[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-33) vs. Indians (52-28) – July 5-8, 2055

This was not a series that promised to be good. Five games in four days with the first-place Indians, and that without any useful depth in starting pitchers to cover the extra game. The Indians were second in both runs scored and runs allowed with a healthy +79 run differential. Second-best rotation, best batting average (.285!), third-best defense, but little speed and few homers, sitting 10th in bombs with just 35 through 80 games. The season series was tied at one with the rainout that had to be made up on Monday.

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (9-2, 1.78 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (11-3, 2.59 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (0-0) vs. Bill McDermott (5-4, 3.70 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 3.15 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (1-0, 5.00 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (4-5, 4.11 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (9-5, 2.72 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-4, 5.33 ERA) vs. Chris Edwards (6-6, 3.43 ERA)

Five right-handers from Indy, unless they’d find a spot starter besides Bill Drury. The Raccoons would have to go to Cameron Argenziano for the makeup game. The 27-year-old was 1-8 with a 4.66 ERA in his major league career, and hadn’t appeared at all for the Coons in 2054. The alternative would have been a spot start for Matt Walters. Argenziano was not on the roster for the first game, and so far I didn’t know how to get him on the roster, either.

Game 1
IND: 1B D. Sandoval – CF M. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – RF B. Quinteros – 2B A. Rios – C M. Gilmore – LF Kokel – SS Ed. Ortiz – P En. Ortiz
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – CF Lamotta – P Adkins

Mario Ceballos, Bobby Anderson, and Antonio Rios all hit singles to center against Adkins in the first inning and plated a run for the Indians before Mike Gilmore whiffed to strand a pair. Adkins offered a walk each in the second and third innings, while the Raccoons continued to make a habit out of going down in order the first time through their listless lineup. Pucks’ 2-out walk in the fourth inning marked the first instance of a Coon on base, and he was left on base when Danny Munn was rung up. But Ortiz seemed to have lost it a bit; he offered leadoff walks to Chris Gowin and Matt Waters to begin the bottom 5th, but then Ramsay bobbled into another double play… Lamotta was walked intentionally, and Adkins popped out to short to strand runners on the corners.

Adkins went seven innings, allowing only one more hit and one more walk, but also remained on the hook as the Critters couldn’t buy a ******* base hit until Gowin singled to left in the bottom 7th. Waters and Ramsay both flew out to Chaz Kokel to strand that runner, too. Ortiz walked Lamotta to begin the bottom 8th, but then Crispin found a double play to hit into to end the inning. Eloy Sencion pitched two scoreless in relief of Adkins, keeping this miserable display of NOTHING a 1-0 game. Ortiz was still around for the bottom of the ninth inning, which began with Lonzo singling to left on an 0-2 pitch. Lonzo took off on the 0-1 to Pucks, who swung and missed, but at least that also kept Gilmore from getting a good throw off. He threw anyway, hurling the ball past Antonio Rios for an error, and Lonzo hustled to third base with the tying run. Pucks then hit a comebacker to Ortiz for the first out and Lonzo had to hold. Munn grounded out hard to Nick Fernandez at first base, and Lonzo had to retreat to third base. Gowin with two outs – and Ortiz’ first pitch to Gilmore went completely past the box, Gowin, and Gilmore, and to the backstop, and FINALLY Lonzo came home to tie the damn baseball game…! Gowin then even hit a single, but Matt Waters had nothing to give and grounded out for extra innings.

Because that was what we needed – extra innings! But the Raccoons had no intent to hang around. Jason Perry hit a 1-out single off Bak in the 10th inning, and when Manny Poindexter grounded to Pucks, his feed to Bak was dropped by the reliever, and a second Indians runner added to the bases. Bobby Anderson flew out to right, two gone. Bill Quinteros grounded to Waters, and Waters threw the ball quite much away for a 2-base error that gave the Indians a 2-1 lead. Rios flew out to Cramer. Bak’s spot was up to begin the bottom 10th and Venegas hit a single in his spot. Lamotta flew out, and Cramer found a third double play on the day to hit into. 2-1 Indians. Gowin 2-3, BB; Venegas (PH) 1-1; Adkins 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K; Sencion 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

This is gonna be a long, long, long, long week.

