Raccoons (60-45) @ Bayhawks (67-38) – August 1-3, 2061
Clash of the first-place teams, with the Raccoons leading the North by five games, which was exactly twice the size of the Bayhawks’ lead in the South. They scored the most runs in the CL, but were also charitable with their pitching, which gave up the fifth-most markers. Their run differential of +120 was nevertheless impressive. The rotation was average, the pen was porous, but they were up 4-2 on the Raccoons this year. Hector Montenegro was their only notable injury.
Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (9-6, 3.54 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (5-7, 4.88 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-5, 3.24 ERA) vs. Jesse Connors (7-6, 3.61 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-6, 2.65 ERA) vs. Bill Grau (9-2, 2.84 ERA)
Southpaws were looming on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the Raccoons started the series with a 23-man roster. Lonzo was still not in the lineup on Monday with the bum knee, and Chance Fox remained at the hotel with a nasty migraine. I hear there was non-oversugared barfing involved. He was not yet questionable for his Wednesday start.
Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – RF A. Walker – 3B Portillo – C Redfern – P Turay
Xavier Reyes hit a single off Robinson in the bottom 1st and then stole his 49th base in a bid to smash the single-season record for stolen bases. He was left on base, however, while the Raccoons got back-to-back bombs and a 2-0 lead from Nye and Caswell going deep in the top 2nd. Nye extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Struggling Joel Starr narrowly missed a homer the inning after, settling for a wallbanger double and getting stranded when Brassfield grounded out to end the inning. Brass would hit a sac fly however with Morris and Starr on the corners in the fifth inning; Morris singled and stole his 32nd base of the year (now leading Lonzo by three on his own team) while Starr was walked intentionally after Fowler’s groundout that shifted Morris to third base. Brass cashed Morris, 3-0, but Starr was left on base by Nye.
Robinson retired 11 in a row before Aaron Walker legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 5th and Miguel Portillo immediately drew a walk after that, but catchers would be catchers and Keith Redfern found a 5-4-3 double play to roll into. Unfortunately, that made for only two outs, and Robinson then got dinged by Turay for a clean RBI single to center… Reyes grounded out to first to end the bottom 5th instead. That was the only run off Robinson in seven innings of work, and he only allowed one more runner when Portillo drew another walk off him in the seventh. Rocco had the eighth and gave up a 2-out triple to right-center to Grant Anker, but then secured a groundout from Armando Montoya, the two main threats in that lineup, to escape without being charged a run.
Matt Walters, though, got a bit on the snout in the ninth inning. Entering with a 3-1 lead, he had Scott Laws ground out, but then allowed singles to Aaron Walker to left and Portillo to center. Worse was Redfern’s RBI double to right-center, which put the tying run at third and the winning run at second base with only one out. Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for the Baybirds’ pitcher, but struck out, looping the lineup back to Reyes and his .375 right-handed clip. The Raccoons were not interested. He got directions to first and we’d try our luck with Jose Escalera’s .326 lefty stick. He poked a ****** roller onto the infield that nobody could do anything with and the Baybirds gigglingly tied the game at three. Visibly upset with the universe, Walters then threw one more pitch to Grant Anker. It was last seen crossing the Bay into Oakland. 7-3 Bayhawks. Morris 2-5; Caswell 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; N. Fox 1-2, BB; Robinson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;
(cries)
That was 100 RBI for Grant Anker this year. The Coons lead was held by Brassfield. 54.
54!
(catatonic expression)
Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 1B Tomlin – C Fuller – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera
SFB: SS X. Reyes – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Escalera – C Cantu – RF A. Walker – P Connors
Tuesday began with Matt Walters sitting motionless in the bullpen, trying to hide his shame by wearing the plus-sized tub of chocolate ice cream he had emptied during the night as a hat that rested on his shoulders, and also with the Bayhawks getting an early run when Aaron Walker singling home Dan Sandoval in the bottom 2nd to give the Baybirds a 1-0 lead against Tipsy Bobby, who allowed three hits in that inning, but only four total through five innings. He nevertheless kept trailing 1-0 while the Raccoons did precious little. They had three hits through five, one of them a Herrera single. Lonzo hit a single off Connors to begin the sixth, but was doubled off by Brassfield.
