[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Okay, that post cheered me up some....

Not sure where the following week will rank on the cheer/jeer spectrum…

Originally Posted by DD Martin

At least the Damn Elks are faltering a bit and have fallen out of 1st. Them winning the division would really be pouring salt in the wounds.

I will subscribe to the "at least not them!" sentiment without much thought.

+++

Raccoons (60-57) vs. Cyclones (61-57) – August 14-16, 2029

Scoring was scarce in Cyclones games; the team amounted to the third-fewest runs scored as well as the third-fewest runs allowed, with a +5 run differential. They were just as skinny a wannabe contender as the Coons were, just a further two games behind in their division. The key difference was that they were actually second to the Buffaloes. These teams had not met since 2026, when the Cyclones had taken two of three in the set.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (4-4, 2.22 ERA) vs. Josh Irwin (6-8, 3.91 ERA)
Jamie O’Leary (1-5, 4.04 ERA) vs. Jim Shannon (9-6, 2.80 ERA)
Mark Roberts (12-8, 3.30 ERA) vs. Logan Bessey (10-4, 2.59 ERA)

Two right-handers, one left-hander in this series.

Game 1
CIN: CF Clark – 3B Rangel – LF Winborn – RF Gibbs – 1B de Santaigo – C Sanford – 2B Che – SS Eisenberg – P Irwin
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – RF Gomez – C Tovias – P Anderson

After Kevin Clark walked and Ricardo Rangel singled and pulled off a double steal, Kyle Anderso managed to whiff two, but in an 0-2 count surrendered a 2-run single to Carlos de Santiago for a first-inning deficit. Kevin Clark would also triple home Frank Eisenberg after the shortstop drew a 1-out walk in the second inning. Rangel popped out to shallow center to keep Clark on and the score at 3-0, but with this team, that was bad enough. The Raccoons did not get a base hit until the fourth when Jamieson singled and was stranded, and didn’t get a run until the fifth when Matt Nunley launched a leadoff jack. The bottom three went down in order and that run looked destined to remain a blip in the box score. Anderson got through six without allowing another run, but also pretty much exhausted himself on 101 pitches, and while Ramos began the bottom 6th with a single to center, people immediately threw wrenches into gears. Stalker grounded to short, with the Cyclones having to settle for the lead runner. Jamieson singled to left, but Harenberg grounded back to the mound, with the runner at second dead again, and the runners that remained on the corners were the guilty parties, Stalker and Harenberg. Both were chased home by Abel Mora’s left-center gap penetrator, which tied the game, and Mora was then waved around and came across safely on a clean Nunley single to left-center. Gomez grounded out to Rangel to end the inning, but suddenly the Critters were up 4-3. Come the seventh, the battery blew that one immediately. Surginer issued a leadoff walk to Eisenberg, and when Nando Maiello dropped a pathetic grounder, Tovias fired that one over Tim Stalker’s head and into foul ground for a 2-base error. Garavito replaced Surginer on account of left-handed batters, but inherited the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and was obviously doomed. But there was not even the slightest pretense of keeping this one tight; Clark and Rangel both hit run-scoring grounders before Garavito walked Kelvin Winborn (who had struck out thrice against Anderson) and allowed a single to Ken Gibbs. PH Ricky Tello then popped out.

Former Crusaders reliever Jon Ozier appeared in the game for the bottom 7th, facing Tovias to begin things, and Tovias sure had some making-up to do! He doubled to left, which was a nice start to any inning. Wilson Rodriguez batted for the pitcher, turned on a 1-2 in do-or-die fashion and DID hit a homer to left-center that left the Cyclones’ bench in despair as it flipped the score for the third time in three half-innings. The Critters added four more singles against two relievers in the inning, but only one more run; after Ramos’ single, Stalker hit into a double play, and then it was straight one-basers from the middle of the order, Mora cashing Jamieson for an insurance run, a tiny nook into which Ricky Ohl crammed a hanger and subsequent leadoff jack by Pat Sanford in the top 8th. The next three vanished in order, the Coons stranded a pair in the bottom 8th despite Magallanes pinch-hitting for Stalker in a wicked attempt to get something done, but Josh Boles retired the top of the order on 12 pitches and with two strikeouts to put this one in the W column. 7-6 Coons. Ramos 2-4, BB; Jamieson 3-4; Mora 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Tovias 2-4, 2B; Rodriguez (PH) 1-2, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
CIN: 3B Rangel – SS Eisenberg – 2B Ri. Tello – C Sanford – CF Clark – 1B Che – LF Winborn – RF Gibbs – P Shannon
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – RF Rodriguez – C Ivey – P O’Leary