For shock value, then, Harry Ramsay got the axe and was sent to St. Pete. He was hitting .250 with no homers in 168 at-bats and just 12 RBI. He also had 12 double plays. He was out of sorts, somehow. For somebody who had knocked 34 homers between the previous two seasons, he was completely off the rolls. He was also 27, so who knew what unhappy conclusion this story was heading to…

Game 2
IND: LF Ewers – 1B D. Sandoval – 3B B. Anderson – RF B. Quinteros – 2B A. Rios – CF Kokel – C Poindexter – SS Ed. Ortiz – P McDermott
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – LF Tenazes – CF Cramer – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Argenziano

Nobody expected much from Argenziano, but he delivered – the Indians were held to three hits and two walks through five innings, while he himself poked two base hits, including a 1-out single in the bottom 3rd of a scoreless game. Venegas grounded to the right side to move him to second base, while the Raccoons then slapped three straight RBI knocks: Lonzo and Pucks hit RBI doubles, and Munn added an RBI single for a 3-0 lead. Argenziano’s second hit was a 2-out RBI single to chase home Matt Knight and his double in the bottom 4th, 4-0. An inning later, Pucks walked and Munn hit his 16th homer to right for a commanding 6-0 lead. All dandy then, huh?

Remember though that nobody expected much from Argenziano. Come the sixth, there was a walk, a single, and then a crushing 3-run homer mashed by Bill Quinteros to cut the lead in half. He clawed out of the inning, though, and then also did the seventh for a decent result overall. Matt Walters struck out the side in the eighth inning before the ball went to Hitchcock, who had blown the last two save situations he had been tossed into. Rios started the inning with a bloop single to center, but Mike Shoemaker found Lonzo for a 6-4-3 double play. Poindexter went out to Pucks to complete a split of the double-header. 6-3 Raccoons. Munn 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 2-3, RBI;

Game 3
IND: LF Ewers – 2B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – CF M. Ceballos – RF Kokel – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Drury
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – LF Venegas – CF Cramer – 2B Waters – P Taki

Anderson singled home Kevin Ewers with two outs in the first inning to put Taki into an early hole, but that wasn’t nearly as depressing as the home run that Drury knocked off Taki in the third, and which extended their lead to 2-0. While Taki hit a single off Drury in the same inning, Crispin grounded out and Lonzo hit a 2-out single, but that only moved Taki to third base. Pucks ran a 3-1 count, but grounded out to Rios to strand the tying runs right there.

The Arrowheads lost Drury to injury in the fourth inning, which gave the ball and the lead to Tyler Weems, but before the Raccoons had much of a chance to get to him, Anderson singled home Ewers with two outs in the fifth inning again, and it was already 3-0. Matt Waters hit a jack to lead off the bottom 5th, which raised his batting average all the way to .199, and Danny Munn took Weems deep to right to begin the inning after, narrowing the score to 3-2. The Indians went on to Orlando Altreche, who was almost 40 years old and had made only 21 appearances since the start of the 2051 season, mostly lingering in teams’ AAA rosters. Gowin and Cramer knocked hits to go to the corners, but Waters popped out and Tenazes did no better pinch-hitting for Taki, who needed over 100 pitches to get through six.

The Raccoons got a tidy seventh inning from Takizaki, but he then allowed a leadoff single to Rios in the eighth. Lillis followed, but nailed Anderson and with two outs walked Ceballos to fill the bases and Perry to push home an insurance run for Indy. Ortiz finally grounded out to second base. Gowin answered with a solo homer off Zach Tubbs to get the Raccoons back to one run *again*, and the Indians went on to Ralph Needham. Venegas doubled to left, Cramer walked, and the 0-2 to Waters was wild. With one out, the Raccoons had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but there were still two strikes on Waters. But Needham didn’t get the third strike; he got taken into the gap in right-center for a score-flipping double! Fly outs by Knight and Crispin kept Waters on base, but Hitchcock was on point, struck out two, and got an easy fly to Venegas from Rios to end the game. 5-4 Critters. Lavorano 2-4; Gowin 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Venegas 3-4, 2B; Waters 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

To be fair, I didn’t expect us to take a lead in this series at all.