Herrera went seven inning of 5-hit, 1-run ball and remained on the hook when he was hit for with Caswell to begin the eighth, an inning in which the Raccoons disappeared 1-2-3 on six pitches against Connors. Mendez and Ricky H. pooled resources together in the bottom 8th to get around a leadoff single by Portillo, who hit for Connors. Righty Ryan Dow was then up for the ninth against the 3-4-5 batters. Brass grounded out to Dan Sandoval. Nye grounded out to Dan Sandoval. Starr batted for Tomlin and … struck out. 1-0 Bayhawks. Tomlin 1-2; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (7-6) and 1-2;
Besides my will to live, the Baybirds also decapitated Nick Nye’s 19-game hitting streak.
Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 1B Tomlin – C Perez – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – 3B D. Sandoval – RF A. Walker – C Redfern – P Grau
The Raccoons had three runners in the first inning, but Morris was caught stealing right away after drawing a leadoff walk and Lonzo and Brass hit singles, but were stranded with a Nye grounder and Tomlin whiffing. The Baybirds also got three singles off Fox in the bottom 1st by Reyes, Montoya, and Scott Laws, and they of course scored a run… Sandoval popped out to Nick Fox to end the inning with a pair left on base. Aaron Walker led off the bottom 2nd with an infield single, Redfern singled to center, and Grau bunted the pair into scoring position. Chance Fox got Reyes to grounded out quickly to Nick Fox, which pinned the runners, then got another vanilla groundout from Escalera to Nye to deNye the Bayhawks more run(s).
Next he deNyed them the lead with a 2-run homer in the fourth, hitting a 380-footer to left after Brass worked a full count for a leadoff walk against Grau, which put the Coons up 2-1. Grau walked the next two, Ayala grounded out to advance them, and one Fox was then walked intentionally to bring up the other Fox, the one that was hitting 1-for-44 on the season, the most defensible intentional walk of a .245 hitter ever. Grau fell 3-1 to Chance Fox, who then fell to the animalistic urge to swing the bat and fell over not one but two coffee tables for a 6-4-3 double play.
Walker in the bottom 4th and Perez in the top 6th hit into double plays to keep offense low and the score tight in the following innings, but the bottom 6th began with an Anker single to center before Fox lost Montoya in a full count. Laws then legged out an infield single, and the Baybirds had three on with nobody out. Fox got a pop from the left-handed Sandoval that Nye caught, but then was yoinked after just 67 pitches for Ruben Mendez to face the 7-8 batters and hopefully keep it at least tied. He struck out Walker, but Redfern slapped a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center that flipped the score, and everything was ***** again. Grau made the last out of the inning before Fowler batted for Mendez to begin the seventh, but grounded out. Morris singled, Lonzo flew out to right, and Brass singled to right-center with two outs. Morris chased to third base, and Aaron Walker unleashed a terrible throw there that missed Sandoval entirely, and allowed Morris to hustle home to tie the bloody ballgame.
Forbes Tomlin hit a leadoff single off Grau in the eighth inning, but the next two Critters made outs. Fox walked, and Tim Fuller’s pinch-hit single loaded the bases with two outs before Morris cracked a hellacious line drive – right into Montoya’s mitten to end the inning. Brass and Starr hit singles in the ninth against Dow, but couldn’t get further than second base with that, but Justin Rocco put up scoreless eighth and ninth innings to send the game to overtime.
The fact that the pitcher’s spot was still in the #9 hole and was to come up in the top 10th against Dow then allowed Felix Ayala to try and be the hero with a leadoff jack to left, because we held back Cas to pinch-hit for Rocco instead, but the Raccoons went down in order after the Ayala homer. Matt Walters then slouched out of the pen for the bottom 10th still wearing the ice tub until reminded by the umpire that it constituted illegal equipment and it was taken away. He then first faced the guy that had given him (and his GM) major depression on Monday, Grant Anker, and walked him in a full count. Montoya hit a comebacker, but Walters threw wild to second and pulled Lonzo off the base, allowing the winning run on base with the error. He then also walked Laws, but struck out Portillo with three on and nobody out and me gasping. Josh Wall pinch-hit in the #7 spot and hit a fly to right that was gonna tie the game, but the way you imagined, because Brass **** on the ball and dropped it for an error, allowing EVERYBODY to advance and putting Montoya with the game-winner at third base. Redfern’s deep fly to left was caught by Ayala, but ended the game anyway since Morris couldn’t throw it home from there. 5-4 Bayhawks. Morris 2-6, 2B; Brassfield 4-4, BB; Tomlin 2-3, BB; Starr (PH) 1-1; Ayala 2-5, HR, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1; Rocco 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;
I hate this ******* place. I hope climate change kicks it into fifth gear and drowns this ******* den first of all places. **** this ballpark.
