[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-66) @ Loggers (59-84) – September 12-15, 2016

We had four games left with the as usual miserable Loggers, who were dead-last in runs allowed and had a -118 run differential by now. They had lost their last four games, and they had also lost 11 of 14 games with Portland this season. Fun fact: while the Coons were 8th in both batting average and OBP among CL teams, but ranked last in runs scored, the Loggers were last in AVG and OBP, but 7th in runs scored.

Projected matchups:
Chris Munroe (5-10, 3.48 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (13-8, 3.63 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (11-8, 3.34 ERA) vs. Jason McDonald (9-16, 5.04 ERA)
John Korb (2-1, 3.16 ERA) vs. Carlos Michel (9-7, 4.41 ERA)
Hector Santos (14-5, 2.51 ERA) vs. Kurt Doyle (6-16, 5.15 ERA)

Michel is their sole left-handed starter. As expected, Nick Brown’s next start is pushed back to the weekend. His turn would have been on Wednesday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Sambrano – RF Richards – C Baca – P Munroe
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Howell – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – C Delgado – 3B Landeros – CF Gore – 2B Best – P Cope

While the Raccoons had runners on the corners with one out in the top 1st only to have it end badly with McKnight getting doubled off on DeWeese’s liner to Mike Rucker, the Loggers took an instant 1-0 lead on Victor Hodgers’ home run to left center, and Munroe managed to tear an even bigger hole into the box score quite early, conceding a second run in the inning on Chris LeMoine’s double and Tony Delgado’s RBI single, and then in the second inning hit Brad Gore, threw away Brian Cope’s bunt, and allowed the third run of the game on Hodgers’ sac fly to left. Truth be told, Cope made the same throwing error in the top 3rd on Munroe’s bunt, putting him and Baca in scoring position with nobody out. Nunley’s sac fly and McKnight’s single scored two runs, but the result still left the Coons a run short and both teams nursed the resulting 3-2 Loggers lead to the sixth, where the Raccoons tied the game on Sandy Sambrano’s 2-out single to left, which scored DeWeese from third base, though in all fairness, that run was also donated due to a wild pitch by Cope earlier in the inning. The inning continued, however, with Sandy on first and Adam Young on second base after his own infield single, and Ron Richards ticketed a 2-0 pitch to center for a single. Young, with a flying start, scored, and the Coons held their first lead of the day, 4-3, extended to 7-3 when Alonso Baca crushed a 2-2 pitch in an all-or-nothing swing. He rolled ‘all’, a 350-footer to extreme rightfield.

The resulting 7-3 lead was less secure than it looked at first glance. Munroe made it through six and two thirds before Mike Rucker belted a solo homer to end his day. Will West came on, but was bombed by LeMoine for another homer right away – for both Rucker and LeMoine this was their 23rd homer of the season – before walking Delgado. With Ruben Landeros batting, Baca picked off an itching Delgado to end the inning, but West would just walk Landeros to start the eighth. Enough with this – bring Ron Thrasher! Unfortunately, Thrasher only made a bigger mess, allowing a single to Gore, then walking PH Zach Knowling, both left-handers. Thrasher would retire nobody. Instead he allowed a game-tying, 2-run double to Corey Martin, then walked Tim Pace hitting for Hodgers. Chris Mathis took over, got a double play grounder that nevertheless allowed the go-ahead run to score, and struck out Rucker to end the inning, but the Raccoons had successfully blown another sizeable lead. The Loggers’ idea of a closer was Dave Walk (2-5, 4.85 ERA in 55.2 IP, 23 BB, 38 K), who found himself in trouble quickly after walking Alex Duarte with one out and then allowed a double to Shane Walter, who was now the go-ahead run on second base for Nunley and McKnight. Both ran full counts and struck out. 8-7 Loggers. McKnight 2-5, RBI; Baca 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Yeah, Ron, you ****ing awesome closer. Get ****ed, ****er!

