[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-25) @ Cyclones (34-26) – June 14-16, 2010

The Cyclones were leading the FL East without any offense at all, ranking 11th in runs scored, but on the other hand, they were also the best team in preventing runs in that league, with just a bit over 3.5 runs per game against them. This was still a wee bit more than the Raccoons allowed, as we were just under 3.5 R/A, but 2nd in the CL.

We had beaten the Cyclones for five out of six the last two times we met, in 2007 and 2008. The first half of the decade had seen frequent beatings handed to the Raccoons, though. We were .476 overall against them, the fourth-worst mark against any Federal League team.

Projected matchups:
Colin Baldwin (4-4, 3.29 ERA) vs. Juan Garcia (5-4, 4.11 ERA)
Nick Brown (10-2, 2.05 ERA) vs. Tony Hamlyn (7-2, 2.34 ERA)
Jong-hoo Umberger (5-4, 3.52 ERA) vs. Nathan O’Herlihy (5-4, 2.67 ERA)

The middle game is the only one in which we’ll see a left-hander, and of course Tony Hamlyn is not a stranger’s name in the ABL. He leads Nick Brown 5-1 in terms of Pitcher of the Year awards. Damn sure Hall of Famer, I’d say.

The series started without Walt Canning, who was placed on the DL on Monday morning after being diagnosed with a strained medial collateral ligament. He figures to miss at least a month. Rob Howell was recalled from AAA, where his strong slash line from the first few games had since steadily decreased. But what are you gonna do – we need a shortstop!

Game 1
POR: CF Castro – 1B Quebell – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 3B Merritt – 2B Nomura – SS Howell – P Baldwin
CIN: LF C. Gonzalez – CF P. Estrada – 2B Spinu – RF J. Silva – 1B M. Williams – SS B. Hall – 3B Reece – C F. Hernandez – P J. Garcia

After the Raccoons made three harmless outs in the top of the first, Baldwin walked the still-reviled César Gonzalez, then allowed four hits in the inning for four runs scored. Yeah, well, that’s one way to blow a game early. While Baldwin didn’t cease to behave ineptly in this game, the Raccoons also lost Tomas Castro to injury in the second inning, and looked certainly beaten (and at least beaten up) until Craig Bowen craiged (uaah…!) a 3-run homer in the fourth inning that got the team back to then a 5-4 deficit. There were no outs in the inning and Juan Garcia continued to put on runners, walking Merritt. Yoshi reached on an infield single, and Howell singled clean to center. That gave us the sacks full with no outs for … Baldwin. Ah, this was one really bad spot, but I had the pitcher bat, because the chances of a double play were infinitely high anyway. Baldwin struck out, and the Raccoons would just ever so barely get the tying run across the board on Pat White’s groundout, tying the score at five.

The tie would be broken in the fifth, which started with Matt Pruitt homering off Garcia. Baldwin continued to have a go at pitching, making it into the bottom 6th, where Felix Hernandez led off with a grounder to short that Rob Howell capitally threw away to put the tying run on second base. Reliever Luis Guerrero was used to bunt, but his bunt was rather bad and ended up comfortably with Baldwin, who managed to have Hernandez cut down at third base. Then he walked Gonzalez. (pause for a good old facepalm) … Law Rockburn took over, struck out Pedro Estrada, and had Georg Spinu retired on a groundout, and added a perfect seventh after that. Then came Donald Sims and found a way to mess with success. Sonny Reece singled, and when Hernandez bunted, Sims thought he could get the lead runner out as well … but couldn’t. Two on with no outs were a sticky situation with a 6-5 lead. Roberto Hernandez pinch-hit and popped out to Pruitt, pinning the runners, and César Gonzalez popped out foul, after which Sims yielded to Ray Kelley to face Pedro Estrada, who singled past Nomura into right and the game was tied at six after eight innings. The Coons faced the nightmarish back end of the Cyclones’ pen, with two innings from Ian Johnson before Iemitsu Rin took over. He issued a 1-out walk to Pat White in the top 11th on a pitch right on the corner in a 3-2 count, so the Coons were probably lucky. Quebell then walked on four straight, but we kept running out left-handers against the southpaw Rin. Pruitt lined out to Spinu, before Alston drew another full count walk. With two out, Pat Slayton had to be hit for in the #5 hole vacated by Bowen earlier. Keith Ayers grabbed a stick and beat Jose Silva with a fly to right that fell in for a 2-run double. The so far preserved Angel Casas had his first clean inning in a good while and struck out two as he sat the Cyclones down 1-2-3. 8-6 Coons. Pruitt 3-5, BB, HR, RBI; Alston 2-5, BB; Bowen 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Ayers (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-5; Howell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-1; Rockburn 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Slayton 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-0);

