[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-43) @ Titans (43-40) – July 1-4, 2024

It would be four-and-four with the Titans this year. They were second in the North, four games behind the Crusaders, so playing eight of the next eleven games against the Critters was probably a good recipe for them. They were third in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, but they were also somehow 1-3 against Portland this year…

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (4-9, 4.59 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (6-8, 4.66 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (5-4, 3.82 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (3-2, 3.83 ERA)
Mark Roberts (5-5, 2.88 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (8-4, 3.57 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (8-4, 3.17 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (5-2, 3.12 ERA)

We'd see their left-handed starter to begin the series, followed by three right-handers. The Titans had no injuries to complain about at all at this point. They also continued to have a bullpen stuffed with southpaws, having four of those left-handers available.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Chavez
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – 1B Amador – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B Kane – LF St. Germaine – 3B Corder – P Wingo

The Coons had three hits in the opening inning, but couldn't push a run across, Nunley eventually grounding out to Adam Corder, while the Titans moved 1-0 ahead on a walk by Keith Leonard, Roberto Amador's single, and then a throwing error by Chavez, the master of disaster, himself. Singles by Adam Braun and Jamie Wilson began the fourth inning, but the Titans contained themselves with a sac fly by Mike Kane, before hitting into two groundouts. The Raccoons had been heavily dormant in between, and when Cookie Carmona hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning, but Chavez struck out trying to bunt and the top of the order would not be of much help, either, ending the inning with groundouts to the right side. Wingo continued to shut out the Raccoons through seven innings but as hit for in the bottom 7th with one out and Kane and Corder on second and first, respectively after singles off Chavez. That made for only five hits off Chavez, still enough to put the Raccoons in a hole, but PH Matt Owen's long looper near the rightfield line also made for trouble for Omar Alfaro, who raced over at breakneck speed, made a sliding catch across the line, AND avoided shattering his legs against the sidewall, too! Adam Reichardt grounded out, keeping the score at a manageable 2-0. The go-ahead run came to the plate in the eighth, and it was Jon Gonzalez, too, as the Titans cycled through their bullpen at great pace. Tim Stalker had singled off Julio San Pedro, and Mike Stank had walked Abel Mora, the only batter he faced. Gonzalez' appearance in the box prompted a move to starter-turned-reliever-only-recently Alan Farrell, who threw one pitch only, and that was grounded to short by Gonzalez to end the inning, and by extension the game as a whole. The Titans had the bags full in the bottom 8th with two walks issued by Devereaux and an infield single by Rhett West hit against David Kipple, but Stalker snagged Adam St. Germaine's soft line to end the inning. Javy Salomon retired the Coons in order in the ninth. 2-0 Titans. Stalker 2-4; Tovias 2-4; Chavez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (4-10);

Game 2
POR: CF Mora – 2B Walter – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Delgadillo
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – 1B Amador – SS Jam. Wilson – SS Kane – LF St. Germaine – RF M. Owen – 3B Corder – P Waite

