[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-23) @ Knights (18-31) – June 2-4, 2014

The Knights were dismal, yet not dismal enough to be last in the South. Truth be told, however, they were really, really dismal (Falcons be damned!). They were 11th in runs scored in the CL (one run less than the Critters had squeezed out), and were allowing the most runs overall. The rotation was awful, the bullpen ever more so. They had lost four in a row, 18 of their last 22, and two of three against the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (7-1, 2.87 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (1-3, 4.67 ERA)
Tom Constantino (0-3, 7.20 ERA) vs. Shaun Yoder (2-5, 5.83 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (0-6, 4.16 ERA)

Left-handers were bookmarking this series, with a right-hander in the middle game for the Knights. The Coons would have Thursday off before playing 13 straight, so this was Constantino’s last start and hopefully a bit less sucky than the others (3 GS, 0-3, 9.88 ERA).

Game 1
POR: LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Canning – CF Seeley – P Brown
ATL: 2B Downing – RF McIntyre – LF Rockwell – SS Hibbard – C W. Jones – 3B Luján – CF Morán – 1B C. Gonzalez – P M. Hernandez

Bednarski hit a 2-piece in the first inning in support of Brownie, who lost Will McIntyre to a walk in the first inning but then struck out Gil Rockwell and Devin Hibbard to take sole possession of 14th place on the all time strikeouts leaderboard. While Hernandez got piled on for single runs in the next two innings each, Brownie didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, a 2-out single by William Jones. Hibbard was already on with a walk, and Brown also walked Antonio Luján, but César Morán grounded out to Quebell to strand a full set of runners. The Knights would have the bases loaded again in the bottom 5th with a single by long reliever Jim Turner getting things started. Josh Downing singled past Canning, who made a very poor impression there, and Brown lost Rockwell to his fourth walk on the day. While Hibbard bounced out to Merritt, who made a skillful grab and throw to get the out, Brown was almost at 100 pitches after only five innings, and opened the bottom 6th with a goofball that Jim Turner hit hard to left center. Turner was greedy though, turned second, and was cut down by Jason Seeley. Brown went on to put on Luján with a soft single (making it three consecutive batters to put the first pitch into play), then walked Morán, but got César Gonzalez (yes, the ex-Coon from like 2000), and Alejandro Rodriguez on quick groundouts. Six shutout innings, but boy, was the last part hard to watch.

Also hard to watch, Juan Gallegos. He put two on in the bottom 7th and Sakellaris had to come in an inning earlier than planned to clean up. When Jones grounded out to Canning, he stranded two more, giving the Knights ten runners stranded over four innings. All of a sudden then, there was lightning in the area, and the tarp came on to cover the infield. The malignant weather was waited out for over an hour before the game was called with a 1-1 count on Canning opening the eighth inning. 4-0 Brownies! Sambrano 2-4, RBI; Bergquist 2-3, BB, 3B; Canning 2-3, RBI; Brown 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 7 K, W (8-1) and 1-3;

Quebell, who had been on a tear last week with nine hits, including four homers, in his last five games, went 0-for-4 with two hard hit balls caught on the track and a strikeout, his first since before those five games. Hot phase over already or just hard luck? The K was against a reliever and not the shoddy Hernandez.

Cookie Carmona entered the game in a double switch when Gallegos got stuck, but didn’t get an at-bat. But he had an oh-fer on Sunday, so it’s not like we broke a hitting streak.

Rain persisted through Tuesday, cancelling the middle game in favor of a double header on Wednesday. The Knights were going to cart up the southpaw Butler first, while the Coons also made the switch to get Santos into the first game.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – LF Seeley – C Hernandez – P Santos
ATL: SS Hibbard – 3B Luján – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – 2B Downing – CF McIntyre – C Luna – 1B Hilderbrand – P D. Butler