This game started on a Nunley throwing error for two bases against Ricardo Rangel, who was fast enough to have 20 steals on the year, and continued straight through a four-pitch walk to Eisenberg and then a fielder’s choice, a strikeout against Sanford, and a grounder to Stalker off Clark’s bat, and nobody scored. The Coons scored the game’s first run in the bottom 2nd, which began with Harenberg ramming a ball off the top of the fence for a double. Nunley singled him in, and they were on the corners after a Rodriguez single until Shane Ivey cracked a 3-1 pitch into a double play. O’Leary then blew the lead right away and without much further ado. Rangel opened the top 3rd with a triple to center, scored on an Eisenberg single, and there was a walk to Ricky Tello, an RBI single by Sanford, and only then did the inning begin to peter out. The Cyclones loaded them up when Hang-yu Che walked with one out, Winborn whiffed, and Gibbs stranded three with a pop to Stalker, leaving the score at 2-1. The Coons tied that up with a Ramos Special in the bottom 3rd, but make no mistake – O’Leary remained outrageously ghastly and lasted only one more inning, or just long enough to carelessly feed a goodie to Sanford for a 3-run homer in the top of the fourth. That one very much knocked the wind out of the Critters. Their attempts in the middle innings were pathetic, either with singling pinch-hitters being caught stealing (Gerster) or Harenberg hitting into his 18,000th career double play. Sean Rigg made a convincing case for team MVP with two scoreless innings in relief – that’s how bad it was. It took them until the eighth until they plated another run with another Ramos Special of singling, stealing, scoring on some sorta single, and that made it 5-3 and actually brought out the tying run. Jamieson flew out, and having Harenberg at the plate as tying run generally didn’t mean anything but more disappointment. He grounded out to short to end the inning. Garavito retired the Cyclones in the ninth, and the tying run was back at the plate with nobody out in the bottom 9th when Abel Mora got poked by an Adam Moran pitch. Magallanes batted for Nunley to stay out of the double play, flew out to center, Gomez batted for Garavito and whiffed, and that figured to be the game, with two outs and Ivey and Baldwin drawing up. Ivey singled over Tello. Baldwin singled past Rangel, Mora scored, and now it was a 1-run game with runners on the corners and Ramos coming up! …and Ramos’ liner to left was caught by Winborn. 5-4 Cyclones. Stalker 2-4, 2 RBI; Rodriguez 2-3; Rigg 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Pitching change for the final game – right-hander Geoff Whitehouse (5-7, 4.00 ERA) would start.

For the Cyclones, in case you weren’t sure. But I will admit “Geoff Whitehouse” sounded like one of the Coons’ accountants manned up and donned a uniform to help out his team. Don’t mention it to Hollywood; after the Germinator VII didn’t do as well as the last two combined they will shoot any script they can think of.

Also, Nick Valdes stopped by before the Coons would hopefully see the Cyclones out of town, but I didn’t see him all morning before the game. He was probably up to something.

Game 3
CIN: 3B Rangel – SS Eisenberg – 2B Ri. Tello – C Sanford – CF Clark – 1B Che – LF Winborn – RF Gibbs – P Whitehouse
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – RF Rodriguez – C Tovias – P Roberts

The Coons were off in the first inning; Ramos made an out, Stalker singled and pulled off a Ramos Special, Harenberg drove in a run, and Mora hit into the double play to end it all. Seemed like everybody was out of alignment by one position… In turn, Mark Roberts was off by about 380 feet, which was the depth of Clark’s leadoff jack to tie the score in the top 2nd, and then Che and Winborn hit straight singles, and Cincy took the lead on a Whitehouse sac fly after Gibbs whiffed. Bottom 2nd, a 2-out rally of the weirdest sort was in progress when Tovias walked, Roberts singled, and Ramos walked. That loaded the bases for Tim Stalker, who ran a 3-1 count, poked, and popped out. The feckless idiot popped out indeed.

Roberts rung up Ken Gibbs to complete four innings in the game, which gave him 162 for the year and neatly assured the Raccoons at least one (and only one) pitcher would qualify for whatever awards outside the Golden Big Bertha dear Mark Roberts hoped to win at the end of the year. The fifth inning was another extended nightmare of wretched ineptness. Whitehouse led off with a single to left, which was bad enough, but Roberts at least pounced on a Rangel grounder to get the lead runner at second base, and Rangel was caught stealing. But Roberts kept leaking out of every hole. Frank Eisenberg walked, stole second, Tello walked, and then Roberts hit Sanford to load the bases. That was a three-on situation out of NOTHING for the Cyclones, and Kevin Clark was the batter. He flew out to Mora. All inept! All inept! Contract all those inept teams!