Delgadillo tossed three hitless innings against the Titans, another team throwing plenty of left-handed bats at him. Roberto Amador's double in the fourth got them into the H column, but that run would not score; Jamie Wilson grounded out to short to keep him pinned, and Kane grounded out to second. The Raccoons had three base hits through four, but had not been reasonably close to a run so far. A pitchers' duel had broken out, with the Raccoons being absolutely nowhere in the middle innings, and there still being zip-zip in the seventh. Delgadillo, who had struck out four and walked one so far, was cruising in a controlled manner (though without much flash), when the Raccoons found it in their heart to sink their rookie with consecutive errors. Nunley bumbled a Kane grounder, his fourth error of the season, while Tovias failed to pick up a pathetic roller by St. Germaine to put two on with two outs. Abel Mora had to make a running catch on Matt Owen's line drive to center to keep the game in one piece. The Raccoons remained completely hopeless, with Waite tossing eight shutout innings, whiffing seven, before being for by Gil Cornejo in the bottom 8th. Cornejo hit a 1-out double, and Delgadillo came out after getting a fly to center from Reichardt, the last right-handed batter he could hope for, after 106 pitches. He could not win it, but he could still lose it, though Billy Brotman got Leonard to fly out to Cookie, keeping the scoreboard empty still. Shane Walter's leadoff single to right in the ninth inning was the Coons first runner in almost 90 minutes, but Tovias popped out, and after Gonzalez drew a walk off Salomon, Matt Nunley drove a ball to deep left that nevertheless ended up with the amazing fielder St. Germaine. Briscoe batted for Stalker, lined out to Rhett West, and the Raccoons just could not score a run no more… Could the Titans? Jimmy Lee had already spun two innings when he surrendered a leadoff double to center to Reichardt in the bottom of the 11th. Brett Lillis replaced him, got a fly to center that moved Reichardt to third, and then Adam Braun grounded to Walter, who fired home, and Reichardt was cut down! And then Jamie Wilson lined a 2-2 pitch over Walter, into right center, down the gap, and the Titans walked off with a triple. 1-0 Titans. Walter 2-4, BB; Delgadillo 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Lee 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

With the 11 innings today, and the last five innings in the 12-frame loss in New York on Sunday, the Raccoons now have not scored in 25 consecutive innings. We have conceded only four runs in the same 25 innings, but those were still worth three losses.

All of which is one valid way to suffocate, I guess.

Game 3
POR: CF Briscoe – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – C Delgado – LF Carmona – RF Graves – SS Bullock – P Roberts
BOS: 1B St. Germaine – CF Amador – LF M. Owen – 2B R. West – C A. Arias – 3B Corder – RF Cornejo – SS Jam. Wilson – P Klein

The Coons could still score, apparently, with Cory Briscoe's single to center ending the shutout streak at 27 innings. He plated Daniel Bullock from second base, with Bullock having drawn a leadoff walk in the third inning before being bunted over by Roberts, who himself allowed two hits in the first inning, but was still holding on to a zero on the board. At least through two… but not through three. St. Germaine singled, Amador singled, and West singled past a diving Nunley to get the Titans even right away in the bottom 3rd, with Roberts bleeding for five singles, and striking out nobody in the early innings. His fortunes didn't improve noticeably from there, with a leadoff walk to Corder in the fourth, who stole second base and scored on St. Germaine's 2-run double with two outs that went over the leaping Nunley and up the leftfield line. The other runner that scored was Klein, who had himself hit a 2-out single off Roberts.

Top 5th, maybe offense? Cookie led off with a double, and Zach Graves at least managed to leg out a grounder for a single, putting the tying runs on the corners for Bullock and Roberts, which would be reason for depression, except that Bullock hit an RBI double to left to keep the line moving, although that line soon stuttered. Roberts' poor grounder kept the runners in scoring position pinned, and Briscoe struck out. Shane Walter grounded up the middle, Wilson lunged, missed it, and the ball went into center for a 2-out, 2-run single! This flipped the score, and the Coons tacked on in the sixth with Jon Gonzalez' leadoff jack, his 18th of the year, moving the score to 5-3 and knocking out Klein. Delgado singled off reliever Mike Stank, who retired the next two before the Coons still loaded the bags with an intentional walk to Bullock and then a soft single by Roberts into center. Cory Briscoe also found centerfield with a single, plating two more runs, 7-3, before Walter lined out softly to St. Germaine at first base.