The Raccoons got going real quick. Carmona was involved a lot in the scoring, opening the game with a double and coming home on Bergquist’s 2-out double, and then hit a 2-out double himself to bring in Hernandez in the second inning. Merritt singled to right, taken on a conservative bounce by Jimmy Raupp, allowing Carmona to score, 3-0, and then Bednarski belted a real moonshot to left to get Santos a 5-0 lead. Santos allowed a double to Raupp to start the bottom 2nd, but then struck out the next three, and cruised – until the next rain delay hit. That one came with two outs in the bottom 6th, still in a 5-0 game, and lasted just over 45 minutes. Santos came back out, but had lost the groove. Antonio Luján singled, and we went to the pen to get long relief – hopefully – from Marco Gomez. What we got was more of an accelerated heartbeat, since while Gomez made it out of the sixth (despite a Rockwell single, but better than his 15 homers to date), and the Raccoons added a balk-induced run in the top 7th, Gomez could even make a 6-0 lead look like defeat was imminent. The Knights double-played themselves out of the seventh, but put three on against Gomez in the eighth, scoring one run before Sugano restored order. The Knights had two on once more in the ninth after a T.J. Hilderbrand single off Sugano and a Canning error, but Gallegos struck out Luján to end the game. 6-1 Raccoons. Carmona 4-5, 2 2B, RBI; Merritt 2-4, BB, RBI; Bednarski 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Santos 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-1);

Quebell had an oh-fer, while Cookie was robbed of a third double by Rockwell with a sliding catch in extreme left.

I’m a bit grumpy that we went through three relievers after Santos was knocked out by ill weather. If not for the rain, he would have covered perhaps another five or six outs, given that he left with only 70 pitches thrown. Oh well, the really bad thing might be that we used Gomez and the next-best chance of getting long relief is Josh Gibson now. But there’ll be an off day tomorrow, so there’s no use in sparing the horses, I guess.

Abusing the personnel notwithstanding, enough players were brought into the lineup for the second leg of the double header to give everybody a start this Wednesday. With a win in the nightcap, the Raccoons could already knot up the season series against Atlanta.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – CF Cowan – SS Taylor – P Constantino
ATL: SS Hibbard – 3B Luján – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – 2B Crum – CF McIntyre – C W. Jones – 1B Hilderbrand – P Yoder

Constantino faced the minimum through three innings, which included only one single for the Knights, a double play to clear that up, and hardly an at-bat going longer than three pitches before the ball was put in play, except for that against Shaun Yoder, who battled in a full count before thankfully striking out. The Knights loaded them up in the bottom 4th, but McIntyre grounded out to leave three on – a common topic for all three games in this series. However, the Raccoons didn’t get the early start of the last two games, and didn’t get going in the middle innings, either. In the top 5th, Taylor was plunked and Constantino reached on Luján’s error, yet Carmona fouled out and Sandy whiffed to strand them. The Critters had two walks in the sixth, but Bednarski and Nunley were stranded, and had runners on the corners after Sandy’s 2-out single in the seventh before Sandy got picked off by reliever Lou Cannon. Constantino made it to the seventh inning before Johnny Crum socked one off him, putting the Knights up 1-0. Sakellaris had to dig Constantino out of a rapidly opening hole in the ground then, achieved just that, and the Coons were then donated a free tying run at second base with one out in the eighth on a Crum error. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away – while this could get applied either way here, it would be true for the Raccoons, who sent Merritt to bat for Nunley against the lefty Enrique Meneces, but the Knights went to Lawrence Rivers, who struck out the veteran right-hander. D-Alex singled, but no way Quebell was going to score against Jimmy Raupp’s arm, and while Seeley hit for the useless Cowan, he still popped out. Top 9th, leadoff double for Palmer Taylor off right-hander Tim Poe! Bergquist batted for Sakellaris, but flew out to left, yet deep enough to move the runner to third base. Cookie fell behind against Poe before snipping a 1-2 pitch to the left side, and it bounced past Luján, into left, the tying run was home! COOKIIIIIEEE!!!

