[Westheim]

Raccoons (7-6) vs. Crusaders (7-4) – April 19-21, 2033

The Crusaders had been on the short end in terms of runs so far, ranking in the bottom three in runs scored, but also the top three in runs allowed, with a +3 run differential. They led the CL in stolen bases, however. Last season the Crusaders did claim ten wins over the Raccoons in their 18 contests against another.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (1-0, 6.10 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (1-0, 1.38 ERA)
Andy Palomares (1-1, 8.74 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (2-0, 0.56 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (1-1, 3.20 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (2-1, 2.95 ERA)

Three right-handers… maybe. The Crusaders came in on two days’ rest following a rainout against the Titans on Sunday. They could pretty much send in any pitcher they pleased, including sole southpaw starter Ramiro Benavides (0-1, 9.00 ERA). The Critters had only had Monday off and forewent the chance to skip “Mostly Dead” Gutierrez thanks to a double header on Sunday.

Game 1
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Payne – 2B M. Hurtado – C Dear – LF Cambra – RF Reardon – SS J. Zamora – 3B Pulido – P Rutkowski
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – C Garcia – RF Jennings – 3B Perkins – 2B Stalker – P Gutierrez

After Joe Payne’s double and Matt Dear’s RBI single plated a run for New York at the first opportunity, Rico Gutierrez – lo and behold – struck out the side in the second inning. Granted, he also walked two, and one of those was a dubious call in a full count, and the other was a foul bunt on 1-2 by the pitcher Rutkowski, but maybe I am nitpicking now… In any event, Payne hit a leadoff jack in the third to make it 2-0 after Stalker had popped out to strand Zitzner and Perkins on the corners in the bottom 2nd. Half an inning later, the Critters got on the board; Ramos drew a 1-out walk, stole his measly second base of the season, and came around on Reichardt’s sharp single to right-center. A Wallace single to right and a full-count walk to Travis Zitzner loaded the bases for Fernando Garcia, who tied the game with a sac fly to left before Jennings bounced out to Payne.

Numerous full counts meant that Gutierrez was done after five innings and 103 pitches, with the score remaining locked at two runs each, giving him another no-decision. Nick Bates got in line for a W for a scoreless sixth in which he worked around a Firmino Cambra single when Zitzner opened the bottom of the inning with a huge homer to left, putting Portland up 3-2. Agan, the Critters shuffled the bags full after that – Garcia singled, Perkins doubled, and Stalker walked, bringing up the pitcher’s spot with three on and one out. Tom Hawkins hit a comebacker for a force play at home, leaving it to the .140 raker Ramos to get something done. He grounded over to Jose Pulido, whose throw to first was sub-par, got through Payne, and two runs scored on the dismal error. Two more scores on a Wallace single following Reichardt getting nicked to restock the bases. Jesse Wright replaced Rutkowski, walked Zitzner, but got Garcia to whiff, closing out a 5-run inning, four of which were unearned. With the game more or less over, the Coons tacked on another two unearned runs in the eighth. Those, too, were the result of a Pulido throwing error; Wallace and PH Elliott Thompson got 2-out RBI. New York got a run off Victor Anaya in the ninth; Cambra led off with a single, moved around on two outs, then scored on an unfortunate wild pitch, putting the tiniest of dents into the score. 9-3 Raccoons! Wallace 3-5, 3 RBI; Zitzner 3-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Thompson (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

First Raccoons pitcher to two wins? Nick Bates. – Did anybody have that in the raffle? No? – What? Chad had it? Ugh, Chad and his dumb luck!

(Chad dances off and swings the hips in the mascot costume)

In further unfortunate developments, Nick Valdes snowed in for the middle game of the set. I mean “snowed in” quite literally. He was on the way home from rocket-skiing in the mountains, having melted off one of the final glacier in the US during his holidays.