I honestly need to completely break down the bullpen and rebuild it from scratch for 2017, it’s been a continuous nightmare all year long…

Game 2
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Sambrano – RF Richards – C Baca – P Abe
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Howell – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – C Delgado – CF Cooper – 3B Landeros – 2B Best – P McDonald

While Andrew Cooper started the game for the Loggers, he sprained his thumb on the first play of the game, a Shane Walter fly to center, and was most likely done for the season. He was replaced by Martin Sorto. The Loggers left Hodgers on third base in the first inning, in which he stole his 26th base of the season, but the real threat was in the second inning, which Delgado started with a leadoff double. At third with two outs, the Coons walked Steve Best intentionally, only for Jason McDonald to hit a liner to left for an RBI single. The Critters wouldn’t get a hit their first time through the order. In fact, their first two base runners were Matt Nunley, walking in both of his first two plate appearances. McKnight quickly got him forced on the latter occasion, but moved up to second on DeWeese’s grounder before Young hit a fly to deep center that Sorto couldn’t connect with. The ball was in for a double and McKnight scored, game tied at one for the moment, but a Sambrano single chased Young around to score as well, giving Portland the 2-1 advantage.

Both pitchers bunted into force plays on second base in the fifth inning. While Shane Walter killed the Coons with a double play grounder, the Loggers would get Hodgers on base with another force play before Rob Howell doubled past Ron Richards to allow the speedy Hodgers to score from first, 2-2. Rucker singled, Howell scored, Loggers in front again. Their lead didn’t live, either. While the Raccoons had chosen the intentional walk in the second inning, and it hadn’t worked, the Loggers did not choose the intentional walk in the seventh, and it didn’t work either. Sandy had stolen second base with one out, but Richards struck out in his typical useless fashion. Baca came up with Abe having just crossed 90 pitches in the bottom 6th. The Loggers chose to go with Baca despite the Raccoons’ bench being a who-is-who of baseball slasher movies, Baca singled to right, Sandy scored, and we were locked up at three. Abe batted for himself, ended the inning with a grounder to first, then started the bottom 7th only to allow a single to ****ing Jason McDonald again. When Knowling appeared to bat for Howell, Sugano was called on, but he conceded the run on a drive to center. A poor throw by Sambrano allowed Knowling to go to second base on top of McDonald scoring with the go-ahead run, but at least Sugano ended the inning with a K and a pop. To the top 9th, where Milwaukee’s closer of the day was Troy Charters (2-4, 3.34 ERA, 62 IP, 27 BB, 53 K), a right-hander that gave up a double to R.J. DeWeese right away. Young singled to move him to third, and he scored on Sandy’s sac fly to right, tied game. For Charters, hell was still in the process of freezing. Richards whiffed (…), but Baca singled, and when Howard Jones batted for Juan Gallegos he also managed to sneak a grounder through on the right side for a slow single that allowed Young to score from second base. Alex Duarte hit for Walter, who was 0-for-4 in the game and approximately 3-for-97 recently, ripped away at a 3-1 pitch by Charters and cranked it to deep right where Hodgers ran after it in vain – HOME RUN!!!

… and although the Loggers had removed both Rucker and LeMoine for defense, the Raccoons managed to get their fans excited in the bottom 9th, which they started up 8-4. Beaver got Hodgers on a pop before Knowling reached on a Howard Jones throwing error, and Paul Osterman (who??) walked. Eric Kingsley, batting cleanup, grounded to short to end the game before I could go completely mental, McKnight starting the 6-4-3. 8-4 Raccoons. Duarte (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Young 2-4, 2B, RBI; Sambrano 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Baca 3-4, RBI; Jones (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
POR: RF Sambrano – SS Jones – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 1B Young – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – P Korb
MIL: RF Hodgers – LF Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – C Delgado – SS Howell – 3B Landeros – CF Gore – 2B Best – P Michel

Korb had only lasted 5.1 innings and had allowed all runs in a 4-3 win over the Scorpions in June in his first start of the season, but that had actually been enough for a W. One wondered how the Raccoons’ pen had pitched 3.2 innings without blowing a 1-run lead, but it was what it was. In the game at hand, the Loggers burned him for three runs (two earned) in the bottom of the third, which started with a Steve Best single to right, only for Michel to swing away and also single to right. That sent Loggers to the corners, and from here things went down steadily with a Hodgers double and a Duarte throwing error. Michel retired the first 11 Coons before Nunley hit a 2-out double in the fourth. DeWeese singled, and Duarte cashed both of them with a triple to left center. The Loggers countered with single runs in the next two innings to ruin Korb’s day for good. Rob Howell homered in the fourth, which was like getting salt rubbed in your eyes, and the Loggers exploited a Margolis throwing error to get another man across in the fifth and rebuilt their 3-run lead.

