[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-16) vs. Crusaders (31-24) – June 5-8, 2007

We return home for a 4-game set against the Crusaders, against whom we are 2-1 on this season. This will be a showdown between the two teams best at preventing the opposition to score runs, with the Crusaders second with 189 runs allowed (Raccoons: 171), while they are fifth with 252 runs scored. So things appear pretty even, yet they are eight games back of us in the division.

Projected matchups:
Raúl Fuentes (6-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Whit Reeves (3-8, 6.39 ERA)
Jose Dominguez (1-4, 5.60 ERA) vs. Jesus Bautista (7-2, 3.02 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (4-3, 2.41 ERA) vs. George Kirk (0-0)
Nick Brown (6-3, 3.20 ERA) vs. Angel Javier (6-2, 3.16 ERA)

We will face all right-handers in this series. Kirk replaces Greg Connor (5-2, 3.13 ERA) in their rotation, who is out with a knee contusion. They are also without their closer Iemitsu Rin (the former Indian) for the balance of the season.

Our next off day is on the 14th, playing 13 straight games, long enough to try and give everybody a day off. We might not face a left-handed starter all week, however, so it’s not a thing of waiting for favorable matchups. With interleague games making up the last two series of the 13-game stretch, a tactical approach would be to play all regulars normally in this series, and then give them days off later against teams outside our division.

Game 1
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B H. Cardenas – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – SS Caraballo – C J. Lopez – 1B T. Mullins – 3B O. Rios – P Reeves
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – CF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – LF Mays – 2B Nomura – P Fuentes

While Reeves held the Raccoons hitless, Fuentes was hit all the time, but the game was scoreless through three innings. Stanton Martin led off the fourth with a double. Ortíz walked, and Caraballo’s groundout moved them into scoring position. Here, Fuentes struck out Jorge Lopez before throwing a 2-2 pitch right into Ted Mullins. This actually led to a more favorable matchup with Orlando Rios despite the bases being loaded, but Fuentes first balked, then allowed a 2-run double anyway. That 3-spot loomed large over Fuentes, who struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, because apart from a Nomura walk the Raccoons had been wholly absent from the base paths through six innings. Reeves, by far the worst pitcher in their rotation, looked hardly beatable at all until Quebell hit a double up the right field line to start the bottom 7th. Sharp tripled, cutting the gap to 3-1, and scored on Castro’s single, before the next three Critters made poor outs again, but at least that ugly zero in the H column was gone.

Yoshi led off the bottom 8th, grounded up the middle, Sutton threw to Mullins, and the ball glanced off the side of Mullins’ glove and into foul ground. Yoshi made it to second base with no outs. J.C. Crespo hit for Kaz Kichida, but grounded out poorly. With the tying run at third and one out, the Crusaders began to bother their relievers. Robbie Wills walked Vic Flores and was gone, with Rodrigo Garcia, a left-hander, facing Quebell, who hit into one of his patented double plays. We faced Scott Hood in the ninth, who was everything but flawless in trying to replace Rin, and allowed a leadoff single to Sharpie. Kunimatsu Sato ran for him, advanced to second on a groundout, and when Duke Smack singled to center, Sato came around to score the tying run!

Bowen singled, moving Black to second base before Mays struck out. Trevino now hit for Nomura, chipped a floater to shallow center, Pena and Cardenas converged and it was in! And Black was around third base and going home, and the throw was way too late, the Raccoons walked off!! 4-3 Coons!!! Sharp 2-4, 3B, RBI; Trevino (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Hu-wheeee!! That game looked so completely lost through six (and even in the fourth) and they really pulled it back out of the trash can!

Okay, I’m a believer now! I believe in this team! It has some wicked chemistry that somehow has sparked something resembling greatness!