Game 2
NYC: CF Tessmann – LF Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – 1B Payne – C Leonard – 3B J. Zamora – SS Pulido – P E. Cannon
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – 3B Perkins – C Thompson – 2B Stalker – P Palomares

Before long, the Coons’ infield defense and their pitcher melted away just like the mountainous snowfields. Ramos committed an error in the first inning that led to a run on a Mario Hurtado single, and while the Critters made up that deficit in the second, which Jennings led off with a triple, coming in to score on Thompson’s groundout, there was another unfortunate error in the fourth inning, this time by Perkins. Hurtado was on first with nobody out when Chris Reardon shot a bouncer at Perkins, whose throw to second base was errant and went off the reaching Stalker’s glove for the error. While Payne grounded out, the bags filled up on a walk to Keith Leonard, followed by Jorge Zamora’s 2-run single up the middle. Pulido singled to load them back up, but Cannon whiffed and Danny Tessmann grounded out to strand three in a 3-1 game.

The Coons did precious little outside the Jennings triple, but Palomares allowed a leadoff triple to glacially-paced Keith Leonard in the top 6th. That one went to left, where Jimmy Wallace meandered after the ball to the best of his abilities, which was not a good thing in any case. The run would score on a Pulido sac fly, putting the Crusaders 4-1 ahead, two runs earned in total, and that was also Palomares’ final inning; he finished with 109 pitches. The Raccoons didn’t get the tying run to the plate again until the bottom 7th when Cannon allowed a leadoff single to Jennings, then struck Justin Perkins with a fastball. Perkins was none too happy about it, but could be convinced by the umpire to not take Cannon’s head clean off. Thompson was the tying run, but grounded into a fielder’s choice. Stalker came up with runners on the corners, lined out to Hurtado, and Ferrero hit for David Fernandez, who had pitched a messy seventh. Noel Ferrero dropped an RBI single into shallow center, livening up that .138 batting average, and bringing up the .146 terror Ramos. Valdes coolly asked what the **** had happened to him, and I grumbled something about bad luck and that Cristiano Carmona had numbers on that, but Valdes wouldn’t go and leave me the **** alone as I rocked back and forth with Honeypaws clutched against my chest while Berto stepped in. He would hit the 0-1 pitch up the middle for a single, but Thompson had to hold. Reichardt batted with three on, two outs, and I rocked more intensely as he fell to 0-1, 0-2, and then cracked a pitch to deep left. High! Higher! GONE!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!!

The crowd liked that one, and Valdes and me did, too, jumping up and down and squeaking like little boys when the ball broke the plane. It put Portland 6-4 ahead and lined up the tough end of the pen. The Critters went to Garavito to begin the top 8th owing to the left-hander Leonard leading off in a mixed bag of batters. He retired two before Pulido hit a single. Matt Dear pinch-hit in the #9 slot, promoting a move to Ed Blair, who lost him in a full count, then was recycled for Hennessy against Tessmann, but the Crusaders countered with PH Dan Brown – who popped out on the first pitch, swamping the tying runs. The Coons got Jennings on with a single in the bottom 8th, but that was all, and Wise issued a leadoff walk to Cambra to start the ninth, but then rallied with strikeouts against Hurtado and Reardon. Joe Payne ripped away at the first pitch, but hit a clonker into the ground for a casual third out. 6-4 Furballs! Ramos 2-4; Reichardt 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Jennings 3-4, 3B; Ferrero (PH) 1-1, RBI;

With this W, Nick Valdes flew home happy, and the Raccoons moved into second place behind only the Titans, who were 9-4 at this point, which also saw ALL CL North teams above .500, with a virtual tie for fourth between the Crusaders, Elks, and Indians, all one game above .500.

The Coons then would get Benavides in the Thursday game, so we’d play some platoon games.

Game 3
NYC: CF Tessmann – 3B J. Zamora – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – 1B Payne – C Leonard – LF D. Brown – SS Pulido – P Benavides
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – 1B Zitzner – C Garcia – RF Jennings – 3B Perkins – LF Ferrero – 2B Hawkins – P Chavez

Chavez threw 20 pitches in a messy first inning, 10% of which hit Crusaders batters. Tessmann and Payne felt the pain, and Jorge Zamora singled in between, but all three were stranded when Leonard grounded out to Tom Hawkins. New York instead got an unearned run in the second when a terrible throwing error by Garcia over the head of Zitzner placed Dan Brown on second base. He scored on productive outs by Pulido and Benavides, but the Coons erased the deficit quickly when Perkins hit a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd and scored on Noel Ferrero’s gap double. Hawkins and Chavez couldn’t get him in, but Berto singled up the middle to score Ferrero from third, and that was the first of three straight 2-out singles off Benavides, with Zitzner driving in another run to make it 3-1. Garcia grounded out to short to end the inning.

