[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-35) @ Bayhawks (27-48) – June 26-28, 2056

The Raccoons’ make-or-break week started with a 3-game set at the Bay, rather inconveniently placed in between cross-country trips and ahead of a 5-game series in four days in Boston. At least we knew that nothing good ever happened in either of those cities and could prepare mentally. (clonks jumbo bottle of Capt’n Coma on the table) San Fran ranked second from the bottom in runs scored in the CL, and ninth in runs allowed, with a rather unhealthy -75 run differential. The whole team was best described as crummy throughout; the only category where they beat the league average was stolen bases, in which they ranked fifth. The Critters had swept the first series of the year from them.

Projected matchups:
Julian Dunn (5-3, 3.57 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (1-10, 5.35 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (8-7, 3.30 ERA) vs. Charlie Hudson (1-3, 3.48 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (7-3, 2.72 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (2-11, 4.30 ERA)

Apparently the Bayhawks had found their rotation by digging really deep into the value bin at the comic book store. All three of these were right-handed, and only Cantrell had any sort of credible track record. Hudson was a 36-year-old career Capitals quad-A swingman who had somehow managed to lead the Federal League in walks one year when he didn’t even qualify for rate stats with just 153.1 innings.

Kyle Brobeck was dying of boredom on the roster, but Monday was the last day that he could in theory pitch a few outs in relief, because he was of course penciled in to make the extra start on Thursday. That was the only nice thing about having 27 starting pitchers on the roster – the double headers were less scary.

Game 1
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Caballero – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – RF Puckeridge – 2B Bribiesca – C Stanton – P Dunn
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 2B A. Montoya – LF D. Rivera – 3B Peltier – RF Tomko – 1B Sherrick – CF Caban – P Doyle

Dunn retired the first 11 Baybirds before allowing a single to left to Armando Montoya, who was stranded when Danny Rivera – far from the threat of the past, hitting .269 with just four homers – popped out. The Coons by then had squandered four hits and a couple o’ walks, with the best chance ending when Ramsay bounced into a double play with runners on the corners to end the top of the first inning. Dunn bunted into a force at second after Matt Stanton drew a leadoff walk in the fifth inning, then allowed a leadoff single to Adam Peltier (sigh) in the bottom 5th, but the runner got himself caught stealing.

The game was still scoreless in the seventh of a rather unsatisfying (for us, at least) pitchers’ duel when Pucks walked and Stanton singled. Dunn’s bunt was good this time, and the runners were in scoring position for Steve Royer with two gone, and Royer finally broke the line of goose eggs on the scoreboard with a clean single to right-center. Both runners scored, Royer stole second base, but Lonzo’s grounder was collected by Peltier and played for the third out of the inning. Armando Montoya answered with a leadoff jack to right-center in the bottom 7th, 2-1, but Dunn then retired another six batters in order to complete eight very fine innings. The quest for an insurance run in the ninth began with righty Patrick Jones walking Pucks. Kirkwood batted for Bribiesca and singled to left, and Stanton bunted the runners into scoring position before Solorzano batted for Dunn… and whiffed. Royer grounded out and the lead remained a skinny run. The Coons also sent Mike Lane into the bottom 9th, since Matt Walters’ workload last week had been heavy and Lane had somehow only thrown six pitches in five days; also, Danny Rivera was the only lefty stick in the first four batters in the lineup, ahead of Jones in the #6 spot. Strikeouts to Jon Mittleider and Danny Rivera framed a fly by Montoya to Royer to put the game away. 2-1 Raccoons. Royer 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 1-2, 2 BB; Kirkwood (PH) 1-1; Stanton 1-1, 2 BB; Dunn 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-3);

First save for Mike Lane as a Critter!

Game 2
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – C Fiore – 2B Chavez – P Taki
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 2B A. Montoya – LF D. Rivera – 3B Peltier – RF Tomko – 1B Sherrick – CF Caban – P C. Hudson

Another scoreless affair through three innings on Tuesday before Hudson nicked Kirkwood to begin the fourth inning, and Brobeck went 2-for-2 with a double to right and one gone. Kirkwood was held at third base, while the Bayhawks didn’t hold Pucks at the plate and instead directed him to first base to get Fiore to hit into a double play, to which the backstop duly obliged.

