[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Indians (0-0) – April 3-5, 2057

The season started on the road, which was just as well, given that it might still be freezing in Portland at night in early April. The Indians had finished last in the North last year, and the early indicators were that it wouldn’t get any better for them any time soon and that 100 losses were entirely possible. Despite their struggles, they had held the Raccoons to a 9-9 tie in 18 games last season.

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (0-0) vs. Chris Kaye (0-0)
Seisaku Taki (0-0) vs. Jeremy Fetta (0-0)
Sean Sweeton (0-0) vs. Sean Fitzgibbon (0-0)

Both teams carted up one left-hander in this opening set. The Coons put Adkins first, and the Indians put Fitzgibbon last.

Game 1
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Adkins
IND: CF Abel – 3B Mullen – 2B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – RF McIntyre – LF Briggs – C Villafan – SS Llampallas – P Kaye

Lonzo singled and was caught stealing in the first inning, which was such a sturdy start to the new season. The Indians in turn began their season batting with Kevin Abel drawing a leadoff walk and Dan Mullen sneaking a single through the right side. Antonio Rios popped out, Bill Quinteros struck out, but Will McIntyre’s 2-out liner drove in both of the runners for a quick 2-0 Indy lead before Chris Briggs grounded out to Brobeck.

Adkins never really stopped struggling in this start, with the Indians getting on base against him in every inning, and on top of that, he also got the Raccoons’ first RBI of the new season with a sac fly to right when he came to bat with Brobeck and Allred on the corners and nobody out in the fifth inning. Callaia and Lonzo made meek outs to leave the tying run in Ryan Allred on base. In both the fourth and fifth innings, the Indians got the first two batters on base, but then hit into a double play, which helped Adkins advance, but the Raccoons knew that trick better than anybody, and after Abercrombie and Brassfield hit singles in the top of the sixth, Pucks zinged one into a 4-6-3 double play to derail the rally.

Adkins took 101 pitches through six messy innings, while outlasting Kaye on the timeline, because Kaye was removed in the top 7th after a walk to Allred. Tim Jacoby replaced him, walked Marcos Chavez, but Caballero grounded out in Adkins’ spot, and Callaia struck out to strand the runners in scoring position. The Raccoons next went to Alex Mancilla, who offered four balls straight to Juan Llampallas, then was taken deep by pinch-hitter Kevin Price. Rally efforts in the late innings were then limited to a walk drawn by Lonzo and a double play tumbled into by Abercrombie. 4-1 Indians. Allred 2-3, BB;

Good start.

Good start…

Game 2
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Taki
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF Abel – CF Oldfield – RF McIntyre – 3B Mullen – C Villafan – P Fetta

Pucks doubled home Lonzo and Abercrombie and their pair of singles for a 2-0 lead in the first inning, which was already a lot more to my liking. Kyle Brobeck socked a ball to deep center after that, but it was caught by Cory Oldfield on the run. Taki had one of his vintage first innings then, giving up three straight singles to begin his season, along with a run, then after two strikeouts to Abel and Oldfield another RBI single to Will McIntyre, tying the score altogether. Dan Mullen then grounded out to strand a pair on base. After that hurry of a first inning, things calmed down considerably for three scoreless innings before the Raccoons would have Abercrombie on base with two outs and Brassfield batting in the top 5th. Fetta ran a 3-0 count before giving up a looper to right. McIntyre came hustling and went into the headfirst slide, the ball bounced an inch from his glove, then nestled in it, but the first base umpire threw the fist up. The Coons were outraged and demanded the holographic instant replay to be consulted, but the umps had none of it! Scandalous!

