[Westheim]

Raccoons (34-21) vs. Crusaders (30-25) – June 3-6, 2019

Playing the ugly bunch from New York has not been among my favorite pastimes in quite a while now, even though the Purple Poopers are old and weak, for the most part. They were four games out in the North, would come into Portland for four games, and the signs were quite bad. While the Crusaders themselves were not scoring at all, ranking second from the bottom in runs tallied in the Continental League, they were also not giving up a whole lot of runs, and ranked second in runs allowed. Any good pitching staff had the potential to completely phase out the Raccoons’ lineup… The Crusaders had taken two of three in the first meeting between these teams in 2019.

Projected matchups.
Hector Santos (6-3, 2.52 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (3-4, 2.82 ERA)
Damani Knight (1-1, 6.91 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (3-5, 3.78 ERA)
Cole Pierson (4-3, 3.10 ERA) vs. Manuel Ortíz (3-3, 4.48 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-3, 3.06 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (3-4, 4.87 ERA)

There were plenty of good news, however. First, those were all right-handers, and second, we’d miss “Midnight” Martin (7-2, 1.87 ERA) *unless* the Crusaders would skip Benjamin, which they could to after an off day on Thursday. Third, a bunch of offense was on the DL for them, including ****ing Ray Gilbert, Ron Richards, and Manny Cruz, who were all old and all had their issues, but the bottom of their order looked quite pathetic. Even B.J. Manfull, who protected Martin Ortíz all those years, was batting .216 with one measly dinger.

Next year, folks, next year they’ll be back with an all new crew. But this year, they’re quite frankly terrible.

The Raccoons were short-handed to begin the series, with Cookie feeling discomfort in his forearm after getting plunked by ****ing Desi Bowles on Sunday. No structural damage was reported by the Druid, so Cookie was perhaps back in the lineup as soon as Tuesday.

Game 1
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF Mar. Ortíz – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – C Roland – CF J. Wilson – SS Casillas – RF Woods – P Weise
POR: 3B Walter – CF Bareford – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Lafon – P Santos

The Crusaders had a single off Santos, but nothing more, in each of the first three innings. The first serious scoring opportunity arose in the bottom 3rd, which Roland Lafon opened with a single before Cory Roland misplayed Santos’ bunt, trying to get the lead runner out, and got nobody. Walter flew out to center, but Bareford walked to load the bases for the middle of the order. McKnight struck out on three pitches, but Mendoza got hit by frequent opponent Tom Weise and the first run of the game was shoved in. On the next pitch, Eddie Jackson hit a drive to deep center on which John Wilson robbed him of extra bases and a flush of RBI’s. The Crusaders didn’t reach third base until the fifth inning; Brent Woods hit a 1-out double to right and advanced on a balk even before Tom Weise could bunt him to third. Weise ended up making the second out with a pop to Mendoza, with Lafon making a strong play on a really slow grounder by Jens Carroll to end the inning.

The Critters struggled to add anything to their two hits and their lone run. While Santos pitched seven shutout innings, the Coons only got their third hit in the bottom 6th with Jackson singling to right with two outs, only for DeWeese to deWhiff, and in the seventh Denny hit a leadoff single, but got forced on Joey Mathews’ grounder when Mathews hit for Santos. Walter walked with two down, but Bareford grounded out and the score remained flimsy at 1-0. Chris Mathis had a clean eighth, and Jackson had another 2-out hit in the bottom of the inning, doubling into the leftfield corner, but DeWeese again didn’t come through, grounding out to Sergio Valdez. The ninth inning saw the 2-3-4 batters up, all left-handed. Despite his recent struggles, Ron Thrasher was assigned the save opportunity. He walked Martin Ortíz on four pitches right away before whiffing Valdez. Manfull grounded out, moving Ortíz to second. Thrasher remained in the game to face the right-handed Roland, and blew the game on a line drive to right center for an RBI single. Weise pitched nine innings without getting a decision as the game went to extras at 1-1. The miserable Raccoons drew two walks off starter-turned-closer Brian Doumas in the bottom 10th, but couldn’t get the winning run home, and in the 11th Carroll opened with a leadoff double off Wade Davis. Kaiser replaced Davis, couldn’t keep the run on base, and the Raccoons were sent spinning by Valdez’ sac fly. Lafon drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 11th, but Dan Riley struck out and Walter flew out. Bareford snuck a single past Carroll with two outs, but that still only got Lafon to second base, where he remained with McKnight fouling out behind home plate to end the game. 2-1 Crusaders. Jackson 2-4, 2B; Margolis (PH) 1-1; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K;

