[Westheim]

Raccoons (48-56) @ Falcons (58-48) – August 1-3, 2022

The Critters waltzed into Charlotte with the baggage of a 9-17 July, a 9-game losing streak, and having scored 18 runs in their last 11 games. If a team had ever been close to the absolute zero temperature, it was this one. By contrast, the Falcons were still clinging on to the top spot in the South, now even with a positive run differential (+2!), and overall with the fourth-most runs scored and sixth-most runs conceded. What a playoff team! The Coons were a win away from taking the season series at 4-2, but I wasn’t gonna bet the balance in my bank account on it.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (4-3, 2.24 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (8-11, 4.35 ERA)
Matt Huf (1-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (6-10, 4.13 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (4-4, 2.73 ERA) vs. TBD

Two right-handers, and then whatever. Jose Menendez (1-1, 3.93 ERA) had taken this turn in the rotation on the weekend, but they might be rolling with Greg Gannon (3-3, 6.23 ERA) – both right-handers that had mostly been used in relief this season.

Our week started with Bobby Guerrero (mild abdominal strain) heading to the DL for two weeks or so. Trevor Taylor (0-2, 8.16 ERA) was recalled from AAA to fill in for him.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – C Rice – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – CF Stevenson – RF Graves – SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – P Gutierrez
CHA: 2B Good – 3B Czachor – 1B Fowlkes – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – C T. Robinson – CF McClenon – SS Tanaka – P Benjamin

The middle of the order would see and hit the ball rather well off Gutierrez, although the damage was limited to a solo homer by Tim Robinson early on. That didn’t mean the Falcons couldn’t have had more; after the Robinson bomb, Joseph McClenon and Ryozo Tanaka both hit scratch singles, one just past Jarod Spencer, one dropping just in front of Zach Graves. They were on the corners with one out for Benjamin before Tanaka took off for second base, but was thrown out by Danny Rice. Benjamin then popped up and to short to end the inning. The Raccoons, offensively, did not really take place at all in the early innings. There was a Rockwell double in the second inning, a largely isolated occurrence of wood-meets-cowhide. In the fifth then (how the innings breeze past when one team never does anything!), it was Gutierrez to reach base with a 2-out single. Cookie hit a ball up the line for a double, but there was no way you could send a brittle rookie pitcher against the arm of Ryan Feldmann that could potentially launch intercontinental missiles. So there was a pair of runners in scoring position for Rice, who easily struck out. The Falcons would have the bases loaded in the bottom 5th; McClenon hit another soft single, now past Rockwell, and then Gutierrez drilled Matt Good with two outs and walked Ryan Czachor. In a full count, Pat Fowlkes grounded out to short against a rookie pitcher badly adrift.

But don’t you worry, dear Falcons fans – they got their runs eventually. The following inning, Feldmann hit a leadoff blast off Gutierrez, 2-0, and with two outs he stopped retiring anybody. McClenon doubled, Tanaka and Benjamin hit hard singles, and then Good doubled. That made four runs in the inning, and a fifth scored on Czachor’s single off Logan Sloan before Fowlkes grounded out. Down 6-0, the game was quite definitely over. Brian Benjamin pitched a complete game, though not a shutout. No RBI was doled out to the Raccoons however. When Spencer knocked a triple in the seventh inning, nobody could be found to drive the poor sod in. Spencer instead scored on a balk. Benjamin, not a strikeout pitcher by any means, whiffed seven in his full-game outing. 6-1 Falcons. Spencer 2-3, 3B;

Brian Perakis made his major league debut in this game, flying out to Feldmann in the ninth inning.

For the Tuesday game, we’d rest Rice and Stevenson, and due to universal misery, would bat Ricardo Romero in the middle of the order. Nine major league seasons, 1,300+ plate appearances, eight home runs.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – CF Romero – 2B Spencer – C Prieto – RF Perakis – P Huf
CHA: 3B Czachor – SS Read – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – RF Benson – LF McClenon – C W. Garza – CF LeMoine – P Bryant

Romero promptly struck out with two men on base (walks drawn by Nunley and Rockwell) to end the first inning. WHAT IS THIS TEAM?? Bottom 1st, Matt Good rocked a 2-out double to score Ryan Czachor after his leadoff walk, and in the bottom 2nd the Falcons had the bases loaded with nobody out (yet the pitcher at the plate) after a McClenon single, a Nunley error, and a LeMoine (batting .203!?) single. When Huf lost Jim Bryant to a run-scoring walk, putting the Falcons up 2-0, I was pretty sure that the lowest low was reached or at least very, very near. How much worse could it – … Matt Huf pitched one-plus innings, never retiring another batter. A double by Czachor and two singles scored four runs total, and there were still two on and nobody out. Billy Brotman replaced Huf, and the Druid should check him out whether he needed new irons or whatever the ****.

