[Westheim]

Raccoons (48-51) @ Knights (57-41) – July 22-24, 2024

Could the Raccoons finally win a series from a strong team? It was kind of a requirement for deserving the postseason to begin with… The CL South-leading Knights were certainly a good test at this critical junction of the season. They had a 6-game winning streak going and were scoring the second-most runs in the league, but had far more pedestrian pitching. Their rotation was decent, fifth by ERA, but their bullpen ranked in the bottom three and they urgently needed help. The Raccoons had a 2-1 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (6-6, 3.49 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (8-4, 3.75 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (10-4, 2.90 ERA) vs. Chris Chatfield (7-7, 4.22 ERA)
Jack Sander (5-5, 3.92 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (10-5, 3.10 ERA)

The Knights had two left-handed starters and we'd miss them both; these were their three right-handed starting pitchers.

Game 1
POR: CF Mora – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – C Tovias – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Roberts
ATL: LF Stuckey – 3B Rolland – CF Houghtaling – SS T. Jimenez – 2B Hibbard – 1B McIntyre – C Wright – RF A. Sauceda – P L. Hernandez

Nothing. The Raccoons had … nothing. Matt Nunley had their first two base hits, splashing singles in the second and sixth innings, and reaching second base once, and third base never. Roberts, after cocking up a 410-foot leadoff jack to Johnny Stuckey in the very first inning, hung on to his 1-0 loss with great resilience, which was the kind of sentence that made a good epitaph for any deceased season. Tim Stalker actually hit a single in the seventh inning, with one out, showing some remote life and giving the team a technical chance, although the bottom of this lineup was where chances routinely went to die, and this seventh inning was no exception. Alfaro struck out, Cookie flew out to centerfield, easily. Roberts allowed only four base hits in seven innings, whiffing six, which was a totally decent effort, but "totally decent" was not something that could outpace this lineup's morbid tendency to lie down in a corner and die. Shane Walter hit a 2-out single in the eighth; he was left on first base just like the last couple of runners. Jarrod Morrison saved his 30th game of the season without allowing another base runner in the ninth. 1-0 Knights. Nunley 2-3, BB; Roberts 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (6-7);

Game 2
POR: CF Mora – LF Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – 2B Walter – C T. Delgado – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – P Gutierrez
ATL: LF Stuckey – 3B Rolland – C Ru. Luna – CF Houghtaling – SS T. Jimenez – 2B Hibbard – 1B McIntyre – RF A. Sauceda – P Chatfield

To begin this game, Abel Mora tripled between Jeremy Houghtaling, the old Elk, and Alex Sauceda, Jarod Spencer singled him in, and then the middle of the order struck out, struck out, and … struck out. Unfortunately, one run wasn't going to be enough for Rico Gutierrez, who got taken deep for 435 feet in the bottom of the inning by Ruben Luna, who nailed his 21st dinger of the season, which got him past Jon Gonzalez on the leaderboard. That was not the last home run in the game, with both teams getting their next run on a solo shot; Tony Jimenez banged one off Gutierrez leading off the second, with Nunley tying the game in the fourth with a ball that barely got over the fence in right.

The score was tied at two through five innings, with the Coons hitting into a double play in every inning in which they didn't score, and also in the sixth, although they also scored in that. Mora and Spencer had begun the inning with singles, but Nunley now had rolled into a 6-4-3. Jon Gonzalez' soft fly dropped in front of Sauceda in shallow right and got away from him for a double, but Abel Mora would have scored anyway from third base, bringing in the go-ahead run, 3-2. The inning ended with Will McIntyre diving to catch Shane Walter's low liner, with the bottom 6th seeing another deep bid by Stuckey, which was however contained at the fence by Omar Alfaro, who then clubbed a double into the gap with one out in the seventh, sending Tim Stalker to third base. With one out, the Coons HAD to roll for runs, and Rico Gutierrez' .100 clip was not promising. Zach Graves lined to right, barely fair, but well out of Sauceda's reach this time, landing a clutch 2-run double as he batted for Rico, and the Raccoons would get Graves across on Nunley's 2-out single. They actually loaded the bases in the inning, with left-hander Estevan Delgado replacing Chatfield in a 6-2 game with three on and two outs. Elias Tovias was sent to bat for the left-handed Shane Walter, but struck out.

