[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-17) @ Thunder (22-22) – May 25-27, 2027

The Raccoons would have their first stop on a week-long road trip in Oklahoma City, playing the second-place Thunder – yup, .500 ball was enough for second place (and only a half-game deficit!) in the CL South right now. Oklahoma ranked fifth in offense, but ninth in denying offense with a -7 run differential (Coons: +48). They had some bits in place; but were missing plenty of more bits for a contending team. The Raccoons tried to win the season series from them again, as they had done last year when they had taken five of nine games.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (4-3, 3.56 ERA) vs. Chris Wickham (0-2, 6.82 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (3-4, 3.84 ERA) vs. Jeff Dykstra (5-3, 3.07 ERA)
Mark Roberts (3-2, 3.16 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (6-2, 2.63 ERA)

So far this season the Raccoons had faced right- and left-handed starting pitchers at exactly a 2:1 ratio, and this trend would continue in this series, with the left-hander Wickham beginning the meeting on Tuesday, followed by two right-handed hurlers.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – C Tovias – 2B Stalker – 3B Rock – P Nomura
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – SS Serrato – RF Sagredo – CF Pagel – 2B Cameron – LF Camarillo – P Wickham

The Coons got Ramos (walk) and Spencer (single) on base to begin the game, but failed to score either of them with the most pathetic chain of outs by the middle of the order, while the Thunder put John Elliott aboard with a 2-out infield single, Nomura walked Alex Serrato, then surrendered an RBI double to left-center to Luis Sagredo, who came in batting .177, to fall behind 1-0 in the first inning before Kyle Pagel grounded out to Trey Rock. When Elias Tovias tied the game with a solo homer in the second inning, Nomura found another struggling batter to give a moral boost to, getting taken WELL deep by Danny Camarillo, a .176 batter, in the bottom 2nd.

Maybe things could still go either way. A Serrato error put Jarod Spencer on base to begin the top 3rd, and Rafael Gomez immediately walloped a hanging breaking ball over the fence to flip the score the Coons' way, 3-2. Here was, finally, a struggling pitcher however the Coons seemed to be able to take apart. The 3-4-5 batters all reached base in the fifth inning with Gomez singling, Harenberg knocking a double to center, and Mora chipping in an RBI single, 4-2, before Tovias scored Kevin Harenberg with a groundout, 5-2. One run had been unearned earlier on the Gomez homer, so the Thunder hung a bit longer with Wickham, which didn't pay off. Rin Nomura – not exploding yet – hit a 1-out double in the top 6th on which Kyle Pagel did not look very competent, Ramos walked, and then Spencer and Gomez chipped in RBI hits to extend the lead 7-2, which was finally the curtain coming down on Wickham. Right-handed former starter Max Nelson took over and got out of the inning when Gomez was caught stealing and Harenberg grounded out weakly. Now, what about the mandatory Nomura collapse? You needed some fine hearing to make out the early warning bells especially since he hadn't pitched spectacularly to begin with and had only two strikeouts through five innings. He opened the sixth with a leadoff walk to Mike Burgess, though he got wrapped up in a double play on Elliott's grounder. Bottom 7th, Luis Sagredo led off with a soft single. Pagel hit another soft single. I'm not sure, but I think there are some discords in the music here. A walk in a full count to Joe Cameron loaded the bases with nobody out and got Ricky Ohl involved, maybe a batter too late? Tim Stalker really freaked me out when he bobbled Camarillo's grounder for an error when it could have been two outs. A run scored anyway, 7-3. Ohl struck out Brett Dobbs, then had Lorenzo Rivera hit a liner at Harenberg on an 0-2 pitch. Kevin shagged the ball, but couldn't double off Pagel, who had started early from third base. Rookie mistake! Burgess was rung up by Ohl to end the inning.