On Brotman’s watch, the Falcons scored another three runs, those driven in by Benson and McClenon, to take a 9-0 lead. Safe to say, the Raccoons weren’t going to avoid an 11-game losing streak. Reaching new lows was easy though. The Raccoons had their closer (!) in the game by the third inning, because ****ing Billy Brickface couldn’t retire any batter, either. Three hits, two walks off him against one out collected IN THE INNING, and he left the bags loaded in an 11-0 game for Lillis to inherit. That could have worked better as well, with Lillis allowing two more runs on a Garza grounder and LeMoine’s 2-out single. In the fourth, Howard Read singled off Lillis; the little ****ing **** proceeded to steal not one, but two bases in a 13-0 game, eventually scoring (because why not?), and was gonna get goddamn ****ing beaned the next time his turn would come up. This was in the sixth inning of a 14-1 game (details on the Coons’ run don’t matter…) after Joe Moore had issued a leadoff walk to Czachor. Read was in to bunt however, and Moore couldn’t find his face. Read actually but a bunt in play, but it was a bad one to Moore, who got Czachor forced out at second base. Fowlkes then hit into a double play. There was only one more run in this game, and it was the Coons’. Edwin Prieto’s RBI single in the eighth inning failed to spark a rally though. 14-2 Falcons. Rockwell 0-1, 3 BB; Moore 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

I feel a bit like Rome, 1527 AD.

There wasn’t much of a bullpen left after this game. The Raccoons demoted Jon McGrew after he went 0-for-2, and brought up an extra reliever in infrequent guest, 29-year old Will West, who had pitched to a 4.05 ERA in 29 relief appearances in St. Pete this year. He’s been a 4.74 ERA pitcher in the majors across 113 appearances sprinkled irregularly throughout the seasons since 2016. His best year was ’21 actually, with a 3.30 ERA in 30 innings.

There also won’t be a day off on Thursday, so things are going to **** right now. Cookie had a day off, though, and the rest of the regulars would get a day off before the week would be over, too.

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – SS Stalker – RF Graves – LF Perakis – P Nielson
CHA: 2B Good – 3B Czachor – 1B Fowlkes – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – C T. Robinson – CF McClenon – SS Tanaka – P Gannon

Maybe the losing streak would end at 11 games. Maybe. The Falcons’ Greg Gannon was tagged with three runs in the second inning, walking Rockwell and Rice to begin proceedings, and then allowed a 2-run triple to Tim Stalker. Perakis got his first career RBI with a sac fly to get the Critters to 3-0, but Nielson had also already pitched behind in a few counts, so mute your celebrations for now, will ya? On to the bottom 4th, where the Falcons got the balls they were hitting quite well off Nielson to finally fall in. Tim Robinson hit a single, and Ryozo Tanaka dropped a blooper in front of Stevenson with two outs. Runners on first and second, two outs and the pitcher at the plate, Nielson threw a wild pitch, then lost Gannon to a walk anyway. Matt Good would pop out to Perakis to keep the runners stranded. Consolation for the Falcons: the Raccoons weren’t landing any weak flies for hits, but the Falcons got a Fowlkes double in the bottom 5th, then instantly an RBI single to left center from Feldmann, scoring their first run in the game.

