[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-9) vs. Canadiens (15-9) – April 29-May 2, 2041

La-la-la-pretend would end here, because the Raccoons had been DESTROYED by the damn Elks last year (3-15, in case you drank the memory away). They were first in runs scored again, and third in runs allowed (weak!). They had a few pitching problems, with not all of their starters humming and the bullpen had an ERA over four, but if you had Jerry Outram (.388, 10 HR, 24 RBI) and Dan Schneller (.411, 5 HR, 25 RBI) in the lineup, they tended to plaster over a couple of cracks.

Projected matchups:
Ian Wilson (1-0, 1.62 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (4-0, 2.39 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (2-2, 7.09 ERA) vs. Eric Weitz (3-1, 3.96 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (2-2, 3.94 ERA) vs. Mike Mihalik (2-1, 2.86 ERA)
Josh Brown (2-0, 3.45 ERA) vs. David Arias (1-1, 4.06 ERA)

We’d miss their sole left-hander and easiest victim, Alexander Lewis (2-2, 5.96 ERA). Regardless, there was no hope.

Game 1
VAN: RF Foss – SS Obando – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 1B J. Lopez – 3B R. Ashley – LF A. Perez – P Sealock
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – 3B Ramos – CF Reyna – P Wilson

It went wrong *immediately*. Guillermo Obando singled after Aaron Foss flew out to *deep* left, Wilson walked Outram, then fumbled Timóteo Clemente’s grounder that would have ended the inning before allowing singles to Johnny Lopez and Ray Ashley for a total of three runs in the first inning. All were unearned, which, fun fact, didn’t make me one bit less sad. That aside, Wilson walked everything with legs, including the bases full in the third inning. That was before coming up against Sealock, who raked a bases-clearing double. Foss’ grounder was thrown away for two bases by Cosmo, and Outram hit an RBI single. That made it only 9-0. Outram stole second base at that point, which made me topple my desk while screaming in a fit of rage, and Wilson walked Schneller before being axed. And with “axed” I mean entirely. Not even to the showers – straight on the bus to St. Pete. 21 walks in 19.1 innings. I don’t ******* care whether your ERA is in the threes.

The Raccoons’ offense did absolutely nothing, but that only as an aside. The Coons had Zabala pitch for a while, until he left with an injury in the fifth. Zimmerman replaced him and filled the bases effortlessly with two more walks and a single, but somehow the damn Elks didn’t sledgehammer him for a 4-spot. Zimmerman lasted through the seventh, which might end up saving the bullpen (mostly) yet, and might give him the “Hero of the Day” medal made out of lint scratched out of the trusty brown couch and my bitter tears.

Portland got Balaski and Berto into scoring position in the bottom 7th with a leadoff single and double, respectively. A Miguel Reyna sac fly was all the team put on the board in the end, and the damn Elks took that back immediately, whacking Damon DeOrio for three hits and a run in the top 8th, when employment of a grumpy DeOrio was a white flag to begin with. Nick Lando was then tasked with pitching the ninth inning, which was *another* white flag. Lando walked Schneller and Clemente before getting three grounders to the left side that prevented anybody from scoring. Yay. 10-1 Canadiens. Balaski 2-4; Ramos 2-3, BB, 2B; Zabala 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Zimmerman 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

(looks over to Slappy with his face all wet) Wasn’t that fun, Slappy? (wipes over googly black eyes) And only three more like that!

But before the second rape of the week, the baseball gods put some mandatory roster moves. Ian Wilson ended up on waivers and DFA’ed, replaced by right-hander Josh Rella, a 2039 fourth-rounder converted from a soft-hitting infielder. 96mph fastball, groundball tendency, so-so control. Dr. Padilla then reported that Juan Zabala was day-to-day with shoulder soreness for the rest of the series, which was bad enough, but didn’t merit a DL stint. If push came to shove, we’d have to dump a batter going forward, either Lando or Ito (who had options).

Game 2
VAN: RF Foss – SS Obando – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 1B J. Lopez – 3B Sprague – LF DeVita – P Weitz
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – C Kilmer – 3B Ramos – CF Nettles – P Chavez

Manny Fernandez hit a 2-run homer in the bottom 1st with Cosmo on base (after forcing out Hunter, who had been nailed by Weitz), which merely erased the early deficit incurred by Bernie Chavez, who retired two, walked two, and gave up two screaming hits for a run each in the top 1st. Johnny Lopez hit an RBI double, with Clemente thrown out at home plate by Fernandez. Bernie walked Guillermo Obando and Schneller in the third inning, but somehow eluded damage there. Bottom 3rd then, and for a moment the Raccoons looked like they might take the lead with Hunter and Cosmo on base to begin the inning, but then Manny Fernandez also reached base with a single, and that gave us three runners with nobody out, meaning it was all doomed and forsaken. Doug Levis spanked into a run-scoring double play alright, and Balaski popped out.

