[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 7-8, 2015

We had beaten the living crap out of the Loggers in 2014, romping them for a team-record 16-2 slaughter. Whether they were any better in 2015 was anybody’s guess, but sending the lackluster Chester Graham onto the mound for the season opener was probably an indicator of a dire future for the team.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Chester Graham (0-0)
Jonathan Toner (0-0) vs. Jason McDonald (0-0)

This was only a 2-game set to open the season. Despite Graham being a left-handed pitcher, I was going to give Dylan Alexander the Opening Day assignment, since he was still our clear number one over Danny Margolis. We might get more left-handed opposition (two even!) on the weekend, however, so Margolis will not go completely without an opening week start.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – SS Canning – P Brown
MIL: LF Hodgers – SS O. Sandoval – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – CF Enriquez – 3B D. Jones – 2B J.J. Rodriguez – C Leach – P C. Graham

Mike Bednarski made a good case for his starting assignment in his first at-bat of the season, cranking a 3-run homer with Sandy and Richards on base to put the Loggers into an instant hole. Extra base hits by Canning and Carmona plated another run in the second inning, putting Nick Brown up 4-0 before he imploded spectacularly in the bottom of the second inning. He struck out Mike Rucker, but then put on Victor Enriquez with a single, walked Dan Jones, and then fell to 2-out hits by Foster Leach and Dave Graham, which plated three runs. Victor Hodgers was going to pop out behind home plate, but Dylan Alexander dropped the ball, and two pitches later Brown threw a wild pitch that moved Graham to second base with the tying run. Hodgers struck out on the next pitch, but Brown’s first impression was a crummy one.

Graham continued to not get any clean inning, however. Stan Murphy drew a leadoff walk in the third before Graham threw two wild pitches, but avoided the shame of pulling a Juan Diaz when he conceded the run instead on a grounder to J.J. Rodriguez by Ron Richards, upping the score to 5-3. Not that Brown was any better. The Loggers had runners on the corners in the fourth inning when they hit for Graham with two outs, but Eric Kingsley struck out, sparing Brownie again. Tony Harrell took over for the Loggers on the mound. The rookie that had received a cup of coffee in 2014 was greeted most roughly. Cookie and Sandy reached base to start the fifth inning and Ron Richards hit another long home run, the Coons’ second 3-piece of the day, putting Brown up 8-3. Surely that was going to be enough for Brownie to put up a W! He got through the fifth alright before D-Alex didn’t want to stand back and whacked a leadoff jack off left-hander Carlos Michel in the top of the sixth, making it 9-3. Brownie barely squeezed through the sixth inning, with the Loggers again putting two men on, but escaped with a K to Leach with both runners in scoring position. That was his seventh strikeout in the game, and also his last pitch, approaching 110 in a bit of a mess of an Opening Day start. The Raccoons added three more runs in the seventh inning before their own bullpen suffered a 4-run explosion in the ninth inning, the damage done equally do Tom Constantino and Marcos Bruno, who surrendered a 2-out, 3-run homer to Justin Dally. 12-7 Brownies! Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Sambrano 2-5; Richards 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Reya (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Canning 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Seven strikeouts for Nick Brown means that he did not match Kisho Saito’s career total with this start, falling one short of Master Kisho’s 2,800. Nevertheless, the 7 K were the most for a CL pitcher on either Monday (which we had had off) or Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS McKnight – P Toner
MIL: CF Hodges – LF Knowling – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – 2B Enriquez – 3B D. Jones – SS O. Sandoval – C Leach – P McDonald

Jason McDonald helped the Raccoons to a quick run with a wild throwing error in the first inning, which converted Sandy Sambrano’s poor grounder into a runner on second with one out, from which he promptly scored on Ron Richards’ single. The Loggers sent four left-handed bats at the top of the order against ERA king Toner, and indeed created some traffic on the base paths early, but Ronnie McKnight, who had pinch-hit and stayed in the game on Tuesday without getting a defensive chance, turned double plays in Toner’s support with the first two chances he actually did get, soiling the Loggers’ ambitions in both the first and second innings.

