[Westheim]

Raccoons (25-13) @ Titans (20-18) – May 18-21, 2026

The Time of Truth had come for these wannabe Raccoons – their first series with quadruple-defending champions Boston this season, and one for four games. Right now, the Titans looked rather innocent in their fourth place, five games behind the Coons, but the numbers were there to show how lethal they could be. They had the most productive offense in the Continental League, plating a flat five runs per game, and only their pitching was still trying to catch up. Their rotation was pretty darn good, second in the CL with a 3.49 ERA, but their pen was undoing a lot of good effort and intentions. The Raccoons had not won a season series from Boston in their last four attempts, losing ten of eighteen last year.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (5-2, 1.54 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (2-4, 4.31 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-0, 2.18 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (4-1, 3.31 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (3-2, 5.35 ERA) vs. Guillermo Regalado (2-2, 1.58 ERA)
Lance Legleiter (2-3, 3.28 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (3-3, 4.29 ERA)

We would tip-toe around their sole southpaw starter, Dustin Wingo (3-2, 4.01 ERA), in this 4-game set. We'd see whether that would do us any good…

Meanwhile there was reinforcements coming from the DL, with Justin Gerace sent back to St. Pete to make room for Omar Alfaro. Replacing a 1-for-3 player with a 2-for-10 player here, but I was TOTALLY sold on the dream that Omar Alfaro would light fire under Terry Kopp's impending free agent bum.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Gomez – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Roberts
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – 1B Gasso – C James – SS Kane – P A. Molina

Roberts retired the Titans in order the first time through, whiffing three, which in this short form glossed over the near-stroke I suffered when Adrian Reichardt hit his very first pitch for some 400 feet in a part of the park that was more like 420' and Abel Mora actually made the damn catch at the fence. Omar Alfaro hit into a double play his first time up, which was probably part of his bigger battle plan to appear like the giant dork his stat line identified him as to get better pitches later in the series. Reichardt hit a single up the middle to begin the fourth inning for Boston, but was caught stealing, and that was literally almost all the action in the first five innings. Three singles for Portland, one for Boston, and nobody reached third base until Alberto Ramos legged out a leadoff infield single against Molina in the top 6th and advanced to third on Spencer's blooper near the rightfield line that also fell for a single. Mora put a run on the board with a single past Adam Corder into leftfield, after which Gonzalez and Gomez were not very helpful. That brought up Alfaro, who ran a full count with two outs, upon which Molina and the Titans decided to challenge him. Alfaro hit the challenge into the leftfield corner, plating two, and the Coons were up 3-0. Oh my god, Alfaro is a GENIUS!! The Titans in turn didn't get another hit until the bottom 7th, when Adam Braun singled, while the Coons did not get another run until the eighth, which saw Gonzalez snap a leadoff jack to left off Molina. Roberts looked impregnable until he didn't, with Mike Kane hitting a 2-out whammy off him in the bottom 8th to get Boston on the board, 4-1. That was also Roberts' 105th pitch of the game, and there was little point in messing around. It was time to bring on the pen and close those old eyes so they wouldn't have to bear witness. The Raccoons went straight for Snyder in this situation to get a 4-out save, entering in a double switch with Alfaro that brought on Kopp in the #9 hole. Panic was present almost instantly with a pinch-hit single by Jay Elder bringing up the top of the order in the eighth, and Adrian Reichardt rammed an 0-2 pitch to deep right. Kopp didn't get to it, it hit off the fence, and the Titans waved Elder around third base. Big mistake – Kopp collected the double eventually and unleased a murderous throw home that allowed Tovias to knock out the runner before he could touch home plate, ending the inning. The Coons wisely added two runs against Javy Salomon in the ninth inning, sparked only by a 2-out Ramos triple, followed by Spencer singling, stealing second, and scoring on a Mora single. Snyder didn't miss a beat anyway in the bottom of the inning, retiring the 2-3-4 batters in order. 6-1 Raccoons! Ramos 3-5, 3B; Spencer 3-5, RBI; Mora 2-5, 2 RBI; Gomez 2-4; Roberts 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (6-2);

First to six wins in the CL – Mark Roberts!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Kopp – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Gutierrez
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – 2B R. West – 1B Elder – 3B Corder – C Leonard – SS Kane – P Shepherd

