[Westheim]

Trade

The Bayhawks did three not always logical deals on Monday, including one with the Raccoons that gave the Critters rights to left-hander Aaron Curl (5-1, 1.17 ERA, 1 SV) at the expense of 25-year-old AAA CL Brad Barnes and 19-year-old A INF Mike Berger. Barnes, a righty, was major league ready, but there was just no room on our roster for him (ask Sean Marucci about it). Berger was a fourth-rounder from last year that was a necessary sacrifice at this early stage of his career.

Curl took over the roster spot of Zack Kelly, who found himself on waivers to begin the week.

Raccoons (61-43) @ Condors (55-50) – July 30-August 1, 2046

The Critters were 5-1 against the Condors this season, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad team. The pitching was quite solid especially, in the top four in ERA for both the rotation and bullpen, with the fourth-fewest runs allowed in the CL. The offense wasn’t quite keeping up, seventh in the table, but they had a +31 run differential, and in a wholly ho-hum CL South that was enough to be within sneezing distance of first place, or a game and a half out anyway.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (9-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Pedro Quinonez (10-7, 4.65 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Generos de Leon (4-8, 4.84 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (2-1, 3.20 ERA) vs. Kevin Daley (4-1, 2.40 ERA)

Quinonez was their only left-handed starter. No significant injuries for them, either; 1B Sam Witherspoon was day-to-day with a hamstring thing to begin the week, and that was it.

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Merino
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – RF Ito – 1B Witherspoon – SS Lujan – 2B Barcia – CF Reidinger – C T. Black – P Quinonez

Rikuto Ito, briefly a disappointing Critter (see: Generos de Leon), drew a walk off Merino in the first, but was thrown out trying to reach third base on Witherspoon’s 2-out single to right, Gene Pellicano getting the assist. The Raccoons then whacked not one, but two triples in the top 2nd, starting with Bryce Toohey (!), who scored on a Gonzalez groundout. Waters also tripled, both into the rightfield corner of Ito, and came home on Manny’s RBI single, 2-0. Manny was left on that time, but hit a 1-out double to left in the fourth inning and then scored on Merino’s 2-out single through the hole on the left side to get to 3-0. On the mound, Merino continued to engage in lopsided counts, but even though the Condors did clip a single each inning off him, they also hit into two double plays in the third and fourth innings to keep removing their own runners.

Portland had the bags full with Herrera, Maldo, and Gonzalez and one out in the fifth, getting a tack-on run when Terry Black lost Quinonez’ 2-1 pitch to Matt Waters, Armando Herrera scoring on the passed ball. Waters eventually walked, Manny hit a sac fly, 5-0, and Floyd popped out. Merino cruised through six meanwhile, but found trouble in the seventh when the Condors rapped him for three straight hits to begin the inning. Witherspoon singled to left, T.J. Lujan doubled to right, and Sergio Barcia cashed both of them with a single to left-center, 5-2. After Marty Reidinger popped out, Terry Black hit another single. Lefty PH Benito Mendoza grounded out, at which point Merino was removed after 83 pitches. Bob Ibold would see after Jesus Banuelas, getting to 0-2 before retiring him on a grounder to short.

Facing righty Cesar Perez in the eighth, the Raccoons brought out some of their bench. Nelson Mercado hit for Floyd and legged out an infield single. Al Martell hit for Ibold and doubled to left. Pellicano hit a sac fly, Maldo hit a 2-out RBI single, and the 5-run lead was restored. Aaron Curl made his Coons debut in the bottom 8th, retiring the 2-3-4 in order. The other Aaron in the pen – Hickey – was similarly effective in the ninth inning. 7-2 Critters! Herrera 2-5, 2B; Toohey 2-4, 3B; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1; Martell (PH) 1-1, 2B; Merino 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (10-5) and 1-3, RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – SS Waters – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – 1B Witherspoon – CF Reidinger – RF Ito – 2B Barcia – SS Lujan – C A. Ortiz – P de Leon

Wheats struck out the side in the first (give or take a Witherspoon single), and five batters the first time through the order, which helped getting his pitch count up there right away. While the Coons frittered away four singles in the first three innings to not much effect (Toohey hit into a double play with runners on the corners to kill the first inning f.e.), the Condors found another third out at third base in the third inning of this game, this time with Alex Lopez being thrown out by Nelson Mercado. When the Condors had them on the corners with one out in the bottom 4th, Lujan hit into a 6-4-3 trouble-ender.