But Chavez and Garcia were vehemently not on the same page. Top 3rd, leadoff walk to Hurtado, then a wild pitch, then an RBI single by Reardon at 3-1, cutting the lead to 3-2. Payne and Leonard both hit singles with two strikes, the latter tying the game with a pair of runners on base and nobody out. Chavez bailed out with strikeouts, then saw Jennings and Perkins open the bottom 3rd with singles. Not much to see here in terms of shrewd pitching…! However, Ferrero hit into a fielder’s choice, and Hawkins into a double play, meaning nobody scored. The next chance came in the fifth with leadoff singles by Zitzner and Garcia. Benavides threw a wild pitch to Jennings to advance the runners into scoring position, allowing Jennings to plate the go-ahead run with a grounder to short. That was the only run; while Perkins walked, Ferrero whiffed and Hawkins grounded out to Zamora. Bernie held on in the sixth, then was hit for with Marsingill after having offered 99 pitches when his spot came up at the start of the bottom 6th. Marsingill led off with a double to right and Ramos walked, but the lead runner was nipped in a double steal attempt, and the Critters didn’t tack on.

Garavito nailed PH Firmino Cambra to begin the seventh. Anaya replaced him right away and got three outs while protecting the 4-3 lead. Jennings was caught stealing by Leonard in the bottom 7th, and nobody scored in that inning. Anaya opened the eighth with a K to Reardon before Fernandez was brought on for two left-handed batters, both of which singled, putting Payne and Leonard on the corners with one out. Blair replaced Fernandez, rung up Brown, and got Pulido to hit a soft liner to Ramos for the third out of the inning. PHEW. The quest for the insurance run continued with pinch-hitting Jimmy Wallace doubling into the gap to begin the bottom 8th against righty George Barnett. Groundouts by Hawkins and Thompson and a Ramos pop kept him stranded at third base, bringing up Chris Wise with no cushion. He struck out ex-Coon Matt Jamieson, flew out Zachary Ryder in the #1 hole, and then got Zamora to ground to short… but he legged it out, bringing up Hurtado, who also grounded to short, and this time the batter didn’t reach first base on Ramos. 4-3 Coons! Zitzner 3-4, 2B, RBI; Garcia 3-4; Perkins 1-2, BB; Wallace (PH) 1-1, 2B; Marsingill (PH) 1-1, 2B;

A sweep! How sweet!

Raccoons (10-6) vs. Thunder (6-10) – April 22-24, 2033

Losers of four in a row, the Thunder were second from the bottom in runs scored (not even three runs per game!) and had given up the third-most runs instead. Whatever runs they scored, they usually did get them on the long ball; they had scored only 47 runs despite 15 home runs! They already had a -25 run differential, which didn’t bode well. The Coons’ run differential was +20 at this point. To make things worse, one of their most crucial players, Luis Sagredo, was already on the DL. The Coons had won the season series the last two years, including a 5-4 mark in ’32.

Projected matchups:
Ignacio del Rio (1-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. Scott Soviero (0-2, 11.37 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (1-1, 1.54 ERA) vs. Dusty Kulp (1-1, 1.98 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (1-0, 5.28 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (0-1, 4.60 ERA)

Southpaws seemed to sandwich the right-hander Kulp here. There was no shortage of left-handed pitching for Oklahoma. They had FOUR left-handers in their bullpen, which seemed excessive to me. The southside corps included longtime Critter Billy Brotman, winner of a pair of rings with our late-20s machine.

