[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-15) vs. Gold Sox (18-13) – May 9-11, 2033

The Gold Sox’ last division title had come 30 years ago and right now they held first place in the FL West by a slim margin. The offense was humming, putting out about 5.6 runs per game, which easily led the Federal League, but the pitching was more on the troublesome side. They were allowing the fifth-most runs in the FL, with the bullpen a particular concern. They were near the top in defense, and they also led the league with the most stolen bases, swiping more than 1.2 bases per game. The last meeting between these teams had been in ’29, when the Critters had lost two of three games.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (2-1, 1.88 ERA) vs. Tony Fuentes (2-2, 1.57 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. Paul Peters (3-2, 7.25 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (3-2, 3.43 ERA) vs. Robbie Blair (3-3, 3.89 ERA)

Three right-handers were awaiting us.

This was one of only two home series entirely within the month of May for the Raccoons, who would get right back out on the road after an off day on Thursday for a 4-city trip. As such, it was not beneath Nick Valdes, our dear and beloved owner, to snow back in and see how his most troubled investment (his words, not mine) was doing. And while he was on it, he hung a picture of himself in every room, including Slappy’s broom closet, on which he was looking importantly towards the left edge of the frame (or towards the future, as he called it), with the sun in splendor in the background. Dr. Chung instantly recognized the composition from his homeland, where pictures of the beloved leader were also to be hung in every house… at least before the whole joint had turned capitalist in The Great Change of ’31.

Game 1
DEN: LF DeLoach – SS T. Miles – CF Madsen – 2B Pizano – C Zarate – RF N. Nelson – 3B J. Hernandez – 1B Vasquez – P T. Fuentes
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – C Garcia – 2B Stalker – 3B Perkins – P Sabre

The running started right away; Elvis DeLoach hit a single to left to begin the game, and after Tyler Miles flew out to center, he went right away. Fernando Garcia politely told him NOPE, and threw him out at second base, his 14th runner disposed of this season for a 42% success rate. The bags were full in the second on account of singles by Danny Zarate and Nate Nelson, and Sabre throwing one into Joel Hernandez. Strikeouts to Rodolfo Vasquez and the opposing pitcher, both in full counts, ended a troubled inning. The Raccoons would not amount to a base hit the first time through; Perkins drew a walk to lead off the bottom 3rd, was bunted to second, and got to third on Berto’s bloop single to left. Reichardt grounded to the left side and was retired by Hernandez’ throw to first, but Perkins came around, scoring the game’s first run.

Sabre was in considerably less trouble the second time through Denver’s order, although he hit Nate Nelson with a pitch. He also had the Coons’ second base hit, a 2-out single in the bottom 5th, but was quickly stranded when Ramos flew out. The 1-0 lead was then in danger in the sixth when Tyler Miles sunk a ball in the gap for a leadoff triple. Abel Madsen lined out to short, Mario Pizano, the longtime Indians scourge, hit a comebacker to Sabre, and Miles was still standing on third base with two outs for Zarate. Just when he was about out of trouble, Sabre hung a 1-1 pitch and Danny Zarate belted it over the fence to flip the score, 2-1 in the Gold Sox’ favor. Bottom 6th, Adrian Reichardt hit a leadoff double, but was stranded on second base. Nick Valdes asked where the offense was. I shrugged. Top 7th, Hernandez with a leadoff single, Jeremiah Brooks pinch-hitting and walking on four pitches, and then PH Federico Nuno hit one over Reichardt’s head for a 2-run double, and moved up to third base on the throw to home plate. That got rid of Sabre in a hurry, and I remarked to Valdes that the offense was *there*. Garavito replaced the fallen starter, but conceded the fifth run on another Miles triple, putting the Critters down 5-1, although Miles would remain stranded on a pop induced by Garavito and Nick Bates getting Mario Pizano to ground out.