While Carmona was left on, Thrasher helped the Coons into extra innings, where Quebell opened with a single off Jorge Cortez, a left-hander, before Merritt hit into a double play and D-Alex’ following 2-out double was in vain. Top 11th, another leadoff hit, this time a single by Taylor. Bergquist grounded out, but Carmona got on with a hard single that left Taylor no scoring opportunity. Hernandez hit for Thrasher in Sandy’s slot, struck out, but then Jim Turner (who had already pitched in the first game) threw a wild 0-2 pitch to Bednarski, with Taylor hustling home to break the tie. Bednarski grounded out, but the Knights had just lost the season series. Angel sat them down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, with the middle out made by Rockwell, who totally sold out on a 3-2 pitch and missed a breaking ball by a whole bunch. 2-1 Critters! Carmona 3-6, RBI; Quebell 2-5; Nunley 1-2, BB; Alexander 2-5, 2B; Taylor 2-4; Constantino 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Sakellaris 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-2);

The Coons outscored the Knights 12-2 in the sweep, and jumped into a tie for second place in the division, two games off the Crusaders.

Raccoons (29-23) @ Titans (27-27) – June 6-8, 2014

The Titans had managed to lose a 3-game set to the Falcons during the week, barely salvaging a win on Thursday. They were .500, but fifth in the division, and lacking in direction. Their pitching was not as bad as anticipated, but their offense was not driving them, either, as one might have guessed, but then again they lacked a number of people on the DL by now, including “Quasimodo” and Earl Clark in terms of sticks. It was all very average for them, but they led the CL in stolen bases, thanks to Mike Rivera’s 18 sacks taken, more than half of the team total and more than he had RBI. The season series stood 4-2 in the Titans’ favor.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (3-5, 4.21 ERA) vs. Ian Rutter (2-2, 2.61 ERA)
Bill Conway (3-2, 2.40 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (2-6, 5.17 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-1, 2.64 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (2-3, 4.13 ERA)

That’s a full set of right-handers.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Toner
BOS: 3B M. Williams – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF J. Alexander – RF R. Lopez – 1B T. Ramos – C Porter – SS Ybarra – CF Thurman – P Rutter

Rutter was emerging this season and trying to step into the hole left by the departures of both Curtis Tobitt and Tony Hamlyn (which was a hole too huge for one 26-year old with no good full seasons in his log), but Calderón liked his stuff that he showed these days, despite struggles to harness that, expressed in a rather mundane 1.2 K/BB and only 5.9 K/9.

Rutter then promptly lost Matt Nunley to a 1-out walk in the top 2nd, the first runner for either team, and was immediately clocked by a huge 2-shot by Dylan Alexander that set the Raccoons ahead. While Tony Ramos came pretty close to a 2-run comeback in the bottom of the inning, the Titans stayed off the board thanks to a leaping grab by Sambrano. Ahead of Ramos, Rodrigo Lopez had reached with a single right through Canning’s porous body. Canning direly needed a smiley sticker in my notebook, and got one when he stepped to the plate with the bases full and one out in the top 4th. D-Alex had already plated a run with a bloop single, chasing home Quebell, and Rutter was in the ropes here. Canning hit a looper past the desperate reach of John Alexander, getting it in for a 2-run double, blowing the score to 5-0, and the day for Rutter ended in the gutter when he couldn’t remove Toner, who hit a sac fly on the first pitch, plating Bergquist to get to 6-0. Jeff Lyon got Carmona to fly out, putting Cookie down 0-3, which was odd to see these days.

The big lead helped Toner pitch more comfortably, one might even say dominant, although the Titans had opportunities in the next two innings, but couldn’t get anybody home. The Coons would get a few runs off long reliever Lyon in the eighth, in which Quebell hit an RBI triple. Apparently, such wicked things did actually exist, though Rodrigo Lopez missing the bloop in full flight was a big factor in that “triple”. Lyon was shackled as the inning escalated, and Canning hit his second 2-run double in the game, bringing the Raccoons to double digits against new reliever Dave Hughes, who was not beneath walking Toner with two outs, but Carmona extended his successless day to an 0-5 with a groundout to Jose Gutierrez. Toner arrived in the ninth under 100 pitches, and didn’t reach 100 pitches until Simon Stevens (F3) and Marc Williams (6-3) had already made outs. Gutierrez popped out, sealing a shut-blow-out. 10-0 Raccoons! Quebell 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Nunley 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Alexander 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Canning 2-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Toner 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (4-5)

But keep in mind that the dismembered Rutter (3.2 IP, 6 ER) still has a better season ERA (3.22) than Toner (3.64), who pitched his first career complete game and shutout (in 23 attempts).