Game 4
IND: LF Ewers – RF Kokel – 1B B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – CF M. Ceballos – 2B N. Fernandez – 3B D. Sandoval – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Brink
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – LF Venegas – 2B Waters – CF Lamotta – P de la Cruz

Calamity! Raffy threw one pitch, felt a “nope!”, and left the game. I sat there, my snout frozen in stone. The Raccoons went on to ready Matt Walters for what would hopefully be long relief, and he got through the first few innings crisply at least. The Indians lost Ceballos on the basepaths, and while the Coons would not report on Raffy’s injury any time soon, the Indians announced that Ceballos had a knee sprain and was headed to the DL. That wasn’t the last injury in the game though… or even the second inning. Venegas socked a 2-out triple into the left-center gap, and then Waters grounded to the right side, with Fernandez scrambling for the ball but not getting a throw off in time, as Waters legged out an RBI infield single… and then limped off to the dugout. Great Fuzzball in heaven, what was going on?? Matt Knight replaced him.

Walters was still unscored upon through three innings, then opened the bottom 3rd with a single to right. Crispin singled, Lonzo grounded out and advanced the runners into scoring position. Pucks’ sac fly and Munn’s RBI single to right cashed the pair, and Gowin drew another walk, but Venegas then popped out to Quinteros. Gowin would get an RBI his next time up, finding Munn on second base with two outs, and bringing him in with a single to left. Venegas ended the inning again, but that was a 4-0 lead through five innings, with the Indians drawing little more than blanks against Walters, but at this point he was used up with 54 pitches. Bak would give us a 1-2-3 sixth, and Tommy Gardner delivered two innings that left little to complain about. The most drama actually came in the ninth inning, where Eloy Sencion gave up a single to Chaz Kokel with one out, and another one to Poindexter with two outs. Hitchcock had been out two straight days and wasn’t gonna ride in and save him – Sencion had to get that one himself: and he did by getting a first-pitch comebacker from Bobby Anderson and threw that to Pucks at first before Anderson was even halfway up the first base line. 4-0 Raccoons! Venegas 2-4, 3B; Waters 1-1, RBI; Walters 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (3-2) and 2-2; Gardner 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

A series win in the bag!

Dr. Silva, what did you just zip up in that black body bag?

Is that blood on the ground?

Ahead of Thursday, the fifth game of the series, the Raccoons were in trouble. Waters was day-to-day with a adductor strain and would only heal up during the All Star break. He could play, but it was probably not wise. We already had a 4-man bench thanks to six starters on the roster, and now with Waters down, it was already a 3 1/2-man bench.

While there was no diagnosis on Raffy, chances were that he needed complete dis- and re-assembly anyway, and his next start would be after the break anyway. He went to the DL just to free up that roster spot and get a warm body to place on the bench. Argenziano – who had only hung around earlier because he was out of options – would make another start on the weekend in Boston. Trent Brassfield still had to hit himself warm, and we needed a middle infielder, so here was the return of Naughty Joe…

Meanwhile, we were still blessed with Boom-Boom Brobeck, so here was Thursday’s game.

Game 5
IND: SS Ed. Ortiz – 2B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – RF Kokel – 3B D. Sandoval – LF Perry – CF Ewers – P C. Edwards
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – P Brobeck – LF Lamotta – 2B Knight – CF Cramer

Edwin Ortiz reached on an uncaught third strike to begin the fifth game of the set, which was just how things were going. Rios singled to center, Quinteros walked on four pitches, and the bases were already loaded. Poindexter singled in a run, a wild pitch added a run, and then Kokel walked in a full count anyway. Dan Sandoval flew out to center for an ACTUAL, ******* OUT, but Quinteros still went home on the sac fly for a 3-0 lead. Jason Perry also flew out to Cramer, and Ewers whiffed to end the absolutely bottomless inning. Bottom 2nd, the Raccoons’ battery and Lamotta all hit singles to begin the inning, putting three on with nobody out. Nothing much came out of it; Matt Knight slapped a 2-0 pitch at Ortiz for a run-scoring double play, and Cramer struck out, leaving Brobeck on third base in a 3-1 game.