Bottom 7th, the Sox were also in their pen, sending righty Ben Phillips with a 12.15 ERA. He walked Garcia and Stalker before Perkins stupidly grounded into a double play. Valdes snorted. I sighed. Noel Ferrero grounded out to Pizano to end the inning. But we’d have two on again in the bottom 8th. Ramos walked, and Wallace singled to right, kicking Phillips from the game, to be replaced by ex-Critter Jonathan Fleischer and his 4.82 ERA. Zitzner swung at the first pitch and knocked it into a 3-6-3 double play, ending the eighth. Adam Rosenwald finished off the Raccoons in the ninth, which saw Elliott Thompson drop in a pinch-hit single, but that was it. 5-1 Gold Sox. Thompson (PH) 1-1;

…and then I felt sort of unwell, sending up the corpse of Rico Gutierrez against the league’s premier offense…

Game 2
DEN: RF Nuno – SS T. Miles – LF N. Nelson – 2B Pizano – C Zarate – 3B Corder – CF Torruellas – 1B Vasquez – P Peters
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – C Garcia – 2B Stalker – 3B Perkins – P Gutierrez

The good news was that Gutierrez would allow no runs in this game! The bad news? He left the game after the second inning with an oblique strain. The question was whether the Raccoons would be better off using the pen for seven innings… At least they took the lead again, scoring first for the ninth straight game (streaky buggers…!) when Jennings drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 2nd and Garcia and Stalker hit back-to-back doubles over Rafael Torruellas in centerfield to put the team 2-0 ahead. The tying runs were on for Denver in the third, with David Fernandez selected for long man duties. Nuno singled, Miles walked, but two grounders stranded them on base. The same two guys were on base again in the fifth after a pair of 2-out walks by Fernandez, who was out of steam after 47 pitches and replaced with Ed Blair. He got Nelson to 0-2 before the former Falcon took a mighty rip … but popped out over the infield to keep it 2-0 Critters, who also got the Justin Brigade onto the corners in the bottom 5th with nobody out. Perkins led off with a single, and Marsingill hit another one after entering in a double switch with Blair that had removed Tim Stalker. Peters allowed Ramos to tick a liner into shallow right for an RBI single. Valdes and me high-fived as we briefly interrupted the nervous pacing near the window that allowed unobstructed view of the field. Peters nicked Reichardt, loading the bases with nobody out for Jimmy Wallace, batting .342 and eagerly wagging his bat. He also hit a liner into the outfield, and that also fell in for an RBI single, 4-0. Zitzner came up and hit a liner to Miles… unfortunately with the runners on the move. There was no way to reverse quickly enough for Reichardt, who was rendered out when Miles hustled over to tap second base ahead of him, and Wallace, who fell down when he hit the brakes and could also not crawl to first base fast enough to beat Miles’ throw – a 6-3 triple play ended the inning. I went straight for the liquor cabinet while Valdes spoke to his portrait – of course he had hung one in my office, too – and assured his self that one day, some day, it would all be well when all the inept personnel had been discarded. I couldn’t help but feel that I was included, but if there was something Capt’n Coma could subdue, it was feelings. Cheerio.

It remained a 4-0 game, also because Perkins was robbed at the fence by Nuno in the sixth and Reichardt was denied by Nate Nelson’s running grab in the gap in the seventh. The Raccoons arrived at their fourth reliever in the eighth inning, sending Nick Bates against the 4-5-6 batters, resulting in a deep fly to Reichardt, a Zarate single to left, and Adam Corder’s 4-6-3 double play grounder. The ninth would be Chris Wise against the bottom of the order. The first pitch was ticked to right for a single by Torruellas, but that was as much as Wise would give them. The next three batters were outs, including two whiffs. 4-0 Raccoons. Wallace 2-4, RBI; Stalker 1-2, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

Dr. Chung reported that he did not expect Rico Gutierrez to miss a start. He considered oblique injuries a fad and that pitchers were faking it, anyway.

Seven shutout innings from the pen here, seven shutout innings from the pen there – it wouldn’t hurt if Bernie could toss a shutout in the rubber game. Valdes and me agreed on this one. We did however not agree on the way I was paying respect to his portrait.