So was that their weak offense or our wonky rotation that produced six runs?

In any case, the Raccoons placed Tomas Castro on the DL with a herniated disc in his back. He figures to be out until the latter half of July. For the moment it looks like Pat White will start in center until then, but maybe we can do better. Looking at AAA… nope, Santiago Trevino was as good as it would get.

Game 2
POR: 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – LF Alston – RF Ayers – C Bowen – CF White – 2B Heathershaw – SS Howell – P Brown
CIN: LF C. Gonzalez – CF P. Estrada – 2B Spinu – RF J. Silva – 1B M. Williams – SS B. Hall – 3B Reece – C F. Hernandez – P Hamlyn

What Tony Hamlyn did to the poor Raccoons was little short of the fur farm getting an order from the coat factory. He struck them out all to easily and was maintaining a firm grip on a no-hitter from the very beginning, while Nick Brown’s no-hit bid burst on his first pitch of the day, on which César Gonzalez singled to center. That was the only hit in the game in the first five innings, although while Hamlyn whiffed seven and walked merely one, Brown walked three and got all of them erased on double plays, while striking out only two. While Hamlyn’s pace didn’t slow down a tad in the sixth, Brown was almost eaten in the bottom of the inning. Well, Felix Hernandez hit a leadoff jack, and then Brown allowed hits to Gonzalez and Estrada before also walking Spinu. Jose Silva kindly rolled into the fourth double play of the night after that.

But then, the outrageous happened: Adrian Quebell led off the seventh and singled to center! Gone the no-hitter! Alston up, full count, single to right. Oh baby, we’re in business no-……t. Ayers K’ed, Bowen K’ed, White popped out foul before he could K, too. While Nick Brown was for once not struggling with a high pitch count (the Cyclones got things to hit early in the at-bat), he still was removed after seven innings with a golden opportunity. Normally you would go get another beer when Hamlyn was to face our 7-8-9 guys in the eighth, but he walked Heathershaw, then allowed a single to left to Howell that went through Gonzalez’ legs and put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs. It was imperative to hit for Nick Brown now, especially with Matt Pruitt on the bench. Pruitt got it done and singled, tying the game, but when Merritt flew out to right, Silva threw out Howell at home, and Quebell struck out to completely waste the actual chance to beat Hamlyn. Turns out, neither former Pitcher of the Year would earn a decision. Despite Luis Beltran’s best efforts to lose in the bottom 8th, including a hit by Roberto Hernandez and a wild pitch, Law Rockburn kept the store closed for the Cyclones. Ian Johnson was at it again in the ninth and was taken very well deep by Keith Ayers with one out, giving the Coons a slim 2-1 lead and Angel Casas closed the book on Cincy again. 2-1 Critters. Ayers 1-4, HR, RBI; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K;

I wonder where Nick Brown’s stuff went. At least Howell didn’t make sixteen errors…

Game 3
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF White – SS Howell – P Umberger
CIN: 1B C. Gonzalez – LF P. Estrada – 2B Spinu – RF J. Silva – SS B. Hall – CF Blackburn – 3B M. Williams – C F. Hernandez – P O’Herlihy