But they still had a total pushover pitching. After Rice walked in the sixth, Stalker singled to right, albeit softly. It was the Coons’ first commotion since the second inning, and it soon turned into runs when Zach Graves rammed a ball up the rightfield line for a 2-run double, extending the lead to a rousing, almost dizzying 5-1. But don’t you worry if those lofty heights are not for you – Ryan Nielson’s got you covered. The Falcons had the tying run in the box with one out in the sixth, thanks to Tanaka and Read singles, then a clueless 4-pitch walk to Matt Good. Within eight more pitches, the Falcons would score six runs, and while Nielson was surely to blame, the first guy to deserve his procreating parts to get stuck in a bear trap was Dingdong Graves in rightfield, who dropped Ryan Czachor’s easy fly for an error, scoring one run and getting the Falcons to 5-2 with the bags still full. Fowlkes singled hard up the middle to score two, and then Feldmann emptied the bases with his seventh home run of the season. As easy as that! In a novelty, we brought in Will West *too late* - he had never had an outing before in which we would have wished to have brought him in three batters earlier. NEVER. AND WITH THE BASES LOADED. Will West would soldier through the next nine batters, collecting seven outs from them on a meaty 50 pitches. The Raccoons faced Dusty Balzer in the ninth, needing two to tie. Cookie batted for Perakis, leading off, but his sharp grounder was knocked down and turned into an out on a bang-bang play by Tanaka. Sam Armetta singled in West’s place, but got forced by Spencer’s grounder to short. Spencer stole second base, but Stevenson flew out to center. 7-5 Falcons. Stalker 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Armetta (PH) 1-1; West 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

I don’t think we’ve ever gone 0-12 in a 4-CL South team stint. There are usually only two of those in the schedule every year. And going 0-12 is rare in any case.

This is the kind of pep talk I give the guys. You are special! You can do things! Yes!

Raccoons (48-59) vs. Indians (56-51) – August 4-7, 2022

This was a rest-precluding 4-game set, but at least the Indians already held a 4-3 edge in the season series, so there was hardly a potential to be disappointed at this point. The Coons would face a team ranking fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, with largely middling stats throughout.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (0-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (7-8, 3.63 ERA)
Trevor Taylor (0-2, 8.16 ERA) vs. Miguel Morales (1-3, 3.27 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (4-4, 2.90 ERA) vs. Alvin Smith (2-7, 4.01 ERA)
Matt Huf (1-3, 5.40 ERA) vs. Mario Alva (4-8, 4.01 ERA)

The left-hander Broun, 34, had made his first relief appearance in ten years on Tuesday in a 13-inning, 13-9 loss to the Knights; also active in relief in that game was rookie Miguel Morales, who gave up the walkoff grand slam to Ruben Luna. Yeah, their rotation was a mess right now, but they had a temporary advantage as their Wednesday game had been rained out, so there was that. This allowed the starter Broun to technically appear in consecutive games.

With the left-hander on tap, Nunley got the opener off. Rockwell was scheduled for Friday.

Game 1
IND: CF D. Morales – 3B J. Jackson – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – C J. White – 2B B. Reyes – SS Rolland – P Broun
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – RF Stevenson – 1B Rockwell – 2B Spencer – CF Romero – 3B Armetta – C Prieto – P Chavez

To my surprise, there was still a significant throng of people at the park, while even I had tried to ditch school today, but Maud had sent a cab and the driver had insisted. My scratch marks on the door frame were testament to that.

To nobody’s surprise, Jesus Chavez came out and was a complete disaster. Allowing hits to Justin Jackson and Cesar Martinez nicely dressed around a clumsy walk to Mike Rucker was one thing, but when down 1-0 also balking the runners into scoring position was borderline tempting fate. Remember, kid – we play at home, and I have guns here! Lowell Genge thankfully was just as dumb as the average Coon, grounding out on a 3-0 pitch, which still brought in a run, and left Chavez down 2-0 in the middle of the first inning. Bottom 1st, Cookie hit a leadoff single, Stalker hit into a double play, I hit the booze. Despite the early setback, Chavez would somehow tumble his way through six innings without allowing any more runs, but also without really impressing anybody. He struck out seven, but the Indians also grounded out on 3-ball counts three times to get him off the schneid repeatedly.