Great, now we have to officially declare Thrasher broken, too. Is there anybody on this roster not broken as heck? What’s that there? Oh, Damani Knight is next. Oh wonderful. We need more baseballs, because a whole bunch will be hit into the Willamette here…

Game 2
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF Mar. Ortíz – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – C Roland – CF J. Wilson – SS Casillas – RF Woods – P Benjamin
POR: RF Carmona – CF Bareford – 3B Walter – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Riley – P Knight

Cookie was back in the lineup and right away hit a triple in the first inning, scoring on Bareford’s grounder to short for the first run of the game. Walter got plunked by Benjamin, setting in motion a chain reaction that left the Crusaders hurler weeping uncomfortably soon. Mendoza and McKnight both hit singles to load the bases before Denny bypassed Brent Woods’ glove for a 2-run double. DeWeese hit a soft line over Manfull for an RBI single before getting picked off, but Dan Riley drove in the fifth run with a liner to left center that back in his heydays in the Age of Bronze (or probably even earlier), Martin Ortíz would have caught. This one was in, Riley’s first career base hit and RBI, and the Coons had a 5-0 lead after one inning. AND they had Damani Knight on the mound, so there was no reason for them to ever stop scoring…

Knight ****ed up right away; Cory Roland and Tony Casillas both hit singles, and with runners on the corners Knight first threw a run-scoring wild pitch to Benjamin, then conceded a 2-out RBI single to Benjamin on a hard liner to left. The Crusaders had the tying run at the plate with nobody out in the third after Ortíz’ leadoff double and Valdez hard RBI single to right. Valdez was caught stealing by Denny, but Knight walked B.J. Manfull anyway. Cory Roland was retired on a magnificent catch by Cookie in right center, and the score was down to 5-3. At least the Critters got the hint. Mendoza hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 3rd, 6-3, and Denny’s single and Riley’s walk put two on for Knight, who in one of those bizarre things that occasionally will happen in a ballgame knocked out Benjamin with an RBI single past Casillas to make it 7-3 with two outs. Knight barely made it through five innings with the 7-3 lead, with his outing in next-guy-on-you-gone mode then. He got through the sixth perfectly on three fly balls to DeWeese. Reliever Tom Nelson walked the bases full in the bottom 6th, but then caught a liner by Shane Walter and got Mendoza on a fly to right to end the inning. Damani ended up going six and two thirds before Carroll singled to center, with Kaiser replacing him and getting Ortíz on a grounder to Riley.

Kaiser got two more outs in the eight before yielding to Jeff Boynton with the right-hander Roland appearing. Boynton retired nobody, issuing 2-out walks to Roland and Wilson. With this suddenly a save situation, Alex Ramirez came in, walked Casillas to fill the bases, and then also walked Woods to shove in a run. PH Rob Morris struck out, but I was wondering why the **** things were going like that anyway. Ramirez did end up with the save, but not without not getting into a single good count in the ninth and allowing a 1-out double to Martin Ortíz… 7-4 Raccoons. Mendoza 2-4, HR, RBI; Denny 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, RBI; Riley 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

Game 3
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF Mar. Ortíz – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – C Little – CF J. Wilson – SS Casillas – RF S. Young – P Man. Ortíz
POR: RF Carmona – CF Bareford – 3B Walter – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – 2B Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – P Pierson

