[Westheim]

Raccoons (3-3) vs. Knights (2-4) – April 12-14, 2027

The Knights had the highest batting average and the most runs scored in the young season, something the Raccoons were not exactly close to in either case. They had also allowed the fourth-most runs, so maybe the Coons' bats could continue to thaw in this series. In 2026, the Raccoons won five of nine games from Atlanta.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (0-1, 2.84 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Rin Nomura (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Estevan Delgado (0-1, 5.14 ERA)

Looks like a right-hander followed by two southpaws.

Game 1
ATL: LF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – CF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Kym – SS R. Miller – RF Stuckey – P L. Hernandez
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – RF R. Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Gutierrez

Left-handed batting Johnny Stuckey singled home Josh Johnson to put the Knights up 1-0 in the second inning. That happened with two outs and lots of confidence that Rico Gutierrez would retire him rather than the pitcher, but it seemed more and more like Rico's arm was either still on holidays or had gotten tired from all that big contract signing. While the Raccoons' first two base hits in the game were a pair of Spencer singles, which already indicates the level of offense on display once more, and they let a leadoff double by Kevin Harenberg go entirely to waste in the fourth inning, the Knights were less picky, put Stuckey on with a leadoff single in the top 5th, then also Nate Hall with another sharp single, and then found Mark Walker willing and able to crack a 2-out, 2-run single to extend their edge to 3-0.

The Raccoons happened to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom 5th, which was as usual where you would be bracing for impact and some crush injuries, mostly to your soul. Tovias drew a leadoff walk, Rico failed to bunt, then chopped a 2-2 pitch past a befuddled Chun-yeong Kym for a single, and Ramos singled to center to make it three. Spencer, 2-for-2, fouled out before the Knights showed pity and Hernandez drilled Trey Rock to force in a run. Harenberg's sac fly was the second run in the inning, but Mora flew out to Stuckey to end the inning. Gutierrez was done after six as his spot came up just after a 2-out double by Tovias in the bottom 6th, putting the tying run in scoring position for Adam St. Germaine, who reached on merit of his hindpaws after legging out an infield grounder for a single. Ramos floated out to Walker in shallow center, though, stranding them on the corners in a 3-2 game. Top 7th, the Coons used three relievers (Brotman, Surginer, Kearney) to contain an annoying double by Leon Hernandez (…), but the Raccoons clawed the Knights in the bottom 8th. Cookie pinch-hit for Rafael Gomez against Hernandez and became the last batter Hernandez faced when he singled to right. The Knights sent Jon Ozier for damage control, but he blew their lead when he hung a breaking ball that Matt Nunley buried in the right-center gap for an RBI double; score tied, go-ahead run at second base, and Daniel Bullock ran for Nunley now, but the Coons still failed to get him in despite a pinch-hit single by Tim "Wrecking Ball" Stalker into shallow left when he batted for Kearney. Ramos struck out, Spencer popped out, and top of the order was remarkably toothless. At least Snyder struck out three in the top 9th while hitting one (Guadalupe Ramirez), and the Raccoons still had a chance to walk off in the bottom 9th, but the middle of the order was completely tamed by Alfred Morua, the Knights' right-hander of choice. After Josh Boles retired the Knights in order in the 10th, Cookie led off the bottom 10th with another single off Morua. Bullock was asked to bunt, Morua took the ball to second base, yet late, and the Coons had two on with nobody out for Tovias, who flew out to shallow center. Ah, why worry? Stalker had replaced Ramos at short and was still batting in the #9 hole, and before you knew it, he singled to right, Cookie was sent from second base and slid across home plate well safe to walk off the Critters! 4-3 Coons! Spencer 2-5; Carmona (PH) 2-2; St. Germaine (PH) 1-1; Stalker (PH) 2-2, RBI;

4-3 is also our record now, first winning record of the season, and Josh Boles leads the team in wins with two.

