Raccoons (25-20) @ Bayhawks (15-30) – May 27-29, 2025
Following an off day on Monday, the Raccoons had to put up with the Bayhawks, the worst team by record in the Continental League, and sitting 11th in the CL in both runs scored and runs allowed with a troubling -69 run differential less than two months into the season. The Raccoons actually had a real chance here to crawl out of the bottom spot in runs scored for the first time since the opening week of the season, with the Raccoons' runs total of 158 markers (oh yes…) placing them just two behind the Baybirds. The teams had not yet met in 2025 before, but the Coons had stomped San Francisco at an 8-1 rate in 2024 already.
Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (4-3, 2.82 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (2-3, 4.76 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-4, 3.62 ERA) vs. Reese Kenny (0-2, 4.05 ERA)
Jack Sander (5-2, 1.98 ERA) vs. Matt Huf (6-2, 3.09 ERA)
Among those three right-handers, Kenny and Huf were just two discards the Bayhawks had received from the Raccoons, but they actually had another one in the rotation in Jonathan Shook (2-3, 3.09 ERA).
Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – 3B Armetta – C Delgado – P Roberts
SFB: 3B Booker – 1B Flack – RF C. Martinez – C J. Ramirez – LF R. Allen – CF Hawthorne – SS Hawkins – 2B Pick – P Durr
Tony Delgado's sac fly – all you could hope from a .145 batter with three on and one out – put the Coons ahead in the second inning after singles by Gonzalez and Armetta (of the infield variety) and a full-count walk drawn by Tim Stalker. Unfortunately the Raccoons wouldn't hold on for long, with Tom Hawkins hitting a 2-out double in the bottom 2nd of a somewhat stuffless Roberts – no K's the first time through – which prompted an intentional walk to Pat Pick and then Denzel Durr flying to center, where Abel Mora came on, caught, stumbled, and dropped the ball. Ruled a no-catch, the play allowed Hawkins to score and tie the game again. The Critters failed to plate anybody between three walks drawn in the third inning, but got Armetta aboard right away in the fourth. Delgado struck out, Roberts bunted, and a passed ball advanced the runner before Cookie lost a bat that splintered into ten thousand tooth picks but held out long enough to send a dying quail into shallow right for a 2-out RBI single to plate Armetta and take a 2-1 lead. Otis then singled, sending Cookie to third, Mora was plunked, and with the bags full Jon Gonzalez gave his all and hit an RBI single before Alfaro grounded out hard to Adam Flack at first base.
A 2-run lead turned out to be a whole lot with a rather competent pitcher on the mound and this Bayhawks lineup to face. Roberts covered seven innings in 100 pitches, allowing only one more base hit to Roger Allen after getting staked to the 3-1 lead in the fourth inning. The problems for the Raccoons started only late, after tacking on a run on a pinch-hit single by Greg Borg in the ninth inning, and after a scoreless eighth by Vince D. Jonathan Snyder came out for the ninth with a 4-1 lead and without retiring anybody put the tying runs on base with a Jose Ramirez double, a walk to Roger Allen, and then a Ruben Cervantes single. This was not quite to Snyder's previous standard in '25! When the count ran full on Tom Hawkins he at least struck out the right-handed batter, but Pick singled up the middle to plate a runner and get the Bayhawks to 4-2 with the bags still full. Dave Rojas, who with his .188 clip could just as well be on the Coons, pinch-hit in the pitcher's spot and flew to right on the first pitch. Greg Borg caught the ball coming in, with Allen tagging from third and going for home. Borg fired a zip line to home plate that made you wonder whether his body was somehow mechanically enhanced, and Allen found himself out by a stride as the Bayhawks made the final out of the game at home plate. 4-2 Coons! Otis 2-5; Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Borg (PH) 1-1, RBI; Armetta 1-2, 2 BB; Gerace (PH) 1-1; Roberts 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (5-3);
Snyder's near-meltdown and the run he conceded unfortunately mean that we still tie the Baybirds for last place in runs scored with 162 counters in 46 games each.
Don't do the math.
Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – SS Stalker – LF Gerace – 3B Grigbsy – C Delgado – P Gutierrez
SFB: 3B Booker – 1B Flack – RF C. Martinez – C J. Ramirez – LF Allen – CF Hawthorne – SS Quantrille – 2B Pick – P Kenny
Reese Kenny had walked ten batters in 13.1 innings this season, which was nothing that served to surprise me. That was precisely the reason we had readily parted with him (and Huf and Shook) in the Gonzalez/Roberts deal two winters ago. The Raccoons would soon have other problems, though, since Rico Gutierrez lasted exactly two batters and one out in this game before exiting with a calf strain. (claps hands quickly) Bullpen day!
