[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-28) vs. Condors (34-41) – June 24-26, 2019

This was our second meeting with the Condors, having taken the first series with them, two games to one. The Condors were fifth in the South, nine games out, but their individual numbers were not quite indicative of a team seven games under .500. They were roughly average in both runs scored (seventh) and runs allowed (eighth), with a -8 run differential. Their rotation ranked sixth in ERA, their pen eighth. They did have the second-highest total of home runs, but in turn their defense was the worst in the Continental League. Maybe sometimes the whole is indeed less than the sum of its parts.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (1-5, 7.43 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (6-6, 3.62 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-3, 2.77 ERA) vs. Jose Menendez (5-5, 4.15 ERA)
Cole Pierson (6-3, 3.03 ERA) vs. Casey Hally (3-4, 5.24 ERA)

We miss their best guy, Jorge Gine (8-5, 2.56 ERA), and also the second left-hander, Ethan Knight (4-5, 5.40 ERA), having to contend with only Flores on Monday. They were still without one of their best starters, as Andrew Gudeman (2-2, 4.95 ERA), who had pitched to a 2.48 ERA in 2018, was still on the DL, and they were also without one of their power swingers, with 3B Carlos Martinez (.305, 10 HR, 37 RBI) healing out a small tear in his labrum. That left them with Jimmy Oatmeal (.309, 16 HR, 44 RBI), who continued to be surprisingly dangerous to the team that once drafted him at #3 and dumped him in a real hurry.

Game 1
TIJ: SS Konrath – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – 1B Tsung – 3B P. Cruz – RF Rawlings – 2B Sykes – CF Jamieson – P L. Flores
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Mathews – 3B Walter – RF Jackson – C Denny – CF Duarte – SS Lafon – 1B Petracek – P Guerrero

While Cookie Carmona was robbed by Josh Rawlings making a wonderful catch on his line drive to right center to start the bottom of the first after Guerrero had gotten three groundouts to the right side in the top of the inning, the Raccoons put up three unearned runs when Joey Mathews walked, Eddie Jackson reached on Flores’ error, and Mike Denny went deep to right for a 3-piece. Flores continued to find trouble, walking Guerrero(!) with one out in the second inning. Cookie singled hard to left, and Mathews drew another walk to load them up. The Critters didn’t score that time, with Walter flying out to Oatmeal in shallow left, and Jackson whiffing in a full count; and in the third the Coons had two on with nobody out after Denny reached on Jose Vargas’ throwing error, Duarte walked, but Lafon’s fly to right was caught by Josh Rawlings, and Petracek bounced into a conventional 6-4-3 inning-ender. The bases were loaded yet again in the bottom of the fourth, Cookie double, Mathews walked, Walter single, then with one out. This time Jackson rolled into the double play, and by now I was livid with the inexplicable hitting that was going on.

At least Guerrero generated mostly weak contact. He allowed only one single, to Harrison Sykes, the first time through the order, and another single to Rawlings the second time through. Rawlings was on second with two outs and just to be sure, because wicked stuff tended to happen to the Critters whenever they didn’t need any wicked stuff to happen, Guerrero was ordered to walk Matt Jamieson intentionally in that spot, then got Flores to ground out. Flores walked SIX through five innings and somehow still hadn’t allowed an earned run, with the Raccoons continuing to fail grossly. Mun-wah Tsung, the second ex-Coons farmhand in the middle of that Condors order, opened the seventh inning with a double to left center, but was stranded on two grounders and Guerrero hanging a K on Sykes. Flores didn’t make it through the seventh, being removed with two on and nobody out in the bottom 7th. Jackson had reached on a ball that bounced an inch in front of Rawlings’ outstretched glove in shallow right for a single, and Denny flicked a soft single to shallow left center. Right-hander Rafael Cuenca (6.46 ERA) appeared in relief, getting Duarte to expertly bounce into a double play. DeWeese batted for the ghost of Roland Lafon (who had been a Condor in a previous life when he was still a hitter), walked, giving the Coons runners on the corners, and then Petracek grounded to Sykes. Alas, relief! Sykes was carried to centerfield in cutting of that ball, got nothing on the throw to first, and Petracek legged out an RBI single with Jackson scoring from third base. McKnight batted for Guerrero and grounded out, the final futile RISP act for the Critters on that day. Nobody got on for the home team in the eighth, but Wade Davis pitched two competent innings in relief to end the game. 4-0 Furballs. Carmona 3-5; Denny 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Duarte 1-2, 2 BB; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (2-5); Davis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
TIJ: SS Konrath – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – 3B P. Cruz – CF M. Herrera – 2B Sykes – 1B Jaeger – RF Rawlings – P Menendez
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Mathews – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 1B Greenwald – P Santos