Scoreless through five, the game saw Wheats – who wasn’t hitting anything this year – open the sixth with a single to center. Mercado singled, and so did Herrera in a full count. Three on and nobody out for the big guns, thusly, although they produced mostly disappointment. Maldo hit a sac fly, which was as good as it got, with Toohey fanning and Morales popping out to Lujan. Lopez then opened with a double to left in the bottom 6th. Witherspoon grounded out, Reidinger crucially struck out, and then Wheats stumbled over ******* Rikuto Ito, who hit a 2-out single to right. Worse, Barcia took him deep to left-center, and the Condors held a 3-1 lead. The tying runs would be on the corners with no outs in the seventh, though, as Gurney and Waters reached base right away. Waters swiped second base, followed by Baskins heaving a 1-2 pitch over Barcia’s glove for an RBI single, 3-2. Wheats was at 100 pitches and was hit for with Manny, although de Leon scored the tying run himself with a wild pitch. Manny was then walked intentionally, and the 1-2-3 batters made poor outs in quick succession, leaving Wheats with a no-decision in the 3-3 game.

The Raccoons didn’t find any offense in the eighth or ninth innings, and relied on Porter, Curl, and Moreno to get the game to extras. Moreno pitched two innings, allowing a leadoff single to Lujan in the ninth before nicking Angelo Ortiz. Brian Oliver hit into a double play, and Banuelas grounded out to short, stranding the game-winner on third base. Toohey and Morales got on with two outs in the 10th, but Gene Pellicano’s fly to right was caught by Benito Mendoza. Bob Ibold had the ball in extra innings, pitching a good 10th, and then drowned in the 11th. Ito doubled to left, Barcia singled to center, and Lujan’s fly to center was caught by Herrera, but was too deep to throw out Ito going home to end the game. 4-3 Condors. Mercado 2-6; Herrera 3-5; Gurney 2-3, BB; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That was the first loss for Bob Ibold this season.

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – P Wolinsky
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – RF Ito – 1B Witherspoon – SS Lujan – 2B Barcia – CF Reidinger – C T. Black – P Daley

The game seemed to go pear-shaped quite early on. Wolinsky struggled with … everything, and the Raccoons lost Matt Waters to injury in the second inning on a double play attempt where he appeared to get stepped on and took an elbow into the ribs. Floyd replaced him, while Wolinsky conceded a run in the same inning on Terry Black’s groundout. Portland flipped the score in the top 3rd, getting Mercado and Herrera into scoring position with 1-out hits; Maldo hit an RBI single, and Toohey hit a sac fly to take a 2-1 lead.

Banuelas reached on a Maldonado error with one down in the bottom 5th, which wasn’t great, and Wolinsky walked Lopez right away. Ito fanned, bringing up the lefty Witherspoon, who was hitting .226 with two homers, so should be a good matchup for the left-handed Wolinsky. A mound conference was held anyway, after which Wolinsky got to 0-2, but then allowed a zipper up the middle. Al Martell’s quick paws contained the ball and procured the third out. That was the last inning Wolinsky finished – after getting to bat with three on and two outs in the sixth and making a calm out, he walked Lujan on four pitches to begin the bottom 6th. Barcia doubled to left, and Reidinger tied the game with a sac fly. The Raccoons brought Preston Porter against Black with the go-ahead run on third base, and Porter got a K in a full count. Daley also hit for himself, grounding out and keeping the game tied at two.