Scorelessness endured; Peltier hit a double in the bottom 4th, but Chris Tomko had a habit of striking out and stranded the 2-out runner. It took the very bored Brobeck to break the ban on scoring; with Kirkwood on first base after a leadoff single in the sixth, Brobeck sent one over the fence in right-center to give the Raccoons a 2-0 lead.

Taki completed six innings under 60 pitches, which I enjoyed a lot, then allowed a single to Peltier and a double to Tomko to begin the bottom 7th, which I did in fact not enjoy so much. The tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out, but the 7-8-9 batters up. Jamie Sherrick and Armando Caban both hit easy flies to the shallow outfield that were shagged by Kirkwood and Pucks, respectively, and then Hudson rolled over to Ramsay for the third out when a bolder move would have been a pinch-hitter, maybe, but what was I going to berate a last-place team, they clearly knew what they were doing… Before I could get too cocky, the Coons loaded the bases with their 3-4-5 batters and nobody out in the eighth, then had Pucks hit into a 1-2-3 double play, Fiore intentionally walked, and still didn’t score a ******* run with Adriano Chavez’ grounding out to Peltier. Lonzo bungled Xavier Reyes’ grounder to begin the bottom 8th for an error, but then turned Mittleider’s grounder 6-4-3 style, which kinda made up for it. Montoya singled, but Taki rung up Rivera. Taki seemed to *have* this, and he batted for himself (against Hudson!) to lead off (!) the top 9th (!!). The Coons didn’t score, and then Peltier led off the bottom 9th. He sent Royer back into deep center, but the over-the-shoulder catch was made for the first out. Tomko grounded out to Lonzo. Sherrick struck out. 2-0 Blighters. Kirkwood 2-2; Brobeck 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Taki 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (9-7);

This gave Taki two complete games and two scoreless outings in his last three starts, encompassing 25.1 innings for one earned run in total, with four walks and 23 strikeouts. Decent run!

This was also his fourth career shutout (and 12th complete game) but the first since 2053.

Also nod to Brobeck, who was basically the entire offense, although Kirkwood went also unretired, getting nicked *twice* by Hudson.

Should we mention that the career quad-A player threw a complete game, too?

Game 3
POR: CF Royer – 3B Venegas – LF Kirkwood – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – SS Espinoza – C Fiore – 2B Chavez – P Sweeton
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 2B A. Montoya – LF D. Rivera – 3B Peltier – RF Tomko – 1B Sherrick – CF Caban – P Cantrell

Cantrell lasted three batters and one out before leaving the game with the trainer, to be replaced by Duarte Damasceno, who gave up a 2-out RBI single to Pucks to get Cantrell onto the hook as Royer scored from second base. Espinoza grounded out. The fallen Baybirds starter was rescued by his offense, though, as Sweeton also put the first two batters on base, then surrendered an RBI single to Rivera. Peltier found Espinoza, spelling a foundering Lonzo at short, for an inning-ending double play then.

Top 3rd, Sam Geren walked Royer and gave up a single to Venegas to get going. Kirkwood whiffed, but a wild pitch advanced the runners into scoring position. Ramsay’s fly to left was good enough for Royer to dash home from third base and a new 2-1 lead for the Raccoons. Venegas was left on, but Danny Rivera still had to shut my big mouth and finally did it after three days of trying, homering with Mittleider on base in the bottom 3rd to flip the score to 3-2 Baybirds. The lead would grow to 4-2 in the fifth as the Raccoons’ offense couldn’t solve the Bayhawks’ pen and Sweeton couldn’t stop putting their batters on base. Xavier Reyes singled with one down in the bottom 5th, stole second, reached third on a wild pitch, and then scored on Mittleider’s groundout.

Top 6th, Geren gave up a leadoff triple to Rams (!) and a sac fly to Pucks, 4-3, then was yanked for Dave Lister, who had done a very confusing job at the end of the Loggers pen the last couple of years, but almost completely shut down the Raccoons for the next five outs. Sweeton went six rather forgettable innings before being hit for by Lonzo in the seventh, but his single wasn’t met with any response by the rest of the team. Tanizaki and Harmer pitched the Raccoons through eight innings without giving up another run, but the Raccoons went in order in the eighth, then faced lefty Tony Negrete in the ninth inning. Espinoza lined out to Peltier. Caballero batted for Fiore and singled through the left side to at least keep the thought going, but Chavez whiffed. Stanton pinch-hit for Harmer, but ended the winning streak with a soft groundout to Sherrick. 4-3 Bayhawks. Royer 1-2, 2 BB; Venegas 2-4; Caballero (PH) 1-1; Lavorano (PH) 1-1;

…and there goes the 8-game winning streak.

