[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Indians (0-0) – April 5-7, 2066

The Raccoons got to open the new season against the Indians, the only team in the division they had looked vaguely competent against in ’65, going 12-6, though not without suffering a walkoff loss in the final game of the season. That being said, we were now playing six games in a row against the Arrowheads between the three now and the three in Indy to close out last season.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (0-0) vs. Mike DeWitt (0-0)
Chance Fox (0-0) vs. Vince Ellison (0-0)
Nick Walla (0-0) vs. Joe Napier (0-0)

We would open the season against a southpaw for some spice and also the only one we’d see this opening week of the season.

Game 1
IND: CF E. Ramirez – SS Aredondo – LF Dowsey – 1B Starwalt – RF T. Torres – 3B M. Martin – C Atencio – 2B Falcon – P DeWitt
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Branch – 1B Starr – 2B Caballero – RF Tallent – P Nakayama

The season began with Ramon Lopez and Rich Monck hits in the first inning, as well as them being left stranded, while Nakayama retired the first seven batters he faced before Miguel Falcon reached on an error by Monck – so that’s what we traded Morales for? – and then Nakayama was taken well deep by Eddy Ramirez with two outs in the inning, giving the Indians an unearned 2-0 lead. The Coons’ starter then hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, Jaden Wilson walked, and Novelo popped out and Lopez hit into a 6-4-3 double play. The Raccoons found the scoreboard the inning after, though, as Monck singled his way on base and went to third base on a Starr double. However, only Monck would be brought in to score on Jorge Caballero’s groundout to second base, while Randy Tallent was walked intentionally and Nakayama was then coaxed into an inning-ending pop to Falcon, keeping the Raccoons 2-1 behind.

Nakayama pitched his way around a Vinny Atencio double in the fifth, then allowed a single to Justin Dowsey in the sixth, but Danny Starwalt found a double play to hit into. Monck remained unretired, getting on base with a leadoff knock in the bottom 6th before Tommy Branch unloaded a score-flipping homer to left-center, and probably with his big black googly eyes closed. Caballero then walked with one out and Tallent cranked another homer to left to extend the score to 5-2. From there Nakayama completed eight innings, but not without allowing a triple to Falcon leading off the top of the eighth and conceding that run on a groundout. The Coons got Starr and the pinch-hitting Carlos Gutierrez on base in the bottom 8th before Tallent denied my formal request for insurance runs, so we had to find some bum to close a 5-3 game right away on Opening Day. With Dowsey leading off the ninth and him and Tony Torres being left-handed batters, the ball went to Jeremy Garvey, who did little to reward the trust given to him with a leadoff single given up to Dowsey and a walk to Starwalt before PH Ben Ellis shot a spanker right at Gutierrez for a 4-6-3 double play. Darby Laybolt then flew out to center. 5-3 Coons. Monck 3-4, 2B; Starr 2-4, 2 2B; Nakayama 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

Winning record! Take a deep breath, because it’s probably not gonna last past Easter!

And Easter is THIS WEEK.

Right away, neither Malcolm Spicer nor Jose Corral appeared in that opener, so they probably should not feel too secure of their status on the team…

Game 2
IND: CF E. Ramirez – SS Aredondo – 3B M. Martin – 1B Starwalt – LF Dowsey – 2B Falcon – RF T. Torres – C Atencio – P Ellison
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 2B Gutierrez – P Fox

Corral then promptly homered, somewhat miffed, in his first at-bat of the season, giving Chance Fox a 1-0 lead on Tuesday. His second time up he drew a 2-out walk to fill the bases behind Lopez and Novelo and their pair of soft singles in the bottom 4th. Carlos Gutierrez then slapped a zinger up the middle which Oscar Aredondo knocked down behind second base, but couldn’t scramble up or flick the ball to Falcon in time to gain the third out on the play, and Gutierrez cashed an RBI single. Neatly, however, it was Chance Fox to work himself into a 3-1 count before slapping a ball over the head of Aredondo for a 2-out, 2-run single, giving himself a 4-0 lead. The inning ended with a Wilson groundout, while Fox then seamlessly resumed some honest work on the mound. He allowed a single in each of the first two innings, but apart from that held the Indians very short through five innings; the only complaints would have been a few too many full counts.