Game 3
DEN: RF Nuno – SS T. Miles – CF Madsen – 2B Pizano – 3B Corder – LF DeLoach – C Brooks – 1B Vasquez – P R. Blair
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – 2B Stalker – C Thompson – 3B Hawkins – P Chavez

The Coons’ streak of scoring first ended when Abel Madsen hit a monstrous homer in the first inning to put the Gold Sox up 1-0. Portland countered; Berto drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 1st, moved up on a grounder, but it took two singles by Wallace and Zitzner to score him, neither of which reached the outfield grass. Blair nicked Jennings to load the bases for Tim Stalker, who hit into another one of those annoying double plays to end the inning. The Critters would eventually take the lead in the third inning. Zitzner plated Reichardt with a sac fly after the veteran centerfielder had opened the inning with a double to left.

It was not a huge lead at 2-1 but Bernie tried his best to make it feel sizable. He allowed little to the Sox, and when they did get two men on in the fourth, he started a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play. The game breezed by; before long it was the seventh inning and Bernie hit a 2-out double off Robbie Blair, but the Critters didn’t feel like tacking on. Ramos grounded out to Pizano, his old stolen base crown rival, and that was the inning. Top 8th, Chavez was up against the 6-7-8 batters and held a 2-hitter on 72 pitches. DeLoach grounded out to Stalker, Brooks flew out to Reichardt, and Vasquez went down on strikes, making you wonder whether Bernie had nine in him. Although an insurance run WOULD be nice. Reichardt led off the bottom 8th with a single off Blair. A hit-and-run was called, Reichardt made for second while Jimmy Wallace whiffed, and Brooks had Reichardt beat – but his aim had been terrible and the ball flew over a leaping Tyler Miles into centerfield. Reichardt scurried for third base with nobody out. Then he was stranded there; Wallace hit a comebacker, Zitzner grounded out to first, and Jennings flew out to Nuno. And now? Valdes was no help, cursing and cussing how this team was throwing away each and every chance it got. With that, we watched Bernie Chavez go to the mound in the ninth inning. Nate Nelson hit for Blair, fell to 0-2, then flew out. Nuno grounded out to Stalker. Miles lined out to left. It was a complete game! 2-1 Raccoons!! Reichardt 2-4, 2B; Chavez 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (4-2) and 1-2, 2B;

Ber-nie! Ber-nie!

With that, everybody departed. The team went to New York with everybody directly involved in tow, and Nick Valdes had to fly to Mozambique, where there was only one male elephant surviving in the wild, and Valdes desperately wanted that trophy if the Critters couldn’t get him one. He was dismayed though when the team refused to line up and sing him farewell upon his departure; well, except for Dr. Chung, who knew his way around an authoritarian regime.

Raccoons (19-16) @ Crusaders (18-14) – May 13-15, 2033

Both teams were within three of the division-leading Titans as this series began. The Crusaders had been swept by the Critters in the first 3-game set of the season, but right now were rather hot on a 6-game winning streak. They were overall average in both runs scored and runs allowed, but that was due to their weak start. There had been plenty of red alarms around their pitching, but during their winning streak they had allowed only two runs per game. Since the Critters were rather timid with scoring runs, this could turn out to be a problem down the road this weekend…

Projected matchups:
Ignacio del Rio (2-3, 3.48 ERA) vs. Ramiro Benavides (1-3, 6.67 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (2-2, 2.57 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (6-1, 1.96 ERA)
Andy Palomares (2-3, 6.61 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (1-4, 5.36 ERA)

Benavides would be the only southpaw to oppose us this season, and also the only southpaw in the Crusaders’ rotation. Meanwhile we used the off day on Thursday to move Palomares behind Sabre in the rotation, which put all of our Tremendous Three in a row again.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – RF Jennings – 1B Zitzner – 2B Stalker – C Garcia – 3B Perkins – LF Ferrero – P del Rio
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Ryder – LF Saito – SS Schuler – C Leonard – 3B J. Zamora – P Benavides