Like Adkins on Tuesday, Taki went six innings on 101 pitches on Wednesday, which was not ideal, but at least he departed in a 2-2 tie still. There was no W in the cards for him, though, because while the Raccoons put the pinch-hitting Caballero and Lonzo on base in the seventh inning against Tim Jacoby, Abercrombie floated one out to centerfielder Oldfield to end the inning. Caballero stayed in the game for Abercrombie then, and came back to the plate in the eighth inning against Jacoby, then with the bases loaded on a Brassfield and Brobeck singles and a walk issued to Chavez, also two outs. He grounded out on an 0-2 pitch with a hobbler to replacement shortstop Bernie Bahena, and “hobbled” was a fitting description for the whole appearance on display…

Ivan Ornelas pitched two scoreless and fruitless innings. While Randy Slocum walked leadoff man Callaia in the ninth, the Raccoons then excelled in avoidance, leaving him stranded at second base. Ricky Herrera sent the game to extras, striking out two despite singles by Price and Willie Villafan. Jason Perry whiffed in the #9 spot to bring overtime about. There in the top 10th, the Raccoons loaded the bases again with some help from Bahena, who after Bill Dewan allowed singles to Brobeck and Arturo Bribiesca, fudged Chavez’ wannabe 6-4-3 inning-ending double play grounder, with the misgrab loading the bases for Caballero. When Caballero lined out to Antonio Rios and Bribiesca was at third base to score on the “single” and was rather casually, almost cruelly, doubled up to end the inning, I knew that it would be a long season. Rios, Quinteros, and Abel then loaded the bases against Mike Lane in the bottom 10th on two bloops and a walk, but Eloy Sencion came in, struck out Oldfield, and then got Danny Werman to ground out to Lonzo, further extending a game everybody had well enough of by now. Top 11th, Lonzo drew a walk off Jon Netherland, stole second, and died a lonely death at second base, and Dutch Indy would continue to pitch into the 13th inning, with Mancilla giving the Raccoons two scoreless to make it that far. Chavez walked and Caballero singled to begin the 13th inning, but Callaia’s grounder merely advanced the runners. At least it brought up Lonzo, who was 2-for-5 in the game, but regressed with 1-for-5, in the sense of one bouncer to the third baseman Mullen for the useless second out. Royer had remained in the game earlier and batted with two outs (but Brass was gone from the #4 hole), and FINALLY SOMEBODY SCORED A ******* RUN! Single to left, one run in, two runs in, and the Raccoons had a lead…! Ruben Zamora flew out to center, then caught Matt Walters’ scoreless bottom of the 13th to get the team into the damn win column. 4-2 Blighters. Lavorano 2-6, BB; Brobeck 3-6, 2B; Bribiesca (PH) 1-2; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Mancilla 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Two days in, and now we already had a game where Kyle Brobeck was in the lineup, but if things went yikes there was every chance that he’d be pitching before long in the rubber game.

Game 3
POR: LF Abercrombie – SS Lavorano – 1B Brassfield – RF Caballero – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – C Zamora – 2B Bribiesca – P Sweeton
IND: SS Llampallas – 2B A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF Abel – CF Oldfield – RF McIntyre – 3B Mullen – C Villafan – P Fitzgibbon

Brobeck came close to the first Coons homer of 2057 when he hit a ball off the top of the wall in leftfield for a leadoff double in the second inning, but he didn’t come particularly close to scoring a run in the inning, being left exactly there for as long as it took the Coons to make three outs. The next hit for the brown team was another double, hit by Ruben Zamora with one out in the fifth inning – so yes, that level of production – and he was stranded just the same by Bribiesca and Sweeton. The latter allowed a single to Mullen and very much nothing else in the first five innings of the game.

Top 7th, Brobeck was at it again, smacking a leadoff double into the left-center gap in a scoreless game. Royer struck out, Zamora was walked intentionally, and Bribiesca smashed a bouncer into a 5-4-3 double play. (deep breath)

Sweeton allowed hits to Quinteros and PH Kevin Price in the seventh inning, but then got a double play from Oldfield. Will McIntyre singled his way on to begin the bottom 8th, but was still on second base with two outs when the Indians sent Chris Briggs to pinch-hit in the #9 spot. The Raccoons sniffed the air, then called Eloy Sencion from the bullpen. The lefty struck out the lefty, and the game went to the ninth scorelessly. Brassfield drew a leadoff walk from Jeff Caldwell, which was as good as it got. Caballero, Brobeck, and PH Callaia made meek outs. Tanizaki got three more of those from the Arrowheads, and here we were again in extra innings…!