Raccoons (41-36) @ Titans (39-39) – June 29-July 2, 2056

There was hardly a worse place for a double header than this Thursday, and the scheduled starter (Kniep) also didn’t instill any confidence that our bullpen would hold up, which was why we had the odd extra arm stashed in the shadows to make a quick roster move between games if necessary. The Titans were 11th in runs scored in the CL, but fifth in runs allowed, with a -30 run differential (Coons: +36). Boston was also handling Portland so far this year, 5-2 in seven games. They were without pitcher Ryan Musgrave and starting catcher Jorge Ortiz, however, both stowed away on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (4-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (8-4, 3.52 ERA)
Craig Kniep (3-5, 4.05 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (6-7, 5.18 ERA)
He Shui (8-5, 4.10 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (2-3, 3.44 ERA)
Julian Dunn (6-3, 3.33 ERA) vs. Alex Diaz (2-5, 3.88 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-7, 3.03 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (6-9, 2.97 ERA)

Unless the Titans made any surprise moves, Spencer was the only southpaw that would oppose us in this set.

…and then it rained. Thursday’s double-header was called off, and only one game could be played in the evening. Friday would instead have the double-header, and Brobeck was moved on a day. Kniep started the series opener

Game 1
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – RF Caballero – 3B Venegas – 1B Ramsay – 2B Chavez – C Stanton – P Kniep
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – C Burkart – 1B Witherspoon – SS M. Navarro – 3B Torrence – 2B D. Diaz – P Spencer

Kniep allowed no hits the first time through the lineup, while the Raccoons scattered a few hits for no greater gains until the fourth inning when Lonzo hit a leadoff single. He struggled to find a footing on the still wet infield and couldn’t even try to steal a base, but that didn’t matter, as Chris Kirkwood slapped a homer over the fence for a 2-0 lead anyway. Craig Kniep had seven strikeouts through four innings, then struggled with two walks in the fifth, but then thankfully came up against Spencer, who flew out harmlessly to Kirkwood. Hector Weir tried to break up the no-hitter with a loud liner to the left side in the sixth inning, but Lonzo lunged and latched onto it for the first out. Alas, there was no defending Matt Gilmore’s clean single through the right side, and gone was the no-hitter. Eric Whitlow dropped another single into center right away, but Kniep then struck out both Bruce Burkart and Sam Witherspoon to end the inning. His pitch count was up, though, 97 through six innings, but he had enough juice left to retire the 6-7-8 batters in the seventh inning in order… never mind that drive to the warning track that Ethan Torrence smacked.

Spencer lasted eight, scattering as many base hits, but didn’t fall further behind than 2-0. Eloy Sencion held away the Titans in the bottom 8th, while a Chavez double and Bribiesca’s 2-out RBI single added a third Portland run in the top of the ninth. Weir tracked down a deep fly by Royer to end the inning, while the Boston 3-4-5 disappeared without a trace against Matt Walters, who struck out Bruce Burkart and Sam Witherspoon to finish the game. 3-0 Coons. Kirkwood 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Chavez 2-4, 2B; Stanton 2-4; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, RBI; Kniep 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K, W (4-5);

For the newly doubled Friday slate, Shui would get the first game now and Brobeck was put up for the second game, although in reality they were both up and down with their pitching this year. We just liked to use the good relief to secure a win in the first game if possible, because who knows what happens in the second one…

Game 2
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – C Fiore – 2B Chavez – P Shui
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – C Burkart – 3B Torrence – SS M. Navarro – 2B D. Diaz – P Shultz

The Titans sure had the better opportunities early in the game, f.e. a leadoff double by Burkart in the second inning after they had already stranded Weir on third base in the first inning. They stranded Burkart, too, along with Ethan Torrence, who drew a walk. The 7-8-9 didn’t even advance the runners, and Shui retired another two in a row, but then Whitlow singled and Witherspoon tore a crater into a mostly empty section of seats in rightfield with a 2-run homer, and this time it was the Raccoons that didn’t have a base hit yet.