With Porter and Lynn keeping the Condors tight, the Raccoons got another scoring opportunity in the eighth inning. Toohey opened with a bloop single before Tony Morales ripped a double to left, putting two slow runners in scoring position with nobody out… and Floyd at the plate. He grounded out meekly for no gains, and Manny didn’t get pitched to at all, the Condors pursuing Martell instead, but he at least got Toohey home with a sac fly to Ito. Pat Gurney hit for Lynn, singling to right-center and getting Morales home, 4-2, before Mercado flew out to Reidinger, stranding two. The Coons stole the bottom 8th with Hickey, with Manny running down a Reidinger fly in the gap to end the inning, before Josh Rella inherited the 4-2 lead in the ninth. He loaded the bases with nobody out, allowing singles to Black and Banuelas and a walk to Ron Gibbs. Well. It was his mess to work out. Ibold and Moreno had gone very long the day before (Ibold even two days in a row), and relief was scant otherwise. Lopez grounded out to Toohey, narrowing the score to 4-3, but Ito had another pitiful strikeout. That put Witherspoon in the box with the tying and winning runs in scoring position and two outs. He, too, struck out. 4-3 Raccoons. Mercado 2-4, BB; Herrera 3-5; Morales 2-5, 2B; Gurney (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Raccoons (63-44) vs. Indians (57-51) – August 2-5, 2046

The Indians entered Raccoons Ballpark for a 4-game set on Thursday. They were in the bottom three in runs scored, but also allowed the third-fewest runs. Whether their +1 run differential (Critters: +111) was playoff-worthy was a topic of contention, but somehow they had the Raccoons’ number, winning five of the previous seven games between the teams this year. Losing this series was not something that was on my agenda…!

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (7-7, 3.81 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (6-7, 3.84 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-7, 3.17 ERA) vs. Justin Roberts (0-1, 3.12 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Luis Anzaldo (8-6, 3.84 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.66 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (13-5, 2.41 ERA)

All righties; Roberts seemed to make a spot start here, having appeared only in relief so far this season. The 30-year-old had never started in the ABL, but had 236 starts in the minor leagues, including 95 in our system from 2036 through 2039.

Matt Waters was not processed yet, so the Raccoons would have to be content with more of Josh Floyd at short… or possibly Martell, with Gurney at second base.

Game 1
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – RF N. Galvan – C Ebner – P Palladino
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Okuda

The Coons had three on and nobody out quite quickly in the bottom 1st, but in a wicked way. Mercado reached on catcher’s interference, stole second, Herrera hit a single, and Maldonado was nicked (for the 15th time already this year). Bryce Toohey picked exactly this point to end his home run drought – a deep fly to left, outta here! GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

It got worse for Palladino, who also put Morales on base before getting taken deep to right by Pat Gurney, burying him 6-0 down after six batters. The 7-8-9 then went down in order, and I hoped for decency from Okuda, especially with some laborious bullpen games behind us. Okuda exploded his pitch count immediately, needing 54 tosses through three innings. Al Martell hit a 2-run homer with Gurney aboard to extend the score to 8-0 in the bottom 3rd, and he didn’t make it through six innings at all. He threw four scoreless, giving up a run in the fifth before getting stuck in the sixth for good. Danny Rivera hit a 1-out double, scored on Dan Hutson’s single, and while Joe Tindle struck out, Nelson Galvan walked in a full count, and that put Okuda at 109 and we deemed that enough. Hickey replaced him to take more abuse, fanning Sean Ebner to get out of the inning before an 8-2 score could get “interesting” again. Hickey picked Steven Jennings off first base in the seventh, did a quick eighth, and then even batted for himself a second time with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom 8th against right-hander Bill Quinn, finding an inning-ending double play. On the mound, though, he was flawless and put away an endurance save in the opener…! 8-2 Raccoons. Toohey 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Gurney 4-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Hickey 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (2);

On Friday, Nick Valdes appeared out of the blue – wearing gray-and-white, striped prisoner’s garb. He was serving a 7-day sentence in the county jail for littering, which was very much frowned upon in Portland. The sentencing had been on Monday, and the county regulations required inmates to be granted unescorted furlough in the second half of their sentence to re-integrate them into society.