Game 1
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – SS Serrato – LF Cutler – 2B V. Ochoa – 3B Felicame – P Soviero
POR: 2B Pinkerton – CF Reichardt – RF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – C Garcia – 3B Perkins – LF Ferrero – SS Stalker – P del Rio

…and again the other team came out and scored first, in a true nightmare of a first inning. Lorenzo Celaya reached on an infield single before being forced by Drew Olszewski’s grounder. Olszewski went to third on Danny Cruz’ single to right, Wallace unleashed a terrible throw that allowed an extra base to the runners, and thus scored Olszewski right away. Mike Burgess singled in Cruz, was forced on an Alex Serrato grounder, and then Pinkerton fumbled Steve Cutler’s grounder for the second error of the inning. del Rio struck out Victor Ochoa to escape the steaming mess. It would take the Coons a while to have more hits than errors on the board, to which Justin Perkins contributed with a throwing error in the third, but that one did not lead to additional runs. Zitzner and Garcia had hit singles in the second, but Perkins had chucked into a double play, while in the fourth Wallace and Zitzner led off with singles, after which Soviero lost Garcia on balls, presenting Perkins with three on and nobody out, as well as zero speed on the bags. He struck out. Ferrero hit a sac fly, Stalker popped out, and a tremendous chance was tossed in the trash. Well, at least some place where the Raccoons might find it again…

Del Rio tossed 99 pitches through seven, holding the Thunder, who barely registered in the box score after the first inning, to four hits and two runs, but was still trailing the 2-1 game. Hawkins batted for him with nobody on base and two down in the bottom 7th and singled past Serrato. Pinkerton slapped a ball over Danny Cruz and up the line. That one got past Celaya and Hawkins raced around the bases to score while Pinkerton slid into third base with a game-tying RBI triple! Reichardt unfortunately grounded out to Antonio Felicame to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Soviero was knocked out with a leadoff walk to Jimmy Wallace. Brotman came on and got two outs before Perkins singled. Wallace moved to second, from where Ramos would run for him. That move didn’t really figure decisive in the end; Noel Ferrero buried a ball in the gap so thoroughly that everybody would have scored from second base, even Cristiano Carmona. Perkins scored from first base on the double, too, putting Portland up 4-2. Stalker flew out to right, sending the game to the ninth. But, who’d pitch? Wise, Blair, Garavito, and Fernandez had all tossed two days in a row, and Hennessy had been burned already. That left only Bates and Anaya, who got the nod. Burgess struck out. Pinkerton – moved to right when Ramos stayed in the game and Stalker shifted to the keystone – made a leaping grab on Serrato at the fence for the second out. That brought up an array of left-handed bats, but Anaya didn’t have the tying run at the plate yet and the first two were hitting well under .200, this was his game. Cutler ran a full count, then looked at strike three down the middle. 4-2 Furballs! Zitzner 2-4; Ferrero 1-2, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Hawkins (PH) 1-1; del Rio 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

The Titans‘ Mario Gonzalez lost a pitching duel, 1-0, to Tijuana’s Josh Irwin, and with that the Coons were in sole possession of first place.

WHAT??

And I got TWO days to marvel over this because for the second Saturday in a row the Coons were rained out, this time at home. Another double header was set up for Sunday, which we’d at least enter with a more rested bullpen and with one good pitcher still leading off the double duty Sunday. The Thunder also kept Kulp in the first game of the twin bill.

The weather was still bad on Sunday; there was rain in the forecast.

Game 2 (1)
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – SS Serrato – LF Cutler – 2B A. Rojas – 3B Becker – P Kulp
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Perkins – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – C Thompson – 2B Stalker – CF Ferrero – P Sabre

If the Critters wanted to extend their winning streak, they’d have to come from behind AGAIN. Sabre had a heck of a first inning, allowing a leadoff single to Celaya, who stole second, reached third on Thompson’s bad throw, and scored on an Olszewksi double. The Thunder got the new runner in on a sac fly, but a Serrato single and a walk to Cutler kept traffic around until Alfredo Rojas flew out to Ferrero to strand them. While Kulp had a 1.98 ERA, his WHIP was almost as high as that; 21 hits and walks in 13.2 innings coming in, so maybe he was due for a whacking. The first inning was uneventful for Portland, but in the second we got Jennings on base right away. Thompson flew out, Stalker grounded out, but Ferrero walked onto the open base unintentionally, bringing Sabre to the plate with two on and two outs. He slapped a single through between Rojas and Cruz, and it died quickly enough to allow Jennings to score from second base with the home team’s first marker of the game. Ramos then continued to defrost with a gapper in left-center, a score-flipping 2-out, 2-run double, and scored on Perkins’ double to right, 4-2, after which Wallace grounded out to Rojas to end the inning.

