[Westheim]

Raccoons (18-19) vs. Canadiens (21-15) – May 15-17, 2068

Uck, the Elks!! It smells! Nevertheless, they were one game out of the lead in the North, and it was mostly on pitching, giving up the second-fewest runs in the CL, in stark contrast to the Raccoons. Both teams were right around average in scoring. The Coons had not won a season series from the damn Elks in six years, with four straight defeats, including 8-10 in 2067.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Vince Ellison (4-0, 2.65 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (2-3, 6.02 ERA) vs. Nate Freeman (2-4, 3.89 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-1, 4.02 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (3-3, 5.93 ERA)

The Elks had been off on Monday (like the Coons) and the preceding Thursday, and they had wiggle room to get southpaw Martyn Polaco (3-0, 2.17 ERA) into this series. The other starters were all right-handed.

Game 1
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 1B R. Cordero – RF Atkins – SS Barraza – P Ellison
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – 2B Archuleta – RF Corral – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Morales

Maybe next year, though, because the Raccoons’ left side of the infield committed a pair of errors to begin the second inning and then watched in awe as Rick Atkins hit a 3-run tater to Vancouver, Washington for the first runs (one earned) in the game. Neither team would get more than three base hits in the first five innings, so that was a biggie. While Morales struck out four and didn’t walk anybody, which was sure a nice development, the Raccoons managed to get a run in the fourth on a pair of doubles hit by Starr and Corral, but apart from that looked rather tame against Ellison, who also struck out four and allowed one earned run through five innings.

When Jared Duhe drew a walk to begin the bottom 6th, the Raccoons never got the runner off first base as they made three meek outs in order. In turn, Dan Moore and Rico Cordero singles back-to-back to begin the seventh would have the Elks score a run when Roberto Barraza hit a 1-out grounder to short and the Raccoons couldn’t turn two in time, allowing Moore to score from third base. Ellison issued back-to-back walks to Early and Flowe in the bottom 7th, but Diego Mendoza rumbled into an inning-ending double play…

Hall and Kehoe then exploded for a 4-run inning in the eighth, capped with Rico Cordero’s 3-run homer off Kehoe, even though all the other runners had been put on base by Mike Hall, and Nick Vaughn’s pinch-hit homer off Holzmeister in the ninth put the cherry on top. The Elks had seven hits in the final four innings, and the Raccoons had but one. 9-1 Canadiens. D’Alessandro (PH) 1-1; Morales 7.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (1-1);

At this rate, we’d have a bullpen ERA over six before the weekend.

Game 2
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 1B R. Cordero – SS Barraza – P N. Freeman
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – 2B Archuleta – RF Corral – C Flowe – LF Ramirez – 3B Mendoza – P Gaytan

Gaytan simply sucked and had oodles of traffic on the bases right to begin the game, although the Elks would find ways to hit into outs with runners on base for three innings, although luckily for them that went away in the fourth inning of a scoreless (…) game when Tyler Chenette was hit on the first pitch offered by Gaytan, and then Dan Moore right away whacked a double. The Elks scored their runners on Barraza’s groundout and a Freeman sac fly to go up 2-0, but with the bases empty, Gaytan started refilling them again, allowing three straight singles for a third run, then walked Roberto Lozada to fill the bases and Steve Varner with the bases loaded. He was then disposed of; Yamauchi got a groundout from Chenette to end the ******* inning.

Freeman was still no-hitting the Raccoons at this point, and was still doing so when McMahan cluelessly walked a pair and gave up a run on an infield single by Chenette with two outs in the top 6th, and continued with that act afterwards, while the Raccoons were mostly concerned about running out of arms to throw garbage innings. McMahan was dug out by Holzmeister, who got four outs, and Dover pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, with the no-hitter still raging. Corral bounced out to Matt Kilday to begin the bottom 8th, but the bid blew up with five outs to go when Jake Flowe hit a zinger up the middle for a single. And then Novelo pinch-hit straight into a double play. Freeman would pitch into the ninth inning, where PH Brian Hills reached on a Barraza error. Matt Nelson then replaced Freeman and got a game-ending double play from Duhe. 5-0 Canadiens.

