[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-45) @ Crusaders (46-47) – July 18-20, 2022

The Crusaders had a 6-3 edge in the season series in 2022, but had lost their last four games, while the Raccoons had romped the Loggers coming out of the All Star break. The Crusaders had the lowest batting average in the Continental League, but still scored the eighth-most runs. Their pitching was – frankly – amazing and they were conceding the least runs. Their pitching was in fact so good that they had a +52 run differential solely because of their 3.6 runs allowed per game. And, well, yeah, it still didn’t help them anything.

Projected matchups:
Trevor Taylor (0-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (4-2, 3.07 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (5-8, 3.99 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (4-8, 3.91 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (4-2, 2.57 ERA) vs. Mike Rutowski (11-2, 1.92 ERA)

Left, right, right; watch out for the home runs – that Jake Williams kid has already hit 15 of them – and while they are dead last in stolen bases, we still may not want to fall asleep when they’re on base.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Stevenson – RF Alfaro – 1B Rockwell – 3B Nunley – 2B Stalker – SS Bullock – C Olivares – P Taylor
NYC: CF Loya – SS Hebberd – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Perkins – C A. Gonzales – 3B Schmit – LF J. Williams – RF Abraham – P D. Butler

You know you’re not gonna win anything this week when in the first inning on Monday the lead-footed opposing catcher hits a 3-run triple off your cast of castoffs. Trevor Taylor had conceded a single to Ricky Loya, had walked Sergio Valdez, and had nicked Josh Perkins to create a mess in the first place. Andy Schmit’s single gave the Crusaders a 4-0 lead, and the Crusaders would bat through the order in the inning thanks to Tim Stalker dropping a pop by Craig Abraham. The second inning saw Ezequiel Olivares get the Coons back into the game with a 3-run homer, collecting Stalker and Bullock, but Taylor was just not up to the task. Bill Hebberd doubled, Valdez walked again, and then he hit another batter with a 1-2 pitch, this time Gonzales. The count on Andy Schmit ran full with two outs, and Schmit over-eagerly swung at a pitch two feet outside to end the inning – kudos to Olivares for containing that pitch that could have easily made it across the river to New Jersey judging by the angle. Despite briefly holding a lead after Gil Rockwell’s 2-run shot in the top of the third inning, Taylor was not going to get anything done. He was yanked right in the same inning after allowing three more hits, a walk … and hitting another batter. Logan Sloan inherited a 6-5 deficit, three on, and one out, and surrendered two runs on Gonzales’ 2-out single before ending the inning with a K to Schmit, thus the Crusaders led 8-5 after three innings. Yeah right, they sure aren’t scoring a lot.

While Butler wouldn’t get the W, either, being removed after four shoddy innings, the Raccoons sure had their chance in the fifth against right-hander Ed Hague. Stevenson reached base with a walk and advanced on a groundout. Rockwell singled him in, 8-6, and Nunley reached on Schmit’s error. A passed ball put the tying runs into scoring position for the young middle infielders, who immediately crapped out, with Stalker bouncing right back to Hague and Bullock popping out to short. Sloan only pitched 2.2 innings in relief, and those were terrible as well, conceding five hits, two walks, and one run charged to himself, driven in again by Gonzales with a single in the bottom 5th. At that point, Alfonso Gonzales had three hits and six ribbies in a 9-6 game. The Crusaders considered that a job well done even after Josh Stevenson’s RBI double in the sixth inning, but the Coons remained down, 9-7, through the seventh and eighth innings. Cookie softening an 0-for-4 with a leadoff walk in the ninth off Steve Casey, however, would bring up the tying run, including two nominal sluggers. Stevenson grounded out to first base, Josh Perkins handling the ball, which was not at all helpful, nor was Alfaro’s grounder to Sergio Valdez. Cookie was on third now, yeah, but that was Gil Rockwell in the box and two outs on the board. Another two red lights for strikes came on before Rockwell rammed a ball to left center on the 1-2, and this one was going well, well, more well, and OUTTA HERE!!! That one tied the game, and Joel Davis got the team to extra innings, where Daniel Bullock hit a 1-out double against Casey in the tenth, but was left on base by Rice pinch-hitting and grounding out, and Ruben Pelles’ 0-2 drive being intercepted by Craig Abraham in deep right. The Raccoons were not only mighty short on clutch hitting, but also on pitching. Despite several multi-inning outings by the bullpen, by the 11th the sand in the clock started to run out. Thankfully, we’d not have to worry about it too much. The game ended in the bottom 11th, on a first-pitch, 2-out home run by Giacobbe Vaccari off Noah Bricker, handing “Bloody” Bricker his first loss of the season. 10-9 Crusaders. Rockwell 3-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Bullock 3-5, 2B; MacCarthy 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Davis 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

This was the 22-year-old Venezuelan Vaccari’s first career hit. Because why wouldn’t it be?