Bottom 4th, Kilmer and Berto reached the corners with nobody out. Nettles popped out, remaining utterly useless, but Bernie slapped a 2-1 pitch through the left side for an RBI single. Hunter hit a soft single to load the bags before Weitz unloaded them with a comically bad wild pitch that brought Berto across, 5-2. Then he reloaded the bases, walking Cosmo, but Manny popped out and Levis struck out, and things remained meh.

Things got uglier from there, with Bernie tumbling through five innings in total disarray, shedding another run in the fifth, before being struck in the leg by a Weitz fastball. That loaded the bags with two outs, and a pinch-runner, because Bernie couldn’t walk anymore. Reyna pinch-ran for him, while Tony Hunter killed Weitz with a 2-run single to center, 7-3. The runners embarked on a double steal against new pitcher Paul Medvec, Clemente threw the ball away, and Reyna scored. Cosmo flew out to leave Hunter on third base, which made for an 8-3 tally through five innings. I didn’t really trust the smell of that roast, since we still had to piece 12 outs together with a debutee and four guys with abysmal ERA’s. Lindstrom was the first guy out, walked Medvec (!) in the top 6th, but was otherwise left alone. He got one out in the seventh, the remainder of which Chuck Jones pitched at the cost of a 2-out walk to Schneller. After that it was debut time for Josh Rella, facing the bottom-ish part of the order in the eighth inning. He nailed Glenn Sprague, walked Marc DeVita, all with one out, then got a double play grounder from Matt Dear. We’d chalk it up as success. Better not to ask silly questions. Ramirez then put the game away in the ninth. 8-3 Coons. Hunter 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Ramos 2-4;

The good, sorta, news is that Bernie Chavez will have a welt on the leg for a couple of days, but should be ready to pitch on Sunday. Everybody’s looking forward to that! His ERA even dropped under seven again!

(Never mind that there’s no starter for Saturday on the roster right now)

Game 3
VAN: RF Foss – SS Obando – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 1B J. Lopez – 3B Sprague – LF DeVita – P Mihalik
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – 1B Kilgallen – 2B Lando – CF Nettles – P Moreno

For a change, Portland scored first, Tony Morales doubling in Manny and his 2-out walk in the bottom 1st. Balaski also walked, but Kilgallen whiffed. That score flipped before long, with Sprague (single) and DeVita (RBI double) tying the score to begin the top 3rd before Nels clumsily walked the bags full and threw a wild pitch to get DeVita across. Getting Outram to pop out in a fat spot was a rather bitter victory at that point. Bottom 3rd, an Obando error put Hunter aboard with one gone, and Manny and Morales filled the bases quickly after that, promoting Balaski to the box in the fat spot. He hit a sac fly to left to tie the game in a 3-1 count (…), after which the inning ended with Kilgallen lining out *hard* to Sprague, who took a tumble and required replacement on grounds of injury, but held on to the 2-2 tie there.

Ray Ashley took over at the hot corner, but would miss Berto’s sharp 2-out zinger in the fourth that became an RBI single, plating Nettles for a 3-2 lead. Moreno held up through six despite a leadoff walk to Outram, which was resolved with Schneller’s double play grounder. With Kilgallen on third, two outs, and himself on 94 pitches, Moreno was then hit for in the bottom 6th. Cosmo flew out to Aaron Foss, while Alex Ramirez barfed away the lead with three singles whacked off him in the seventh. Dear pinch-hit and drove in Lopez to get us all even at three. I sighed and, with my bottle of Capt’n Coma empty, tried to wrestle Slappy’s bottle away from him. That was only the prelude to the eighth inning, though, with Brent Clark giving up a leadoff single to Outram before being replaced with Rella. Rella conceded a single to Schneller, threw a passed ball, and walked Clemente, three on and no outs. Lopez hit into a run-scoring double play, which meant the game could still go either way, except that Rella and Tim Zimmerman then took the degenerated way to decide a game and allowed another four base runners, concluding with a homer by Roy Pincus off Zimmerman to escalate the inning into a 6-spot. Johnny Lopez hit 2-piece off Zimmerman in the ninth, wiping away even the token resistance offered by Morales’ solo homer in the bottom 8th. Jeff Kilmer hit a home run off Jordan Calderon in the bottom 9th. Nobody really cared anymore. 11-5 Canadiens. Kilmer (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Morales 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilgallen 2-4; Nettles 2-4;

Josh Rella (21.60 ERA) was returned to St. Pete after this to get a starter up. Angelo Montano is back, everybody! Yaay.