Portland pulled the run back in the eighth inning with kind support by the Thunder pen, which hit PH Adam St. Germaine to move Trey Rock and his leadoff single to second base, ultimately resulting in a run-scoring groundout when Matt Nunley batted for Jarod Spencer, and a ninth run came about in the ninth inning via Abel Mora singling, stealing second, moving up on a wild pitch by Arturo Arellano, and ultimately scoring on a Tovias single. Billy Brotman, pitching to right-handers exclusively, would put two on in the bottom 9th, but the Thunder didn't stage any sort of rally anymore. 9-3 Coons. Spencer 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gomez 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Mora 2-5, RBI; Tovias 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Rock 2-4; Nomura 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (5-3) and 2-3, 2B;

In a perverse way, Tim Stalker's error was GOOD for Rin Nomura, since it made the run that would have scored one way or another on the play unearned.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – LF St. Germaine – P Gutierrez
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – SS Serrato – RF Sagredo – CF Pagel – 2B Cameron – LF Camarillo – P Dykstra

The Raccoons merely managed to be a slight annoyance for Dykstra the first time through the order. Matt Nunley hit a single. That was it. Rico even bunted into a force play at second base to get him erased as lead runner. Oklahoma scored first, putting a run across in the bottom 3rd on three singles, the first of which had been Dykstra's with one out in the inning. Lorenzo Rivera and John Elliott also hit singles to move him around to score the game's maiden run. Three singles in an inning were easily shaken off by the Coons in the top of the fourth inning, though. They didn't hit three singles – they hit three home runs! After Spencer grounded out, Rafael Gomez cracked his ninth, taking sole possession of the team lead with a shot to right center that tied the game, after which Harenberg reached on a bloop, Tovias also snuck on base with a single, and then Matt Nunley romped a fastball to dead center for a 3-piece before Adam St. Germaine made it back-to-back for his first RBI of the year.

In a perfect world, Rico Gutierrez would have taken the 5-1 lead and would have run with it, but this was not such a world. Sagredo led off the bottom 4th with a double, Rico nicked Pagel, and after Cameron struck out the runners advanced on a wild pitch, but then had to hold when Camarillo grounded out to Nunley. And Dykstra ALMOST beat Rico – but St. Germaine caught his fly in leftfield to end the inning. Well, this was a mostly right-handed lineup, and Rico had shown to be vulnerable in these games before, and often. Again, this one would need a keen ear to hear trouble approaching. John Elliott's double in the bottom 5th came with two outs, as came the wild pitch that advanced this particular runner to third base. Serrato walked, Sagredo struck out. Whatever works! After a clean sixth, Thierry Becker's leadoff single in Dykstra's spot to begin the bottom 7th surely got the bullpen stirring. Rivera hit into a fielder's choice, Burgess popped out, and Mora caught up with Elliott's drive to centerfield to end this inning without help from the bullpen, though. Portland scratched out a 2-out run in the top 8th on a Tovias double and Nunley RBI single, and Rico Gutierrez logged one more out, a K against Sagredo after a Serrato single to begin the bottom 8th. With only right-handers coming after that, the Coons went to the pen. Surginer and Kearney would take care of the last five outs while the Raccoons added a run on "Doppler" Nelson in the top of the ninth, Rafael Gomez picking up another RBI with a groundout. 7-1 Raccoons! Spencer 2-5; Gomez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-5; Tovias 2-4, 2B; Nunley 3-4, HR, 4 RBI; St. Germaine 2-4, HR, RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-4);

That 2-hit game came too late for Adam St. Germaine, though.

Interlude: waiver claim
The Raccoons had already put in a waiver claim for Blue Sox veteran LF/CF Steve Hollingsworth (.194, 1 HR, 3 RBI), who was also struggling, but was at least a right-handed batter, helping us balance the bench some more.

Adam St. Germaine was now exposed to waivers and designated for assignment.

Raccoons (28-17) @ Thunder (22-22) – May 25-27, 2027

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – LF Carmona – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Rock – P Roberts
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – SS Serrato – RF Sagredo – CF Pagel – 2B Cameron – LF Dobbs – P Palomares

Matt Nunley on fire! The third-sacker socked a jack leading off the third inning to put the Coons 1-0 in front, and they would plate another run the same inning when Ramos singled with two outs, stole second for #17, and was doubled in by Cookie Carmona. Meanwhile Mark Roberts retired the first seven Thunder (but with only one strikeout) before Brett Dobbs dropped a single between Ramos and Mora in the bottom 3rd. Roberts threw away Palomares' bunt, then filled them up with a single allowed to Rivera. For relief, Mike Burgess popped out over the infield before Gomez threw himself in the way of Elliott's liner to end the inning with three men stranded.