And if you catch yourself mumbling that you absolutely can’t remember the last time Gil Rockwell homered before dinging #10 and #11 (and by extension, #403 and #404) in vain – well, how come you don’t remember his sixth-inning solo shot against Leon Hernandez in the Coons’ 7-1 win … on MAY 30!

(deep sigh)

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – 2B Stalker – SS Bullock – CF Romero – P Guerrero
NYC: CF Loya – SS Hebberd – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Perkins – C A. Gonzales – 3B Schmit – LF J. Williams – RF Abraham – P A. Mendez

There sat the Crusaders and thought, that lineup had plated TEN against the Critters – send the boys out again! Those Critters meanwhile needed a good long outing from Bobby Guerrero with a bullpen in tethers. Said Guerrero struck Ricky Loya with a 3-1 pitch right in the first inning, but then got Hebberd to ground into a double play. Yeah, whatever ****ing works!

The game remained scoreless through five innings. The Raccoons had five hits, including a pair of Danny Rice doubles, but somehow had failed to score a run, with a man caught stealing (Bullock) and two double plays to their demerit. Guerrero held the Crusaders down, somehow, despite showing next to no stuff. His first strikeout was “Ant” Mendez in the bottom 5th; Mendez had singled in the third inning. Guerrero had been close to bleeding three (unearned, thanks to a Bullock error) runs in the bottom 4th, but Jake Williams’ drive to right had died and dropped into Omar Alfaro’s glove next to the fence. Ricky Loya however did ding him for a 2-out solo shot in the bottom 5th, and that one went to centerfield and gave New York a 1-0 lead. Guerrero’s spot would come up with two outs in the seventh inning and Ricardo Romero on base. A team with a less battered bullpen would have sent a qualified player to bat, but the Raccoons had still hope that Guerrero could pitch eight in a loss and their pen would be reset for Wednesday, mostly. He grounded out to Hebberd. And Guerrero did give his all, pitching through even getting struck in the bum by Andy Schmit’s low liner in the bottom 7th, but the at-bats became increasingly longer, Abraham hit a 2-out single in a full count, and Guerrero barely got Mendez to hit the ball to a defender, in this case Romero. With 111 pitches on the clock, he was done after seven – and still on the hook. Cookie hit a leadoff single in the eighth – the Coons’ eighth base hit – but was caught stealing. Rice singled in the ninth, but Stevenson and Bullock made the final outs without even moving him to second base, let alone around the edges of the infield. 1-0 Crusaders. Carmona 2-4; Rice 3-4, 2 2B; Romero 1-2, BB; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (5-9);

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – RF Alfaro – 2B Pelles – CF Stevenson – P Gutierrez
NYC: CF Loya – SS Hebberd – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Perkins – 3B Schmit – RF J. Williams – C Travis – LF McCullough – P Rutkowski

A potentially crucial non-play occurred right in the first inning with Andy Schmit dropping a foul pop by Gil Rockwell, who batted with two on and one out and had his life extended in a 2-2 count with the error. He hit a single to left on the next pitch, with Stalker and Nunley moving up to fill the bags for Danny Rice, who grounded up the middle to Valdez, who had no trouble to turn two. So much for exploiting the other team’s mistakes. When Cookie and Nunley were in scoring position in the third, Rockwell would strike out to end the inning. Again there was no score in the first four innings, and this time not even in the fifth. The Raccoons were … oh well. And the Crusaders were not really getting the bats up against the left-hander Gutierrez, who allowed only two hits through five innings, plus two walks, one of those having been intentional.