Roberts almost bumped into 100 pitches through six, and then developments outside his control (which was more on the meh side, too) saw him removed for a pinch-hitter. Mora led off the bottom 6th with a fly to Winborn, but then Nunley walked and scored on singles by Rodriguez and Tovias to tie game, and the #9 hole game up with one out and runners on first and second. I expected major agony, but sent Gomez to bat for Roberts. They had a lot in common thinking about it, mainly having been so much better about two or three years ago. The Cyclones already had a new pitcher in, righty Alejandro Purcella, who walked Gomez on four pitches to load them up for Ramos, something that had not worked in Wednesday’s game already… Ramos popped out at 1-0, and Stalker grounded out to short, and that was the rally. In turn, Kevin Surginer was impaled for a Rangel double, Eisenberg triple, Tello sac fly, and thus two runs in the seventh. Brotman and Stonecipher did better in the last two innings, but that still didn’t make the Coons come back. They would however bring the top of the order to the plate in the bottom of the ninth against Moran. Yet, two grounders to Tello and a K to Jamieson put this one away a loss. 4-2 Cyclones.

Turns out, Nick Valdes spent the morning sorting all gear with player name and number on it in the team store by numbers in ascending order, then reconsidered, sorted them alphabetically, then reconsidered, then sorted them in ascending order, then reconsidered, then sorted them alphabetically, then reconsidered, then –

Raccoons (61-59) vs. Titans (66-55) – August 17-19, 2029

Final straw, if you are so inclined to give the rump Critters that much credit. I had little confidence, especially with the pitching coming up in this series. Boston was only ninth in runs scored, but conceded the fewest runs in the Federal League. However, that +60 run differential was also nothing of old dominance, and in their case dominance was not even that old. They had pushed +200 every year just a couple of seasons ago. Boston led the season series, 7-4.

Projected matchups:
Allen Reed (4-3, 4.68 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Viamontes (14-3, 2.86 ERA)
Trevor Draper (3-2, 4.66 ERA) vs. Bryan Hanson (7-12, 3.76 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (4-4, 2.47 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (7-7, 3.00 ERA)

One right, two left; there were some injuries to those Titans, with Jeremy Waite, Ryan Corkum, Keith Spataro and others on the DL, but, ah, look at the Coons…

Draper was not yet on the roster; he had walked 27 and struck out only 14 in his earlier stint this season, nobody wanted him back, but times were desperate to the n-th degree.

Game 1
BOS: 1B Jon. Morales – LF W. Vega – SS S. Williams – RF O’Rourke – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – C T. Perez – CF Acor – P Viamontes
POR: SS Ramos – LF Magallanes – 2B Stalker – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – RF Gomez – C Ivey – P Reed

The Coons hit a few hard balls off Viamontes in the early innings; but Harenberg flew out to Willie Vega to strand Magallanes on second base in the opening frame, and while Abel Mora hit a leadoff jack in the second, all the other drives were caught as well. Maybe a few soft ones could do the job? Bottom 3rd, Ramos coaxed a leadoff walk before Magallanes dropped a meek single into shallow center. Two of the next four pitches were hit to Willie Vega for two outs, but Mora pushed a roller past Adam Corder for an RBI single, upping to 2-0 in support of Allen Reed, before Nunley grounded out. The 11th-year veteran Reed was not at all overburdened early in his third starting assignment for Portland and held the Titans to one hit in the first four innings. Unfortunately, Tony Perez and Dustin Acor hit soft singles themselves to begin the fifth and were bunted into scoring position by Viamontes. Jonathan Morales hit a sac fly to right, 2-1, but Vega struck out, keeping the Critters afloat for the moment, and then two more innings before his spot came up leading off the home team’s spell to bat in the bottom 7th. Butch Gerster struck out in his spot, but Ramos doubled to right. Bitterly, Dustin Acor robbed both Magallanes, dashing in for a catch, then Stalker, who was retired after Acor raced into the depths of center and made the catch to end the inning. Even more regrettable was Ricky Ohl’s performance, who blew the slim lead with a leadoff double hit by Morales, then Vega’s sharp RBI single to right-center. Stephen Williams hit into a double play after that, but nobody was cheering… Viamontes kept holding up in the eighth, while Surginer offered a leadoff walk to Adam Corder in the ninth, a runner that eventually Garavito had to strand. Jonathan Snyder, the former Critter, faced them in the bottom of the ninth. Gomez and Ivey made quick outs before Tovias batted for Garavito and doubled to right, which brought up Ramos, who fell to a 1-2 count before hitting a ball in the gap. Rightfielder Chris Hollar didn’t reach it, and by the time Adrian Reichardt contained the ball in the gap, Tovias was already steaming for home plate. It was a walkoff! 3-2 Coons! Ramos 2-4, BB, 3B*, 2B; Mora 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Tovias (PH) 1-1, 2B; Reed 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K;