Game 2
ATL: CF N. Hall – SS T. Jimenez – RF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Kym – LF V. Ramirez – 3B R. Miller – P Rosas
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 3B Rock – 1B Harenberg – RF R. Gomez – CF Mora – LF St. Germaine – C Tovias – P Delgadillo

Through five, Dan Delgadillo allowed two hits, two walks and whiffed five, and was really in trouble only once when Ruben Luna, the slug of catchers, somehow lucked into a weird-bounce triple in the fourth inning, but was stranded nevertheless. Only the Coons scored early on, a 2-out, 2-run single up the middle by Abel Mora in the first inning after singles by Spencer and Rock as well as an I-want-nothing-to-do-with-you 4-pitch walk to Kevin Harenberg had loaded the bases. No more scoring occurred until the bottom 6th, when Rafael Gomez reached on a grounder that died far away from all infielders for a 1-out infield single, stole second base, then easily jogged home on Mora's double through Kym to give the Raccoons a 3-0 lead, all RBI's Mora's, who then apparently changed allegiances and dropped Josh Johnson's easy pop to shallow center in the top of the seventh. Kym singled to bring up the tying run, but Delgadillo buckled down, struck out Vinny Ramirez, and got Rich Miller to pop out to Ramos in a 2-2 count, ending the inning, but also his own night, because he had broken through 100 pitches in the unnecessarily extended inning.

With Snyder unavailable, the Raccoons would play the last two innings by ear. Dan McLin whiffing the pitcher Rosas before conceding on-base privileges to both Nate Hall and Tony Jimenez sounded discordant, so he was removed for Brotman when the left-handers Walker and Luna drew up. He struck out both of them, freeing up Ricky Ohl for the ninth inning, coming on in a double switch that replaced Rock with Nunley at the hot corner. This proved an overreaction – no ball was ever put into play by the Knights as Johnson struck out, Kym walked, Ramirez struck out, and Miller… struck out. 3-0 Furballs! Rock 2-4; Mora 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Delgadillo 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-1);

Game 3
ATL: LF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – CF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – SS T. Jimenez – 1B Kym – RF G. Ramirez – P E. Delgado
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Rock – SS Stalker – 1B Mora – CF St. Germaine – RF R. Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Liu – P Nomura

Nomura retired the Knights in order for two innings before conceding soft singles to both Kym and Guadalupe Ramirez to begin the third. Estevan Delgado then endeared himself to Coons fans with an absolutely horrendous bunt that Nomura took for an easy force at third base, and because Delgado made no effort to run after stumbling initially, Nunley zinged to first base for a double play. Nate Hall grounded out to short to end the inning. The following inning, Mark Walker and Ruben Luna hit back-to-back singles, but Walker was thrown out by Rafael Gomez as he tried to go first-to-third. However, the Coons' offense was very much included in the general detritus, not exactly sparkling still. Trey Rock's single was their only base hit the first time through the order, and the second time through Stalker and Gomez scratched out singles to at least score one run in the fourth inning. This they deemed plenty; Nomura had to make do – and for a while he actually did, although the lead was brittle to the max with the Knights stranding runners on the corners in both the sixth and seventh innings. Nomura had already been batted for when the Raccoons formidably exploded in the bottom of the eighth inning… for TWO doubles and one run. Spencer and Rock did the honors off Delgado, back-to-back. Come the ninth, so did rain, and also a Ruben Luna homer on the very first pitch by Jonathan Snyder, but Jon wiggled out of the inning before rains or runs could force an indefinite extension to the glue-like proceedings. 2-1 Critters. Rock 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nomura 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K;

Raccoons (6-3) @ Loggers (4-4) – April 15-18, 2027

First meeting with the Loggers this year, who were not expected to be anything but crummy in '27. So far they sat ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, with a so-so rotation and a pen that showed early signs of nuclear meltdown. The Coons were sure hoping to make good hay on them after winning 11 of the 18 games in 2026.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (1-0, 5.14 ERA)
Mark Roberts (0-1, 3.77 ERA) vs. Danny Soto (1-0, 3.68 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (0-1, 6.30 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (0-1, 6.17 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (1-1, 1.35 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (1-1, 1.20 ERA)

Looks like we will avoid their only southpaw, Ben Jacobson (1-1, 4.38 ERA). Will this help our offense at all? After the 2-1 win on Wednesday, we are under three runs per game for the season… I was hoping we'd be near five!