I couldn’t help but smirk.

Game 2
IND: SS Russ – CF N. Galvan – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – 1B S. Jennings – P J. Roberts
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – P Jackson

At least Valdes appeared docile after the Raccoons’ riotous July, and with the crucial win on Thursday. Of course, the Raccoons conspired immediately to make him angry again, with Jake Jackson allowing an infield single to permanent pain in the butt Andrew Russ, who stole second, then back-to-back homers to Danny Rivera and Dan Hutson in the first inning for a quick 3-0 deficit.

The bottom 1st saw Armando Herrera double to center (nothing would come of that), which marked his 2,000th career base hit. Meanwhile, Jackson kept drowning, conceding another 3-spot in the third inning on persistent base hits by Russ, Bill Quinteros, Rivera, and Hutson.

Gurney and Gonzalez hit solo homers to shorten the gap to 6-2 in the fourth inning, but that didn’t help Jackson much, who got stuck for good in the top 5th after a leadoff single by Galvan and a Quinteros walk. Bob Ibold somehow wiggled out of that jam for him (it helped that Quinteros was caught stealing). Nick Valdes complained that we needed another four homers just to tie the game, but the Raccoons produced nothing in the fifth. The sixth saw Gonzalez and Martell reach scoring position on a full-count walk and a first-pitch double to left, respectively, all with one out. Manny Fernandez batted for Ibold, drew another walk, but that only led to three runners being stranded when Mercado and Herrera both hit soft pops to the shallow outfield. The tying run was at the dish with two outs again in the seventh after a 2-out rally with Gurney and Baskins singles and an RBI double by Gonzalez that chased Roberts. Al Martell clipped a 1-2 pitch from Jonathan Osmond to left for an RBI single, 6-4, but pinch-hitting Tony Morales grounded out to end the comeback attempt. Joe Tindle’s homer off Nelson Moreno annoyed Valdes and me equal amounts, extending the Indians’ lead to 7-4 in the eighth. A Mercado single and an error on Toohey’s grounder put up Gurney as the tying run with two outs in the eighth, but the Indians threw in a left-hander in Mike Wilt who secured a groundout. Tommy Gardner then put the Coons down in order in the ninth. 7-4 Indians. Herrera 2-5, 2 2B; Gurney 2-5, HR, RBI; Baskins 2-5; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

When the game ended, Nick Valdes expressed his sincere wish to have a shouting duel with me, but then checked his watch and declared he had to return to the county jail, lest he’d be punished with scrubbing every toilet in the jail. I then tried to delay his departure unnecessarily by showing him the newest collectible cards of the Raccoons until Maud intervened and had him depart.

Speaking of departing, Matt Waters departed to the DL on Saturday after being diagnosed with a mild shoulder strain. It would take at least another week to heal up, and we preferred to have a full bench available in the meantime. John Castner had quite the hot paw in AAA right now and was brought back.