There was a roster move on Saturday to bring Trevor Draper onto the roster. Matt Stonecipher was temporarily assigned to AAA, but didn’t leave town. This was only burning his first career option, which I claimed to myself was okay, because I could not bear another Sean Rigg start in my lifetime…

Game 2
BOS: 1B Jon. Morales – LF W. Vega – SS S. Williams – RF O’Rourke – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – C T. Perez – CF Reichardt – P Hanson
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Rodriguez – CF Magallanes – C Tovias – 3B Gerster – P Draper

…but what exactly made me think that I could stomach Trevor Draper pitching to the TITANS? Before long, the Titans were crowding him. Both teams plated a run in the first, the Titans doing so on three singles, and the Coons getting it done with three 2-out runners, singles by Jamieson and Rodriguez, and Harenberg getting nailed in between. The second inning was about bad bunts; the Titans had two on when Hanson bunted into an inning-ending double play, while the Coons had only Tovias on base with one out when Draper bunted poorly, but Tony Perez – a Gold Glover relatively recently – committed a garish throwing error over the head of Rhett West that put both halves of the Coons’ battery in scoring position. Ramos got in Tovias with a groundout, while Draper scored when Stalker flew to shallow center and for ONCE Adrian Reichardt could not foil the Critters and had to pull up and play it on the bounce. The score remained 3-1 for the home team when Jamieson grounded out to Stephen Williams. There was more bonfires in the making; Draper walked Morales to begin the third, Morales stole second, and Vega drew another walk anyway. Williams hit a liner to left in a full count, with the runners in motion. Ramos leapt like a cat, came down with the ball, and suddenly the Titans were screwed. Both runners were at least halfway of the base they had to return to, Ramos zinged to Stalker to double up Morales, and from there the Coons went to Harenberg to triple up Vega – yes, indeed, it was a 6-4-3 triple play!

And still, there was no saving Draper, who pitched like arse. O’Rourke hit a leadoff homer in the fourth, Corder walked, West walked. Now Perez hit into a double play, and OBVIOUSLY Reichardt was getting four wide ones to bring up Hanson, whom even Draper could ring up, but he had put up ten unintentional runners in just four innings… Through some major miracle he was in the lead, 3-2, but that went bust in the fifth with a walk to Vega, an frightening 2-base error committed by Rodriguez, and then Draper had nothing left in store to keep the Titans from scoring on an O’Rourke grounder. Corder flew out to Jamieson, keeping the game tied at three.

That was all anybody could allow Draper to do in this game without risking mass suicide in the stands in what was a frankly mad game. Fleischer kept the Titans short in the sixth, while Hanson stayed in the game. Magallanes reached with a 1-out single in the bottom 6th, Tovias poked a single into center, and then Gerster hit a ball to the left side that Corder could not quite reach, and it also died just beyond the infield dirt, robbing Vega of a play on Magallanes who was sent around to break the tie with a run, 4-3. The Coons then fudged up, trying to get Gerster to steal second (he was thrown out) so that Fleischer could plate a run with a ball put in play (which he then couldn’t), and we then tried to get Fleischer through the seventh (which he wouldn’t). After Morales grounded out, Vega and Williams walked and it was not close. When Chris Hollar pinch-hit for O’Rourke, Billy Brotman got the boot in the pen, fell 2-0 to Hollar and then surrendered a liner to right, and unbelievably Vega was caught off base AGAIN when Tim Stalker reached to shag the liner, then flicked it to Ramos for a 4-6 double play to end THIS inning.