Bottom 5th, and Spicer opened with a double to right before Lopez and Monck filled the bases with walks and nobody out. Starr’s comebacker was taken by Ellison for an out at the plate, Novelo popped out to second, but Corral came through with a clean RBI single, 5-0. Gutierrez’ RBI single made it 6-0 and knocked out Ellison, with his replacement, Victor Perez, ringing up Fox to get out of the inning. Perez then batted for himself leading off the top 6th against Fox, singled to right, and from there the Raccoons had a bit of a meltdown on defense. A passed ball moved the runner to second before Novelo bobbled Ramirez’ grounder to short for an error, putting runners on the corners. Aredondo also grounded to short and the Raccoons only got an out at second while Perez scored, 6-1. Aredondo was nearly picked off by Fox, then stole second base and made it to third on a bad throw by Lopez for the second error of the inning, but Matt Martin’s ill-placed groundout and Starwalt’s pop fly to Starr kept him stranded and the Raccoons only conceded that one run in the inning.

Monck doubled and Starr reached on an uncaught third strike to put runners on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 7th. Novelo whiffed and Corral hit into a double play to dissipate the inning, while Fox returned to the hill for the eighth. He got a pop from Atencio before Laybolt pinch-hit and singled to left, which was the end for Foxie Brown in this game. The Coons went right to the Rule 5’s and brought in Steven Hudson, who got a grounder from Ramirez for an out, and a grounder from Aredondo that Gutierrez – the sure-pawed one! – bungled for another error. But Martin grounded out to Monck at third base and the runners remained on the corners. Still with a 5-run lead, the Coons then sent the other Rule 5 righty, Garrett Napolitano, into the ninth inning. He walked Starwalt on four pitches, allowed a single to Dowsey, and got a pop from Falcon, but was then exchanged for Ricky McMahan against the lefty-hitting bottom of the order. Tony Torres brought in a run with a groundout, but Atencio’s fly to left ended the game. 6-2 Raccoons. Corral 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Branch (PH) 1-1; Fox 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Game 3
IND: CF E. Ramirez – SS Aredondo – LF Dowsey – 1B Starwalt – RF T. Torres – 3B M. Martin – C Atencio – 2B B. Ellis – P Napier
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – SS Novelo – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – C Arellano – RF Corral – 2B Gutierrez – P Walla

Spicer singled and stole the team’s first base of ’66 in the first inning of the series finale, but was also left on base. Offense soon turned out to be minimal for the time being, as both teams were held to two base hits through five innings, and one of the Indians’ hits was Napier doubling off Walla in the fifth inning. The Indians then scattered a single each in the next two innings without getting close to a round trip to home plate, while the Coons had to wait out a pair of walks to Starr and Corral in the bottom 7th before Gutierrez clipped a shy 2-out single to left and Starr just went for it, legging out Dowsey’s throw from leftfield to score the game’s first run from second base. Walla had already thrown 100 pitches and so was hit for in a RISP situation; Ramon Lopez drew a walk in his spot, filling the bases, but then one centerfielder flew out to the other to strand all the runners.

Justin Cullum made his Coons debut in the eighth and got two outs before he walked Dowsey. When left-handed Matt Rogers batted for Starwalt, the Raccoons flipped him for Garvey, who secured a strikeout, and was back on the mound with the 1-0 lead still on the board (and the Coons still on three hits) for the ninth inning, with another two lefty sticks coming up in Torres and Atencio. He struck out the former, while the latter never batted after a 1-out walk to Martin. Falcon and Laybolt instead popped out twice to complete the sweep! 1-0 Blighters. Walla 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

3-0 start, but please keep in mind, it’s the Arrowheads, and our RBI leader is now Carlos Gutierrez, a 22-year-old defensive middle infielder…

Raccoons (3-0) vs. Knights (1-3) – April 9-11, 2066

The Knights had lost three of four games to the Condors out of the gates, scoring the second-most runs and allowing the most runs in the CL so far, but the numbers were not outlandish (under six runs per game anyway) and it was just a precious few games so far. Even that 9.00 bullpen ERA might rankle itself in from here. Especially against the Critters, whom the Knights beat 6-3 in 2065. The Knights were without free agent acquisition Miguel Medina to begin the season; the first baseman was still laboring on a knee injury suffered in September 2065.

Projected matchups:
Juan Sanchez (0-0) vs. Angel Alba (0-0)
Duarte Damasceno (0-0) vs. Adam Lunn (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (0-1, 9.00 ERA)

Not one, but two former Raccoons would come up here, Lunn being the exception. Angel Alba would in fact make his first start with the Knights *in* Raccoons Ballpark! All three were right-handed.