Kevin Surginer was by far the longest man in the bullpen, so he came out to replace Gutierrez right in the first inning, closing the latter's line efficiently with a double play grounder induced to Cesar Martinez. While results became secondary when your pitcher went down in the first inning, Surginer held himself up quite well. The Coons staked him to a 1-0 lead in the second inning, courtesy of singles by Gonzalez and Stalker and then Justin Gerace's sac fly, and Gerace would also chip in on defense, throwing out Pat Pick at home plate in the bottom 3rd as he tried to score from second base on Adam Flack's single to left. Kenny didn't walk anybody until the fourth inning, but when he issued a free pass to leadoff man Jon Gonzalez, Tim Stalker was on call and belched a homer to centerfield to run the score to 3-0. Kenny's control would elude him gradually then, and he ended up walking four between the fourth and fifth innings, including Cookie Carmona to begin the fifth. Cookie stole second – his sixth bag of the year – advanced on Abel Mora's groundout, then scored on a wild pitch, restoring a 3-run lead following Cesar Martinez' homer in the bottom of the fourth inning that had cut into Surginer's line.
Surginer was wrung dry for almost 60 pitches, which got the Raccoons through five innings with a 4-1 lead and got a huge amount of hugs and pats on the back in the dugout after the fifth inning, and also a heartfelt smooch on the cheek from his GM that hurried down to the tunnel between innings to express his delight at the performance in person and instantly. After Surginer collected more than half the outs in a 9-inning game, Ricky Ohl gave the Coons five more, putting up a 7-pitch sixth inning before losing cohesion in the seventh with a single, a wild pitch, and a runner on third eventually. That runner, Jose Ramirez, was stranded by Justin Hess, who got the left-handed batter Jeremy Quantrille to fly out to Mora in center to end the inning. Up until then the Bayhawks had remained close, but Jay Schimek came completely apart for them in the eighth inning. After retiring Armetta and Delgado, Schimek allowed straight base hits to Alfaro, Borg, Otis, Mora, and Gonzalez, amounting to four 2-out runs in total. Single runs that didn't influence the result much anymore fell out of Jimmy Lee in the bottom 8th and Brandon Smith in the top of the ninth, with the latter allowing an RBI single to Omar Alfaro, who went 3-for-3 off the bench eventually. 9-2 Furballs! Carmona 2-4; Borg (PH) 1-2; Gonzalez 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Stalker 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Mendez (PH) 1-1; Alfaro (PH) 3-3, RBI; Surginer 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-1); Ohl 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
In sole possession of 11th place in runs scored!! Wheeeee!! That's what I call living life in the FAST LANE.
Also, the Titans have lost twice so far, and we are now only two games out of the lead in the North.
Game 3
POR: LF Borg – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – 3B Grigbsy – C Mendez – P Sander
SFB: 3B Booker – 1B Flack – RF C. Martinez – LF R. Allen – SS Quantrille – C D. Rojas – CF Hawthorne – 2B Pick – P Huf
Matt Huf had 67 K already this season, which was probably one point that wasn't going our way in the huge deal from the 2023-24 offseason, and he struck out three more in the first inning. This didn't include Abel Mora, who hit one over the fence in rightfield, just barely inside the foul pole. Jack Sander led the league in ERA, which was worrisome since he was due for some form of impact, couldn't hold on to the 1-0 lead, suffering a hit batter (Flack), a walk (Allen), and then Quantrille's 2-out single in the bottom of the inning. You blew that one? Here's a new one! Said Mike Grigbsy in the second inning after Alfaro and Stalker had hit singles, and walloped a 385-footer over the leftfield fence. Huf could have used a strikeout there! Even miserable scratch-ticket catcher Chris Mendez almost homered, hitting a double off the wall in rightfield, and there was still nobody out in the inning, but he was left on base, partly because Huf suddenly remembered that the ball wasn't supposed to go as centered as possible over home plate.