The first run appeared on the board in the seventh inning, which started with Omar Alfaro squeezing the barest of singles up the middle. Ruben Pelles failed on a hit-and-run, but Alfaro was safe at second anyway, then had to hold there when Pelles grounded out to short. Josh Stevenson was more successful, banging a ball through Josh Perkins and up the line for an RBI double. Yay, Coons have the lead! That was all that Gutierrez, who flew out to left while Cookie struck out, was gonna get. Bottom 7th, Schmit singled hard to center, and then Josh Stevenson nearly got his head taken off by the evil fence in left center as he tried to contain Kevin McCullough’s 2-out drive. He didn’t quite, but the smashing sound was heard all over the park and probably led to Schmit’s misstep around second base. He stumbled, and that cost him a wee bit of time. He turned third on the double, but retreated to the base with Stevenson’s screaming throw approaching the infield. Stevenson soon had more to do – Rutkowksi drove a real rocket to center that Josh had to contain … and did so for the third out, stranding runners on second and third. Rutkowski went 7.2 innings before the trainer collected him for unknown reasons, while Gutierrez pitched 7.1 innings, just long enough to blow the lead on Hebberd’s single, a wild pitch, and then Valdez’ double. The go-ahead run got to third base against MacCarthy, but Noah Bricker got Gonzales to ground out to short to keep the Crusaders from zooming ahead.

Bottom 9th, Bricker still pitching and trying to avoid losing twice in the same series. McCullough hit a 1-out single, but he got Vacarri, Monday’s walkoff hero, for the second out. With that, Ricky Loya, who was Tuesday’s home run hero, came to bat, nursing an 0-for-4, but struck out. And that would have been it for the inning if Rice could have come up with the ball. He didn’t, Loya reached first base, and the inning continued, with left-hander Steve Witt batting for the pitcher in the #2 hole. Sugano relieved Bricker and collected the strikeout, sending the game to overtime, where Sam Armetta opened affairs with an infield single against left-hander Joe Jones. Now Jason Travis was charged with a passed-ball that advanced the go-ahead run. Cookie singled to right, but Ivan Murillo was on the ball quickly and Armetta couldn’t score from second base. Runners on the corners, no outs – and the Coons BARELY scored a run on Nunley’s sac fly. Nunley also started a double play on Schmit to end the game when Brett Lillis was close to falling apart again… 2-1 Coons. Armetta 1-1; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Interlude: Trades and roster moves

Thursday was off for the Raccoons players, but not for their front office, and two deals were lined up that would then be finalized on Friday:

The Raccoons sent MR Joel Davis (0-2, 1.54 ERA, 2 SV) to the Condors, receiving a 21-year-old switch-hitting catcher named Ricky Ortiz from single-A in return.

Furthermore, the Raccoons sent INF Ruben Pelles (.260, 5 HR, 21 RBI) and AAA SP Dave Dyer to the Thunder for a 22-year old left-hander, AAA CL Hector Morales.

The deserted roster spots were taken over by Jarod Spencer, who was activated from a rehab assignment that saw him batting a healthy .095 with the Alley Cats, and right-hander Joe Moore, who had made five appearances with Portland earlier in the year.

These two prospects are not exactly of the nature that knocks you out of your shoes. But somehow I have trouble f.e. to trade my middle relievers, with Bricker being absolutely immovable to my utmost surprise, and Pelles would have ended up on waivers if we hadn’t been able to involve him in this deal. Dave Dyer had utterly failed last season during his major-league debut, and I don’t think he will make the Hall of Fame. Maybe. Morales has wicked stuff, but bad control, and we’ll have to see whether that can be reined in.

Raccoons (48-47) @ Bayhawks (41-53) – July 22-24, 2022

After a rotten offensive team (u-hum!) we’d get a rotten defensive team. The Bayhawks ranked near the bottom in runs allowed – allowing exactly five per game – with the worst rotation outright. Their pen was also in the bottom three. Offensively, they were seventh in runs scored, but there wasn’t much ado with a team with a -66 run differential in July. We held a 2-1 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Matt Huf (1-0, 2.31 ERA) vs. Graham Wasserman (7-9, 4.42 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (4-2, 1.47 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (5-6, 4.99 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (0-0) vs. Chris Brooks (1-4, 6.79 ERA)

Chavez had been added at the expense of Trevor Taylor (0-3, 8.16 ERA) for this series after recovering from injury. The handedness for starters in this series would match for all three games, so we’d get right-left-right.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – RF Alfaro – 2B Spencer – CF Metts – P Huf
SFB: RF Contreras – 2B G. Gonzalez – CF D. Garcia – 1B J. Gonzalez – LF R. Gomez – SS Sanks – 3B Carper – C R. Hernandez – P Wasserman

Another passed ball on Rice allowed the Bayhawks to score a run in the first inning. Matt Huf had walked leadoff man Victor Contreras, and the passed ball helped in moving him around for sure. Huf was off with his control right away and walked two more batters in the second inning, in which the Bayhawks loaded the bases but then had Wasserman and Contreras strike out to leave all men stranded. The Coons had to wait for the third inning to have the bases loaded, the state being achieved on a leadoff walk drawn by Huf (!), then 1-out singles by Stalker (who extended a hitting streak to 11 games) and Nunley. Gil Rockwell flew out to Dave Garcia (for once not injured!) in centerfield, and Rice rolled out to Gerardo Gonzalez.