Game 1
ATL: CF Fumero – C Hart – RF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – LF K. Hummel – 2B W. Acosta – 1B Savalli – 3B Baxley – P Alba
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – RF Corral – 2B Caballero – P Sanchez

Jaden Wilson walked and stole his first base of the year in the first inning, but had just as much luck with getting scored as Spicer two days earlier against the Indians. Even less luck was with Jose Corral, who legged out an infield single and his own leg in the second inning and left the game with Luis Silva, being replaced with Tommy Branch.

The game was scoreless into the fourth inning, which Justin Hart opened with a double to left-center before scoring on a 2-out single hit by Ken Hummel. Juan Sanchez kept on tracking while Corral’s bloody infield single was the only Coons hit into the sixth inning of this game. Wilson began that with making an out before Alba *plonked* Spicer, who took his revenge by stealing second base. Lopez was no help, but Rich Monck then exploited Alba’s willingness to be taken deep and raked a score-flipping, 2-run bomb to right! Starr then hit a double and was stranded by Novelo, while Branch socked another double to lead off the seventh. He advanced on a Caballero groundout before scoring on Sanchez’ single to center, 3-1. Sanchez was left on base, then completed eight innings on exactly 100 pitches. The save opportunity this time went to Jesse Dover, who had not pitched against the Indians. He walked Jake Evans in a full count, struck out Casey Ramsey, whom the Coons coulda had twice over this past summer *and* winter, then mishandled a comebacker by PH Jose Consuegra for an error. Willie Acosta in his return to Atlanta struck out, though, and then Justin Savalli rolled over to Starr to end the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Wilson 1-2, 2 BB; Corral 1-1; Sanchez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

4-0 start…!?

Honeypaws, I’m confused. Do something.

Game 2
ATL: CF Fumero – 1B Savalli – RF J. Evans – C Hart – 2B W. Acosta – SS C. Ramsey – LF J.P. Sheridan – P Lunn – 3B Baxley
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Gutierrez – RF Tallent – P Damasceno

Spicer and Lopez were on base in the first inning before Monck grounded out and Starr floated out to center to leave them on base. And while Monck turned a 5-3 double play on Ramsey in the second inning, J.P. Sheridan then still singled in the game’s first run, bringing in Willie Acosta from second base as “DD” Damasceno allowed an abundance of runners early on. This included nicking John Baxley to lead off the third inning and then getting taken deep by Justin Savalli for a 3-0 deficit.

The Coons had only one hit the first time through, then saw Ramon Lopez reach base on an error by Acosta to begin the bottom 4th. Lopez reached third base on a Monck single, then scored on Starr’s grounder to second base that got Monck forced out in a fielder’s choice. Starr was left on base, and then the Knights doubled their output against Damasceno on a huge 3-run homer mashed by Ramsey in the top 5th. DD limped out of the inning, down 6-1, and was hit for with Joe Gardner in the bottom 5th, who hit a 1-out double. Lunn then walked Wilson, allowed an RBI single to Spicer, and walked Lopez to fill the bases, which suddenly brought up Monck as the tying run. He drove in two with a single to center, 6-4, but then Starr crashed into a 6-4-and-3 double play to end the inning…

The Coons then tried to get multiple innings from Garrett Napolitano, but ended up getting a singular out while the Knights battered him for four runs in the top of the sixth as he simply couldn’t get anybody out. From there, Juan Soriano pitched a scoreless inning in his season debut, while the Coons had a pair on base in the bottom 7th, but now Monck blundered into an inning-ending double play. The Coons didn’t grab another run until they were down to their final out in the ninth inning when Marcos Arellano drove in Spicer for a meaningless run. The game then ended with a deep fly out to right off Monck’s bat. 10-5 Knights. Spicer 2-3, BB, RBI; Arellano (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Monck 2-5, 2 RBI; Gardner (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Hudson, the other Rule 5 guy, pitched the last two innings, walking three and allowing a hit, but no run(s), but I didn’t exactly consider that a good day out.

Game 3
ATL: CF Fumero – 1B Savalli – RF J. Evans – LF Consuegra – 2B W. Acosta – SS C. Ramsey – C McLaren – P Sweeton – 3B Baxley
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – RF Branch – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – C Arellano – SS Novelo – 2B Gardner – P Nakayama

Nakayama walked Carlos Fumero in a full count to begin the rubber game and was then immediately taken quite deep by Justin Savalli, who already mashed his fourth home run of the season, which was *one* way to start a ballgame. The Coons had a Starr single in the second inning and left him on, and Gardner singled his way on in the third inning, but was doubled off on Nakayama’s bunt attempt. They remained shy in the following innings, although Arellano got on with a single in the fifth inning. He was running and stole second base with one out and a full count on Gardner, who struck out. No throw was made to second base by a confused Matt McLaren. Meanwhile, Savalli in the sixth and Ramsey in the seventh opened with doubles for the Knights, but both were stranded on third base in their respective innings to keep the score at 2-0.