Bottom 7th, Hanson lost Ramos on balls, and this was the chance for an insurance run. Ramos acquired second by force on a pitch in the dirt, then moved to third when Stalker grounded out. Jamieson ran 2-0 on Hanson, then knocked the ball up the third base line, through a diving Corder, and far enough up the line for an RBI double. YES!!! (shakes fist wildly until shoulder makes a weird noise) YESsssss…!!! (freezes in pain)

Maddeningly, Ohl couldn’t get through the bottom half of the order in the eighth. Corder popped out, but West singled and Perez walked. Those were the tying runs, and also Keith Leonard pinch-hitting. This was too important to go to Garavito with the tying runs on – Josh Boles would see the lefty-batting Leonard, entering in a double switch with Mora, who went to center and would bat third in the bottom 8th. He did so still with the Coons in the lead despite Boles walking Leonard on five pitches. With the bags full, Josh sniffed out Eddie Moreno and Jonathan Morales on strikes, though, stranding three Titans. But Pat Selby retired the Coons in order, and Boles returned with a leadoff walk to Willie Vega, bringing up the middle of the order as the tying runs. Williams ran a full count before grounding out to short, Vega reaching second base. Hollar whiffed, but Corder walked in a full count. Boles was on 36 pitches and could probably only face one more batter in good conscience before Surginer would have to be tossed into a cascade of runners, unless Rhett West made the final out. There was a LONG mound conference, with umpires dragging Tovias and Stalker in particular off the mound eventually. Boles ran a 2-1 count before giving up a floater to right near the line. Rodriguez did not get it; Vega was sent around third base, Rodriguez fired – WILD! The throw was wild!! Vega scored, the runners moved up, and Boles left with his head hanging onto his chest as it was 5-4 with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Kevin Surginer faced Tony Perez, the count ran full, and he walked him … bases loaded, two outs for Dustin Acor, batting .294 with one homer. Two pitches later, it was .292 with one homer. Acor grounded the 1-0 to short, Ramos to first, ballgame. 5-4 Raccoons!!?? Jamieson 2-4, 2B, RBI; Tovias 2-4;

BALLGAME!!

(collapses onto the couch and falls asleep immediately)

Game 3
BOS: 2B R. West – LF W. Vega – SS S. Williams – RF Hollar – C Leonard – 3B Corder – 1B E. Moreno – CF Acor – P Wingo
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – RF Rodriguez – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P Anderson

Kyle Anderson was in general search of the meaning of life in general and the strike zone in particular. He surrendered two walks in the first inning and also a run on a Williams double to left, and again the Raccoons had an all too strenuous hold on contention. Acor reached on an infield single in the second, but was caught stealing, and by then the Coons had already tied the score on a Ramos Special in the bottom 1st. Alberto stole his 49th bag of the season in the inning. He struck out his next time around in the bottom 3rd, but Tim Stalker singled and then Jamieson hit a bomb to left that put the Coons up 3-1. But the shaky Critters pitcher of the day remained shaky, walked Leonard to begin the fourth, Corder doubled off Anderson, and somehow the Titans only scored one run on Acor’s sac fly. Eddie Moreno, who almost got the Coons as a pinch-hitter in the 2026 World Series, fouled out with nobody out and runners in scoring position. That run came back, though; Gomez hit a 1-out single to right in the bottom of the inning, and Wingo issued a free pass to Tovias, his first of the game. Matt Nunley fell to two strikes before bolting a ball to deep center. Acor didn’t get to it, and the ball fell in for an RBI double, the lack of speed on the base paths preventing greater carnage. Anderson and Ramos made outs to strand the runners in the 4-2 game.

But Anderson was not up to it. The Titans continued to whack him, pulled back a run in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Williams and Hollar, and Anderson was at 92 pitches after the inning. It was only a question of WHEN the Coons’ pen would finally collapse for good under the stress despite the extra arm, not IF. Maybe they could put off catching fire until after this game. Maybe not. The cruel Coons dragged the overmatched Anderson through the sixth against the bottom of the order. And then the pen collapsed.

Matt Stonecipher retired nobody in the seventh inning, walking Rhett West, conceding a single to Willie Vega, and then got blasted by Stephen Williams with a mammoth 3-piece that flipped the score, 6-4, and another run scored off Billy Brotman, who got whacked around for a walk and two hits, including an Adrian Reichardt, pinch-hit RBI double. Bottom 7th, Nunley led off with a single up the middle against Rafael Urbano. Harenberg batted for Brotman, struck out, and Urbano lost Ramos on four pitches. Tim Stalker drove a ball to right, Hollar would not get it, and it landed against the base of the wall for an RBI double, and now Portland had the tying runs in scoring position with one down for Jamieson, and then the tying RUN in scoring position with one down for Jamieson when Urbano balked in Ramos. And they didn’t get Stalker in. Urbano struck out Jamieson. Mike Stank struck out Abel Mora. Stalker remained at third base.