The Coons upped the ante in the fourth inning when D-Alex hit a 2-run homer to left center, collecting Bednarski, who had singled. Toner however was the death of all offense in the game. While it was unfortunate that he – who can really swing a stick! – came to the plate three times with four runners total on and always two outs and didn’t come through a single time, we gladly ignored that since he in turn shut down the Loggers hard for most of the time. They didn’t have a base runner between the third and fifth innings and only got on base again in the sixth with a 2-out double by Victor Hodgers. Zach Knowling struck out readily to end that inning. But the Loggers did manage to push Toner into a corner in the seventh inning. Justin Dally led off with a single that was quite hard, before Rucker hit a blooper that fell in and Enriquez reached on an infield single. The sacks were full with nobody out. How much of an ace was Jonny Toner? Could he be his own cavalry? Nobody thought much of Dan Jones as a batter, so why not try to get him out?

The Loggers are a sad bunch, and as I can attest to from decade-long experience, sad bunches will always be unlucky, too. Dan Jones hit a 1-1 liner hard to left, but right to Ronnie McKnight, who swiped it, and then doubled off Dally, who had unwisely gone on contact. Oscar Sandoval popped out on the next pitch and the Loggers had just bowled themselves out of a really big chance. That was all for Toner, who was hit for by Luis Reya with two on and two out in the eighth, and grounded a ball up the third base line that escaped Jim Thompson at the hot corner for an RBI single. Troy Charters, responsible for all the runners on base here, continued to face another lefty in Cookie Carmona, who was rolling an 0-4 stone on the day, chomped a ball back to Charters, and Charters airmailed it over a despaired Mike Rucker and into the seats, scoring D-Alex from second base. Sandy made the third out, but the score was up to 5-0, with the Loggers on the verge of another comeback against Chris Mathis in the eighth. Ron Thrasher took over with runners in scoring position and two outs, and allowed a Dally drive to left where Ron Richards swung his paws just fast enough to make a catch that saved Mathis two early-season runs. A passed ball charged to Foster Leach would plate the last run of the game in the ninth inning. 6-0 Coons! Bednarski 3-5, 2 2B; Alexander 1-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Reya (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

Well, if nothing else, the Raccoons stood atop the North after this short opening series.

Matt Nunley put up an oh-fer in Milwaukee, but we’re not worrying just yet.

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Thunder (2-1) – April 10-12, 2015

The Thunder had faced the Aces to start the season, which somewhat surprisingly had resulted in three low-scoring games, 13 runs total between the teams for the entire series. So that had pitched real well, but had yet to find those bats. We had taken the season series at equal 5-4 clips the last two years.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Ed Michaels (0-0)
Bill Conway (0-0) vs. Ralph Ford (0-0)
Daniel Dickerson (0-0) vs. Curtis Tobitt (0-1, 2.45 ERA)

Michaels and Ford are both left-handed pitchers (well we know Ford!), so the Raccoons get a rare week with more lefty than righty opposition.

Game 1
OCT: CF Reese – LF J. Gomez – RF S. Young – 2B Farias – SS Janes – C J. Martinez – 3B J. Soto – 1B A. Rodriguez – P Michaels
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 1B Murphy – LF Richards – RF Bednarski – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – SS Canning – P Santos

The Coons continued to put up at least one run in the first inning, this time with Cookie hitting a leadoff single, stealing second base (the first actual attempt by any Raccoon in 2015), and eventually scoring on Murphy’s sac fly. Matt Nunley ended his season-starting 0-for-8 futility with a 1-out single in the second inning, with Sean Young’s botched pickup moving him to second base. Unfortunately the Raccoons left him there, and would soon pile up the missed chances. Sandy was stranded at second base after stealing it in the third inning, and the bases were left loaded when Santos struck out on a borderline 3-2 pitch in the fourth. Santos had been looking for the strike zone for the first four or five batters in his season opener, but soon located it and started to put Thunder away. Like the Loggers, the Thunder made mistakes, like Emilio Farias popping up a 3-0 pitch to start the second inning.