The Loggers had traded away Ron Tadlock (see below), one of their most annoying batters in recent years, but they still had sting with Willie Trevino and Ian Coleman, although Trevino was expected to miss a few more days with a thumb contusion.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Anderson
MIL: SS Ferrer – 1B Aquino – LF R. Amador – CF Coleman – 3B A. Velez – RF Rueda – C Ayala – 2B M. Green – P Rogers

Alberto Ramos opened the game with a walk drawn from Philip Rogers, stole second base, and the 2-3-4 batters didn't get the ball out of the infield at all; but when Anderson walked Manny Ferrer to begin the bottom 1st, the Loggers hit three rockets after that, one of which even fell in, and took a 1-0 lead. The Coons had their first base hit with Tovias' leadoff single in the top 3rd, and after he was bunted to second, Rogers helped out the Critters with a wild pitch that moved Tovias to third, from where Ramos scored him with a groundout. Such offensive prowess! In turn, Ferrer reached base again, stole second, and scored on a Roberto Amador single in the bottom of the inning, putting Milwaukee up 2-1 again, but again the lead lasted but briefly before Rafael Gomez flipped the score with a 2-run homer to left in the fourth inning. Abel Mora had been on base after a single.

Anderson pitched valiantly, but didn't fool anybody. His best best was to stay on the edges and don't get beat down the middle. In the bottom 6th, he failed on all counts, walking Alexis Rueda after Alberto Velez had already hit a 1-out single, and then threw right down broadway against Mike Green with two outs. Green doubled to left, both runners scored easily, and the Loggers were in front again, 4-3. The Raccoons took Anderson off the hook in the seventh; St. Germaine singled in his place, then scored from second base on Spencer's 2-out double right in the path of Green's damage dealer five minutes earlier, knotting the score at four before Trey Rock rolled out embarrassingly.

But the pen got involved now for both teams, and I still had more confidence in ours than in theirs. The real question was where the Coons' offense ranked in the confidence table; but for now Mora drew a 1-out walk in the eighth to get Rogers removed, but right-hander Yoo-chul Kim allowed a double to Gomez right away. Nunley cracked an RBI single, 5-4, before Tovias struck out. St. Germaine walked to load them up with two outs and that pulled up Ramos, batting all of .214 as reigning Rookie of the Year, but he was reaching base at a much more decent .353 clip, and a walk was really a valid option here. But he struck out. In turn, Jeff Kearney and Ricky Ohl collapsed in the bottom 8th; Kearney walked Ian Coleman and allowed a single to Alberto Velez, while Ricky Ohl drilled Victor Ayala to load the bases with one out. He whiffed Green, then walked Alex Mesa in the same three-on, two-out spot that Ramos had just failed in. That tied the game; Ferrer grounded out to Nunley.

Top 9th of a nail-biter. Joe Moore was pitching against his long-ago team, with Spencer doubling past Coleman to lead off the inning. Cookie batted for Ricky Ohl and legged out an infield single, presenting Harenberg with a perfect chance to make all Coons fans go KEVIIIIIIN. He grounded out so poorly as to keep Spencer lodged at third base while Cookie advanced to second; it was left to Mora and Gomez to hit a pair of RBI singles through the infield seams to give the Critters their third and hopefully final lead of the game. And it actually was; Jonathan Snyder retired the Loggers in order to seal the deal. 7-5 Raccoons. Spencer 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Gomez 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; St. Germaine (PH) 1-1, BB;

Bright sides – they scored seven! In ONE game!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Roberts
MIL: SS Ferrer – 1B Aquino – C J. Young – LF R. Amador – CF Coleman – 2B M. Green – 3B A. Velez – RF Owens – P D. Soto

Deadly silence engulfed the Raccoons' bats in the early innings while Mike Green showed ambition to become our tapeworm of the week with a 2-run homer of a still stuffless Roberts in the second inning. The Loggers would add a run on a terrific throwing error by Matt Nunley in the bottom 4th, and the Coons looked like they were already half beaten until Elias Tovias led off the fifth inning with a jack to cut the Loggers' lead to 3-1. The Raccoons appeared awake for the time being. While Roberts made an out, Ramos walked and scored on Spencer's gapper in left-center, 3-2, before the next batters stranded Spencer. Rock flew out to Sam Owens, and Harenberg hit a soft liner right into Ferrer's mitten. Roberts lasted only six meager innings, bailing out of two-on, one-out trouble in the bottom 6th when Ramos started a splendid double play on a grounder by Velez. Top 7th, Tovias led off flying out to leftfield, before Tim Stalker batted for Roberts and got nailed. Ramos turned on a 1-2 pitch and hit it into the right-center gap where it continuously ran away from Ian Coleman ambling in circulatory fashion and ended up giving Ramos a game-tying triple.