The Condors got the quick first-inning lead in the middle game, with Vargas drawing a full count walk from Santos, who had been shackled in his last outing and then swiftly surrendered a true bomb to Jimmy Oatmeal that left centerfield in a hurry. The bottom 1st opened with a Cookie triple to right center – Rawlings with a near-miss on that attempt to play it in flight – and then was close to getting stranded. Mathews grounded out to first, holding him, and Walter grounded to Sykes very close to first, and Cookie thought ‘to heck with it’ and went. Sykes took the sure out, the run scored, and then McKnight hit a bomb to right center to level the score at two. Menendez was soon in trouble in the bottom of the second, with DeWeese reaching on an error before Bareford singled. Both took off for a double steal attempt, Vargas threw a capital mistake into leftfield (not even close to third base), and DeWeese immediately scampered home with the go-ahead run. Bareford scored on Russ Greenwald’s double, 4-2, and Menendez continued to not retire anybody. Santos reached on a silly bloop to shallow center for a single, Cookie singled hard to right center, 5-2, and Mathews rolled a grounder through between the converging Konrath and Sykes to load the bases still with nobody out. Rawlings couldn’t catch up with Walter’s soft line to shallow right, which fell for an RBI single, and McKnight also hit an RBI single to center. No out was made until the ninth batter of the inning as Mike Denny popped out. Menendez walked DeWeese to force home the sixth run of the inning, then was removed to … have his vaccinations checked. Left-hander Kyle Eilrich replaced him, and two more runs scored against him, one on Bareford’s grounder that Sykes took for an out at second, and the other on a passed ball charged to Vargas, and that one put the Coons into double digits before Greenwald struck out.

Santos had blown a 6-0 lead in his last start, now was staked to a 10-2 lead in this one, and pitched with his temple in my ****ing crosshairs. He rapped up six strikeouts through 3.1 innings, and then it started to rain. Of course it did. We had a 30-minute delay right in the top of the fourth with a full count to Sykes and nobody on with two outs. After play resumed, Santos finished the K, his seventh, but this was going to significantly reduce his chances to have a long outing, but he did get through five alright and batted for himself in the bottom 5th. By then the Coons were up 11-2, the run scoring on another passed ball on Vargas, who did NOT have a good day. Cookie was removed after five innings and replaced with Jackson, purely to conserve mileage on his legs with a 9-run lead. Santos also didn’t make it through six, loading the bases on two singles and a walk to Mike Herrera. Mathis replaced him with one out and got out of the inning with no damage crossing home plate. Mathews hit an RBI double at some point to put the Coons ahead 12-2, and things cruised into the ninth, when they stopped cruising. Will West had gotten four outs already, but got no more, allowing a single to Kevin Jaeger and a walk to Rawlings. Chun replaced him, walked Alberto Gonzales, and then conceded an RBI single to Cameron Konrath, a run-scoring groundout to Vargas, and a 2-run single to veteran Victorino Sanchez. I don’t know, maybe they wanted the Condors not to feel quite so bad and conceded that 4-spot out of sheer love for humanity, but I will go with the suckers theory. Pedro Cruz hit into a game-ending double play. 12-6 Raccoons. Carmona 3-4, 3B, RBI; Mathews 2-5, 2B, RBI; Walter 2-5, 2 RBI; McKnight 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 0-1, 3 BB, RBI; Greenwald 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Santos 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (8-3) and 1-3;

Santos gets a break because of the rain delay. Otherwise, 5.1 innings would of course never be enough to make the postgame dispatch.