Yet, like Klein, Roberts was not fooling anybody in the sixth inning. Corder led off with a sharp single, Roberts threw a wild pitch and then was almost taken deep by Cornejo. Graves picked the ball off the fence, with the runners scurrying to third base. A 4-pitch walk to Jamie Wilson ended Roberts' dismal outing, with Nunley's defense holding his line somewhat in one piece, as he snagged a laced liner by PH Trent Herlihy off Kipple. St. Germaine then popped out to keep them on the corners in the 7-3 game. The Titans continued to wiggle, and put the leadoff man aboard in the seventh (against Kipple still) and eighth, with Jack Sander getting double play grounders to solve both occurrences. The Coons would have sent him for a 3-inning save at this point, but he came up in the #6 spot with two outs in the ninth after a Delgado single, so Tovias hit for him, grounding out, but Nick Derks did away with the Titans in the ninth inning instead, spilling only a single. 7-3 Raccoons! Briscoe 2-5, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, Hr, RBI; Delgado 2-4, BB; Graves 2-4, 2B; Bullock 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Sander 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Gonzalez' 18th homer breaks a tie for second place with Mike Rucker and Dave Menth, but he's still trailing Ron Raynor and his 20 home runs. The Ace Raynor had previously not really been on the radar. He was a 25-year-old sophomore that had hit only six home runs last year.

Game 4
POR: 2B Spencer – 3B Walter – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – C Tovias – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Gutierrez
BOS: CF Reichardt – RF Braun – LF M. Owen – 3B R. West – C A. Arias – 3B Corder – 1B Cornejo – SS Kane – P A. Molina

Spencer walked, stole, and scored on Gonzalez' double to right-center in the first inning, giving the recently blemishless Gutierrez an early 1-0 lead against a lineup that held every right-handed batter the Titans could pull out of the cavities between couch cushions. Which would sometimes work, too. They had two hits in the first, then loaded the bases in the second inning with nobody out, starting with Spencer's error on Alex Arias' groundball. Corder and Cornejo singled, and Gutierrez was in a boatload of trouble. Mike Kane hit a sac fly, Molina popped out, but Reichardt continued to be a royal pain and singled hard to center, the fifth base hit off Gutierrez, and this one gave the Titans the lead. Braun fouled out, and both runs in the inning remained unearned. There was a hit batter in the third, but Gutierrez was pitching so terribly, when Molina came up to bat in the fourth with one out and Kane on second, the Titans ordered him to swing away and he promptly cracked an RBI double to left. Two pitches later, Reichardt blasted an unmeasurable homer to extend the score to 5-1, with the Coons not having landed a base hit since the Gonzalez double in the first.

While the Critters didn't find another base hit until the sixth inning against Molina, when they did, they DID. Mora doubled to left, and Gonzalez wasn't content with mere doubles, and cracked a 2-piece for #19 in his pursuit of Ron Raynor. That was three hits, three runs, though still a 5-3 deficit. The Coons put on the tying runs in the seventh, with Molina nailing Alfaro, who was forced out by Cookie, but the Titans were too tardy for the double play. Two outs, Nunley batted for Gutierrez and singled to center, bringing up recent hot hand Jarod Spencer, who drilled a liner into the leftfield corner for a 2-out, 2-run triple, tying the game in the process. The triple also got rid of Molina, with Julio San Pedro taking over with the go-ahead run on third base and two outs, and Shane Walter cashed in with a clean single up the middle that escaped between the converging infielders. Suddenly, Gutierrez was in line for the win! For about five minutes. Devereaux continued to be a mess, allowed two walks in the bottom 7th and the tying run on a Jamie Wilson double in between.