The Critters did precisely nothing through five innings, littering four hits, but nothing that would make the scoreboard light up. All their hits were soft singles. Cookie had another soft singles to begin the bottom 6th (and went to 3-for-3), but failed to steal a base and was stranded after three groundouts, keeping the score at 2-0 in the Arrowheads’ favor. Romero was stranded in scoring position the following inning. While a succession of Sloan, Brotman, and Moore kept the Indians from adding to their lead, the Raccoons got a leadoff double from Zach Graves in the bottom 8th after he had entered the game in a double switch with Moore. Now Cookie was the guy grounding out to not contribute zero to the effort, but hey, even Tristan Broun saw the funny side of it and scored Graves from third base with a wild pitch. Stalker’s single put the tying run aboard and got Broun removed, but his replacement Jerry Counts allowed singles to Stevenson and Spencer, and thus also the tying run to score. Nunley batted with two outs for Joe Moore in the #6 spot, but flew out to Lowell Genge. The Indians would be restored to the lead in the ninth; Nick GIlmor hit a leadoff single off Brett Lillis, who then got Raul Matias to ground to first base. Rockwell zinged the ball in Stalker’s direction to get the lead runner … except that Stalker was not standing anywhere near where that ball went … into leftfield. The error allowed the Indians to break through on Jesus Carbajal’s single. Down 3-2, the fans were ready to vanish silently into the night for the 13th consecutive time, but Sam Armetta hit a leadoff double off Tony Lino in the bottom of the ninth inning. Prieto struck out, but Graves hit an RBI double near the leftfield line. Cookie was put on first base right away, where he would not count (Graves on second was the winning run), and then Stalker grounded to third base. Justin Jackson hustled in, overran the ball, and was assessed an error that loaded the bases with one out for Stevenson. When his liner to left dropped in front of Lowell Genge and Zach Graves stomped home plate to formally end the 12-game losing streak, there were more than just a few random fans hugging total strangers and shedding a tear. The Coons can win again! 4-3 Critters! Carmona 3-4, BB; Stevenson 2-5, RBI; Graves 2-2, 2 2B, RBI;

There was no Miguel Morales to be seen right now. The Indians moved Alvin Smith to Friday.

Game 2
IND: CF D. Morales – 3B J. Jackson – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – C J. White – 2B B. Reyes – SS Rolland – P A. Smith
POR: LF Carmona – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – C Rice – SS Stalker – RF Graves – 2B Spencer – 1B Armetta – P Taylor

Uprooted in seconds, Trevor Taylor surrendered nothing but rockets, and three runs in the first inning, coming on three hard base hits and a walk. While the Indians lost Bob Reyes to injury right in the first inning, the Raccoons lost another game because of terrible starting pitching. Danny Morales’ home run ran the score to 5-0 in the second inning; Jaylen Rolland had previously reached base with a whacked single in the inning. Stalker, Spencer, and Armetta all singled in the bottom of the second, but that only scored one run, and this team never got the big knock that would lead to a huge inning. Hard knocks, much the contrary, would usually end their innings. Stevenson’s single and Nunley’s walk put two on with nobody out in the bottom 3rd, but Danny Rice knew how to ruin it with a grounder to new second baseman Raul Matias, who turned two on the play.

Taylor lasted 3.2 innings before being sent back to St. Petersburg following Justin Jackson’s 2-run blast that ran the score to 7-1. Cory Dew took over, then Will West. In the bottom 5th, the Raccoons got an unearned run with nobody out; Cookie had reached on Jaylen Rolland’s throwing error, then scored on Stevenson’s double up the rightfield line, 7-2. OH-OH, RALLY TIME!! Matt Nunley got the message and hit a pretty fat homer off Alvin Smith, 7-4, but the team only got Graves on base with a 2-out single before the inning fizzled out. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Smith ever so slightly brushed Cookie’s uniform pants to get him sent to first base with two down and nobody else on. But Stevenson ripped another RBI double, and Nunley ticked a ball to center for an RBI single against Smith’s replacement, Rafael Urbano. Rice struck out, now in a 7-6 game, but we suffered a setback in the seventh with Billy Brotman getting bombed by Cesar Martinez, a right-handed batter. Stalker got drilled by Urbano in the bottom 7th, but wouldn’t score. While Bricker and Moore kept the Indians from adding to their 8-6 total, the Coons wouldn’t get the tying run to the plate until Rice singled off Lino with one out in the bottom 9th. Stalker singled up the middle, bringing Graves up as the winning run. Now, we had Rockwell on the bench still, but Graves was a left-handed batter, countering Lino, and had recently shown vague signs of a pulse. Maybe Rockwell would only bat for Spencer. So it happened once Graves lined out to Ryan Georges in rightfield. Lino struck him out. 8-6 Indians. Stevenson 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Stalker 2-4; Spencer 2-4; West 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

ERA for Taylor: flat ten. What is Travis Garrett up to, anyway?