Morgan Shepherd struck out three in the opening inning – but not until after the Raccoons had rapped out four base hits and scored as many runs on him. Ramos singled, Spencer singled, Mora hit an RBI single, and Jon Gonzalez rung Shepherd's bell with a 3-run homer to left-center, his seventh on the year. Finally defrosting there! Rico had Titans on base in each of the first two innings, but they wouldn't score, with Keith Leonard hitting into a double play to defuse the bottom 2nd for example. The Raccoons added a run when Gutierrez hit a sac fly to Adam Braun with three on and one out in the third inning, stretching the score to 5-0, but the game and potentially the series turned poisonous in the bottom of the same inning when Rico faced Reichardt with two outs and nobody on and clocked him really well. Reichardt fell instantly and it took the Titans minutes to pick him up and gingerly walk him off the field. Jamie Wilson replaced him on first base and playing centerfield, but the Boston crowd that had so far being endured being outscored 11-1 in the series was hostile from this point on.

While the occasional cup of beer was now flung at one Raccoon or another, the Titans on the field also discarded their pitcher, sending Dan Moon into the game in the fourth for long relief in his season debut. Moon, a 2010 Coons supplemental rounder, was coming off nine years in low-noise bullpen roles with the Elks and had a 4.79 ERA to his career. The Coons didn't get to him, but the Titans were now in Gutierrez' head and rapped out Braun and Rhett West singles, then a Jay Elder RBI double to begin the bottom 4th. Gutierrez was tended to psychologically by the pitching coach with the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle, and Rico managed to hold the Titans to two runs in the inning on Adam Corder's groundout, getting Leonard to pop out to Spencer, who also handled Kane's grounder for the third out, while all stuff had been lost on Gutierrez ever since he had beaten Reichardt semi-comatose. Rico remained beleaguered, though, with the Titans putting up two with two down in the bottom 5th, which West ended by grounding out to Ramos.

Top 6th, the Coons scratched a run from Moon with singles by Ramos, Spencer, and Alfaro when they really could have used another 3-run homer with Rico mentally absent as it appeared, and the bullpen being not exactly fire-resistant. The angry Titans kept helping him out in the bottom 6th, which began with a 4-pitch walk to Elder. Adam Corder struck himself out swinging for the fences, with Leonard then singling through the right side. Elder went for third base, but was thrown out by Alfaro, which saved at least a run in the end, with Kane hitting a booming RBI double right afterwards. Gil Cornejo flew out easily to Alfaro to end the inning, 6-3. On 95 pitches and distraught, Rico was hit for in the top 7th, and then the pen had to find nine outs without giving up three runs. Jeff Mudge retired the 1-2-3 batters in order in the seventh, but in the eighth the Titans scored a run between the pitching of Ohl and Boles, singles by Elder and Kane, and finally a fielding gaffe by Alfaro. At least Snyder remained immaculate in 2026, retiring Gus Gasso, Jamie Wilson, and Yasuhiro Kuramoto in order in the ninth. 6-4 Coons! Ramos 2-4, BB; Spencer 3-5; Gonzalez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Tovias 2-3, BB;

There was a roster move after this game, as the Raccoons waived and designated Greg Borg for assignment to get up another infielder. Butch Gerster was a guy for the left side of the infield, batting right-handed, and hitting .264 with two homers in AAA. He had been our #18 pick in the 2022 draft, and had since languished in the minors without impressing anybody. He was 25 at this point…

Before the Wednesday the Titans also disabled a badly bruised and shaken Adrian Reichardt (.293, 3 HR, 21 RBI), but expected him to be back within two weeks.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Kopp – 3B Gerster – C Burrows – P Anderson
BOS: 1B Elder – C Leonard – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B R. West – CF F. Rodriguez – 3B Kane – P Regalado

Weirdly, this was another game that was scoreless through five innings despite Kyle Anderson's best efforts to throw batting practice only out there. The Titans got some damn fine swings on him in the first two innings, but always ended up in the gloves of either Alfaro or Mora, and eventually had only two hits against Anderson through five, both soft, and one of them hadn't even reached the mound before trickling out. The Raccoons were not much better, their offense mostly limited to Ramos getting on base (now with an 18-game hitting streak) and seeing how far his speed would take him, which was in all cases not far enough, also a leadoff single issued to Jake Burrows in the top 5th that dissolved quickly when Anderson bunted into a double play.