Danny Margolis retired three Crusaders on foul pops behind home plate the first time through their order, which was only part of a sorry hitting display by both teams in the Wednesday game. The Crusaders managed only two hits in five innings against Pierson, and while the Coons had four in the same amount of outs, they had just as much to show for it thanks to Bareford getting caught stealing, Mathews hitting into a double play, and Margolis getting picked off first base. Things were shaken up dramatically by Jens Carroll’s leadoff triple into the leftfield corner in the sixth inning. Pierson, having only one strikeout through five innings, had little to offer in terms of resistance and conceded the run on Martin Ortíz’ sac fly. Morgan Little’s single and Tony Casillas walking put two on with one out in the seventh, but Jasper Holt’s bunt was thrown to third by Mendoza for the out on the lead runner there. Pierson still crapped out, allowing an RBI single with two outs to Manuel Ortíz, sending the Crusaders up 2-0. The 35-year old Ortíz, who spent almost a decade with the Falcons without ever getting noticed by me, continued to befuddle the Raccoons. While Hugo Mendoza did reach on an infield single in the bottom 7th, he also left the game afterwards with a barking knee. Petracek was used to pinch-run for a fallen Critter for the fourth time in ten days. As usual, he was left on base. Martin Ortíz homered off Pierson in the eighth – his first home run of the season, and the 376th of his career. Down 3-0, the Coons visibly weren’t going anywhere.

DeWeese worked a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th and advanced on a wild pitch, then scored from second on Margolis’ single to right. Jackson pinch-hit for Seung-mo Chun and walked, putting the tying runs on base, but Cookie flew out to Martin Ortíz for the first out, and Bareford flailed out. Shane Walter came up and did markedly better, sending a liner to center that John Wilson had to lunge for, but he missed it, merely knocking the ball down, but it bobbled out from underneath him. Margolis scored, Jackson was waved around with the tying run and was safe – we’re even! Then Petracek singled to center, and in a rush of euphoria we sent Walter, and of course he was thrown out by Wilson… Neither team managed to break through in the ninth, with Mathis collecting five outs before that thick left-handed area of the order appeared again. Thrasher was called on and retired four of five batters between the 10th and 11th, striking out three and only allowing a single to Little, who was not a left-handed batter. Doumas was pitching in the bottom 11th and found trouble; he walked Petracek with one out, then conceded a single to McKnight. The #6 spot held Thrasher, who was hit for by Mike Denny, who struck out in a full count before DeWeese popped out to short on the first pitch he saw.

As the game ran longer than appreciated, Jeff Boynton was in to bear the brunt of time and innings. He got through two alright, got zero support, then allowed a 1-out single to Wilson in the 14th. Wilson stole second base and took third on Margolis’ errant throw, then scored on Ryan Dawson’s groundout to short. The Coons put McKnight on base with a leadoff walk drawn off Pedro Alvarado’s animate corpse in the bottom 14th, but Dan Riley pinch-hit right into a double play. DeWeese even came up with a ****ing double, but Margolis struck out to end the game. 4-3 Crusaders. Walter 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Petracek 1-2, BB; Margolis 2-6, RBI; Pierson 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Mathis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Boynton 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, L (4-1);

****ing bunch of losers…

In more news I don’t need, Hugo Mendoza had some kind of knee inflammation and was unavailable for the last game of this set and probably also for the weekend. While that tore another hole into an already terrible lineup, Mendoza was the one off worst, because he had to wear a bandage hand-knitted from slimy blue algae by the Druid…

We made a roster move, sending 1-for-8 Dan Riley back to AAA to bring up Russ Greenwald and his .805 OPS to make a few starts at first base while Mendoza was incapacitated. Greenwald batted .118 in ten games last season.

Also, the bullpen called. Jonny, you need to go deep today.

Game 4
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – SS Casillas – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – C Roland – CF J. Wilson – LF S. Young – RF Woods – P Choe
POR: RF Carmona – CF Bareford – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Greenwald – 3B Petracek – P Toner