(gives a confused Jake Flowe a thick smooch)

Game 3
VAN: 3B C. Castro – 2B Kilday – RF Lozada – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 1B R. Cordero – SS Barraza – P E. Culver
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – 2B Archuleta – RF Corral – LF Colter – 3B Hills – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini

Pizza was just as useless as everybody else and gave up two runs right in the opening inning, allowing two hits, two walks, and two runs – which were even unearned thanks to the whole ******* inning starting with Kilday reaching on a 1-out, 2-base throwing error by Jared Duhe. Lozada then hit an RBI single and things developed from there, although Barraza eventually grounded out to leave the bases loaded. Starr and Archuleta reached base in the first, but were left on by Corral, while Colter walked and Hills singled to begin the bottom 2nd for some traffic that remained stationary while D’Alessandro struck out, Pizza popped out, and Duhe grounded out to Carlos Castro.

While Pizza managed to run up a pitch count of 87 in just four innings with endless long counts and a full-count walk to Culver thrown in for good measure in the fourth, the Raccoons started the bottom 4th again with Colter and Hills reaching base, this time on a pair of singles. D’Alessandro whiffed again, but Pizza hit a single up the middle and drove in Colter for the team’s second run of the week, and it was merely 2:20pm on a ******* Thursday. Duhe flew out to left and Wilson grounded out to Kilday to make sure no tying run came anywhere near home plate. Joel Starr led off the bottom 5th with a single, but was forced out by Archuleta, who could not get a steal off, but then rushed to third base on a Corral single to right. He drew a throw from Lozada, and Corral scurried up to second base behind him, putting runners on second and third with one out. Colter promptly popped out to short, but Hills dished a ball into the left-center gap for a 2-out, score-flipping double. D’Alessandro was walked intentionally, but Marquise Early batted for Pizza and served another RBI double. Duhe then flew out to left again to leave a pair in scoring position in the 4-2 game in which the Raccoons now had to get 12 outs from their rancid bullpen.

Four outs were brought in by Kehoe before he allowed a pinch-hit single to Rick Atkins in place of Culver. The runner was caught stealing on Mike Hall’s watch before he walked Castro and then got a pop from Kilday. Duhe batted with a pair in scoring position again in the bottom 7th after D’Alessandro and Eddy Ramirez reached with 2-out hits, but now grounded out to Barraza. Instead, Dan Moore doubled home Steve Varner against Yamauchi in the eighth inning, reducing the lead to one run temporarily before the offense claimed the second run back in the bottom 8th. Starr got on, was forced out by Archuleta, but this time Archuleta stole second and then came around on Corral’s 2-out single to right off lefty Paul Wolk. Novelo walked, but Hills struck out to end the inning. The Raccoons then went to Valentin, who had been forced to pitch a garbage ninth inning the day before, and right away things hit the ******* again. Barraza and Castro reached with base hits and went into scoring position and right away Kilday drove the dagger in with a game-tying single to left-center. Lozada popped out, Varner doubled and hurt himself and was run for with Kevin Herr, and Chenette struck out. Too little, too late.

D'Alessandro hit a leadoff single in the bottom 9th before the team resorted to croaking, which sent the game to extra innings. Dover held the game together in the tenth inning, but the Raccoons had Starr on with a leadoff walk and then doubled up by Archuleta… Dover returned for another inning, walked Carlos Castro right away, but got out of the inning with a Kilday groundout, Lozada lining out to Starr, and Wilson making a diving catch to retire Herr, the backup catcher, to keep Castro stranded. Bottom 11th, Novelo led off with a single off Matt Nelson, but was forced out by Hills, who in turn was caught stealing. McMahan pitched a scoreless 12th, then had to bat leading off the home half of the inning. While Diego Mendoza was still on the bench, the Coons were about out of relievers and Nick Walla popped up in the bullpen in the bottom 12th doing stretches. He would likely be in for the 14th should things escalate to that. For now, though, McMahan struck out, but Justin Wittman’s strike three got away from Herr, and McMahan somehow reached first base in time on the uncaught third strike – and then Duhe hit INTO ANOTHER ******* DOUBLE PLAY. Wilson singled – and was caught stealing… Maud… I’ll need … can you please make a tea for me? I feel like my head is going to burst off in the next six seconds.