Kirkwood doubled and Ramsay reached on an error by Mario Navarro with two down in the fourth inning, but Pucks popped out quite unhelpfully after that. More hits didn’t arrive until the seventh inning, when Rams and Venegas hit singles, but now Matt Fiore grounded out easily to short to end the inning. By then, Matt Gilmore had popped his first home run of the season in 216 attempts to extend the Boston lead to 3-0. Shui scratched and clawed valiantly for seven innings and 100 pitches, but that didn’t help the offense much. Shultz pitched into the ninth inning until he walked Ramsay with one out and was lifted for Ramon Montes de Oca. The right-hander walked Pucks, which brought the tying run to the dish, but Venegas flew out easily to left. Fiore’s single loaded the bases with two down. Oscar Caballero batted for Chavez and crashed a ball through a diving Witherspoon and up the line for a 2-run double – Fiore had to be held against Whitlow’s murder arm, and a pinch-runner wouldn’t have made much of a difference here. Solorzano was still in the game (the pitcher Tanizaki was in the #1 spot), but grounded out to end it. 3-2 Titans. Caballero (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Solorzano (PH) 1-2, 2B; Shui 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (8-6);

No roster moves were made between games, since the Raccoons had several relievers that hadn’t thrown a pitch for four days (Lane, Lillis, technically Brobeck), but the reserves (nothing special, the usual right-handed garbage troupe) were not sent home quite yet.

The Coons did the maximum turnover they could with their five bench slots for the night cap.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Espinoza – LF Caballero – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – P Brobeck – CF Solorzano – C Stanton – 2B Bribiesca
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – 3B Torrence – SS M. Navarro – C Salas – 2B D. Diaz – P Glaude

Venegas opened the game with a triple to center and Glaude walked Espinoza before giving up the first run on Caballero’s single. Rams hit another RBI single to center, but the next three batters made meek outs and the Coons kept it at 2-0. In the second, Stanton and Bribiesca got on base, and then it started to rain a bit. Whee! Caballero would reach with two outs when Navarro made a bad throw on his grounder, loading the bases for Ramsay, whose grounder to right was corralled by Witherspoon, ending the inning. So, the Coons had already left five on base, while the Titans reached for the first time when Torrence walked in the bottom 2nd. He stole second, scored on Navarro’s single, and that made it a 2-1 game. Navarro was left on first base, while the Raccoons slowly filled the bags with Venegas, Caballero, and Ramsay in the fourth inning, which already led to the removal of Glaude. Pucks’ groundout to third base allowed Bobby Callejas to escape the inning, and now the Coons had already stranded EIGHT runners.

Of course the Titans then flipped the score on Brobeck. Leadoff double by Whitlow, a wild pitch, a sac fly from Witherspoon, and then another walk, two singles, and a 3-2 lead for Boston on Danny Diaz’ 2-out knock. Josh Garris grounded out to strand a pair, but Brobeck leaked two walks and Torrence hit another 2-out RBI single in the fifth inning, 4-2…

Caballero’s triple in the sixth inning off lefty Adam Gardner drove in Venegas to shorten the score to 4-3 and also put the tying run in scoring position. It also came with two outs, and Ramsay flew out rather easily to Weir to strand Caballero 90 feet away. Brobeck was axed when Gardner singled home Raul Salas in the bottom 6th. Lillis and Harmer would pitch the Raccoons through on-and-off rain through the eighth inning, still 5-3 behind, after which the tarp came on the field, and the umpires made everybody sit through a rain delay of more than an hour when I already had a hunch that the game was lost anyway. We eventually faced Montes de Oca in the ninth inning, starting with Espinoza (shrugs). Him, Caballero, and Ramsay went down in order to complete the double-header sweep. 5-3 Titans. Venegas 2-4, BB, 3B; Caballero 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-5, RBI; Harmer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The Raccoons would sent Arturo Bribiesca (.222, 0 HR, 8 RBI) away after this game and brought up 2B Ryan Allred from AAA for a lefty bat. They were both 24 years old (well, Allred would turn 25 within a week), but the new arrival wasn’t so new after all, having batted .185 in 23 games with Portland in ’54.