Game 2
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B H. Cardenas – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Caraballo – 1B T. Mullins – 3B Burns – C D. Anderson – P Bautista
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – LF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – CF Crespo – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Dominguez

While Dominguez continued to be a blowout waiting to happen, the Raccoons scored first in the second game. Black legged out a leadoff triple in the second inning, scored on Bowen’s groundout, and then J.C. Crespo took Bautista deep to right for an early 2-0 advantage. Dominguez surrendered lots of hard contact, but enjoyed the kind support of his outfielders, who prevented damage in the early going. Dominguez helped himself with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 4th, score going to 3-0, then walked Mullins to start the top 5th. Mullins advanced to third on Bowen’s wild throw to second to really not prevent him from stealing, but kept pinned there when Anderson popped out foul and Dominguez struck out his opponent Bautista. Another walk was issued in the sixth, putting Hector Cardenas on base in front of the Martin Brothers. Ortíz grounded hard to first, where Quebell decided to nip Cardenas at second, and Stanton Martin, nursing a 15-game hitting streak, remained locked out when Castro caught his fly to left. A significant buzz started right around that point, for the Crusaders were mashing the little white sphere all over the park, yet were entirely hitless in the contest.

That didn’t change in the seventh, either, when Caraballo and Mullins struck out, and Crespo got to a drive by deep center off the bat of scruffy Ian Burns. In the eighth, Daryl Anderson grounded out to Sharp before Gutierrez flawlessly handled grounders by Bautista and Pena.

Still 3-0 in the ninth. Trevino entered for defense in center, while Angel was warmed up, but did not enter quite yet. The sublime, the borderline unwatchable Jose Dominguez working on no-hitting the Crusaders, turned into the surreal when pitch #103, the first of the inning, was popped to second by Cardenas, and Gutierrez simply didn’t catch it for a jaw-dropping error. And now the big boys came up. Ortíz worked a four-pitch walk, but Dominguez wasn’t missing wildly, but consistently down and away. The risk I went here was considerable, but he remained in the game despite the tying run appearing in Stanton “Clockwork” Martin, who took the second pitch he saw for a grounder to short and a 6-4-3 breath reliever. That reset the scene to Cardenas at third base with two outs, and Francisco Caraballo at the plate, a .240 hitting shortstop with a little bit of pop.

Dominguez walked him. The tying run came back up. 114 pitches for Dominguez, and left-hander Apasyu Britton appearing in the box. The pitching coach had already paid Dominguez a visit, so the next time we’d go out, that’s it. Would there be a fifth no-hitter in franchise history? No other teams had five no-hitters.

Pitch #117 was put into play by Britton. A fly ball soaring to left field, Castro was hustling over to the line to get it. Castro set the feet, raised the glove, and – fump – he caught it. 3-0 No-No-Coons!!! Black 3-4, 3B; Crespo 2-4, HR, RBI; Dominguez 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 4 K, W (2-4) and 2-2, RBI;

XD XD

I just don’t know what to say. There were about four fly balls that off the bat looked not only like trouble, but potentially like outta here. And then it is *Dominguez*! We have Brownie and Kel on the roster, and it is *Dominguez*!

Dominguez is not quite the barren desert that was Bob Joly (2000), but they now share the list of pitchers who have spun a no-hitter for the Raccoons with Juan Berrios (1977), Jason Turner (1989), and Manuel Movonda (1998). We hold five no-hitters, more than any other team, and this was only the 27th no-hitter in ABL history.

Interlude: Trade

Colby Kirk (3-1, 6.46 ERA) cleared waivers on Tuesday, but refused assignment to St. Petersburg. He was swiftly placed in a shopping cart and about a dozen teams had a need for disappointing left-handed relief. We struck a deal with the Pacifics for 22-yr old 2002 second-rounder AA SP Daryl Hurt, who was a work in progress without getting regular playing time. The Pacifics didn’t give a lick about him, bouncing him between AA and AAA, but he had only appeared in five games (two starts) the entire season despite being perfectly healthy. He had struck out 15 in his only start in AA! The same start, he walked six (while throwing 139 pitches, so the Pacifics really didn’t give a **** about whether his arm would fall off), so there were control issues, but we could use another work in progress.

Hurt was assigned to Ham Lake.

