[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-27) @ Blue Sox (25-38) – June 17-19, 2025

The Raccoons had won the last three series with the Blue Sox, most recently in 2024, and each time by taking two out of three. Nashville looked like they could use some offense, sitting under .400 despite allowing the third-fewest runs in the Federal League. Unfortunately their offense was rightly putrid, even compared to Portland's, and they were scoring just a measly 3.6 runs per game, which was especially shocking in the traditionally more offense-oriented Federal League.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (2-4, 3.32 ERA) vs. Shane Baker (5-3, 3.50 ERA)
Mark Roberts (6-4, 2.69 ERA) vs. Jose Menendez (4-5, 3.33 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (4-3, 4.68 ERA) vs. Adam Garrett (1-1, 4.85 ERA)

All righties from them; speaking of righties, Jon Gonzalez was finally able to rejoin the lineup after having to sit out the entire previous week.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – P Gutierrez
NAS: SS Muller – CF Sams – 1B Gasso – C Marrero – 3B T. Fuentes – LF Rainey – RF M. Ramirez – 2B Che – P S. Baker

The early innings saw no scoring, with Jon Gonzalez just almost hitting a homer, but lacking a few feet and being caught on the warning track by Manny Ramirez in rightfield, and when Cookie hit a leadoff single in the third inning, Gutierrez bunted into a double play to remove that runner from the bases, unfortunately just before Alberto Ramos doubled into the gap in right-center, only to then be stranded by Spencer. Cookie would feature in the Coons' first run (and the game's first run) eventually, cashing in Terry Kopp with a 1-out single in the fifth inning. Kopp had led off the inning by squeezing a bouncer through between Gus Gasso and the foul line for a leadoff double and came home from second base on the single to center hit by #31. To our stunning amazement, Rico Gutierrez held on to the 1-0 lead for a grand total of zero pitches before getting taken deep by Will Rainey to begin the bottom 5th, and Ramirez doubled off the fence in leftfield right after that. Hang-yu Che grounded out, moving the go-ahead run to third base, after which Rico Gutierrez had Shane Baker at 0-2 when he threw a mind-tearing wild pitch past Tovias to plate the runner when the opposing pitcher would have struck out in this 1-out spot and John Muller would have popped out to Cookie in left.

WELL. At least Rico remained remotely useful afterwards. Cookie hit a 2-out single in the seventh with nobody aboard, going to 3-for-3 on the day in the process, and Rico remained around and batted for himself, singling to right past Che. Alberto Ramos cracked one up the middle, allowing Cookie to score with the tying run. The string of singles ended with Spencer's pop to first base, keeping the game tied, which it also remained through eight. The ninth began like the fifth with a Kopp double narrowly past a defender, in this case centerfielder Khalil Sams for a get-going two-base effort off left-hander Mike Greene, who proceeded to hold on to the lead against Matt Nunley (K), Cookie (4-3), and Greg Borg (K). Neither team did much in the rest of regulation or in the 10th. Tovias hit a double that led nowhere, but the Coons staved off leadoff singles by the Blue Sox in the bottom 11th to get runners on first and second with nobody out against Vince Devereaux and Justin Hess. The top 12th saw a marked improvement in our chances when PH Matt Otis drew a leadoff walk and Alberto Ramos doubled down the leftfield line. Runners in scoring position, no outs against right-hander Jose Trejo! Spencer's grounder eluded John Muller for an RBI single, stole second base to keep up the pressure, but Tovias was robbed by Sams in center and held to a sac fly on a raucous drive. It was 5-2 and bedtime for Trejo after Abel Mora's RBI double, and after going 0-for-5 with some real ****ty luck, John Gonzalez snuck an RBI single past Paul Langan at third base off new pitcher Ruben Ortega to keep the hurt on Nashville. This also extended his long-dormant hitting streak to 18 games! The inning continued long enough thanks to a Cookie RBI infield single for Otis to come to the plate again in the inning, this time popping out to strand a pair with a 5-run lead. Ricky Ohl retired the Blue Sox in order in the bottom of the inning. 7-2 Coons! Ramos 3-6, 2 2B, RBI; Spencer 2-6, RBI; Kopp 2-5, BB, 2 2B; Carmona 4-6, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 1-3; Devereaux 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Everybody in the starting lineup was included in the bushel of 16 base hits we got off the Blue Sox here!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – P Roberts
NAS: LF Espinosa – CF Sams – 1B Gasso – RF Orozco – C Marrero – 3B T. Fuentes – SS Muller – 2B Che – P Jo. Menendez