Game 4
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Kirkwood – RF Caballero – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – C Fiore – 2B Chavez – P Dunn
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – C Burkart – 3B Torrence – SS M. Navarro – 2B D. Diaz – P Koga

Adriano Chavez singled home a run in the second inning for a quick and brief lead, because Dunn ran into a buzzsaw in the third inning, although there were more contributors than just him. The whole damn inning started with Kirkwood botching Diaz’ fly to left for an error. Koga’s bunt was followed by a single, after which runners were on the corners. Weir stole second base, but Matt Gilmore popped out to Lonzo for the second out. And then Whitlow singled home a pair in a full count, and Dunn squandered another two singles and another run to Witherspoon and Burkart before Torrence finally made the third out with a grounder to Chavez. None of the runs were earned, which was of only modest consolation of us in the pursuit of the damn Elks.

Kirkwood singled home Royer, who had dropped a 1-out double into left, with a 2-out single in the fifth inning, narrowing the score to 3-2. He made a move to steal second base, but was almost picked off, then had to settle for one base on Caballero’s single to left-center. He *did* score when Rams hit another single, this one to right-center, tying the game and getting Koga, who had started on short rest, outta here. Callejas put out the fire again, getting Venegas to fly out. Callejas pitched another two innings, bidding for the W when Hector Weir doubled home Danny Diaz off Dunn in the seventh inning, 4-3, although the reward was taken away on an unlikely home run that Venegas mashed off left-hander Donovan Little in the eighth, knotting the score at four.

Sencion put Burkart on base with a 1-out single in the bottom 8th. Torrence’s grounder forced out the lead runner, after which Mike Lane and Ryan Allred entered in a double switch with Chavez gone. Navarro hit a fly that tried to dink into shallow right, but Caballero came rushing in and made the headlong dive for the ball, and came up with it…! That ended the inning! Yes, boys, and now take the lead!!

They didn’t. Allred drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, and then was forced out, and the go-ahead run never got off first base. Lane held out and sent the game to extras, which probably hurt Boston more than us at this stage. Pucks ran for Ramsay after the latter’s 1-out single in the tenth inning, but didn’t get further than second base, either.

The game dragged on. Tanizaki pitched a scoreless inning. Lillis pitched two. The Coons couldn’t get their ******* tails out of their own ********. Maybe Whitlow’s fumble of Pucks’ fly to shallow right, which put the go-ahead run on once more with nobody out in the 13th inning would help. Venegas singled, moving Pucks to second base. Matt Stanton had replaced Fiore a while ago, but now actually singled home the so needed run with a single to left-center. Solorzano, Allred, and Royer all made poor outs, the first one batting for Lillis. But we had the run, now it was on Walters to whiff three and let us get back to the damn hotel. Whitlow singled with two strikes. Israel Santiago singled with two strikes. Burkart walked. I whined. Antonio Cruz hit into a double play, but the tying run scored. Navarro flew out, the game continued, and I whined even louder, annoying the nearby patrons. The 14th was a bunch of nothing, after which Taki went to the bullpen to warm up, since the Coons now had no bench, and after Harmer replaced Walters for the bottom 15th, also no bullpen anymore. Whitlow led off the bottom 15th with a drive to left, but Kirkwood caught it on the warning track. Burkart and Cruz reached with two outs on a single and a walk, respectively, but Navarro grounded out.

Ryan Harmer then also hit a double off Julio Castaneda with one gone in the 16th inning. Lonzo grounded out, Kirkwood grounded out, and the runner was stranded. By now, the Titans had lost Danny Diaz to injury. Will Glaude, starter of the Friday night game, was plugged in there, batting eighth, and leading off the bottom 16th. He made an out, but then Josh Garris singled off Harmer. Castaneda grounded out, advancing the runner, but Gilmore walked with two outs. Harmer looked gassed. Whitlow was shaking the twig, but we wouldn’t bring in Taki with the winning run in scoring position. Harmer had to sort this out himself. Or Whitlow did – singling to left-center, he plated Garris, and the Raccoons cashed a brutal L. 6-5 Titans. Ramsay 3-5, RBI; Venegas 3-7, HR, RBI; Fiore 2-3; Chavez 2-4, RBI; Lillis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Lonzo went 0-for-8.