Alfaro was hit again in the eighth inning, adding a second runner to Tim Stalker on second base with two down. San Pedro had initially allowed a leadoff single to Gonzalez, who was now a triple shy of the cycle, but Tovias had hit into a 3-6-3 special. Cookie to the rescue, please! The longest-tenured Raccoon delivered, shooting a ball up the leftfield line for a 2-out, 2-run double, giving the Raccoons the lead anew. Against new pitcher Edwin Balandran, a southpaw, Tony Delgado batted for Vince D, walked, and then Spencer continued to crank up the 2-out hurt with a single to left just soft enough to score Cookie from second, 9-6, and one more run came in to score on Walter's single, zooming the Coons out by four, which didn't mean crap with David Kipple approaching the mound. He allowed a walk and two hard hits to the bottom of the order, bringing up the tying run in a 10-7 game with nobody out. Jack Sander replaced him and resolved the situation in two pitches, getting Reichardt, the scourge of this team, to pop out and PH Trent Herlihy to hopple one into a double play. By comparison, Lillis' ninth was almost dull. Wilson struck out, but West singled to right. Arias, though, hit the first pitch into a double play, ending this set in a split. 10-7 Raccoons. Spencer 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Walter 2-5, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Graves (PH) 1-1, 2B; Nunley (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (41-45) vs. Indians (36-49) – July 5-7, 2024

Last in the North, the Indians had lost three in a row after a 5-game winning streak in the last week of June. They were eleventh in runs scored, last even in runs allowed, with a really troubling -105 run differential. Despite their general rottenness, they were 6-3 against Portland this year…

Projected matchups:
Josh Whitaker (0-3, 3.42 ERA) vs. Tom Shumway (6-5, 3.23 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (4-10, 4.37 ERA) vs. Sam Kramer (6-1, 2.39 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (5-4, 3.54 ERA) vs. Alvin Smith (3-4, 5.19 ERA)

Another series started by a left-hander, although the Indians' probably still more famous lefty, Tristan Broun (2-1, 3.15 ERA) was still on the DL with a partially torn labrum and was unlikely to come off before September. They were also down outfield regular Danny Morales and backstop Justin Calhoun.

Game 1
IND: RF Faulk – 3B Burns – 1B C. Martin – CF Stevenson – 2B Ingraham – LF Linnell – C Valle – SS Malinowski – P Shumway
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – C Delgado – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Whitaker

The first 14 pitches by Whitaker yielded three line drive singles and the bases loaded with nobody out in the first inning. The 15th pitch was wild, giving Indy the lead, and Josh Stevenson worked out a walk from that 1-0 count. Zach Ingraham struck out, but Richard Linnell flew out to left, quite deep, and Kyle Burns went for home, but was thrown out by Cookie to end the inning with "only" one run for the Arrowheads. The Critters would load the bases in the bottom 2nd, on some dubious fielding that put Alfaro on with a "single", Cookie walking, and then Shumway – probably the one guy on their 25-man roster that I would like to have on our 25-man roster – tried to get the lead runner on Whitaker's bunt, but Alfaro was called safe at third, and the Indians got nobody, presenting Spencer with a full buffet and one out. Spencer put a 3-1 into shallow center, but Cookie was held at third base, holding Jarod to one RBI that tied the game. Cookie came home on Stalker's grounder to Burns, 2-1, and then Abel Mora beat his predecessor as Raccoons centerfielder, Josh Stevenson with a long fly for a 2-out, 2-run triple to extend the lead to 4-1 before Gonzalez struck out swinging for #20.

Whitaker was decimated by the top of the order again in the third, walking A.J. Faulk and then got bombed by Kyle Burns to immediately axe into the lead, which was reduced to 4-3, and the Indians put two more on base before Richard Linnell and Jonathan Valle both struck out with runners on the corners to end the threat. Bottom 3rd, the Indians had trouble of their own, with Delgado and Nunley singled restocking the bases. Cookie was walked intentionally with one out, after which Whitaker popped out to short. Jarod Spencer poked a 1-2 pitch to the left side, Josh Malinowski cut it off, but he had been carried far enough to the edge of the dirt that he had no play – Spencer had a run-scoring infield single, and the Coons had a 5-3 lead.