The Coons hit three singles in the opening inning, which didn't translate into a run thanks to Alberto Ramos getting caught stealing yet again after initially ticketing a looper into shallow center. The second inning yielded three more base hits for them, but this time they included leadoff doubles via Terry Kopp and Matt Nunley, and both of them scored, the latter on Spencer's 2-out single. While apparently we could read Jose Menendez like an open book as he was out of Mexico now, the worrying thing was the control of Mark Roberts, who went to several 3-ball counts in the early innings. He didn't actually walk anybody, but that pitch count soon enough started to peak. However, no Sock actually reached in the first three innings, while the Coons began to drive the fork deeper into Menendez by the fourth inning when Elias Tovias hammered home a 3-run dinger that was unearned but nevertheless counted for a 5-0 lead, cashing in Cookie, who reached on a Che error, and Spencer, who had walked. A Gasso double in the bottom 4th led to nothing great for Nashville, and the Coons sat on Menendez' face again in the fifth inning when Gonzalez, Kopp, and Nunley reached on straight singles to begin the inning, yet wouldn't score after Menendez grittily struck out Cookie and Roberts and got Ramos to fly out to center.

The Raccoons were challenged for the first time in the sixth inning when the Blue Sox put Khalil Sams and Gus Gasso on the corners but Ruben Orozco then went down on strikes to end the inning, maintaining Portland's 5-0 lead, which grew to 6-0 in the seventh when Roberts drove home Jon Gonzalez and his leadoff double with a 2-out single up the middle against largely successless reliever Andy Love. The Raccoons went on to drag Roberts' bum into the ninth inning, but his shutout bid hit a rock wall at 110 pitches, an Orozco single, and Tony Fuentes double. That put runners in scoring position with one out and prompted a relief call that Kevin Surginer failed to answer, throwing a wild pitch after K'ing John Muller for the second out. Ruben Santiago's pinch-hit RBI single made it 6-2 and brought on Billy Brotman for the left-handers atop the order. Brotman drilled Juan Espinosa, then allowed a 2-run single to PH Will Rainey. With Gus Gasso appearing in the box as the winning run, another move was made to Jonathan Snyder, who got the K in a lengthy full-count battle. 6-4 Coons. Spencer 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 3-5, 2 2B; Kopp 2-5, 2B; Nunley 2-5, 2B, RBI; Roberts 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-4) and 1-4, RBI;

That could have been such a great game if not for that completely fudged ninth inning…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Alfaro – P Chavez
NAS: LF Espinosa – CF Sams – 1B R. Santiago – RF Orozco – C Marrero – 3B T. Fuentes – SS Muller – 2B Langan – P Potter

The Sox sent Adam Potter (2-6, 4.02 ERA) into the Thursday game in lieu of Adam Garrett, which was a right-handed Adam with varying success one way or another, while we were not going to mention the VERY varying success of Chavez just right now. Potter sure had his back against the wall a few times early, putting Tovias and Mora on in both the first and third innings. Nothing ever came of it; Jon Gonzalez flew out to end the first, but singled to load the bags in the third, after which Terry Kopp was the doofus who grounded out to short on a 3-1 pitch, ending the inning. The Blue Sox weren't any less unclutch; Espinosa's 1-out triple in the bottom 3rd saw Sams strike out and Santiago ground out.