Toner stalked around a 2-out triple by Valdez in the first, but was less lucky in the second. He walked John Wilson, who scored on Sean Young’s double to right center, and when Brent Woods grounded to third, Petracek skidded a throw through the dirt that undressed Greenwald for a run-scoring error, giving the Crusaders an early 2-0 lead. Toner very obviously didn’t have it, surrendering a huge 2-out double do B.J. Manfull in the third inning as well. Roland struck out to end that frame, and the Raccoons actually showed life in the bottom 3rd. Petracek opened with a double between Woods and Wilson, and then Toner singled to left, putting the tying runs on the corners with nobody out. Cookie had gone 0-for-6 in the hellacious Wednesday stink affair, and had lined out real hard to Wilson to start the Coons’ first to increase everybody’s frustration. Here, he rolled a ball for about 25 feet. Choe pounced on it, but was carried towards the third base line and got nothing on the throw to first, where Cookie was safe, but Petracek had held the fort at third base, resulting in no run scoring, but three on and nobody out – the worst spot to be in with the Raccoons batting… Promptly, Andy Bareford struck out. The moaning in the stands came too soon, however, because the Critters would cream Choe for five runs in the inning on two big rips, first Walter with a bases-clearing double to right, and then Denny with a 2-piece outta leftfield, 5-2 home team.

Toner needed 77 pitches through five, so he would probably not go very deep. While we were hoping for at least seven and no funny accidents along the way, the Crusaders bizarrely walked Greenwald intentionally with one out and Denny on second in the bottom 6th. Nothing came of the Coons having two on between Petracek and Toner taking turns at-bat, with Choe still holding out despite the 5-point whammy in the third. Choe was hit for with Martin Ortíz in the seventh, with Ortíz becoming Toner’s tenth strikeout victim, but before that Sean Young had hit a leadoff jack to get the Crusaders back to within two runs. Thankfully the Coons found a bit of offense of their own in the bottom 7th. Cookie drew a leadoff walk from lefty Francisquo Bocanegra, then stole second with Roland being a no-show, dropping the ball. Bareford was walked intentionally despite nursing a 2-for-18 illness in the series. Walter hit a deep fly to center that was caught by Wilson, Cookie tagging and going to third, from where he scored when McKnight singled up the middle into center. With Wilson’s ill-advised throw to third base, where Bareford was easily arriving, McKnight moved up to second, which opened first base for Denny to get put on intentionally, which pulled up Eddie Jackson as pinch-hitter for DeWeese, because – no. Just no. Jackson lined out to Casillas for the second out, but when Bocanegra had Greenwald at 1-2, he took the term “wipeout pitch” a bit too literally and threw it right into Greenwald’s rib cage, forcing in a run before Petracek flew out to center.

Toner ached and wobbled through the eighth inning with a blip of bad luck and a bag full of good luck. Casillas led off with an infield single that Walter cut off near the edge of the warning track, but couldn’t get a throw off in time. After Valdez popped out to shallow left for Cookie to make a hustling grab, Manfull was hit by Toner’s first pitch. That made Roland his last batter before a string of left-handers would appear, and lo and behold, Roland sent a textbook grounder to McKnight for a 6-4-3 double play and outta the madness. Chun would do away with the left-handed batters in the ninth, a mild gamble to rest the southpaw relievers that paid off. 7-3 Critters. Walter 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Denny 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (7-3);

Thankfully Toner gutted one out here, and made the very most of 108 pitches.

Raccoons (36-23) vs. Warriors (22-37) – June 7-9, 2019

The Warriors were unusually crummy and in last place in the FL West, which was normally reserved for the Wolves. They had lost five straight, and ranked last in many offensive categories in the Federal League, including runs scored overall. Their pitching was so-so, with a bottom three rotation and a decent bullpen, averaging out to the fifth-most runs allowed in the FL. They had a number of injuries to their starting lineup, including ex-Logger Mike Rucker (.227, 8 HR, 31 RBI) who had gone down earlier this week with a broken thumb, outfielder Gil Gross (.279, 10 HR, 34 RBI), and also RF/2B Stephen St. George (.245, 1 HR, 18 RBI).