It only got worse from there. Brobeck gave up a run on Quinteros and Poindexter hits in the third, then offered a leadoff walk to Ewers in the fourth. Edwards bunted him over, Ortiz drove him in, and a useless Brobeck then smashed Antonio Rios’ hand with a 2-0 pitch. SOMEHOW that inning didn’t balloon any further, but Brobeck also wasn’t back after this ********* inning. Brobeck still batted in the bottom 5th and loaded the bases with Munn and Knight before the Raccoons with three on and two outs actually got a ******* base hit from Brent Cramer, who singled in a pair with a soft liner to left-center. Venegas struck out, though, stranding the tying runs.

Eloy Sencion held the Indians away (barely) in the fifth, upon which Lonzo singled and stole second, and then Pucks walked, so the tying runs were on base again in the 5-3 game that felt more like a 13-3 game. Munn grounded out to advance them, and Gowin hit a sac fly, 5-4. Matt Waters batted for Sencion and limped out a game-tying RBI double to right. Gone was Edwards, and ex-Coon Corey Mathers gave up a single to Lamotta, but there was no way for Waters to score, and Knight flew out to Ewers to leave a pair on base again. Stingy relief continued with two scoreless innings from Lillis, then one more by Nukizuki. Offense died along with the Indians’, and the Raccoons didn’t get much beyond a Lamotta double in the eighth, which led precisely nowhere. Hitchcock’s ninth had a Poindexter single with two outs, but nothing else, and I would very much approve of the Raccoons ending the game in regulation, because our pitching was very much running short here. Venegas snuck a single through the right side for a decent enough start against Zach Tubbs. Lonzo popped out to short, but Pucks singled to center to move Venegas to second base. Munn lined past Nick Fernandez, but the Arrowhead *nearly* got there, so Venegas had to go back to second base before the ball got past Fernandez after all and then Venegas could only reach third base. Gowin batted with three on and one out, fell to 0-2, then jabbed a ball into play after all. It went to Dan Sandoval at third base, and the play had to be at home – but Sandoval missed the pickup and Venegas dashed home unchallenged to end the game…! 6-5 Furballs! Lavorano 2-5; Munn 2-5; Waters (PH) 1-1, 2B; Lamotta 3-4, 2B; Lillis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That shrunk the gap to the Indians from 5 1/2 to 2 1/2 games, but please be careful when you dance around, because we have body parts strewn all over the place here.

Raccoons (50-34) @ Titans (36-49) – July 9-11, 2055

Nothing good had ever happened in Boston, but the Titans were on their knees, had just sold Jordan Ramos (9-5, 2.34 ERA) to the Caps for #9 prospect Diego Mendoza, were bottoms in the division, had lost five straight, and were 1-for-8 against Portland this year. With the Raccoons having won four straight, maybe this could be a major stepping stone, even if the Titans were in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed. But mind that the Coons were STILL bottoms in runs scored in the CL with under 4.1 runs per game.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (9-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Jim Peterson (8-6, 4.43 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (9-2, 1.75 ERA) vs. Jamie Guidry (4-10, 4.94 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (1-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Noel Groh (0-1, 2.35 ERA)

Friday would have been Ramos’ turn, too, so Peterson had to go on short rest. Him and Guidry were left-handers, and the final start could just as well be taken by Mario de Anda (6-7, 4.70 ERA) for a third southpaw.

Game 1
POR: RF Lamotta – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – LF Venegas – C Philipps – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – 3B Crispin – P Shui
BOS: CF Weir – SS Marroguin – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – C R. Gonzalez – 2B J. Nieto – LF Santiago – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P J. Peterson

Looking at that lineup I wasn’t exactly surprised anymore why we were where we were in terms of runs scored, but nevertheless Tyler Philipps doubled home two runs with two outs in the first inning, driving in Lonzo (who forced out Lamotta) and Venegas. The Coons stranded a pair in the second, then had the bags full in the third inning with Philipps, Tenazes (who reached on an error by Marroguin), and Knight, bringing up Ed Crispin with one out. Peterson ran the count full on him, then gave up a single up the leftfield line, conceding another two runs before Shui hit into a double play. Marroguin would leave with an injury, straining some thing or other on a double play attempt in the fourth inning when Lonzo was at first base and Pucks grounded to Jose Nieto. Marroguin had to reach across his body for a bad throw, never threw to first base, and left the game for Dave Roura. Venegas bopped a 2-out RBI double into left-center, but then Philipps struck out to curtail the inning.