Offense was slow to start the game. The Coons had Rob Howell on with a leadoff single in the top 3rd, but he got forced on a sad attempt at a bunt by Umberger, which cost a run since Howell might have scored on Quebell’s double that followed this escapade, but Umberger definitely wasn’t, and neither Merritt nor Pruitt could get the ball somewhere nice. The Coons took a 1-0 lead the next inning when Ron Alston homered to center, but overall they weren’t going to run O’Herlihy from the game anytime soon. Top 6th, Pruitt hit a double with one out. Alston got four wide ones, and Bowen hit right into the double play. In the bottom of the inning, and with Umberger working on a 3-hitter and a low pitch count, a brief shower moved through, but still got the game delayed for 22 minutes. Once play resumed it became clear that our battery had used the brief time off to turn into toast. Umberger allowed two singles, Bowen was charged a passed ball, and the Cyclones knotted the score at one at once. While the Coons scratched out a run in the top 7th, Umberger’s appearance in the bottom of the inning only served to put two men on and leave with no outs recorded. Ted Reese was no help, allowing the tying run to score, and handed the ball over to Donald Sims with the go-ahead run on third and two outs. Not only did Sims allow that run to score on a Gonzalez single on an 0-2 pitch, he was also taken well deep by Estrada to definitely snap a 5-game winning streak. Another run scored off Slayton when he walked two in the bottom 8th, and Pat White’s homer in the top 9th was dressing for a broken window at best. 6-3 Cyclones. Quebell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Alston 3-3, BB, HR, RBI; White 2-4, HR, RBI; Howell 2-4;

I just decided that I really badly need to get rid of Donald Sims. He’s turned into a big headache, and we have Ron Thrasher in AAA possibly ready to contribute something else than blown leads and losses hung to somebody else.

Raccoons (39-26) @ Canadiens (34-28) – June 17-20, 2010

As we shipped up to Vancouver, the Elks were second in the division, 3 1/2 games back, with the Crusaders lurking only another half game behind them. They are second in runs scored, and fifth in runs allowed. We have a history of getting swept up here, and it would be a very bad spot to suffer a sweep. Not that there are ever good spots to get swept by those hooved skunks. We have already lost two of three to them this season.

Projected matchups:
Javier Cruz (5-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Simon Pegler (4-5, 4.80 ERA)
Kenichi Watanabe (2-4, 4.78 ERA) vs. David Peterson (5-3, 4.50 ERA)
Colin Baldwin (4-4, 3.68 ERA) vs. Juichi Fujita (5-6, 3.76 ERA)
Nick Brown (10-2, 2.00 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (4-4, 3.43 ERA)

All righties, all the time. These Elks are doing everything well that we don’t as well, like hitting home runs and stealing bases, leading the CL in the latter category. I have a hunch that lots of pain and crying are on my way.

Game 1
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 2B Nomura – C Owens – CF Trevino – SS Howell – P Cruz
VAN: CF Holland – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B Suzuki – RF J. Thomas – SS T. Johnson – LF Theobald – 2B A. Gomez – C Mata – P Pegler

The Coons had the bags full with one out in the first inning when Nomura bounced into a 4-6-3 double play. In the bottom of the inning, Cruz was going to post a clean inning until Howell threw away Mitsuhide Suzuki’s grounder, and Suzuki scored on Josh Thomas’ single to center. Three singles pulled back that run in the top 2nd, Quebell driving home Owens, and Howell made another error in the bottom 2nd! This time, nothing got onto the board for the Elks, but what the heck was wrong with the kid!? In the third the Coons took a lead on Ron Alston’s line drive home run to right center, 2-1, and Howell got a chance and actually didn’t blow it. Pegler continued to be very hittable and the Raccoons had three on with one out once more in the top of the fourth, with Matt Pruitt coming up. Matt was 0-2 on the day, and his .390 average indicated that he was due to give birth to a hit very soon. A liner into the canyon in right center plated two runs, Pegler couldn’t throw (or didn’t dare) to throw a strike to Ron Alston, but when Nomura looped a soft line into shallow right, Josh Thomas misplayed it into an extra base and run. When the dust settled, the Elks’ manager had hauled Pegler off the mound, and the Furballs were up 6-1 with a pair of runners in scoring position. Former starter Scott Spears allowed one more run to score on a Travis Owens single, 7-1. Cruz lasted only five and two thirds after his control went away in the middle innings, but no runs were scored off him. Luis Beltran cleaned up the runner Cruz stranded on third base and also covered the seventh. After a scoreless top 8th we pulled in Pruitt and Alston for the backups – we had already had Castro go down with injury this week, and we were up by six. That spread would open further: two outs in the top 9th and Keith Ayers on first, Craig Bowen hit for Ted Reese and clobbered a Bill King pitch for a home run. Pat Slayton put the first two men on base in the bottom of the inning, then struck out Holland, Ramirez, and Suzuki. 9-1 Furballs! Merritt 3-5, BB; Ayers (PH) 1-1; Alston 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Bowen (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; Owens 4-6, 2B, RBI; Beltran 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Not only did we secure our top dog spot in the North with this nice little rout, we also passed the Elks in runs scored, taking over second place there. Meanwhile, Rob Howell is making an error every 31 innings...