While neither pitcher had a good day – and Huf was down 5-1 by the third inning thanks to a throwing error by Dave Rojas and a double into leftfield corner by Jon Gonzalez – the Bayhawks lineup could also be charged for letting good chances get away against Sander. They had the bags full in the bottom 3rd against the scruffy right-hander, Flack and Martinez having singled and Quantrille having reached on a Grigsby error, but Rojas smacked a pitch squarely to Stalker for an inning-ending double play. The fourth inning saw Huf's demise for good, belted from the game by Chris Mendez' leadoff jack (after all!), and now the Bayhawks were into that old pen early, although the Coons were probably not far behind. Sander was stripped for four hits and three runs in the bottom 4th, and it was almost four runs for Martinez' 2-out RBI double hitting off the very top of the wall in leftfield. That axed the lead to 6-4, and Tim Stalker was also axed due to injury, to be replaced by Dustin Jurek.
By the sixth, Sander was booted from the game, but Ricky Ohl kept Flack, whose 1-out single had kicked Sander, on base as he got Martinez to pop out foul and Allen to strike out, the first K for a Coon in this game. The bases were full in the top 7th against Brandon Smith; Mora walked and stole second base, while Alfaro and Jurek both walked. That brought up Grigsby with one out (Gonzalez had flown out to center), with Chris Mendez hoping for a good chance behind him. Mendez, the 28-year-old third-string catcher with one career homer was a triple shy of the cycle. Grigsby struck out, leaving Mendez a full plate with two down, but Jaden Booker played spoiler by intercepting Mendez' sharp bouncer for the third out. The eighth inning saw both teams put two aboard, and both would hit into inning-ending double plays, Otis for Portland and Martinez for San Francisco. More offense in the ninth served to score an insurance run for Portland on Grigsby's RBI single, but also brought up Mendez once more with two on and two outs. Hitting a triple here would be the most stunning thing that had ever happened in the ABL up to this point, and I was not biased given that a week ago I had seen as much value to Mendez as to that piece of gum on my left sole. Manny Sosa struggled badly enough with his pitches that Mendez never got anything to hit and walked to fill the bags, leading to Justin Gerace pinch-hitting for Vince D and smacking a ball up the rightfield line for a 2-run double. Jimmy Lee only allowed a single to Rojas in the bottom 9th in sealing a sweep over the Baybirds. 9-4 Furballs! Mora 1-2, 3 BB, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Alfaro 2-4, RBI; Stalker 1-2; Jurek 1-1, 2 BB; Grigbsy 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Mendez 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Gerace (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Ohl 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;
This gave the Raccoons a 5-game winning streak, something almost unheard of around these quarters.
Unfortunately no news on Tim Stalker so far, but if he goes to the DL as well, we'll have three quarters of our starting infield on there, four fifths of all personnel stationed around the diamond.
Raccoons (28-20) @ Knights (23-23) – May 30-June 1, 2025
Regardless of the huge casualty list, onwards to Atlanta it was. We were 2-1 against the Knights this season, and they also had been on the upswing recently, having swept the Elks midweek. Okay, that was just the Elks… They did have a potent offense with the third-most runs scored in the league, but struggled with pitching. Both their starters and relievers were just below league average, and overall they were allowing the fourth-most runs, but that still gave them a healthy +43 run differential that hinted at the possibility that they were indeed quite a bit better than the ordinary .500 team…
Projected matchups:
Graham Wasserman (1-3, 2.77 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (3-3, 4.56 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (3-2, 4.89 ERA) vs. Yoo-chul Kim (1-6, 5.63 ERA)
Mark Roberts (5-3, 2.53 ERA) vs. Antonio Quintana (2-0, 1.71 ERA)
Right-right-left; Jesus Chavez also doesn't know it, but he's on the clock, with Lance Legleiter performing very decently in AAA. He better not aspire for Kim's ERA!
With a .346 clip and 12 HR and 39 RBI, the Knights' Ruben Luna was currently in line for the CL batting triple crown.
Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 3B Grigsby – SS Jurek – C Delgado – P Wasserman
ATL: LF Cobb – 2B T. Jimenez – SS Showalter – C Luna – CF Houghtaling – 3B V. Ramirez – 1B Gershkovich – RF A. Sauceda – P Cope
It wasn't Luna though that pulled the rug from underneath Wasserman in the second inning, but Vinny Ramirez with his first homer of the season, a 2-piece collecting fellow ex-Elk Jeremy Houghtaling. Another ball flew out of the park as a solo shot for Andrew Showalter in the third inning, and the question was whether all of this mattered much, even with Cookie and Mora also spoiling quite a few doubles for the Knights, because Brian Cope was ON and allowed only one base hit, a third-inning Cookie single, in the first five frames, casually handling the 3-0 lead he was given with utmost excellence. Cookie was also the second Critter to reach base, being brushed by a pitch in the sixth and then was left on by Otis and Mora.
