[Westheim]

Raccoons (73-51) @ Crusaders (65-59) – August 22-24, 2028

Tying for third place in the North and eight games back were the Crusaders, who had so far won only three of a dozen games against the Raccoons this year. We would very much like to channel that mojo again after a rather meh experience in Vancouver, and also to not invite the whole wolfpack of three teams that still entertained plausible hopes back into the race for the division. New York ranked ninth in runs scored, but fifth in runs conceded. Overall, their +20 run differential was not very impressive.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (13-4, 2.74 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (10-7, 3.73 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (4-4, 5.03 ERA) vs. Robby Gonzalez (8-10, 4.00 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (7-6, 4.08 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (10-8, 2.81 ERA)

Three more right-handers to face. Also please note that Dan Delgadillo was not yet on the roster, since Armando Leal was still suspended for the opener, so we still carried Daniel Rocha as third catcher.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Correa – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Roberts
NYC: RF I. Vega – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – SS Cameron – CF Olszewski – 1B Jam. Richardson – LF J. Espinosa – 2B B. Torres – P Marron

At first, Roberts was the guy who threatened to come apart early. The Crusaders sent four men up in the opening inning and all hit the ball excessively hard. Only Andy Schmit got the ball to fall in though, hitting a double to center, after which Felipe Delgado and Joe Cameron both lined out to Hereford in rightfield. The Coons had stranded runners on the corners on Harenberg’s account in the opening inning, and then got Ramos on base with a 1-out walk in the third. Alberto scooped second, moved over on Mora’s fly to center, and then came in when Tim Stalker singled over the shortstop Cameron. That was not all – Carlos Marron unwound quickly as Rich Hereford and Kevin Harenberg fired back-to-back jacks to rightfield, upping the score to 4-0 in a real hurry. That didn’t mean Roberts won by default, though. Anything batting from the right side had a good chance to burn him, and even Marron hit a 1-out double in the bottom 3rd. Roberts might have been fine, but after Ivan Vega’s groundout plated the runner with a wild 1-2 well past Tovias.

Bottom 5th, the 4-1 lead was put further to the nest, as were by strained nerves. Roberts got Jamie Richardson on a grounder to Nunley, then loaded the bases against the bottom of the order on straight singles by Juan Espinosa, Bobby Torres, and PH Nelson Ayala. That would only bring up more right-handed batters. Abel Mora shagged a deep fly by Vega to hold the rightfielder to a sac fly, 4-2, and Hereford caught an Andy Schmit offering at the edge of the warning track to sit down the Crusaders. We had sure been more comfortable with Mark Roberts and a lead… His spot in the order came up with no outs and Nunley and Tovias on base after soft singles off Keith Roofener in the seventh inning. There was probably no harm in getting the bunt down here as opposed to pinch-hitting outright. The bunt worked, the Crusaders walked Ramos intentionally, and that brought up Mora with the sacks full, and he added to the lead with a clean-as-a-whistle RBI single to right. Drew Olszewski then robbed the Coons of major damage done, shagging gappers by both Tim Stalker (for a sac fly) and Hereford (to end the inning), keeping the score at 6-2, which was still the score in the bottom 7th when Roberts was relieved with two outs and Bobby Torres on second base. Ivan Vega very nearly went yard on Jonathan Fleischer’s first offering, but Jon Correa made a leaping grab at the fence as that ball lacked just a iota of depth. Fleischer also did the eighth before the Critters nearly exploded in the bottom of the ninth. Kearney retired two Crusaders before walking Espinosa on four pitches. Torres was a righty, but maybe we’d strike luck- nope, single to center, and quite sharp at that. Time for a pitcher not about to ride off into the horizon. Ricky Ohl came on, saw, balked in a run, conceded another on a Ryan Anderson double, and then somehow Stalker got claws on PH Carlos de Santiago’s bouncer and turned it into the final out before I could get a one-way ticket to the top of the Empire State Building. 6-4 Coons. Stalker 2-3, 2 RBI; Rocha (PH) 1-1;

Ricky Ohl got credit for a save here, because baseball does not award Incinerations as a statistic, although I have lobbied for that for decades.