**** this ballpark.
Oh, god-bloody-damnit, the Crusaders are next…!! (cries in despair)
Raccoons (60-48) vs. Crusaders (58-51) – August 4-7, 2061
The Crusaders had zoomed in to 2 1/2 games behind after winning three of four (including a make-up game for an earlier postponement) in Atlanta. The Raccoons needed to win one game in this series to stay afloat, and two to keep their distance. And I was not confident despite leading the season series, 5-2. New York was third in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed with a +75 run differential (Coons: +65). They had a slew of injuries to deal with, including starters Ryan Musgrave and Milt Cantrell on the DL *and* the irresistible Ben Seiter having left his start in Atlanta with an apparent injury that was yet to be revealed to the world. Reliever Alex Flores and position players Kelly Konecny and Ryan Spehar were also on the DL, and Rick Price was dealing with a crappy hammy.
Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (9-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (6-6, 2.48 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (7-2, 1.89 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (5-1, 2.60 ERA)
Nick Robinson (9-6, 3.43 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (6-6, 3.67 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-6, 3.15 ERA) vs. TBD
Ortega had pitched long relief after the Seiter (15-4, 2.62 ERA) injury on Monday. Lee or the 39-year-old Wilcox might have to go on short rest. Joel Luera (7-7, 3.77 ERA) already went on short rest on Wednesday. All of these guys were right-handers.
Look at you, baseball gods. Teasing me with a tiny straw of hope, and then we get swept again…
Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B R. Price – 3B Webler – P J. Ortega
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P DeRose
Aubrey Austin and Tommy Branch were the only righty hitters in that lineup, which wasn’t gonna help the struggling DeRose, but it was the Raccoons to score first when Nye got on base to begin the bottom 2nd and Caswell cranked a homer to right for a 2-0 lead. The inning went on with Fuller flying out before Fowler singled and Ortega threw away DeRose’s bunt for two bases. Morris plated a run with a groundout, and Lonzo brought in a run with a 2-out single to center, then stole his first base since coming back from getting struck in the knee last Monday, but was left on base by Starr. DeRose had pairs on base in the second and fourth innings, but extricated himself orderly both times, but got taken deep by John Webler for a home run in the fifth inning, narrowing the score to 4-1. Omar Sanchez singled his way on base in the same inning, but was caught stealing by Fuller to end the inning. He was and remained on 18 bags for the year.
There were a few silent half-innings after the Webler homer. The Coons then put on Starr with a 2-out walk and Brass with a double against Eric Matthews in the bottom 7th, but Nye grounded out to Webler to keep them stranded and the score at 4-1. DeRose continued to get a groundout from Armando Caban in the #9 hole to begin the eighth inning, then was lifted for LaBat, who faced Sanchez and McLaren, who reached on a single and an error by Starr, respectively. Abrams came on, but Austin socked an RBI double to right, and the tying runs were now in scoring position with one out, although Branch whiffed. The Raccoons didn’t see Matt Walters as available after being out three of four days (including Sunday), and getting smothered in long innings in two of those. Ricky Herrera and Jon Bean entered in a double switch that sat down Nye, but the Crusaders countered with Pedro Gonzales to bat for Sean Zeiher to get a righty stick up. Ricky H. got a *huge* strikeout anyway, which ended the inning. Fowler and Bean would reach with two outs in the bottom 8th, but new pitcher Dave Lister got Morris out to defuse the situation. Herrera remained on the hill for the ninth. Alex Murillo flew out to deep center, while Rick Price flew out easily to Morris in left. Webler grounded out to Fowler, and the Raccoons assured themselves of first place by Sunday night. 4-2 Critters. Brassfield 2-3, BB, 2B; Fowler 3-4; DeRose 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (10-9); R. Herrera 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (3);
Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C P. Gonzales – RF Austin – CF Zeiher – 1B Weir – 2B R. Price – LF Deeley – 3B Webler – P E. Lee
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Riddle
Offense was mostly absent in the first three innings. Lonzo hit a double in the first, but was left on base, and that was about it. Zeiher took Riddle deep in the fourth for a 1-0 Crusaders lead, and they doubled that by plonking Riddle for another three singles with Hector Weir, Chris Deeley, and Webler, before Lee went down to graciously end the inning. That woke up the sleepy Critters, through; Nye and Cas went to the corners with 1-out hits in the bottom 4th, and then Angel Perez – who was now down to roughly 50% of the time behind the dish as he was losing the fight against Tim Fuller – cranked a 3-run homer to right to flip the damn thing around! (tosses Honeypaws in the air) Wheeee!
