoreboard, calling him out with two on and two out in the bottom 7th, hitting for Beaver. He lined one to right, McKnight scored from second, and it was 4-1. Cookie hit another RBI single, but Walter fouled out to spoil the effort. It was their last honest effort. DeWeese reached base again when Choe hit him in the eighth, Nunley hit into a double play, and that was it for the Coons. 4-2 Crusaders. Carmona 2-4, RBI; Young (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Mike Denny’s 18-game hitting streak found an end in this cabinet of horrors. Worse on a personal level: for the actual first time since the Mendoza trade, I woke up the next morning in front of the open booze cabinet.

Game 3
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – 2B C. Martinez – C Lowe – SS Paull – P F. Cruz
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Petracek – RF Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – P Santos

The single that Ortíz hit on an 0-2 pitch to start the game already let the dark clouds appear over my head again, despite Paraz lining into a double play to Petracek, who then gave the Coons a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning, doubling home Cookie, who had singled and stolen second base. But the Raccoons can’t have nice things – Petracek had felt something in his calf and left the game right away, replaced by Young, who scored on two groundouts by the 3-4 batters. The Critters went on to have a string of singles by the 7-8-9 batters with one out in the bottom 2nd, loading them up for Cookie, who grounded to short, but Paull’s throw to second base was off to Martinez’ right and he couldn’t come up with it. All hands were safe, 3-0. Young fouled out (…), while the Tiger lined out incredibly hard to Martinez.

A Ray Gilbert homer aside, not much happened through the middle innings. The Critters didn’t reach scoring position again until the bottom of the seventh when Bergquist hit a leadoff double, which got him back to that elusive .200 mark. Santos bunted him to third, but the Crusaders had no interest in facing Carmona, who was walked intentionally. Young hit a soft line over Martinez that made it to shallow right for an RBI single, after which the Critters lost another run when Cookie was nipped stealing third base, just before Mendoza hit a gapper for a double that only scored Young. However, a 4-run lead should suffice to collect six outs. Santos insisted on allowing a hard drive to center to pinch-hitter Ron Richards, spoiling which cost Cookie another six weeks of his already much-shortened life. Santos made it through the inning, but Chun got lid up when he started the ninth. Gilbert singled, Winston Jones homered, and suddenly it was 5-3 and the extra-wonky Ramirez was washed out of the bullpen. The Crusaders had the tying runs in scoring position after a Salinas single and Martinez double, and Ramirez just wasn’t going to get out of that one alive. Lowe plated one run with a groundout, and Paull hit a sac fly – tied game. And after another absent performance by the Critters in the bottom 9th, Martin Ortíz’ leadoff jack off John Korb in the top 10th put the Crusaders ahead and over the hump. 6-5 Crusaders. Petracek 1-1, 2B, RBI; Mendoza 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4; Bergquist 2-4, 2B; Santos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K and 1-2;

Sometimes I wonder why I put on pants in the morning…

Game 4
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – C Lowe – 2B Berman – SS Paull – P J. Martin
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Johnson – C Margolis – P Abe

Cookie and Walter opened the first with doubles, and Tiger got Walter driven in with a single to left for an early 2-0 lead, though that was nothing that couldn’t effortlessly be blown. Drew Lowe homered in the second to cut the gap in half – and that was after Salinas’ double play that was perfectly placed for Walter to convert. Jones had drawn the leadoff walk, and Abe issued another walk to Paraz in the third inning. Gilbert hit a hard single to left, but Jones struck out – Abe’s 100th strikeout of the season. At least a few guys in the lineup were trying to build a lead. Cookie hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, stole second base, and somehow made it around to score despite not much help coming from the guys behind him. After McKnight and Abe singles in the bottom 4th, Cookie came up with runners on the corners and hit another single to plate McKnight, and Abe scored on Walter’s single, 5-1.

Despite some holes in the lineup (DeWeese was in a gross rut), the Coons managed to get “Midnight” Martin out of the game after only four innings, and the Crusaders were sufficiently scared about Cookie by now that they walked him intentionally with Margolis on second and one out in the bottom 6th. Defense then cost the Crusaders, with ex-Coon Francisquo Bocanegra, a southpaw, pitching. Walter hit a poor grounder, but Lowe couldn’t play it and left Walter with a bases-loading infield single before Tiger Mendoza grounded to the short side of second base, and Paull blatantly missed it, leaving Mendoza with a 2-run single. DeWeese flew out harmlessly, but Nunley grounded past Gilbert for another RBI single, which ended Bocanegra’s suffering. Dave Shannon replaced him and struck out McKnight, keeping the score at 8-1. Abe became stuck right away in the top 7th. Three singles loaded the bases with two outs and Martin Ortíz approaching. Thrasher came out and conquered him in three pitches to sniff out the threat.