While the Coons did get the tying run to the plate eventually, they didn’t do so until they had two outs in the eighth, and then it was the King of K’s to bat with runners on the corners against a left-handed pitcher. Michel got a most obvious strikeout against DeWeese to turn away the charge, and they didn’t get another chance, even against Charters, the previous night’s victim, in the ninth. 5-2 Loggers. Nunley 2-4, 2B; Duarte 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Sugano 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

So, first career homer for Duarte on Tuesday, first triple on Wednesday – I think he’s ripe for a cycle on Thursday!

Game 4
POR: CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – RF Richards – 2B Jones – C Baca – P Santos
MIL: RF Hodgers – LF Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – CF LeMoine – C Delgado – SS Howell – 3B Landeros – 2B J. Thompson – P Doyle

The Coons loaded the bases in the first inning for Adam Young to hit into a double play, while Rucker and LeMoine hit back-to-back bombs for the second time in the series, this time off Santos in the bottom of the first. While the Critters stranded pairs of runners in the third (DeWeese grounding out) and fourth (Santos grounding out), and hit into a double play to kill the fifth early on (Nunley…), the Loggers went to 3-0 on Santos when Doyle hit a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 5th. Top 6th, DeWeese led off with a single, Richards walked with one out, and again two were left stranded when Jones and Baca grounded out. Tony Delgado hit another homer off Santos in the seventh, running the Loggers’ lead to 4-0 despite them being out-hit 7-5. The game would fittingly end on a double play. Alonso Baca hit into that. 4-0 Loggers. Nunley 2-4; DeWeese 2-4;

I have successfully reached the point where I merely wish for the season to be over. Right now.

Raccoons (76-69) @ Bayhawks (82-64) – September 16-18, 2016

We returned to the Bay for the weekend, with the resident Hawks sitting one game out in the CL South and also one game shy of taken the season series, which stood 4-2 in their favor. They had the most runs scored in the Continental League with 714, but their pitching was not even league-average, putting them eighth in runs allowed, with the starting rotation dandling around in the bottom three in the league.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (8-7, 2.67 ERA) vs. William Raven (13-6, 4.32 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-8, 2.15 ERA) vs. Alex Maldonado (5-8, 4.99 ERA)
Chris Munroe (5-10, 3.51 ERA) vs. Chae-ku Lee (7-4, 3.29 ERA)

The Birds were going to show us three right-handers. Heading into the series, Ron Alston (.343, 26 HR, 97 RBI) was officially listed as DTD with a tight back, but the Birds couldn’t really get away without playing him, despite an even bigger power threat in that lineup in 26-year old Chris Almanza (.281, 34 HR, 104 RBI).

Jonny Toner would have to pitch eight innings to qualify for the ERA race after even this game. Given his raucous performance last time out, I was not holding my breath at this point. I was much more eager to see Brownie’s start-after performance!

Game 1
POR: CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Baca – RF B. Johnson – P Toner
SFB: SS Ingraham – 3B J. Rodriguez – CF D. Garcia – LF Alston – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 1B McIntyre – 2B M. Robinson – P Raven

While the Bayhawks’ lineup held five batters with double-digit homers in the #3 through #7 slots, the Coons still hit a dinger first, with R.J. DeWeese’s 2-piece in the top of the first inning. Walter had singled and scored. Toner’s control was bad… He ran 3-ball counts to every batter in the second inning, resulting in a walk to Alston, but also two strikeouts and a groundout. Alston walked again in the bottom 4th, again to start the inning. This time it hurt, with Almanza hitting his 35th homer of the season to tie the score, and D-Alex hit one right after him to give San Francisco the lead with his 20th homer. And it would still get uglier. Toner walked Mike Robinson in the inning and then allowed a 2-run homer to Zach Ingraham, coincidentally giving the Bayhawks their sixth double-digit rocket launcher. His next eight pitches were all balls, and there we were again at Alston, who struck out. So, Jonny was through the fourth inning, richer by a 5-spot, although the poor sod sat in the dugout obviously not knowing what the **** had just happened.