The pinch-hit single in the ninth was also the last act for Daniel Rocha for now (although he was very likely going to be back in September), as the Raccoons brought back Dan Delgadillo to start on Wednesday and to rebalance the roster.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Leal – RF Gomez – LF Morales – P Delgadillo
NYC: 2B Jam. Wilson – RF Jam. Richardson – LF de Santiago – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – 1B J. Espinosa – SS Vacarri – CF Olszewski – P R. Gonzalez

The Coons scored a quick run with a Ramos walk and singles by Mora and Stalker, but Gonzalez rung up Hereford and got a double play (…) from Harenberg, getting out of the first. Gonzalez went on to hit Armando Leal in our backup catcher’s first plate appearance since being ejected and suspended for brawling after getting hit by Mike Greene, but for now Gonzalez got to keep his nicely shaped jaw. The Coons loaded the bases on Danny Morales’ singled after Gomez hit into a fielder’s choice, and then Gonzalez misfielded Delgadillo’s bunt, trying to nip Gomez at third, which he never really had a chance for. Gonzalez, sweating, walked Ramos on four pitches to push in a run, then gave up a clean single to center to Mora for the next run, 3-0. The bleeding was not yet to stop. Schmit missed Tim Stalker’s fast bouncer for a 2-run double, Hereford hit a sac fly, and Harenberg flew out to center to end the inning at 6-0. Now Yusneldan just had to reasonably hold up against a lineup stacked with every left-handed batter with two legs the Crusaders could find and cram into a lineup – only Felipe Delgado was going to face Delgadillo right-handed.

The Crusaders stranded two in the second, then two more in the fourth. Schmit and Delgado had hit singles off Delgado with one out, but Espinosa struck out – Yusneldan’s first in the game – and Giacobbe Vacarri flew out easily to centerfield. But held on, which was really all he had to – don’t get whacked for five, and you’re fine. Meanwhile Chris Wickham no-hit the Coons for 3.2 innings in long relief, but was finally cracked by Danny Morales with a solo shot to left, running the score to 7-0 in the sixth. Wickham got out of the inning against Delgadillo, but would not log another out. He walked Ramos to start the seventh, then loaded them up on singles to Mora and Stalker. Another right-hander, Jesse Wright, replaced him to face Hereford, who hit an RBI single to right. Wright would not retire many; in fact he only retired Morales, yielding two more RBI singles and a bases-loaded walk in between, and then was broken up by Delgadillo with an RBI single. Now, the Coons were up by a dozen. Keith Roofener was back, surrendered an RBI single to Ramos, but then got out of the horror inning by whiffing Mora and getting Stalker to fly out to right. The score was 13-0 at the stretch, although the Crusaders got on the board in the bottom 7th, where Felipe Delgado took Yusneldan deep – yes, the only right-handed batter he was facing. Delgadillo got stuck in the eighth, walking Schmit and Delgado with two outs, and was replaced by Billy Brotman. Not for Brotman, but just in general the Coons made sure to tack on some insurance run on Blake Lowrey in the ninth. Spencer doubled (in Ramos’ place, who had been taken off his legs), Mora walked, Stalker hit an RBI double. Nunley popped out (Hereford was also off his legs), but Harenberg broke the scoreboard for good with a 3-run shot to right, FINALLY putting him into double digits. Brotman allowed a run on a Jamie Wilson double in the bottom 9th… but did anybody care? 17-2 Furballs! Ramos 1-2, 3 BB, 2 RBI; Spencer 1-1, 2B; Mora 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Stalker 4-6, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Hereford 2-4, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-6, HR, 4 RBI; Delgadillo 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-4) and 1-3, RBI;

What a rout!!

We probably won’t score for the rest of the month, but what a rout!