Berto hit a leadoff double and would eventually score… on a wild pitch, and that was after Reichardt walked and Jennings chucked into a double play. Zitzner singled anyway with two outs and scored on a long, long double by Tim Stalker to give del Rio a 2-0 edge. Garcia struck out to end the top 1st. Del Rio struggled out of the box, walking Danny Tessmann on four pitches. He surrendered that runner on singles by Firmino Cambra and Zachary Ryder, but hung a K on Hirofumi Saito and had Ramos handle Randy Schuler’s grounder to strand runners on the corners. That maintained a 2-1 lead that Ramos didn’t add to, stranding Noel Ferrero with a groundout in the top 2nd, and with that in mind the fourth inning saw del Rio swing away with one out and Garcia and Perkins on base; Berto kept having terrible luck and there was no trusting him with two outs right now. Lo and behold, del Rio snapped a single to center, loading the bases for Ramos instead! Now he came through, slapping a 2-2 pitch over the head of Schuler for an RBI single, 3-1. Reichardt flew out to Saito in shallow left, and Jennings lined out to short, stranding three precious runners…

Nothing dramatic happened through the end of six innings, which del Rio completed in 80 pitches and on three hits. His pitch economy was nowhere near Bernie Chavez’, and he had lost three Crusaders on balls. He went on to issue a 1-out walk to Keith Leonard in the bottom 7th, and that started his demise. Jorge Zamora knocked a baseball into the rightfield corner for an RBI triple, and while del Rio had PH Dan Brown at 1-2, he couldn’t ring him up. Brown poked a grounder to Stalker into play, allowing Zamora to bring the tying run across on the groundout. Tessmann and Cambra went on to chip in 2-out singles before Mario Hurtado grounded out to strand them. By the top of the eighth the battery was out of the game; del Rio was going to be replaced and Fernando Garcia tweaked something on an infield single and required a pinch-runner. Preston Pinkerton would take that job with one out and Perkins batting against David Gerow, who had an ERA under one. Perkins promptly struck out, after which the Critters sent Jimmy Wallace to bat for Ferrero. He rolled a single through Cambra; Pinkerton dashed for third base, and Elliott Thompson would hit for del Rio… but struck out, leaving the starter with a bitter no-decision. Bottom 8th, Garavito put Ryder and Schuler on base with a walk and a single, respectively, and left with two outs and the runners in scoring position. Anaya handled a Zamora comebacker to end the inning, then was stuck with the loss in the ninth. The Coons couldn’t get through Erik David in the top of the final inning, and Anaya just couldn’t get anybody out. Randy Hurley reached base on a Ramos throwing error that put him on second with nobody out. Tessmann legged out an infield single. Cambra grounded to Stalker, who, six Gold Gloves be damned, couldn’t throw home in time to get Hurley out, and the Crusaders walked off. 4-3 Crusaders. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Garcia 3-4; Wallace (PH) 1-1;

Dr. Chung was outraged that another player was faking an oblique strain, but that was what Garcia had come down with. He was out for at least a couple of days, and the Raccoons had to make a roster move since they couldn’t go with just one catcher (not that they had ever tried).

And so David Tinnin would make his major league debut. He had been our fourth-round pick in the 2029 draft and was batting .295 with two homers in St. Pete so far this season, where his only competition was Daniel Rocha’s fly-laden corpse. His scouting report did not look that great, and he was also already 26 years old. Preston Pinkerton got the axe to make room on the roster.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – 2B Stalker – C Thompson – 3B Perkins – P Sabre
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – SS Schuler – C Leonard – LF Jamieson – 3B Ryder – P G. Rendon

Tessmann hit a leadoff triple off Sabre in the bottom 1st and scored on Firmino Cambra’s groundout. Sabre walked Hurtado, but got a double play from Chris Reardon, which served to give us a false sense of security. This was going to be one of those games. First, Jennings hit a leadoff double in the top 2nd, but was caught up trying to stretch it to three and was tagged out by Zachary Ryder. Then the bottom 2nd saw Leonard and Ryder reach base; they were in scoring position with two outs and the pitcher at the plate. The damn Costa Rican groundballing devil Rendon pushed a single through the left side, scoring them both and giving New York the 3-0 edge. Sabre walked Tessmann before Jennings caught up with a Cambra fly to end the inning. In the third, Reardon was on second base with two outs, Sabre had Leonard at 1-2, and still got screwed for another run with a single between Stalker and Zitzner, 4-0. An inning later, Rendon was down 1-2, poked a grounder to left, and through a befuddled Perkins’ legs for a 1-out single. Well, one of those games! Nothing came of that, but Perkins kept being annoying by hitting into a double play in the fifth when Elliott Thompson had erred on base with a leadoff walk. Oh my!