But maybe victory could still be his. This sounded stupid, but Toner made it through the fifth inning without any base runners (which would have been instant death for him), then saw Nunley open the top 6th with an infield single and score on DeWeese’s triple to right – D wasn’t Almanza’s strong suit. McKnight’s sac fly brought the Critters to being only one run down. Young singled, Baca singled. Brandon Johnson grounded out, and the Bayhawks removed Raven for right-hander Clark Johnson. Ron Richards hit for Jonny Toner with runners in scoring position and two outs, *walked*, but of course Alex Duarte would fly out to Dave Garcia to end the inning with the bases loaded. So, no, victory wouldn’t be Jonny Toner’s, but the loss wouldn’t be, either. DeWeese took care of that, wonking his second homer of the day in the top 7th off Clark Johnson, casually reaching 11 total bases for the game, and since Nunley was on base, he gave the Raccoons a 6-5 lead, and Shane Walter added to the lead with a 2-out, 2-run double in the top 8th, plating Brandon Johnson and McNeela. Both runs were charged to Clark Johnson, who had walked Baca (who got forced by Johnson) and McNeela in the inning. In major news, Thrasher pitched a scoreless eighth rather than setting fire to a good lead, but Mathis in the ninth issued a leadoff walk to Dan Hoover in a full count. He ran another full count against Armando Chavez before Chavez struck out, with Hoover being thrown out at second base by Baca. DeWeese, clearly the man of the game, caught the last out, Javy Rodriguez’ fly to left. 8-5 Critters. Walter 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 3-5, 2 HR, 3B, 5 RBI; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-3);

Jonathan Toner has allowed 12 home runs all season. Five of those have come in the last three games. By now it is also not quite as important anymore whether he qualifies for the ERA title… The last two games have properly ruined our team result in that category.

Game 2
POR: 3B Walter – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – C Baca – 2B Jones – RF Richards – P Brown
SFB: LF Alston – 1B Eaton – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 2B Ingraham – SS R. Miller – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Maldonado

Brownie’s no-hit bid for this week ended with Ryan Miller’s single in the second inning. At that point the Bayhawks had two on following a walk drawn by Ingraham, and Brown soon also walked Rodriguez to fill the bags with two outs and threatened a 1-0 lead given to him with a Howard Jones RBI single in the top of the inning. Maldonado however was among the worst-hitting pitchers in the league, batting .023 for the season, and softly bounced one to Brown to convert for an easy out at first base.

The Coons had a demanding scoring chance in the fifth inning. Jones had drawn a leadoff walk and Richards had singled to right. Almanza’s throw to third base had been poor, allowing Jones to walk in there and Richards to get to second. Brown was batting with no outs and hit a hard RBI single to center, 2-0, and Richards would score on Walter’s sac fly to make it 3-0, but the extra runs evaporated as quickly as they had appeared when Ron Alston singled and Pat Eaton homered to left in the bottom of the same inning, and Brown was completely dismantled in the sixth inning, in which nothing would work out anymore. D-Alex reached with an infield single, followed by two bloopers that fell in front of Richards. After a walk to Javy Rodriguez, Raul Claros singled as well, driving home the go-ahead run for the Bayhawks, and the bases were loaded with nobody out still. Brown was chased for Sugano, who struck out Alston, and Chun, who got a double play from Eaton, but the damage was still considerable and possibly fatal.