Also, the Coons had only nine hits to score ten runs, drawing advantage of seven walks surrendered by the Titans. Toner didn’t surrender any, which is not a given for him.

The Elks beat the Crusaders, and if all teams can repeat their result on Saturday, we will have a 3-way virtual tie in the North.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Conway
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 3B M. Williams – RF R. Lopez – 1B T. Ramos – C Porter – 2B Ybarra – LF X. Williams – CF Thurman – P R. Jimenez

The Coons again got going in the second inning, this time with a Matt Nunley solo shot, his fourth of the year, and a pretty deep one. The Titans had already stranded a pair in the bottom 1st when Randy Porter had struck out, but Conway continued to bleed runners, and the Titans had three more hits and a walk in the bottom 2nd. It was the pitcher Jimenez to bring home the tying run with a single, but at least Conway got another K in dire need, striking out Rodrigo Lopez with the bases full to escape this horrible mess. Conway remained wonky, Carmona reached on an error and was caught stealing in the third, but in the fourth inning things started to look up again for Coon City, with D-Alex singling home Quebell, who had walked with one out, and then Bergquist also got on base with a walk, bringing up the king of 2-run doubles from Friday, Walt Canning, who drove a ball to deep center for … a 2-out, 2-run double!

Unfortunately, not all was dandy in this 4-1 game. For one, Conway was awful, and then there was also a collision between Zachary Thurman and Walt Canning at second base in the bottom of the inning in which Canning landed on his arm and had to leave the game in quite some discomfort. Taylor came in. There were also runners on the corner with only one out for the top of the order, and cautiously the Raccoons ordered their pen to put the pizza away and stretch those paws. Mike Rivera grounded to short and legged out the return throw from Bergquist to spoil a double play, then stole his 19th bag of the season before Marc Williams struck out, 4-2 after four. Conway couldn’t buy a break, however, and was knocked out after three more hits against him in the sixth inning. Mike Rivera plated a run with his single, and Conway didn’t leave until another single to Marc Williams, putting the go-ahead run aboard. Josh Gibson came out and got Rodrigo Lopez with a grounder to short, maintaining a flimsy 4-3 lead. Meanwhile the Titans, who had hit for Jimenez in the fourth inning, got long relief from southpaw Aurelio Hernandez, greatly stifling the Brownshirts’ offensive output. Hernandez pitched 3.1 innings before Nunley doubled with one out in the eighth to get him out of the game. Right-hander Dusty Balzer took over (whom the Coons had inquired in briefly in the offseason), struck out D-Alex and got Bergquist on a grounder to end that inning.

Sugano had already pitched the seventh and started the eighth with left-hander Xavier Williams leading off, but walked him. That was the tying run; Sakellaris was 3-1 against Zachary Thurman before he hit one hard to Nunley, who started a well-appreciated double play before Jose Gutierrez grounded out to Taylor. While the game was technically close to conclusion through eight innings, a decision was delayed for an hour when suddenly a rain shower moved over the park in the top of the ninth. Cookie hit a 2-out single after the rain moved away and stole his 15th bag in a bid for an insurance run, but Sandy Sambrano flew out to right, and Angel had to do without a net. Rivera popped out to start the bottom of the inning, which was already half a save given his speed and leading the CL in stolen bases, and Angel got this one into the books with J-Alex grounding out to first and Lopez going down on a sinker. 4-3 Furballs! Nunley 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Alexander 2-4, RBI; Canning 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Titans out-hit the Raccoons 11-7 in this game, which gets chalked into the “lucky” column. All 11 hits were off Conway.

Walt Canning had not broken or sprained anything but his elbow was still sore and red and he was listed DTD for at least a few days, moving either Taylor or Sandy to short. Maybe we’ll split them there and give Seeley some at-bats, too.