Spencer's sac fly to Amador gave Mark Roberts a posthumous 4-3 lead, something that Kevin Surginer protected professionally in the seventh inning, but Billy Brotman and Dan McLin and the two walks and the infield single they gave out in the bottom 8th almost blew. McLin rung up Velez to end the inning with the bags choked. No insurance run would come together in the ninth despite Nunley (single) and Tovias (walk) getting on base to begin the frame. Liu batted for McLin – he should have batted the last time around, but nobody in the dugout managed to make him understand until they just threw a bat at him this time around – but grounded into a double play, and Ramos was retired on a diving play by Ramos in shallow right to end the inning. Snyder was once more unavailable, so the Raccoons turned to Ricky Ohl once Tovias and Liu had argued to conclusion who would catch the ninth inning, an argument that ended with Cookie Carmona and Rafael Gomez (who had been hit for by St. Germaine earlier) coming from the dugout to carry Liu back to the same. Amid all the distractions, Ohl drilled Jason Parten for a nasty welt, then allowed singles with two outs to Wilson Aquino, Jim Young, and Alexis Rueda to blow the lead. Abel Mora made a running catch in the gap on Coleman's drive to send the game to extra innings. Mora hit a Joe Moore pitch for 400 feet in the 11th to give the Coons a new lead, and this time it would be on Josh Boles to save it. At least he faced Moore to begin the bottom 11th – the Loggers were out of bench players. Moore grounded out sharply to Nunley, which was still within defined safe parameters, but walking Ferrer and allowing scorched singles to Aquino and Young wasn't. The tying run scored on the Young single, AGAIN, and the game continued after Rueda and Coleman both made easy fly outs. Amazingly, Jeff Kearney was not scored upon, facing right-handed bats in the bottom 12th (although Velez doubled…), although this time there was no lead to blow, either. Nor was there in the 13th; but Kearney sure tried, now against the left-handed batters. Aquino singled, moved to second on a groundout, and with two outs Coleman singled sharply to right. Aquino was sent for home, but thrown out by St. Germaine to extend a game that had long put my soul between two millstones. The Raccoons were out of pitching, but even more out of offense. Nobody got the ball to go anywhere. As a consequence, they suffered the worst shame. With one out in the bottom 14th, Kearney had Mike Green and the winning run on third base after singles by him and Owens, and reliever David Warn at the plate. Warn took a 1-2 pitch to center, it fell in, and the Loggers walked off. 6-5 Loggers. Ramos 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Spencer 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Mora 2-6, HR, RBI; Nunley 2-6;

Unpretty.

On to Rico now, with a blasted bullpen, and he actually had the worst ERA of any starter on the staff at this point. Well, at least Kevin Surginer was probably still somewhat rested. Who knows, if we throw a baseball at Liu he might even be able to toss some long relief to Tovias. That should be fun!

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – RF St. Germaine – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P R. Gutierrez
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – RF Stone – 2B M. Green – 3B A. Velez – 1B R. Amador – P Prevost

Harenberg tried to wipe off an 0-for-6 on Friday with a leadoff double in the second inning, although the rest of the team was extremely hesitant to score him. Mora grounded out, St. Germaine whiffed, and while Nunley walked in a full count, that didn't get the ****ing run home! Tovias dropped a terrible blooper into shallow left to get Harenberg home for the first run in the game, finally, before Rico struck out to end the top 2nd, then put two on, but also struck out three in the bottom 2nd. Prevost hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, but was doubled off on a grounder to Nunley by Ian Coleman, who had chugged out five base hits the night before. The Raccoons had Mora and St. Germaine on the corners with one out in the fourth inning, but Nunley (K) and Tovias (F2…) stranded them proficiently; in turn Mike Green continued his weekend-long torture with a leadoff jack in the bottom 5th, which was also meant no shutout for Rico this time around in Milwaukee in addition to no lead no longer…