The Coons had no runners in the seventh against Jared D’Attilo, who remained in for the eighth, but allowed a leadoff double to Duarte, who was the tying run in a 4-3 game. Clark Johnson was back out again, which was a bit inexplicable given the next four Raccoons were all left-handed batters. McKnight singled on Johnson’s only pitch, prompting a (late?) pitching change to lefty G.G. Williams, the former Raccoons farmhand, who had a 3 K/BB against the fire-prone part of the lineup that was coming up. Oh heck, DeWeese had hit for 11 TB last night and had zero so far today, he was sure due for some! In a case of the glass not being quite half full nor half empty, DeWeese hit a 3-1 pitch to deep center, Garcia made the catch, but it was deep enough for Duarte to score and tie the game. That was as far as the music would play for the Raccoons; Young flew out, and Margolis hit for Baca, but popped out over the infield. Bottom 8th, Will West issued a leadoff walk to Ingraham, who was run for by Willie Ramos, who quickly took off. Margolis’ throw went to center, Ramos went to third, and we had a bit of a mess cooking. Miller grounded out to first, keeping the runner pinned. Beaver replaced West, prompting a right-hander to pinch-hit in form of Armando Chavez, who hit a 1-2 pitch for a double to left. Ethan Vasquez singled past McKnight to score Chavez, and the Raccoons were defeated. 6-4 Bayhawks. McKnight 2-4;

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Sambrano – C McNeela – RF Richards – P Munroe
SFB: 1B Eaton – 3B J. Rodriguez – CF D. Garcia – LF Alston – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – SS Ingraham – 2B Claros – P C.K. Lee

Scoring started in the third inning. Following McNeela’s leadoff double the Coons made two outs before Walter singled to center to plate the runner. Nunley sent a drive to deep left, Alston didn’t get it, and Nunley upped the score to 2-0 with his double. McKnight hit an infield single to put runners on the corners for DeWeese, but DeWeese had hit for all the bases he could on Friday and struck out. The Birds’ only hit the first time through was a 1-out double by Chae-ku Lee in the bottom of the third, but he was left on third base by Eaton and Rodriguez. The Coons doubled their lead in the fourth when McNeela’s 2-out single to left was followed by a 2-run bomb by Ron Richards. All was well until the bottom 5th for Munroe. But then Raul Claros’ homer was followed by ANOTHER double for Lee, and this time Rodriguez got one past Young with two outs and plated Lee to get back to a more manageable 4-2 deficit for San Fran.

And somebody must have moved the fences in here… DeWeese hit a leadoff jack in the top 6th, 5-2, as the balls just kept popping over the fence. Munroe hit Alston in the bottom of the inning – actually the second time on the day he nailed Alston, who had only been hit three times the entire season before this game. The Bayhawks took objection. While nothing happened in the bottom 6th, Ron Richards was hit by Lee to start the seventh inning. That was certainly not a way to get me angry. Munroe bunted him over, and then Lee hit Walter. Maybe something was brewing here, and we certainly entered a part of the lineup where I did care about my players. For the moment, the escapade cost the Bayhawks another run on McKnight’s 2-out RBI single, 6-2, and Lee was removed for G.G. Williams after that. DeWeese grounded out to close the book on the top 7th.