Chavez plated the first run of the game with a sac fly in the fourth, bringing home Matt Nunley who had doubled through Santiago and past Orozco and advanced on Alfaro's groundout. But, be wary of that right-hander with varying success the Raccoons had on the mound. After four shutout innings, Chavez came apart merely by being due for it, and the Blue Sox grabbed a lead in the fifth on a single by Paul Langan and Sams' 2-out, 2-run homer to left, with almost the same spot later being visited by Espinosa for a solo shot in the seventh inning. After a few mentally absent innings, the Coons got Tovias aboard with a leadoff single in the top 8th, with a wild pitch by Potter being key in plating him with a Gonzalez sac fly. Kopp hit a 2-out double past Sams, but Nunley grounded out to keep the tying run aboard. Portland would have to rally their way through a left-hander, Mike Greene, in the ninth inning, which began with Matt Otis batting for Alfaro. Otis fouled out on a 1-2 pitch, with another right-handed pinch-hitter, Greg Borg, not faring any better and whiffing. Tony Delgado batted for an 0-4 Ramos out of desperation and somehow grinded out a walk to bring up the go-ahead run in Spencer, who nevertheless grounded out to Santiago on the first pitch. 3-2 Blue Sox. Tovias 2-3, BB; Mora 2-4, 2B; Chavez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, L (4-4);

Ha-rumph. How are we going to celebrate Jon Gonzalez' 20-game hitting streak now?

Raccoons (39-28) @ Titans (42-24) – June 20-22, 2025

The Titan's 3 1/2 game lead in the North assured them to keep the division lead even after being swept by the Raccoons in this crucial 3-game set (giggles), with the season series so far even at two wins apiece. This series pitted the best offense (Boston) against the best pitching (Coons!) in the league, but it wasn't like the Titans' pitching was "shabby". They still ranked fourth in the league, and what was worse was that in combination with the league-leading offense that produced a soul-wringing 5.5 runs per game their run differential was an astounding +111 in the latter half of June. I was really curious of the Raccoons' battle plan for this series, because I sure didn't have one…

Projected matchups:
Jack Sander (7-2, 2.95 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (9-1, 2.70 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (1-6, 3.11 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (3-6, 4.26 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-4, 3.20 ERA) vs. Ian Rutter (4-6, 5.57 ERA)

More right-handers on a string!

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – C Delgado – P Sander
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – 1B R. Amador – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B R. West – LF St. Germaine – 3B Kane – P Shepherd

Ramos was again caught stealing in the opening inning, which still somehow amounted to an initial 3-spot for the Critters. Spencer doubled through Mike Kane and up the leftfield line, scored on Gonzalez' RBI single, and then Alfaro sunk one into the rightfield stands for a 2-piece, his fifth of the year. The bases were then loaded in the second inning with one out owing to a Nunley single, a K to Tony Delgado, and then Shepherd misfiring Sander's bunt before he walked Ramos. Spencer brought in the only run with a looping line over Jamie Wilson, uncatchable, for an RBI single, before Mora flew out to shallow left and Gonzalez lined out to Kane. However, it didn't Jack Sander very long to cork up, issuing full count walks to Wilson and Adam St. Germaine, followed by a 2-out, 2-run triple by Kane, bringing the early score to 4-2.

At least Sander outlived Shepherd; that was a good start, although Sander hardly fooled anybody, but the Coons had Shepherd in the showers by the fourth inning, in which ironically Sander was key after a leadoff double that fell barely fair near the rightfield line. Abel Mora brought him in to make it 5-2, and that put the cat in the bag for Shepherd, heretofore defeated only once this season. However, a disproportionate amount of outs was made in the air for Sander, so the Titans were really a breakthrough waiting to happen despite trailing by three after four innings. Indeed, the Titans knocked Sander around for straight singles to begin the bottom 5th, and with the bottom of the order: St. Germaine singled, Kane singled, PH Trent Herlihy brought an RBI single to the table. Adrian Reichardt – the sole right-hander anywhere around – flew out to shallow left, and Cookie was also close to the action on Keith Leonard's gapper to left-center that followed. The ball fell in, scoring Kane, and Herlihy was sent around third base, but thrown out at home plate. Sander departed proceedings after a 2-out walk to Roberto Amador, with Vince D taking over facing Adam Braun, who grounded out to the end the fifth with a 5-4 score.