Raccoons (39-16) vs. Crusaders (31-24) – June 5-8, 2007

Game 3
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B H. Cardenas – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – SS Caraballo – 1B T. Mullins – 3B O. Rios – C D. Anderson – P G. Kirk
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – LF Castro – RF Black – CF Crespo – 2B Nomura – C Wood – P Watanabe

No no-no on Nodnesday, as both teams got a hit and a single run in the first inning of this game. Kenichi Watanabe only faced six batters before consulting with the trainer and leaving the game, having thrown only 19 pitches and collected four outs, so our bullpen that was perfectly rested and a bit bored coming into the game would be used relentlessly to cover another 23 outs. This was now Kaz Kichida’s game, he would pitch until he had no more.

Kaz ended the inning with two strikeouts, then drove in Crespo with an RBI single in the bottom 2nd to give himself a 2-1 lead. Pena overran the ball, giving Wood and Kaz an extra base each with one out, which didn’t really factor into anything at the end of the inning. Flores, Sharp, and Castro all hit RBI singles to run the score to 5-1 on Kirk, who, as all Raccoons fans worth their merchandise know, no-hit the Raccoons on the final weekend of the 2004 season. While Kirk would be gone in the bottom 4th after another RBI single by Sharpie brought the score to 6-1, Kaz did exceedingly well for himself for being thrown into a quasi-start without preparation and delivered 4 2/3 shutout innings, while the Raccoons kept merrily scoring and led 9-1 after six. Then we gave the ball to Matt Cash and immediately bad things started to happen. The Crusaders would only get two runs off him (and only one of them earned), however, and their own bullpen happily kept falling apart, as the Raccoons scored in every inning except the third and the seventh. 11-3 Critters! Flores 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Quebell 2-4, BB; Sharp 3-5, 2 RBI; Castro 4-4, BB, RBI; Crespo 3-5, 2B, RBI; Bowen (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wood 2-5, 2B, RBI; Kichida 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-1) and 1-3, RBI;

By the way, the Elks have now lost two games in a row to the Indians, growing our lead to six games. Further south, the Stars got bombed 10-3 by the Pacifics (a certain Colby Kirk pitching a 3-inning save).

That makes the Raccoons the best team in baseball.

Ah, aren’t they a delight?

Game 4
NYC: CF R. Pena – 2B H. Cardenas – RF S. Martin – LF M. Ortíz – SS Caraballo – C J. Lopez – 1B T. Mullins – 3B O. Rios – P A. Javier
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – LF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF Trevino – P Brown

While Brownie had everything working and struck out Crusaders in numbers, Angel Javier struggled, yet Stanton Martin in rightfield kept robbing the Raccoons, taking away three seemingly sure doubles in the first four innings. Brown suffered a setback in the third inning, a Pena double and Cardenas RBI single with two outs, but Tomas Castro’s homer in the bottom 4th was well uncatchable even for Martin and tied the game again. Brown got shot over 100 pitches with an arduous sixth that included two full count walks to Lopez and Rios and while he finished with his 10th strikeout to Angel Javier, that was also the end of his game, since his spot was due to lead off in the bottom of the inning. With the Raccoons limited to two hits so far, and Brown over 100 pitches, Bob Mays hit for him and fouled out. Flores singled, but that was it for the Raccoons, and Brownie would not get a decision. We survived a Ming Kui single off Rockburn and Bryan walking Martin Ortíz in the seventh, in the bottom of which Castro hit a leadoff double, but was never advanced. Tied through eighth we had a very rested Angel Casas available for two innings, which included retiring the 1-2-3 batters in order in the ninth, saw Quebell draw a walk off Javier to start the bottom 9th, being run for by Sato, but the Raccoons just could not get the ball onto the green. After brushing Ortíz with his first pitch of the 10th, Casas struck out the side. Angel Javier had only expended 100 pitches through nine innings and was sent out for the bottom 10th, where Bowen led off with a single. Bowen was moved up on two groundouts and was at third when we had the choice between Gutierrez and Wood to bat for Angel with two outs. It was the left-hander. Gutierrez worked a full count before lobbing a soft line to right – and Stanton Martin, who had robbed the Raccoons all day long, had no chance to catch this one. It fell in, and Gutierrez walked off the Coons for a sweep! 2-1 Critters!! Castro 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Gutierrez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brown 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 10 K; Casas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-0);

Raccoons (43-16) vs. Scorpions (27-33) – June 9-11, 2007

The Scorpions had the worst bullpen in the Federal League, and had the third-worst rotation, which led to them having surrendered almost five runs per game, 296 in total, which was the second-highest mark in their league. They were capable with the stick, however, scoring 278 runs, ranking third in that regard.