Maud was a good girl, unlike the bozos on the field, who managed to wipe out a Walla start by ******* the game into the 14th inning, when he made his first ever relief appearance after 102 starts in the majors. Walla allowed a single to Chenette, but got around that, then saw Hills lead off the bottom 14th with a single. D’Alessandro doubled to right, and the Coons had a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Mendoza was STILL on the bench, but we couldn’t hit for Walla. We’d hit for Dumbo Duhe though, if Walla wouldn’t get the winning run across, which he didn’t, falling to 2-2 before hitting a fly to left. Chenette made the catch, Hills went for home, because WHY ******* NOT, and – was thrown out. D’Alessandro boggled up to third base, and Mendoza indeed batted for Duhe. He struck out. (slurps tea)

Mendoza then had to play the outfield for the first time since Little League because that’s where Duhe had been playing for the last few hours, but no ball came his way in the near future. Kevin Herr threw out Wilson again in the bottom 15th, then got Walla for a 2-out homer to right to break the tie in the 16th inning. Bottom 16th, Wittman walked Hills, was yanked for Dallas Samson, who walked D’Alessandro. Those were with one out, and there were no hitting options for Walla anymore, and since Walla was hitting only 30 points less than Mendoza, why not let him swing away? He ended the game! …by grounding to short for a 6-4-3 double play. 6-5 Canadiens. Starr 4-5, 3 BB; Corral 3-8, RBI; Hills 4-7, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; D’Alessandro 3-6, 2 BB, 2B; Early (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Dover 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; McMahan 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Raccoons had 23 hits in this game.

They had 23 hits and couldn’t get … (moves paws around erratically) … like … (aggressive paw stabbing) … get in front of the damn Elks???

(aggressively slurps tea)

Raccoons (18-22) vs. Condors (14-26) – May 18-20, 2068

Two tire fires would see who could burn brightest on the weekend, as the Raccoons were all out of pitching, and the Condors had commitments totalling $105M in the offseason and had the worst record in the CL for it. They were scoring the fewest runs in the Continental League, and were giving up the third-most, just ahead of the Raccoons in the latter category, as we gave up the second-most. Phil Nelson, Colt Long, and Phil LeVan were injured, and some other pieces had been through nagging injuries already, including Rich Monck. Mike Brann led the league with 11 homers, but spent most of his time batting leadoff for some ******* reason, and the entire lineup was hitting under .270, with a .235 team batting average. Jason Brenize was 1-6, and the only starting pitcher with more than one win (Phil Nelson) had just shoveled off to the DL for the year. Teams had traded 5-4 season series wins for six straight years. This would be the Coons’ year.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (5-2, 3.99 ERA) vs. Miguel Lopez (1-2, 2.68 ERA)
TBD vs. Aaron Ledbetter (1-3, 3.31 ERA)
Vinny Morales (1-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Ryan Davis (1-0, 4.82 ERA)

Only right-handers in that rotation for the Condors.

The Raccoons’ pitching was entirely in disarray after two ****** starter appearances and Walla getting used up in relief for the weekend, having thrown 41 pitches for the loss. We had no replacement lined up as of Friday morning, and we had three relievers (Dover, McMahan, Valentin), who were out of the question for the series opener. Neither Rated-R nor Gabriel Rios were available for a start on regular rest ahead of Morales, so we’d have to make some wacko moves in the next 24 hours.

Game 1
TIJ: SS J. Turner – LF Nakamura – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – CF Pinault – RF A. Lee – C Lippert – 2B M. Moreno – P Mi. Lopez
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – C Flowe – SS Novelo – 3B Mendoza – P Dominguez

A good long outing by Dominguez was an absolute requirement if we wanted to keep **** together at all now, while offense was almost optional. Nevertheless, Archuleta singled, scored on a Starr double, and Corral added a soft 2-out single to put runners on the corners in the bottom 1st, where Flowe left them by whiffing. Longtime Titans benchwarmer Andy Lee hit a single off Dominguez in the second inning, but apart from that the Condors piled up six strikeouts in the first three innings. Starr hit the Coons’ first home run of the week with a solo shot to right in the third inning, doubling the score to 2-0.

Dominguez tried to gain length, getting around a Natsu Nakamura single in the fourth and Randy Lippert’s single in the fifth, but ran up a pitch count of 64 with seven strikeouts, which was not great with his limited stamina. Throwing nine pitches to David Cline and then losing him to a single in the sixth was also not ideal, but he, too, was left on base. Corral went deep to right-center to extend the lead to 3-0 in the bottom 6th, and a Flowe single, an intentional walk with two outs to Mendoza, and an infield single by Dominguez off Dan Garicia then filled the bases. Garicia, just into the game, walked in a run against Wilson, but then got a groundout from Archuleta to Mario Moreno to end the inning.