Outside of Cookie, Walter and Denny were also subbed out for Petracek and Margolis after six innings.

Game 3
TIJ: SS Konrath – 1B Tsung – 3B P. Cruz – LF Eichelkraut – C J. Vargas – 2B Sykes – CF M. Herrera – RF Rawlings – P Hally
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Mathews – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 1B Greenwald – P Pierson

Cookie was the only baserunner in the first two innings, but nothing came of that at this point. Pierson walked Hally with two outs in the third, then allowed a hard one-bouncer to the left side that McKnight knocked down, scrambled out of the dirt, and took it for a laser throw to first that BARELY beat out Konrath and ended the inning. Bottom 3rd, Greenwald opened with a double and moved up on Pierson’s groundout. Cookie walked, stole second, and Mathews also walked to fill the bases. Walter hit into a double play, which was what he did best, hands down, and he would hit into a mere inning-ending groundout with Greenwald and Cookie on the corners in the fifth, through which the game remained scoreless, with the only other runner the Condors had received being Vargas, whose black series continued when he got picked off by Pierson, who also walked Konrath in the sixth, but stranded him. He was at 89 pitches through six, which was regrettable, but not more regrettable than the score on the board (there was none), with the R column just as empty as the Condors’ H entry. It was Vargas who thankfully spared us the dilemma of squeezing Pierson as hard as Toner had been squeezed earlier in the season; the heavily battered backstop hit a solid line drive for a single to left with two outs in the seventh inning, ending the no-hit bid before it could get really ugly for Pierson, who got Sykes on a casual fly to center, but needed 101 pitches through seven. With nobody on and two outs in the bottom 7th, Duarte hit for Pierson and walked. Cookie followed up with a single, and in the hope of a thumper the Coons sent Jackson to bat for Mathews, but he also walked. That filled the bags for Walter, who had left approximately 3,000 batters on base in this game alone. He lined out to Sykes.

Bottom 8th, the misery continued. McKnight opened with a soft single to left against right-hander Brian Gilbert. Denny was told to bunt, did so, yet badly, and got McKnight forced out. With a slow runner on first, Gilbert threw a wild pitch to move the go-ahead run to second after all. Only at that point did the Coons send Petracek to run for Denny, but to no avail. DeWeese walked, but Bareford and Greenwald both grounded out. Mathis, Thrasher, and Ramirez kept the Condors shut out through nine, which was just not enough. Ramirez’ spot came up with nobody on base and two outs in the bottom 9th, but he had to bat anyway – we had completely spent our bench already. Mike Peterson struck him out, sending the game to extras and thus the Raccoons to a guaranteed loss. Of course Ramirez got slaughtered in the top of the 10th. Vargas yanked a homer right away, and then he allowed three more hard hits for two more runs to score, the last two on a 2-out single to center by Konrath. The Coons had nothing in the bottom of the inning. 3-0 Condors. Carmona 3-4, BB; Petracek 1-1; Greenwald 2-4, 2B; Pierson 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K;

**** Ramirez.

No, **** all of them.

Except Cookie. And Toner.

Raccoons (48-29) vs. Crusaders (40-38) – June 27-30, 2019

By now, the Crusaders were not very relevant, having dropped to fifth place in the North, although a sweep over the hapless Critters could help them a good bunch in regaining traction in a division that was still wide open for everybody except the 30-49 Titans. The Crusaders did hold the edge in the season series, 4-3, despite them having mighty problems with their offense. They had the worst batting average in the CL, and scored the third-fewest runs. Their pitching was decent, although a good part of that was Jaylen “Midnight” Martin having a monster year like Toner had enjoyed in 2017 with a sub-2 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (9-3, 2.68 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (8-3, 1.88 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (9-3, 2.52 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (5-5, 2.87 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-5, 6.23 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (3-7, 5.58 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-3, 2.80 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (4-7, 5.65 ERA)

I do not like the matchup on Thursday… With the Elks only 2 1/2 games behind, I hate wasting Jonny in a sure 2-1 loss, probably in 12 innings. However, there is no wiggle room. We’re in the middle of 17 straight games without an off day, and nobody can be switched around now. It might help, or it might not, but all their starters were right-handed.