All of this led up to a very predictable bullpen collapse for Portland, who uncleverly sent Jimmy Lee into a 4-run game, despite probably knowing better. Lee faced four batters, allowed four horrendous deep flies, and conceded three extra base hits – Jimenez was robbed by Graves in leftfield (which Spencer had vacated to fill in at the keystone), but a Houghtaling triple and doubles by Devin Hibbard and Will McIntyre did damage enough. Brett Lillis replaced Lee, threw a wild pitch to move McIntyre to third base, then was lucky that Sauceda popped out foul, and sophomore Phil Neubecker's deep 3-1 drive to right was caught up with by Alfaro. Luna hit a 2-out double off Lillis in the eighth, with Snyder coming in early to stop the erosion, which he did for the time being, whiffing Houghtaling to end the eighth. Tony Jimenez worked a walk in a full count to begin the ninth inning, after which the Knights threw every left-handed bat they could find at Snyder, but to no avail. None of them got the ball out of the infield as he retired Tony Avalos, Matt Wright, and Alex Sauceda in order. 6-4 Raccoons. Mora 2-3, 2 BB, 3B; Spencer 2-5, RBI; Nunley 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Graves (PH) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (11-4); Snyder 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (13);

Game 3
POR: CF Mora – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – C Tovias – SS Stalker – RF Graves – LF Carmona – P Sander
ATL: LF Stuckey – SS T. Jimenez – C Ru. Luna – CF Houghtaling – 1B Avalos – 2B Hibbard – RF McIntyre – 3B Rolland – P Cope

Coons scored first, getting their first few batters aboard in the second inning. Jon Gonzalez drew a walk, moved to third on Elias Tovias' double to right, and scored on Tim Stalker's sharp single to right, with McIntyre's strong arm keeping Tovias from even thinking about scoring. He came in on Zach Graves' grounder to second base, which erased Stalker, but Graves beat out the return throw. Cookie hit another single, but the inning fizzled out after that, with Sander holding a 2-0 lead, at least until Ruben Luna socked another one. The 375-footer that marked #22, tying Ron Raynor for the lead in the CL, for Luna occurred to begin the bottom of the fourth, and was only the beginning for Sander. Houghtaling, always a pest, doubled to right, and would come around to score on a sac fly by Hibbard eventually. Sander issued two walks before stumbling out of the inning against Cope, now in a tied game.

It didn't stay tied for long. Cookie sneaked a single through the right side to begin the fifth inning. Sander bunted him over, and then Mora hit a drive into the rightfield corner for an RBI double. It was also the last batter that Cope faced, leaving the game with a calf strain. He'd live, but he hung on for the loss now, and his odds became longer thanks to Jimenez not having a play after intercepting Spencer's grounder up the middle off Alfredo Morua. The replacement right-hander would give another hit, a gapper to Nunley that made it to the fence between Stuckey and Houghtaling for a 2-run double, and extended the Coons' lead to 5-2. Morua continued to melt away in the sixth inning, which admittedly started with a Jimenez error, putting Stalker aboard, but after that Graves and Cookie hit sharp singles, the latter extending the lead to 6-2. Frank Yeager replaced Morua, and although he took Sander's bunt for a forceout at third base surrendered another three runs, two of those on Spencer's screaming double up the leftfield line.

None of this managed to mask a muddy start by Sander, who walked five in total, including one in the bottom 6th, from which he was forcefully evicted by Jaylen Rolland's 1-out, 3-run homer, getting the Knights back into slam range, 9-5. Yup, the Raccoons managed to turn this into a meltdown – David Kipple retired Alex Sauceda on a fly to center before consecutive errors by Gonzalez and Stalker created a sense of inescapable doom with Ruben Luna at the plate. He was not the tying run, but how could he not strangle Kipple with his own intestines here? The 0-2 was grounded to first base, and this time Gonzalez managed to keep his shoes on his hindpaws and the gloves on the ball, racing to first, easily beating out Luna to end the inning.

