[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-61) vs. Loggers (60-64) – August 19-21, 2024

This was an important 3-game set, and the Raccoons might want to finally beat the Loggers, actually. This season had seen the Loggers claim victory in eight out of a dozen games played against Portland, and there was no way we would make the playoffs by not pouncing on the Loggers like the Raccoons usually only pounced on a mixed bowl of fruit and chocolates. Milwaukee ranked third from the bottom in runs scored and fifth from the top in runs allowed. They actually had the best rotation by ERA with a strong 3.36 mark.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (13-5, 2.74 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (12-7, 3.32 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (9-7, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (9-6, 2.96 ERA)
Jack Sander (7-7, 4.48 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (6-10, 3.80 ERA)

Only right-handed offerings from Milwaukee.

Game 1
MIL: 2B Mancia – 1B Jaeger – CF Coleman – RF Gore – SS Tadlock – C Wool – LF Berntson – 3B A. Velez – P Prevost
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Kopp – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 3B Grigsby – P Gutierrez

Astonishingly, the Raccoons found ways to further reduce their lineup through injuries. Spencer led off the Coons' half of the first inning with a single, then made for third when Terry Kopp singled to center. On sliding into the bag, Spencer jammed his ankle and had to be helped as he gingerly pawed off the field. Armetta replaced him and scored on Jon Gonzalez' sac fly for the first run of the game, and the only one in the first inning. Bottom 2nd, the bases were loaded with no outs with two singles and a walk, but that brought up Rico, batting a strong .089. Ian Prevost spread him on his toast, but after that strikeout he lost Sam Armetta to a full-count walk, pushing in the Coons' second run. Tovias (sac fly), Kopp (single), Gonzalez (single) all brought in an additional run, after which Alfaro grounded out to Danny Mancia. But with a 5-0 lead and their recently strong left-hander on the mound, the Coons felt rather comfortable. Rico allowed two base hits early on, but retired 11 in a row at one point, moving clean into the sixth when he walked Dan March, pinch-hitter for Prevost, who had not allowed another run after the 4-run second inning. Mancia hit a fly to deep right, but into an out, and Kevin Jaeger lined one to the right side, but Jon Gonzalez lunged and caught it. While the Raccoons had gone to bed altogether already, the Loggers got Alberto Velez aboard with a 2-out single in the eighth. Nick Gilmor batted for reliever David Warn, hit a 3-2 to deep left, but again the outfield stood in the way of the Loggers getting one across against Gutierrez, who remained on shutout course. He struck out Mancia to begin the ninth, but then hit Jaeger with his 100th pitch. Ian Coleman grounded to left, but the Coons only got the lead runner, bringing up Brad Gore, who was a left-hander and was going to be Gutierrez' last batter. This count also ran full, then bounced up the middle. Armetta stretched the paw to contain the ball, flung it to first, and Gore was out on a bang-bang play. 5-0 Raccoons! Kopp 4-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 RBI; Stalker 2-4; Gutierrez 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (14-5);

The shutout also helps to reset the bullpen that had gotten flogged considerably – if not necessarily by runs, then by innings pitched – all of last week.

Oh if only there wasn't the blemish of Spencer jamming his ankle. The Druid adjudged him to be day-to-day and recommended to stay away from him for the rest of the series. And somehow we are really, really out of leadoff batters now…

Game 2
MIL: 2B Mancia – 1B Jaeger – CF Coleman – RF Gore – SS Tadlock – C Wool – 3B A. Velez – LF de Santiago – P Villalobos
POR: LF Graves – 2B Stalker – CF Kopp – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – C Delgado – SS Bullock – 3B Grigsby – P Delgadillo

No shutout on Tuesday – the Loggers had three singles in the first inning, and while Mancia was caught stealing in between, Delgadillo balked in a run with two outs. Graves hit a ball hard in the bottom 1st, but flew out to Brad Gore anyway. The Loggers had five base hits by the time the Coons got their first, a leadoff double to right by Mike Grigsby in the third inning. Graves this time singled hard to left on an 0-2 pitch, with Grigsby scoring on the play to tie the game, but the Loggers would get their own leadoff double at their next opportunity, Brad Gore doing the honors, and brought him around to score for a new 2-1 lead.

