[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-15) vs. Cyclones (14-18) – May 13-15, 2025

The Cyclones were on a 4-game losing streak in the short run, and plagued by horrendous pitching in the long run. They sat second from the bottom in runs allowed in the Federal League, and their average offense could not keep the pace. Their bullpen was pushing an ERA of six, undoing any and all decent efforts by the eighth-place rotation. The Coons had lost two of three to them last season and had not won a season series over Cincinnati since 2016.

Projected starters:
Jack Sander (3-1, 2.31 ERA) vs. Matt Rosenthal (1-3, 3.49 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (1-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. Trevor Dixon (1-3, 11.00 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (2-1, 3.69 ERA) vs. Adam Moran (4-1, 3.00 ERA)

Rosenthal, the righty, was a former Elk, and had usually not fared too greatly against the Raccoons. After that we'd see two young left-handers with … "mixed" success.

The Raccoons were trying to nip their 4,000th regular season win this week, which would require them going .500 over six games. They also got news on Tuesday regarding Jon Gonzalez and his bum knee, in which no structural damage was found by the Druid, and we were advised to take it lightly on Gonzalez for the next few days, who was listed DTD with a knee bruise.

Game 1
CIN: 3B Rangel – SS Eisenberg – CF Maiello – 1B E. Moreno – 2B Maldonado – RF I. Flores – C Roush – LF Farmer – P Rosenthal
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Mora – C Tovias – RF Alfaro – 2B Otis – SS Stalker – CF Borg – P Sander

What little offense there was in the early innings was routinely ruined in double plays, with Otis hitting into one for the Coons in the bottom 2nd. The Raccoons managed to squeeze out a run somehow, with Greg Borg forcing Stalker with a poor grounder in the bottom 3rd, then stealing second while Jack Sander failed to bunt entirely and struck out. Cookie singled to left, the Raccoons' second hit in the game, and the speedy Borg scored easily on the play for the first run of the contest, and the only one in the first five innings, with the bottom 5th ending on Otis getting picked off first base by Rosenthal, which led me to groan and seek out the relieving healing qualities of booze.

To make this clear – none of the pitchers were exactly dominating. Sander had one strikeout through five, while Rosenthal had three. There was just lots and lots and always more pathetic contact. It took until the sixth inning to hear a loud noise emanate from any Raccoons' bat when Elias Tovias hit a 2-run double to deep center with two outs on the board. Cookie (who had been drilled) and Nunley (single) scored, stretching the lead to 3-0. For whatever reason, Omar Alfaro then got an intentional walk, which was surely only a cruel joke with a .180 batter involved, but even that gamble(?) failed for the Cyclones, with Otis blooping a dying quail into shallow right center for an RBI single. Matt Rosenthal's destiny of always failing against Portland continued unabated, as he faced only one more batter, Tim Stalker, and surrendered a true blast to left-center, a 3-run homer that put the Coons up by seven, with their sixth-inning 6-spot being entirely scored with two outs. When Sander retired Nando Maiello to begin the seventh inning he dipped his ERA under two, which was a little bit amazing for a guy with his ho-hum pitching portfolio. Said pedestrian stuff selection was still sufficient to sit down the Cyclones for nine innings. Sander scattered six hits through nine innings, with only Ricardo Rangel managing an extra-base hit with a 2-out double in the third inning, to bring home his first career shutout. 7-0 Raccoons! Stalker 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sander 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-1);

…and against his former team!