This was a wicked game, there wasn't even a discussion about that. Yet, this rubber game had one more up its sleeve. Tim Stalker walked, Zach Graves singled off Efrain Isidoro in the seventh inning, bringing up an unretired Cookie Carmona, who would also stay unretired and put three more on the board, crashing a 3-2 hanger over the middle of the plate for more than 400 feet and over the fence in right-center! COOKIE HAS GONE DEEP!! COOKIE HAS GONE DEEP!!! We were somewhat ecstatic here, because he hadn't hit a dinger in four years… and this one put the Coons even further ahead, 12-5. The rout was in progress, but not complete yet. Estevan Delgado also got his share of the clubbing, surrendering a 2-piece to Matt Nunley in the eighth, and Nunley also turned double plays in the seventh (5-4-3) and eighth (5-3). Let's just ignore the 3-spot the Knights put on Ryan Corkum in the bottom of the ninth… 14-8 Raccoons! Spencer 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Graves 2-4, RBI; Carmona 4-5, HR, 4 RBI; Metts (PH) 1-1, 2B; Lee 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Offense?

Trade!

Offense!

The Raccoons were off on Thursday, but not idle, trading for CIN OF/1B Terry Kopp (.273, 12 HR, 81 RBI) as the deadline drew nearer. Kopp, 27, was in his sixth ABL season and would be on his fourth ABL team in 12 months, was under contract through 2026 and offered tremendous extra base hit prowess. While he was not a prime hitter of home runs, never landing more than 21, he had led the Federal League in doubles in 2022 (with 48) and could challenge for 70+ XBH year in, year out.

The Cyclones received OF Dwayne Metts and 19-year-old A SP Gilberto Rendon in the deal. Nobody cried much over Metts; Rendon was a Costa Rican scouting discovery with a promising, but not exactly sterling scouting report. He was throwing 92 from the right side, had a strong slider and a meager changeup. Maybe a reliever in the future.

The future was not what the Raccoons, five games back on Thursday morning, had in mind. The Raccoons wanted it NOW!!

Raccoons (50-52) @ Condors (54-48) – July 26-28, 2024

The Condors had been swept by the Loggers midweek and were now 4 1/2 games out in the South, which just liked the North lacked a team convincingly pushing .600 to move away from loads of mediocre teams. The Condors were probably not made for the playoffs, ranking ninth in offense and seventh in anti-offense. The season series was even at three.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (7-5, 3.38 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (13-5, 2.45 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (5-11, 4.04 ERA) vs. Zach Weaver (5-4, 3.34 ERA)
Mark Roberts (6-7, 3.38 ERA) vs. Jose Menendez (8-10, 3.50 ERA)

Left, right, right, and hopefully Terry Kopp can instantly murder a few of them.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – P Delgadillo
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – 1B Hollar – 3B M. Matias – RF O. Larios – C Sanford – CF Hatley – LF Boggs – 2B T. Casillas – P L. Flores

Kopp struck out to strand Jarod Spencer and his leadoff double at third base in the first inning, but eh, what's one failed plate appearance? I'm calm as ****. (accidentally snaps head off a Jon Gonzalez bobblehead) … The Raccoons took an unearned 1-0 lead in the second inning, with Nunley reaching second base on an error by Nick Hatley in center, then scoring on Stalker's double. Tim Stalker was thrown out at home by Robby Boggs on a single snipped by Omar Alfaro, but I was still calm as ****. (accidentally shatters glass of bourbon with the bare hand) … While Delgadillo held on to things for the moment, Luis Flores allowed back-to-back walks to begin the third inning, with Tony Casillas eating some dirt scrambling after Jon Gonzalez' grounder in vain as it escaped to centerfield. This one loaded the bases for Terry Kopp, with nobody out. Kopp struck out. Tovias struck out. Nunley flew to center… and into an out. (faints into the shattering minibar)