It took until the sixth for the Raccoons to get back on base. While the defense had held on for Delgadillo in the meantime, Graves and Stalker with singles became the tying and go-ahead runs – and that with nobody out. Say anything you want about our flurry of injuries, but nominally the middle of the order was still intact, even though it hadn't exactly made pitchers cry in recent times. This was no exception. Kopp almost legged out a grounder to third … almost. Velez retired him by a whisker, but at least the runners advanced, which gave them a better gander at Gonzalez striking out and then Alfaro's flyout to Carlos de Santiago. Nope, Delgadillo would be taken off the hook by Mike Grigsby in the seventh, smacking his first career dinger over the leftfield fence with two outs to get us even at two. Lillis nursed the Coons through the top half of the eighth, and then the bottom half began like the sixth inning: Graves singled, Stalker singled. Ah, here comes the middle of the order. I really wished we could find some Eddie Jackson type of player up here to pinch-hit and double in the go-ahead run. No Eddie Jackson was available, and as things were, Kopp flew out to left, Gonzalez flew out to right, and Alfaro grounded out to the ****ing pitcher. Vince D and Kipple held the Loggers to a single in the ninth, and Brian Gilbert replaced Villalobos for the bottom of the ninth. Tony Delgado took the second pitch of the inning into the gap for a leadoff TRIPLE, and NOW we were talking! One silly fly ball wins the game! Tovias batted for Bullock, grounded to Dan March, but with the infield in there was no way to send Delgado – he'd be dead 30 feet from home. Grigsby was walked intentionally, after which Spencer went to bat in the pitcher's spot. He didn't have to run that much – just hit where they ain't to get Delgado in. Or hit it where they are. His fly to left was caught by Jon Berntson, Delgado got the go signal, and beat the throw by two steps. It's a walkoff!! 3-2 Coons!! Graves 3-4, RBI; Stalker 3-4; Grigsby 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Delgadillo 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

Winning seven of their last eight moved the Raccoons back to within five games of the Titans.

Game 3
MIL: 2B Mancia – 1B Jaeger – CF Coleman – RF Gore – SS Tadlock – 3B A. Velez – C W. Jones – LF de Santiago – P Shepherd
POR: RF Graves – C Tovias – CF Kopp – 1B Gonzalez – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – 3B Grigsby – 2B Armetta – P Sander

The top of the first yielded another 1-0 lead for the Loggers thanks to base hits by all of their first three batters. Ron Tadlock hit into a double play with runners on the corners, ending the inning, and probably sparing Sander a couple more runs thanks to Grigsby's nifty grip. The Raccoons amounted to only one base hit the first time through the order. Cookie hit a single, then was caught stealing. Tovias singled in the bottom of the fourth, Kopp drew a walk, and after that the middle of the order turned into a bit of nothing again, with Gonzalez flying out in shallow regions, and Stalker hit into a double play.

After the offense came part, pitching and defense followed suit in the sixth. Sander struck out Jaeger, his sixth victim, to begin the inning, but then walked Ian Coleman on four pitches. He balked the runner to second, allowing him to score on Brad Gore's double to center. Tadlock grounded to short, but Stalker threw away the ball and that runners was waved around, too, 3-0. Meanwhile, the Raccoons just couldn't get on base against Shepherd, at least until Jon Gonzalez drew a 1-out walk in the seventh. Stalker singled to right, sending Gonzalez to third base, and if there was more than two home runs across some 450 at-bats this year lurking in the next three spots, I would feel quite comfortable about the tying run coming up. Oh, well, maybe we could take this bit by bit. Cookie hit a looper near the rightfield line that fell in. Brad Gore didn't take the best route, leaving Cookie with an RBI double, and now the tying runs were in scoring position for Grigsby, who grounded to short for the second run and second out. Desperate, we sent Delgado to bat for Armetta, but he whiffed, leaving Cookie on.