Starr drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 7th but was forced out by Arellano’s grounder to short before Novelo hit into a double play altogether. Nakayama was done by then, pitching seven innings on four hits and the two runs from the very start of the game. Cullum held the score at 2-0 in the top 8th before Gutierrez hit for him and scratched out a 1-out single in the bottom 8th. He advanced on Wilson’s groundout, then scored on a Spicer single, 2-1. Spicer stole second to move the tying run into scoring position, Branch drew a walk in a full count, but Monck’s fly to left was easily caught by Consuegra and that ended the inning. Garvey held the Knights at bay in the ninth inning before the skinny lead went to Brad Fales, right-hander, for the bottom 9th. Starr and the two catchers disappeared in order, though, and the Coons had their first losing streak of the year. 2-1 Knights. Gutierrez (PH) 1-1; Nakayama 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (1-1);

At 40 years old, Sean Sweeton bagged his 200th career win against the Coons here.

That’s 200 overall, not 200 against the Coons. He got 23 wins *with* the Coons in 2056-57, in what had been his only time in the CL prior to hooking up for two years with the Knights now.

Raccoons (4-2) @ Thunder (4-2) – April 12-14, 2066

The Thunder were second in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the early going, but with uneasy defense. The real quirk here was that they had played super-long extra-inning games with the Indians on both Saturday and Sunday, and that the Raccoons were coming up against an exhausted bullpen… IF they could get Monday’s starter Tyler Riddle out of the game early. The Thunder had won five of nine games against Portland in 2065.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Nick Walla (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Josh Elling (0-0, 4.91 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Danny Baca (0-0, 7.11 ERA)

Riddle and Baca were left-handers, and Riddle and Elling were former Raccoons starters, which made it three straight ex-Coons taking the ball against the Critters here, four in five days, and hopefully familiarity would finally breed some offense.

The Raccoons moved Jose Corral to the DL with a hip strain on Monday and called up Jamie Colter.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – LF Branch – 3B Monck – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 2B Caballero – RF Tallent – P Fox
OCT: RF Almanza – C Bohannon – 2B Palominos – LF Kaniewski – SS Archuleta – CF Thore – 1B Kozak – 3B Bonilla – P Riddle

Chance Fox got five outs to begin the game, then gave up three straight home runs to Coby Thore, Jack Kozak, and Alberto Bonilla. While the Raccoons brought up the minimum against Riddle the first time through, the Thunder threw another 3-spot onto the board in the bottom 3rd, this time fully unearned after an error by Monck at third base that put Roberto Almanza on base right away. Fox then walked Martin Bohannon, Jose Palominos hit into a double play, but John Kaniewski got an RBI single and Ramon Archuleta socked a fourth homer off the Coons’ rather hapless left-hander. Fox would pitch another inning, getting three outs from the bottom of the order with some loud contact mixed in, and then was whisked away, especially with the Coons still down 6-0 and on only two base hits of their own in the middle of the fifth.

Soriano pitched a scoreless fifth before the Raccoons went back to Napolitano for another attempt at getting some outs from him. He got six outs, but also gave up two more runs while continuously being battered around. Tyler Riddle pitched a 4-hit shutout against the Coons, and any hope to take advantage of an exhausted bullpen definitely dissipated with that. 8-0 Thunder. Gardner (PH) 1-2;

At this point the Raccoons were firmly bottoms in runs scored in the league, with a .214 team batting average. Rich Monck was hitting .346, Malcolm Spicer was at .250, and after that it rapidly got really dire…

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Arellano – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Colter – 2B Gutierrez – SS Novelo – P Walla
OCT: RF Almanza – CF Thore – C Bohannon – 1B I. Stone – SS Palominos – LF Laity – 2B Archuleta – 3B Curiel – P Elling

Martin Bohannon, Ian Stone, and Jose Palominos filled the bags with singles in the first inning against Walla, who got a crucial K on Ben Laity to strand all the runners and keep the game scoreless for the time being. Instead, Joel Starr opened the scoring with a solo jack to left in the second inning. Thore and Stone would set up camp on the corners in the bottom 3rd with another pair of singles (six singles in total against Walla at that point already), but they were wrapped up in Palominos’ double play grounder to Novelo that ended the inning.