The Condors tied the game in the bottom of the same inning (…) with Delgadillo offering a leadoff walk to Boogs and conceding singles to Casillas and Bob Rojas. Pat Sanford gave them a lead with a solo home run in the next inning. Flores struck out seven through four innings, and Delgadillo had six scalps on his belt, and was still behind. And this one was tilting more and more to the wrong side. The Condors hit two more sharp singles off Delgadillo in the fifth, and then Mike Matias hit a ball over the fence, putting the Coons in a 5-1 hole. After that, still, the Condors were more likely to pile on – loading the bases in the seventh against Devereaux and Brotman for example before being retired by Matias' and Omar Larios' shallow pops – than the Raccoons climbing back into the game against Flores, who whiffed ten in seven innings before yielding to the bullpen, Sam Lowery in particular, and it was not exactly like things improved for the Coons against Lowery… 5-1 Condors. Walter (PH) 1-1;

Well, I was unconscious for most of the game and the Druid is still busy picking shards of glass from my hand, but the box score says that Terry Kopp hit for a golden sombrero in the first game as a Critter.

It's okay, Mena, it's okay. Just… just tell Honeypaws I always loved only him. (closes eyes)

Game 2
POR: CF Mora – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – C Tovias – LF Carmona – SS Bullock – P Chavez
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – 1B Hollar – 3B M. Matias – RF O. Larios – C Sanford – CF Hatley – LF W. Ramos – 2B T. Casillas – P Weaver

Nunleyesque defense held Jesus Chavez together in the first inning after Mike Matias and Omar Larios had reached the corners with a single and a double, respectively. Pat Sanford, who had hit the game-winning home run on Friday, cracked a liner to left, with Nunley, half human, half cat, lunging and swiping the ball in flight before landing on the foul line. That inning was over, as was Terry Kopp's unnerving strikeout streak; he hit a leadoff double in the second and scored on consecutive productive outs by Tovias and Cookie, who hit a sac fly. The Raccoons had only one more base hit in the first five innings, a Gonzalez double with one out in the fourth, but neither Kopp nor Tovias could get the ball out of the infield, or in Tovias' case even into fair ground. The Condors had three hits through five against Chavez, who allowed lots and lots of fly balls. Omar Larios was the only one to hit one out, a solo shot in the fourth, but Chavez didn't exactly impress here, whiffing only two and letting mostly Abel Mora do all the hard work.

Zach Weaver walked Mora to begin the sixth, and then issued four balls to Nunley, too, which brought up the big boys and should nominally create trouble for the Condors righty. Gonzalez grounded out to Chris Hollar, advancing the runners, after which Kopp drew his first blood as a Critter, lining up the leftfield line for a double. Willie Ramos had no chance, and two runs scored. Kopp was left on, and the Condors brought up the tying runs with nobody out in the bottom 6th. Bob Rojas singled to right center, Chris Hollar singled to left center. With things dicey, the Raccoons looked at their battered pen and sighed. Maybe Chavez could wiggle through this one, or maybe they could come out of a 4-run hole afterwards… Matias grounded to short, but beat out the return throw to break up the double play, only Hollar being out at second. Larios struck out. Sanford walked in a full count to load the bases, and a left-hander in Hatley drew up. He had tried hard to sink the Condors in the first game with two errors, maybe he'd sink them again. Mound conference. First pitch, fly to left. Cookie – inning over!! Chavez retired the bottom of the order without problems in the bottom of the seventh inning, holding on to the 3-1 lead.

While that was probably it for Chavez, the Coons could use an insurance run anyway. Nunley cracked a 1-out double to right against Mark Morrison, a righty, in the eighth inning, presenting the power department with another runner in scoring position, but Morrison hung a K on Gonzalez, and Kopp's grounder to right was intercepted by Hollar, leaving Nunley stranded. Billy Brotman got the assignment with two left-handed bats coming up first in the bottom 8th. K to Rojas, K to Hollar, so there was no harm in him facing Matias, too, and he handled Matias' 2-2 grounder himself for the third out of the inning. With no insurance coming forth from the Coons' bottom of the lineup in the ninth inning, Jonathan Snyder received the 3-1 lead in the bottom 9th. This one went the other way 'round. Grounder to first, grounder to third, and then Hatley stared at a 2-2 pitch perfectly located on the outside corner to end this game. 3-1 Furballs! Nunley 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Kopp 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-11);

COONS COONS COONS!!!

COME ON, SUCKERS! GET DADDY TO THE ****ING PLAYOFFS!!