Next frame, Portland loaded the bases (including an intentional walk to Terry Kopp in the #9 hole after Tony Delgado's leadoff double), but couldn't pull through, with Jose Fuentes striking out Gonzalez to end the sixth inning. The Raccoons didn't find a way in against the Titans' pen, but the Titans found a way in against the Coons', with Adam Braun homering in the eighth to tie the game off Justin Hess, the sole right-hander Hess was intended to face in a group of left-handed bats… The Coons had nothing in the ninth, but at least the defense saved Jimmy Lee's bacon on a few rockets hit in the bottom 9th and the game went to extras, where ironically Tony Delgado put the Coons back on the horse. Still batting under .200 and following on the easy outs Brent Beene got off Cookie and Nunley in the top 10th, Delgado wrapped a homer around the left foul pole, his first in '25, to break the tie and get Snyder stirring. Adam Braun and Keith Spataro went down to begin the bottom 10th before Rhett West zinged a single to center and a full count put St. Germaine on with a 2-out walk. Mike Kane was 3-for-4 and a homer short of the cycle – talk about writings on the wall – then popped a 2-2 pitch over the infield. Nunley contained that one, and the Coons took the opener in extras! 6-5 Furballs!! Spencer 3-5, 2B, RBI; Delgado 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI;

My paws are so sweaty, I can barely hold on to this bottle of booze…!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – CF Borg – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – P Wasserman
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – LF St. Germaine – 1B Herlihy – 2B Kane – 3B Corder – P Waite

The Coons' Graham Wasserman had already walked a pair in the bottom 1st when the runners were on the move and Adam St. Germaine confidently laid off a 2-out, 3-2 breaking ball aimed at his ankles, only to be called out on strikes by the umpire anyway. From there, the atmosphere was tense enough to cut it with a knife… Was it a strike? Probably not. Was I mad? Probably not. Meanwhile, the only batter to actually land a base hit the first time through either team's lineup was Waite with a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd that promptly got mopped up on Adrian Reichardt's double play grounder to short. Reichardt hadn't yet murdered the Coons in this series, so we were probably due soon enough… The Coons meanwhile had to wait until the fifth inning for a Greg Borg single to get into the H column, but there was also no score through five in a pitchers' duel.

Spencer's single in the sixth only served to even the teams at two hits each, but Terry Kopp looked like he had one going in the seventh inning, hitting a deep drive to right that nevertheless ended up with Adam Braun on the track. Wasserman gave his all, fought the Titans to a standstill for seven innings, then was hit for in the top of the eighth after a 1-out Cookie single. Nothing more came of this, with Alfaro and Ramos making outs. Boston had two men on in the bottom 8th, Reichardt walking against Brotman (uh-oh …!) and Leonard reaching on an infield single (UH-OH …!), but Vince D replaced Billy against pinch-hitter Tim Robinson with two outs and got a fly out to Terry Kopp in rightfield to keep the game scoreless. Top 9th, Brent Beene in for Boston, Spencer hit a leadoff single to center. Tovias was used to bunt, because one run was probably enough, after which Beene leaked an intentional walk to hitless Jon Gonzalez and an unintentional walk to Terry Kopp, putting Greg Borg into the winner's circle with three on and one out. Since Borg was batting right-handed, he remained in that spot, but fell to one strike, two strikes, and OH IT'S THROUGH LEONARD'S LEGS!! All the way to the backstop, here comes Spencer, and it's 1-0 Coons!! FUR-BALLS!! FUR-BALLS!! The Titans got nervous, while Borg rallied to a full count, which then prompted an intentional walk to utilize a double play on Matt Nunley, who was hit for however. Otis struck out, Cookie grounded out, and it was on Synder with no cushion now, and with three left-handed batters breathing down on him. At least this made the Titans controllable? St. Germaine singled cleanly to right to begin the inning, then advanced on Herlihy's bunt and Kane's grounder to Spencer, which placed Rhett West in the box, a right-handed batter clipping it at .337 in semi-regular use. Well, there's no clamoring right now. West had to die! West wouldn't die. Jumping on a 2-2 pitch, all or nothing, he got it all, blasting a 390-footer over the leftfield fence. 2-1 Titans. Spencer 2-4; Borg 1-2, 2 BB;

