[Westheim]

Raccoons (36-39) vs. Condors (29-45) – June 25-27, 2068

The Condors were still scoring the fewest runs and allowing the sixth-most, for a grim -73 run differential after buying up most of the free agent market this previous offseason. Nothing was quite working, and quite emblematic for that was Jason Brenize being second in losses in the league. Even the Coons had swept them in the first series these teams had played this year! A pile of injuries added to the agony in Tijuana, with Phil Nelson, Jason Turner, Natsu Nakamura, Mike Pinault, and Andy Lee all hurt and on the DL. Only Pinault was expected to return soon, maybe in this series.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (10-2, 3.06 ERA) vs. Justin Martin (1-5, 5.63 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-4, 4.32 ERA) vs. Aaron Ledbetter (4-5, 3.25 ERA)
Nick Walla (3-7, 2.62 ERA) vs. Miguel Lopez (3-3, 2.57 ERA)

No southpaws in sight.

Game 1
TIJ: RF LeVan – SS M. Moreno – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – C Brann – CF Rugar – LF A. Walker – 2B Wyatt – P J. Martin
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – 2B Gates – P Dominguez

Rich Monck was batting .258 with seven homers after a poor start with injuries to his first Condors season, and flew out easily in the first inning. He was however pretty much the only batter that made an easy out while the Condors bashed Dominguez for four runs right out of the gate, getting singles from Phil LeVan and Mario Moreno past either side of Gary Gates, and a sac fly from David Cline before Mike Brann singled, Josh Rugar doubled home a second run, and then Art Walker found a 2-run single, all with two outs. Only Tim Wyatt was retired again by Dominguez. The Raccoons answered with a 5-spot in the bottom 1st – but four runs were unearned. Wilson walked, and Corral hit a 2-out RBI double before both Dowsey and Flowe reached on errors by Monck and Wyatt, respectively, the latter plating the second run. Mendoza doubled, 4-3, and Gates then flipped the score with a 2-out, 2-run single; Dominguez popped out to second to end the inning. This was already the end for Justin Martin, who was hit for with Chris Lauterbach to begin the second inning…! Lauterbach singled, but was forced out by LeVan, and Moreno and Cline then both struck out.

Bottom 2nd, left-hander Chris Thompson walked Wilson and gave up a homer to Starr, 7-4. Dominguez, who now had the task to go at least five after a long first inning, struck out three in the third, getting around a Rugar double in between. Brann and Rugar were on base with two outs in the fifth before Art Walker grounded out to short to get Dominguez to qualifying distance on 94 pitches, with the score 8-4 after a pair of Starr and Corral doubles in the bottom 4th. Jake Flowe then took Willie Mendoza deep with a leadoff jack in the fifth, 9-4.

The Coons’ pen then gave blowing the 5-run lead a go. Sean Thomas was brought in and would retire one of the four left-handed batters he faced across an inning and a third, with Mendoza starting a 5-4-3 double play for him in the sixth. David Cline led off the seventh with a triple before Monck struck out, after which Kehoe replaced Thomas, popped out Brann to Starr, but then Rugar sent a deep drive to right – but it came down in Corral’s glove on the warning track after lots of hangtime. Kehoe then went on and struck out the side in the eighth. The Coons made two outs in the bottom 8th before Marquise Early pinch-hit and singled in the pitcher’s spot. Jared Duhe then cranked a 2-run homer off Justin Cullum. Yamauchi then handled the Condors for a LeVan single in the ninth. 11-4 Furballs! Starr 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Corral 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Gates 2-3, 2 RBI; Early (PH) 1-1;

Roster news after this W included Ramon Archuleta starting a rehab assignment in AAA with the idea being that he would return by the end of the week. Also, Sean Thomas (1-1, 5.79 ERA) was disappeared off the roster, and the Raccoons brought up Gabriel Rios again, this time as left-hander out of the pen. He had posted a 1.83 ERA mostly as a starter in AAA.