While Rico continued to do his utmost and had a 3-hitter through seven innings – never mind that other rocket that Green hit that came pretty darn close to the fence in the bottom 7th – the Coons' offense remained paltry to stay polite. Maybe they could exploit an error in the eighth inning that put Spencer on second base with nobody out after Jim Young had thrown away his pathetic grounder. Rock's single even put runners on the corners with nobody out, yet the completely invisible Harenberg fouled out, and it was Abel Mora's sac fly that BARELY got the go-ahead run across. Rock was caught stealing to end the inning, and the Coons hit for Rico Gutierrez in the ninth because he was well over 100 pitches already. Gomez hit a 2-out single in his spot, and Ramos even doubled to create a real chance for Spencer to do damage and create insurance against Matthew Simonsen. The count ran full, Spencer rapped a line to shallow center, and Coleman had no chance; the ball was in, and two runs scored! Rock grounded out to Velez, bringing in Kevin Surginer with the best of intentions. Leadoff walk to Jim Young, then a pop out by Trevino. Jason Stone singled, bringing up the tying run in Rueda, who as Surginer struggled to throw convincing strikes grounded out to Harenberg, advancing the runners. The switch-hitting Velez was the tying run now with two outs, and another roller to Harenberg ended this game before it could get truly ugly. 4-1 Furballs. Spencer 2-5, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-4, 2B; Gomez (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-1) and 1-3;

Kevin Surginer had an impressive nine wins last year, but only one save. In fact, he has never had more than one ABL save in his career; this might be the year!

Boy's got no wins so far, though.

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 3B Nunley – RF Gomez – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Delgadillo
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – RF Stone – 2B M. Green – 3B Parten – 1B Aquino – P Villalobos

The Raccoon got Ramos and Spencer on base to begin the game, then a sac fly by Mora and an RBI single from Harenberg to score two quick runs on Villalobos, who was nevertheless able to enlist quick reinforcements with a Manny Ferrer jack to begin the bottom 1st against Delgadillo. Coleman and Young chopped singles before Willie Trevino fouled out and Jason Stone grounded hard at Ramos for an inning-ending double play. But why would the Loggers worry? ****ing Mike Green hit another leadoff jack in the second, tying the game. The hapless Delgadillo was also charred for singles and the go-ahead run by Aquino and Ferrer, putting him in a 3-2 hole with six hits allowed in two innings. The Coons tied the game in the top 3rd with Ramos walking, stealing, and scoring on Harenberg's single, but Delgadillo continued to get absolutely nobody out, walking the bedeviled Green with two outs in the bottom 3rd and conceding a 4-3 lead to the Loggers on Jason Parten's double to dead center. While Tovias tied the game again with a solo home run in the top half of the fourth, Delgadillo was yanked after just one batter in the bottom half. That batter was Villalobos, and he hit a howling double. That was enough! Josh Boles replaced Delgadillo and stranded the go-ahead run with a walk to Ferrer, a double play grounder, and a K to Young. In turn, the Coons grabbed the lead when Mora singled and Harenberg wrecked a fastball for 425 feet to left-center, moving out to a 6-4 edge, and with that the game got rid of its last starting pitcher.

Boles gave the Coons two more outs on another double play following a walk in the bottom 5th (whatever works!?) before the Coons went to Dan McLin, who had so far been far from impressive and became more annoying by the day. Green (…) singled, Parten walked, Aquino hit an RBI single. GODDAMNIT YOU ****ER, GET SOMEBODY OUT!! Mesa grounded out to Harenberg to end the inning, now in a rapidly evolving 6-5 score, which further morphed in the sixth inning, which Alex Gutierrez, a left-hander, began by walking Cookie Carmona, who stole second base on a hit-and-run that lacked the hitting on Tovias' part, but it still worked out alright. Young dropped that ball, and then Ferrer threw away Tovias' grounder for a 2-base error, moving Cookie across home plate, 7-5. An unretired Harenberg would come up to bat with two outs and the bases full following an intentional walk to Ramos and a bloop single by Mora, but grounded out to Aquino to let Alex Gutierrez off the hook. The fool McLin went on to walk Ferrer to begin the bottom 6th, allowed a single to Coleman, then started a 1-6-3 double play on Young at least. Trevino grounded out to Harenberg to strand Ferrer on third base. Then, the pendulum swung more violently in the seventh inning, in which McLin – as he had not thrown many pitches, we had the lead, and we needed more pitches from him now, despite the shady performance – hit a single in a pile of Coons that loaded the bases for Elias Tovias, who then buried a lazy curveball in the rigthfield stands. GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!