Game 4
VAN: LF Foss – SS Obando – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Clemente – 1B J. Lopez – 3B R. Ashley – RF V. Vazquez – P D. Arias
POR: SS Hunter – 3B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – 2B Lando – CF Ito – P Brown

Hope for basic decency and a series split got its first damper in the opening frame when Cosmo collided with Ray Ashley at third base left the game with upper body pains. Kilgallen replaced him at third base with Berto pencilled in for an off day. However, Josh Brown did not allow a hit or a run the first time through and looked fairly decent overall, then opened the bottom 3rd with a floater over Schneller that fell for a single. Schneller then also stepped into the way of Victor Vazquez trying to make the play, with the error moving Brown to second base, from where Tony Hunter plated him with a double for the first marker on the board. Additional runs scored on Manny’s RBI double and Morales’ RBI single, while Doug Levis narrowly missed the fence in left and was instead retired by Foss. Balaski singled, but Lando’s liner to left was snagged by Foss, keeping it 3-0.

Outram broke up the not-yet-mature no-hit bid with a 1-out single in the fourth, but was doubled up by Schneller again. Clemente hit a leadoff single in the next inning, but found no support at the bottom of the order. Brown held up with a 2-hitter through six innings, during which he struck out five, but after Doug Levis hit a solo shot in the bottom 6th, Brown hung one to Schneller in the seventh for a home run, edging the score to 4-1. Clemente then hit a single, but was also picked off by Brown. Levis added another run in the bottom of the seventh with two out, singling off lefty John Roeder to score Manny (double), with Morales (walk) moving to second base. Kilmer hit for an unretired Balaski against the southpaw, and filled the bases when Ashley fumbled his high bouncer for the second Elks error in the game. Lando then popped out to strand a full set. Brown struck out Ashley and Vazquez to begin the eighth, but both counts ran long and he ended up on 103 pitches and with his velocity dropping off. Berto and Chuck Jones entered in a double switch that replaced Levis and moved Kilgallen to first base. Jones struck out Ramon Cabral to conclude eight, then still came to bat in the bottom 8th with the bases loaded and two outs. Looking at the top of the order that would bat for the damn Elks in the ninth and a 5-run lead on the board (Roeder had plated a run with a wild pitch) the Raccoons let Jones grab a stick and pop out. He then got two outs in the ninth before walking Outram and Schneller. DeOrio replaced Jones, gave up a 3-run homer to Clemente that made me almost snap, and struck out Lopez before I could stuff duckshot into the blunderbuss. 6-4 Raccoons. Fernandez 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Levis 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Balaski 3-3, 2B; Ramos 1-1; Brown 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (3-0) and 1-3;

Cosmo was diagnosed with a strained rib cage muscle and would miss most of the month of May. He was put on the DL after the game. Jay de Wit was brought up from AAA. Aruba’s Finest was hitting nothing in AAA, but maybe he could be a backup for … Nick Lando…?

This roster is falling apart fast!

Raccoons (16-11) @ Gold Sox (12-16) – May 3-5, 2041

The Gold Sox had become a rare sight on the calendar, having been a Raccoons opponent only twice in the 2030s. The Raccoons had won both those series, taking two of three games each time, most recently in 2039. The Sox had lost four in a row as we came in and had the fewest runs scored in the Federal League with just 3.7 markers per game. On the other hand, they were the second-hardest team to score on in the FL, allowing 3.9 runs per game. For comparison, the Raccoons were third in runs scored in the CL, but bottoms in runs allowed with a completely ravaged pitching staff that might yet go out and rejuvenate the Denver offense.