Game 2
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF White – SS Howell – P Watanabe
VAN: CF Holland – 1B H. Ramirez – 3B Suzuki – RF J. Thomas – 2B Dobson – SS T. Johnson – LF Theobald – C Mata – P D. Peterson

The Critters left a man in scoring position without plating somebody in the first two innings, which was not prudent with “Wobbly” Watanabe on the mound and a ticking time bomb at short. Accordingly, ex-Greycoat Julio Mata drove in the first run of the game with a 2-out double in the bottom 2nd (and we consciously elected to not walk him intentionally, because he is Julio Mata…). Top 3rd, Quebell singled, and a Pruitt triple and Alston single flipped the score in the Coons’ favor. Pruitt and Alston also reached base in the fifth, but weren’t scored, and the Raccoons had White and Howell on in the next frame, but White was caught stealing by Mata. Did Julio Mata ever catch a stealer when he was a Critter? While Watanabe was generating poor contact successfully and clicked off batters, maintaining a 3-hitter through six, the top 7th started with an infield single for Quebell, and Pruitt hit a clean one to give us runners on the corners for Alston, but he converted a 3-2 pitch into a double play and the score remained 2-1. Bottom 7th, Watanabe walked Tom Johnson with two outs. Enrique Garcia hit for Paul Theobald, grounded to short, and Howell blew it – again. While Mata grounded out to Yoshi to end the inning, and nobody scored, I called the manager in St. Petersburg to inquire about the shortstop situation there. In the bottom 8th the Elks sent switch-hitter Gary Rice to bat ninth, and with Holland Ramirez being left-handed at the top of the order, we went to … Donald Sims. He got two groundouts before he walked Hector Ramirez, with Rockburn taking over to face Suzuki, allowing a single, then walking Josh Thomas. Dobson struck out to leave the bags stacked. In the final frame, Tom Johnson came mighty close to a leadoff double that Alston scratched out of the sky with the tip of his claws, but after that Angel Casas retired the last two batters (including Mata, who whiffed) with ease. 2-1 Critters. Quebell 4-5, 2 2B; Pruitt 3-4, 3B, RBI; Howell 2-4; Watanabe 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (3-4);

Watanabe barely broke a sweat, throwing only 75 pitches. Also, the Elks had only four hits in total to our 11, and we still almost lost it.

Currently, Ricardo Martinez was no big help to us. I made up my mind, sent him back to AAA, and recalled the well known Manuel Gutierrez, who would get regular play time at short with Howell’s glove needing stitching.

Game 3
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – C Bowen – 2B Nomura – CF Trevino – SS M. Gutierrez – P Baldwin
VAN: CF Holland – LF Theobald – 3B Suzuki – RF J. Thomas – 2B Dobson – SS A. Gomez – C J. Silva – 1B H. Ramirez – P Fujita

This season, Fujita’s walks were up, the strikeouts were down, but he was perfect the first time through and struck out five Critters. While Baldwin also faced the minimum, Jerry Dobson had singled in the second before getting swept up in a double play. Fujita’s bid ended before it really was a bid, with Adrian Quebell ramming a ball off the fence just three feet inside the right foul pole, and slid in safely at third base. Fujita walked Merritt before Pruitt flew out to center, Quebell twitched, but then trotted back to third base. Too close, too strong an arm, and too clubby those feet. The Coons took the lead anyway when Alston and Bowen hit back-to-back singles, 1-0 and the bags full for Yoshi, who got a 2-2 pitch at the bottom of the zone and hauled it big time to right center, and that’s gonna be – is it … is it? It is! It is gone! GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