Riddle nicked Omar Sanchez to begin the fifth, but Gonzales popped out and Riddle kept a close eye on Sanchez, who had to hug first base and then was doubled up on Aubrey Austin’s grounder to short. Lonzo and Starr made outs in 3-ball counts to begin the bottom 5th before Brass got on base with a single. Nye hit a double to right, but also hurt himself and left the game with Luis Silva, which wasn’t great. Jon Bean would replace him. At least his sacrifice was not entirely in vain as Caswell fell 1-2 behind Lee, but then peppered a 3-run homer for the second consecutive inning to extend the lead to 6-2!
Cas was then out in a double switch in the sixth when Riddle lost cohesion, walked Rick Price with two outs, and left the game after 99 pitches. Barton and Ayala entered. Deeley worked another walk, but Webler popped out to short to end the inning. Barton gave up a run in the seventh on hits by Sanchez, who stole a base, and Gonzales, who plated Sanchez from second, before Austin found another double play. The Crusaders had two on against Rocco in the eighth, Price and Deeley reaching with 2-out singles, but Webler went down swinging as the tying run. The Coons tried to tack on in the bottom 8th against Kody Mello; Perez hit a double to center and Fowler singled to right, putting them on the corners. Ayala’s liner to Webler and Morris’ pop behind the plate did nothing to score any of them, but Lonzo came through the left side with a 2-out RBI single (which also took the save off and gave Walters a chance to fester for another day). Starr grounded out, and Ricky H. pitched another competent ninth. 7-3 Coons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 2B; Caswell 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;
No word on Nick Nye on Saturday, but rumor had it that Ben Seiter had a balking back, had gotten an injection on Friday, and was gonna pitch on Sunday. For the third game, though, it was the semi-scheduled Wilcox as the Crusaders were dragging themselves from day to day with their battered pitching staff.
Game 3
NYC: 2B R. Price – C P. Gonzales – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Weir – SS A. Murillo – 3B Webler – P A. Wilcox
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Robinson
The Coons got out to the early lead despite making two outs to begin the bottom 1st. Starr then walked, Brassfield hit an RBI double, and Cas added an RBI single to center for a 2-0 lead. Robinson was solid the first time through despite making a bit of a mess for himself in the third inning, where Webler got on with a single, and Robinson fumbled Wilcox’ 1-out bunt for an error. Price hit into a double play to Nick Fox, though, and all was well. Morris began the bottom 3rd with a double. Lonzo’s grounder and Starr’s scratch single got him around to score, 3-0, but while another Purple Pooper – Branch – hit into a double play in the fourth inning, he did so with Gonzales (leadoff walk) and Austin (single) on the corners, and the Crusaders got on the board with the 6-4-3 grounder.
A 3-run lead was restored in the bottom 5th with Wilcox walking Starr and giving up a 2-out gapper to Caswell for an RBI double, 4-1. Perez walked as well, but Nick Fox grounded out to leave two on. Wilcox was then hit for in the sixth inning, but the New Yorkers got nothing in that inning, although the Crusaders got one back with Branch stringing a leadoff triple to left-center in the seventh. Zeiher struck out, but Weir singled in the run to get back to 4-2.