Maybe start with the rubber game here.

The Condors were not idle, though, acquiring infielder Shane Sanks (.187, 4 HR, 33 RBI) from the Bayhawks before the Sunday game, along with a prospect, for a prospect of their own, interesting but unranked C Eric Martins.

Game 3
POR: CF Mora – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – C Tovias – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – P Roberts
TIJ: 2B B. Rojas – SS Sanks – 3B M. Matias – LF O. Larios – 1B Hollar – C Zarate – RF W. Ramos – CF Hatley – P Jo. Menendez

We helplessly watched as Mark Roberts kept faltering, allowing a first pitch single, actually some shot to shallow center off the bat of Bob Rojas, and while Shane Sanks hit into a force at second, that still left a runner aboard for Mike Matias to cash when he crashed another pitch for a homer to left. Down 2-0, the Coons got Gonzalez and Kopp aboard with singles to start the top 2nd, only for the bottom of the order to flunk out completely, and as if that was not enough, catcher Danny Zarate smoked a leadoff triple in the bottom 2nd. Oh, Roberts, why hath thou forsakenth us? Oh, just a second – Zarate never scored, with Ramos and Hatley going down on strikes and Menendez falling bat-first into a pitch that turned into a bouncer for Nunley to handle for the third out.

Speaking of triples, Abel Mora hit one in the third inning, although he almost had to carry Mark Roberts part of the way there, after Roberts had legged out an infield single to begin the inning. Willie Ramos kindly was not charged an error for chasing down Mora's ball for almost forever in the corner, although that was a key ingredient in Roberts making it home from first base on the play. That was the Coons' first run, the tying run was on third base and nobody out. C'mon, boys! Well, the tying run came home on Walter's groundout, but that was it… Mora would reappear in scoring position in the fifth inning, though, courtesy of a wild throw by Matias that Hollar couldn't come up with. With one out, the Condors chose to walk Walter intentionally, which probably meant they were entirely gambling on Matt Nunley hitting into a double play. He did not, instead poking the first pitch from Menendez softly to center, where it died a hero and loaded the bases for Jon Gonzalez. Jon had not homered since July 16 against the Loggers. This would be a splendid time! Nope, he didn't get it out of here, but he got it *in*, into leftfield precisely, for an RBI single that gave the Raccoons the lead, 3-2, and brought up Terry Kopp, who grounded to Bob Rojas, with Gonzalez forced out at second, but that second out was all the Condors got as Walter scored. Tovias flew out to center, keeping the score at 4-2.

The tying runs were on base in no time. Abel Mora had Ramos' fly to center hit off the edge of his glove for an error to begin the bottom 5th, and then Roberts struck Hatley in the wrist. Hatley required replacement by Robby Boggs, while the Raccons casually ordered their pen to get their bums moving, although it sure helped greatly that Jose Menendez' bunt attempts were clumsy, futile, and ended with a strikeout. Rojas struck out. Sanks struck out! THERE'S THE ACE WE WERE LOOKING FOR!! Flashbacks to Nick Brown as Roberts went on to whiff Matias and Larios in the sixth, mixed in a walk to Hollar, then sliced Zarate in half with three more strikes! 10 K for him in the game! The seventh saw Robby Boggs single, then get caught stealing, as Roberts held on to the 4-2 edge, which became a 6-2 edge in the eighth, which started with Jon Gonzalez getting hit, and then an RBI triple by Alfaro to right-center, then Stalker's RBI single. Graves batted for Roberts, who had been close to 100 pitches anyway, but grounded out. The Coons turned to Kipple with a 4-run lead, and he managed not to get killed outright by the Condors' top of the order in the eighth, and remained around for the ninth, still up by four, with two more left-handed batters scheduled in Hollar and Ramos. He got those, but walked Zarate in between. Vince D would take care of Boggs to end the game and notch the season series. 6-2 Raccoons! Nunley 2-5; Alfaro 2-4, 3B, RBI; Roberts 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (7-7) and 1-3; Kipple 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