(with a blank expression plays light-on, light-off, light-on, light-off at 3:20 in the morning in the hotel room)

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Alfaro – SS Jurek – P Gutierrez
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF Kuramoto – RF Braun – C T. Robinson – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – 1B St. Germaine – SS Spataro – P Rutter

Nobody else did much in the way of hitting, but Adam Braun brought in a run in each of his first two showings at the plate, homering off Rico in the first, and plating Reichardt in the third inning. Rhett West's leadoff double in the fourth led to another run as Gutierrez struggled to get even one paw on the ground in this season, let alone all four. The Coons at least finally answered in the fifth inning, with Kopp bringing in another leadoff double and then scoring on Alfaro's single to center, cutting the deficit to 3-1. But was there any saving Gutierrez at all? The bottom 5th began with Rutter at the plate, an 0-2 count, and then a sharp single into rightfield. That run, for once, didn't come around, mainly thanks to Braun smacking it into a double play after a walk to Yasuhiro Kuramoto, ending the inning, but Gutierrez still coughed up another run with Robinson's leadoff double in the bottom 6th being followed by two productive outs, enough to score the run and extend Boston's lead to 4-1. Braun would add a cosmetic solo homer against Jimmy Lee in the eighth inning, with the Raccoons completely failing to challenge old man Rutter in this game. The 37-year-old right-hander made it to the ninth inning without much trouble, and once there retired Tovias, Gonzalez, and Kopp in order. 5-1 Titans. Kopp 2-4, 2B;

I guess this sheds light on which team will make the playoffs this season… and it's not the Coons.

In other news

June 18 – Boston goes up by 20 runs before the Wolves managed even one in an eventual 23-2 clobbering. BOS CF/LF Adrian Reichardt (.291, 7 HR, 42 RBI) leads the team with four hits, including two doubles, and ties for the team lead of 4 RBI as the Titans engorge in a 7-run third and a 10-run fourth inning.
June 19 – The Titans lose swingman Alan Farrell (1-0, 2.08 ERA) to a torn rotator cuff. The 29-year-old is not expected to return in 2025.
June 20 – The Cyclones bafflingly trade SP Mike Lake (6-3, 3.10 ERA) to the Miners in the heat of a division race, receiving two prospects in return.
June 22 – 31-year-old "rookie" SAC C David Drews (.323, 11 HR, 54 RBI) sizzles with a 20-game hitting streak after landing an early single in the Scorpions' 5-3 loss to the Wolves.

Complaints and stuff

Adam Braun was named Player of the Week in the Continental League, driving another extra-long nail into my numb skull.

We are feverishly trying to find out the obvious tell that Alberto Ramos must have before he embarks on a stolen base attempt, but for the love of baseball gods, we can't find it. Maybe you can? (swivels screen around and shows a video from Friday's first inning, with Ramos on first and Spencer batting; on the 1-1 pitch, Ramos shouts "HO!" before going to second in his very best dash) We got nothing!

(Slappy, Chad in full costume, and the Druid shake heads in unison on the couch)

Saturday morning Graham Wasserman invited me for contract talks. Dear Graham, this is something you do off the back of a rousing win. So, NOT what we got on Saturday, which also saw the end of Jon Gonzalez' 21-game hitting streak amidst a sea of not-hitting, then not-closing.

Next week: Loggers, Aces. Although it doesn't really matter who we play as long as the Titans don't have their team culled by the plaque…

Fun Fact: From 2017 through 2021, the Raccoons won the season series against the Titans every year, claiming 11.0 wins on average.

Yeah, it hasn't been very rosy since. 19-42 not-very-rosy.