Shui retired the first ten Titans that came up, then gave up a fourth-inning run on straight hits by Roura, Eric Whitlow, and Larry Rodriguez, and another one on Ruben Gonzalez’ sac fly. Nieto flew out to center, leaving a run on the plate. The Raccoons answered in the sixth inning. Lonzo doubled to left, then scored on a Pucks single two pitches later. Pucks stole second base, but Venegas grounded out to short to end the inning. Boston got a homer from Ruben Gonzalez in the bottom 7th, which closed Shui’s line at three runs, but still ahead by another three. The pen came on after that, with a scoreless eighth by Boom Chakalaka. The Raccoons then had the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Alex Diaz putting on Tenazes with a walk and Knight and Crispin with singles with one out, then was yanked for David Williams. Danny Munn pinch-hit for the pitcher, but flew out to Whitlow in shallow right, and Tenazes didn’t go. Gowin batted for Lamotta, who was 0-for-4, and zinged a liner to center for two tack-on runs. Lonzo whiffed, and Bak got the ball for the ninth, getting two grounders before Venegas had to race into the gap to snatch a Jose Nieto drive that looked like extra bases, but instead ended the game. 8-3 Raccoons. Gowin (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Lavorano 4-6, 2B; Venegas 2-5, 2B, RBI; Philipps 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Knight 2-5;

Five in a row!

Never mind the body parts, though. One body part returned, however, with Trent Brassfield returning from his rehab assignment, finally. The Raccoons put Brent Cramer on waivers after he batted .220 with 8 RBI.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – RF Munn – C Gowin – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Adkins
BOS: CF Weir – 2B Roura – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF D. Gonzalez – SS Hunt – C R. Salas – 3B J. Nieto – P Guidry

The game opened with Venegas doubling to center, and a wild pitch and Lonzo’s groundout scored him rather quickly. Adkins was intending on running with that 1-0 lead. He struck out six against two hits in the first three innings, and when Eric Whitlow hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning, he got himself caught stealing – although Lonzo managed the same in the same inning. The bases were then full to begin the top 5th, and mostly on nothing. Munn singled on a bad 0-2 pitch in the middle of the plate, Gowin reached base on a pitch that went squat through the middle of his box and plonked him, and then Tenazes walked on four pitches. Guidry continued like that, offering four more balls to Matt Knight to push home a run, 2-0. Adkins whiffed, and Venegas grounded to third base for a 5-U second out as Nieto took the ball back to his plate to force out Tenazes while Gowin scored. Lonzo grounded out to short to end the inning.

Adkins racked up nine strikeouts through five innings, but Hector Weir doubled to center to begin the sixth. Roura grounded out, Whitlow popped out, and Rodriguez struck out – but by then the pesky Weir had stolen home against a sleepy Coons battery. Dave Gonzalez and Raul Salas struck out in a 1-2-3 seventh to give Adkins a full dozen strikeouts.

The Raccoons gained a bigger lead in the eighth inning. Alex Diaz walked Lonzo with one gone, and he came around to score on Pucks and Brass singles. Those two pulled off a double steal, which led to an intentional walk to Munn. Gowin’s groundout brought home Pucks, 5-1, and Gonzalez rushed to snatch a Tenazes liner before the Raccoons could blow the doors off the game, but then Adkins got stuck with two hits off him in the bottom 8th by Ruben Gonzalez, who was forced out on Weir’s grounder, and Roura. Tommy Gardner would get the save opportunity, walked Whitlow on four pitches, then gave up Adkins’ runs on a Rodriguez single. Dave Gonzalez lined out to Lonzo, and that ******* ********* Gardner had to ******* go. Lillis would actually finish the damn ballgame in the ninth inning…. 5-3 Raccoons. Puckeridge 2-4; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Munn 1-2, BB; Adkins 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 12 K, W (10-2);

The top 3 starters of the Coons were all nominated for the All Star Game, but we already had Argenziano lined up for the Sunday game anyway. If one of Shui, Taki, or Adkins had been lined up for today, he’d have to take his start, because our pitching was a complete mess beyond those top 3 and a few ever-reliable relievers.