Elias Tovias and Alex Serrato exchanged solo home runs in the fourth inning before Cookie hurt himself containing a Sagredo fly to deep left. Old man had back issues and required replacement by new arrival Steve Hollingsworth. Mark Roberts was also in constant danger of falling off the mound, whirling after all the hard fly balls the Thunder hit. They didn't get them out, but they sure got a few to fall in (and Roberts also nailed Lorenzo Rivera in the fifth…), and stranded two more in both the fifth and sixth innings, for seven left on base in the span of four innings. At least Mark Roberts realized that he was a hazard to sealing the sweep and teamed up with Alberto Ramos for a pair of 2-out doubles in the seventh inning that added a fourth run to the Coons' tally. The 2025 Triple Crown winner (yes, actually!) faced four batters and threw only four pitches in the bottom 7th, and somehow the only batter that reached was the opposing hurler Palomares, and that was on a Tovias error…?

Roberts' day ended at the same part of the lineup that Rico's had ended the day before. He put Serrato on board (with a walk) to begin the bottom 8th, then still faced Sagredo because he was a left-handed batter. However, other than Rico, Roberts served up a homer, and suddenly this was a 4-3 game with six outs to cobble together. Ricky Ohl replaced him at once, but still made things "exciting". Pagel walked on four pitches, Cameron hit into a fielder's choice, but then reached third base on Carlos de Santiago's pinch-hit single. Uh-oh? Mike Pizzo pinch-hit in the #9 hole, cracked a grounder at Trey Rock, and the Coons turned a 4-6-3 double play to escape the mess. Closer Jonathan Snyder also didn't seem to be able to buy a clean inning for his dear life, allowing a 1-out single to Burgess in the bottom 9th, but got Elliott to pop out and whiffed up Serrato to complete the sweep after all. 4-3 Critters. Ramos 3-5, 2B, RBI; Carmona 1-2, 2B, RBI; Mora 2-4;

Unfortunately, Cookie Carmona required a trip to the DL with a barking back, and of course this came the day AFTER the Coons had to make room in the outfield… Juan Magallanes was called up to fill that vacancy.

Raccoons (31-17) @ Knights (18-28) – May 28-30, 2027

The Knights were quite old and very turpid with the worst batting average (but the seventh-most runs) in the Continental League, but were in the bottom three in terms of runs allowed. Their rotation was even the second-worst. Their lineup looked like what famine did to a povery-stricken third world country. Two years ago, a then 33-year-old Ruben Luna had batted .266 with 31 homers and an .880 OPS. This year their centerpiece was .229 with six homers and a .776 OPS. He was surrounded by plenty more .230-ish batters.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (1-3, 2.90 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (6-3, 3.78 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (5-2, 2.44 ERA) vs. Tim Wells (2-5, 4.92 ERA)
Rin Nomura (5-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. Estevan Delgado (0-6, 5.56 ERA)

Timing had worked out for us to face all three of their left-handed starters. I was not sold yet that this was a good thing.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – 2B Stalker – 3B Rock – CF Hollingsworth – C Liu – P Delgadillo
ATL: CF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – RF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Kym – SS R. Miller – LF W. Lopez – P Rosas

Both teams got a 2-out triple by their rightfielder in the first inning, but neither Rafael Gomez nor Mark Walker were scored by the cleanup men or anybody behind those. Harenberg struck out, and while Ruben Luna coaxed a walk out of Delgadillo, John Johnson still struck out. The Coons would score first eventually, getting one run out of four singles (…) in the second inning, a tally the Knights matched with one run on one hit, a Nate Hall double in the bottom 3rd. Granted, Liu helped them out with a throwing error, too. Delgadillo then got swamped in the bottom 4th, in which Johnson hit a leadoff single and Dan then lost both Chun-yeong Kym and Willie Lopez in full counts. Rosas batted with one out, but chopped a bouncer right at Tim Stalker for a perfect double play, keeping the game tied. The glee was short-lived; the Coons put Spencer (single) and Gomez (walk) on base in the fifth, but Harenberg's baffling RBI-lessness continued restlessly as he grounded hard into an inning-ending double play. Oh well, the Knights thought, if you insist …! Both Hall and Luna bombed Delgadillo in the bottom 5th to move them out to a 3-1 lead. That was before Jeff Kearney unraveled completely in the sixth inning following the Critters stranding a pair in the top 6th when Mora popped out in Delgadillo's spot, right above home plate. The Knights scored an unearned run on Kearney, who allowed a hit, a walk, and a throwing error… It came even worse, because the Raccoons actually scored on the Knights' pen late in the game, but by then it was too late. Liu singled home Trey Rock in the eighth, and Gomez hit a long one in the ninth, but it was all too little, too late. The Gomez homer off Adrian McQuinn came with two outs and nobody on, and Matt Nunley batted for Josh Boles in the cleanup spot, but flew out to Hall in shallow center. 4-3 Knights. Spencer 2-5; Gomez 2-4, BB, HR, 3B, RBI; Rock 3-4, 2B; Hollingsworth 2-4; Liu 2-4, RBI; Boles 1.2 IP; 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – 2B Rock – RF Gomez – 1B Mora – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – CF Hollingsworth – P Anderson
ATL: CF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – RF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Kym – SS R. Miller – LF Briscoe – P Wells