With the mild damage in this game, the Raccoons have allowed merely six runs in their first seven games in June, which is a great recipe for a 7-game winning streak. The Crusaders lost a wild one, 10-9, to the Elks, indeed moving all three teams into a virtual tie. The Indians are 1.5 games off.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Brown
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 3B M. Williams – RF R. Lopez – 1B S. Stevens – C Porter – 2B Ybarra – LF X. Williams – CF Thurman – P Kirkland

Both first basemen hit into an inning-ending double play in the first, but the Raccoons got Nunley on via being hit by a pitch and Bergquist with a single in the second, and scored the first run when Taylor found the gap with a long, soft line that quickly died out there and prevented Bergquist from scoring. Brown struck out, Carmona grounded out, leaving both runners stranded. They left two more on in the third. Sandy had been hit by Kirkland, while Bednarski had singled to center. Quebell K’ed, Nunley was robbed by Lopez, and so on. The Critters finally tacked on a run in the top 5th. Carmona doubled at the start of the inning, but also wasn’t driven in until Quebell’s single beat Stevens with two outs. Bottom 5th, the Titans were close to beating Brownie, who generated poor contact, but also had no stuff working on this day. Xavier Williams was on second base when Kirkland hit a 2-2 pitch to Nunley for what should have been the third out, but Nunley’s throw to first was off, pulled Quebell off the bag, and put runners on the corners. Mike Rivera hit a high fly to left on the first pitch he saw, but it wasn’t deep and it also was no hassle or hustle for Sandy to catch.

But little worked for Nick Brown, and the Titans finally broke through in the sixth. Marc Williams reached with a soft single before Simon Stevens conquered Brown with a towering 2-run shot to center. Another hit, another walk, and then Thurman drove in the go-ahead run with two outs with a hard hit to right. Kirkland was not hit for with two outs, struck out, but if the Titans had sent a batter, Brown would have been hauled in. The Coons removed him from the 3-2 hook in the top of the seventh when Sandy tripled and came home on Quebell’s groundout. Since Rivera was batting left-handed, Brown was left in for the start of the bottom of the inning, getting a groundout on the first pitch before leaving with a no-decision. Josh Gibson then had his little world rocked, coming in to face Marc Williams, and was instantly taken deep to left. Lopez singed, chasing Gibson. Top 8th, a Xavier Williams error gave the Coons a free 2-out runner in scoring position, but Jason Seeley grounded out hitting for Thrasher. The Titans left their insurance run on third base in the bottom of the inning, bringing in Tommy Wooldridge for the ninth, facing the top of the order in a 4-3 game. Cookie Carmona singled on the first pitch, and things got interesting. The Titans had their defensive catcher Melvin Dunn in the game, so it was probably not a good time to – oh, there he’s going anyway. And safe! Sambrano was hit with a 2-2 pitch (giving us about half a dozen knocked batters in this series), which prompted an interesting dilemma in terms of what to do with Bednarski. Having him bunt was probably nuts, but that would keep Quebell out of a double play. Or to heck with it – the Coons called a double steal! Not only Dunn was stunned by this cocky call, and Carmona was well safe at third, with Sandy trailing into second! COME ON BEDNARSKI – HIT ONE! Anywhere, almost anywhere will do. He struck out. Quebell didn’t, flying out to right, which was enough to get Cookie home to tie the score, but Nunley whiffed feebly, and the game remained tied. Tony Ramos hit into a double play to erase a runner left by Gallegos, getting us to extras.

There, the Coons were silenced by Wooldridge in the 10th, and the Titans left the winning run at third against Sakellaris. Bednarski killed the 11th with Sandy on with a double play, and Gutierrez’ leadoff double off Sakellaris cast doom onto the winning streak. Rivera grounded out, runner going to third. Marc Williams fouled out on the first pitch! Two outs now, Lopez batting, 2-1, hard grounder to left, Nunley lunging, scrambling in the dirt, a desperate rocket to first base – OUT!! But the Critters couldn’t get the sticks going… Marco Gomez was in his second inning of relief in the bottom 13th. Thurman hit a double leading off, and moved to third on Gutierrez’ single. Rivera could end it, but struck out, and the Titans sent Thurman on a bouncer to third by Marc Williams. Nunley fired home and killed off the winning run, and Lopez grounded out to end that inning, too. The next inning, the Titans put their first two batters on again against Gomez. Not willing to let go, Angel entered along with Joe Cowan in a double switch on Bednarski’s expense. Angel got two outs, but then the Titans finally struck lucky and walked off on a terrible bloop single by Thurman. 5-4 Titans. Carmona 2-6, BB, 2B; Sambrano 3-5, 3B; Bergquist 3-5, BB; Taylor 2-6, 2B, RBI; Sakellaris 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Hmpf. 12 strikeouts in this loss, mostly in situations where any hit ball would have been a boon.