The Crusaders then became a victim of their old age and more terrible defense. Johnson and Young hit singles in the bottom 7th, pulling up Cookie, who hit a soft fly to shallow center, but Paraz didn’t get there. It was in for a single, Johnson scored, and Young was thrown out at third base for the second out. After that, Walter and Mendoza hit consecutive bloopers into shallow left where a good defender (or a young one) might have gotten them, but both fell in, with another run scoring before Toshiro Uenohara struck out DeWeese. Although I was kinda tempted to see a 9-run lead blown, the pen held tight this time around, with Chun and Beaver getting the last six outs. 10-1 Raccoons. Carmona 4-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Walter 4-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Mendoza 4-5, 3 RBI; Johnson 2-5; Waggoner (PH) 1-1; Young (PH) 1-2; Abe 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (9-8) and 1-2;

We had 20 hits, of which 17 were singles, and half a dozen were owed to terrible defense on the Crusaders’ part.

In other news

June 29 – The hitting streak of Nashville’s Chris Macias (.327, 6 HR, 52 RBI) reaches 25 games with a fifth-inning single in a 7-3 loss to Topeka.
June 29 – The Gold Sox walk off with a 3-2 win against the Pacifics in the 14th inning. Both teams scored a run in the 13th.
June 30 – After an 0-for-3 effort against the Buffaloes in a 6-5 loss, the 25-game hitting streak of NAS RF/CF Chris Macias (.323, 6 HR, 52 RBI) is over.
July 1 – After being tied at four after nine innings, Condors and Aces both score a run in the 14th, but end up clawing at another for 18 innings before LVA RF/LF Geoff Struck (.281, 9 HR, 41 RBI) swats a walkoff homer off Michael Colvard to give Las Vegas a 6-5 win.
July 2 – San Francisco scores 11 runs in the first three innings in a 15-4 rout of the Knights.
July 4 – The Aces not only blow their 5-3 lead over the Bayhawks in the ninth inning, they concede seven runs to take a bloody 10-5 defeat.
July 4 – The Scorpions rout the Stars, 13-2, on the strength of an 8-run second inning.
July 4 – A passed ball charged to Salem’s Mark Desan allows the Pacifics to walk off as Jimmy Roberts scores with the winning run, 3-2 Pacifics.

Complaints and stuff

Hitting .292 with 10 HR and 26 RBI netted “Tiger” the CL Batter of the Month award, despite only playing in the CL for five days. Someone in the league office was apparently drunk…

Meanwhile, Player of the Week in the Federal League was Mike Bednarski, batting 13-for-25 (.520) with 1 HR and 8 RBI, so maybe things were about to spiral out of control.

After a week of horrendous innings to unwind all efforts, my strong belief in the Raccoons’ destiny to always come second (at best), no matter what, due to divine intervention by the smallest, ugliest, and most evil in the pantheon baseball gods (his name is Igor), was firmly reinforced. Jonny’s start against the Crusaders is all you need to look at to learn something about divine No-you-won’ts, although Wednesday’s 4-runs choke was also a pretty could indicator of the continuous misery Raccoons fans were used to endure.

The International Signing Period started on July 1. Teams have a soft cap of $388k available, and the Raccoons had no penalties applied. The pool wasn’t as juicy as in some of the recent years, although we found a few very interesting players anyway, no pitchers, though. We initially offered contracts to seven players, totaling a bit over $350k. The main prize seemed to be 16-year old Dominican Omar Alfaro, a powerful corner outfielder, whom we offered $220k to, well knowing that that wouldn’t be enough, but Gabriel Martinez thought he had identified a sleeper in infielder Hector Gaitan from Venezuela, who was high on his list of players to ink. Gaitan was content with a first offer of $25k, but we can’t possibly be the only ones to discover a real talent, right? The only other player to receive an offer for more than peanuts was 16-year old Dominican centerfielder Juan Gonzalez, whom we offered $65k, although he was not very impressive with the bat. He was more a defensive toy.

RF Omar Alfaro - $220,000
CF Juan Gonzalez - $65,000
SS Hector Gaitan - $25,000
SP Francisco Rangel - $16,000
SP Marco Ramirez - $14,000
C Elias Tovias - $8,500
CF Guillermo Morales - $8,000

TOTAL - $356,500

Both pitchers are left-handers. Tovias is from the Bowen/Denny mold of catchers, with high power and little agility.

In the end, apparently Gaitan had no other suitors because he signed our $25k by Monday, and Ramirez and Morales signed later in the week after another offer. So far we have spent just over $50k on those three, but the Alfaro bidding might last a while. The price shot up to $249k by Thursday.

How long has it been since a Batter of the Month award for the Coons? Well, this is the first time in OOTP 16, at least 12 years. It triggered a friggin’ bronze achievement!!