Game 2
TIJ: RF LeVan – C Brann – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – CF Pinault – SS M. Moreno – LF Rugar – 2B Wyatt – P Ledbetter
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – 2B Gates – P Pizzichini

Duhe drew a walk to begin the bottom 1st and was immediately picked off first base, but the Raccoons got a better start to the second inning with Corral and Dowsey singles. Flowe whiffed, but Mendoza hit an RBI double to left-center, and Gates plated Dowsey with a groundout to take a 2-0 lead before Pizza got sliced for the final out on strikes. His main battle was on the hill though, and mostly with his own body; he got six straight outs to begin the game, but walked the 7-8 batters to begin the top of the third; however, Rugar got himself caught stealing before Wyatt reached, and Wyatt was bunted to second and left there on LeVan’s groundout.

Mike Brann put the Condors on the board with a homer to left in the fourth inning, ending a string of 13 unanswered Raccoons runs across the two games. Cline got on and was doubled off by Monck, while Dowsey hit into a double play in the same inning. Pizza needed 83 pitches to get a 2-hitter in a 2-1 game through five innings, but got three quick outs in the sixth at least. Bottom 6th, a leadoff walk put Wilson on base; he stole second, advanced on Starr’s first out, and then scored on a wild pitch, 3-1.

Top 7th, and McMahan, who allowed a double to Cline, and Josh C, who walked the returned Pinault, made a bit of a mess on the bases before both Moreno and Rugar struck out in full counts against Carrington to end the inning. The Raccoons got a leadoff triple from Flowe (!) off Ledbetter in the bottom 7th, but would not get the run home. Mendoza walked, Gates whiffed, and Early hit into a double play. Gabriel Rios then made an appearance and immediately walked two of the three batters he faced before being removed for being useless. Dover replaced him and got a double play grounder from Brann to end that inning. He remained in the game for the ninth, allowed a 1-out single to Monck, who had gone 0-for-8 to begin this Portland series, but then retired Pinault on strikes and Moreno on a bouncer to end the game and cashed a 5-out save. 3-1 Critters. Corral 2-4; Mendoza 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Pizzichini 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-4); Dover 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5);

Game 3
TIJ: RF LeVan – C Brann – 1B D. Cline – 3B Monck – CF Pinault – SS M. Moreno – LF Rugar – 2B Wyatt – P Mi. Lopez
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – 3B Mendoza – 2B Novelo – C D’Alessandro – P Walla

Here were two pitchers with 200 innings of 2.60 ERA ball this year, and only six wins between them. Walla didn’t get a good start, walking LeVan, who was caught stealing, and then was taken deep by Brann for a quick 1-0 deficit. It was a bit of a struggle the first time through the lineup for him, but at least no further damage occurred. The Raccoons did little in the first two innings before D’Alessandro hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. Walla’s bunt was thrown away for two bases by Brann, putting the Coons battery in scoring position with nobody out. Duhe whiffed, Wilson singled to tie the game, but then was caught stealing, and Starr grounded out to Wyatt to leave Walla at third base. Before long, Walla had to bat again – then with two outs in the bottom 4th and Corral (walk), Mendoza (nicked), and D’Alessandro (intentional walk) on base. Walla had no RBI’s on the year, but slapped a single up the middle into center and drove in two runs to give himself a 3-1 lead…! Duhe added another run with a little fister for a single over the glove of Wyatt, and Lopez walked Wilson to fill the bases, and then Starr as well, forcing in another run and giving Joel Starr 50 RBI in the team’s 78th game of the year. Lopez was yanked for the lefty Thompson, who got Corral to bounce out to second on the first pitch he threw, but it was now 5-1 in favor of Winless Walla.

…who still wasn’t pitching with the relative ease he had shown a few weeks ago, but had the Condors under control for a while in the fifth, sixth inning. He entered the eighth on 82 pitches, because the Condors started to make very quick and eager outs as well, and got Sal Romero, LeVan, and Brann in order, but the last two made outs in full counts and shot Walla’s pitch count to 99, meaning he would not return for the complete game. Eddy Ramirez batted for him and walked in the bottom 8th, but nothing came of that. Rios got the ball for the ninth, retired Cline and Monck, but then walked the following right-handers until Valentin replaced him with two on in a 4-run game and struck out Rugar to end the game. 5-1 Raccoons! Duhe 2-5, RBI; Walla 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-7) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

With this 4-game winning streak, the Raccoons were back at .500, and Nick Walla was up to third place in ERA in the CL, behind second-place Ricardo Montoya, and league leader Mike DeWitt, whom the Raccoons were going to face this weekend.