Sabre was unceremoniously yanked after leadoff walks to Hurtado and Reardon in the bottom 5th, and Nick Bates got the ball. Schuler flew deep to center, but Reichardt made the catch. Leonard popped out, and two-time Raccoon Matt Jamieson grounded out to Perkins, who for once didn’t **** up. Top 6th, Rendon led off with a 4-pitch walk to Ramos, who stole second base, his ninth of the year – slowly warming up? Reichardt hit a ball up the leftfield line for an RBI double and suddenly we seemed in business! …at least until all the middle of the order managed to do was to get Reichardt in with a sac fly. A parade of relievers was able to keep the Crusaders to their four runs after the early departure of Sabre, but that didn’t help the offense, who failed to generate much worth of note in the seventh and eighth innings and arrived facing pricey winter acquisition Erik David in the ninth inning still trailing by two. At least the meat of the order was up again! And Jimmy Wallace hit a leadoff single! And then Zitzner hit a deep fly to center that of course like anything else wouldn’t go out but land with Tessmann, Jennings popped out, and Stalker fanned to conclude the game… 4-2 Crusaders. Wallace 2-4, 2B; Bates 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Eh. I don’t know. Not going well right now…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Reichardt – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Jennings – 3B Marsingill – C Thompson – 2B Stalker – P Palomares
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – LF Saito – SS Schuler – C Leonard – 3B J. Zamora – P Rutkowski

The brown-clad team continued to run like a well-oiled machine, with Ramos opening the Sunday tilt with a single to right before being caught stealing. In turn, Palomares allowed 2-strike singles to Tessmann and Cambra to begin his day, threw a wild 2-2 to Hurtado before striking him out on the next pitch, allowed a sac fly to Reardon, walked Saito, and then somehow got Schuler to fan at a pitch that burrowed its way into the earth’s crust ten feet from home plate, stranding two in a 1-0 game. Good start…! Palomares struck out the side in the second, which hinted at some sort of stuff still being alive in his old body, it was just not seeing much daylight…

No Furball found his way on base until Reichardt and Wallace hit back-to-back 1-out singles in the fourth. Reichardt sped for third base on the Wallace single to center, drew a bad throw from Tessmann, and that allowed Jimmy to move up to second base, taking away the Critters’ favorite toy, the double play grounder to end the inning. Zitzner hit an RBI single to right instead, which DID set up another double play chance for Jennings, who promptly grounded to Hurtado… the Crusaders were just too slow to turn two. Jennings beat out the return throw, and Wallace scored to put Portland on top. Marsingill walked, but Thompson flew out to Tessmann a bit too easily, stranding two runners. We did tack on two more in the fifth though, although much of that was on Keith Leonard pouncing on Palomares’ bunt with Stalker on first and nobody out and taking it to try and get the lead runner – he didn’t. Instead the Coons had two on and no outs. Ramos and Reichadt grounded out to score Stalker, and Wallace hit an RBI double to bring Palomares around, 4-1, before Zitzner grounded one to Cambra. Palomares went through five with four hits and seven strikeouts, but his pitch count was way up and he was not likely to live past the bottom 6th… or through the sixth for that matter. Hurtado and Reardon made quick outs, but Saito singled, stole second, and was tripled in by Randy Schuler on Palomares’ 100th pitch. Garavito replaced him, but surrendered an RBI single to Leonard, 4-3, before getting Zamora to ground out…