The meaningful part of the scoreboard wasn't reached by Portland players until Jon Gonzalez managed to smash a leadoff jack in the seventh inning. There went Cope's shutout, and the Coons were now only two runs behind, 3-1. Eh, wait a second. One run behind – Omar Alfaro goes back-to-back with Gonzalez! When Grigsby batted, for a moment we thought we would have three in a row, but Grigsby's fly to deep right lacked length at the end and was caught by Alex Sauceda on the warning track, with Cope getting out of the inning after all. The Knights weren't fazed much as a team, however. Exploiting the fact that Wasserman issued a leadoff walk to Mike Gershkovich in the bottom 7th and then allowed a single to Sauceda, the Knights pulled those two runs right back on Devin Hibbard's pinch-hit double and Nick Cobb's sac fly. Down 5-2, the Coons brought the tying run to the plate against Jarrod Morrison in the ninth; Jon Gonzalez hit a leadoff single, Alfaro struck out, but Borg singled in Grigsby's spot. Dustin Jurek's poke at a 3-1 pitch resulted in a bouncer back to the pitcher, though, and Morrison had no trouble turning a double play on that one. 5-2 Knights. Gonzalez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Borg (PH) 1-1;
Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – RF Borg – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Grigsby – 2B Armetta – SS Jurek – C Mendez – P Chavez
ATL: LF Cobb – 2B T. Jimenez – SS Showalter – C Luna – CF Houghtaling – 3B V. Ramirez – 1B Gershkovich – RF Briscoe – P Y.C. Kim
Chavez was in a hole immediately, entertaining himself throwing absolute garbage across the middle of the plate. It was a miracle that the Knights didn't go yard six times in the first few innings, but damage they did enough with a run on two hits in the first and two runs on four hits in the second inning. To add insult to injury, Chavez was the first Raccoon to hit a single, going up the middle with one out in the third. Cookie also singled after that, and a walk to Mora loaded the bags with two outs. Jon Gonzalez plated two with a double to left, but with the really dire part of the lineup approaching the offense ended right there. Grigsby grounded out to Tony Jimenez, keeping the Coons in arrears, 3-2. Houghtaling spoiled a Gonzalez drive to center with two outs in the fifth that could have driven in Mora from second base, and Chavez turned in three hitless innings in the third, fourth, and fifth when he already had three paws on the bus to St. Pete. He was hit for in the top of the sixth with two on and two outs. Omar Alfaro was assigned the task of bringing in Jurek (hit by a pitch) and Mendez (bloop single), but bounced the first pitch Kim handed him to Jimenez to end the inning instead.
Kim was still going in the seventh, which was such a blast for us. Mora and Gonzalez hit singles to go to the corners, but that was already with two down and now it was Grigsby in the box. But sometimes pathetic batting would beat pathetic pitching; Kim tried hard to get strike three in a full count, coming over the middle and Grigsby could indeed hit a ball on a stick… for an RBI single at least, but that got the Coons even if nothing else. With righty Alfredo Morua replacing Kim at least one batter too late, the Coons' short bench kinda forced their paws into sticking with career .217 annoyance Sam Armetta in this golden spot. He grounded out to Showalter. Morua didn't surrender the go-ahead run until the following inning when he allowed a soft leadoff single to Jurek, who was bunted over by Mendez before Gerace popped out. Cookie came through, however, singling hard past Mike Gershkovich to bring home the rule 5 pick Jurek, and now it was 4-3 Coons! Billy Brotman chewed through the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 8th before the Knights spontaneously imploded in the ninth for three hits by Gonzalez, Grigsby (double), and Otis (RBI single), and also a Hibbard error on Jurek's grounder that allowed a second run to score. This gave Snyder, who had struggled his last time out, a much more comfortable 3-run lead to handle in the bottom 9th. Struggling he did again, with singles by Gershkovich and Hibbard putting runners on the corners until Mark Walker, a left-handed batter, pinch-hit in for reliever Freddy Heredia in the #1 spot and popped out to Gonzalez… 6-3 Furballs! Carmona 2-5, RBI; Mora 2-4, BB; Gonzalez 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Grigbsy 2-5, 2B, RBI; Otis (PH) 1-1, RBI; Mendez 2-4;
On Sunday morning, Tim Stalker went to the DL finally with a strained biceps that should render him out until the All Star Game. Oh the wild joy! With misery abounding, it was time to give a call to a certain blue chip in St. Petersburg that was batting .307/.402/.427 at this point. Juan Barzaga was waived and designated for assignment to make room for Alberto Ramos on the 40-man roster.