Raccoons (39-39) @ Indians (34-43) – June 28-July 1, 2068

From one last-place team to another, the Raccoons would play four with the Indians on the weekend. The season series was at 4-3 in Portland’s favor, and while we had won four games in a row, the Indians had won FIVE games in a row. They were eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed in the league, with a -25 run differential (Coons: -26). The only Indians player on the DL was ex-Coon John Nesbitt.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (4-2, 2.23 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (6-5, 2.39 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (4-6, 5.22 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (6-1, 3.41 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (11-2, 3.27 ERA) vs. Adam Molloy (4-6, 4.03 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (2-4, 4.12 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (6-5, 4.73 ERA)

DeWitt needed a whacking, and he was also the only southpaw we would meet this week.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – 3B Mendoza – C Flowe – 2B Gates – P Morales
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Menchaca – P DeWitt

The Coons sure got off to a good start, hitting singles with their first three batters to load the bases against DeWitt! Early fell to 1-2, but snapped an RBI single after that, but then Corral flew out to Tony Torres in right, and Ramirez went for home from third base and was thrown out for a 9-2 double play, and Mendoza grounded out to short, so only one actual run was scored against DeWitt. Another chance developed, though, in the top 2nd with a leadoff single by Jake Flowe. Gates whiffed, and Morales’ bunt was misfielded by DeWitt, putting another batter on base … and then a passed ball moved them into scoring position with Duhe batting. Again, the Coons got only one run on a Duhe sac fly to deep center, and Ramirez left Morales on base. Matt Rogers hit a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd, stole a base, and was brought around to score to keep the game close, 2-1. Jose Hilario and Torres got on base against Morales in the third, and Rogers’ sac fly tied the game.

DeWitt walked Starr in the third, then struck out three, and made it four straight with a K on Flowe in the fourth – and then felt a twinge and left the game after a consultation with the Indians’ trainer…! Pablo Apodaca took over and fell behind in the fifth, 3-2, on back-to-back doubles by Ramirez and Starr. Early then struck out, and Corral lined out to Apodaca, who raised the glove in self-defense, and then found the third out in it. Flowe hit a solo jack in the sixth, 4-2, while Morales stumbled bravely onwards with the help of his own defense. When Mendoza fumbled a grounder by Matt Martin for a 1-out error in the bottom 6th, Paul Weber hit into a 6-4-3 double play to erase the free runner and Morales kept going.

Right-hander Shamar King came out to pitch for the Indians in the seventh, giving up straight singles and a run to the 2-3-4 batters, but then recovered with a pop and two strikeouts. The Indians then got soft singles from John Baxley (on the infield) and Eddie Menchaca. The tying run was in the box as Morales got a groundout from Wil Martinez, then struck out Hilario. When lefty Wil Mejia pinch-hit for the pitcher in Torres’ deserted spot, the Raccoons went to McMahan in a double switch that sat down Mendoza (Gates went to third, and Novelo entered playing second), but gave up a sharp first-pitch grounder – right at Duhe for the third out. (blows!)

McMahan walked Alex Gomez to start the bottom 8th, with Rogers grounding into a fielder’s choice after that. With righty sticks up, Yamauchi came in, allowed a single to Martin, and then allowed two deep fly balls that luckily both stayed in the park and were caught by Corral and Early, respectively. Top 9th, Starr hit a deep fly himself, but that one fell for a 1-out double. Early was not helpful and whiffed. Dowsey batted for a hitless Corral against Juan Pera, who drilled him, and then Jaden Wilson batted for the pitcher and snapped an RBI single to center. Flowe flew out to Hilario, and then Josh C got the ball in a 4-run game. He got three groundouts in six pitches in an odd spot of efficiency. 6-2 Coons. Ramirez 3-5, 2B; Starr 4-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Early 2-5, 2 RBI; Wilson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Flowe 2-5, HR, RBI; Gates 2-4; Morales 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-2);

Only a mild calf strain on DeWitt, who was not likely to miss a start. Only one run of the Coons had been earned, so his ERA only went up one tick to 2.40, still leading the CL.