Southpaw Michael McLaughlin was pitching in the bottom 7th when the Raccoons got – in unearned fashion thanks to a Webler error – to three on and two outs, having their 5-6-7 batters on base. Forbes Tomlin pinch-hit for Bean hoping for a knockout blow, but flew out easily to Branch to leave everybody stranded. Fowler then manned second base after that, while Robinson got another two outs before Mendez replaced him against the 2-3-4 batting right-handers. He struck out Gonzales to end the eighth; Ayala, who entered with him in a double switch that sat down Cas once again (the only other batter left on the bench was Fuller, though), drew a leadoff walk from Lister to begin the bottom 8th and Morris’ double put a pair in scoring position. Lister brushed Lonzo to make it three on with nobody out, then *also* hit Starr to push home a run. After Brass popped out, annoyingly Mendez came up and the Raccoons chose violence and sent Fuller. He grounded out, but a run came home, and Perez grounded out to end the inning. Abrams then got the ball with a 4-run lead, not having pitched all week. He threw two pitches that Austin and Branch singled on, then was yanked for Walters as things got interesting in a real hurry and all the wrong ways. But Walters got back on the horse with a double play grounder hit by Zeiher, and Hector Weir flew out to center to end the game. 6-2 Critters! Morris 2-5, 2 2B; Starr 2-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Caswell 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Robinson 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-6);
Cooooooons!
Aw, shucks – that was a terrible mistake. I showed enjoyment, and the baseball gods brought out the big hammer.
Luis Silva reported that Nick Nye had a tear in his medial collateral ligament, whatever the **** that was and what it might be good for. He was out for the rest of the season and it would be tight for him to even get back by Opening Day next season.
Great.
Just what I needed after three wins against the Purple Poopers, Luis!!
Nye was off to the 60-day DL, and the Raccoons needed to fill second base once again. Bernie Ortega was called up to (with Bean) re-form the most useless second-base platoon known to man or beast.
So, Nye was lost, but Seiter was injected to the hill on Sunday. A couple of Critters could use a day off at this point, like Morris, Brass, Cas, and Lonzo, and we’d be busy on Monday, but games against the Crusaders were currently more important than games against the Titans. Everybody still on two hindpaws was crammed into the lineup on Sunday.
Game 4
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B R. Price – 3B A. Murillo – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
Another game against New York, another early 2-0 lead! Seiter walked Morris to begin the bottom 1st, then saw Lonzo stuff a triple into the leftfield corner and score on Starr’s groundout. Tipsy Bobby did not allow a hit the first time through, but his only K came when Seiter bunted foul in a 1-2 count after Rick Price drew a leadoff walk in the third inning. This start could still go either way for him, and it threatened to go *that* way in the fourth. Matt McLaren led off with a homer to dead center, which was never great, and Austin socked a double right after that, but then the inning fizzled out rather briskly for the New Yorkers, who left the tying run on second base. Bobby H. made up for the pitching shortcomings by dinging a 2-out RBI single to plate Nick Fowler in the same inning, 3-1, after which Seiter walked Morris again, but Lonzo’s fly into the gap was rushed down by Branch.
Seiter tried to soldier on, but he was just not right. He issued four walks by the fifth inning including one to Brass in the bottom 5th. Fowler also got on, and then Tim Fuller cranked a huge 3-run homer to left to extend the score to 6-1 and knock out Seiter, who shook his head and muttered into his glove while walking to the dugout. Bobby H. would follow not *that* far behind. He went 6.1 innings, but walked Zeiher to start the seventh and got a groundout from John Rosenstiel, but then was lifted after 106 pitches. Only two hits against him, but just a lot of long counts. LaBat unfortunately kept melting and surrendered Herrera’s left-behind runner on a 2-out single by Murillo, 6-2. Armando Caban then grounded out to Lonzo to bring on the stretch. Sanchez (single) and McLaren (walk) then got on to start the eighth. Barton came on, rung up Austin, but allowed an RBI single to left to Branch. More arms! Rocco entered the game with Zeiher up as the tying run, got to 2-2, but Zeiher whacked a ball to deep right – NO! STAY IN!! And it stayed in, and was caught by Brassfield, six feet from the wall. (one big black googly eye is noticeably bigger and googlier than the other) Rosenstiel grounded out to Starr to put the inning away.