Dominguez was wrung out for 101 pitches in seven shutout innings, scattering five base hits in the end. Mike Hall got the ball in the eighth, entering in a double switch that replaced Early with Eddy Ramirez in left, put Jason Turner and Cline on base, but struck out a hitless Rich Monck (.236, 2 HR, 14 RBI) to end the inning. Kehoe got the 4-0 lead for the ninth. He struck out Mike Pinault and Lee, then walked Lippert on straight balls. Moreno singled. Technically we were now in a save situation, but there was nobody behind Kehoe in the pen. It was him or nobody against right-handed batter Josh Rugar pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot. Rugar poked the first pitch to right, Corral came in, and made the catch. 4-0 Coons. Starr 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Corral 3-4, HR, RBI; Dominguez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, W (6-2) and 2-3;

Jared Duhe didn’t play in this game, the first one he missed in the brown shirt. That’s what you get for pissing me off this much in a 16-inning clonker. Starr and Wilson remained as every-day heroes for this season.

Jamie Colter (.308, 0 HR, 3 RBI) was then cut from the roster to make room for a spot starter, Cameron Bridges, who was neither good, nor a real starter, but it was all the Raccoons could muster for Saturday. Bridges would only be here for a day and then get removed for another broken toy.

Game 2
TIJ: C Brann – LF Nakamura – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – CF Pinault – RF A. Lee – SS J. Turner – 2B M. Moreno – P Ledbetter
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – C Flowe – 2B Archuleta – 3B Mendoza – P Bridges

Bridges had pitched to a 4.72 ERA in nine relief outings last season and had a 3.29 ERA in relief for the Alley Cats this year, so yes, this was pure despair. Somehow it translated into facing the minimum the first time through – while allowing a single to Nakamura, who was doubled off by Cline – and on only 30 pitches. Oh, and the skies were darkening rapidly. Of course it started to rain soon, and good, and we had an hourlong rain delay 3.2 shutout innings into Bridges’ season debut.

Since he was literally expendable, Bridges resumed pitching after the rain delay in what was a scoreless game, and at least got through five for the time being. He batted for himself to begin the bottom 5th and made an out before Ledbetter allowed a single to Duhe, a double to Wilson, and Starr was then intentionally walked to get Marquise Early up, who was hitting .330 and not getting any respect this side of the hood. He also struck out on three pitches, but Corral with two outs lifted a drive to deep right – and it was outta here! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!

When Bridges went back out he was right away taken deep by Mike Brann for #12, then walked Nakamura. Monck singled with one out, and Bridges was yanked with the tying run in the box. Dover replaced him, got a grounder to third from Pinault, but Monck and Archuleta collided at second base, breaking up a potential 5-4-3 double play, and also Archuleta, who remained on the ground and held his side until he was collected by Luis Silva, he with the concerned face. Hills replaced him, playing short, with Duhe going to second base, and Dover struck out Lee to keep Bridges’ runners on the corners. Holzmeister then pitched an inning before Condors long man Harry Facteau walked Duhe to begin the bottom 7th. Wilson’s grounder advanced the runner, Starr was walked intentionally again, and this time Early snapped an RBI single to right, 5-1. Corral was then also intentionally walked when the runners moved into scoring position on Andy Lee’s late throw home, loading them up for Flowe, who flew out to Lee. Starr went home, and Lee this time made the throw for a 9-2 double play to end the inning.

The Coons hung with Holzmeister in the eighth since they didn’t have a rested left-hander available for the all-lefty array of Lippert, Cline, and Monck. Holzmeister got a grounder from Lippert to Starr, then dropped the feed at first base for an error before walking the bags full, uselessly. Yamauchi replaced him, saw Pinault line out to short on his first pitch, then walked in two runs to Lee and Turner before Moreno tied the game with a 2-run single. Absolute ********.

Bottom 8th, and the Portland Bums put trouble kids Mendoza and D’Alessandro on the corners with a pair of 1-out hits against southpaw David Carlson, but that wasn’t anything Duhe couldn’t fix with another double play hit into. Meanwhile, the all-lefty 2-3-4, now headed by Chris Lauterbach playing rightfield, was back up to lead off the top 9th, and we still didn’t have an available left-hander. Valentin was sent out, even though the lead had been already blown expertly by the subordinates. He rung up Lauterbach, walked Cline, but Monck hit into a double play to end the inning now. Jaden Wilson then led off the bottom 9th with a gapper in right-center against Carlson, turned second base to head for third – and was thrown out by Lauterbach. (noisily double-facepaws) Yes, Maud. Tea please.