And yes, Vinny Morales had an ERA lower than all of them – 2.27 after this game – but he was 11.2 innings short of qualifying after this game, and was unlikely to do so before late July.

We had to sprinkle some off days in the middle of this 17-game stint without an off day. Mendoza got rotated out on Friday, with Duhe due in one of the other games on the weekend. We were going to face the Crusaders next, but might not see a left-hander in that series until about Wednesday, so Jose Corral would probably get a day off before that.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – 3B Gates – 2B Novelo – P Gaytan
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Spicer – P V. Perez

The winning streak was going to end on Friday, when Tony Gaytan struggled to put his pants on correctly, and it only got worse from there. He walked Hilario, Torres singled, and Alex Gomez punched a 3-run homer right away. He then nailed Rogers, Martin singled, Weber doubled, Baxley walked, and then Malcolm Spicer finally made an out with a grounder. Even the pitcher chimed in with an RBI single before Spicer was caught stealing third base and Hilario flew out to Corral, ending a 6-run assault.

The game would remain full of surprises though, the first being that Gaytan was then left in there for the time being because if we purged his furry tush to St. Petersburg for this catastrophic start, then he could at least soak up a few more innings – and then delivered three scoreless innings while the Raccoons went ******* hitless against Perez.

The next surprise was that Perez left the game before Gaytan did. Gary Gates opened the top 5th with a single to right, and then Pablo Novelo hit his first homer of the season, 6-2. Gaytan and Duhe made outs, but Wilson singled and Starr bopped another homer, 6-4. Corral walked, and a pair of singles by Dowsey and Flowe drove him in – and Perez was yanked. Shamar King got a groundout from Gates to end the inning, and the Coons wasted a leadoff double by Novelo in the sixth.

Gaytan finished six innings before being relieved, allowing ONE hit in the last five after having gotten gangbanged in the first inning. He was taken off the hook in the seventh, which Starr and Corral started with singles off King, and then a Dowsey double tied the game at six! There was a pair in scoring position with nobody out, and Flowe hit a sac fly to give the Coons a 7-6 lead. Arredondo batted for Gates, but grounded out. That still moved Dowsey to third base, from where Juan Pera then balked him in to a shower of boos. Novelo grounded out to end the inning, and then the Coons pen blew the lead rather effortlessly, as Kehoe put Hilario and Torres on base with a double and walk, respectively. A double steal, a run-scoring throwing error by Flowe, and then a Rogers RBI single off McMahan tied the game at eight before Martin grounded out to end the seventh.

The eighth was comparatively uneventful, but Jose Corral cranked a tie-breaking homer with one out off Brian McLaughlin in the ninth inning, 9-8. With two outs, Jake Flowe hit a single and was run for with Eddy Ramirez, who reached third base on an Arredondo single, but Novelo whiffed and left runners on the corners. Valentin and D’Alessandro were then the battery for the bottom 9th against the Indians’ 2-3-4 batters. Torres whiffed, Gomez whiffed in a full count, and Rogers grounded out to Novelo on the first pitch he saw. 9-8 Furballs!! Starr 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Corral 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Dowsey 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Flowe 2-4, 2 RBI; Novelo 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Coons! Six in a row!

Somehow…!!

Gaytan was NOT purged, although maybe we really should… Jared Duhe got Saturday off, though.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – 3B Mendoza – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – SS Novelo – 2B Arredondo – P Dominguez
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – C J. Edwards – LF Spicer – P Molloy

We almost put Corral on the bench instead, which woulda been a mistake given that he followed Starr’s single in the first inning with a 2-run homer. Dowsey made it back-to-back with a solo shot before Flowe popped out on a 3-1 pitch to end the inning. Hilario opened the bottom 1st with a looping double to left, but was then stranded on poor outs made by Torres, Rogers, and Martin, and the Indians did not reach base again until Hilario singled with two outs in the third and was again stranded when Dominguez K’ed Torres. Baxley singled in the fifth, but that was all the Indians offense through five; however the Raccoons only had one hit after the double-whammy in the first inning, either, so things could still go either way.