Sabre struggled, issuing two walks and a single in the third, but Burgess hit into a double play in between to keep the Thunder of the board. In turn, Zitzner hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 3rd, 5-2, his fourth on the year, and he was still the only Coon with more than one bomb, and his 9 RBI were also tops on the team. Soon after, rain hit and led to a rain delay of almost an hour, which was certainly not going to help either pitcher, but both remained in the game by necessity, the Thunder going as far as to not lift Dusty Kulp in the fourth with Rojas (leadoff triple) at third and one out. Thierry Becker had already lined out softly to Perkins, and Sabre carved up the opposing pitcher for a crucial second out. Celaya grounded out, wasting the triple.

Sabre didn’t get the win, however. He was on fumes in the fifth, got two outs, then saw Ramos misfire on a Burgess grounder for an error. Sabre melted away to walk the bags full before being relieved by Ed Blair, who nixed the tying runs with a crucial K to Rojas. Kulp was still in, but was yanked after four and a third, after Billy Jennings sent one soaring over the fence in right, becoming the second multi-dinger Critter (finally…) and moving the tally to 6-2. Reliever Jimmy Jackson appeared, allowed singles to Thompson and Stalker, then had a meatball blasted into the stands by Noel Ferrero, 9-2, and thus it was FERRERO to become the first Coon with double-digit RBI on the season. Maud – did Chad have that, too? – Son of a coon!! …

With that, the game was about finishing it with the least amount of relievers possible. Blair was sent to bat here so he could get a few more outs. He would strike out, then pitch a perfect sixth. After that we were ready to burn one of our high-stamina left-handers, who would have a chance for a 3-inning save. We picked Fernandez, who had tossed only 3.2 innings but had walked seven on the season. Time to get straightened out. He had a long, long seventh, loading the bases on two hits and a walk to Serrato, then walked in a run facing Rojas, 9-3, before Becker struck out to strand everybody. Fernandez threw too many pitches and ran out of stuff entirely by the ninth inning, putting another two Thunder on base. With over 50 pitches on the clock, he had to be replaced by another pitcher. Nick Bates came on to face Rojas with two outs, and got the final out on a single pitch that Rojas grounded to Ferrero at first base. 9-3 Furballs! Perkins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Jennings 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Thompson 2-4;

At least, with only one pitch thrown, Bates remains available for the second contest. We also still have Wise, Anaya, Garavito, and Hennessy in the quiver, but the starter would be Rico Gutierrez...

Game 3 (2)
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – SS Serrato – LF Cutler – 2B A. Rojas – C Riley – 3B Becker – P J. Robinson
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Ferrero – 1B Zitzner – C Garcia – 3B Marsingill – RF Pinkerton – 2B Hawkins – P Gutierrez

Steve Cutler hit a 2-out RBI single, plating Celaya to get the Thunder up 1-0 in the top of the first before Rojas grounded out to Ramos. Perfect – now we can rally again! Zitzner homered the game tied leading off the bottom 2nd – Zitz was on fire! – and the Coons took the lead the following inning on Reichardt and Ferrero singles, with an enabling wild pitch in between. Alright… (kicks up the feet and leans back) … my job is done for the week! Thierry Becker’s clumsy error put on Zitzner, and Garcia slapped a single through the left side to score Ferrero, 3-1. Marsingill grounded out, ending the inning.