Game 2
CIN: 3B Rangel – SS Eisenberg – CF Maiello – 1B E. Moreno – 2B Maldonado – RF I. Flores – C Roush – LF Farmer – P A. Moran
POR: 2B Otis – 3B Nunley – C Delgado – 1B Mora – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – LF Gerace – CF Borg – P Wasserman

Dixon seemed to get skipped with his 11 ERA, as Moran moved up into the middle game, which saw more of the fiercely enforced pact of non-aggression the teams seemed to have signed before the series had begun (give or take half an inning on Tuesday). There were seven base hits in the first five innings, two of those singels by Moran off Wasserman, and nobody got particularly close to scoring. The Cyclones occupied third base once, the Raccoons didn't do so at all, and we were scoreless through five. Wasserman changed that in the top of the sixth, surrendering a sharp leadoff single to Eddie Moreno before hitting Raul Maldonado above the buttocks. Two on with nobody out was a bit much to cope for him; Ivan Flores bunted over the runners, and the Cyclones scored the first run on Tim Roush's grounder to short. Rick Farmer was walked intentionally and Wasserman really and actually managed to strike out Moran (in a full count…) to end the inning. Moran struck out to leave the bases loaded in the eighth against Kevin Surginer, who had just packed three guys on base with a pair of 2-out singles and an unintentional walk to Farmer. Wasserman had left the game after seven, and the Raccoons were still a sweeping motion away to empty a bucket of water over Adam Moran. The hampered Jon Gonzalez would bat for the hopeless Omar Alfaro in the bottom 8th after the left-hander Moran had allowed singles to the left-handed Nunley and Mora. Gonzalez was no less useless, though, and grounded out to Frank Eisenberg to end the inning. The Cyclones chased Moran into the ninth, where he allowed a leadoff single to Stalker. Troy Charters, a former Raccoon, replaced Moran eventually and the Coons' next three batters went down in order, with neither between Gerace, Tovias, and Cookie Carmona even advancing the runner to second base. 1-0 Cyclones. Otis 2-4; Mora 3-4, BB; Wasserman 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, L (1-3);

This is us getting shut out for the third time in four games, and also our third 1-0 loss already in 2025.

Game 3
CIN: 3B Rangel – SS Eisenberg – CF Maiello – 1B E. Moreno – 2B Maldonado – RF I. Flores – C Roush – LF Farmer – P Dixon
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Otis – 1B Mora – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Gerace – CF Borg – P Chavez

Moreno drove in the lone run in the Cyclones' opening 3-hit inning, and that was only the beginning to a brief outing for Jesus Chavez in which he fooled absolutely nobody. The Cyclones were pushing double-digit hits pretty soon with nine base knocks in the first four innings, while somehow plating only three runs, Maldonado singling home a pair in the third inning. The Raccoons tried, which was all anybody could expect from them at this point, and scored a run in the bottom of the third, Borg scampering home on Otis' groundout. Chavez was knocked out in the fifth, allowing a leadoff walk against Moreno and a 1-out single by Flores, which brought the curtain down on his shambling afternoon.

For Portland, it was the ignorables to at least maintain the pretense. Justin Gerace hit a leadoff double to left in the bottom 5th, then scored on Dustin Jurek's single into rightfield. Jurek had gotten into the game thanks to Chavez' demise, which had prompted a double switch at Stalker's expense. Cookie reached on an error by Moreno, which put the go-ahead run aboard, but Otis and Mora had poor flyouts to Ivan Flores to let the chance get away.

While the Raccoons' pen got the Cyclones' lineup under control, the Raccoons were still looking for inroads against Dixon. Greg Borg's leadoff walk in the bottom 7th nominally constituted a chance. Jurek grounded out, while Cookie walked. Matt Otis hit a ball to left-center, and that one got away from Rick Farmer in the gap, falling for a double. Borg scored with the tying run, and Cookie was waved around and came in a good two steps ahead of the relay throw, completing a score-flipper in the Critters' favor, 4-3. Matt Nunley would chip in a 2-out RBI single in the inning for an insurance run, following an intentional walk to Mora earlier and Tovias' deep fly out. Billy Brotman tended to the 5-3 lead in the eighth, working around the right-handed Tim Roush's single while doing away with both Flores and Farmer, a pair of switch-hitters that were significantly weaker against left-handed pitching. Nick Gilmor struck out to end the inning, but the Coons added two more runs in the eighth on the horrendous Cyclones pen, dropping in four singles, while Otis grabbed those RBI's as well with a 2-out double. 7-3 Raccoons! Otis 3-5, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Gerace 2-4, 2B; Borg 2-3, BB; Jurek 2-3, RBI;