Starr drew a walk, but things went nowhere from there, except for extra innings. The Raccoons stuck with Valentin in the tenth, because the next-best idea was Kehoe on the third straight day, or Vinny Morales, and who’s gonna ******* pitch tomorrow then?? Pinault bashed a leadoff triple, but Valentin then popped out Rugar and got Turner and Moreno on strikes to keep the game tied, which at this point I wasn’t so sure I cared about anymore. When the Coons went in order against former Portland righty Justin Cullum in the bottom 10th, Morales ended up on the hill. Jason Thorpe grounded out to begin the 11th against him, while Brann doubled to left. Morales bungled Lauterbach’s comebacker for an error, putting the Condors on the corners, then got Cline on a pop and Monck on a grounder to third. Morales hit for himself to begin the bottom 11th – and since we were a guy short on the bench the only option would have been Novelo, who was also the next pitcher on the bump – and grounded out. Duhe remained useless, but Wilson doubled to right. For once this week, Joel Starr was not walked intentionally with a guy vaguely near scoring position – and he cranked a walkoff homer to end the game. 7-5 Blighters. Duhe 3-5, BB; Wilson 3-6, 3 2B; Starr 1-3, 3 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Early 3-5, RBI; Corral 1-3, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Mendoza 2-5, 2 2B; D’Alessandro (PH) 1-1; Bridges 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Valentin 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

We made two errors in this game – both by “relief” pitchers.

And now ******* what? Who’s gonna ******* start on Sunday??

Well, there was a roster purge, not all of which was performance related. Luis Silva diagnosed Ramon Archuleta with an intercostal strain, so he was back to the DL and not expected back before the end of June or even the All Star Game. Cameron Bridges (0-0, 1.69 ERA) and Jason Holzmeister (0-0, 8.71 ERA) were sent back to the Alley Cats.

Infielder Gary Gates returned, but foremost we needed a starter for Sunday. Walla was on two days’ rest from three innings on Wednesday, and was maybe good to throw 75 pitches now – but who did we have to follow him after perhaps only five innings? It was too big a risk, but the rested option in AAA was Rated-R (2-1, 8.50 ERA), who had an 0.81 ERA in three starts for St. Pete, which, fun fact, was almost eight full runs lower than his Coons ERA. It was the least crazy option though and he was returned, even if probably just for one day. Finally, Matt Schmieder was called up as an extra arm (leaving the bench a man short), so that we could perhaps somehow make it to the off day… we had three right-handers (Valentin, Dover, Yamauchi) who were pretty torched after this week and could use being left alone for a couple of days.

Game 3
TIJ: C Brann – LF Nakamura – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – RF A. Lee – SS J. Turner – CF Rugar – 2B M. Moreno – P Ry. Davis
POR: 2B Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – C Flowe – SS Hills – 3B Mendoza – P Rautenstrauch

Rated-R didn’t allow a lot the first time through, but he did allow a solo homer to Rich Monck to get the Condors into the lead, while Ryan Davis walked FOUR batters the first time through, but also struck out three and allowed no runs to the Critters, who went on to get Wilson and Starr to the corners with a pair of leadoff singles in the third inning before Early popped out, Corral popped out, and Flowe grounded out. (squirts a bit of Capt’n Coma into his tea)

Wilson would pop out with Mendoza and Duhe on the corners to leave another pair stranded in the fourth, while Rated-R did what he could, which admittedly wasn’t much. He was behind in the count at lot, but didn’t walk anybody until Rugar drew four balls to begin the fifth inning. Moreno then struck out and Davis hit into a double play to end the inning. Bottom 5th, and the Coons had a pair again when after Starr popped out to second, Early singled and Corral doubled. Flowe’s poor grounder and Hills’ fly to left stranded those runners, too… Another pair was on base when Mendoza walked and was forced out by Rated-R on a bad bunt in the bottom 6th, and then Wilson added his lazy tush to the bases with two outs. Starr grounded out to short, which made it for the FIFTH inning in the game in which the ******* Critters had stranded two or three runners on base – without ever scoring.