That was still not enough for Whitaker to get his maiden win. Burns walked in the fifth, and Whitaker broke through 100 pitches by the time Corey Martin flew out to center. Jimmy Lee came on, got a double play from Stevenson, but Winless Whitaker had walked five and whiffed six in another odd and unsuccessful start. That was the only batter Lee faced, with Graves hitting a double and scoring Alfaro in his place in the bottom 5th, extending the lead to 6-3. The Indians then got to see Nick Derks in the sixth, but the Coons didn't have enough pen to spare themselves from sparing the shallow end right now. Ingraham drew the leadoff walk, and Linnell singled, bringing up the .148 batter Valle with the tying run. He lined a 1-0 fastball to right, but Gonzalez got it and Linnell had been unattentive and was caught off the base, tagged for a double play, 3-unassisted. Alfaro got hold of Malinowski's soft fly to right to end the top of the sixth, and Abel Mora got hold of a hanging breaking ball by Kyle Lamb and parked it 420 feet away from home plate, 7-3. Lamb had lost 18 games with the Elks in 2021 and had pitched out of the bullpen for three different teams ever since.

Portland dared to send Derks back to the mound in the seventh, resulting in the bases loaded and one out. Vince D came into this particular mess and got Stevenson to pop out over the infield before Ingraham was dumb enough to poke at a 3-1 pitch and ground out. This game was still far from over… Brotman walked Linnell and Malinowski in the eighth and with them aboard got real defensive heroics first by Mora on PH Brent Woods, then by Cookie to retire Faulk in the gap. Two walks also primed the Coons in the bottom 8th, Cookie hit an infield single against Eric Davidson that scored Delgado with one out, and Tovias' pinch-hit single loaded the bases with Nunley on third. The Indians' pen collapsed here, with Spencer hitting an RBI single off Davidson, and Mora hitting a 2-run single against Rafael Urbano, but that also defeated Mora's quest for the cycle, for which he would have needed a double at this point, which was a puny thing to whine about right now as the Coons won by two slams after a dicey games. 11-3 Raccoons! Spencer 3-6, 3 RBI; Mora 4-5, BB, HR, 3B, 5 RBI; Delgado 2-4, BB; Alfaro 2-4; Graves (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Tovias (PH) 1-1;

Jimmy Lee got his first decision as a Raccoon in 39 games, and his 49th major league win overall. Of course, the 32-year-old was a starting pitcher to begin his career, although he had won as many as seven in a season without making a single start, with the 2021 Blue Sox.

After three games and 3.1 scoreless innings, Derks returned to the minor leagues with Kevin Surginer coming off the DL on Saturday.

Game 2
IND: CF Linnell – 2B Stevenson – RF Farmer – 1B M. Rucker – C T. Perez – SS Burns – LF Faulk – 3B Ingraham – P Kramer
POR: CF Mora – 2B Walter – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – RF Alfaro – P Chavez

Chavez struck out bunting in the bottom 3rd again, which made him that much more likable, but he was perfect with five strikeouts at this point, so I refrained from shooting him outright. The runner on base at that point, Alfaro, had walked, the first batter to reach base under his own power in the game. Nunley had reached base on an error by Stevenson in the second, and Josh's continued appearances at second base disturbed me just as much as they disturbed the forces of the universe. The first base hit was Mora's, a double to left-center, and the Coons took a 1-0 lead on Shane Walter's groundout to second before Tovias ended the inning with a fly to center. Chavez ceased being perfect 11 batters into the game, allowing consecutive singles to center to Rick Farmer and Mike Rucker, but Alfaro caught Tony Perez' fly to right to strand them. Three straight 2-out runners concluding with Alfaro's RBI single added a second run for Portland in the bottom of the same inning.