Huf never ceased being awful and lasted only five innings. Allowing six hits and five walks, he had to consider himself lucky that the Bayhawks only got him for three runs, including a home run by Jon Gonzalez in the fourth. The Raccoons had scored a run in the top of the fifth inning, Cookie singling in leadoff and scoring on Rockwell’s 2-out single past John Carper. The Bayhawks extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom 6th against Cory Dew, who conceded a double to Raúl Hernandez on his very first pitch and didn’t recover from that instant runner. That didn’t mean they had already lost. Wasserman continued to put runners on base, and the Raccoons loaded them up again in the seventh inning. With two outs, the 3-4-5 batters all reached base to pull up Omar Alfaro, who had gone through his first 50 at-bats without homering and with only one depressing RBI. By now his OPS had dropped to .622 and maybe the Age of Omar was not the shining bright future I had envisioned. Suddenly I remembered Clyde Brady quite vividly. Alfaro grounded out to first. He would later be the final out in the game, after Sloan and MacCarthy had combined to surrender another run and after Gil Rockwell had knocked a 2-run homer in the ninth to create late tension. All for naught. Rice grounded out and Alfaro whiffed for a neat 0-for-5 day. 5-3 Bayhawks. Stalker 2-4; Rockwell 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Rice 3-5, 2B;

There was a shakeup in the Bayhawks rotation by Saturday, as they had traded 26-year old and rather dismal Chris Brooks to the Stars for #64 prospect 1B Bob Lloyd. We may now face a different right-hander on Sunday, probably Rodolfo Cervantes (0-2, 5.16 ERA), a 25-year old rookie, or Edgar Bermudez (3-2, 6.75 ERA), a 31-year old career nobody.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – C Olivares – P Nielson
SFB: RF Booker – C R. Hernandez – 3B D. Garcia – LF R. Gomez – 1B J. Gonzalez – SS Sanks – CF Contreras – 2B Carper – P Joo

There was but one left-handed position player (Contreras) in the lineup, and Nielson struggled. But perhaps this was his realignment game, since a 1-something ERA after 49 innings was certainly not what he baseball gods had ultimately in mind for him. However, despite a few hard hit balls in the early innings, the Bayhawks failed to pierce him before the fourth inning broke. There, Nielson issued a leadoff walk to Hernandez, then got bombed by Dave Garcia, whose body was so thoroughly hollowed out by a tribe of resident termites that this was only his third home run of the season. It put the Bayhawks up 2-0, the Raccoons not having done anything memorable up to this point. They had but one hit through five innings, a Stalker single that ran his hitting streak to 12 games, and yet he was STILL far from batting even .250 …

Top 6th, Matt Nunley got robbed of a maybe-home run by Rafael Gomez, who launched himself up at the wall and picked the ball right off the top of it. So close to two base hits in six innings! The Bayhawks would tap Nielson for three base hits to lead off the bottom 6th, scoring a run, but after the heroics of Hernandez, Garcia, and Gomez, Nielson struck out Jon Gonzalez, Shane Sanks, and got a pop from Contreras to escape his final inning with a somewhat solid line of six innings and three runs on five hits and three walks, whiffing six.

On to the seventh, with Rockwell and Spencer hitting leadoff singles to left to pull up the tying run. Now it comes! Now the Coons will come through! Stalker popped out, pulling up Alfaro, who’s bouncer eluded the natural born outfielder Garcia at the hot corner for an RBI single. Doesn’t matter! Any ****ing way to give the kid some confidence before I use him for target practice with the blunderbuss after all! Between Olivares and Bullock, however, the Critters scored zero additional runs, with both being retired on soft pops on the verges of the infield dirt. Noah Bricker got poked for a run in the bottom of the inning, and the Baybirds got two more off Joe Moore, who allowed his first big league home run to Victor Contreras in the eighth. With two outs in the ninth and Rockwell on second base, Sam Armetta batted for Alfaro because he made me sad, and promptly hit an RBI single to left. Oh cruel world! Why do you hate me this much!? 6-2 Bayhawks. Armetta (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – RF Stevenson – 2B Spencer – CF Metts – P Chavez
SFB: RF Contreras – 3B Booker – CF D. Garcia – 1B J. Gonzalez – LF R. Gomez – SS Sanks – 2B G. Gonzalez – C R. Hernandez – P Cervantes