So on a scale from "flog him!" to "at least it wasn't terminal", where do we place Jesus Chavez right now? I think demotion would be overly cruel right now, but then again we are a team that is suddenly ONE game out of the division lead and can't afford another loss EVER AGAIN.
Your turn, Mark.
Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Ramos – CF Borg – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 2B Otis – 3B Grigsby – C Delgado – P Roberts
ATL: LF Cobb – 2B T. Jimenez – SS Showalter – CF Houghtaling – C Luna – 3B V. Ramirez – 1B Gershkovich – RF Briscoe – P Chatfield
At the last minute, the Knights scratched Quintana for unknown reasons and sent in right-hander Chris Chatfield (2-3, 4.82 ERA) causing the Coons to shuffle their lineup. Debutee Alberto Ramos would have batted leadoff with Cookie getting the day off, but the pitching change changed that as well and Ramos would bat second to Cookie. Greg Borg was batting third, because Abel Mora could use a day off as well and apart from that we had casualties akin to the U.S. forces in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive……
Ramos drew a walk against Chatfield (who had more walks than strikeouts on the season) in an otherwise rather uneventful top of the first. Welcome to the Bigs! Not exactly bristling with action were also the first two Knights innings, where only two balls were put in play. Roberts walked two and struck out five. Ramos hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning, and once against didn't make it past second base for a full and complete lack of support around him. Indeed Chatfield and Roberts engaged in a most unexpected pitching duel that saw neither team score through six innings, while a few walks served to rocket up both pitchers' pitch counts anyway. Through six, the Ramos single was the Coons' only base knock, but maybe this leadoff walk to Gonzalez in the seventh can get things moving. Alfaro forced him with a grounder to Gershkovich, but Otis singled. Grigsby popped up, and then Delgado (under .150!) lined over Vinny Ramirez into leftfield for a single. Alfaro raced with blind disregard for anything, and slid in barely safe ahead of Nick Cobb's throw for the first run in the game!
Roberts got well over 100 pitches in completing the seventh inning with ten strikeouts in total, including one to ex-Elk and –Coon Cory Briscoe to end his day. The Coons saw Cookie hit a leadoff single in the top 8th, then get caught stealing. This was too bad because Chatfield yielded more base hits suddenly. Ramos doubled to left, and Borg singled softly, placing runners on the corners with one out. A quick Gonzalez bouncer eluded Ramirez for an RBI single, 2-0, before Alfaro and Otis made the last two outs. Much to our dismay, Vince D would then load the bases with nobody out in the bottom 8th, all runners reaching after 3-ball counts. Mark Walker tripled to lead off and was replaced by Alex Sauceda as pinch-runner after hurting himself, and Cobb and Jimenez walked. Ricky Ohl replaced him and failed to clean up the utter mess. Andrew Showalter grounded out to first to score a run, and Houghtaling despicably singled to right to tie the game. Luna was 0-for-3 with strikeouts throughout, but evaded the golden sombrero by flying into an 8-2 double play to Borg in shallow center, with Greg murdering Jimenez at home plate to keep the Knights from grabbing the lead. Cookie came up with the tie-breaking hit in the ninth, pushing a 2-out single through the left side to score Delgado from second base. Like Alfaro the inning before, the old man gave his all on his way to home plate, sliding in just barely safe, then got some support from Ramos (roughly half Delgado's age) as he staggered back up, huffing and puffing.
But the Cookie giveth and the Cookie taketh it away. Senor Carmona juggled a Matt Wright fly in left-center with one out in the bottom 9th, putting the tying run aboard, and Devin Hibbard disemboweled Snyder with a 2-out triple that knotted the score again and ultimately sent the game to extra innings. Surginer walked Showalter in the bottom 10th, then got torn up by ****ing ***stain Jeremy Houghtaling's walkoff homer over the rightfield fence. 5-3 Knights. Ramos 2-4, BB, 2B; Otis 1-2, 2 BB; Delgado 2-4, RBI; Roberts 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K;
Cookie. Whyyyyyy???