Hilario remained unretired with a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, stole second, and finally was driven in on a Rogers double, 3-1. Crucially, Matt Martin hit a rocket line drive right into Mendoza’s mitten at third base, leaving a burn mark, for the second out, with Rogers being stranded once Weber struck out. Mendoza went on to throw away a Baxley grounder to begin the seventh, but the 7-8-9 batters then made another string of miserable outs to help Dominguez through the inning. He was hit for with Eddy Ramirez to begin the top 8th, and Ramirez rocked a homer to left to extend the lead to 4-1. Ramirez remained in the game for Wilson afterwards, and Gabriel Rios pitched a 1-2-3 eighth against the top of the Indians’ order. Top 9th, Corral and Dowsey drew walks off Garrett Napolitano before Flowe hit into a 4-6-3 double play. However, with two outs, Novelo shoved an RBI double through Martin and up the leftfield line, taking the save off and bringing in Yamauchi rather than Valentin, who nevertheless remained up. Martin singled to begin the bottom 9th, but was doubled off, 5-4-3, on a Weber grounder. Baxley whiffed, and the Coons’ win streak was up to seven. 5-1 Raccoons! Novelo 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Dominguez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (12-2);

This was the first time all year we were three games over .500.

Corral was too hot to sit down right now, even though we really didn’t see a southpaw coming before Wednesday. Only Flowe had a day off on Sunday after three straight starts.

A roster move was made, though, with Manny Arredondo (.212, 0 HR, 2 RBI) back to AAA with Ramon Archuleta rejoining from his rehab assignment.

Game 4
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – LF Dowsey – 3B Mendoza – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS G. Lujan – LF Spicer – P Jo. Flores

The Coons were up 3-0 after three batters on Sunday, as Duhe doubled, Wilson got brushed, and Joel Starr socked the 3-piece to right-center. The Coons tacked one on in the second with a leadoff walk to D’Alessandro, who was bunted on by Pizza, and then came around on a Duhe single to left-center. Wilson also singled, but Starr now found a double play to hit into. Flores walked Corral and Archuleta to begin the third, but Dowsey flew out and Mendoza found a double play to end that inning. Pizza meanwhile retired eight of nine the first time through to get his ERA to a flat four, and then promptly gave up a solo homer to Hilario, who kept raking the Raccoons.

D'Alessandro was on base again with a leadoff single in the fourth and was bunted to second. Duhe now walked, and a sharp single right in front of Tony Torres hit by Wilson loaded the bases for Starr, who popped out to Guillermo Lujan, and Corral whiffed. That was quite a few chances fumbled away now… The balls hit off Pizza were getting louder, but the Indians were still finding a lot of outs with them, however, some more runs might help. The Coons got Archuleta on to begin the fifth, but Dowsey forced him out. Mendoza was nicked by Flores, but D’Alessandro whiffed. However, with two outs, Pizza singled up the middle to get Dowsey home, 5-1, but Mendoza was also tagged out at third base to end the inning.

Pizza dipped the ERA into the threes or one batter after walking Hilario to begin the bottom 6th when he struck out Torres, earning salami rights as an upgrade to the default Margherita for 4+ ERA pitchers, but conceded the Hilario run on a 2-out single by Rogers, which took the salami away again. Martin grounded out to Duhe, stranding Rogers, who had stolen second, in a 5-2 game. He would not get the salami back, because the Coons batted for him once Dowsey and D’Alessandro were on the corners with two outs and his spot up in the top 7th. Marquise Early grounded out in his spot.

We then got five of the required nine outs from Rios, who retired the 6-7-8 batters without issue in the seventh, then walked Wil Mejia to begin the eighth, got a double play grounder from Hilario, of all people, and then walked Torres. Dover took over, walked Gomez, and then gave up a 3-run homer to Rogers, and that tied the game… Top 9th, and McLaughlin walked Corral, who was forced out on a bad bunt by Archuleta. However, Archuleta stole second, leading to an intentional walk to Dowsey. Mendoza fanned, and Eddy Ramirez hit a soft single in place of D’Alessandro, loading the bases. Jake Flowe batted for Dover and flew out to Torres – but by then McLaughlin had plated the go-ahead run with a 1-0 wild pitch! The Raccoons took a 6-5 lead to the bottom 9th with Valentin, who gave up a leadoff double to Lujan. Spicer popped out, and Wil Mejia hit a high fly to deep right…! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh, Corral got it on the warning track! (whine!) That was only the second out, too, and Hilario would get another chance with the tying run at third base now. He hit a fly to center, and Wilson had to hustle back, stopped, reached, and picked it! 6-5 Critters! Duhe 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Wilson 3-4; D’Alessandro 2-3, BB; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Pizzichini 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-1, RBI;