Sander retired one batter to begin the eighth, after which we went to Billy Brotman. Gore hit a double, but Tadlock struck out. To the bottom of the inning, the Coons once more put two men to begin the inning. Justin Gerace walked in the #9 hole, and then Graves singled. The Loggers stuck with Shepherd, who got Tovias to ground out to Mancia; the runners advanced. Shepherd lost Terry Kopp to a walk, bringing up Jon Gonzalez' 23 home runs, none in the last 19 days. The park was booming. I was about to suffocate. And then – without throwing a pitch – Shepherd balked. A BALK WAS CALLED – the tying run came home! This changed the Loggers' plan, with Gonzalez being intentionally walked and Mike Kress replacing the canned Shepherd with three on and one out against Tim Stalker. The count ran full, then Stalker dug out ball four and lobbed it to right. Gore came on a few steps, had it, and Graves was sent. Not necessarily fast, Graves barely beat out the throw, and that was the go-ahead run! Cookie grounded out, bringing Snyder into the save situation in the ninth. Jon Berntson hit a 1-out triple, Carlos de Santiago hit a home run, and the Raccoons were in for a soul-crushing loss. Not so easily, though – they would make it tense. Grigsby led off the bottom 9th with a single off Brian Gilbert, becoming the tying run, at least until Bullock grounded to short. Tadlock got the lead runner, but not the batter. Omar Alfaro hit for the unreliable Snyder – have we ever had a great closer since Angel Casas? – and popped a 3-1 pitch to second base, causing me more heart arrhythmia. When Mancia dropped the ball, stupidly, I saw black spots; also, the winning run aboard for Graves, who walked, and then Tovias, who batted with the bases choked. Another full count, this one being put in play at 3-2, Tovias grounding up the middle. Mancia had no time for too and fired home in despair, nipping Bullock. Kopp came up with two outs and three different batters aboard, and flew out to Coleman. 5-4 Loggers. Carmona 2-4, 2B, RBI;

If I had a sword, I'd dig in the handle on the infield and throw myself into the blade, right now.

Raccoons (65-62) @ Falcons (57-69) – August 23-25, 2024

The Coons had won four of six games from the Falcons so far this year. They were fifth in the South and had been out of the running for a while, with Ryan Corkum having been acquired from them in July. They were seventh in runs scored, tenth in runs allowed, with their rotation and bullpen both in the bottom three in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (7-12, 4.09 ERA) vs. Kyle Anderson (6-17, 4.64 ERA)
Mark Roberts (8-7, 3.60 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (12-9, 3.79 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (14-5, 2.58 ERA) vs. J.J. Rodd (4-8, 6.62 ERA)

Both teams had enjoyed a day off on Thursday, so there was a chance for them to skip their only left-handed starter, Rodd, to bring in Justin Fleming (8-7, 3.39 ERA) instead.

The Raccoons made a roster move, sending Sam Armetta (.077, 0 HR, 1 RBI) back to St. Petersburg as they activated Shane Walter from the DL.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – 3B Walter – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – CF Kopp – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – P Chavez
CHA: SS Bowman – CF Erskine – 1B Fowlkes – LF Kok – 3B Czachor – 2B Good – RF McClenon – C Mattaliano – P K. Anderson

Walter came back with a bomb, putting the Raccoons 1-0 ahead in the first inning after a blast over the fence in right. The lead was not permanent, with Pat Fowlkes hitting one over the wall in left in the bottom of the inning. It was the second homer this year for Walter, the tenth for Fowlkes, and both were usually good for more. Both teams were fuzzy; Matt Good made the first out of the second inning on a single, trying to get an extra 90 feet, but was denied by a strong and accurate throw coming from Alfaro. The Raccoons sprayed a few singles, as usual made nothing of them, and Good made good in the fourth inning with a solo homer to right, giving Charlotte a 2-1 lead.

Portland had two more singles in the right via Spencer and Walter. The former was caught stealing before Walter hit his single, and we never amounted to as much as second base in the inning. The Falcons also had two singles in the bottom 5th, but didn't pretend to be mentally challenged that badly. Paul Mattaliano led off with a single, was bunted over, advanced on Sean Bowman's groundout, and then scored on Chris Erskine's 2-out single, 3-1. On to the sixth, where three base hits plated a run for the Raccoons. Gonzalez doubled, and with two down Alfaro and Cookie both singled, and we were needing runs badly enough that Chavez was batted for right here with two on and two outs, Graves grabbing a stick. Kyle Anderson's clumsiness came to the Coons' aid – he threw wildly to center attempting to pick Alfaro off second base, advancing the runners and allowing Zach Graves to drive in both runners with a single to right. The score was flipped, but the Coons couldn't hold on. Billy Brotman walked Ryan Czachor on four pitches with one out in the bottom 6th, allowed a single to Good, and then threw away Mattaliano's 2-out grounder to plate the tying run.