At once, the Loggers' will to fight was broken. McLin fooled his way through the seventh inning, getting the odd merit point or two for resilience as he threw 48 pitches in 2.1 absolutely messy innings, and Billy Brotman got the Coons the rest of the way through the game. Hardly a Logger reached base anymore, and the Raccoons also shifted back a gear or two. Tovias had a chance for a third homer in the ninth inning, but flew out to Coleman in shallow center instead. 11-5 Raccoons! Ramos 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Mora 2-4, RBI; Harenberg 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Tovias 2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Boles 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (3-0); Brotman 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

April 12 – LVA SP Ed Hague (2-0, 0.00 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in a 2-0 shutout.
April 12 – DEN LF/CF Abel Madsen (.182, 0 HR, 0 RBI) will miss a month with a bad ankle sprain.
April 13 – The Loggers and Aces exchange veterans, with 1B/SS Ron Tadlock (.391, 0 HR, 5 RBI) going to Vegas, while Milwaukee sees the return of former Logger 3B Alberto Velez (.172, 0 HR, 4 RBI).
April 17 – No-hitter! The Condors' SP George Griffin (1-1, 2.82 ERA) holds the Aces completely hitless and strikes out ten against five walks in a 9-0 rout! This is the 51st no-hitter in ABL history and the second for the Condors.
April 18 – After a leadoff double by C Dylan Allomes (.350, 5 HR, 11 RBI) in the bottom 9th, the Gold Sox call for two intentional walks, separated by a sacrifice bunt, on the Pacifics before DEN MR Brian Gilbert (3-1, 4.15 ERA, 1 SV) issues an unintentional walk to PH Tony Ruiz (.286, 0 HR, 1 RBI) with the bases loaded, walking off the Pacifics for a 2-1 win.

Complaints and stuff

Mid-week, the offense was a stunning bunch. They were under three runs per game, half the runs had been drive in by either Mora or Stalker(!), we had only two homers, bottom-four ratings in all major categories except stolen bases, no .300 batter when I had calculated for four in the first four spots in the order, and in fact Alberto Ramos' .240 mark ranked third-best on the team; and somehow we were still on a 6-game winning streak.

And I'm not trying to be too bitchy, we had a 6-1 week after all, but the Loggers series went from nuts to berzerk as it went along. At least the Loggers set got the bats woken up and we moved into the midfield area in many offensive categories, and we are t-5th in runs scored suddenly. We are also stealing a base per game right now, and our run differential is a full run per game (+14 actually).

The Agitator is calling us out for racial prejudice and profiling and what not all for consistently pairing Jing-quo Liu with Rin Nomura, to which I can only shrug and explain that this has nothing to do with race, but with Elias Tovias needing regular days off. The Japanese pitcher Nomura can't understand a single word that the Taiwanese catcher Liu is saying; just like anybody else on the team, staff, and in the organization.

We may want to keep working on this one…

In weird trade offers, the Miners dangled Jonathan Morales this week, a decent corner infielder, but nobody with room on our roster, asking for Brotman and Jonathan Fleischer in return, which was not a trade I could ever consciously agree to. Mrs. Sheila Rosenzweig Brotman, Billy's dear mother, nags me all the time to promise and assure her that nothing bad is going to happen to her Billy while he is away from home.

The road trip continues next week as we go to Boston (hi-dee-ho…), then to the Bay.

Fun Fact: The first Condors no-hitter was thrown almost ten years ago by Andrew Gudeman.

He also no-hit the Aces, who have been on the receiving end of a no-hitter a record five times, although if you include combined no-hitters, the Warriors have been held hitless most often with six instances.