These teams had only met once in the last four years, which had actually happened last year, when the Raccoons had swept the Scorpions. Overall we were 27-30 against them, and that sweep in 2006 was our only series win against them since 1996.

Projected matchups:
Kelvin Yates (7-0, 2.19 ERA) vs. George Allen (1-9, 7.22 ERA)
Raúl Fuentes (6-1, 3.25 ERA) vs. George Norris (3-5, 6.80 ERA)
Jose Dominguez (2-4, 4.79 ERA) vs. Chester Graham (0-0)

If Graham made his big league debut on Sunday, this would give us a left-handed pitcher to face after all. Graham was 23, and an extreme fly ball pitcher. But Carlos Castro (5-4, 2.88 ERA) would be rested for a Sunday start, so we weren’t holding our breath just yet. Sacramento had placed their regular left-hander Dan Moriarty (4-4, 3.62 ERA) onto the DL on Wednesday with a calf strain.

Game 1
SAC: SS B. Butler – C Gibson – 2B D. McCormick – 1B Cain – CF K. Williams – RF R. Anderson – LF MacKey – 3B Nava – P Allen
POR: SS Flores – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – LF Castro – RF Black – C Bowen – CF Crespo – 2B M. Gutierrez – P Yates

Allen walked more than he struck out, allowed lots of hits, and was also prone to hard contact. All three of those things factored into the first inning which saw Duke Smack clobber a 2-out, 2-run triple to give the Raccoons an early lead behind Yates, who dealt fireballs and mowed down Scorpions at a frantic pace. Through six innings, he whiffed nine, walked two, and allowed no hits, but was already at 80 pitches.

The Raccoons had not done much against Allen after the first until loading the bases with three singles in the fifth inning, but Bowen ultimately grounded out to leave the bases loaded. Allen put on Crespo in the sixth with a single, but was removed for Jesus Quinones, who allowed an RBI double to Vic Flores, 3-0 in the sixth. The path cut by Flores’ grounder past first and into right would then be followed by a ball hit by Sammy Cain for a leadoff double in the seventh to break up Yates’ bid. Ken Williams’ liner was then got by Gutierrez with Cain in motion, and Gutierrez, while tumbling, threw to Flores to get the runner doubled off. Kel finished eight with 12 K but also with a flat 100 pitches. *However*, we also had used Angel for two and Bruno was on the DL, so without more support, Kel might still be our best option in the ninth. Yates faced the 1-2-3 batters in the top 9th, got Butler to ground out to short, Gibson to softly fly out to left center, and then erased McCormick with his battleaxe. 3-0 Furballs! Quebell 2-4; Black 2-4, 2 RBI; Crespo 3-4, 2B; Mays (PH) 1-1; Yates 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 13 K, W (8-0);

This was the second career shutout for Kel, the first as a Coon. He also has 14 complete game, two with Portland.

It really looks like we get the debutee on Sunday, so the middle game saw Duke Smack and Vic Flores getting a day off. We can rest Castro, Quebell, and Sharp tomorrow if so desired.

Game 2
SAC: SS B. Butler – 2B D. McCormick – C Gibson – 1B Cain – CF K. Williams – LF J. Rivera – 3B Nava – RF R. Anderson – P Norris
POR: LF Castro – 1B Quebell – 3B Sharp – C Bowen – RF Mays – CF Crespo – SS Sato – 2B Nomura – P Fuentes

Rodney Gibson peppered a 2-run homer off Fuentes in the first inning, as the first three batters all hit the ball very hard, with Bob Butler getting thrown out at home by Mays on McCormick’s double. The Raccoons had Crespo on with a single in the bottom 2nd when Kunimatsu Sato hit a 2-out double to center that was just enough to plate Crespo to get back to 2-1. From here, Norris issued three straight walks to Yoshi, Fuentes(!), and Castro to tie the score before Quebell could ground out.