Offense returned in the sixth with Ron Richards’ leadoff jack that put Santos ahead 2-0, and the Raccoons loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. Canning led off with a single, was bunted over by Santos, and Michaels then walked Carmona intentionally(!), and Sandy unintentionally. Stan Murphy had yet to find success in ’15, batting 1-for-9 early, but hit a deep drive that nevertheless ended up with Jose Gomez, at least leaving him with his second sac fly of the game. Richards struck out, keeping the score at 3-0. Santos made it through eight effortlessly after the early control woes, and got additional support when Bednarski hit a leadoff jack in the eighth, 4-0. With that, Santos batted for himself with Danny Margolis on second and two out in the inning, grounding out to Emilio Farias, and Angel Casas remained in the stall. Santos started the ninth inning on 82 pitches, facing PH Blair Harris, a switch-hitter, who flew out to center, just like Tom Reese did three pitches later. Jose Gomez ran a full count while Zack Entwistle was throwing in the pen, then popped the sixth pitch of the at-bat up behind home plate. Margolis flung the mask, made the catch, and Santos had a 2-hitter! 4-0 Raccoons! Nunley 3-4; Santos 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Hector Santos retired the final 19 batters in the game for his fourth career complete game and his first shutout! He needed 96 pitches, which is up close against his effective limit. He usually turns sour right around the 95-100 mark.

Game 2
OCT: CF Reese – LF J. Gomez – RF S. Young – 2B Farias – SS Janes – C J. Martinez – 3B J. Soto – 1B A. Rodriguez – P Ford
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 1B Murphy – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 3B Canning – 2B Bergquist – SS McKnight – P Conway

The Coons didn’t score in the first or second inning and were sent trailing by the Thunder for the first time this season in the third inning, in which nothing, but really nothing worked out for Bill Conway. He conceded a leadoff single to Armando Rodriguez, then misfielded Ford’s bunt, allowed another single to Tom Reese, and soon drowned in runners. The Thunder would hit three more singles to score three runs in the inning, and Bednarski made a strong play on Jesus Martinez to get a critical second out. The Coons got a comeback chance right away in the bottom of the inning when Bergquist hit a leadoff double. Conway would single, putting runners on the corners, and Cookie legged out an infield single that brought home Bergquist. Murphy walked with two outs, loading the sacks for Bednarski, who resorted to popping out to Emilio Farias. That left the Thunder ahead 3-1, and the Coons wasted more chances in the next two innings, leaving Bergquist on after a fourth-inning double, and Bednarski stranded another pair in the fifth, which also saw Carmona caught stealing for the first time. To make up for it, the Thunder’s Erik Janes hit a leadoff triple in the sixth, but was left stranded after a K to Jesus Martinez, a pop to shallow left that Sandy got to just in time, and Ford’s grounder to first base after an intentional walk to Rodriguez. The Coons had the tying run at the plate in the eighth and ninth innings against the Thunder pen, but D-Alex hit into a double play in the former, and Sandy fouled out to end the game in the latter. 3-1 Thunder. Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Sambrano 2-5; Bergquist 2-3, 2 2B; Conway 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (0-1);

Game 3
OCT: CF Reese – LF J. Gomez – RF S. Young – 2B Farias – SS Janes – C J. Martinez – 3B J. Soto – 1B A. Rodriguez – P Tobitt
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – RF Reya – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – SS McKnight – P Dickerson

Sean Young had never showed much power in his career with the Buffaloes so far, but at 25 people will still up their game as Daniel Dickerson painfully experienced in the first inning of the Sunday game. Jose Gomez had already singled when Young romped a 2-shot off the broken veteran, instantly putting Dickerson in a 2-0 hole while facing the old dominator Curtis Tobitt. The Coons made up a run on a run-scoring double play that Richards hit into in the bottom 1st after both Cookie and Sandy had reached base, but Dickerson gave them up way quicker than they could hope to score them against Tobitt. The Thunder put up another two runs on five hits in the top 3rd, with one run thrown out at home by Carmona. Ronnie McKnight’s first career homer plated two in the bottom 4th (with Nunley on second and the Thunder refusing to walk him intentionally) and got the Raccoons back to 4-3, but that was nothing that could help Dickerson, who was laden with 12 hits in 4.1 innings before being pulled. Entwistle inherited Janes on second and Martinez on first and got out of the inning with a Jesus Soto liner right to Ron Richards and a K to Rodriguez.