Oh, and besides the 17 straight games without an off day, we also had to work in off days for individual batters in this series, because we were going to face the Elks to start the following week, and we needed all aboard for that four-game bonanza.

Game 1
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – CF J. Wilson – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – RF Erickson – LF M. Cruz – C Roland – SS D. Ortega – P J. Martin
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Mathews – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 1B Greenwald – P Toner

Toner came out struggling, hitting Jens Carroll to start the game and allowing hard liners by John Wilson and Sergio Valdez. Wilson’s was caught by DeWeese, but Valdez’ fell into center, putting two on before B.J. Manfull and Max Erickson both struck out. With two outs and nobody on in the bottom 1st, Walter singled up the middle, drawing an ironic standing ovation by the crowd that had witnessed his 7 LOB game on Wednesday. McKnight crushed a pitch by “Midnight” for a homer to right, his tenth shot of the season, and not only did Toner get staked to a 2-0 lead, but Martin’s ERA jumped to 2.02. Toner ended up striking out six in a row before Carroll bounced a ball past a diving Walter for a 1-out double in the third inning. Wilson K’ed, and Valdez grounded out to Mathews to end the inning. Toner piled up a dozen corpses in five innings (netting him over 80 pitches as well…) while keeping the Crusaders shut out, while Martin struck out only five and allowed another run in the third inning, in which Cookie singled moved up on a grounder, and scored on Walter’s single, 3-0. Although Martin allowed those three runs, overall the Coons’ offense was rather mute. Outside of the innings in which they scored their three runs, they only managed two more runners in seven innings. Toner got through seven on 110 pitches, striking out 14. He was brought back out for the eighth, but would only face Carroll, the right-handed leadoff batter, behind whom lurked four left-handed bats. Carroll grounded out, with Thrasher taking over as Toner left to a HUGE standing ovation. No matter what happened from here, he had definitely had shown the Crusaders! Thrasher ended the inning quickly, K’ing Wilson and getting Valdez to pop out foul behind home plate. Martin completed eight innings on 99 pitches, whiffing six, by no means a bad game, but was on the hook as Thrasher came back out for the ninth. Manfull struck out, Erickson struck out, the latter for a golden sombrero. No point in changing pitchers now with right-handed batter Manny Cruz at the plate. Go kill him! A strikeout to end the game! 3-0 Furballs!! Walter 2-4, RBI; Toner 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 14 K, W (10-3); Thrasher 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (6);

WE LOVE JON-NY TO-NER, WE LOVE JON-NY TO-NER, WE LOVE JON-NY TO-NER …!!!

The Elks lost to Indy, 8-4, putting them 3 1/2 back, so no matter what happened on the weekend, the Raccoons would invade Vancouver as division leaders come Monday.

Resting guys started on Friday, with Shane Walter being the first regular to take a seat on the bench. The others (McKnight, Cookie, DeWeese, and even Mathews) would get off days in the next two games.

Game 2
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – CF J. Wilson – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – LF M. Cruz – C Roland – RF Richards – SS D. Ortega – P Weise
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Mathews – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Greenwald – C Margolis – 2B Lafon – P Abe

The only hit the first time through either order was Domingo Ortega’s third-inning single to left, but neither team managed to put up any threat. Abe held the Crusaders to that one hit and whiffed six in the first five innings, while Tom Weise had issued two walks in the early innings, but was still nursing a no-hitter when Greenwald dumped a single into left center with one out in the fifth inning. Margolis swiftly hit into a double play, and we remained scoreless. Roland Lafon drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, was bunted over by Abe and moved to third when Cookie’s grounder to right was intercepted and converted into the second out by Valdez. Duarte struck out to leave him there.