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – LF Correa – CF Mora – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – P K. Anderson
NYC: 2B Jam. Wilson – RF Jam. Richardson – LF de Santiago – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – 1B J. Espinosa – SS Cameron – CF Olszewski – P E. Cannon

The Coons hit three singles, but did not score in the first, instantly fueling my fears that we were actually out of runs for the week. The Crusaders instead scored two in the bottom 2nd with four base hits, first an Espinosa double and then three straight 2-out singles, starting with the opposing pitcher, Eddie Cannon. Ramos and Hereford hit doubles in the third to get at least one run on the board, but that was not enough for Anderson, who was consistently pitching with the bases occupied, and somehow didn’t get blown out completely despite eight hits and two walks against him in the first four innings. There were some untimely pops for the Crusaders, there was a crucial double play the de Santiago hit into, but there was certainly no good pitching to be seen from the Raccoons’ hurler. Delgado hit a single in the bottom 5th, but that was it before Anderson was removed after five abysmal innings, yet still only a 2-1 deficit. He almost was taken off the hook in the sixth; Harenberg, who had struck out twice with a total of four batters on base before, hit a single to left, and then Gomez doubled to center. Olszewski seemed to have made a weak throw, so the Coons sent Harenberg around third, but then Harenberg stumbled, lost pace, and was thrown out to end the inning. Kearney was almost undone by a Cannon double, but held on in the sixth, and Surginer overcame a leadoff walk with a double play in the seventh. The top 8th saw Sean Casey yield a leadoff single to Correa, who was run for by Magallanes. The Colombian stole second base, but Mora struck out, Hereford struck out, and Matt Nunley, hitting for Surginer, grounded out to Jamie Wilson. With the Coons hesitating agonizingly hard, the Crusaders stepped in and put the game away, tearing Nick Derks to shreds in the bottom of the eighth. Olszewski homered, Derks allowed a walk to Wilson, and then surrendered back-to-back doubles to Bobby Torres and de Santiago to give up three runs in total. The Critters only went on to waste another leadoff double in the ninth, Rafael Gomez doing things to Travis Giordano, before the bottom of the order stranded him at third base. 5-1 Crusaders. Correa 2-4; Hereford 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gomez 2-4, 2 2B;

I mean, this was an obvious loss. We were never going to score after plating 17 the other night…

The good news was that we outplayed the competition and held an 8 1/2 game lead going into the weekend in Oklahoma.

Raccoons (75-52) @ Thunder (70-57) – August 25-27, 2028

The Thunder had won four in a row and had a top 3 offense in the Continental League, but their pitching was average at best. They were allowing the sixth-most runs, with an especially porous bullpen that sat dead-last in the CL and that they had not managed to meaningfully improve all season. The season series, which the Raccoons had won the last two years, was still up for grabs as it stood at 3-3 going into this final set of the year – except if the Thunder and Coons would both make the playoffs (which has happened before). They were only six games out in the South, and all they really needed was plenty of wins, right now.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (14-5, 2.65 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (11-11, 4.83 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (10-7, 2.61 ERA) vs. Danny O’Reilly (1-4, 5.07 ERA)
Mark Roberts (14-4, 2.74 ERA) vs. Jose Vazquez (6-9, 4.16 ERA)

Right-left-right, with the southpaw O’Reilly, being a 27-year-old sophomore with the fitting nickname “Dump Truck”. The Thunder were missing some notable players, foremost Dave Garcia (thumb), Erik Janes (back), and “Butch” Diaz (back).

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Leal – 3B Nunley – P Nomura
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – C Burgess – RF Sagredo – SS Serrato – CF Pagel – 1B McWhorter – LF L. Otero – 2B Kane – P Palomares

Harenberg ended another inning with a foul pop in the first but at least “Bam Bam” Hereford had then singled to left already to cash Tim Stalker and his triple for an early 1-0 lead. Rinse repeat in the third. Hereford singled home Stalker, who this time had doubled, and then Harenberg ended the inning with a strikeout. Unfortunately, Nomura was somewhat leaning on his defense and failed to strike out anybody in the early innings. This included yielding a single to Palomares, moving him to second with a wild pitch, and then conceding the run on Lorenzo Rivera’s single. Rivera would only be left stranded because Mora shagged a 2-out drive by Luis Sagredo in the gap, so probably more offense was a good move here as the Coons led 2-1 after three. Nope – the Coons stranded Leal and his double in the fourth, and then saw Alex Serrato go well yard to left to tie the game leading off the bottom of the inning.