These teams hadn’t met since 2015, when the Warriors won the series with two out of three.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (6-2, 2.72 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (2-5, 4.13 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-3, 2.30 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (4-5, 5.21 ERA)
Damani Knight (2-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jose Acosta (2-7, 4.30 ERA)

Bad news: we will face back-to-back left-handed pitchers to start the series. Also: what the heck happened to Sam McMullen!? The 2016 CL Pitcher of the Year was getting murdered outright, with a severely diminished K/9 rate and plenty of homers leaving the park. McMullen was only 30 years old so there might be something wrong with him. The Warriors sure hoped that this would bend itself back in somehow, because they were on the hook for another $15.76M after this season…

Game 1
SFW: LF Kerwin – SS J. Wilson – RF Bednarski – C Luckert – CF Price – 1B Fletcher – 2B Pelles – 3B Case – P F. Cruz
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Walter – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – C Denny – CF Bareford – 2B Mathews – 1B Petracek – P Abe

Mike Bednarski was batting .318 with four homers coming into the set, which did not sound like anything that would surprise me too greatly, and was the third out in Abe’s quick 1-2-3 first. Shane Walter was the first baserunner of the game, kind of. He grounded up the middle, Ruben Pelles cut the ball off and threw to first, where Walter, who had lost his helmet in his hustle, collided with Dave Fletcher, taking an elbow to the temple. Walter went down and remained down, and if Petracek hadn’t already been in the game, he’d have to pinch-run now. Walter was led off the field taking one slow step after another with his eyes closed. Petracek moved over to third base, and Greenwald replaced Walter in the game. The Critters would load the bases on Jackson’s walk and a Fletcher error that put on Denny, but Bareford popped out. The Warriors kept making errors; Dan Case threw away Mathews’ grounder to start the second inning, Mathews moved up on Petracek’s groundout, then scored on a wild pitch by Fernando Cruz. An inning later, Greenwald romped a 427-footer off Cruz, leaving the park in a hurry via left center, to make it 2-0.

Both teams would have two on with two outs in the fourth inning. Jarrod Luckert and Zach Price had hit 2-out singles, but Fletcher struck out to strand them. Mathews and Petracek were on for the Raccoons. Abe struck out, but Cookie hit a liner up the rightfield line for a 2-run double, 4-0, and to hopefully dispel a demon or two. After five very controlled innings, Abe was really in trouble in the sixth. Jamie Wilson hit a leadoff single, and Bednarski walked on four pitches, but then Luckert hit one sharply to McKnight for an easy double play. Abe wound up walking Price in a full count, but then erased Fletcher mercilessly with his fifth strikeout of the game. Abe held up through seven, after which ex-Critter Zack Entwistle struck out Cookie to open the bottom 7th, but then loaded the bases with walks to Greenwald and McKnight around a Jackson single to left. Mike Denny raked the first pitch to left, and this one was a bomb right off the bat. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!! Abe got two more outs in the eighth inning, but walked Bednarski. Kaiser got a fly to center from Price to end the inning, and Wade Davis would get three grounders to the left side in the ninth to end this in shutout fashion. 8-0 Furballs! Greenwald 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Denny 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Abe 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (7-2);

Shane Walter was diagnosed with a concussion, but like Mendoza was not disabled. He already felt a bit better on Saturday, although he was hardly in a condition to play a ballgame. He was officially listed as day-to-day and we didn’t expect him to play for the rest of the weekend. The Raccoons were in a tight spot now; with both Walter and Mendoza occupying roster spots without being able to play, they only had three men left on the bench at least for the next two games.

For now, at least the back-to-back southpaws were broken up by the Warriors, who sent Ken Harris (2-3, 3.81 ERA), a right-handed pitcher, into the middle game.

Game 2
SFW: LF Kerwin – SS J. Wilson – RF Bednarski – C Luckert – CF Price – 1B Fletcher – 2B Pelles – 3B Case – P Harris
POR: RF Carmona – CF Bareford – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Greenwald – 2B Mathews – 3B Petracek – P Santos

Santos allowed no hits the first time through and got staked to a 1-0 lead on a solo bomb by DeWeese in the bottom of the second. Petracek hit a leadoff single in the third, but both Santos and Cookie got the preceding Critter forced out at second base. Cookie stole his 12th base, but was left on when Bareford grounded out to Pelles. McKnight led off with a single in the fourth, stole second as well, then came home when Denny got a ball through Dan Case for an RBI double, 2-0 the score then, but the Coons got it to 3-0 when Greenwald singled through between Wilson and Case to chase home Denny. The Warriors were still struggling to get anything off Santos, logging no hits through five innings, but the Raccoons kept swinging away against Ken Harris. Cookie opened the fifth with a single to left, and Bareford doubled off the fence in center. Cookie had to hold short of second base initially because Price made it a very close play in deep center and got a favorable bounce, keeping Carmona from scoring initially, at least until McKnight’s sac fly to left, and Denny followed up with a sac fly to right, 5-0.