In other news
May 26 – A 15th-inning single by veteran RF/LF Mike Bednarski (.254, 7 HR, 29 RBI) gives the Condors a 3-2 walkoff win over the Crusaders after neither team had scored for over two hours prior to this game-ending base hit.
May 27 – Cincy's 3B/SS Ricardo Rangel (.293, 0 HR, 16 RBI) hits a walkoff single in the 12th inning to give the Cyclones victory in a truly wild 15-14 win over the Gold Sox. The Cyclones led by *13* runs in the third inning and managed to blow that lead before clawing their way to a win after all. CIN 1B/RF Nick Gilmor (.476, 1 HR, 7 RBI) goes 4-for-5 with 4 RBI and scores the winning run.
May 28 – Crusaders and Condors tally seven hits each, but it takes them to the 12th inning to score any run at all. That run, giving the Condors a 1-0 walkoff win, will be unearned thanks to NYC C Pat Walston's (.188, 0 HR, 7 RBI) throwing error, moving TIJ OF Joel Denzler (.222, 0 HR, 3 RBI) to third base, from where 3B/RF/LF Mike Matias (.233, 7 HR, 25 RBI) plates him with a single.
May 28 – SAL MR Cruz Sierra (1-1, 12.21 ERA) allows the Buffaloes to walk off, 3-2, in style. Entering the 2-1 Wolves game in the bottom of the ninth, Sierra allows four walks and hits a batter to shuffle in the tying and winning runs.
May 31 – The Falcons send SP Joel Trotter (2-4, 5.34 ERA) to the Aces for two prospects including #62 SP Alex Lopez.
Complaints and stuff
Jon Gonzalez was Player of the Week in the CL, ripping it for a .481 clip (13-for-27) with 1 HR and 8 RBI. Just a few weeks ago he was batting in the .210s, now he's at .278. If he can get the power going now……
And before you could spit in your hands and rub them in gleeful anticipation, that teen shortstop is already here, kindly brought to you by "lots and lots of injuries". If he does remotely well, Tim Stalker will be trade bait at the deadline. I am sure many teams will jump on a .215 shortstop.
It's a shame, but I think Tony Delgado has gone blind over the winter… oh well, Elias Tovias is ready to come back from the DL at the start of next week. Thankfully. Spencer, too, but the Druid is still wondering whether he should go to rehab with Kopp, who started a rehab assignment in St. Pete on Thursday. Since Kopp's bat was ice cold when he was on the DL and I assume he hasn't gotten better in the last month, I will try to get him warm against some innocent AAA pitching. We still have an off day on Monday to make up our mind on Spencer, and on Tuesday we will start a 2-week homestand against the Falcons, Crusaders, Indians, and Warriors.
And again I was this week referring to people as "ex-Elk" that hadn't been on the Elks' roster for a few years. However, being an ex-Elk is a blemish that stays with you forever. You can't just erase such a thing, it's a bit like a forehead swastika tattoo.
Except if you go into the Hall of Fame as a Raccoon like Kisho Saito and Tetsu Osanai. Then you are forgiven!
Fun Fact: Cookie Carmona made his major league debut on July 18, 2012 in a 2-1 loss to the Titans in Boston. Nick Brown dropped to 9-5 in soaking the loss, Keith Ayers was not out at home as he homered in the ninth inning, but Cookie went 0-for-3 in the game.
Ramos' makeup is remarkably close to Cookie's when he was the hottest **** on the farm. Of course, one of them is an infielder and one is an outfielder, but the batting and running profiles are stunningly similar.
Another difference is that Cookie was 20 years already when he debuted (old fart!), he didn't sign for cash in the IFA period but was rather signed in March 2008 by the Capitals straight out of Panama, and of course he came about from the Capitals in the 2011 "Dingus" Morales shuffle rather than being actually selected by us in any form of signing bonanza. "Dingus" was a Coon for only 60 days after being a late, cheap signing in April that season, costing us our first-round pick then, and when the team didn't live up to expectations (they had been in the World Series, their most recent appearance there, the previous season after all) he was sold off to the Capitals in a move for a bushel or prospects, of whom Cookie was really the only one making impact: 2,122 base hits so far and still with a chance at 3,000 and the Hall of Fame.
Right now I can not tell whether the Raccoons have ever had a teenage player before.