Raccoons (19-16) vs. Loggers (20-13) – May 16-18, 2025

The Loggers were impressive with their .606 clip, which still placed them nowhere near the thrice-defending champions from Boston. However, how fake was that record? They were seven games over .500, which was as many games over .500 as they were runs over .500. Ranking fifth in both runs scored and runs allowed they did for sure, but it was indeed only a +7 run differential for them. Even the Raccoons had a +8 differential. The season series stood at 2-1 for Portland.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (3-3, 2.96 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (3-0, 3.22 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Jonathan Toner (2-2, 4.76 ERA)
Jack Sander (4-1, 1.88 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (3-2, 4.58 ERA)

This is a full slate of right-handers. They don't even have a left-handed starter. They also have no injuries, while the Raccoons sure wished… Jon Gonzalez was still not in the lineup on Friday, but maybe on Saturday? He had pinch-hit though in both of the last two contests.

Game 1
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – LF Feldmann – 2B Stevenson – 3B Berntson – C A. Baker – P Villalobos
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – C Tovias – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – 1B Borg – 2B Armetta – P Roberts

Roberts was shackled for two runs by a strong of four 2-out runners in the opening inning, picked apart by singles hit by Ron Tadlock, Willie Trevino, and Josh Stevenson that sandwiched Ryan Feldmann's walk. It was a rotten outing for him through and through; Adam Baker hit a leadoff jack in the second, 3-0, and Manny Ferrer hit a double in the inning, but hurt himself sliding into second base and was replaced by Alberto Velez. This was with rain coming down already and soon enough the game went into a rain delay for 45 minutes. The mood reached a low point right there, but the Coons managed to contain damage after play resumed. Roberts allowed no more runs through five innings before being relieved, and the Raccoons scored two runs on a Greg Borg double to stay close to the Loggers, 3-2 through five, but they also stranded plenty of runners with the Loggers helping them to get into scoring position from time to time, with Cookie Carmona reaching on an error by an outfielder twice, and yet it never led to a run. The Loggers in turn grew more and more long-faced, losing Ryan Feldmann on a play in the fourth inning to some sort of injury. Danny Munn replaced him.

At least Milwaukee could still entertain themselves by having the lead, although after Ricky Ohl sat down the Loggers in the top of the sixth, Villalobos soon was in trouble. Single by Mora, double by Tovias, and just like that the Coons had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 6th. Omar Alfaro had already flown out to a pretty deeply entrenched Trevino twice, but hit a 2-1 pitch even better in this situation, and this time the ballpark didn't hold it – Omar's first homer of 2025 flipped the score to 5-3 in the Critters' favor, and now Ricky Ohl was in line for #4,000. Ohl was hit for by Gonzalez in the inning, the spot coming up because Borg hit another double to keep the line moving. Jon Gonzalez hit a liner high over the head of Jon Berntson and into deep leftfield for an RBI double, 6-3. Cookie also lined to left, but into Munn's mitten, ending the inning.

The 3-run lead looked quite secure until it met Kevin Surginer in the seventh and eighth inning. Surginer took over after Justin Hess got two outs in the seventh, ran a 3-1 count against Ron Tadlock, but the batter lined out to Stalker then. In the eighth Surginer walked two and allowed an RBI single to ex-Coon Josh Stevenson. Vince D inherited a heck of a mess, with the tying runs on and nobody out, and SOMEHOW managed to get through there. Berntson hit a sac fly, cutting the lead to 6-5, a wild pitch moved Stevenson to third base, but Baker popped out and Kevin Jaeger whiffed to get the Coons through the inning. In stark contrast, Jonathan Snyder retired the 1-2-3 batters in order in the ninth inning, bringing about an anticlimactic ending to the Raccoons' milestone win. 6-5 Furballs! Tovias 2-4, 2B; Borg 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

4,000!!