It began to rain by the time that Bribiesca, Pucks, and Abercrombie hit straight 1-out singles off Caldwell in the 10th inning. The last one went to rightfield with Bribiesca at second base, but by this point we were so desperate for a ******* run that he was sent against McIntyre’s murder arm – and was thrown out at the plate. The remaining runners went into scoring position, but Lonzo hit a comebacker to Caldwell to kill the inning for good. At that point Brobeck went to the hill, if nothing else to make it end. Making it end he did. Price he nicked with a 1-2 pitch, Oldfield hit into a fielder’s choice, but stole second base, and McIntyre’s single to left ended the game. 1-0 Indians. Brobeck 2-4, 2 2B; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Sweeton 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Luis, my fuzzy lips are so weirdly dry.

Raccoons (1-2) vs. Bayhawks (1-2) – April 6-8, 2057

The Bayhawks had lost a series to the Falcons to begin the season and had scored ten runs in doing so, which to my fuzzy old ears sounded like an outrageous amount. Ten runs – in THREE games?? Wizardry, that! They had given up 13 runs, mostly in the bullpen, which came in with an 8.10 ERA. We had won seven of nine games from San Fran last year.

Projected matchups:
Craig Kniep (0-0) vs. Salvatore Calderon (0-0)
Roberto Oyola (0-0) vs. Darren McRee (0-0)
Kennedy Adkins (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (0-1, 7.04 ERA)

Only righty pitchers from the opposition for our home opener series.

Game 1
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Peltier – 2B A. Montoya – RF A. Walker – LF Lindauer – CF M. Brown – C Redfern – 1B P. Fowler – P S. Calderon
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – C Chavez – 3B Espinoza – P Kniep

The Coons scored in the first inning after Calderon offered a leadoff walk to an 0-11 Gaudencio Callaia, who was then moved around to score with Abercrombie and Brassfield singles. Pucks walked to fill the bases, and Ryan Allred drew another walk to push home a second run. Marcos Chavez added another run with an RBI single, but Espinoza popped out and Kniep grounded out to keep it at 3-0. That became 3-1 in the top 2nd when Kniep had nothing better to do than walk the ******* bags full with the 4-5-6 batters, before getting a run-scoring double play grounder from Keith Redfern and a pop to Allred from Pat Fowler. Slappy, I think you’ll need to hold my hand a little earlier than usual this year.

The third inning quickly spiralled out of control once Calderon opened with a double to left. Kniep walked Xavier Reyes, then gave up RBI singles to both Adam Peltier and Armando Montoya. On the next pitch, Aaron Walker went well deep to left, and the Bayhawks had turned a 3-run deficit into a 3-run lead. Kniep was yanked after offering another ******* walk to Lindauer, with Tanizaki working out of the inning after that. But the game would get well worse well soon. Brobeck got the ball in the fifth inning and got one out on 34 pitches. Leadoff walk to Montoya, then singles by Walker and Lindauer, the latter plating Montoya, 7-3. Matt Brown walked, Redfern struck out with the bases loaded. Pat Fowler singled home two, Calderon singled home one, and another run scored on a throwing error by Brassfield, and then Reyes tripled to clean up whatever was left behind. Exit Brobeck, enter Ornelas, who gave up an RBI single to Peltier, ballooning Brobeck’s ERA to 108, but held the Baybirds to a 7-spot in the inning. Yes! That’s the moral victories we need! (unscrews the first bottle of Capt’n Coma of the year)

The Coons had four hits, including their first homer of the year by Brassfield in the bottom 5th and scored exactly one run. Lonzo singled and was doubled up by Abercrombie, and after the homer Pucks and Allred singled but were stranded when Chavez grounded out. Not that I expected a successful rally out of a 10-run hole… By the seventh, Ornelas gave up a run on three singles in his third inning of garbage relief, while Xavier Reyes found it necessary to steal a base in a 13-4 game before scoring to extend the lead to 14-4. San Fran tacked on two more in the ninth against Ricky Herrera, who was left to his own devices and gave up two walks and three singles. 16-5 Bayhawks. Lavorano 3-5, 2B; Brassfield 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Allred 1-2, BB, RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-2; Chavez 2-5, 2 RBI; Zamora (PH) 1-1; Royer (PH) 1-1; Tanizaki 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Fun fact: NOW comes the guy that I expected to get bowled over. – The Bayhawks went to Cantrell, who had already gotten bowled over.