Serenity was rudely interrupted by Valdez’ 1-out double to left center in the seventh inning, only the third base knock in the game. Abe struck out Manfull before Manny Cruz sent a drive to left that DeWeese hustled after and made the catch at the edge of the warning track. Bottom 7th, Mathews led off with a single that bounced right over second base into center, and when McKnight hit a hard line into shallow right for a single, it was the first time that any team had two runners on base not only at the same time, but in the same inning in the game. DeWeese grounded slowly to Valdez, with the slow pace of that ball taking away the double play, with only McKnight out at second base. Greenwald hit a fly to center, was put out by Wilson, but it was deep enough to send Mathews home with the first run of the contest. Abe maintained a 3-hitter through eight, but was hit for in the bottom of the inning after Lafon drew another leadoff walk. Shane Walter batted for him and expertly grounded into a 4-6-3 double play (MORE CLCS FLASHBACKS!!), and Alex Ramirez was left to his own devices in the ninth inning, with a 1-0 lead and top of the order approaching. Walking Jens Carroll was an EXCELLENT start to the inning, and Ramirez went on to allow a single to right to Wilson. Carroll raced to third, Cookie unleashed a wild throw that Mathews could not come up with and Carroll turned the corner and scored. ****head Ramirez conceded an RBI triple to Valdez, which was the last batter he got to serve meatballs to. The run scored on a groundout against Wade Davis, and the Coons were down 3-1 and reeling. Duarte hit a single off Brian Doumas to start the bottom of the ninth and Mathews buried a ball in the corner in leftfield, moving the tying runs to scoring position with the double. Doumas was a left-hander, so caution was advised. McKnight grounded the first pitch he got to first base, but Manfull bobbled it! Duarte scored, and the winning run was on base for Eddie Jackson, pinch-hitting for DeWeese. Jackson whacked a liner to left center for an RBI single, knotting the score. EDDIIIEE!!! Now, the bottom of the order was approaching. Bunting with Greenwald was tempting, but beneath him was a lot of misery and Greenwald was at least batting .289 right now. So of course he hit into a double play! McKnight was on third base with two outs for Margolis, who had not had a base hit since the end of the most recent Ice age. So he knocked a bouncer up the middle, Valdez and Ortega missed it, ball into center, ballgame! 4-3 Blighters! Mathews 2-3, BB, 2B; Jackson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lafon 0-1, 2 BB; Abe 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K;

Ramirez, give Abe one of your wins. – I SAID GIVE HIM ONE OF YOUR WINS!!!

****ing brasshole.

Game 3
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – CF J. Wilson – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – RF Erickson – C Roland – LF Richards – SS D. Ortega – P Benjamin
POR: 3B Walter – CF Bareford – SS McKnight – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 1B Greenwald – 2B Lafon – P Guerrero

The Coons whipped Benjamin for two quick runs in the first inning after a Walter singled, Bareford doubled to right center, and then a McKnight double up the rightfield line to score both. Guerrero opened the game with two strikeouts, and got through two innings unharmed, moving his ERA into the fives. The Crusaders had only two hits in three innings, but the Coons had three runs after another RBI double by McKnight, scoring Bareford in the bottom 3rd.