Given how Chavez was pitching (3 H, 8 K through five shutout innings), Matt Nunley's 2-out, 3-run blast in the bottom 5th was likely to be a deciding event in the contest. Mora had led off with a single and had stolen second, and Jon Gonzalez had been walked intentionally to get to Nunley, who admittedly had been in a slump for about ten days now, but he sure got all of Kramer's 1-2 fastball here, jumping the score to 5-0. Another run fell out of Lamb in the bottom 6th, Alfaro scoring on Walter's groundout, but the main attraction was Chavez at this point. He entered the seventh on 79 pitches, expending quite a bit of energy for the eight strikeouts. He had not gone the distance this season, and he had finished even eight innings only twice, and not since May 11, and here the seventh was a long one, 18 pitches including one that Perez hit for a double. While the Indians remained off the board, at 97 pitches, a shutout became highly unlikely. He made it through eight, striking out two, and hit for himself in the bottom 8th of the 6-0 game, striking out. The ninth began on 110 pitches and against Stevenson, who struck out after running a full count. Farmer flew out to Mora on the 1-2, putting Chavez on 120 pitches with Rucker appearing in the box. Rucker would definitely be Chavez' last batter. Get him, or don't get him, but after that it was a reliever's problem. Turned out it would be Surginer's problem after Rucker walked in a full count, and he ended the game without much drama. 6-0 Coons. Mora 2-4, 2B; Nunley 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Alfaro 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Chavez 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K, W (5-10);

That was still a very, very fine effort for Chavez, who had not enjoyed many of those yet this season.

The Indians did a deal overnight, trading Kyle Burns (.294, 8 HR, 25 RBI) to the Warriors for outfielder John Staebell (.367, 0 HR, 10 RBI) and cash. Staebell had been the centerfielder for the recent Scorpions dynasty.

The Coons gave Jon Gonzalez and Abel Mora the day off, at least initially, for the Sunday game. Both had been selected for the Continental League All Star squad, and could maybe use the extra day off. They were available for PH duties, of course.

Game 3
IND: LF Faulk – 2B Stevenson – 1B M. Rucker – C T. Perez – CF Linnell – 3B J. Jackson – RF Staebell – SS Malinowski – P M. Ortega
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Briscoe – 1B Walter – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – RF Alfaro – P Delgadillo

Jarod Spencer continued to be the Tim Stalker of Summer here, coming up with the bags containing Stalker (single), Cookie (single), and Alfaro (intentional walk) and two outs, and dropped a soft blooper into shallow center to bring in a pair in the bottom 2nd. Meanwhile, our rookie starter was not in sync with the strike zone in the early going, walked two in the second inning, then started to throw it right down Broadway in about the fourth. Justin Jackson noticed, hit a solo homer in the fourth, but Omar Alfaro matched that effort in the bottom of the inning, kindly reminding you that, oh, yeah, we kinda had him as slugger in our book, and he was only batting eighth for a genuine lack of slugging. In what was otherwise a fast-moving game, Delgadillo threw 101 pitches for seventh innings of 4-hit ball, the Indians' terrible offense unable to connect near-often enough. Spencer had hit a leadoff double in the fifth, had been left on base, and Bullock hit a leadoff double when he batted for Delgadillo in the seventh, but was left on base all the same.

Jimmy Lee took over in the eighth, allowing a leadoff jack to pinch-hitter Brent Woods right away, cutting the lead to 3-2. Faulk grounded out to Nunley, and then Stevenson flew to right. Alfaro one-handed and dropped it, cruelly reminding you that he was also kind of a stupid kid that didn't listen when you told him a hundred times to ****ing use TWO HANDS, otherwise you'd remove one of his hands with an axe. Kipple came along, walked Rucker and allowed a single to Perez, and now the bags were full with one out. The Raccoons scrambled for Surginer with right-hander Jonathan Valle pinch-.hitting for Linnell. Surginer whiffed him, then had to thank Cookie for catching up with a drive by PH Rick Farmer, stranding a full set of runners. The Coons got Nunley aboard in the bottom 8th, until Stalker double-played him away at least, and would try their luck with the bottom of the order and Billy Brotman in the ninth inning, trying to sweep the Arrowheads and win five straight. John Staebell singled to right immediately before Malinowski failed to connect and went down on strikes. Zach Ingraham was batting in the #9 hole and grounded sharply to the left side, but there was one regular still in the lineup that manned that corner like no other – Matt Nunley cut off, zinged to second, and around the horn they went to double up Ingraham and sweep the Indians to level the season series at six! 3-2 Furballs! Spencer 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Alfaro 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Bullock (PH) 1-1, 2B; Delgadillo 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (6-4);