Munroe didn’t get through the bottom of the inning. Walking Claros was a bad start to the inning, and he surrendered singles to Eaton and Garcia to allow a run to score and to bring up the tying run in Ron Alston, who was justifiably mad by now. Ron Thrasher was brought into the game to see after him, but walked him. The right-hander Almanza hacked himself out with the bases loaded, ending the inning with the Critters hanging onto a 6-3 lead. After an uneventful eighth inning, the Critters got their first two men on in the ninth with pinch-hit singles by Duarte and Jones, but Walter hit into a double play and Nunley popped out. The bottom 9th started with Will McIntyre pinch-hitting in the #9 slot. With two righties leading off, Mathis was assigned the inning, got McIntyre on a grounder, Eaton on a whiff, and Rodriguez rolled over to Young to end the game. 6-3 Coons. McKnight 2-4, RBI; McNeela 2-4, 2B; Richards 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Duarte (PH) 1-1; Jones (PH) 1-1; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 12 – A fractured thumb ends the season of Los Angeles’ Marc Thompson (.237, 7 HR, 47 RBI).
September 13 – Bayhawks and Condors both put up 15 hits to beat their respective opponents, the Knights and Thunder, by the same rare 11-2 score. The Bayhawks also homer four times in their game.
September 14 – 39-year old CIN RF/1B Juan Ortíz (.250, 7 HR, 25 RBI) reaches 2,500 career hits in a 7-6 loss to the Rebels. Pinch-hitting for Ricky Montalvo, Ortíz singles off the Rebels’ Dan Nordahl to reach the mark. Ortíz spent most of his career with the Blue Sox, winning the first of his three All Star selections and the FLCS MVP with them in 2005. He also has a Gold Glove and a Platinum Stick and has batted .275 with 356 HR and 1,464 RBI for his career, leading the Federal League in home runs in 2008.
September 14 – The Buffaloes rake the Capitals for eight runs on four homers by Todd Sanborn, Bill Adams, Jimmy Roberts, and Pedro Salas in the eighth inning. Unfortunately, they still fail to make up their 9-run deficit and lose, 13-12.
September 16 – DAL RF/CF Stephen St. George (.282, 9 HR, 56 RBI) tries to steal third base in the bottom of the 12th inning of the Stars’ game against the Rebels. Mat Saucier’s throw is wild and into leftfield, allowing St. George to scamper home on the walkoff error. The Stars win, 6-5.
September 17 – The season is over for WAS RF Victor Sarabia (.289, 5 HR, 39 RBI), who has suffered a badly broken ankle.
September 18 – 22-year old SAC RF/LF Pablo Sanchez (.329, 4 HR, 58 RBI) rocks the Capitals for five hits in the Scorpions’ 11-9 win, including two triples and a double. He drives in two and scores only once.

Complaints and stuff

We have reached last year’s win total with two weeks to spare, so chances are decent we will avoid another losing season, which would have started a streak. I worry about streaks of losing seasons. They scare me.

Nick Brown told me after the Saturday game that his consistently bad control was due to the long layoff between games. To be fair, I didn’t intend to give him three days off, but did for vanity reasons, wanting three Raccoons starters to finish near the top of the ERA leaderboard. This required Toner to start on Friday, though. Mind that there will be some double header complications coming next week, and I was worrying not getting Toner into the season finale if not starting him on Friday. So that’s why Brownie went from Friday to Saturday and that’s what hurt him throughout his entire start there.

And as usual, vanity killed, because not only was Santos thrashered by the Loggers on Thursday, but Toner suffered his second consecutive start from hell, so something’s clearly turning south with him. He’s had a very bad streak in last August, if I remember correctly, which I then attributed to abusing him early in the season. This year, his odometer isn’t very high up there, thanks to missing about six weeks due to injury, so maybe it’s just something with the moon phase or what do I – I’ve only done this job for 40 years, I can’t really know everything and anything…!

Never mind that Brownie also got shredded by the Bayhawks…

Why isn’t McNeela playing more often over Baca and Margolis? Because he’s around long enough to know that his current slash is fake. His career slash line is .251/.350/.330 in the majors, which is virtually identical with his AAA slash line of .249/.349/.337. Combined he has almost 2,900 plate appearances between the two levels, with close to 90% of those in AAA.

We have a double header on Monday, for which we will have two extra pitchers called up. Francisquo Bocanegra, 27, will make a start after going 11-12, with a 3.79 ERA in St. Pete this season, and we will also give a look to left-hander Nick Lester, 24. Lester was a ninth-rounder in 2011, and while his most impressive offering are his wild sideburns, he did have some success with a K rate of almost a full strikeout per inning pitched in AAA this year. Overall he went 2-6 with a 3.91 ERA and 4 SV. His main issue were 36 walks in 50.2 innings. Notably, Jeff Magnotta will NOT be called up anymore this season, but with the minor league season ending on this weekend, we also bring back Danny Ochoa, who did quite well for himself in the majors this season, but was squeezed out of a job due to too many left-handed bats in the clubhouse.

Jimmy Oatmeal hit his 30th homer on Friday. Who would have thought?