But Fuentes didn’t have it. After a short shower in the third inning, Jesus Rivera homered in the fourth, and the Scorpions scored another run in the fifth inning, as Fuentes continued to surrender hard contact to all fields and sometimes beyond. The Raccoons were willingly accepting numerous walks surrendered by Norris, but couldn’t get that key hit when needed. In the bottom 6th, Sato got on with a single, and while Nomura grounded to third for what looked like two, Vicente Nava’s throw to second was high and into centerfield. Vic Flores then hit for Fuentes and walked, giving Castro three on and one out in a 4-2 deficit. He grounded to the right side, where Dave McCormick only had a play at first, 4-3, and that brought up Quebell, who had no home runs on the season despite playing first base every day, but at least theoretically knew where the fence was. He banged a double off that fence he couldn’t overcome, and that was enough to flip the score in Fuentes’ favor. It also started to drizzle again.

Law Rockburn didn’t hold onto Fuentes’ lead very well at all, surrendering a game-tying home run to Bob Butler, the first man he faced in the top 7th. He then allowed a single to McCormick before Gibson hit into a double play and the score remained tied in the frame, and then the Scorpions ran out George Norris just long enough to blow the game. Norris issued his sixth walk (against no strikeouts) to Bowen leading off the bottom 7th, allowed a single to Mays and was then graviously removed and led behind the shed. Just as Rick Nicholls allowed a single to Crespo that stocked the bases to capacity, a gunshot was heard. Kunimatsu Sato got the Raccoons ahead with a 2-run single to shallow center, and Nicholls walked Nomura to load the bases again – still no outs. Black hit for Rockburn and into a double play, home-and-first, but Castro doubled in a pair with two outs, 9-5. Cash and Jackson immediately made a mockery out of the eighth, swamping the infield with Scorpions badly enough for Angel Casas to come into a 9-6 game with the tying run at the plate in Butler. Angel struck out the offensive offender to exit the dreadful inning, and the Scorpions would not rise again in the ninth. 9-6 Critters. Castro 1-4, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Crespo 3-4; Sato 2-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Flores (PH) 1-1; Casas 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (19);

That was a wild and wicked one, and we got to do something about the shallow end of our bullpen. Matt Cash was already beyond horrendous last season, and he’s so again this year. Time to cut our losses and not assign more innings (and leads!) to him. I can’t do much about Ward Jackson’s presence right now, because we have to look for a quality left-hander to replace him, but Cash can we improved on easily.

So Cash (16.20 ERA in 2007; 7.36 ERA in his career) was banished, and we called up Cody Bryant, who was unscored upon in 14.2 innings in AAA.

Meanwhile, there is still no diagnosis on Kenichi Watanabe, whose turn comes up on Monday. There might be another spot start in there for Kaz, since it will be hard to find a suitable arm in AAA on such short notice…

Game 3
SAC: SS B. Butler – C Gibson – 2B D. McCormick – CF K. Williams – LF J. Rivera – RF R. Anderson – 3B Nava – 1B Moore – P Gine
POR: 3B Flores – LF Castro – 1B Sharp – RF Black – SS Sato – 2B Nomura – CF Trevino – C Wood – P Dominguez

In the end, we did not face the debutee, and not Castro either, but Jorge Gine (4-3, 4.60 ERA).

Five days after no-hitting the Crusaders, Jose Dominguez was swamped from the start of the final game in the set. Butler’s drive to center that opened the game was caught by Trevino, but Dominguez walked two and allowed both runners to score in the first inning. It got even worse for the Raccoons, who had Vic Flores reach on a single in the bottom 1st, then got forced by Castro on a grounder to short. Butler leapt as he threw to first, not getting Castro, but came down on Flores’ foot besides the bag. Flores never got up, clutching his foot in agony, and was carried off on a stretcher.