Game 2
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 1B P. Fowler – 2B A. Montoya – CF Epperson – 3B Peltier – RF A. Walker – LF Lindauer – P Cantrell
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – RF Brassfield – 1B Puckeridge – 2B Allred – C Zamora – 3B Bribiesca – P Oyola

Oyola allowed a whole loada NUTHIN’ the first time through the order, whiffing three Baybirds, while the Raccoons expertly failed their way around a leadoff double for Royer in the first and a leadoff single still for Pucks in the second inning, with the latter eventually doubled up by Zamora, 4-6-3 style. Oyola ran his perfect game to 3.2 innings with strikeouts on Reyes and Jon Mittleider in the fourth before he was suddenly taken pretty well deep to right by Pat Fowler, and at the same time it started to rain, or maybe it was just the tears dropping on my shirt with five happy Raccoons for five straight pennants from the 2040s.

There was a 20-minute rain delay in the bottom 4th after which Lonzo singled and was caught stealing, but then the Critters turned the score around to 2-1 home team with a single by Abercrombie, Pucks’ RBI double, and Allred’s RBI single; although hits by Peltier and Walker and a sac fly hit by Lindauer to left would tie the game at two right away again in the fifth inning. By the third time through, Oyola was getting hit really hard. Armando Montoya gave San Francisco a 4-2 lead in the sixth with a huge homer to left, and it was more of a consolation price that Oyola at least finished seven innings to help out the beleaguered bullpen. The Coons made up a run in the bottom 7th, getting Allred and Bribiesca to the corners, and a run-scoring fielder’s choice grounder to second from the pinch-hitting Caballero, but that still left us 4-3 behind.

Make that two after Mittleider’s leadoff jack off Mancilla in the eighth inning, 5-3, and then the Baybirds swatted out three straight singles to load the bases while Mancilla retired absolutely ******* nobody. The inning descended into madness as Mike Lane replaced him. Adam Peltier singled home a run (…), and Sam Witherspoon drove home two with a pinch-hit single. Lindauer struck out, while the remaining runners reached scoring position with a wild pitch to Eric Cobb, whom Lane would drill with the 1-1 pitch to load them up for Reyes, the rat. Reyes flew out to Caballero in center on the first pitch, and Caballero unleashed a throw home that killed Peltier at the plate to end the inning, but apparently also separated Caballero’s arm from the rest of his body, and he left the game injured. Pucks moved to center, and Callaia entered at first base. Lane then allowed another two hits and a wild pitch, but no runs in the ninth inning… Bottom 9th, Pucks and Espinoza hit leadoff singles off ex-Coon Victor Merino and scored on a Bribiesca double and a Callaia groundout, but Dave Lister then restored order and the Raccoons punched another L on their scorecard. 8-5 Bayhawks. Puckeridge 3-4, 2B, RBI; Allred 2-3, RBI; Espinoza (PH) 1-1; Bribiesca 2-4, 2B, RBI;

(blows)

Game 3
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Peltier – 2B A. Montoya – RF A. Walker – LF Lindauer – C Redfern – CF Gough – 1B P. Fowler – P McRee
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Adkins

The sky looked dull, as did Adkins, who gave up three runners and three stolen base attempts in the first inning. Reyes was caught stealing (hah-hah!), but Peltier and Walker swiped bags, and Peltier especially scored the game’s first run. Redfern’s double and John Gough’s single produced another run off Adkins in the second, and while Abercrombie doubled home Callaia to get the Coons on the damn board in the third inning, the traffic against Adkins never stopped. Redfern homered for a 3-1 Bayhawks lead in the fourth, and it started to rain around the same time and before long we had a 30-minute rain delay. It all went swimmingly, really.