In a strange pitching matchup, Fujita went five innings and struck out eight, while Baldwin struck out none through five, but was only in mild trouble once in the bottom 4th after a pair of 2-out singles by Suzuki and Thomas, and had not allowed any runs, while throwing less than 50 pitches. The Raccoons added an unearned run off Jesus Quinones in the top 8th, with Aurelio Gomez making a throwing error to put Jon Merritt on second base to start the inning. Pruitt singled and Alston hit into a run-scoring double play. Oh really? A shortstop making an error? Never heard of that. Baldwin’s shutout bid was threatened again in the eighth. His 1-out walk to Julio Silva was the first of the day for him, and Gary Rice hit a single with two outs. Pruitt caught a rocket hit to left by Ross Holland to keep the Elks off the board. Baldwin was left in to bat in the top 9th with Gutierrez on first and two outs and struck out against Spears, but with a 6-run lead I was comfy with him seeing the middle of the order again. Paul Theobald popped up, Suzuki grounded out to short, Josh Thomas singled, and then he walked Dobson. Sigh, okay, one more batter. Gomez bounced an 0-2 pitch to Jon Merritt, who zinged it to Quebell perfectly – shutout! 6-0 Raccoons! Nomura 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Baldwin 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (5-4) and 1-4;

Wicked. Yesterday we barely scratched out two runs on 11 hits, this time nobody had multiple hits and we had only seven on the day, scoring six runs. Baseball is the strangest game for sure.

Not that Colin Baldwin, having tossed his first career shutout at age 28, was minding too much. Now, with the sweep on the table, watch Brownie get lit up again.

Game 4
POR: 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – LF Pruitt – RF Alston – 2B Nomura – CF White – C Owens – SS Howell – P Brown
VAN: CF Holland – LF Theobald – 3B Suzuki – C Mata – RF J. Thomas – SS A. Gomez – 2B T. Johnson – 1B H. Ramirez – P R. Taylor

Two of the top 3 strikeout pitchers in the Continental League were squaring off, even if one of them (ours) hadn’t thrown too many strikes his last few times out. No matter how he pitched, in any case Nick Brown drove in the first run of the game with a 2-out single in the top 2nd. Nomura scored from second base, probably because Owens behind him went first-to-third and the Elks elected to get the damn sure out instead of the 50/50 one. The joy was short-lived, as Julio Mata went deep off Brown in the bottom 2nd, he issued a walk, and Tom Johnson also romped a homer to put him in a 3-1 hole. Top 3rd, walk to Merritt, Pruitt single, walk to Alston, the bases were loaded again for Yoshi, who was limited to a sac fly this time, and Pat White struck out to leave two on in a 3-2 deficit. Next inning, Travis Owens singled, and after Howell went down looking Nick Brown drew a walk to represent the go-ahead run. Taylor went to full counts on the next two batters, resulting in a Quebell single and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Jon Merritt, the latter tying the game at three, and Pruitt and Alston were coming along, but only one additional run came along on Pruitt’s groundout, with Alston being out on a bang-bang play at first. Brown was not great, but at least outlasted Taylor, who watched helplessly as Rob Howell shoved an 0-2 pitch into the dirt in front of home plate, then out-legged Julio Mata’s throw for an infield single to start the top of the sixth. Howell stole second base, moved along on Brown’s groundout, and scored on Merritt’s groundout, and then Howell got three grounders fed in the bottom of the inning and didn’t throw any of them all the way to Alaska! What an inning! A future star!