While Nate Hall kept being the nastiest vacuum cleaner south of the Mason-Dixon line and robbed Raccoons of all their extra-base (or even just one-base) hits, the Knights came close to knocking Kyle Anderson out early in the middle game. They had two hits in the bottom 1st, didn't do damage, then kept churning them out in the second inning. John Johnson led off with a single, scored on Kym's double, and they brought their Korean first baseman around on a bitter 2-out single by Tim Wells before putting two more on base on soft singles before Mark Walker's drive fell short of the fence and into Gomez' glove, ending the inning with the bases loaded, but already a 2-0 lead for Atlanta. Stunningly, Alberto Ramos made up the difference in the third inning, blasting a 2-run homer to rightfield with Hollingsworth aboard, but Anderson continued to offer no resistance whatsoever. Ruben Luna and John Johnson began the bottom 3rd with back-to-back doubles, giving the Knights the lead again at 3-2, Kym singled, and they scored their fourth run on a deep sac fly by Rich Miller. Somehow, ex-Coon and ex-Elk Cory Briscoe popped out, but Tim Wells hit a single through Abel Mora, and that was it. Anderson (5-2 and sinking) was yanked after 2.2 innings of 10-hit ball, and Jarod Spencer closed his line at four runs when he caught Nate Hall's sizzling liner, hit off Billy Brotman, to end the damned third inning.

It was the only out that Brotman logged, because after a Mora double, Nunley working a walk, and a soft single by Steve Hollingsworth the bases were loaded with two outs in the top of the fourth, and this was Kevin Harenberg's turn. Yeah, he was slumping, yeah, he had no RBI since the 12 tribes had resettled in Israel (actually 2 RBI in the last 20 days, and none in the last seven), but who was supposed to hit here? Liu? The select Raccoons fans sprinkled throughout the ballpark almost inaudibly howled KEVIIIIN when Vinny Ramirez leapt in vain to catch Harenberg's liner as it escaped over his head and up the leftfield line for a bases-clearing double that took Kyle Anderson off the hook and gave the Raccoons a 5-4 lead in a game that would surely drag on some longer. The Raccoons put Tim Wells to bed with Ramos' RBI single to right, 6-4, with 32-year-old Bonairean right-hander Levi Snoeij replacing him. Spencer singled off him, but Rock grounded out, and now the Coons had to make the most out of their own vaunted bullpen.

Portland turned to Kearney despite a right-hander (Ramirez) leading off the bottom 4th, but this was not a time to be picky. The Knights had four left-handed batters between #3 and #8 and I was intent to have Kearney face all of them. Kearney facing a mixed bag worked so well he was even sent to bat with nobody on and two outs in the sixth, ending that inning, then pitched another inning. The only batter that reached against him with a base hit was Knights reliever Danny Munos (…!), he walked Ramirez with two outs in the bottom 6th, but then struck out Mark Walker to strand the tying runs. No, it was Ricky Ohl who kicked the rest of the team into the knees from behind. He came on in the seventh and retired nobody; Josh Boles replaced him after he nailed Ruben Luna, allowed a single to the annoyance Johnson, and walked Kym. Three on, no outs with a 6-4 lead, Boles struck out Trent Herlihy, Guadalupe Ramirez as well, then got Willie Lopez to fly out to Hollingsworth. JOSH ****ING BOLES!! YEAH BOY!!!