In other news

June 26 – The Stars and Rebels enter the ninth inning tied at six before the Stars break out for a 10-run inning to notch a 16-6 win. DAL LF/RF Chad Pritchett (.275, 5 HR, 29 RBI) hits a 3-run homer in that inning, and overall drives in four runs in the game, leading the team.
June 26 – The Bayhawks beat the Loggers, 1-0, on an eighth-inning home run by OF Dan Geiger (.272, 5 HR, 21 RBI).
June 27 – NYC INF/LF Alex Rodriguez (.272, 4 HR, 38 RBI) might miss the rest of the year with a frightfully broken ankle.
June 29 – TIJ SP Jason Brenize (4-9, 3.87 ERA) strikes out 11 in a 4-hit shutout to beat the Bayhawks, 6-0.
July 1 – The Loggers beat the Crusaders, 3-2 in 14 innings.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 1B Alejandro Olivares (.296, 4 HR, 41 RBI), batting .500 (14-28) with 2 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B Joel Starr (.299, 13 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .379 with 3 HR, 9 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.334, 20 HR, 78 RBI), burning pitchers at .365, 11 HR, 38 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL LF/RF Javier Acuna (.353, 17 HR, 47 RBI), churning .340 with 10 HR, 22 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: LAP SP Joe Chalmers (12-4, 2.28 ERA), going 5-1 with a 1.48 ERA, 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC CL Jerry Washington (4-1, 1.48 ERA, 29 SV), going 1-0 with an 0.60 ERA, 14 SV, and 14 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW OF Jordan Lopez (.293, 8 HR, 51 RBI), batting .312 with 3 HR, 24 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: BOS LF/1B/RF Manuel Garcia (.259, 10 HR, 52 RBI), hitting .295 with 2 HR, 18 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Eight wins in a row, all of a sudden! We’re still fifth in the division, but only 5 1/2 behind the Crusaders, and with the Crusaders being our four-and-four sparring partners this time around, we could easily turn that into a 2 1/2 game lead by Sunday in two weeks! Tah!

I should take a chill pill, I can’t take eight wins in a row anymore without losing my last two marbles.

Joel Starr won Player of the Week, but Nick Walla was snuffed for Pitcher of the Month, suffering a career-ending loss to a CLOSER after going 2-1 (…) with a 1.22 ERA in June. He had a 1.01 ERA in his last seven starts. And only three wins.

The Raccoons ranked first for starters’ ERA at points this week, but apparently Pizza’s six innings and two runs on Sunday were not good enough to maintain that status through the weekend. Calm down, the pen was second-worst in the league with an ERA over five…

Jimmy Wharton joined Val Centeno in AAA now. He had a 3.88 ERA in Ham Lake, but that was with gruesome defense and a .341 BABIP behind him. Walks were up a bit still for both, so they were not considered for a further promotion to the majors so far; Centeno went 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA and even walks and strikeouts in his first three AAA starts. Maybe not even September cups of coffee there, but they appeared on a good track. Wharton was being mentioned in trade proposals already. I wasn’t even reading those through to the end.

The July IFA market opened its doors on Sunday as well. We had our eyes especially on Nelson Aguilar, a 17-year-old Venezuelan outfielder / first baseman with a very enthusiastic scouting report promising all of contact, power, and speed in abundance! He was probably going to cost seven figures to sign, which would mean that we would have signing restrictions in place next season. This year we could spend as much as the coffers would give… which wasn’t a lot, there was only about $2M left of the shriveled budget.

Besides the Crusaders on the road, we’ll also play the Titans at home next week, and then it’s gonna be the All Star Game.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have never won 15 in a row.

Still having an eye on that Steam achievement…