Santos’ no-hit bid ended leading off the sixth when Dan Case reached on an infield single somewhere, nowhere between Santos, Petracek, and McKnight. That runner never got off first base, while the Critters added another run in the bottom of the inning, Mathews getting on and scoring on Cookie’s 2-out single. Of all people it turned out to be Mike Bednarski’s destiny to break up Santos’ shutout with a solo homer in the seventh inning. Santos didn’t get further, using 102 pitches to complete seven frames, but it was nevertheless a job tremendously well done, and this time the wiggling room was a bit bigger for the pen. Chun, Thrasher, and Davis would combine for the last six outs, allowing only one runner between them. 6-1 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, RBI; McKnight 2-3, RBI; DeWeese 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Mathews 2-3, BB; Jackson 1-1; Santos 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-3);

Alex Duarte came off the DL for Sunday. Sadly, especially with the two walking dead on the roster, the only way to solve this right now was to send Bareford back to AAA. Maybe this was a good point to do that; he had suffered through a rotten week. We will try to figure out a way to get both of them onto the roster, although, should Duarte not pick it up from his slow start to the season, Bareford could also replace him outright.

Game 3
SFW: LF Kerwin – SS J. Wilson – RF Bednarski – C Luckert – CF Price – 1B Fletcher – 2B Pelles – 3B Case – P S. McMullen
POR: RF Carmona – 1B Jackson – SS McKnight – C Denny – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – 3B Petracek – 2B Lafon – P Knight

The Coons went up 1-0 in the first thanks to a Cookie double and two well-placed groundouts by Jackson and McKnight, and freefall for the Warriors continued in the second inning. Duarte singled in his first at-bat off the DL, and DeWeese cranked a homer off the southpaw McMullen to run the score to 3-0, his first homer off a southpaw since 2017. Maybe the more alarming stat for Sioux Falls compared to a 3-0 deficit was the fact that Damani Knight faced the minimum through three innings, allowing only a walk to Ruben Pelles that dissolved in Case’s double play grounder. Jamie Wilson singled with one out in the fourth, a soft line to center, but the Warriors didn’t make anything out of that, either. Nobody else reached through six for the Warriors, with Damani, the flimsiest excuse for a starting pitcher, nursing a 1-hitter.

McKnight and Duarte got into scoring position with one out in the bottom 6th. McMullen plated a run with a wild pitch, but DeWeese and Petracek didn’t get Duarte in. The score was 4-0, with Jamie Wilson grounding out to start the seventh, but then Bednarski and Luckert hit singles through the infield to encroach on Knight. Suddenly, the ground was on fire, especially with a left-hander up, even if Zach Price was batting only .210. Knight pitched to him, walked him, and now we were in the ****. Knight was out pronto, with Chris Mathis replacing him as we hoped for a strikeout against Fletcher. We very much didn’t get that. Fletcher hit a sac fly to center, which was basically acceptable. What was not acceptable was the 3-run bomb Mathis surrendered to Ruben Pelles. That one tied the score at four, and the Raccoons had to begin weaseling about anew. Cookie hit a double in the bottom 7th with two down, and while Jackson hit a 1-2 pitch to deep center, Zach Price took care of that one. Price also spoiled a shot by McKnight to deep center in the eighth, but the Coons got Denny on with a 1-out single off Blaine Barnard in the eighth. Duarte was no help, but DeWeese came up and hit a 1-1 pitch high and deep to right. Was it - …? Would it - …? It was and it would – OUTTA HERE!!! Alex Ramirez would face the 3-4-5 batters in the ninth inning, which was not a splendid proposition even with a cushion. Bednarski reached on the first pitch, but not on anything Ramirez did. Denny was called out for catcher’s interference …! While I had saw dancing spots and had to hold onto the edge of the desk to maintain balance in my chair, Cookie caught a fly by Jarrod Luckert for the first out. Price grounded to Eddie Jackson at first base, who chose to go to second to erase Bednarski, which worked well, but the return throw was not in time. Fletcher popped up over the infield two pitches later, with Roland Lafon handling the pop to seal the sweep. 6-4 Furballs! Carmona 2-4, 2B; Duarte 2-4, 2B; DeWeese 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Knight 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K;