July 22 – Two games, twenty-one innings, two runs in the Continental League. While the Raccoons fall, 1-0, to the Knights in regulation, the Bayhawks need 12 innings to score the golden run on the Crusaders, claiming their 1-0 win on Jaden Booker's (.284, 2 HR, 15 RBI) home run.
July 23 – SFB SP Brian Simmons (12-6, 3.26 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in a 6-0 shutout, whiffing seven.
July 23 – NAS MR Ruben Ortega (2-4, 3.38 ERA, 1 SV) drills SFW 1B/OF Pedro Cisneros (.295, 7 HR, 34 RBI) with the bases loaded to walk off the Warriors, 3-2, in the tenth inning.
July 24 – WAS RF/LF/1B Matt Hamilton (.340, 14 HR, 51 RBI) is out with a fractured wrist and will likely miss at least six weeks.
July 25 – The Titans' SP Dustin Wingo (11-8, 3.78 ERA) and CL Javy Salomon (2-2, 2.65 ERA, 15 SV) combine for a 2-0, 1-hit shutout of the Thunder. OCT C Adam Baker (.317, 6 HR, 28 RBI) denies Wingo a potential no-hitter with a seventh-inning single.
July 25 – The Wolves flip INF Mike Green (.252, 13 HR, 54 RBI) to the Gold Sox for SP Warren Polito (6-6, 3.99 ERA). The Gold Sox also receive a prospect, while Green plays in their 16-5 rout of the Rebels the same night and drives in six for his new team.
July 27 – ATL INF Tony Jimenez (.278, 6 HR, 29 RBI) is lost for the season with a broken ankle.
July 28 – The Knights trade for DEN SS Andrew Showalter (.287, 15 HR, 55 RBI), parting with SP/MR Danny Martin (5-2, 5.23 ERA) and #11 prospect C Fernando Garcia.
July 28 – The Miners break up a close game with the Stars with eight runs in the eighth, clobbering them 12-3 in the end. PIT C J.J. Henley (.272, 14 HR, 56 RBI) lands three hits, including a 3-run homer, and drives in four overall.

Complaints and stuff

CONQUEST NORTH!! Oh good heavens, I hope…

Zach Graves is moping because he had to give #20 to Terry Kopp. Zach, you better be glad that the Cyclones took Dwayne Metts in the trade, otherwise…….

After one start, which he lost, Michael Foreman – 33 years old and eager to never work outside of a diamond – signed a 4-yr, $11M extension with the Scorpions this week. Good for him! Routinely solid pitcher that gave us (together with Ismael Pastor, who has yet to surface in the Bigs) Jarod Spencer, Greg Borg, and Evan Carrell from the Loggers in '21. Oh, and casually threw a shutout against the Coons that same September…

We are still under .500 and the playoffs are so tantalizingly close …! The odd win here or there… It's like the 1994, twice-defending champions Raccoons, that cucked out to a 81-81 record when a pedestrian 86 wins would have won the North…

Believe it or not, but this 13-10 July is our best month of the year…

Next week we'll be at the Bay – where things have gone mighty south before – and then it's time for a 4-game set with the Elks to begin the month of August. I don't have to mention just how ****ing south things have gone against the Elks before, especially in 4-game sets at home.

Fun Fact: On May 7, 2020, the Raccoons beat the Canadiens, 7-1, behind Tadasu Abe, who claimed his third win of the season. Prior to this week, it was also the most-recent time that Cookie Carmona got one over the fence, hitting a solo home run off Matt Rosenthal.

Homering off the Knights' Efrain Isidoro gives Cookie 20 career home runs, which isn't a whole lot for a guy with 2,040 base hits and a severe case of early-onset midlife crisis. But going back to his home runs, there are actually not only one, but *two* pitchers against whom Cookie has hit more than one home run in his career. One of those was Gabriel Caro, most prominently of the Loggers, who surrendered nine hits, including two home runs, to Cookie while holding him to a sub-career average .290 clip. So he was unlucky, well, that happens.

You can't claim bad luck for the other guy on Cookie's multi-homer list; Colin Sabatino not only conceded base hits to Cookie on a .474 rate in 38 at-bats, he also allowed him to go yard *three* times!

How surprised would you be to learn that both Caro and Sabatino retired with losing records in their mid-30s?