Walla couldn’t get a clean inning, allowing a single to Ernesto Curiel in the fourth, and then a single to Roberto Almanza leading off the fifth inning, although the Thunder were still being shut out despite out-hitting the Raccoons 8-3 through five innings.

Jaden Wilson was batting .042 at that point, but was at least drawing walks. He opened the sixth with a double to the base of the wall in leftfield, which hopefully would spark more base hits, maybe even two per week, from here on out. Spicer was retired hitting a liner to a sliding Almanza in right, while Arellano hit one over the fence in right… foul. He had to go back to the dish, then struck out. Elling lost Monck on balls with two outs, but then got Starr on a fly to center for the third out. The same inning, Walla finally retired the Thunder in order for once. Almanza hit another single off him in the seventh, but was also stranded on base; however after seven innings and nine hits for absolutely nothing worth counting, the Thunder had at least chewed up Walla for the day.

Tallent batted for Walla leading off the eighth inning and hit a double to center. Wilson walked behind him and a double steal put a pair in scoring position with nobody out against Elling, who on the next pitch allowed an RBI single through the right side to Spicer, who then could not resist taking off, was hit in the back by Bohannon’s throw while sliding, and the ball bounced away, allowing Wilson to score and Spicer to reach third base. Arellano struck out, while Monck hit a sac fly to Laity, who dove heroically for the ball and cranked out his back. He had to leave the game and was replaced with John Kaniewski. The Coons then gave the 4-0 lead to the pen; McMahan got one out from Ian Stone to begin the eighth before immediately yielding for Cullum, who gave up a run on two screamers belted for hits by Kaniewski and Ramon Archuleta before Curiel struck out to end the eighth. Cullum hung around in the ninth inning and got the last three outs from Tony Rodriquez, Almanza, and Thore without another reliever needing to be bothered. 4-1 Coons. Spicer 2-4, RBI; Colter 2-4; Tallent (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Walla 7.0 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

Wilson and Novelo – both hitting under .100 – were given a day off on Wednesday. There would not be an off day on Thursday, so they needed a day down at some point anyway…

Game 3
POR: SS Gutierrez – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – RF Branch – 1B Starr – CF Tallent – 2B Caballero – P Sanchez
OCT: RF Almanza – C Bohannon – 2B Palominos – SS Archuleta – CF Thore – 1B I. Stone – LF Kozak – 3B Bonilla – P D. Baca

The rubber game went pear-shaped quickly as Spicer and Lopez reached base with one down in the top of the first before being doubled home by Rich Monck… who came up limping at second base, and after consultation with Luis Silva left the game right away. Joe Gardner replaced him as pinch-runner, was stranded, and then took over third base. Sanchez bobbled the Thunder a run on the board with a walk to Bohannon, a single by Archuleta, and a wild pitch in the bottom 1st, but Randy Tallent answered with a homer in the top 2nd, 3-1, and Tommy Branch added another solo home run in the fourth for a 4-1 lead. Ian Stone’s homer in the bottom 4th then counted for two and the lead was down to 4-3 again…

Palominos then gave the Raccoons a chance to tack on again, throwing away Carlos Gutierrez’ grounder to lead off the top 5th for an error and two bases. Baca came back with strikeouts against the 2-3 hitters, however, and then Gardner flew out harmlessly, and Gutierrez retreated to the bench from second base. Sanchez went back to the hill for the bottom 5th, got an out from Bonilla, but then allowed a double to the opposing pitcher and then nailed Almanza as he was becoming rapidly unglued. Bohannon popped out, but Luis Silva was back out on the field and having a talk with Sanchez, who made awkward motions before leaving the game with Silva. Juan Soriano got the ball and as much time to warm up as he liked, then gave up a mighty old drive to deep left to Palominos – but Spicer raced back to the fence, leapt, and stole a 3-run homer and ended the inning at the same time…!

It didn’t help, though, as Archuleta singled leading off the sixth, stole second, reached third on Lopez’ bad throw, and then immediately scored on a sac fly to center hit by Coby Thore, what’s more, score even at four. Jaden Wilson batted for Soriano in the seventh, singled, and was caught stealing.