While the basic line for Damani Knight was not that great, I am not blaming him for how this shook out. He had a 1-hitter going through six innings with a 4-0 lead. He shouldn’t have pitched to Price, really. That was perhaps the mistake that unraveled the game. We KNOW that he’s unable to extricate himself from anything, why do we –

Ah, I don’t know.

In other news

June 3 – TOP 1B Adrian Quebell (.259, 5 HR, 26 RBI) collects his 2,000th career hit in a 6-0 shutout handed to the Buffaloes by NAS SP Diego Mendoza jr. (6-3, 3.04 ERA), who concedes only four hits, all singles, and one of those off Quebell’s bat. The 15-year veteran Quebell is a career .290/.370/.438 batter with 183 HR and 995 RBI. He spent most of his career with the Raccoons, but has bounced around in the last five years. He has three Gold Gloves and was an All Star twice.
June 4 – SFW 1B Mike Rucker (.227, 8 HR, 31 RBI) will be out until the end of June with a broken thumb.
June 5 – SFB SP Joao Joo (7-1, 3.06 ERA) spins a 4-hit shutout against the Knights, who get under the wheels in the game, the final score being 14-0 for the Bayhawks.
June 6 – PIT C Raúl Hernandez (.286, 0 HR, 23 RBI) connects six times in the Miners’ 19-inning marathon against the Cyclones. Five of his hits are singles, and one is a double; he plates nobody in the 6-5 loss the Miners take. This is the 55th 6-hit game by a hitter in ABL history, and the fourth in Miners history, after Rich Johnson (1977), Alfonso Rojas (1995), and Lorenzo Sepúlveda (2001).
June 6 – CIN LF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.308, 3 HR, 12 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
June 7 – The Crusaders acquire RF/LF Max Erickson (.328, 3 HR, 7 RBI) from the Aces for two prospects.
June 7 – CHA RF/LF Travis Benson (.299, 2 HR, 23 RBI) ends up on the DL with an intercostal strain. He will be out until the end of the month.
June 8 – LAP RF/1B Will McIntyre (.333, 6 HR, 25 RBI) reaches a 20-hitting streak with two hits in a 5-0 loss to the Titans.
June 8 – Although soundly out-hit by the Thunder, 15-7, the Capitals sneak to an 8-7 win. Maybe the 13 walks the Thunder’s staff surrender had something to do with it.
June 9 – The Thunder score a walkoff win in ten innings, 2-1, when Washington’s Robby Delikat throws a wild pitch to score Bobby Marshall.

Complaints and stuff

Extra innings are NOT our friends. In five overtime affairs this season, the Raccoons have been beaten four times. In fact, we have lost four extra-inning games in a row now. Mike Denny hit a 3-run homer to beat the Falcons in ten on April 10, and since then it’s been either in nine or not at all.

Despite the sweep of the Warriors, they are still the team we have the second-worst interleague record against, now at 26-31 (.456). Only the Rebels have handled the Raccoons rougher in all those decades. Our winning percentage is .404 against Richmond.

Veterans VAN Bill King (1-0, 4.54 ERA) and SFB Bob King (2-8, 4.06 ERA), who have both seen better times, are both right-handed, and are both 35 years old, were both put on the DL on Tuesday, and both are likely out for the season. Both have a torn rotator cuff. No, I am not drunk. Nor more than usual for a 5-2 week.

I like Bareford; if he can hit .270 permanently, I would take him over Duarte any day of the week because of his defense. At this point we couldn’t keep both on the roster, so Bareford had to return to AAA with Duarte coming off the DL.

Meanwhile, three of our four starting infielders are down, although Mendoza might be able to play on Monday, and Shane Walter will stay off the DL as well and might be able to return to the lineup in a few days.