Game 3
IND: 2B Tindle – 1B S. Jennings – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – RF Hertenstein – 3B Hutson – SS de Castro – C Ebner – P Anzaldo
POR: RF Mercado – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Merino

Another game, another early deficit, this time on a Quinteros homer in the first. 1-0 became 2-0 in the third, as Merino walked the first two batters, Tindle and Jennings, and then had some fortuitous defense dig him out before he allowed more damage than Rivera’s sac fly. The Coons had three walks in the first three innings, but didn’t get a hit until Manny singled in the fourth. In any case, they scored no runs. Merino and Mercado hit back-to-back singles in the fifth, but Baskins and Maldo grounded out, again scoring nobody. Anzaldo was surprisingly yanked in the bottom 6th after walking Manny with two outs, then giving up a single to Castner. Righty Tony Correa replaced him against Martell, who flew out to Daniel Hertenstein…

Merino pitched six and two thirds, getting replaced with Moreno, who got the third out from PH Nelson Galvan after Jennings and Quinteros had gotten on in the top 7th. Correa issued 2-out walks to Baskins and Maldonado in the bottom of the seventh, but in a game that continued to get more and more annoying, Bryce Toohey grounded out to short. Sean Ebner drove home an insurance run against Moreno in the eighth, burying the Raccoons 3-0 down, and another run fell out of Mike Lynn in the ninth on Galvan’s 2-out RBI triple to right. Baskins hit an RBI triple with one out in the ninth off Justin Johns, driving in Mercado, to get the Critters on the board at all. Tommy Gardner replaced Johns, rung up Maldonado, and Toohey flew out to center, and that was that. 4-1 Indians. Mercado 2-5; Fernandez 2-2, 2 BB;

Manny Fernandez joined Armando Herrera with 2,000 base hits in back-to-back losses to the Indians, the milestone being a fourth-inning single that led absolutely nowhere.

Cristiano, any smart reason we can’t beat this friggin team? – Well, then find one! I need a scapegoat!

Game 4
IND: C Ebner – CF N. Galvan – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – SS A. Avila – RF Hertenstein – 1B S. Jennings – P Nichol
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Gurney – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Wheatley

Wheats walked Galvan in the first, but Rivera hit into a fielder’s choice, then was picked off first by Wheats to end the inning. Castner’s double was the only Coons hit the first time through (or the only hit for any player once through the lineups), but it came with two outs and the Indians bypassed Martell to get a groundout from Wheatley. For a while we did that a-hit-per-inning thing that usually got you nowhere nice, while Wheatley dug himself a trench and annihilated the Indians to the rune of six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts, which was funnily enough still not enough for a W against the pesky Arrowheads.

Galvan singled to center to begin the seventh, taking off the no-hitter, but at least was stranded on base to keep the game scoreless against clueless Critters, who were on five hits and two very untimely double play grounders for Pat Gurney, who was giving Maldo a day off after Maldo had slid into a slump this week. Wheats went eight, struck out 11 batters, and allowed only two hits, but had reached over 100 pitches and was thus hit for to begin the bottom 8th. Baskins singled to right in his place, but the 1-2-3 made poor outs in order to throw that one away as well. Josh Rella held the game scoreless in the top 9th, still allowing for a stray homer to end the game in the bottom of the ninth, with Nichol stubbornly hanging on to the baseball, but Toohey hit a leadoff single, and then Morales lobbed a double to left. A pinch-runner of certain quickness might have scored, but the Raccoons hadn’t made the move – now Toohey was run for while at third base, Pellicano taking over the winning run. The Indians chose to be annoying and walked Manny with intent, creating a force at home plate for Castner. The Raccoons sent Maldonado to pinch-hit. He didn’t wait around longer than necessary, hitting a fly to center at 1-1. It was caught by Galvan, but plenty deep for Pellicano to scamper home and scratch out a series split. 1-0 Blighters. Toohey 2-4; Maldonado (PH) 0-0, RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 11 K;