Top 8th, Willie Vega drew a 1-out walk from Fleischer. While Vega would steal two bases, Fleischer walked the bags full anywhere with Hollar and Leonard, making Corder come up with three on and two outs. The Coons would have liked to be able to go to a guaranteed strikeout reliever, but Ricky Ohl had been anything but that. Surginer was off limits after three straight days in action. There was still Sean Rigg available…? … All yours, Johnny! Corder grounded out to strand the runners. Pat Selby sawed off the 5-6-7 batters in the eighth, and then it was Snyder for the ninth, leading off against Nunley, who lined out to Reichardt. Magallanes batted in the #9 hole and legged out a pathetic grounder for an infield single, and now the Coons came back to the top of the order. The crowd was chanting and screaming for a comeback with Ramos as the winning run, and while Synder got him to 1-2, he couldn’t get him removed, and Ramos slashed a low liner up the middle and into centerfield for a single. C’mon, boys!! One solid knocker for a sweep! Stalker struck out. Jamieson struck out. 7-6 Titans. Ramos 2-4, BB; Stalker 3-5, 2B, RBI; Gomez 2-4; Nunley 2-4, RBI; Magallanes (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 14 – RIC RF/LF Keith Damron (.304, 9 HR, 49 RBI) collects a hit in the Rebels’ 11-1 rout of the Titans, extending a hitting streak to 20 games.
August 14 – A fracture in his elbow puts BOS SP Chris Munroe (5-10, 4.28 ERA) out for the rest of the season.
August 15 – The Condors’ Shane Sanks (.287, 20 HR, 85 RBI) shines with four hits and four RBI in a 13-1 mauling of the Scorpions.
August 18 – The hitting streak of Richmond’s Keith Damron (.303, 10 HR, 50 RBI) ends after 22 games with an 0-for-4 effort in a 4-3 loss against the Cyclones.
August 18 – SFW SP John Rucker (12-7, 3.10 ERA) twirls a 3-hit shutout over the Pacifics. The left-hander whiffs six in the 8-0 Warriors win.
August 19 – WAS SP Greg Gannon (9-11, 3.98 ERA) no-hits the Buffaloes in a 3-0 game, whiffing eight batters! This is the 56th no-hitter in ABL history and the second for the Capitals, the other having been Eric Williams’ perfect game against the Rebels in 2024.
August 19 – Scorpions superstar Pablo Sanchez (.331, 10 HR, 59 RBI) is out for the season with a tear in his labrum. Now 35, Sanchez is the only ABL player ever to hit .400 in a season, doing so with a .409 clip in 2021, and will be a free agent at the end of the year.

Complaints and stuff

Saturday was … BY FAR … the most wicked game I can remember. I mean, yeah, there were wicked games before, either for one moment (Keith Ayers out at home!) or a series of moments (Juan Diaz with three wild pitches in one at-bat), or even the sheer madness of your average Wednesday afternoon, 12-11 bonanza in Elktown, which seems to happen annually.

No, Saturday was something else entirely. The Coons were shambling along for nine innings, had horrendous pitching, issued TWELVE walks, and TEN hits, and still held the Titans to four runs on four double plays and a TRIPLE PLAY. The entire ****ing thing almost collapsed in every single inning, and somehow the team pulled through …!! They were out-hit, out-walked, even out-run, and certainly out-pitched. And they still won an ab-so-lute-ly crucial, vicious nail biter of a game!

And then, that ****ing cold shower on Sunday.

Why the hell can nobody on this team pitch? The pitchers are so miserable …! Just look at them! (points at Roberts, Anderson, Reed, and O’Leary all piled up on the couch) Look at the miserable bunch!!

Next week: Loggers at home, then that Midwest road trip, seven games in three shanty towns, starting with the makeup date in Dallas and the continuing through Oklahoma City and Las Vegas.

Fun Fact: Kevin Surginer made it this far into the season without picking up a decision until he soaked a loss against the Cyclones this week. In the past, Surginer got as much as 15 decisions in a season.

That would have been 2026, when he went 9-6 with a save and a 3.86 ERA in 59 games for 65.1 innings. And not one of the 196 outs he logged that season was remotely as intense as the one he logged on Saturday.

*The walkoff hit spawned as a triple, but with Tovias at second base should really have been a double.