An hour-long rain delay in the sixth inning would eventually serve to knock out both starters before anybody could put a run on the board. The Raccoons would put runners in scoring position finally in the eighth inning on a walk drawn by Kopp and Butch Gerster's first major league hit, a double off Salomon, but Burrows lined out to Rhett West to end the inning. The Raccoons sent Jeff Mudge into the bottom 8th where he faced four batters and retired none, conceding the go-ahead run and loading the bases on four singles. Ricky Ohl had to replace him and gave up another run on a sac fly by Adam Braun, but by then the game was already in the bin. 2-0 Titans. Spencer 2-3, BB; Kopp 1-2, 2 BB; Anderson 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K;

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Gomez – LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Legleiter
BOS: CF W. Vega – C Leonard – LF Kuramoto – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B R. West – 1B Elder – RF F. Rodriguez – 3B Corder – P Waite

Rhett West drove in Leonard and Wilson with a well-placed 2-out single in the bottom of the first inning, giving the Titans an early lead for the first time in the series. While Jeremy Waite fooled absolutely all the Raccoons, Legleiter fooled precisely nobody, but definitely didn't fool West the most; the Titans had two man aboard again in the bottom 3rd when West's spot came up, and this time he bombed Legleiter to left, extending the home team's lead to 5-0. Legleiter managed to commit a throwing error and allowed another single to Fernando Rodriguez before being yanked after 2.1 innings, eight hits, a walk, and (so far) five runs. Nick Derks replaced him and got out of the inning when Rodriguez was caught stealing and Adam Corder flew out to Cookie. The Raccoons would not hit for Derks come the fifth inning with Nunley and Tovias in scoring position and one out, because they were really keen on that long relief. Derks hit a ****ty grounder in front of home plate that was easily turned into the second out with the runners keeping pinned, after which Ramos grounded out. Back on the mound in the bottom 5th, Derks walked Kuramoto and Wilson to get started, then loaded the bases with a bloop single by West to get yanked anyway. Only the greatest developments on this Thursday! This included Kevin Surginer coming on to whiff three in the inning… AFTER hitting Jay Elder with the bases loaded and surrendering a bases-clearing double to Waite, of all people.

When the Raccoons put up a 3-spot against Waite, with a 2-run double by Tovias the most damaging part, it still didn't mean much against the rout that was in progress, and continued to rage with Surginer on the mound. Bottom 6th, Rhett West remained a 1-man hurricane dousing and drowning every and each pitcher the Raccoons would dare to send out. He came up with two men on again, and hit his second 3-piece in the game, Cookie angrily flinging his cap after the ball as it crossed well, well, well above him into the bleachers, putting Rhett West at 8 RBI in the game. Only Josh Boles would retire him between all the hapless hurlers the Coons threw against him in this game, striking him out with Wilson aboard in the bottom 8th. Nothing that could drown out the ravenous cheering and howling of the home crowd, though… 12-3 Titans. Kopp (PH) 1-1, 2B; Nunley 1-2, BB, RBI; Tovias 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Boles 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

…and the sad thing is that after those first two games I felt really, really, really good.

Yikes.

Raccoons (27-15) @ Aces (20-22) – May 22-24, 2026

Despite no injuries of significance, no flu epidemic, and no voodoo magic immediately apparent, the Aces were suffering through a horrible May after starting the year with a 13-9 April and looking pretty good at that point. They were seventh in runs scored in the league, but the devil definitely seemed to be in their pitching, which ranked at the very bottom of the CL with 5.1 runs allowed per game. Rotation and bullpen were equally guilty for them, both sitting 11th by ERA. The Raccoons had lost the last two season series against them, both times 4-5.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (4-0, 1.54 ERA) vs. Matt McCabe (1-2, 2.91 ERA)
Mark Roberts (6-2, 1.50 ERA) vs. Joel Trotter (2-4, 5.32 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (6-0, 2.41 ERA) vs. Ed Hague (6-2, 3.46 ERA)

And again the Coons seemed to snake around the left-handers, probably not meeting either Abramo Archibugi (3-4, 6.18 ERA), nor Tristan Broun (0-4, 4.71 ERA).