Game 3
IND: SS Rolland – 3B J. Jackson – C J. White – RF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – CF D. Morales – LF Georges – 2B Matias – P Alva
POR: LF Carmona – CF Stevenson – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – C Rice – SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Perakis – P Gutierrez

In things not seen before, the bottom five batters in the Indians order would each put the first pitch in play on Gutierrez’ first time seeing them. Four made outs, Alva doubled. Strikeouts to Rolland and Jackson would end the third inning before damage could be done, though. There was not much damage to be marveled at overall in the game. Through five innings, both starters scattered three hits apiece, mostly soft singles.

Always good for panic: the leadoff walk. Jackson drew one in the sixth inning, While he had no speed, the following full-count walk to Jamal White moved him to scoring position anyway. The next two batters in the lineup had 48 home runs between them this season, and 362 for their careers – always a good thing to offer some incentives for them to rake. Cesar Martinez, who had more (26) this year, but less (95) for his career compared to Mike Rucker, who was also seven years older, hit a real drive to leftfield. Cookie raced back, back, back, leapt at the fence AND SNARED IT while bouncing off the wall. Jackson advanced to third, but Rucker struck out. Gutierrez handled Danny Morales’ grounder himself for the third out, stranding them on the corners. Georges, Matias, and Rice all hit hard drives in the seventh inning – none of them even was rewarded with a double as the game remained scoreless. Gutierrez was still in for the eighth, on 81 pitches, facing the top of the order, and now suddenly got a pop and two soft grounders from the 1-2-3 batters. What the **** was even going on anymore? I don’t know. The game was still scoreless when Graves batted for Gutierrez and drew a 1-out walk off Alva in the bottom 8th. Cookie singled, moving the go-ahead run to second base. Stevenson hit a drive to right, Martinez back – but this one fell in, finally! Not only that, the outfielders got split on the gapper, almost ran into another, and Morales fell down, with Martinez having to chase down the ball deep in the gap. Stevenson easily legged out a triple, and of course drove in two! Nunley added an RBI single, and for the first time in … very long, Brett Lillis got a … ehm, what is it called again? 3-0 Coons. Stevenson 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-4);

The Sunday game went to Tom Shumway (9-9, 3.30 ERA), so we got a third southpaw in the week.

Game 4
IND: CF D. Morales – 3B J. Jackson – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – C J. White – 2B Matias – SS Rolland – P Shumway
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – 1B Rockwell – CF Stevenson – 2B Armetta – RF Perakis – C Prieto – P Huf

Matt Huf had allowed 3+ runs for four consecutive starts, and 12 runs total in his last two starts (6.2 IP). He started the game with a walk to Morales before Jackson put another 3-1 pitch in play. Nunley bobbled that for his 15th error of the season – kinda rough for Nunley… - and Rucker rapped a double right through Rockwell for the first run of the game. That came in a full count. Huf went to 3-1 on Martinez, who hit a sac fly to plenty deep leftfield, and only after that did Huf stop being down in all the counts. He didn’t stop bleeding runs, however, with Jamal White’s RBI double giving the Indians a comfy, early 3-0 lead. At least… until Shumway took the ball. The Coons tied the score in just four batters, with Cookie singling, stealing, scoring on Nunley’s single to left. Rockwell homered, his 15th of the year, and that made it a 3-3 contest.

Of course, a 3-3 could never stand, and neither would this one. Unfortunately it was Huf that got scorched, and it was already in the third inning. After a leadoff walk to Jackson (…!!) and a Rucker single, Huf got Martinez and Genge removed on poor contact, before Jamal White cranked a 3-piece outta leftfield … and it wasn’t close, really. Down 6-3, Huf looked like a demotion candidate with his 5.97 ERA; except that we were out of even quad-A and triple-A pitching at this point.