Nomura kept whiffing no one, and in the fifth was in deep trouble. A Leal error had put Mike Kane on base to begin the inning, and after a bunt Rivera hit an infield single. Runners on the corners, one out, and Mike Burgess was down 0-2 but then still lashed a liner to center. Mora made another running catch to hold the game in one piece, and Kane, who had lost his quickness a long time ago, retreated to third base as Mora came in on full steam. Sagredo also fell to two strikes, also didn’t go down on a third, but at least grounded out to Harenberg to end the inning. On to the bottom 7th where scrappy Canadian backup Thierry Becker opened with a pinch-hit single up the middle, batting for Leo Otero. Liam Riley then hit for Kane, but grounded out. The runner advanced to second, but the Thunder did not hit for Palomares, who popped out to Stalker. Rivera popped out to Ramos, and Nomura had gone seven without a single strikeout, then was rewarded for it with the lead. Who else than Hereford would hit an RBI single in the top 8th? Well, no one. This time he plated Abel Mora from second base, putting the Critters up 3-2. Here was Harenberg again, not with the best of games, but he sure knew a cue when he heard one. Hereford was itching to get going for second, but could never get a jump. Harenberg made it easier on him, although I gasped when he ripped a 3-1 pitch. But he ripped it well, all the way over the rightfield fence to extend the score to 5-2. Nomura faced two more batters, whiffing none. Burgess drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th, then moved up on a groundout, which then had the Coons go to Surginer, who basically did nothing right. A wild pitch moved Burgess to third, from where he scored on Serrato’s sac fly, and then Surginer shed a single and a walk in a full count, inviting Becker as the go-ahead run, although now the Coons skipped to Josh Boles right away. Not that Becker was a lefty. This just seemed like a good spot. Boles surrendered an RBI single in a 1-2 count to Becker, then another single to left to Andy Bareford. The Thunder sent McWhorter from second base, Rich Hereford threw him out at the plate, and we somehow crawled into the ninth still with the lead. Thankfully Boles would retire the Thunder in order in the following inning, even whiffing two. 5-4 Raccoons. Stalker 2-4, 3B, 2B; Hereford 3-4, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-4;

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – LF Morales – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Gutierrez
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – LF L. Otero – RF Sagredo – SS Serrato – CF Pagel – 1B McWhorter – C L. Riley – 2B Kane – P O’Reilly

The Thunder had a 2-0 lead through four, having scored early thanks to a Lorenzo Rivera leadoff double and two soft singles by Sagredo and Serrato in the bottom 1st, then again on Kyle Pagel’s first homer of the season in the third. The Raccoons had two hits and as many double plays through four innings, but put Hereford on base with a leadoff single in the fifth. Gomez grounded out, but Harenberg mashed a wicked homer to right-center to tie the game. Rico lasted six, but that took him over 100 pitches with some stretches of wonky command in between, and he was not going to be back. It looked like he would get yet another no-decision, at least until Harenberg hit a 2-out dinger off O’Reilly in the top of the seventh that gave the Critters their first lead in the game. Well, Gutierrez still got a no-decision. Brotman issued a 2-out walk to Sagredo in the bottom 7th, was double-switched out for Ricky Ohl, and Ricky AGAIN ****ed it up, being taken yard by Serrato in a full count. That one flipped the score and sent the Critters reeling for a brief period. Tim Stalker singled with one out in the eighth, stole second, and after Spencer lined out to Serrato still came around when Danny Morales dropped a single into shallow center, tying the score at four before Hereford grounded out, and that tie even survived a combined Ohl/Kearney/Surginer attempt to come apart in the bottom 8th. Ohl allowed a leadoff single to Victor Hodgers, Kearney nailed Liam Riley, Surginer fooled nobody, and somehow the Thunder still stranded them in scoring position.