The Thunder pitched to McKnight again in the sixth with D-Alex on second and two outs, but this time he grounded out to short. The score remained close into the late innings. Tobitt went seven without allowing more damage, but the Thunder broke through against Ron Thrasher in the eighth. Thrasher allowed hits to three left-handed batters, the last of which, Sean Young’s was a game-killing 3-run homer, putting the Thunder 7-3 ahead. A counter-homer by Richards off Steve Rob in the bottom 8th looked a lot like too little, too late, and when the Coons had Murphy on after that, Bednarski hit for Reya against left-hander Bryan Robbins, but straight into a double play. It wasn’t until Robert Parsons in the ninth inning that the Coons had a chance, but just when the tying run came to the plate after a walk drawn by Cookie Carmona … that tying run was Angel Casas, and there was only one more bat on the bench, Danny Margolis’. Parsons put the kid on his sandwich. 7-4 Thunder. Carmona 2-4, BB; Richards 2-4, HR, RBI; McKnight 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Sugano 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Oh look, the Crusaders just zoomed past, heading straight for the October sunset…

In other news

April 7 – The Crusaders lead the Indians 7-1 in the sixth inning before all pitching breaks down and the Crusaders get slaughtered for 15 runs in the last three offensive innings for the Indians, who claim a 16-11 victory.
April 8 – PIT SP Fred Dugo (1-0, 0.00 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals in a 7-0 shutout.
April 8 – The season is just three days old and there’s already a horrendous rout as the Blue Sox cream the Cyclones, 15-0. The Cyclones had ten hits and still didn’t score.
April 10 – Sacramento’s 3B Jason LaCombe (.476, 1 HR, 4 RBI) joins a small club with a 6-hit effort in the Scorpions’ 5-4 win over the Rebels. Granted, the game going 18 innings did certainly help. Overall, LaCombe went 6-for-8 with a home run and five singles as well as 3 RBI. This is the 50th 6-hit game in ABL history, the fifth for the Scorpions, and the first occurrence since Kunimatsu Sato’s achievement in 2013.
April 11 – Two hitting streaks carried over from last season reach 20 games. BOS 1B Steve Butler (.286, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has a double in the Titans’ 1-0 loss to the Falcons to reach the mark, while SFB 3B Javier Rodriguez (.333, 0 HR, 3 RBI) uses a single in the Bayhawks’ 4-0 loss to the Canadiens to get there. Notably, Butler’s hitting streak was started when he was still with the Miners.
April 12 – The Pacifics announce a 6-yr, $16.36M extension signed by SP Ernest Green (1-0, 0.00 ERA). The 30-year old left-hander is 106-68 with a 3.63 ERA for his career. He has never reached 200 strikeouts in a season.

Complaints and stuff

Santos’ 8 K on Friday put his career and franchise totals over 600 (606 exactly), a mark only achieved by 15 Raccoons, 11 of which had been starters. Ahead of him are – remarkably – seven right- and seven left-handers.

Your homework will be to name all the 14 pitchers that are ahead of Santos in franchise strikeouts and correctly attribute their handedness. (giggles)

As Dickerson failed himself through a dismal Sunday start, Calderón gave me The Look, and afterwards suggested I should come up with a Plan B, since he had talked to Ivan the Druid, too, and it looked like Dickerson was completely used up and had absolutely nothing left to give.

That’s gonna be a very painful $3.2M to watch.

Odd bit from the Federal League, where “Brenda” Teasdale started the season 2-0 for the Gold Sox with nine walks against eight strikeouts in 14 innings.

All players that were on waivers on Opening Day arrived safely at St. Petersburg.