Projected matchups:
Drew Johnson (1-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. Antonio Vega (1-3, 3.69 ERA)
Angelo Montano (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Steve Fidler (2-2, 4.04 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (3-2, 6.82 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (3-2, 2.28 ERA)

All right-handers, with another skip of the sole southpaw available on staff, the vicious “Sauerkraut” Becker (2-3, 3.60 ERA). But we’d get ex-Coons Fidler (barely remembered, although he was here as recently as ’39) and, more significantly, del Rio against Bernie on Sunday, which might end up in a lop-sided blowout for a neat curtain call on the idea that those two and Raffaello Sabre would one day pitch the Raccoons to a championship…

Now only Bernie was left, and there was barely anything left of Bernie.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – 2B Lando – CF Nettles – P Johnson
DEN: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Hornig – CF Mercado – C J. Wilson – RF de Luna – 1B Carman – LF O. Mendoza – P A. Vega – SS Malfati

Ronnie Thompson and Jeremy Hornig went to the corners with a pair of singles to start the bottom 1st, and Nelson Mercado’s double play grounder put Thompson across home plate for an early run. Tony Hunter also hit into a double play for Portland in the first inning, erasing Berto to no greater effect, but the 1-2 pair both drew 1-out walks in the third inning, allowing for an RBI double to center by Manny Fernandez and a tied ballgame. Vega, who had BB/9 numbers not entirely dissimilar to what had gotten Ian Wilson axed earlier in the week (26 BB in 31.2 IP entering the game), walked Morales, too, presenting Doug Levis with a bases-loaded situation. The old warhorse popped out in a full count, but Bill Balaski came through with a 2-out, 2-run double to right, giving the Coons a 3-1 lead before Lando struck out to end the inning. Denver got a run back immediately, though, with Lopo Malfati hitting a leadoff triple into the left-center gap in the bottom 3rd and scoring on Thompson’s sac fly. Portland countered with a Nettles single, stolen base, and Berto’s RBI single, 4-2.

Drew Johnson was not in trouble in the middle innings, maintaining a 3-hit, 2-run pace through six innings. The Critters scratched out another run in the seventh, Berto doubling and scoring on a passed ball (his teammates would not have been enough to score him…) to get up to 5-2. But Johnson now also entered the twilight zone, having shown little staying power despite generally good outings so far, with exhaustion often taking over after just 90 pitches for him. He entered the bottom 7th on 77 offerings, but got Rich de Luna, Vince Carman, and Oscar Mendoza on just six pitches for three grounders, all to Lando. He also battled through the eighth despite a leadoff single by PH Ryan Cox, who was stranded on third base when Manny Fernandez caught Hornig’s soft fly on the run in shallow left, but we’d have to call it a day on him after that. Against Brad Blankenship in the ninth, the Raccoons got Hunter on with a walk. He stole second, but was left there, and DeOrio got the 3-run lead in the bottom 9th, facing the 3-4-5 batters. Mercado double, Jeff Wilson triple, Carman single – winning run in the box with one out. Mendoza struck out, bringing up PH Adrian Castillejo, a right-hander who dropped a blooper between Lando and Miguel Reyna in shallow right for a single that sent Carman to third with the tying run and promoted Lopo Malfati, a .179 hitter, into the spotlight. He flew out to Manny in uncomfortably deep left. 5-4 Coons. Ramos 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Johnson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-2);

Can there be a lead big enough to not get potentially thrown under the speeding bus in the ninth inning with this team??

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – 2B Lando – CF Nettles – P Montano
DEN: 2B R. Thompson – RF de Luna – 3B Hornig – 1B Carman – CF B. Murphy – C Castillejo – SS Cox – P Fidler – LF Cothern

Montano had pitched four innings in relief to mild success at the start of the season, and nobody desired him back in the rotation, but here he was, while we were evaluating actual options involving other underdone prospects… He shuffled the bags full without logging an out on two walks and a hit, then allowed a 2-run single to Bob Murphy to fall behind. Carman and Castillejo both popped out, while Cox whiffed to end the inning. Travis Cothern added a solo homer in the second inning, establishing a 3-0 lead that would last the Gold Sox a while, because while the Raccoons had the odd base hit, they usually always followed that up immediately with a double play. Manny Fernandez hit another double in the fourth and was ignored by Morales and Levis.