Longtime Wolves starter McRee was in theory well accustomed to Oregon weather, but still loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 4th. Brobeck hit a soft single. Royer hit an infield single. Allred reached on an error by Reyes. Whatever works, boys, just keep it up. Marcos Chavez tied the game on the very next pitch, shoving a single through the left side to allow Brobeck and Royer to score and even the tally at three. Adkins whiffed, Callaia walked, and Lonzo got home the go-ahead run with a groundout before Abercrombie emptied the bases with a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run gap triple that put Portland up 6-3 and sent McRee to the showers. Oscar Soliz popped out Pucks to end the 5-run inning, but saw Royer reach on a clumsy error by Gough in the next. Royer stole second and scored on Allred’s hit through Fowler, 7-3. This time, Adkins got through seven innings on 100 pitches, and with the 4-run lead still all in one piece. Tanizaki and Herrera added scoreless innings of their own to stave off the sweep. 7-3 Raccoons. Callaia 2-4, BB; Abercrombie 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Allred 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Raccoons (2-4) vs. Falcons (2-4) – April 9-11, 2057

The Falcons had started out 2-0, but had since lost four straight, including getting swept by the Crusaders on the weekend. They ranked seventh in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the CL, better than the Raccoons in either category. Last year, we had drowned eight out of nine times against the Falcons.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (0-1, 7.71 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Alfonso Jewel (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Craig Kniep (0-1, 27.00 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (0-0)

Jewel would be the second lefty opponent of this season.

Abercrombie and Lonzo had Monday off – they were the only players that had started every game during Opening Week, and we would not have a day off for a while yet.

Game 1
CHA: LF K. Fisher – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – CF Conner – 2B T. Edwards – P E. Duran
POR: 1B Callaia – 2B Allred – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – C Chavez – SS Espinoza – P Taki

Callaia whiffed and Allred bounced out to short to begin the bottom 1st, but then Brass and Pucks got on with a single and walk, respectively. Miranda fumbled the 2-2 pitch to Brobeck for a passed ball, and then with the runners in scoring position and the earliest start imaginable, Brobeck singled them both in with a clean slicer to center. Royer and Chavez would fill the bags after that, but Espinoza’s K ended the inning. It didn’t take long for Taki to blow that, and then some, though; the Falcons found the board with three singles in the third inning, then added a 3-run homer by Bobby Anderson, the old foe. (gnashes teeth)

Marcos Chavez’ bomb to left in the bottom 4th was a solo job and narrowed the score to 4-3, but Kyle Fisher’s single and Ian Woodrome’s RBI double pulled that run right back in the top 5th, and not much of Taki was seen afterwards….

More disaster befell Ornelas in the seventh inning. Travis Edwards rammed a leadoff triple through Brobeck, he nailed Braden McCarver, and then gave up an RBI double to Kyle Fisher. One run scored, and the two trailing runners were stranded when Eloy Sencion rung up Woodrome and got two cozy outs to first base from Danny Ceballos and Bobby Anderson, but we were down 6-3 by now, but substantial rallying was hard to spot. Brass was on base in the eighth, and also doubled up by Pucks. The bottom 9th saw the Raccoons against Coons discard Steve Watson, who nicked Chavez and walked Abercrombie to bring the tying run to the plate with one out. That would be, uh, pinch-hitter Ruben Zamora. He flew out to right, which was still better than a game-ending double play. Two outs, Callaia, single to left, and a run scored, with the winning run appearing at the plate. Ryan Allred probably hadn’t hit a homer since stickball times, and didn’t start with that stuff now either, striking out instead. 6-4 Falcons. Brassfield 2-4; Chavez 2-2, HR, RBI;

Three days later, we also finally learned that Oscar Caballero would miss substantial time with a triceps strain. He went to the DL and was expected to be out for six weeks or longer. Squee. There were no minor league stats to fall back on as of Tuesday, which was the day the AAA season only started. The Raccoons recalled Carlos Solorzano because I didn’t know what else to do …

Game 2
CHA: LF K. Fisher – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – CF Ward – 2B T. Edwards – P Doyle
POR: 1B Callaia – 2B Allred – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – C Chavez – SS Espinoza – P Sweeton*