Even at four, both starters out of the game, the Raccoons faced right-hander Marcus Garner in the seventh and reclaimed a 5-4 lead. Jon Gonzalez was the hero, hitting a homer to left, his first whammy in three weeks. Well, maybe the pen can hold on to this one! Vince D had a clean seventh, Brett Lillis a not-so-clean eighth, but the 5-4 lead held on until it could be handed to Snyder in the ninth, with the 8-9-1 batters up. Two singles brought up Pat Fowlkes with two outs. For a moment we had a flash of replacing Snyder with Ryan Corkum, but that was probably the wrong move. If the Falcons knew about the antics of one of our relievers, it was definitely Corkum. When Fowlkes looked at strike three, for once we had done everything right. 5-4 Raccoons. Walter 2-5, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Alfaro 2-4, RBI; Graves (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – 3B Walter – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – CF Kopp – SS Stalker – RF Alfaro – LF Gerace – P Roberts
CHA: SS Bowman – 3B Czachor – LF Kok – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – RF Benson – C J. White – CF McClenon – P Moffatt

Terry Kopp dropping Pat Fowlkes' flyball in the bottom of the fourth inning gave the Falcons runners on second and third with one out in the scoreless game. Mark Roberts hadn't allowed much so far (and Doug Moffatt even less), but now was in trouble. Matt Good cracked a first pitch hard to right and was close to two RBI until Jon Gonzalez threw himself into the bouncer's way. The runners, started, hastily returned to their bases and Gonzalez scrambled to first base to remove Good for the second out. Next was Travis Benson, .287 with 15 homers from the left side, and then the skeleton of Jamal White, batting .171 with one homer from the right side. If Roberts were a righty, Benson would be put on intentionally, but he wasn't, so Benson was pitched to. When the 2-2 pitch was put in play and whizzed past a diving Spencer's glove into rightfield to score a pair, once again we hadn't done anything right. Although, sometimes, it doesn't matter which way you turn – you get ****ed anyway. White cranked a 2-1 pitch for half a mile, putting the Falcons 4-0 ahead. All runs were unearned, which was such a consolation.

Top 5th, Justin Gerace opened with a single to center. Roberts bunted, Good threw it poorly and got nobody, so maybe the Raccoons had an unearned rally in them, too. The Coons plated two in the inning, which was a start, but ultimately the groundouts of Spencer and Walter hadn't been very helpful in getting something going. Walter plated one run, and Tovias' 2-out single plated another, but things stopped with Gonzalez once again, and before they got any better, they got worse, with Mark Roberts being tagged for three more base hits and another run in the sixth inning, which he didn't finish either. Jimmy Lee pitched in the seventh, but he also didn't get his assignment done, retiring two batters before leaving with an injury. The Druid would later diagnose him with a mild shoulder strain, rendering him inoperable for a week. Also inoperable: the Coons against Moffatt, who lasted eight innings and didn't allow an earned run. Elijah Taylor in the ninth was not so lucky, despite him retiring the first two batters, Stalker and Alfaro. After that he allowed base hits to two pinch-hitters, Grigsby, who singled, and Delgado, who doubled him in. It was not enough, though. Jarod Spencer grounded to short, and that was the ballgame. 5-3 Falcons. Tovias 3-4, RBI; Grigsby (PH) 1-1; Delgado (PH) 1-1, 2B;

No roster movement regarding Jimmy Lee as of now. We have four more games until an off day on Thursday, and he might be able to come back by the following weekend.

Meanwhile, J.J. Rodd was indeed skipped; we'd see Fleming on Sunday.

Game 3
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Walter – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – CF Kopp – SS Stalker – RF Carmona – 3B Grigsby – P Gutierrez
CHA: SS Bowman – 3B Czachor – LF Kok – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – RF Benson – C J. White – CF McClenon – P Fleming

For a change, the Raccoons scored first; Shane Walter hit a single past Fowlkes in the first, and Tovias worked a walk that the Falcons were not entirely happy about, and even more so once Jon Gonzalez lined up the leftfield line, past Barend Kok, and into the corner to plate both runners with a double. Shane Walter collided with Ryan Czachor at second base in the bottom of the inning; Czachor tried to break up the double play that Kok was about to ground into, but broke up Walter just as well. Walter left the game, Spencer moved in from left, and Zach Graves entered the game in the #2 hole. Once we were done picking up individual bones around second base, Pat Fowlkes took Rico Gutierrez deep, erasing the 2-0 lead wholly and fully.