When Guerrero started the fourth with a 3-0 count against Valdez, the youngster impatiently chopped a bouncer back to Guerrero for a quick first out, and Manfull and Erickson whiffed after that to keep the Crusaders on grass level. If there was something that needed a bit of work, it was Guerrero’s bunting. He got Lafon forced out his first time up, and his second time up came to the plate with Greenwald and Lafon having singled and nobody out. He bunted into a double play, 1-5-3, but Walter picked him up partially with an RBI single to center. Bareford also singled, and McKnight was about to wear out Benjamin for good, but his drive to deep center was caught by John Wilson to end the inning with a 4-0 score. The Crusaders put runners on the corners with a pair of 2-out singles by Ortega and Benjamin(!) in the fifth, but Carroll struck out to keep on denying them. Guerrero had eight whiffs through five innings, which was almost getting Toner-esque, and after a 2-out double by Manfull in the sixth hung another K on Erickson. The Crusaders, frustrated obviously by now, made another out on a 3-0 pitch, ex-Raccoon Ron Richards grounding out in the seventh inning. Guerrero would pitch seven and two thirds, departing after his 10th K to Carroll with nobody on and the left-handed block up again. Jason Kaiser was tasked this time. Wilson singled, but Valdez grounded out to end the eighth inning, but things went south in the ninth. Manfull singled, and the completely overmatched Erickson (0-for-7, 6 K) found sanctuary when he got drilled by Kaiser. This was now a save situation, and out of the pen came – Mathis. **** Ramirez. Just **** him. Maybe **** Mathis, too, as he threw a wild pitch, then conceded two runs on Cory Roland’s double to right center. Richards popped out to Petracek at second base, and Greenwald snagged a scorching liner by Martin Ortíz that surely would have been trouble. Mathis struck out Manny Cruz to SOMEHOW end the game. 4-2 Critters. Walter 2-4, RBI; Bareford 3-4, 2B; McKnight 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Lafon 2-3; Guerrero 7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, W (3-5);

Good news, the Elks keep losing. They had now lost three straight to the Indians, growing the Coons’ lead to more than a handful of games (which is five) for the first time this season.

Cookie and Mathews had gotten days off on Saturday; on Sunday the chalice wandered on to DeWeese and McKnight, which would more or less complete the string. Yes, Greenwald was playing every day, but it’s not like he has to get out of his lawn chair at first base very often.

Game 4
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – CF J. Wilson – 1B Manfull – RF Erickson – LF M. Cruz – 2B Dawson – C Little – SS D. Ortega – P Choe
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Mathews – SS Walter – RF Jackson – C Denny – 1B Greenwald – CF Bareford – 3B Petracek – P Santos

Here was another rain-affected Santos start as it was coming down lightly almost from the start of the affair, although Santos was more bothered by the defense being beaten repeatedly by inches to start the game, and especially in the second inning. With two outs, the Crusaders reeled off a double by Ryan Dawson that initially went only barely over the leaping Walter’s glove, then a double past the lunging Petracek up the leftfield line hit by Morgan Little, 1-0, a single past Mathews by Ortega, 2-0, and then Choe reached on an infield single… Carroll struck out to end the damn inning. Santos started to get outright whacked in the third. Manfull hit a hard single, Erickson hit a hard double off the wall in centerfield, and Santos bailed out on a K to Cruz, and Dawson’s fly being caught up with by Eddie Jackson to make the third out of the inning. Meanwhile, the Critters didn’t get a base knock until Jackson’s single in the fourth, with two down there.

The rain finally forced a delay in the fifth inning, and Santos didn’t return afterwards, having conceded seven hits in 4.2 innings. Kaiser ended the inning, while the Crusaders sent Choe back out after a 1:10 delay, but then hooked him after a leadoff walk to Greenwald. Damon Barnett allowed a pinch-hit single to DeWeese with two out, but Cookie grounded out to strand the tying runs. Barnett got five outs in the game to line up for a W, while Will West pitched two innings without getting help. Francisquo Bocanegra struck out the 6-7-8 batters in the seventh, holding the Raccoons to two meager hits, and Bocanegra also retired Duarte, who pinch-hit for Chun to start the bottom 8th. Cookie however singled to right, bringing up the tying run and a pitching change to Pedro Alvarado, who had a 1.55 ERA, but only ten strikeouts in 40.2 innings in his age 40 season. Mathews and Walter made easy outs to the middle infielder to end the inning. Alex Ramirez was thrown into the ninth to try his luck against the bottom of the order, and it was nothing other than luck for him to get through any inning. Ortega hit a leadoff single, but no runs came forth for the Crusaders, who had a 2-run lead in the bottom 9th, just like they had held a 2-run lead on Friday… From Jackson, Denny, and McKnight, Brian Doumas collected another three poor grounders, and the Crusaders salvaged a game in the series. 2-0 Crusaders. DeWeese (PH) 1-1; West 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