He remained on the roster, but Matt Stanton (.258, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and Ryan Harmer (0-1, 3.48 ERA) didn’t. We needed a fresh arm in the worst way, and Harmer had gone more than one inning two days in a row. Thankfully Colby Bowen was available, who easily qualified as being an arm in the worst way.

And Marcos Chavez, while rough behind the plate, kept hitting in AAA, so we had to bring him up. And since we already had 19 starting pitchers on the roster, we couldn’t go with three catchers, too.

Game 5
POR: CF Royer – RF Caballero – LF Kirkwood – 3B Brobeck – 1B Puckeridge – SS Espinoza – C M. Chavez – 2B Allred – P Taki
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – 3B Torrence – C Salas – SS W. de Leon – 2B D. Diaz – P R. Montes de Oca

The Titans were very much out of pitchers just the same as the Coons and declared a “bullpen & accountants day” – everybody was available! At least the Raccoons could start the game with Taki, who was on a strong string of games. Taki did what he could, despite being at odds with the rather wooden rookie behind the plate right from the start. He hit a double to begin the top 3rd, Royer walked behind him, and then Caballero’s fielder’s choice and Kirkwood’s sac fly gave Taki a 1-0 lead – and that would be that! The Coons stranded Caballero, then stranded Pucks when he reached base to begin the fourth, and Royer, when he reached base to begin the fifth. They were in a TERRIBLE rut now. The Titans at least appeared under control… until Danny Diaz, balking back be damned, hit a double in the bottom 5th, and Hector Weir opened a can of 2-out whoop-your-bum with a homer to right-center, flipping the score.

I struggled to watch at this point, but Royer would get on base against Montes de Oca, finally ending his day in the seventh inning, stole second, and then scored when Caballero singled off Joe Ryan with two outs. This at least got us even again, but while Caballero also stole second base, Kirkwood struck out in a full count to leave him in scoring position. Taki lasted seven innings on 102 pitches, while Brobeck opened the eighth with a single to right, and Pucks continued with a grounder to Diaz that was turned for two. For crying out loud.

Bottom 8th, Sencion came in and got two outs. Then Witherspoon – not a fast runner by any definition – rumbled out a triple over the head of Royer. Ethan Torrence grounded to third base – and Brobeck flatout ****** that play up. The runner scored on the error, and a disheveled Sencion managed to allow another run by walking Raul Salas and giving up a single to Willie de Leon, who made his major league debut and got his first hit and RBI all in one go. Bless you, son, I hope you burst from all the joy….. Top 9th, Donovan Little pitching. The Coons sent pinch-hitters for the 7-8 batters, who had zero hits between them. Venegas landed a hit, Lonzo got hit, and that put the tying runs on base. Sencion was sent to the plate to bunt, getting them into scoring position for Royer, Caballero, and Kirkwood, the only three batters on this team doing ******* anything. Royer grounded out to short, which scored a ****-all run, and Caballero grounded out to short, which ******* didn’t. 4-3 Titans. Royer 2-4, BB, RBI; Venegas (PH) 1-1; Taki 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K and 1-3, 2B;