We started this series with a seriously bombed out bullpen and needed another goody from undefeated Yusneldan Delgadillo.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Gomez – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Delgadillo
LVA: CF Serrano – LF Raynor – RF Bednarski – 1B M. Hamilton – C T. Robinson – SS A. Medina – 3B A. Velez – 2B Farias – P McCabe

Portland went up 1-0 in the first inning without the benefit of a hit, instead exploiting a throwing error by Andres Medina that moved Ramos to third base following a leadoff walk, with Spencer jogging into second. Abel Mora's sac fly was still all they could make out of runners in scoring position with nobody out. The Raccoons wouldn't actually get a base hit until a Gomez single in the fourth inning, at which point there was not much to that inning anymore as the single occurred with two outs, nobody on, and Alfaro soon flew out to Ron Raynor. They also didn't have the lead anymore, which Danny Serrano had erased with a 1-out RBI double, plating Emilio Farias in the bottom 3rd. The Vegasians would take the lead the following inning after a 2-out walk to Medina issued by a not-very-sharp Delgadillo, after which Alberto Velez, the former logger, got really all of a fastball and banged out his sixth homer of the season, giving the home team a 3-1 lead. McCabe didn't hold that for very long though; Matt Nunley flicked a single in the top of the fifth, advanced on a wild pitch, Tovias' groundout, then scored on Delgadillo's groundout. With two outs and nobody on, Ramos singled, which meant 20 straight games with a base hit for him, and Spencer found the gap to double him in and re-knot the score at three.

It got better, at least once Rafael Gomez defused an absolute scorcher by Raynor with Serrano in scoring position in the bottom 5th. Gonzalez opened the sixth with a soft single, bringing up Gomez, who hit anything but. Now he hit a real rocket, and Ron Raynor wasn't getting to this one in the gap. Gomez' RBI triple gave Portland the lead back, 4-3, and there was still nobody out in the inning. At this point, the Aces walked Omar Alfaro (.160 with no power) intentionally, preferring to have the right-hander McCabe pitch to the .322 singles slapper and left-handed menace… Matt Nunley. Ultimately, it didn't matter either way; Matt hit a sac fly off the other Matt, the Coons went up 5-3, and Tovias didn't come through, neither did Delgadillo. For the latter, it was now about holding the **** on, because we couldn't possibly piece four innings together from the pen while maintaining a slim lead against this lineup. Bottom 6th, sharp single by Mike Bednarski, sharp single by Matt Hamilton, and weren't those two MY FAVORITE BATTERS OF ALL TIME?? Tim Robinson lined out to Spencer on a 3-1 pitch and I felt my heartbeat get out of rhythm there. Medina grounded out, advancing the runners, but Velez popped out, and somehow the Coons dodged a hail of bullets there.

Top 8th, another weird procedure, actually similar to the one in the sixth. This time Gomez led off with a triple against maybe Hall of Fame-bound, but clearly on his last leg, Ernest Green. The Aces stayed true to their ideals and walked Alfaro again, giving Nunley runners on the corners and nobody out once more… except that the Raccoons sought the platoon advantage and sent Tim Stalker to bat for Nunley, who was none too pleased. Tim singled up the middle, 6-3, after which Green knocked Tovias to load the bases. Delgadilo was not batted for in this spot, as he had another inning in him, and the lead was in "sizable" territory. Plus, my joy was boundless when he hit a fly up the rightfield line that totally beat Bednarski for a 2-run double. OH THE JOY!! **** YOU BEDGNATSKI!! Abel Mora would drive in two more against Ian Van Meter, another washed-up Federal League veteran trying to better his pension, giving the Coons a 5-spot and a 7-run lead. The Coons ran Delgadillo out there until Farias hit a 1-out single in the ninth, then let him come out after 113 pitches. Jonathan Snyder entered, trying to get two outs, but instead made a mess. He allowed Farias to score on a Jeremy Dein double, then allowed an RBI triple to Serrano, which actually put the first run of the season on his own stat card. Raynor walked before Bednarski drew up, the most legendarily useless batter I could remember, and grounded out to Tim Stalker at short. 10-5 Coons. Spencer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mora 2-4, 3 RBI; Gomez 3-5, 2 3B, RBI; Nunley 1-2, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-2, RBI;

I would really dig it to keep Serrano of the bases. He is leading the batting race in the CL by a good margin with a .367 clip.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Gomez – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Kopp – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Roberts
LVA: CF Serrano – LF Raynor – C T. Robinson – 1B M. Hamilton – SS A. Medina – 3B A. Velez – RF Piepoli – 2B Moroyoqui – P Trotter