They made it six-outta-seven when Flowe and Hills knocked out Davis with a pair of 2-out singles, but Mendoza then grounded out against Bronson Vanderven in the seventh. Pinault singled from the #9 spot to begin the eighth for Tijuana and stole second as Brann struck out, which was the end for Rated-R. McMahan came in for the bunch of lefty sticks coming up, along with Novelo in a double switch involving Mendoza, and the Condors answered by batting right-hander Art Walker for Nakamura, but he struck out and Cline grounded out to Duhe, who drew a walk in the bottom 8th and was doubled up by Wilson for some variety in the misery. McMahan would get four outs before giving up a single to Lee, after which Schmieder got a groundout from Turner. Cullum then entered to try and save the 1-0 game in the bottom 9th, with Starr leading off. He flew out to Walker in left, but Early singled to center. Corral singled to right, and Early hustled the tying run to third base. Flowe grounded out to first base, with Early having to hold when Cline looked at him menacingly after picking up the ball, but Corral moved up. The game ended with Brian Hills, who swiped at the first pitch he got, hit a sharp grounder to right, Moreno dove and missed it, and Early and Corral rushed home ahead o a throw by Lee, that was off line and no help for Randy Lippert at the plate. It’s a walkoff!! 2-1 Blighters. Early 2-5; Corral 2-5, 2B; Hills 2-5, 2 RBI; Mendoza 3-4; Rautenstrauch 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Eleven hits, eight walks, two double plays hit into, and a baker’s dozen left on base. Jesus H. Christ.

In other news

May 14 – TIJ SP Phil Nelson (3-5, 6.55 ERA) has surgery for a damaged elbow ligament and is out for the season.
May 15 – OCT INF/LF Carlos Gutierrez (.241, 3 HR, 16 RBI) drives in five runs on three hits – including two homers – from the leadoff spot in a 15-5 win against the Knights.
May 16 – Indy SP Justin Esch (1-2, 3.65 ERA) was going to miss time until the All Star Game after suffering a triceps strain.
May 16 – CIN OF Fernando Cruz (.293, 1 HR, 8 RBI) was out at least one month with a strained hamstring.
May 16 – The Stars down the Scorpions, 15-0. DAL INF/RF/CF Jeff Maudlin (.353, 1 HR, 7 RBI) chips in five hits, four singles and a double, and drives in one run. Driving in runs is mostly left to CF Tyler Wharton (.311, 9 HR, 32 RBI), who plates six on three hits, though nothing bigger than a bases-clearing double.
May 17 – IND 1B Matt Rogers (.243, 7 HR, 27 RBI) hits two home runs and a single and drives in the margin of victory of six runs as the Indians beat the Loggers, 13-7.
May 18 – Boston CL Cody Kleidon (2-2, 3.38 ERA, 8 SV) nails down a 1-0 win against the Falcons for his 300th career save. Kleidon, who did most of his work with the Indians, has a career 3.36 ERA.
May 18 – In his second career game in the majors, CIN OF Aaron Hutnick (.500, 0 HR, 0 RBI) goes 5-for-5 – all singles and no RBI’s – in a 4-1 win against the Warriors.
May 18 – The Stars have to put INF/RF/CF Jeff Maudlin (.356, 1 HR, 18 RBI) on the DL due to a broken thumb on his throwing hand.
May 19 – A broken hand could cost LVA RF/LF Alfredo Rosado (.336, 4 HR, 34 RBI) most of the remainder of the season. Rosado was last season’s CL Rookie of the Year.
May 20 – Richmond’s Darby Laybolt (.274, 7 HR, 24 RBI) smacks three home runs in an 8-7 win against the Stars in Dallas. In addition to the three home runs, including the game decider in the 11th inning, Laybolt hits a single, and is hit by the pitch twice. He drives in “only” three runs with his heroics.
May 20 – The Capitals trade outfielder Alex Romero (.279, 4 HR, 28 RBI) to the Miners for a different outfielder, Luis Morales (.315, 1 HR, 16 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF John Miller (.331, 9 HR, 30 RBI), batting .448 (13-29), 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND C/1B Alex Gomez (.228, 5 HR, 15 RBI), slamming .478 (11-23) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons got six starts from six different pitchers this week, none of whom was Nick Walla, and two of whom weren’t on the roster on Monday and were not likely to be on the roster this coming Monday – that’s how it’s been going. Walla and Morales both had a start wiped out for extra-inning work after a general bullpen collapse, and by the way, we went 3-3 somehow because the Condors might be even more cursed than we are.

Archuleta is back to the DL and if we continue to play Hills somewhat regularly, then maybe Duhe will play more at second base in the next six weeks, since that is his best position with the glove, while Hills has played shortstop for many years in the minors.

Nick Walla will resume to start the team’s next game in Atlanta on Tuesday, then well rested. I have no idea what we’re gonna do apart from that and in general I am very tired right now. We’ll be on the road for a week, visiting the Bay besides Atlanta. We’ll then have another week home before the schedule becomes more erratic again.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have already used eight different starting pitchers and 18 pitchers in total.

And four of those eight starters have also made relief appearance(s): Walla, Rated-R, Morales, and Gabriel Rios.

(shakes head)

+++

This six-game week took four hours to play. Which is absurd.