Top 9th, Jonathan Snyder retired Gomez and Harenberg before filling the bases on an infield single by Tovias, Nunley’s pinch-hit single, and then a walk to Mora. Tim Stalker hit a ball to deep center, but could not get it past Pagel, stranding the whole set. Fleischer pitched a scoreless ninth, sending us into extra innings for the first time in a bit. Ramos hit a 1-out single hitting for Morales in the top 10th, but was caught stealing even before Hereford struck out against Snyder. Hodgers reached on a Stalker error to begin the bottom 10th, but was then doubled up by Riley and Fleischer struck out Becker to extend the game. The Coons were down to Derks and Boles at this point, going with the former in a road game, while their offense produced a leadoff single in the top 12th, Mora getting the ball past Rivera. He stole second, then was stranded after Stalker walked, Spencer flew out, and Ramos cracked hard into a double play. The tie was not broken until the following inning, when with one out in the top 13th Max Nelson gave up a booming homer to Rafael Gomez. Nobody else reached and Tovias ended the inning with a K, which led the Coons to empty both their pen and bench in a double switch that with the Coons having had the pitcher in the #8 hole since Rico’s departure would prevent Boles, should he give up exactly one run, having to lead off the 14th at the plate. Leal was the last Coon off the bench, so it was now or never. Josh wisely opted for “now”, retiring Becker, Chris LeMoine, and Rivera in order in the bottom of the thirteenth inning. 5-4 Coons. Stalker 2-6; Ramos (PH) 1-2; Harenberg 3-6, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Tovias 2-6; Nunley (PH) 1-1; Mora 1-2, BB; Gutierrez 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Derks 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

The Titans were still hanging in there at 8 1/2 back, but the Critters had at least shoved the Crusaders and Elks back to double digits by this point.

But we would still ask Mark Roberts to be kind to the pen in the Sunday game.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Roberts
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – C Burgess – RF Sagredo – SS Serrato – CF Pagel – 1B McWhorter – LF L. Otero – 2B Kane – P Vazquez

Of course he got shattered, what else could ever happen? Serrato homered to lead off the second, which was still manageable, but the following inning went straight to hell once and for all. Kane doubled, Rivera singled, and Burgess and Sagredo hit back-ot-back bombs to lead the Critters 5-0 when they had already stranded a runner on third base twice in the game. Ramos had walked, stolen second, and been left over in the first, and Tovias had singled, been bunted over, and advanced on a grounder in the third, and also had not been brought home. The Thunder were less picky, and had Roberts in the ropes after just three innings, with no long men available. Kevin Harenberg with his tail suddenly on fire hit a solo shot in the fourth, but that was not going to rescue the team… but they unfurled a 3-spot in the fifth that was certainly making it interesting again. Tovias singled, was bunted over, and was still at second after Ramos grounded out to short. Then the 2-out terror began. Mora walked, Stalker plated both runners with a deep double, then scored on Hereford’s single. Even Harenberg singled, but Gomez couldn’t get a grounder past Serrato and the inning ended.

It was now a 5-4 game, but the Raccoons still required Roberts for length after a wild bullpen night on Saturday. He entered the fifth on 72 pitches, so it was not unreasonable to expect to squeeze another two frames out of him. He got through the fifth alright, then dropped down his third sac bunt of the game after leadoff singles by Nunley and Tovias in the top 6th. With runners in scoring position and one out, suddenly he had a chance for the win again! To my greatest dismay, Ramos struck out ripping when a single would have done so much for us. Abel Mora, well more experienced, knew what was needed, poked a soft single into shallow center, and even Tovias on the back end managed to score with the early start, flipping the score to Coons’ way, 6-5. Stalker popped out to end the inning, and the greedy Coons pushed Roberts into the seventh. Kane hit a leadoff single, but he rung up Riley before departing. Ricky Ohl came on as we grandly planned to use him for five outs. Hodgers batted for Rivera to counter the righty, singled, and so did Sagredo with two outs. The latter one scored Kane to tie the score at six, and there was no undeserved win for Mark Roberts in this game.