While I tumbled numbly through my office, and Gutierrez replaced Flores, the Raccoons were a bit wasteful with scoring opportunities, leaving two on in the first, in the third (where they scored a run), and then had two on again in the fifth, down 2-1, with Black batting and one out. Duke Smack had had a black day so far, coming up twice with men on both times and causing three outs, but here he singled to left to bring home Castro and tie the score. Sato doubled to right to give the Raccoons a 4-2 lead and Jorge Gine left right after that with an apparent injury. Dominguez allowed a triple to Dave McCormick in the sixth that led to a run soon enough and in the seventh Rockburn inherited trouble from Ward Jackson and had his bacon saved by Luke Black with a good grab on a howling drive off the stick of Rodney Gibson, keeping the score at 4-3. Crespo and Gutierrez hit 2-out singles in the bottom 8th off Nicholls, but Castro grounded out. Angel came out in the ninth, retired ex-Coon Julio Mata on a grounder to get going, struck out Nava, then had another ex-Coon in Dale Moore hit a double. That was all the Scorpions got, however. Juan Jose Villa flew out to Crespo in right, and that was the game, and another sweep! 4-3 Critters! Flores 1-1; Gutierrez 3-4; Castro 3-5; Sharp 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Sato 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Crespo 1-1; Rockburn 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Vic Flores broke his foot. He will miss at least four weeks.

We’re doomed.

In other news

June 4 – As the Condors romp the Bayhawks, 11-0, TIJ SP Ed Lawrence (1-1, 2.61 ERA, 1 SV) spins a 3-hit shutout in a spot start!
June 5 – A broken foot should keep SFB 1B/LF/3B David Lopez (.249, 11 HR, 31 RBI) out of the lineup for the next month.
June 6 – Denver’s INF Jose Correa (.271, 4 HR, 21 RBI) joins the DL folks with a shoulder strain that might cost him six weeks.
June 8 – WAS 1B/3B Cesar Gonzalez (.270, 8 HR, 34 RBI) hits the DL with a knee sprain. Recovery should take about a month for him.
June 8 – Shoulder tendinitis figures to cost NAS RF Juan Ortíz (.272, 11 HR, 50 RBI) the rest of the month of June.
June 9 – The Thunder trade SP Pancho Trevino (2-4, 6.45 ERA), who has an abnormally horrendous season, to the Falcons for two pitching prospects in #54 Nehemiah Jones and #65 Dave Butler.
June 10 – BOS LF/RF Gonzalo Munoz (.247, 5 HR, 20 RBI) delivers the 39th 6-hit performance by a batter in ABL history, connecting for a home run, a double, and four singles in the Titans’ 9-6 win over the Pacifics. He is the second Titan to achieve the feat after Isto Grönholm in 1983. No 6-hit day had been reported since Bartolo Hernandez’ second 6-hit game in May of 2005. Hernandez is the only player to get six hits twice, and no player has ever gotten seven.

Complaints and stuff

More notes for Tuesday:
• This has happened to the Crusaders five times, more than any other team
• The Crusaders and Raccoons have done this to another twice both ways now, more than any other pairing of teams
• The Crusaders have had their hands in six of the last 13 instances this happened

This ****ing crazy game of baseball…

After his 1-hitter on Friday, Kelvin Yates a win and a whiff short of leading the CL in all triple crown categories. A guy being 8-0 with a 1.97 ERA and 100 K on June 8? I’ll take it. There are now also seven games spun by a Critter with more than a dozen strikeouts, of which Yates holds a pair (14 and 13 once each). Ralph Ford had 13 once, and Brownie holds all other instances with a 14 and three 13’s.

J.C. meanwhile nipped a backdoor Player of the Week award, hitting .600 (12-20) with 1 HR and 2 RBI in limited exposure.

With the Hurt trade I really feel like we have restocked our minors with good starting pitching. There are a number of guys to watch now. Just three years ago it was all completely barren.

Of course, we have another 9-game winning streak now, however, with Watanabe potentially out for longer, and above all Vic Flores out for the next month, everything is about to reverse itself. Regression towards the mean begins now. How can we move along without Vic Flores!?

I don’t even know how to get going from here. We might try Sato for a while, although I think we might want to rather give the month’s worth of at-bats to Ryan Miller.

Doesn’t matter that we, after putting the Scorpions into last place, will face the other three last place teams in the next week. Everything’s going down …!

(embraces Honeypaws and starts to rock back and forth)