The recently excellent Rico Gutierrez was anything but; he walked three in the third, and while Barend Kok hit into a double play in between allowed 2-out RBI singles to Good and Benson. Jamal White popped out and Gutierrez would get through the middle innings unharmed, but without even as much as a spark of excellence, striking out nobody. The Raccoons struck out in bushels against Fleming, not amounting to anything much of a threat. Their season slithered away in a bullpen meltdown in the seventh inning that featured Devereaux and Lillis, five base hits, a walk, and three ostensibly fatal runs. Gerace batted for Lillis to begin the eighth and reached on Fowlkes' error. Spencer singled off Garner, as did Graves, driving in Gerace, 7-3. Tovias grounded out before the Falcons went to right-hander George Barnett, who got Gonzalez to hit a sac fly. Two down, Terry Kopp walked, and Tim Stalker hit an RBI double, 7-5. Oh god, you teases! Cookie Carmona flew to center, Joseph McClenon misjudged the ball and turned it into a 2-run double, and we were tied! Oh dear, what a rally! Spencer singled in the ninth, but was left on when Joel O'Brien struck out both Graves and Tovias, but maybe we could get this thing into the win column in extra innings!

There were no extra innings. There was just Tim Stalker flubbing Fowlkes' grounder to begin the bottom of the ninth. There was Ryan Corkum hanging a breaking ball. And there was Matt Good murdering the Raccoons with a walkoff homer. 9-7 Falcons. Spencer 2-5; Walter 1-1;

In other news

August 21 – A 9-run fourth inning secures a sizable lead for the Crusaders in their 13-2 clubbing of the Indians. NYC RF/LF Nate Ellis (.249, 24 HR, 90 RBI) has four hits with a home run and 4 RBI in the game. IND LF/CF Danny Morales (.284, 9 HR, 38 RBI) also has four base hits and 2 RBI, or more than the rest of his team combined.
August 22 – TOP 3B Pat Green (.263, 5 HR, 29 RBI) has four base hits and as many RBI in the Buffaloes' 17-1 mangling of the Blue Sox.
August 22 – RIC SP Alex Quintero (6-9, 4.05 ERA) is done for the year with a ruptured finger tendon.
August 24 – In a 1-0 Aces win, LVA SP Chris Wickham (10-7, 3.03 ERA) and LVA CL Harry Merwin (3-4, 3.16 ERA, 28 SV) spin a combined 1-hitter over the Indians, who only amount to a fourth-inning single by 3B Justin Jackson (.216, 1 HR, 24 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

And this quickly five games out turn back into seven-and-a-half games out, with five weeks to play, and still for all intents and purposes a .500 team that wasn't getting out of its own way. How can this team even be rock bottom in the Continental League in home runs? We were supposed to be back on the horse with the offense, with Gonzalez and Alfaro and Tovias and some contribution coming from Nunley and Walter and Stalker!

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Shoulda sold at the deadline. Like there was any fixing this mangled mess. And that was a mangled mess even before half the lineup moved to the DL, so that can't be a valid excuse either.

Monday saw Rico Gutierrez' second career shutout – both have come against the Loggers, and only a month and a day apart. He allowed six hits in the July shutout, but just like on Monday then had two walks and six strikeouts on his ledger.

There is not only a flurry of injuries in the majors for the Raccoons, but also in the minors. By the middle of the week we had 13 players on various DL's, with more of them day-to-day with various ailments. Things have gotten so bad that we moved Juan Magallanes, the Colombian kid from the Jewish New York high school, to St. Petersburg this week just to fill out the ranks. We still had plenty of pitchers – but we were seriously running out of position players by now.

Next week it's the Aces and Elks, but in all honesty I don't think there's much value in holding out on booking an October vacation anymore. Go see the sun! It never ****ing shines up here.

Fun Fact: Friday, the Stars were the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention. It was the 16th straight year that they didn't make the playoffs.

Only four teams had longer playoff droughts than the Stars, who had most recently won their division in 2008: the Indians (2006), Wolves (2004), Buffaloes (2004), and Gold Sox (2003);