June 24 – Las Vegas’ SP Nehemiah Jones (9-3, 2.37 ERA) pitches seven innings and beats the Titans, 1-0, and drives in the game’s lone run himself with a sacrifice fly. Jones allows five hits and whiffs five in the game.
June 25 – 38-year old CIN 3B/SS Gary Rice (.207, 1 HR, 2 RBI) collects his 2,000th career hit, a 10th inning single off Salem’s Javy Vasquez that helps the Cyclones to walk off in the inning with a 6-5 win. Rice has batted .274 with 174 HR and 1,007 RBI for his career that started with the Crusaders in 2000, but he left the team before they won their first three-peat starting 2007. Rice was an All Star three times and won two Platinum Sticks in his career.
June 25 – BOS RF/LF Chris Almanza (.270, 12 HR, 38 RBI) goes to the DL with a fractured shoulder blade and is going to miss a month.
June 26 – IND SS Raul Matias’ (.337, 7 HR, 42 RBI) first-inning home run off Joao Joo (8-4, 3.07 ERA) holds up as the Indians defeat the Bayhawks, 1-0.
June 27 – The Loggers’ ambitions take a nasty hit with the news that SP J.J. Wirth (8-4, 2.68 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
June 28 – The Stars beat the Pacifics handily, 15-5, putting up three 4-spots and one 3-spot as they score in bunches. LF/RF Justin Dally (.280, 11 HR, 45 RBI) has two hits and drives in four, including a 3-run home run off L.A.’s Eddie DeBlock.

Complaints and stuff

Yes, Ramirez’ contract ends after this season. No, he is not getting a new one. Never. Maybe we can get rid of him even earlier. I am not thinking of a trade. I am thinking of a hair dryer thrown into the bathtub.

After his splendid start on Thursday, Jonny Toner led or tied for the lead in two triple crown categories, but the ERA remained an issue. Even with the three runs put on “Midnight” Martin, the Crusaders’ ace still held a lead of .54 runs over Jonny, and actually there was Las Vegas’ Nehemiah Jones in between those two as well. (That was after Toner’s start; Abe also moved past him again on Friday)

I stand by that claim: Jonny Toner, best pitcher in baseball right now. For his career, he’s 103-41 with a 2.34 ERA and 1,468 K.

Everybody knows that WAR is a bogus stat, but why not throw it around. Kisho Saito and Nick Brown were both awesometastic in their careers and both had some 60+ WAR in their careers. Saito had 64, Brown 67. Jonny Toner at 28 years old has already 41 WAR amassed. Remember Scott Wade, the 2-pitch wonder from the 80s and 90s? Toner has already buried him. Javier Cruz, who went to the Hall of Fame as a Blue Sock this winter and who pitched three years for the Critters at the end of his career? Toner has him in the headlights with 44 WAR.

Here is a challenge: Martin Garcia, the Loggers Hall of Famer. He went 292-179 with a 2.97 ERA and 3,783 strikeouts. He was Pitcher of the Year five times and piled up 122 WAR. That’s something to chase after.

Since his return from the depths of hell, Bobby Guerrero has pitched 21.2 innings and has allowed zero runs. I need to send flowers and a bottle of good booze to the pitching coach in AAA. Which brings us to another WIP in AAA, which is Matt Nunley. He started rehab last Sunday, and for four or five days was dead from the waist up, just like the first two months of the season for him. Since then, he’s cranked out three games with multiple base hits and is batting .323/.400/.419 in AAA. He will come back early next week, but I don’t yet know how to shake out our infielders.

Info by the management: I am laptop shopping right now, not that anything would be wrong with the one I am playing on, except that the ventilator is pretty much toast and the thing gets ****ing hot. It doesn’t help for it to be summer now. This is not a new development, this has been going on for a few months, but I was too lazy to bother so far, and it wasn’t an issue in the winter. So, if things get any warmer around here, and we had about 80° this weekend already, updates might become a bit more infrequent until I can get a replacement ordered and delivered.