Portland was idle in the top 7th, and while Garavito retired the first two in the bottom 7th, Cambra reached with a 2-out single. The Critters had to dig deeper into the pen. Ed Blair was brought out and rung up Hurtado to end the inning. Top 8th, Saito misplayed a Zitzner fly into a double to begin the frame. The Crusaders walked Jennings intentionally to harvest more double play grounders with Gerow on the mound, but Marsingill flew to deep center for the first out, and that allowed Zitz to reach third base, from where he scored with an insurance run when Thompson hit a single over the leaping Schuler. Stalker flicked an RBI single to center, before Blair was retained to bunt. Ramos struck out, stranding a pair in scoring position. Blair did the bottom 8th for the Coons in nerve-wrecking fashion, getting strikeouts from the right-handed batters Reardon and Schuler, while walking the left-handed ones Saito and Leonard. Zamora popped out to strand those. Wise was out to save this game in the ninth, ringing up Dan Brown to begin the inning before Tessmann singled. Cambra fell to 1-2 before chopping a grounder into play, to Stalker, to Ramos, to Zitzner – ballgame! 6-3 Coons! Wallace 2-5, 2B, RBI; Zitzner 3-5, 2B, RBI; Stalker 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;


In other news

May 9 – It’s season over for VAN CL Raul de la Rosa (0-1, 3.48 ERA, 7 SV), who has received news that his UCL is ruptured and needs replacing. He is headed for Tommy John surgery.
May 10 – After a single, an intentional walk, and a hit batsman, SFW MR Tony Cash (0-1, 8.53 ERA, 1 SV) walks off the Titans, 9-8 in 10 innings, with a wild pitch.
May 10 – CHA LF/RF/1B Graciano Salto (.306, 8 HR, 24 RBI) goes yard in the fourth inning for the only run in the Falcons’ 1-0 win over the Stars.
May 11 – Condors and Buffaloes poke away at each other in vain for 16 innings before Tijuana’s Chris Miller (.291, 3 HR, 14 RBI) singles home Robby Ciampa with a walkoff single off TOP MR Rob Owensby (1-1, 3.09 ERA), giving the Condors a 2-1 win.
May 13 – BOS SP Adam Potter (4-2, 3.91 ERA) and BOS CL Jermaine Campbell (1-2, 2.18 ERA, 10 SV) spin a combined 1-hit shutout of the Loggers in a 3-0 Titans win. The Loggers’ only hit comes with two outs in the eighth, a single by OF Gabe Creech (.190, 0 HR, 3 RBI).
May 15 – RIC 3B/2B Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman (.308, 3 HR, 15 RBI) will miss six weeks with an oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

With great aches and pains the team scored 18 runs this week, which is just not enough to keep pace with the Titans in the long run. Or the short run. But, well, we never aspired to win the division this year, except maybe when in delirium. On the plus side they also surrendered only 17 runs, which just last year would have been considered two games’ worth.

With that, the team and me will separate. The Coons have to travel to Elkland, and I have to go back to Portland, watching them, horrified, from a distance. Rico Gutierrez should be able to make his scheduled start on Monday, opening a 4-game set.

At least it’s only two trips to Vancouver this year…

…and I have to get rid of all of Nick Valdes’ portraits…

Fun Fact: The last Gold Sox team to make the playoffs, the 2003 edition, did so with three Hall of Famers (f.e. Scott Hood, Dale Wales) and a handful of Raccoons castoffs.

They also had infielder Jose Correa, who would become a Raccoon later, but these castoffs include Stephen Buell, one of those forever-prospect outfielders for the Coons in the Decade of Darkness that were suddenly 27 and still not any good; Samy Michel, who never got much of a fair shake from the Critters, but then again was also blocked completely by Al Martin (not that being good would help Martin once Adrian Quebell rolled around), but Michel had his best season in ’03, and the only one with over 500 PA; and Antonio Donis, who at that stage was already 31, but still in his confused-and-bewildered phase, but struck out 91 in 75.1 innings in relief.

It wasn’t until 2005 that Donis made his way back into the rotation on a permanent basis. The Raccoons had employed him as a starter in his early years, with entirely mixed results, and he had made only 18 starts in the seven years prior, but won the WHIP title right away and by the following year suddenly stormed the Federal League to win his first Pitcher of the Year award at age 34. He would add two more at 38 and 39 and is of course the third Hall of Famer on that 2003 Gold Sox team.