More nightmares in the ninth. Mora led off with a single against Snyder, only to get picked off before Tim Stalker doubled to left-center. But the Coons still had the nasty Hereford coming up (but no Harenberg, with Kearney in the #5 hole)! Rich looped a ball to left-center, uncatchable and perfect for Stalker to scurry home from second base to grab a new lead, 7-6. Bareford threw home late, allowing Hereford into scoring position, but the Coons were in a pickle with Kearney. Josh Boles had seen two longer outings in the last two days and was not quite fresh. On the other hand, this was a RISP situation with one out and a bunt was not going to help. The Raccoons achingly decided to send Leal to pinch-hit; Billy Brotman was also available for the ninth, so maybe we would be fine after all. Leal walked, but neither Gomez (F8) nor Nunley (K) came through, leaving this to Brotman indeed. Kane went to 0-2 before firing a deep drive that Hereford snagged at the fence, Bareford singled, Becker singled, and I closed my eyes and sighed. Burgess singled to load them up, and only now the Coons sent for Boles. Three on, one out, winning run at second base, Sagredo poked the 2-2 into play, back to the mound, Boles to home, OUT, Tovias to first – late. Serrato would get a shot with two outs, fired a 2-2 pitch to deep center, Mora back, Mora back, Mora even more back – AND HE MADE THE CATCH!!! 7-6 Blighters!! Mora 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Stalker 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Hereford 2-5, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-4, HR, RBI; Tovias 3-4; Morales 1-1;

(is blue in the face, but still does not dare to exhale)

In other news

August 21 – Good news, bad news for the Pacifics, who lose C Dylan Allomes (.278, 9 HR, 40 RBI) to a torn quad, but still expect him to come back before the end of the regular season.
August 21 – In further unfortunate events for the city of Angels, the Pacifics get 1-hit by SFW SP Juan Muniz (14-5, 3.28 ERA), who claims athe 2-0 shutout win. LAP OF Justin Fowler (.335, 13 HR, 60 RBI) hits a double right in the first inning for the only L.A. base knock.
August 23 – PIT 3B/2B Omar Lastrade (.268, 7 HR, 49 RBI) could be out for four weeks with an elbow sprain.
August 26 – CIN MR Jon Ozier (4-6, 3.86 ERA) does not just blow an 11th inning, 6-5 lead the Cyclones grabbed in the top of the inning against the Warriors – he walks five batters in the bottom of the 11th to force in two runs in the Warriors’ 7-6 win.

Complaints and stuff

Kevin Harenberg again showed glimpses this week of awaking from his 5-month coma. I mean, it is hardly ever too late, but we sure appreciate him doing something useful from time to time. And with glimpses I mean he batted .370 with SIX homers and 11 RBI this week. It was enough to jump his OPS by 45 points (and it is merely late August…) to .740, the highest it has been since the second game of the season; and also enough to make him Player of the Week, his second such nomination this season, actually beating some years where he was a pretty nifty batter throughout without being made Player of the Week twice (or even once). He has ten such awards in a 9-year career.

We released 2026 third-rounder Dillon Barkley this week. Three years of batting under .200 in Aumsville we deemed enough. There is more like him, f.e. second-rounder George Burke from the same draft, also being utmost miserable in Aumsville.

Roberts’ win on Tuesday locked the season series against the Crusaders for the Critters, which gave them upper paws against New York for the third straight season, a mark they last reached from 2015 to 2017. We have not had a longer winning spell against the Crusaders since the 1990s. On the other hand, Roberts’ torpid Sunday outing probably buried his triple crown ambition for good. His ERA is up to 2.94, eighth in the CL, and he has now dropped behind Tom Shumway and Jonas Mejia, too. He still leads the strikeout race, and is one win behind sole leader Rin Nomura, who remains fourth in ERA behind Gill, Rutkowski, and our dear Rico Gutierrez, but doesn’t have a whiff in strikeouts, which of course was not made better by going 7.1 innings with ZERO strikeouts in his sole start this week.