HOWEVER. This was still “Almost Dead” Gutierrez pitching. The Thunder stranded them on the corners in the fourth, then got a leadoff single from their pitcher in the fifth. Celaya popped out, but Olszewski walked, and then Cruz spanked a bouncer right at Ramos for a 6-4-3 spot of salvation. Rico Gutierrez had no strikeouts, five hits, and two walks through five innings, and somehow was 3-1 ahead. The sixth saw three soft outs for Gutierrez, but the Coons put their first three on. Garcia singled, Marsingill singled, Pinkerton walked in a full count. Hawkins sent a clean RBI single into shallow center, 4-1, and with that extra run we were confident enough to have Gutierrez hit for himself; cocky you might even say. He struck out, Ramos hit into a double play, and the Coons did not cash in big… Gutierrez began the seventh on 82 pitches and up by three, which was a situation where you were waiting for trouble first. Liam Riley grounded out, but Becker singled to left. Robinson was not hit for, so Rico stayed in to face him to get the bunt and an out. He got the bunt. He didn’t get an out, because Marsingill threw it away. Becker and Robinson were in scoring position, the top of the order was up, and that counted as trouble – here came Garavito, with eight outs to collect. Celaya got rung up, and Olszewski got robbed in the gap by Ferrero, ending the inning. PHEW.

With my paws sticky and sweat-soaked, some pressure came off in the bottom 7th. Reichardt singled, was caught stealing, Ferrero singled, and Zitz hit another shot to left, a 2-piece to grow the lead to five! That ended Robinson’s day, and Jimmy Jackson served up a dinger to Marsingill with two outs, 7-1. The Critters picked the eighth from Garavito for a total of five outs, then indeed sent back Nick Bates to have him finish two games in a day. Rojas struck out. Riley flew out. Becker lined out. 7-1 The Striped Terrors! Reichardt 2-5; Ferrero 3-4, RBI; Zitzner 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Garcia 2-4, RBI; Marsingill 2-4, HR, RBI; Hawkins 2-4, RBI; Gutierrez 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, W (2-0); Garavito 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

April 21 – SFB SP Matt Huf (2-1, 2.08 ERA) 2-hits the Thunder in a 6-0 Bayhawks win. Underlining Huf’s dominance are the 11 strikeouts charged against the Thunder.
April 21 – The 3-12 Aces hold out for 16 innings before being sunk with a 3-run homer by ATL 1B Adam Avakian (.309, 2 HR, 15 RBI) in the top of the 17th. The Knights win, 4-1. ATL SP/MR Chris Cooper (1-0, 0.82 ERA) throws six innings of 2-hit ball in relief for the win.

Complaints and stuff

Zitz currently leads the ABL in OPS with a 1.154 mark that will probably not hold up, but I sure appreciated the power outburst this week that also netted him Player of the Week honors with a .478 (11-for-23) average, 4 HR, and 6 RBI.

Three comeback wins in a sweep of the Crusaders that made the Critters the first team to win ten games in the North, then another three comeback wins against the Thunder on Friday and Sunday! What the **** is going on??

We are also FIRST in runs scored with exactly five per game, which isn’t a bad rallying job from the way the season started (3 G, 1 R). We have also won 13 of 15 after a 1-4 start against the Titans and Condors. It is hard to judge how good the team actually is, though, because they were 2-4 against those top teams, split four with the Indians, but also swept three decent-to-meh teams. I guess we will know more about how good the team is a week from now, because we’ll see the Titans again on the next weekend.

This time we are less lucky with the fallout of the rain postponement, because the Falcons come here starting on Monday. We have *Thursday* off, however, so we can still scrape by without having to resort to a spot starter or somebody getting sacrificed on short rest with Palomares, Bernie, and del Rio lined up for Charlotte, and then Sabre can go on regular rest against the Titans on Friday.

Not all is sugar though. Manny Fernandez is not hitting well (.212, 0 HR, 2 RBI) in St. Pete, and Darren Brown went 1-1 with a 2.04 ERA before suffering a partial tear in his labrum and will miss most of the season.

Fun Fact: The 1978 Raccoons came off a sad-sack losing season in the ABL’s inaugural year and started off hot at 10-5 and 13-8. They ended up matching their 1977 record, 67-95.

We were actually over .500 into early June that year. The second half was a complete collapse though, with the team crashing from 24-19 to 36-45 at one point.

Stats table was taken on Monday, so that's why there are so many rested relievers. I normally take it before moving to Monday, but I'm old and ****.