Game 2
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – LF Feldmann – 3B A. Velez – 2B Stevenson – C A. Baker – P Toner
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 2B Otis – SS Stalker – P Gutierrez

Jonny Toner had already faced the Coons this season, taking a loss in April while allowing five runs in as many innings. He nevertheless got a standing ovation when he came out to pitch in the bottom 1st, when he came out to bat in the top 2nd, and reactions were mooted when Omar Alfaro hit a game-tying homer off him in the bottom 2nd, erasing Gutierrez' first-inning hiccup and Ron Tadlock's RBI double. It got even worse for the home crowd in the third inning, in which Cookie doubled and quickly scored on Matt Nunley's single into left-center, giving Gutierrez a 2-1 lead. However, Gutierrez struggled as he often did against a mostly right-handed lineup, so things were far from over here.

Stalker and Otis turned double plays for Gutierrez in the fifth and sixth innings. Unfortunately, the one in the sixth came too late, as Stevenson had already singled in Ryan Feldmann, who was playing with a sore knee but still hit a leadoff double between Cookie and Mora in the inning. This one tied the game at two, with the Loggers out-hitting the Coons 8-3, so Toner was far from getting stomped and also got through the bottom of the sixth despite walking both Nunley and Gonzalez. Alfaro struck out to end the inning, and then Ricky Ohl issued two walks to Manny Ferrer and Ian Coleman in the top 7th. Brotman replaced him to face left-handed pinch-hitter Danny Munn, who hit a bouncer to Nunley that got turned for another double play. The eighth did not end on a double play, but on Feldmann getting picked off first by Surginer, who had walked him onto that base. Probably the sore knee had prevented Feldmann from making a quick dive bag.The Coons didn't care, taking any out they could get in a 2-2 game. Jonny Toner maintained the score through eight innings against largely hapless Coons, earning him another standing ovation as he exited the contest after the eighth. The Loggers didn’t score in the ninth, with the Coons sending up the bottom of the order in the bottom 9th. Right-hander Josh Riley removed Alfaro, but conceded a single to Matt Otis, then left with an injury. Joey Hopkins replaced him, allowed a sharp single to Tim Stalker, and that one sent Otis, the winning run, to third base. Borg popped out in Surginer's spot, and Cookie grounded out. They just weren't scoring… meanwhile, the Loggers saw another pitcher vanish in the tunnel to the clubhouse, as apparently Hopkins had also been hurt in the outing.

Extra innings. Neither team posed a threat in the 10th or 11th innings, with Jimmy Lee putting up two scoreless for Portland. Justin Hess was in for the 12th, which predictably led to offense for the Loggers, who put Coleman on with a 2-out single in the 12th before Kevin Jaeger hit a huge RBI double to right. Alfaro made a strong play to retire Willie Trevino, but there wasn't much confidence in the Raccoons' ability to make up even that one measly run. After Tony Delgado flew out against Brian Gilbert, Cookie hit a single to left to place the winning run in the box. Nunley grounded out. Mora struck out. Everything was horrible. 3-2 Loggers. Carmona 2-6, 2B; Otis 2-4, BB; Surginer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Lee 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

A kingdom for some offense.

Or at least a ****ing horse, so I can elope this nightmare.

Game 3
MIL: SS Ferrer – LF Berntson – CF Coleman – RF W. Trevino – 3B A. Velez – 1B Tadlock – 2B March – C A. Baker – P Prevost
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 2B Otis – SS Stalker – P Sander

The rain was back for the rubber game, which was bad news for the Critters' badly molested bullpen. There was a 1-hour delay in the second inning that was certainly going to cut short whatever outing Sander had prepared for the crowd of 19,000 apparently not so easily discouraged attendees. At least Sander had seen off the Loggers in order on not too many pitches in the first two innings, so maybe his arm could be tricked into thinking that was some sort of warmup and he would somehow still go six or so and all would be well.