In other news

July 30 – The Bayhawks acquire OF Armando Luis Herrera (.263, 2 HR, 28 RBI) from the Blue Sox for CL Jeremy Mayhall (2-6, 4.67 ERA, 28 SV), the CL saves leader, and a prospect. The prospect, CL Nate Henderson, is immediately turned over after being acquired from the Loggers in a separate deal, along with MR Ron Purcell (4-3, 4.71 ERA) for LF/RF Jose Platero (.252, 5 HR, 26 RBI). On the same day, San Francisco had also traded MR Aaron Curl to the Raccoons for AAA MR Brad Barnes and a prospect.
July 30 – The Falcons deal SP Adam Messer (5-7, 4.68 ERA) to the Scorpions for two prospects.
July 30 – The Blue Sox will be without 3B/SS Brad Critzer (.276, 5 HR, 50 RBI) until mid-September. The 31-year-old is down with a strained hamstring.
July 30 – There are two 1-0 victories in the league on Monday, with the Wolves beating the Rebs by that score, just as the Knights top the Loggers. In both cases, the sole run of the game only scores in the ninth inning.
July 31 – LAP SP Mike LeMasters (9-9, 3.72 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Buffaloes, claiming the 2-0 win.
August 1 – NAS C Jorge Santa Cruz (.232, 9 HR, 46 RBI) hits a walkoff grand slam off Sacramento’s Kurt Crater (3-4, 5.44 ERA, 3 SV) to beat the Scorpions, 8-4 in regulation.
August 1 – The Wolves beat the Rebels, 3-2 in 16 innings despite entering the ninth down 2-0. SAL 2B/1B/RF/LF Bob Mancini (.275, 6 HR, 55 RBI) doubles home the winning run in the 16th in a game with only 15 total hits.
August 4 – PIT OF/1B John Green (.269, 3 HR, 33 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in the Miners’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.
August 5 – SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.331, 0 HR, 18 RBI) ends a 16-inning marathon against the Pacifics with a walkoff single, giving the Scorpions a 3-2 win.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.298, 16 HR, 72 RBI), swatting .429 (12-28) with 4 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B/RF/2B/LF Pat Gurney (.303, 12 HR, 34 RBI), poking .563 (9-16) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.297, 14 HR, 66 RBI), batting .382 with 6 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: TIJ 3B/2B Sergio Barcia (.330, 9 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .438 with 7 HR, 18 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: CIN CL Josh Livingston (6-3, 2.60 ERA, 27 SV), stopping the opposition for a 5-1 record, 2.70 ERA, 4 SV, and 12 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.66 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 2.61 ERA and 36 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP RF/LF Jaden Richards (.304, 2 HR, 40 RBI), batting .373 with 1 HR, 11 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/SS Alex Lopez (.306, 4 HR, 47 RBI), hitting .330 with 1 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Is our offense dying again? It was quite the struggle against these Indians, who just refuse to lose their fair share against us.

Armando Herrera and Manny Fernandez got their 2,000th career hits in back-to-back losses, which dampened the mood slightly, and Herrera also has a new 13-game hitting streak going. He has also pushed up his batting average to .346, trailing the CL leader, the inevitable Jerry Outram, by only nine points at this time.

We didn’t make any more moves at the deadline. On one end the budget started to run out and we couldn’t really afford expensive free-agents-to-be down the stretch, and then I also didn’t think Matt Waters would fall over the day after the deadline. At least he’ll be back after 15 days…

The Titans will be in next, and then we’ll have an interesting weekend in Denver coming up. The Gold Sox have the best record in baseball, although they have been sliding a bit recently. They are 11-19 since the start of July!

Fun Fact: Armando Herrera still has time to reach 3,000 career hits.

If he stops getting hurt, that is.

The #11 pick by the Wolves in the 2035 draft, he made his debut the year after, following anointment as #96 prospect. He won a Rookie of the Month and the Rookie of the Year title in 2036, and has been a steady and persistent singles slapper atop the lineup for his entire career, now in its 11th season. A serial Gold Glover, he has won a batting title in 2042, and led the league in doubles the year before that. He has been an All Star five times.

As of Sunday night, Herrera has 2,002 hits with a .314/.366/.402 slash. He has hit 26 homers and driven in 619 runs, and add to that 170 stolen bases. He’ll be 33 in March, and is under contract for another four seasons.