In other news

June 26 – SAC SP Mike McCaffrey (9-1, 1.92 ERA) goes 25 outs deep into a no-hitter before being taken deep by NAS 1B/LF Dustin Huber (.150, 1 HR, 8 RBI) to break up the no-no, shutout, and complete game effort. Sacramento still wins 7-1.
June 26 – Season over for SFW SP Ricardo Montoya (5-4, 2.97 ERA), who has suffered a ruptured finger tendon.
June 26 – CHA INF/LF Ian Woodrome (.249, 4 HR, 26 RBI) was going to be out for up to a month with a back strain.
June 26 – The Knights waffle the Crusaders, 17-7, scoring 11 runs in the fifth inning alone.
June 27 – PIT INF Victor Corrales (.319, 9 HR, 61 RBI) whacks out three doubles, two singles, and drives in three runs in a 13-2 rush of the Stars.
June 27 – Everybody had long had enough baseball for the day when IND OF/1B/2B Kevin Ewers (.191, 3 HR, 13 RBI) hits a walkoff double to beat the Aces, 4-3 in 20 innings. The previous scoring event had been in the eighth inning. IND SP Tan Brink (7-6, 5.38 ERA) gets the W in relief.
June 28 – SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.306, 4 HR, 15 RBI) will miss a month at least after suffering an abdominal strain.
June 29 – Atlanta 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.282, 20 HR, 65 RBI) reaches 2,500 career hits with a 2-run homer off OCT SP Chris Kaye (2-3, 5.29 ERA) in an 8-7 Knights win. Moreno, age 37 and the 2055 CL home run king, leads the league in the category again. The two-time Player of the Year has 453 career home runs with 1,612 RBI while batting .279/.351/.478 for his 17-year ABL career.
June 30 – The month of June ends with an elbow sprain for Thunder outfielder Mike Harmon (.243, 11 HR, 24 RBI), which would probably keep him out for most of July.
July 1 – IND SS Juan Llampallas (.280, 0 HR, 3 RBI) might miss the rest of the season with a bad concussion.
July 1 – The season might also be over for SFB SP Milt Cantrell (2-11, 4.38 ERA), who has been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 2 – The Wolves have only three hits, but one of them is a home run by OF Tony Lopez (.211, 5 HR, 27 RBI) to beat the Stars, 1-0.

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.316, 9 HR, 63 RBI), batting .455 (15-33) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Gaudencio Callaia (.335, 4 HR, 33 RBI), slapping .517 (15-29) with 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.361, 10 HR, 56 RBI), batting .383 with 2 HR, 22 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: LVA 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.314, 20 HR, 50 RBI), smashing .347 with 11 HR, 27 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAC SP Mike McCaffrey (9-1, 1.92 ERA), going 4-0 with a 1.51 ERA, 50 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: MIL CL Ryan Dow (2-3, 2.97 ERA, 21 SV), saving 9 games with 2-0 record, 1.23 ERA, 14 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.278, 7 HR, 31 RBI), poking .269 with 4 HR, 12 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT RF/CF Will Buras (.310, 2 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .346 with 1 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We’re now 3-9 against Boston this year. Last year we won that series 16-2. What the heck??

In 11 of the last 12 games the team failed to score more than four runs in regulation, and even those four are already quite lofty heights. Somehow, sturdy pitching means that we still went 7-5 in those games, but that’s not sustainable, especially since we’ve run out of games against bottom feeders for the moment. We have eight against the Elks looming, and I don’t even see the team break even against them. Not even close.

We’ve talked about Todd Oley a bit recently and how he was going to be called up and then slumped, and then maybe still… well, he won’t be called up any time soon, because he ****** up his knee on Tuesday and will miss the rest of the season.

And how deep is Lonzo’s slump? He batted only .238 in June, but more recently he’s (since June 20) in a 6-for-49 hole. That is of course also adversely affecting his stolen bases, which pretty much remained stagnant in June. He nipped only four bags in four weeks… unheard of…! It was barely enough to crawl past Daniel Silva into 20th place, but at least the four active guys right behind him stole four bases *combined*. Yes, somehow he got further away from the pack with that no-show in June.

15th – Alex Adame – 447 – active
16th – Alex Torres – 445
17th – Chance Bossert – 437
18th – Ricardo “Cookie” Carmona – 428
19th – Cristo Ramirez – 424 – HOF
20th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 419 – active
21st – Daniel Silva – 417
22nd – Ronnie Thompson – 414 – active
23rd – Danny Flores – 413
24th – Jose Rivas – 406 – active
25th – Chris Navarro – 400 – active
26th – Andrew Russ – 396 – active

We’d get a good look of ex-Coon Alex Adame over the next two weeks, because he was on the damn Elks, at least when he wasn’t on the damn DL, where he’d already gone and come back from twice this season. Only three stolen bases so far, but then again he had also only made it into 21 games without keeling over.

Fun Fact: The career home run leader remains Ron Alston with 475 bombs.

71 of these he hit as a Critter from 2008 through 2010, winning the 2009 CL homer title, one of four for three different CL teams. He also won three batting titles, but never in the same season in which he led the league in bombs.

He retired as a 3-time Player of the Year (never as a Critter) batting .307/.395/.491 with 1,598 RBI. Sadly, just 2,993 hits. Hall of Famer, but only on the fringe!