Matt Waters healed up quicker than anticipated and was back in the lineup in the final game before the break.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – CF Lamotta – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – P Argenziano
BOS: CF Weir – 2B Roura – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF D. Gonzalez – SS Hunt – C R. Salas – 3B J. Nieto – P Groh

Argenziano was nowhere near as sharp as in his start on Monday. He walked Weir to begin the bottom 1st, but the runner was caught stealing. Less luck with that in the second inning, however, where Argenziano walked both Salas and Nieto with two outs, then got double-doubled off by Groh (…) and Weir for three runs. Whitlow hit another double to begin the third inning, but was stranded with some stingy defense. The Raccoons didn’t put anything together for five innings, finding only two hits off Groh. When Lonzo singled and stole second base in the sixth, we at least had somebody in scoring position for once. Danny Munn cracked a 2-out RBI double, 3-1, but Gowin grounded out to short.

That was it for the rally there, while Argenziano lasted seven innings, despite giving up a leadoff double to Will McIntyre in the bottom 7th. Weir grounded out, and then Roura lined out to Lonzo – but McIntyre had completely misread the play and went for home plate, and was casually doubled off with a toss to Ed Crispin to end the inning. Venegas then batted for Argenziano to begin the eighth inning, but was ignored by the top of the order. Bak and Sencion kept the Titans close in the eighth inning at least, and then it was the 4-5-6 batters against David Williams. Fly to right, grounder to short, and fly to left, and there went the 6-game winning streak. 3-1 Titans. Munn 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Venegas (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 5 – The Falcons trade SP Jamie Kempf (3-7, 5.74 ERA) to the Loggers for #43 prospect OF Mario Solano.
July 7 – Two days later, Jamie Kempf (4-7, 5.22 ERA) throws a 4-hit shutout as the Loggers riot over the Canadiens, 12-0.
July 7 – SFW LF Mario Villa (.288, 3 HR, 30 RBI) singles in the fourth inning of the first game of a double-header, both ends of which the Warriors lose to the Stars, 10-4 and 7-6, for his 2,500th career hit. The milestone comes off Rich Morrall (2-11, 6.43 ERA). The five-time batting champion has spent his entire career with the Warriors, batting .340 with 152 HR and 1,070 RBI.
July 7 – The Blue Sox acquire SP Julio Nunez (5-4, 4.50 ERA) from the Aces for AAA 1B Jeff Andersen and a prospect.
July 7 – Vancouver acquires MR Jameson Monk (3-3, 7.53 ERA, 16 SV) from the Cyclones for AAA INF Bill Sostre.
July 8 – SFW 3B/SS Julio Moriel (.326, 2 HR, 18 RBI) will miss three weeks with a torn hammy.
July 9 – The Titans trade SP Jordan Ramos (9-5, 2.34 ERA) to the Capitals for #9 prospect INF Diego Mendoza.
July 10 – The Knights acquire 1B Pat Fowler (.289, 6 HR, 26 RBI) from the Scorpions for SP Joe Byrd (10-1, 3.55 ERA) and a prospect, which seemed lop-sided for sure.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.296, 5 HR, 34 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.280, 3 HR, 42 RBI), hitting .444 (12-27) with 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The All Star Game is here, and the Raccoons stuffed the pitching department with five selections, including one that made me even madder. The top 3 in the rotation all got the call: Adkins, Shui, and Taki all going. Hitchcock was also nominated, and then there was Tommy ******* Gardner, who if I had my way would wear somebody else’s bloody hat in the STUPID ALL STAR GAME.

No position players at all, but then again we’re talking about the worst offense… EVER.

Now for the bad news: Rafael de la Cruz was already on the DL, and he would remain there with a badly inflamed shoulder that would end his season.

Sigh. Three days off, and then we’ll resume the season with four games in Indy. After that we’d be at home for the rest of the month with a 4-series, 12-game homestand.

Fun Fact: Kennedy Adkins has the highest WAR of any CL player at the All Star Game.

That would be 4.5 WAR over Willie Acosta’s 4.4; he was batting .319/.470/.506 for the first-place Knights.

Two batters in the FL had a higher WAR: WAS OF Neville van de Wouw (5.5) and TOP INF Alex de los Santos (4.6). De los Santos was the #2 prospect prior to last year, batting .232 with 12 homers in his rookie season. This year he is MUCH better: .313 with 11 homers through 87 games, with 41 total extra-base hits. He had an 83 OPS+ last year, and this year was *nearly* doubling it to 164!