Bottom 8th, Fuller grounded out against Eric Matthews, who then allowed singles to pinch-hitters Ortega and Tomlin, then drilled Morris to fill the bases for Lonzo, but then unfilled them with a wild 0-1 pitch that got an insurance run home. That was all we got as Lonzo lined out to Sanchez and Starr popped out to Murillo… Abrams then came into another 4-run game in the ninth inning, and Walters was very much throwing in the pen behind him again. This time he got the first two guys out before Hector Weir hit a pinch-hit double with two outs. Sanchez grounded out to end the game and complete the deed for the sweep! 7-3 Furballs! Morris 1-2, 2 BB; Ortega (PH) 1-1; Tomlin (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (8-6);
Huzzah!!!
In other news
August 1 – There is not one, but TWO 6-run rallies capped by a walkoff grand slam for a 7-3 win in the league on this Monday. While SFB LF Grant Anker (.291, 23 HR, 100 RBI) murders the Raccoons in San Francisco, the Cyclones pull the very same trick for the same score against the Pacifics, the heroics being done by CIN CF/LF Ethan Torrence (.284, 1 HR, 30 RBI), whose walkoff slam is his first homer of the season.
August 1 – The Aces have a 9-run rally in the eighth inning to beat the Indians, 14-10.
August 4 – RIC 1B/RF/LF Chris Jimenez (.219, 3 HR, 22 RBI) lands three hits in a 6-3 win against the Cyclones, the first of which is the 2,000th of the 38-year-old’s career. A career .261 hitter with 103 homers and 863 RBI, Jimenez was an All Star once as a 2050 Titan, but spent the longest time with the Miners.
August 4 – A flayed UCL will cost WAS SP Vince Vandiver (9-7, 4.39 ERA) the rest of this and potentially all of next season.
August 5 – Pacifics SP Josh Clem (14-5, 2.85 ERA) shuts out the Warriors on three hits in a 1-0 game.
FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.347, 1 HR, 48 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND OF/1B Ricardo Alvarez (.282, 5 HR, 32 RBI), hitting .500 (13-26) with 4 RBI
Complaints and stuff
That thumping and tumbling noise you just heard were the Crusaders falling down the stairs and hitting their heads on every single step all the way to the ground floor and the dumpsters with the persistent munching noises emanating from them. Now THAT was a sweep! After a terrible disaster series in San Francisco (where nothing good ever happens and which I hope will one day be swallowed whole by an earthquake), the Raccoons bleached the Crusaders in a 4-game set, winning three of the games by four runs. That helped us establish a 6 1/2 game lead, the biggest we’ve held so far this season.
And no more Baybirds to play! …at least this side of September 30.
Losing Nick Nye for the season is a terrible blow, however, and now we again have a spot in the lineup that is filled with outs. It’s also too late to trade for some sort of competence. You can play Nicks Fox or Fowler there, but they lack experience there and Fox is more of a hot corner guy anyway. Coupled with Lonzo being 34 – not terrible, just 34 – that opens holes up the middle… Ortega and Bean can’t hit a lick between them, but they can at least defend. Somebody’s gotta bat eighth, y’know.
The only other real second base option in AAA was David Gonzales, clipping singles, but I was kinda tired of David Gonzales. Same for Ortega and Bean and Bribiesca and all the other 28+ guys playing infield at AAA…
Speaking of AAA, Joey Christopher played seven games of rehab down there and will come back early next week. He had a .517 OBP in those seven games.
Three more games at home with the Titans, then a day off, a weekend trip to Dallas, and another day off ahead of a 2-week homestand.
Fun Fact: Ben Morris has the most WAR (3.3) among Portland position players.
And he had not even been penciled in as a starter to begin the season! He pounced instead when Cas went on the DL for the first time in mid-April.
Brass (2.7) and Nye (2.5 and down and out) are the only other batters on staff to be over the 2 WAR mark. Caswell (1.8) might yet get there if he can finally stay on the ******* field.
For comparison, the entire rotation minus DeRose (1.5) has at least 3 WAR at this point, if you give Riddle credit for missed time. Riddle has 2.3 WAR in half as many starts as the other guys. From there on up it’s Foxie Brown with 3.3, Tipsy Bobby with 3.8, and Robinson leading with quiet competence and 4.4 WAR.