The Coons cobbled together a run in the first on Nunley’s 2-out double and Rockwell’s RBI single, both to the left side. Handing the 1-0 lead over to Chavez, the Raccoons saw it splinter in seconds, with a walk to Contreras and then a HUGE homer by Jon Gonzalez, his seventh of the season, all in the bottom of the first. Rodolfo Cervantes not only struck out five in the first three innings, nope, he also led off the bottom 3rd with a double into the gap. Contreras hit another one right away, advancing the Bayhawks’ sweep bid to 3-1, and Dave Garcia would cash his outfield mate in with a single, 4-1, before running his team out of the inning, being caught off first base when Jon Gonzalez lined out to Spencer and getting doubled off.

While Cervantes struck out nine in six innings, the Bayhawks tapped Chavez with nine hits and six runs in 5.2 innings. Raúl Hernandez’ 2-out RBI double ran the score to 6-1 and got Chavez finally evicted, with Cory Dew retiring Roger Allen on strikes. Allen had batted for Cervantes, who was not a very enduring pitcher. Yeah, well, you can just as well bring on the pen, I guess. Danny Rice’s leadoff single against Kyle Gershman in the seventh aside, the Coons were not exactly devouring him. Dew got battered for three hits and two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the runs scoring with two outs on Jon Gonzalez’ RBI double and Rafael Gomez’ RBI triple before Logan Sloan restored order and struck out Sanks. Gil Rockwell homered in the ninth for no good reason. 8-2 Bayhawks. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Rockwell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

July 20 – CIN RF/LF/1B Hugo Mendoza (.256, 18 HR, 64 RBI) knocks his second home run for his new team in an 8-1 Cyclones win over the Miners, which is also the 300th of his career. The 7-time All Star and 2016 FL Player of the Year has hit .314 with 300 HR and 1,150 RBI for his career with the Stars, Raccoons, and now Cyclones.
July 20 – The Rebels lose their closer Mike Greene (4-4, 3.12 ERA, 22 SV) for the season. The 23-year old left-hander has been diagnosed with elbow inflammation.
July 20 – The Indians swap swingman Killian Savoie (9-4, 3.85 ERA) to the Capitals for two prospects.
July 21 – The Crusaders give up and trade SP Hwa-pyung Choe (8-6, 2.19 ERA) to the Scorpions. New York receives two prospects, including #5 CL Gilberto “Tug” Castillo.
July 21 – The Capitals pick up CF/LF Todd Sanborn (.246, 6 HR, 37 RBI) from the Buffaloes, leaving them with SS Kyle Burns (.272, 2 HR, 34 RBI) and a third-rate prospect.
July 21 – A broken finger will put VAN C Ryan Holliman (.259, 16 HR, 48 RBI) away for at least a month.
July 22 – The Thunder send SP Franklin Alvarado (8-2, 2.69 ERA) to the Aces for two meager prospects.
July 23 – OCT SS Lorenzo Rivera (.287, 1 HR, 43 RBI) will probably not return until September after tearing his meniscus.
July 23 – BOS INF/LF Mike Kane (.291, 4 HR, 41 RBI) lands three hits with a double and drives in six runs in the Titans’ 10-0 rout of the Thunder.
July 24 – To the shelf for six to seven weeks goes BOS INF Jamie Wilson (.218, 2 HR, 20 RBI), who has broken his thumb.
July 24 – The Falcons rout the Canadiens, 12-0, with #7 batter C Tim Robinson (.278, 19 HR, 52 RBI) connecting for three hits, including two home runs, and 5 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

In short, Gil Rockwell hit four home runs this week, and the Raccoons still lost five games. Also, they scored nine runs in a loss on Monday, then scored nine runs for the rest of the week.

Before we left on the road trip, I put up a huge lawn sign reading “RELIEVERS FOR SALE”, but somehow it’s a tough chew to move the guys. I don’t know quite why f.e. Noah Bricker draws absolutely no love from teams. He’s now held up – more or less – for two seasons. There’s still a few good years left in this body, and especially two months to this season.