Just kidding of course, nothing was ever well with this team. While the Raccoons scored first in the second inning, Stalker bringing in Gonzalez on a sac fly, overall the offense displayed by either team was sorely lacking. Through five, the Coons had only one more base hit and two walks, while Sander, perversely, was no-hitting them through five. Worse yet, the no-hitter was broken up by the opposing pitcher with Prevost's single to center with two outs in the sixth inning. Ferrer flew out to center to keep the tying run stranded. Sander was hauled in after a leadoff walk to Berntson in the seventh, with the Coons bringing in Brotman in a double switch that removed a slumping Mora for Greg Borg. Billy balked, but boogied through the inning, and then the Coons had runners on the corners with two swift singles off Prevost to begin the bottom 7th. Alfaro and Otis were surely hoping for a big rip by somebody, as did the 19,000 that were being put through a rainy wringer, and also a GM who these days was only mildly dazed by his methyl alcohol. Stalker grounded to Velez to keep Alfaro pinned and to increase the agony, with the Loggers having to take the out at first, so at least there was no double play for Borg to hit into. Of course he could still ground to Velez! Alfaro didn't budge once more as another Coon was retired at first base, and Cookie's grounder up the middle didn't escape Dan March and instead was the third out. Things would yet get worse in the bottom 8th, where Nunley and Armetta made poor outs before Tovias doubled to center, but knocked his head into Ferrer's leg when he slid into the base and left the game under the concussion protocol, which was league-mandated. Dustin Jurek ran for him in the crazed hope that Jon Gonzalez could produce anything of value, which he didn't as Prevost walked him. Maybe Alfaro? Nah, popped out. Snyder retired Dave Padilla, Manny Ferrer, and Danny Munn in order in order to waddle the win across the finish line, somehow. 1-0 Blighters. Sander 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-1); Brotman 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 15 – In their 9-2 win over the Wolves, the Indians upend the opposition with an 8-run eighth inning.
May 17 – SFW SP Matt Gossen (2-4, 5.74 ERA) might be on the shelf for a full year at least with a shredded flexor tendon in his elbow.
May 18 – The Condors' 23-year-old 3B/RF/LF Mike Matias (.220, 6 HR, 20 RBI) his for the cycle in a 5-4 win over the Aces, going 4-for-4 with 2 RBI. This is the 72nd cycle in ABL history, the first this season, and the fifth for the Condors, as well as their first in 22 years following the achievements of Thomas Martin (1988), Bruce Boyle (1992, 2003), and Martin Horn (1998).
May 18 – NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.350, 4 HR, 7 RBI) will miss a month with an oblique strain.

Complaints and stuff

When I took this job a whole lotta years ago, I never thought we'd make it to 4,000 regular season wins. And going by the early Coons in the 70s and early 80s, it would have taken about 70 or 80 years to get to 4,000 at all…

The aforementioned league-mandated concussion protocol requires the player in question to stare into a strobe light for 20 minutes; Elias Tovias promptly had a mild seizure and will be out for two weeks or so. So that is a trip to the DL, and I have no idea how I am supposed to produce any sort of lineup with this unproductive team composed of useless misfits and flayed career losers.

Maybe Matt Nunley can bat cleanup again. That was so much fun last time around …

And yes, we missed a combined no-hitter because some dork (Sander) had to give a single to the opposing pitcher, but I am well past ripping out my hair over that… the only reason that dork gets off the hook is because the dork pitched 15 shutout innings this week and was thusly named Player of the Week in the Continental League!

Fun Fact: In the Raccoons' 4K win on Friday, Loggers pitchers had 4 K.

Whoah, I'm the rage!