Come the sixth, Berto hit a 1-out single, but was forced out by Hunter’s grounder to short. Manny walked, bringing up Tony Morales as the tying run, but his cozy fly to right was handled casually by Rich de Luna. Montano, after the early walloping, pitched five shutout innings that would not see him get into the W column, or our hearts, because the offense remained mostly dead against Fidler. Top 8th, Reyna pinch-hit for Montano with one out and singled. Berto legged out an infield single, bringing up Hunter as the tying run. Fidler threw a wild pitch to advance the runners and take away the double play, THEN got a comebacker from Hunter on the next pitch that froze the runners and would have ended the inning without the wild pitch. As it was, Manny came up with two outs and slapped a single to left-center that plated two and brought up Morales as the go-ahead run, the first time a Raccoon appeared in the box as such since the opening frame. He flew out to Murphy… The bottom 8th was scoreless for Denver against Juan Zabala, after which Carlos Semchez got the ball against the 5-6-7 batters. He was a right-hander with a 1.74 ERA so I packed my stuff to beat congestion on the elevators for the team bus, but then Levis hit a leadoff single and reached third base on a passed ball and a groundout. Lando then bounced out to Hornig on the first pitch, keeping the tardy runner Levis pinned. Kilmer batted for Zabala, shoved a ball through the left side in a full count, and the Raccoons, for the moment, had staved off defeat! Reyna, already in the #9 spot, grounded out, though. The game ended quickly, though. Ryan Cox socked a leadoff triple off the wall against Brent Clark in the bottom 9th, and Nelson Mercado ended the game with a sac fly… 4-3 Gold Sox. Ramos 2-4; Fernandez 3-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer (PH) 1-1, RBI; Reyna (PH) 1-2;

(has blood running in a thin stream from a corner of his snout while he’s trapped in a throng of braying Gold Sox fans at the elevators)

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – 2B Kilgallen – CF Reyna – P Chavez
DEN: 3B Hornig – 2B Cothern – CF Mercado – C J. Wilson – RF de Luna – 1B Carman – LF O. Mendoza – P del Rio – SS Malfati

I wasn’t looking forward to this rubber game, and even though the Coons scored first (on an uncaught third strike in the top 1st, wickedly) by means of a sort-of Ramos Special (those were getting rare, huh?), the Gold Sox had yet to unveil the hammers against Bernie Chavez and his ERA in the sixes and threatening to reach the sevens again. Bernie made an error that put Wilson on board, but that was wiped off on de Luna’s double play, then allowed a single to Carman in the bottom 2nd, but Mendoza grounded out and that was all the traffic the Gold Sox put up in the early innings, but the same was true for Portland. Levis walked with one gone in the fourth, then was doubled up by Balaski. Cothern singled to open the bottom of the inning, then was doubled up by Wilson. Things for sure remained tied.

Bernie bunted his way into a full count with Miguel Reyna on first and one down in the top 5th. With the count at 3-2, the Coons took off the bunt sign, with Bernie responding with a slash single into shallow right-center that sent Reyna to third base. Berto dropped a dying quail into shallow center for an RBI single, 2-0. A Hunter single loaded the bases. Manny hit a single to right-center, plating Bernie for a 3-0 edge. Kilmer whiffed, Levis grounded out to Malfati to end the inning after that. How had running the bases for an extended period of time messed with Bernie’s heretofore solid performance? Manny Fernandez loudly caromed off the wall in leftfield in catching a de Luna drive to begin the bottom 5th to give a partial answer to that question, but he was fine and the Sox didn’t reach base in the inning, so that was that. The Sox DID score in the sixth, but that was on a throwing error by Kilgallen, who threw away Nelson Mercado’s 2-out grounder to allow Malfati (leadoff walk…) to get across home plate. Bernie then hung around to give up four straight singles that begged belief, all dropping between an infielder and an outfielder before leaving beaten and broken, down 4-3 with two aboard. Lindstrom got the last out of the inning.

While I was grinding my teeth through my jaws that del Rio would now win the ******* game, the Raccoons got Hunter on base with two outs in the seventh. At least Manny was always good for a surprise – and he hit a home run to right, flipping the score back in the Coons’ favor, 5-4! The Raccoons then failed to capitalize on Balaski and Kilgallen reaching base on an error and a single, respectively, in the eighth with nobody outs, making three poor outs in a row to strand them in scoring position. While Jeff Wilson tapped Alex Ramirez – the only Coons reliever with an ERA suggesting vague competence – with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, de Luna would hit into a double play to get us through eight. Tony Hunter then drew a leadoff walk from Terry Garrigan, stole a base, and scored on a Kilmer sac fly in the ninth for an insurance run, which would probably be needed with DeOrio getting up for the ninth. He looked grumpy as he came out of the pen, then walked .140 hitter Oscar Mendoza in a full count. PH Bob Murphy was blown away on strikes, while Malfati sailed out to Reyna in rightfield (Balaski had been dropped for defense, with Nettles in center). Another full count yielded another walk to Jeremy Hornig, and then inevitably an RBI single by Cox. That used up the insurance run and brought up Castillejo in the #3 spot. We could throw Zabala into the mess (the only right-hander left in the pen), but why pretend… Another defensive replacement had been Jay de Wit in for Berto at third base, and he saw action for the first time since being called up when Castillejo drove a bouncer at him – he handled it for the final out. 6-5 Critters. Hunter 2-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Chavez 5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-2;