Saverio Piepoli's homer gave the Aces a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, although Jarod Spencer pulled the Coons back even again in the third with a 2-out RBI double that chased home Tovias. The ball seemed to fly well off the bats of the players on either team, so it was probably best to hold on to something and I chose to hold on to a bottle of bourbon. But most of those harder drives ended up caught, and when a team piled up a few runs in the fifth inning, it was mostly on singles. That team was the Coons, with Cookie hitting a leadoff single to right. Tovias' groundout moved him to second, and before Roberts could do much, Trotter threw a pitch that graced his uniform and put him on base. Ramos' fly to left was caught by Raynor, but Spencer chipped in an RBI single to claim the lead, and after Gomez walked, Jon Gonzalez singled to center to drive in two more, 4-1. Nunley then grounded out to Velez to strand two. Mark Roberts seemed better in control and able to keep balls out of the Jetstream in the middle innings, although Tim Robinson hit a hard drive to right to begin the bottom 7th. Kopp caught that at the fence, and Roberts continued unfazed, retiring Hamilton on a pop and Medina on strikes. Trotter stayed in the game til the eighth and a 2-out walk to Cookie, which prompted a move to ex-Coon Wade Davis, who got Tovias on a grounder to short. It was still a close game, and although Roberts had a chance to go the distance here, throwing only 79 pitches through seven, the pen was alert and some guys were seen stretching as the eighth inning began. They were just about to begin throwing in earnest after a Velez single to lead off when Roberts got Piepoli to ground one to Ramos, who turned a textbook double play. Jesus Moroyoqui doubled, the pitching coach was on the phone constantly by now, but Jose Vargas grounded out again, and Roberts still looked on 91 pitches. As he came to the dugout after the inning, he expected a pat on the bum, but instead got a stick with the #9 spot due to lead off the ninth, so he went back out there and ripped a triple off Franklin Alvarado! The Aces now walked Ramos intentionally, which was going to end his hitting streak unless the game went extras or the Raccoons would seriously **** up the scoreboard. Ramos out of spite stole second base despite no steal sign visible anywhere, his 11th of the season, but despite runners in scoring position and nobody out, the Coons failed to get another run across, as Spencer grounded out poorly and Gomez and Gonzalez both popped out. Roberts struck out Serrano to begin the bottom 9th, got Raynor on a grounder, and then… got bombed by Robinson. BULLPEN SCRAMBLE!! He was going to face the left-hander Hamilton, though, who was still not the tying run… and who struck out. 4-2 Furballs! Spencer 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Roberts 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (7-2) and 1-2, 3B;

Second career triple for Mark Roberts, and his first base hit this season after going 0-for-20 so far. That was even with bad luck; he actually only struck out five times and was 0-for-15 on balls actually put in play. For his career he has over 400 at-bats with a .225 clip so he is one of the better-hitting pitchers out there…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Kopp – C Burrows – P Gutierrez
LVA: CF Serrano – 3B A. Velez – RF Bednarski – 1B M. Hamilton – SS A. Medina – LF Piepoli – C J. Vargas – 2B Moroyoqui – P Hague

The game's first run scored on a Bednarski throwing error, which filled me with glee, coming as Terry Kopp, who had doubled, tagged up and went for third base on Jake Burrows' fly to rightfield. Bednarski had that, but then overthrew any and all defenders to allow Kopp to score in the second inning. The team broke out singles by Ramos, Spencer, Gonzalez, and Nunley to score two more runs in the third inning, but just when Hague looked ripe for consumption, Alfaro fouled out and Kopp soared a lazy one to Piepoli. At least Alfaro was playing spoiler to Serrano on defense, robbing him of potential extra bases both in the first and third innings while Rico remained untouched in the early going, but also struck out nobody in the first three innings, at least until he whiffed Velez … and then Burrows didn't come up with the ball, allowing Velez to reach on uncaught third strike. This gave the Aces an unnecessary 2-out runner in the bottom 3rd. Bednarski promptly singled, but Gutierrez rung up Hamilton to escape after all. Hamilton would also end the bottom 5th with another pair of runners on, this time the tying ones; Gutierrez had surrendered a rather impressive solo homer to Jose Vargas in the fourth, but still was 3-1 ahead.