Brownie managed to last seven innings, with two walks issued in the seventh, and a double play in between. He made a nice play on Hector Ramirez’ bouncer for the final out, and was in line for his 11th win. The game was still tight, though, with a 5-3 lead. Owens and Howell hit leadoff singles in the top of the eighth. Bill King remained in the game, struck out Trevino batting for Brown, but then fell to Quebell. A huge shot to right, no doubt, gone, three runs on the board! Spears replaced King, but allowed another run on a Merritt double and Pruitt single, 9-3. The Elks weren’t completely dead yet, and Josh Thomas would hit a home run off Reese in the ninth, but they couldn’t come back from that deficit, and the Raccoons had a 4-game sweep!! 9-4 Brownies!! Quebell 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Merritt 1-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Pruitt 2-5, 2 RBI; Nomura 2-4, RBI; Owens 3-5; Howell 2-4; Brown 7.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (11-2) and 1-2, BB, RBI;

(grins awkwardly)

In other news

June 14 – The Indians swap 40-year old 1B/2B Bruce Boyle (.264, 1 HR, 8 RBI) to the Gold Sox, along with a minor leaguer, for 1B/3B Daniel Sharp (.297, 4 HR, 15 RBI).
June 15 – Topeka’s SP Dan George (0-0, 0.00 ERA) retires from baseball effective immediately. The 37-year old lefty had labored with forearm issues the entire season and only made one appearance. In his 18-year career, George appeared for the Indians for seven, and the Buffaloes for 11 years, with career numbers of 218-186, 3.71 ERA, and 2,516 K. He was an All Star three times, in 2002 and 2004-5.
June 15 – The Indians acquire LF/RF Al Graves (.293, 2 HR, 29 RBI) from the Warriors in exchange for a second-rate prospect.
June 15 – The Loggers start to give up once more and trade 1B Jose Valenzuela (.309, 3 HR, 15 RBI) to the Rebels for LF Willie Davenport (.224, 0 HR, 6 RBI) and a rather dubious prospect.
June 15 – LVA INF Howard Jones (.277, 2 HR, 20 RBI) hits the DL with a sprained ankle, but should not be out for more than four weeks.
June 16 – The Crusaders deal 2B/SS Julio Hernandez (.253, 1 HR, 13 RBI) to the Knights to acquire 1B/RF/3B Kevin Bond (.268, 5 HR, 13 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

We top the power rankings. Life is good! Life is good! Life is good! Life is good! There. One “Life is good!” for every victory collected in Vancouver this week. I can’t even remember our last 4-game sweep up there. Probably was some time ago!

While on paper Colin Baldwin had the best game in Elkland, Kenichi Watanabe had the most important victory, with his silent dominance over seven innings saving his furry butt for another week. And I do not like Hector Santos’ walk rate in AAA (4.4/9), but … hnnggh! Santos turned 22 at the beginning of the month. I keep telling myself, there’s no need to rush him.

Somebody else who came completely out of the dark and worked his way up the depth chart in AAA? Gil McDonald. Who? Gil McDonald. We picked him in the ninth round in 2004, 225th overall, and he was in Aumsville as recently as 2008, but he’s really taken off since. A late bloomer who turned 27 two weeks ago, this right-hander is 6-1 with a 3.42 ERA, above average BABIP (.320) and a 3.7 K/BB in AAA this season. He’s already had major shoulder and elbow woes, though.

Weeks until Daniel Sharp SOMEHOW winds up on the Raccoons’ roster again? Can’t be more than three or so. Not that I am actively plotting yet, but he hasn’t stayed anywhere for more than five minutes since his contract ran out in 2007.

Donald Sims has to be moved someplace else, but I already picked up the phone and … nobody’s excited.

Then there’s Rob Howell. I don’t know how to go about him, to be honest. I am tempted to dump him to some other team, but lacking patience is one of the biggest problems for me. Once Daniel Dickerson stops qualifying for the CL ERA title, that will go to Antonio Donis, whom I also shoved to the pen for a lack of patience, and then traded. He’s pitched more than 207 innings only once in his career, but man, do his career numbers look good. 657 G (241 GS), 138-82, 2.96 ERA, 47 SV, 1,858 K in 1,841 IP.

Back to Howell, his stolen base on Sunday was the team’s 20th. Not only do the Elks lead the league in that department, no, Ross Holland on his own has more sacks taken than the entire Raccoons roster! He swept his 29th off Bowen on Friday, but was nailed by Owens on Sunday. And of our 20, half are on the DL now…