We have already traded a number of players, and slowly but surely we also have to consider which veterans to retain in the end to hold the cast of kits together the next few years. Toner, Rockwell, Cookie (team option), Lillis, Chavez, and Stevenson are the only players left with a guaranteed contract. Free agents are f.e. Guerrero, Nunley, Rice, and just about every reliever.

I don’t want to spend much money on a catcher, because we have Elias Tovias in AAA and he looks like an excellent defensive catcher, brighter than lightning, and I don’t want to block him by throwing money at Danny Rice. Nunley is a different deal, because the prospect I had lined up to replace him, Mike Grigsby, is about to fall apart, batting next to nothing in AA and AAA this year. Yeah sure, we still have Bullock, but I doubt we’ve rolled 3-for-3 on Bullock, Stalker, and Spencer, especially since none of them are setting opposing teams on fire. By the way, Bullock and Spencer combined marched over the 1,000 PA mark this week – without a single home run between them. That’s weak! Even Cookie hits two per year on average.

Money isn’t gonna be an issue – preliminary numbers say we’ll have $5.8M for extensions, but it’s probably smart to plan with half that since the Mexican Prick is not known for generosity. Maybe signing Nunley at the current rate ($1.1M) for a few more years and Guerrero to eat innings in the rotation will be the right moves to make. Also, Bricker – hey, if nobody wants him, I can just as well keep him.

Jonny Toner might still be here on Opening Day in 2023. The original estimate for his return was the middle of September, but that has since started to slide … backwards. He may not make another appearance this season, which in turn means he has hardly any value come the offseason. And we already discussed how Cookie has no value on the trade market, so we’re probably also going to have him around for 2023. Plus Rockwell – there is no way in hell we can get rid of him. Who did that trade…!?

On Thursday we signed SS Alberto Ramos from the Dominican for $362k, blowing through the soft cap in the process. We will thus not be able to sign anybody for more than roughly $34k next season, but that is 12 months from now and I will have to make it through another 140-some games before the next IFA period begins anyway. And every one of those games is HARD.

The final pitcher we were after, Dave Martinez, signed on Saturday, and he was also the final player left in the pool. Overall, the Raccoons spent $849k on the free agent pool, including $220k ransom for the bobbleheads in the league headquarters to fund their hookers and blow with. I mean, $220k in tax.

SS Alberto Ramos - $362k
SP Dave Martinez - $95k
SP Dante Saavedra - $86k
SP Mario Valdovinos - $76k
SP Manny Lerma - $10k

Fun fact: Jesus Chavez’ brilliant loss on Sunday also saw him as the tenth different starting pitcher we used this season.

That is not a record, but it is getting close, and we can take a little look into seasons long gone to shiver, shall we?

The 2013 Raccoons used a dozen starting pitchers. While Hector Santos, Rich Hood, and Bill Conway more or less lasted them all year, this was the year that Daniel Dickerson dropped dead in April, and Nick Brown dropped dead in May. That and constant rotation in the fifth slot saw the 67 starts not covered by the first three sprinkled between Colin Baldwin, Jonny Toner (in his rookie season), Jack Berry, Sergio Vega, Brownie, Dickerson, Ian Cumins, Mauro Castro, and Pat Slayton while the team tumbled to a third-place finish, 15 games out. This is one of only four seasons in which we used more than ten starting pitchers.

The 2012 Coons had used 11 pitchers, as did the dismantling team in 1997. There was only one other season in which the Coons used 12 pitchers: 2006 saw Ralph Ford and “Winless” Watanabe (8-16, 4.04 ERA) last the season, while Nick Brown, Tim Webster (!), and Kelly Fairchild (!!??) very much didn’t. Jose Dominguez chipped in, as did Felipe Garcia, “Fat Cat” Amador, Angel Romero, Rhett Carpenter (who??), Sergio Vega, and Kaz Kichida.

The low end? The 1993, 1995, and 2011 teams used only six starting pitchers. 1993 saw the most starts by the team’s top four: 158. Four starts went to Gabby De La Rosa, then a rookie swingman, when minor ailments befell Miguel Lopez and “Pooky” Beato.

Oh well, the 1990s dynasty. How long it has been since then… (glimpses at watch) Oh my, I almost forgot. (opens second drawer from the top and pulls out a multitude of different drug bottles) You see, with medication, even if they are not prescribed, it is very important that you take them at the right time. (starts unscrewing bottles) Remembering the 90s – and what followed – is always the right time for a little sleep-inducing cocktail… Slappy! – Have you seen the Capt’n Coma!?