Boles also struck out Hall to begin the bottom 8th, and yet it was still for nought. Kevin Surginer came on after the Hall strikeout, allowed a double to Ramirez, walked Walker (cough), and Luna singled. Three on, one out. All that was left for Portland was to go to Snyder and close the black eyes real tight. Johnson hit a sac fly, Kym hit a 2-out single, and all the work was finally undone in a 6-6 tie. By the bottom 10th, the Raccoons had been completely shut down offensively for quite a while and were also on their final reliever, Dan McLin, who walked Ruben Luna with one out, but at least bumped into reliever Adrian McQuinn with two outs and got an easy strikeout with the Knights' bench empty. Between a Mora double in the eighth and Daniel Bullock (who long ago had replaced Nunley in a double switch and was batting ninth) reaching on an error (…!) in the 12th inning, the Coons had absolutely nothing cooking. And Bullock was caught stealing, too. But, eh, at least Tovias also threw out Mark Walker trying to take second on McLin in the bottom 12th, further extending the game.

Top 13th, leadoff single for Trey Rock, looping over Vinny Ramirez into shallow left. Rafael Gomez flew out to VERY deep leftfield (curse you, Nate Hall!!), but Rock with some bite-me attitude tagged and dashed for second base successfully after the catch was made. That brought up McLin with one out, and while we had *bats* available (in the broadest sense in Liu and Magallanes), we lacked more arms to take over from here. McLin had to bat, lined out to Tony Casillas at short, and Jon Ozier also struck out Tovias. That was really all that was to them in the last six or seven innings. The Knights put one Ramirez (Guadalupe) on base with a leadoff single in the bottom 14th, McLin's fifth inning and at least one too many, and the other Ramirez (Vinny) plated him with a 2-out single to walk them off. 7-6 Knights. Ramos 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Spencer 2-6; Mora 2-5, 2 2B; Hollingsworth 2-6; Harenberg (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI; Kearney 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Boles 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; McLin 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (2-2);

Welll. … Alllleast Shonny Wallllkersssssillll baddna- … baddna- .. bad' … na hunrid f-f-for me…!

(hcks)

Game 3
POR: LF Spencer – SS Rock – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – CF Magallanes – P Nomura
ATL: LF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – CF M. Walker – C Luna – 2B J. Johnson – 1B Herlihy – RF G. Ramirez – SS R. Miller – P E. Delgado

While I hid behind a set of huge and entirely black sunglasses for the Sunday game, the knowledge that a bombed-out bullpen would provide comfort neither for Rin Nomura nor me was haunting me tremendously. If only we would burst out early…!

But an early winning bid was prevented by the Youth of Colombia that arrived at the plate with two outs and three on in the top 1st and the Coons ahead 2-0. Rock had singled, then scored on a Gomez blooper that Guadalupe Ramirez had somehow played into an RBI double. After Harenberg flew out, Estevan Delgado walked three Raccoons in a row, including Matt Nunley with the bases loaded, but damn Juan Magallanes couldn't hold still for ten seconds and grounded out to Rich Miller. Well, for consolation Nomura allowed only one hit the first time through the order (a Johnson single) and struck out four, so at least that part of the game plan (don't get knocked up early, or in the middle for what it was worth) worked out so far.

Portland fashioned a third run from Tim Stalker's leadoff double, Nunley grounding out, and Magallanes flying out to Guadalupe Ramirez in rightfield in the fourth inning and at least Rin Nomura was ON through five, so that there were multiple reasons, not least of those his 2-hitter with 7 K, to not bat for him when the Coons loaded the up with two outs for him in the top 6th. OF COURSE he was going to bat. Nate Hall caught his high, shallow fly with the least effort, but the Raccoons needed more outs, not necessarily more runs. So of course the entire game went pear-shaped in the bottom 6th. Nate Hall walked with one out, stole second, and scored on Ramirez' single, but it got well worse. Luna walked, Johnson singled, and there were three on with two outs for an actual batter now in Trent Herlihy. Also the knowledge that nobody was able to save Nomura right now. At least it was a lefty-lefty matchup because Boles and Kearney were both unavailable in this game. Herlihy dropped a 1-0 pitch near the leftfield line for a 2-run single, the lead was blown, and I inched my way back to the nearest beer stand to get a cheap fill. Nomura struck out Guadalupe Ramirez, his ninth K in the game, but it was too late. It was worthless.