In other news

April 30 – BOS LF/CF Willie Vega (.232, 3 HR, 8 RBI) has suffered a quad strain and will miss up to six weeks.
April 30 – The Titans also get blacked out by the Indians in a 13-3 loss. IND 3B Dan Hutson (.273, 8 HR, 19 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI.
May 1 – SAC LF/SS Jesus Banuelas (.375, 0 HR, 5 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after a sixth-inning double in a 4-2 win over the Pacifics.
May 2 – Cincy 2B/SS Mike Gibson (.294, 0 HR, 8 RBI) will miss six weeks with a broken hand.
May 3 – Sacramento LF/SS Jesus Banuelas (.373, 0 HR, 6 RBI) has his hitting streak snapped at 21 games after a hitless appearance in a 9-8 win over the Thunder.
May 3 – Los Angeles’ SP Josh Bourgeois (2-3, 3.69 ERA) 3-hits the Indians and whiffs seven in a 5-0 shutout.
May 5 – DAL SP Alfredo Vargas (3-2, 6.41 ERA) nixes 12 Falcons in a 6-hit shutout. The Stars win 4-0.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B Chris Delagrange (.287, 6 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ OF/1B Scott Martin (.381, 3 HR, 14 RBI), swatting .533 (16-30) with 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC C Manichiro Toki (.449, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.390, 10 HR, 25 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: LAP SP Chris Sulkey (4-0, 0.78 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Matt Sealock (5-0, 2.22 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.311, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ C Juan Guerra (.419, 3 HR, 6 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

It is early May and we are plotting the demise of Damon DeOrio, who is just another kid with matches in the dynamite factory in the ninth inning. One step forward, two steps back, all the ******* time.

The good news is that DeOrio can simply be non-tendered after the season. The question is whether he will live long enough to witness it.

Our pitching and defense remain abhorrent. The rotation is *alright*. The bullpen is just getting worse. The only non-problem child appears to be Ramirez, and he probably won’t be able to pitch 250 innings this year… Let’s just say we are actively scouring the waiver wire to plug the leaks caused by last year’s waiver wire leak-plugs.

And yet, somehow, the Raccoons are just one game out in the North. It’s of course down to the offense, who keeps rallying even when I am considering making for the elevators… If only we could fix that ******* bullpen and get an actual fifth starter…

We could *try* 2039 first-rounder Corey Mathers, who hasn’t gotten a lot of press recently and is not a ranked prospect, but who holds a 2.47 ERA in St. Pete. That is however with a very generous BABIP that he won’t get up here, and while walking four per nine innings as a righty. He is only 22, much time for this to shake out – but if the Raccoons want to buy into their solid start and a flimsy chance at somehow toppling the damn Elks, they need a solution NOW and not when Mathers will have shaken himself out. He is also the only serious option in AAA. This does not include Jason Wheatley, Adam Capone, Jake White, or any other pitching prospect name-dropped regularly on bobblehead sports radio. All of them are still in AA, where they are doing *alright*. What about Jose Arias, Victor Merino, Tony Negrete? Aumsville dwellers. Arias and Negrete might move up to AA soon and Wheatley and Capone might be up to AAA before long, but they are currently not major league material.

We will start a 2-week homestand after an off day on Monday, playing a total of 13 games against the Cyclones, Titans, Crusaders, and Falcons. Looking further ahead, we do not play either the Loggers or damn Elks until June, and then have eight games with Milwaukee. The damn Elks will be our four-and-four dance partners at the All Star break.

That will be fun.

Fun Fact: Tony Hunter leads the CL with 12 stolen bases (in 15 attempts) after stealing only 18 last year.

He also got a lot more opportunity, hitting for 87 points better average, 104 points better OBP, and only 66 points better slugging (thus keeping him at first base even more often). He played in 126 games in ’40, and so far has featured in all but one this year. His personal best for stolen bases is 25 with the Gold Sox – he was traded for Steve Fidler – in 2039.