However, once more Tom Shumway would fail to protect a 3-run lead for a single inning. Stalker got on, Nunley got on in the bottom 3rd. Rockwell popped out for the second out, but Stevenson walked in a full count, and Sam Armetta’s grounder eluded Jackson for a 2-run single. Brian Perakis stepped in 0-for-11 in his career, but singled up the middle, plating Stevenson from second base to tie the score at six. While Prieto flew out to strand a pair, technically Huf outlasted Shumway, who was hit for by Georges in the fourth. Huf walked the pinch-hitter. Morales grounded out, but one last walk to Jackson, Huf’s fourth in 3.2 innings, sealed his fate. He got yanked. Sugano came out to oppose the lefty Rucker, who grounded out to short. The Indians took their third lead in the fifth inning when Lowell Genge romped a homer off Logan Sloan, 7-6, but Rafael Urbano loaded the bases on walks with nobody out in the bottom 5th. Perakis struck out, and Prieto flew out to center, with Danny Morales’ throw killing off Gil Rockwell at home plate to end the inning. The following inning Cookie drew a 1-out walk, but was caught stealing before Tim Stalker doubled in vain.

In another sign that the team was doomed, Brian Perakis – the lowest of low outfielders in the organization – twisted his ankle on a play in the seventh inning and had to be replaced by Zach Graves. But eh. There weren’t many great players left on the team to get struck by the baseball gods’ lightning…! Graves batted with two outs in the bottom 7th, having Stevenson on second base, but popped out cluelessly. Joe Moore was tagged for a 2-out run in the eighth inning, walking Jesus Carbajal in the #9 hole with two down, then allowing a long gapper to Morales for an RBI double. He also threw a wild pitch after that, but Justin Jackson giggled too hard in a 3-ball count to get wood on the bat and popped out in foul ground eventually. On to the bottom of the ninth, which Tony Lino started with a K to Stalker, but then got raked by Nunley, who hit a 390-footer to left, bringing the tying run to the plate in Rockwell. Now, the Coons’ bench was empty. Short to begin with, we had already pinch-hit three times for hapless pitching and had used one guy as injury replacement. If the pitcher, Will West, comes up in the #8 hole, we’re ****ed. Luckily, there was no rally in the team. Rockwell grounded out. Stevenson flew out to Genge. 8-7 Indians. Stalker 2-5, 2B; Nunley 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Romero (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 1 – The Buffaloes beat the Scorpions, 1-0 in 11 innings.
August 2 – The Wolves’ and Blue Sox’ game in Nashville is close through six, with the home team up 2-1, before the Blue Sox crush the Wolves with a 9-run seventh and a 5-run eighth for a 16-1 mauling. NAS 2B/1B Rich Mendez (.299, 4 HR, 57 RBI) has four base hits and an RBI.
August 3 – SAC RF/LF Pablo Sanchez (.329, 5 HR, 59 RBI) gets his 2,000th career hit at *age 28*, knocking three base hits like it’s nothing in the team’s 7-3 loss to the Buffaloes. The milestone is a game-opening single off Jose Lerma. Sanchez became the first ABL player ever to bat .400 (.409 precisely) in 2021. For his career, he has batted .350/.423/.424 with 58 HR and 777 RBI, plus 359 stolen bases. At age 28!
August 3 – Los Angeles’ Steve Hollingsworth (.320, 3 HR, 25 RBI) ends his hitting streak at 22 games, going 0-for-3 in a 7-0 loss to the Rebels.
August 6 – The Aces lose their recent addition, SP Franklin Alvarado (8-5, 3.28 ERA) with shoulder inflammation. The 25-year old right-hander is done for the season. He had lost all his starts with the Aces, with a 9.00 ERA over three games.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons greatly announced this week a contract extension signed with Matt Nunley, who (surprisingly) agreed to a 3-yr, $2.1M contract. This will see him make substantially less than before (2022: $1.15M). Nunley, 31, was a career .286/.344/.397 batter at the time of the extension, with 1,323 base hits, 90 homers, and 552 RBI. He was the 2014 CL Rookie of the Year, an All Star once (2016), and a Platinum Stick winner three times (2015, 2017, 2018).

Where’s Damani Knight when you need him? Answer: he has been with the Aces’ AAA team the entire season going 6-13 with a rank 6.35 ERA, but that has still somehow won him promotion this weekend. The Aces must be very desperate.

It’s a knife fight in the Northwest, with all three teams pretty much under a blanket!

Fun fact: The Wolves have not been Best in Northwest since 2004…!

Oh well, that in itself would not bother me so much. Better second-best in Oregon, than trailing the ****ing Elks. With the Wolves, it is not that much competition, because you see them only every two years.

Or once in the World Series…

(whiskers twitch)

Slappy, I thought of Ed Parrell and Glenn Johnston again – where’s the cheap booooze …!? (sobs)