Harenberg gave the Critters a new lead in the seventh. Following Spencer's single and a walk drawn by Gomez that pushed the go-ahead run to second base, Harenberg singled to right-center, deep enough to allow Jarod to scamper around and score, 4-3. Tovias then hammered a grounder into an inning-ending double play, but at least the defense somehow nursed Nomura through the bottom 7th in which Willie Lopez stole his way to second base after a pinch-hit single, but was then stranded. Nomura got groundouts from Walker and Luna to begin the bottom 8th, at which point he reached a) a right-handed bat that had murdered the Coons all weekend long, and b) 116 pitches. Surginer replaced him and got Johnson on a foul pop to get the Coons to the ninth. Trey Rock's 2-out double alone provided no insurance, and so it was on Snyder again. The tying run was on base immediately after a Herlihy single. PH Jose Gomez popped out to first base in a full count. Chun-yeong Kim pinch-hit next and grounded out to Harenberg but the tying run advanced to second for another pinch-hitter… Cory Briscoe. He was batting .063. It smelled like a walkoff homer in the making. Instead, Snyder walked him to bring up Nate Hall, which was NO relief and Hall hit the first pitch he got A TON. Upwards. All the infielders circled under it forever while Herlihy scored from second base and Briscoe reached third … with the ball still in the sky. Alberto Ramos, who had pinch-hit and grounded out in the top 9th, finally made the catch, annulling Herlihy's run and ending the game instead. 4-3 Critters. Rock 2-5, 2B; Stalker 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Nomura 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (6-3);

In other news

May 25 – Just after the Scorpions made up a 5-run deficit to tie the Miners at ten in the top of the ninth inning, SAC MR Rich Hewitt (1-3, 6.07 ERA) maneuvers PIT 3B Ryan Czachor (.206, 8 HR, 24 RBI) to third base in the bottom of the ninth, then balks to walk off the Miners altogether.
May 26 – The Warriors score 14 runs in the sixth inning alone in an 18-2 drubbing of the Capitals. SFW CF/1B Pedro Cisneros (.255, 4 HR, 18 RBI) leads off and leads the way with four base hits and as many RBI.
May 30 – It takes 12 innings for the Bayhawks to walk off, 1-0, on the Loggers thanks to a 2-out RBI single by 3B/SS Tom Hawkins (.270, 2 HR, 18 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

This week the Druid loudly wondered in the clubhouse whether two weeks on the DL would be enough for Cookie Carmona, then walked away from the conversation with me. That was not the sort of info that helped a GM plan around inadvertent events. You know, like Saturday's game. At least we have Monday off.

Adam St. Germaine went unclaimed and was assigned to AAA on Sunday. There appears to be considerable prejudice against 29-year-olds batting .179 in this league.

When we swept the Thunder earlier this week it was our fourth sweep against a CL South team in six attempts this season. In that entire division, only the Aces (2 wins) and Bayhawks (1 win) had successfully offered any sort of resistance to us by then. Of course that was before the Knights bludgeoned us to death.

We have a new employee around, as we have finally found an interpreter that can actually understand Jing-quo Liu's very particular Taiwanese accent. By chance, Matt Nunley noticed Liu making a video call to his sister in Taiwan in sign language. Apparently she is profoundly deaf since birth, and this is where we got the good old Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind involved. Sure enough they managed to hook us up with a recent graduate of theirs. He is of Taiwanese descent and goes by R.C., the shortened version of his birth name that apparently translates to "beautiful sunrise". Yeah, yeah, whatever. He's been deaf and mute since birth, but he can actually communicate with Liu! We can now finally learn what that huge windmilling motion is that he always makes when a pitcher has thrown ball three, and a thousand other things.

Although it is very inconvenient that he has to write down everything he translates.

So the entire team is taking lessons in sign language now.

I wonder whether it would be easier to just get a new backup catcher.

Fun Fact: 17 years ago today, on May 30, 2027, the Loggers' Todd Moultrie connected for six base hits in a 17-2 drubbing of the Aces.

The Loggers have the most 6-hit games of all ABL franchises, six precisely. Moultrie was the most recent Logger to connect that often though and this while his time in Milwaukee was but brief. They signed him to a 1-year deal the preceding winter when he was 32 years old, but traded him to the Rebels in June for Suketsune Ito and … Ronnie McKnight!

Now, Ronnie was still five years removed from his 2015 Rookie of the Year title at that point. He was traded THREE times in 2010, from the Warriors to the Rebels to the Loggers to the Cyclones, actually got two cups of coffee with them, and only was exchanged to Portland in December of 2014, then for Graham Wasserman.

And while Moultrie had a mixed career mostly in backup roles and was traded for other bits and pieces seven times in a 14-year career, he was already 32 when he connected for six base hits. By 32, Ronnie McKnight had already played his final ABL game in a backup role for the 2022 Crusaders, the third and final ABL team of his career.