Singles by the 2-3-4-5 batters put Sweeton in a 2-0 hole before very long in the first inning, but at least Miranda hit into a double play. Portland got Allred and Brassfield singles in the bottom 1st, a floater to right from Pucks, and then a 3-run homer off Brobeck’s weird stick! Doyle, in his first start of the season, would offer leadoff walks to the 2-3 batters in the bottom 3rd, then gave up a sac fly to Brobeck after Pucks’ roller into a fielder’s choice at second base, which extended the lead to 4-2, but the Falcons got that one back; Luis Miranda drew a 1-out walk in the fourth, advanced on Jayden Ward’s grounder to first base, and then scored when Edwards knocked a ball through the right side for a 2-out RBI single…

Allred and Brassfield reached base together for the third time in the bottom 5th, then already against reliever Franklin Mendoza and with one out. Pucks shot a single through the right side, but too hard for Allred to try and score from second base. Brobeck instead batted with the bases full, but popped out to short, remaining on four RBI for the game – or all the Critters had. That was, until Steve Royer drove a screamer into the right-center gap. It fell between Ward and Ceballos, then escaped to the fence, and became a bases-clearing double…! Chavez grounded out, keeping the score at 7-3 through five. Sweeton pitched one more inning, but gave up a run thanks to a leadoff double by Bobby Anderson, leaving with a 7-4 lead eventually. And that one held up – neither being taken away from nor added to. For Portland, Mancilla, Lane, and Walters all threw scoreless innings. 7-4 Coons. Brassfield 2-3, BB; Brobeck 2-3, HR, 4 RBI; Royer 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

No left-hander to close out the series for the Raccoons – Wednesday’s game was rained out, which was apparent quite early, and the Falcons and Coons both flew out of town mid-day, because they both had places to be by Thursday.

In other news

April 4 – 39-year-old left-hander Mike Lynn, who pitched to a 3.12 ERA with the Capitals last year, signs a 2-yr, $2.24M contract with the Miners, three days into the new season.
April 5 – 39-year-old right-hander Justin Johns, 3-3 with a 3.43 ERA for L.A. in ’56, signs a 2-yr, $2.2M contract with the Wolves, who forfeit their third-round pick to the Pacifics for picking up the last type-A free agent on the market.
April 7 – BOS OF/2B Eric Whitlow (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI) will miss a month with torn thumb ligaments.
April 9 – Aces 2B/SS Jim White (.333, 0 HR, 1 RBI) is out for the year after being diagnosed with a fracture in his elbow.
April 10 – The Wolves will not have OF/1B Noah Caswell (.275, 1 HR, 6 RBI) until the start of May with a fracture in the 27-year-old’s foot putting him on the DL.
April 11 – Cyclones RF/LF/1B John MacDonnell (.342, 1 HR, 6 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 12-inning, 11-8 loss to the Warriors. MacDonnell notably does not require extra innings to get his four hits, which he all enters in the box score by the eighth inning. He goes 4-for-6 with 5 RBI, but can’t stave off defeat.

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Alex Vasquez (.600, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Jon Alade (.467, 0 HR, 9 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Struggling to score, and struggling to keep the opposition from scoring. It was a bit of a rough first eight games, even though most of the damage was done by that one bombardment brought by the brawny Baybirds. Y’know, if we erase the first four games entirely, we almost have a great run differential for four games played…!

And if I erased myself off the nearest bridge over the Willamette… Oh well, at least nobody (was) drowned so far. There’s candidates, though.

Reynaldo Bravo went unclaimed and was assigned to AAA.

The Coons will play four with the Crusaders in New York starting on Thursday, the start of a 4-city road trip that will also see us head to Elk City, Atlanta, and Oklahoma. Oh well, at least we’re getting out of the truly dreadful Portland April. Wednesday’s rainout will only be made up in September, in surely more dreadful weather.

Fun Fact: The previous cycle in the league had come a year less a day earlier, and also against the Warriors.

Willie Sanchez of the Rebels even managed to win that game with his team.

It’s the third cycle for a losing player in the decade. The other two involved the Knights, including the cycle that the Aces’ Jim White hit for in 2053 in a loss to Atlanta.

No more cycles for Jim White this year…

*Let’s just say I bungled the opposing starters being switched until it was too late…