Thunder reliever Bill Hernandez became the third injury of the game, striking out Gardner in the eighth for his only batter before being hauled in by their trainer. In the meantime McMahan walked one in the seventh, was rescued by Dover, who then walked two in the eighth and had to fight his way out of there himself. The game remained tied, however, into the ninth inning where Erik Swain retired Tallent on a pop to short – the first time in the game that Tallent didn’t reach – before Caballero struck a double to right. Jamie Colter then batted for Dover … and cranked a homer to right-center! Tetsu Kurihara then got two outs from the Coons to get the Thunder back in the box against Garvey in the bottom 9th. He struck out Curiel before falling to 3-0 on Bum-kyoo Su and giving up a homer, 6-5. Almanza grounded out, but Bohannon singled to bring up Palominos as the winning run with two down. The Critters shrugged, went to Cullum, and he threw a single pitch to Palominos, getting a grounder to short for the final out of the game. 6-5 Critters. Monck 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Tallent 3-4, HR, RBI; Wilson (PH) 1-1; Colter (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Dover 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

In other news

April 6 – Teams go the extra mile on Opening Day in Washington as the Capitals beat the Blue Sox, 7-6 in 19 innings. WAS LF/RF/1B Bryan Johnston (.714, 0 HR, 2 RBI) collects five hits including two doubles, while the Caps debut of former Titans starter Joe Chalmers (1-0, 0.00 ERA) consists of 6.1 shutout innings in red-eye relief as his team’s ninth pitcher of the day. On the other side, NAS OF/1B Kyle Ricker (1-for-3, 0 HR, 0 RBI) makes his ABL debut in extra innings, but leaves the game after cutting his hand on a jarring bit of outfield fence on a defensive play, leaving him day-to-day for a week.
April 9 – LAP SP Shane Fitzgibbon (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Dan Graham (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 SV) combine for a 1-hitter in a 3-0 game against the Cyclones, who get nothing beyond a single by RF/LF Roberto Soto (.357, 0 HR, 0 RBI).
April 9 – The Titans beat the Bayhawks, 3-1, but for a price, losing both OF Eddie Marcotte (.333, 2 HR, 4 RBI) and 3B/SS Zach Suggs (.143, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to injury. The veteran Suggs would be out for at least a month with a broken thumb, while Marcotte was day-to-day with a sore thumb.
April 10 – IND 2B Miguel Falcon (.400, 0 HR, 0 RBI) puts out five singles for no run batted in and no run scored in a predictably futile 18-inning, 5-4 win against the Thunder.
April 11 – Because it was that much fun, the Indians and Thunder play another extra-long game on Sunday. This time the Thunder claim the 5-4 win, and in a brisk 14 innings.
April 12 – A ruptured UCL ends the season of Scorpions SP Mike Pohlmann (0-0, 6.75 ERA) after just one week.
April 12 – Blue Sox OF/1B Tony Roman (.346, 2 HR, 5 RBI) contributes five hits in a 12-inning, 7-3 win over the Scorpions; four singles followed by a 3-run homer in the Sox’ 4-run top of the 12th inning.
April 12 – The Rebels beat the Warriors, 4-3 in 15 innings.
April 13 – After 14 innings, the Falcons beat the Titans, 9-4.
April 14 – The Capitals rout the Pacifics, 19-6. Every Capitals position player in the lineup has at least two hits, a run scored, and an RBI – except for OF Isaiah Birth (.240, 0 HR, 1 RBI), who goes 0-for-5. WAS RF/SS/2B Ted Lloyd (.207, 1 HR, 5 RBI) collects four hits, including two doubles, for the most hits by any player in the game.

FL Player of the Week: SAC OF Cory Oldfield (.458, 2 HR, 10 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: TIJ 1B Andy Metz (.500, 3 HR, 6 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

There’s normally not much to complain about in a 6-3 start, except that we’re tied for bottoms in runs scored (3.44 per game) and we’re doing it on a hardly sustainable defensive rating (.732).

Also, Jose Corral is already on the DL, Juan Sanchez left the Wednesday game with a balking back and might miss a start or might not miss a start, and we have no news on Rich Monck, who also left the final game in Oklahoma City after a first-inning double. Monck and Spicer are the only qualifying batters putting at least a .200 clip together.

So don’t depart to la-la land quite yet, because it might not last after all. For the time being we had to depart to New York for four games with the Crusaders, followed by a 2-week homestand against the damn Elks, Aces, Falcons, and Indians.

Fun Fact: Nick Walla is the only qualifying pitcher in either league with a flat zero ERA.

He has 14 shutout innings on the board so far, seven in each of his two starts, although the one against the Indians felt considerably easier for him.