In other news

June 3 – NYC CL Micah Steele (1-1, 2.45 ERA, 15 SV) might miss most of the month with an abdominal strain.
June 3 – The Titans will have to go without their longtime primary catcher, as C Hideaki “Quasimodo” Suda (.263, 3 HR, 18 RBI) had his hand broken with a pitch by Atlanta’s Jim Turner on May 31.
June 6 – The Buffaloes and Cyclones duel for 19 innings before the visiting Buffaloes break out for five runs in the 19th and win the game, 10-5. TOP SS Tyler Gray (.329, 5 HR, 27 RBI) has five hits, yet over ten at-bats.
June 6 – SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.369, 0 HR, 23 RBI) is out for a month at least with plantar fascitis.

Complaints and stuff

We had planned to announce the contract extension to Nick Brown at the start of the next homestand, but word leaked out as soon as the ink was dry on his brand new 3-year deal, which pays him $6M. Of these, $4.2M are guaranteed for 2015 and 2016, with a $1.8M vesting option for 2019 that will trigger when he manages to pitch 190 innings at age 38. The fan base in Coon City was ecstatic. I hoped to get him for $1.5M for 2016/17, but he had none of that. He knows what he’s worth.

2017 is currently the last year for which anybody has money guaranteed out of our coffers. Sandy’s contract ends then, and D-Alex’ $1.8M in ’18 are a team option that right now would not be exercised… Thrasher’s contract also runs through 2017, but it’s a cheap deal that doesn’t figure into calculations much. The next goal might be a long-term deal with Hector Santos, who will be a free agent after the 2016 season, but that’s some bit off. We have a lot of free agents after this season, but nobody we need to resign desperately (… unless Angel gets it kicked into gear, finally).

Dickerson pitched so-so in AAA on Thursday, allowing two runs in five messy innings. He will return to the roster in time to pitch the second game in our 4-game home set with the Elks, slotting in behind Hector Santos. To this effect, Marco Gomez will be waived and designated for assignment on Monday. It’s not that he lost the Sunday game, the main blame for which lies with a tenth-place offense, but rather that he walks almost seven per nine innings, which just doesn’t sell ‘round here. Also, he was never more than a filler.

Walt Canning might be hampered for another two days and won’t be in the starting lineup, but might be available to pinch-hit or pinch-run.

Bench coach Jayden Cannon told me that the clubhouse works so-so, but they lack a leader for the youngsters to rally behind. Looks like Brownie DOES have to do everything ‘round here.

There’s currently only one Raccoon in the top 3 for any position in the All Star fan voting, and it’s … Dylan Alexander. – Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Player of the Week in the CL was the Aces’ 23-year old shortstop, Ricardo Marrero, batting 10-for-18 with three homers. Not only is he a rookie, but he was only called up to the Bigs on May 30!

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUTS

1st – Martin Garcia – 3,783
2nd – Tony Hamlyn – 3,748 (active)
3rd – Woody Roberts – 3,313 (HOF)
4th – Aaron Anderson – 3,225
5th – Carlos Castro – 3,198 (HOF)
6th – Javier Cruz – 3,164
7th – Chris York – 3,103 (active)
8th – Carlos Asquabal – 2,995 (HOF)
9th – Arnold McCray – 2,900 (HOF)
10th – Bastyao Caixinha – 2,844 (HOF)
11th – Kisho Saito – 2,800 (HOF)
12th – Kelvin Yates – 2,764 (active)
13th – Robbie Campbell – 2,763
14th – Nick Brown – 2,673 (active)
15th – Leland Lewis – 2,664 (HOF)
16th – Manuel Movonda – 2,663
17th – Kiyohira Sasaki – 2,640
18th – Pancho Trevino – 2,635 (active)