In other news

July 1 – NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.294, 2 HR, 27 RBI) is going to miss six weeks after breaking a finger in a game against the Canadiens.
July 2 – 26-year-old TOP SP Tim Wells (7-6, 3.81 ERA) shuts out the Miners on three base hits in a 3-0 Buffaloes victory.
July 2 – Recent Aces addition RF/LF Cesar Martinez (.235, 12 HR, 41 RBI) will miss three weeks with a hamstring strain.
July 2 – The Thunder shoot down the Knights' bullpen with a 9-run eighth inning, claiming an 11-3 victory.
July 3 – Milwaukee's Ian Coleman (.399, 3 HR, 29 RBI) has his 22-game hitting streak snapped by the Indians, who hold him dry in three attempts in the Loggers' 7-6 win over Indy.
July 4 – The Condors lose SP George Griffin (4-6, 4.00 ERA) for the season after the 24-year-old right-hander has been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 6 – Locked into a fight for the lead in the CL North, Crusaders and Titans play 17 innings, with the Crusaders moving 5-4 ahead in the top 17th, only for the Titans to score two on three base hits in the bottom of the inning and claiming a 6-5 walkoff win. BOS INF Mike Kane (.239, 4 HR, 42 RBI) goes 4-for-8 with a home run and 2 RBI.
July 7 – SAC CF Justin McAllester (.302, 11 HR, 66 RB) misses the cycle in style, going 5-for-6 in the Scorpions' 14-9 win over the Warriors. McAllester has two home runs, a triple, and two singles, and drives in six runs.
July 7 – The Cyclones zoom out to an 8-0 lead on the Miners by the fifth inning and still fumble a wild one, with the Miners scoring two 4-spots among other runs to send the game to extras, where both teams score in the 12th and the Miners plate three in the 14th to claim victory, 15-12. Four different Miners players land four base hits each, including Jorge Lopez (.261, 0 HR, 25 RBI), J.J. Henley (.257, 6 HR, 34 RBI), Josh Keen (.309, 9 HR, 56 RBI), and Raul Aldava (.324, 4 HR, 14 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

As already said, to no great surprise, Jon Gonzalez made the All Star team, but it IS a surprise to me that this will be his first time getting tapped. Well, it's only his third full season… Also a first-time selection: Abel Mora;

The team reared back with a 5-game winning streak just before the shinier parts could be auctioned off again. Well, there is another crucial Titans series coming up. If they could hold their own against them (although three of four would be better), then you might want to think about one-upping before the deadline. We could really use some pitching…

The IFA pool lacks something really amazing in my modest opinion. We're probably not going out of our way to blow through the soft cap this year, but there should still be room to add a few youngsters. So far we have added a 16-year-old Dominican right-hander, Carlos de la Cruz, for $66k, and a 16-year-old Dominican left-hander, Carlos Contreras, for $16k, which is the going rate for Daniel Bullock-type of players at best, the guys that hang off the tail end of the roster at the best of times and usually are a letdown if they make the majors at all.

Yes, Maud? – Cristiano wants a word with me?

Fun Fact: Outfielder Frank Santos batted .223 with 1 HR and 7 RBI for the Raccoons between 2022 and 2023 before leaving as a free agent and joining the Stars on a 2-year, $444k contract this offseason.

And this week, Santos landed five singles in a 13-6 thrashing by the Stars over the Gold Sox. Which isn't something I would have deemed likely earlier, but then again players of all sorts are known to blossom once they get out of Raccoons Ballpark. Although even with the 5-hit performance, Santos' still a .262 batter with 3 HR and 16 RBI this year while playing almost every day.