Rico held on, but the Aces' Ed Hague now also found his strength and kept the Raccoons to mostly nothing in the following innings. Ramos had a single and stole second in the seventh inning, but couldn't entice his team mates to bring him in. While Hague went eight and struck out as many, Rico bumped over 100 pitches in the seventh and was not seen again for the eighth. Instead we saw Jeff Mudge walk the tying runs aboard, after which we had to shrug and send in Ricky Ohl, who somehow got an easy fly to left from Piepoli, then whiffed Vargas. The Coons also left a pair on base in the ninth, which started with a pinch-hit single by Cookie, a pinch-walk by Tovias, and then three pathetic outs from the 1-2-3 batters. Snyder was in for the bottom 9th; Moroyoqui grounded out to Ramos, but Emilio Farias slapped a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a 1-out single. That brought up the torrid Serrano, who had hit singles in his last two at-bats against Gutierrez and was now bloodthirsty to stave off the sweep. That count ran full as well, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Serrano cracked a mighty liner into play. Even mightier? Matt Nunley! He lunged, caught the damn ball in flight, and then found Farias halfway between first and second base after going on contact! Farias threw the anchor, scrambled back, but NOT IN TIME! Nunley lasered a throw to first base, and it reached Gonzalez with Farias still 15 feet away for a sweep-sealing double play! 3-1 Furballs! Ramos 2-4, BB; Mora 2-5, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Nunley 2-4, RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (7-0);

In other news

May 18 – WAS RF/LF Tsuneyoshi Tachibana (.318, 5 HR, 26 RBI) knocks out four hits, including two home runs, a drives in three in the Capitals' 12-3 rout of the Rebels.
May 19 – An oblique strain fells NYC 3B Andy Schmit (.303, 4 HR, 17 RBI). The 28-year-old is expected to miss the next three to four weeks.
May 19 – The Crusaders beat the Canadiens, 2-1, when they walk off on a passed ball charged to VAN C Chris Tanzillo (.268, 0 HR, 11 RBI) that allows OF J.D. Laughery (.160, 0 HR, 2 RBI) to score from third base.
May 20 – SAC SP Michael Foreman (7-2, 2.01 ERA) spins a 2-hit shutout and takes a 5-0 win of his Scorpions over the Warriors.
May 22 – The Falcons pick up left-handed former starter, now hapless reliever Greg Becker (0-0, 10.38 ERA) from the Canadiens in a deal that sends a prospect to Vancouver.
May 24 – The Bayhawks lose CL Brian Gilbert (1-0, 1.23 ERA, 11 SV) to a torn meniscus that will keep him out for all of June and July.
May 24 – It might be season over for WAS SP Danny Arguello (5-2, 3.14 ERA) who has been diagnosed with radial nerve compression and needs to be shut down for now.

Complaints and stuff

Greg Borg went unclaimed and joined the Alley Cats on Saturday. I really thought we'd lose him, but then again he's not a good batter one way or another.

The Raccoons are now fourth in runs scored in the CL, with exactly 201 runs in 45 games. That is not quite 4.5 runs per game, but those are nevertheless lofty heights for this franchise! I would still like to figure out what's wrong with Alfaro now. Maybe he's gone suddenly blind? No, you can't go by them finding their food bowl without accident, they do that by smell.

No the thing that really irks me are the 15 home runs. What the furball!?

Rafael Gomez meanwhile became the 11th Raccoon to hit two triples in a single game.

In AAA ball, George James has his ERA down to 2.07, pitching to a 7-1 record, but with only 34 K in 65.1 innings. We're watching that one, and if Legleiter keeps dropping or Anderson resorts to crummy, we might make a move. We have an off day on Monday, which we will use to move Delgadillo up one day, ahead of Legleiter. The latter and Anderson going back-to-back is a bit of a strain on the pen…

Around the league, the Knights axed most of their front office on Tuesday, which is damn early in a season for a purge. Granted, they are playing some mighty .289 ball (11-27 entering Tuesday, worst team in the league), but … it's May!

Fun Fact: In 2023, the Nashville Blue Sox kept rule 5 pick Jose Rojas on their major league roster until early May before sending him back to the Titans. Despite being on the roster for more than a month, Rojas didn't get into a game once. It was also only the first of two instances within 18 months in which the Blue Sox would release him.

Rojas, a 28-year-old infielder, has since signed a minor league deal with the Coons, who have struggled to keep healthy numbers in the high minors at this point. He's not the only ancient roster filler now assigned to AAA, with the Coons also adding 31-year-old LF/RF/1B Kyle Koel, who other than Rojas has indeed NEVER made it into a major league game. Rojas did appear in 25 games, batting .207 with one homer, for the Blue Sox… but that was in *2024* after they really and actually took another swing at him.