Fun Fact: 29 years ago today, Jason Turner no-hit the Thunder in a 3-0 win, becoming the second Raccoon to throw a no-hitter after Juan Berrios’ in 1977.

Second Coons no-no artist, and the first one to retire with a winning record. Jason was the #3 pick in the 1983 draft, taken by the Knights and was a #94 prospect when the Raccoons got him at the deadline in 1987 in a 5-player deal that principally sent away ineffective SP Vicente Ruiz and Steve Walker of our scruffy mid-80s middle infield combo, the other half of which was Winston Thompson. The no-hitter the threw on August 27, 1989 was actually not the first of his professional career. He also no-hit the AAA Lubbock Flame on May 30, 1988.

He went on to pitch for the Critters for nine seasons, leading the league in ERA with a 2.55 mark in 1991, and winning 20 games once, but eventually signed up for big bucks in L.A. afterwards.

That was after the 1996 season…...

Funny exercise on top before I am shooed away by the tears; when Jason Turner signed with L.A. we got the best-possible compensation pick in the 1997 draft, the #13 selection, and turned that one into Dan Nordahl, who as you may remember was an often aggravating staple of our bullpen during the Decade of Darkness.

We eventually flipped him and Randy Farley (who had been part of the return for David Brewer after ’97) to the Warriors for Adrian Quebell prior to the 2005 season, a move that soon enough ended Al Martin’s career for no good reason.

Quebell was flipped along with three other players, all marginal, into Stan Murphy the following decade, who then went to the Warriors as a free agent after 2015, giving the Raccoons one of their four supplemental round picks in the 2016 draft. The Raccoons turned those into Zach Graves, Chris Matty (chronologically the Murphy compensation), Dave Dyer, and Justin Chambers, so into two to four busts depending on your threshold for a “good” supplemental round pick. In order, they have been worth 3.1, 0.1, 1.8, and zero big league WAR in their careers, and none currently hold a major league job (Dyer was demoted back to AAA by the Titans), and two have already retired (Matty, Chambers). Now, the 2015 offseason also saw the arrival of R.J. DeWeese (costing us a second-round pick, $16.5M over five years, and countless years of life expectancy for 12.6 WAR before both DeWeese and Matty were folded into a 4-player deal that also exchanged centerfielders with the Thunder. They got Andy Bareford, we got Josh Stevenson.

Stevenson is the player where the direct trail from Jason Turner ends. He spent three years with the Raccoons, then left as free agent and has since bounced from team to team. When the Indians signed him after ’23, no compensation was attached to him. (Although the Raccoons would involve Dave Dyer in a deal for Hector Morales, a 28-year-old lefty still taking up space in St. Petersburg)

Okay, I am not quite done here. Remember how I said Steve Walker was one of the players we shed to acquire Jason Turner in 1987? How far can we go back in the other direction? Steve Walker reaches back a fair bit, all the way to 1981 when the Raccoons picked him up (with Spencer Dicks) in a trade that sent Ken Clark and David Castillo to the Warriors. Both of those last two players connect to the Raccoons in the inaugural season of the ABL in 1977… sort of. They were even in the minor leagues for Portland in 1977 (Clark), or where traded for somebody who was (Castillo). January 1978 saw us trade minor leaguer Guy Mawson to the Knights for Castillo, while Clark, who hit precious little for the 1980 and 1981 Raccoons, initially hit for the cycle in an AAA game in 1978, and actually was the #79 prospect at some point. He hit .254 with 14 homers for the Alley Cats in 1977.

There ya go! An unbroken link of players traded for one another or signed as compensation picks from the 1977 season all the way to the present day, even though the ends might dangle in the minors:

Ken Clark – Steve Walker – Jason Turner – Dan Nordahl – Adrian Quebell – Stanley Murphy – Dave Dyer – Hector Morales