[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-30) vs. Loggers (36-31) – June 23-25, 2025

The Loggers were nominally not out of the picture yet despite the Titans merrily steaming ahead in the division, just like the Raccoons were entertaining a plausible scenario where they would somehow make the playoffs now at the end of June. Milwaukee, though, was roundly mediocre, ranking seventh in runs scored, seventh in starters' ERA, sixth in bullpen ERA, and eighth in runs allowed. Their run differential was a telling -13 and there was no tell as to where a sudden spark would come from on their roster, which was hitting the fewest home runs in the majors, by far, with just 28 dingers at this junction. Portland held the edge in the season series right now, 4-2 after six games contested.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (7-4, 2.64 ERA) vs. Jonathan Toner (4-5, 4.64 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (4-4, 4.57 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (6-2, 3.05 ERA)
Jack Sander (7-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (4-6, 3.29 ERA)

Three more right-handed pitchers, including Jonathan Toner, who was no longer (sings) Jonny-Jonny-Jon-ny Tooo-ner …! (cough) but was more like - … well, he still made grown men weep, but for different reasons. Where his BB/9 and K/9 had been around 2.5 and 11.5 in his hey days, they were now approaching common ground in the 5's.

Game 1
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – 3B A. Velez – C A. Baker – LF Feldmann – 2B S. Green – P Toner
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – P Roberts

The most powerless team in baseball sure enjoyed seeing Mark "Launchpad" Roberts in this series opener, with Manny Ferrer knelling his maiden dinger of the season to lead off. Fortunately, Jon Gonzalez was quick to answer, following up a Spencer double and a walk to Abel Mora in the bottom 1st with a booming 3-run shot into the top rows of the leftfield stands, with the crowd first cheering, and then suddenly moaning when they realized who was getting the business down there. Much to our chagrin, Ferrer launched another bomb leading off the third inning, giving him two dingers in two attempts after going 243 at-bats without one in 2025 and I was mumbling names for Roberts into my non-existent beard. The Loggers loaded the bases afterwards with a 4-pitch walk to Ian Coleman, a pitch into Ron Tadlock's ribs, and a 1-out single by Alberto Velez, but somehow Roberts eluded them with two strikeouts and Ryan Feldmann's grounder to short. Before anyone could exhale, the Coons had three on and nobody out in the bottom of the third inning, thanks to Spencer getting drilled, a Mora double, and Tovias also getting drilled. Jonny Toner sure knew how to gamble away permanent credit in a road ballpark…

Jonny made it through the inning (but was hit for in the fourth), albeit not without two black eyes and a gaping chest wound. Gonzalez and Kopp hit back-to-back RBI singles, and then the Coons almost ran themselves out of the inning, with Tovias being thrown out at home by Feldmann on Nunley's F7 attempt. However, the runners moved up, Cookie was walked intentionally, and Mark Roberts dunked a doozy into shallow left center that plated another pair for a 7-2 lead. Just keep Manny Ferrer away from home plate now! Ferrer singled his next time up in the fourth and was left on base, and when Roberts drilled Trevino in the fifth (that's four hit batters in this game, between the two pitchers) Tovias threw Trevino out in an attempt to nip second base. Ferrer remained unretired, walking in the seventh, the penultimate batter that Roberts faced before blowing through the 100-pitch mark and being replaced by Ricky Ohl, who struck out Tadlock to end the top 7th. By then, the Raccoons' bats had been suddenly silenced by scruffy long man Jody Loughran's three perfect innings, but at least that demon had also been hit for in the inning. The Coons went to town again on Mike Dempsey in the bottom 7th, plating three runs on as many doubles, and Jimmy Lee finished the game with two scoreless innings for Portland. 10-2 Coons! Spencer 2-4, 2B; Mora 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Kopp 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Borg (PH) 1-1; Roberts 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (8-4); Lee 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
MIL: SS Ferrer – C A. Baker – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – CF Coleman – 3B A. Velez – LF S. Green – 2B March – P Villalobos
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Alfaro – C Delgado – P Chavez

The Furballs scored first, and in the first inning, although after Ramos and Mora went to the corners with singles, Jon Gonzalez' grounder to short should have been the inning, except that Ferrer missed the pickup and everybody was safe on the error, including Ramos crossing home plate. No problemo, though, with Kopp easily picking up the slack and hitting into a 4-6-3 to Dan March instead. Portland stranded pairs in the second and third innings, with Ramos and Nunley striking out to end the innings, respectively, and in the fifth the Coons had Spencer and Mora in scoring position with one out, but Gonzalez' poor grounder and Kopp's fly to center were neither eligible to bring home a runner. None of this was much of a serious issue as long as Chavez held up, scattering four hits through five shutout innings, although he also infuriatingly at one point walked the opposing pitcher. Coleman singled in the sixth, made it to second base on a passed ball, but then was left there when Alberto Velez grounded out. A Ramos pop stranded runners on the corners in the sixth, and somehow the writing was on the wall now. Chavez was eaten up by back-to-back doubles by Dan March and Kevin Jaeger in the seventh, and all of a sudden this was a tied ballgame. Adam Baker's 2-out, 2-run homer (…!) put the Loggers in front, 3-1. The Loggers' pen coughed up a run in the bottom 8th courtesy of Nunley and Alfaro doubles off Joey Hopkins and Lisuarte Paradela, respectively, but still entered the bottom of the ninth trailing by a run and facing Brian Gilbert, who had a dubious 3.55 ERA for a closer. The top of the order was up to face the right-hander, and Ramos and Spencer hit instant singles to put the tying and winning runs on base. Mora chopped an 0-2 pitch into play, bouncer to the right side, and somehow March missed it for the third single. Bases loaded, nobody out, and Gilbert was dissolving fast right now, issuing a game-tying 4-pitch walk to Jon Gonzalez! That brought up Cookie, an injury replacement for Terry Kopp (more on that in a second), who was told to hold ****ing still, which worked until a 2-0 count, but then Gilbert and the Loggers smelled what was in the oven and threw two right down the middle. The "hold ****ing still" sign was taking off, and Cookie cracked the 2-2 up the middle, past the diving Ferrer, and the Coons walked off! 4-3 Furballs! Ramos 2-5; Spencer 2-5; Mora 3-5; Carmona 1-1, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B;

Terry Kopp was injured in the eighth inning on a defensive play that ostensibly saved multiple runs, hustling in to snag a line drive by Dan March, making a sliding, then a tumbling play to end the inning. He looked creaky right away and was pinch-hit for in the bottom 8th to begin with. No diagnosis yet. The Druid claimed that the moon was in a bad part of its cycle for medical witchcraft.

There was still a roster move on Wednesday, with Alberto Ramos (.267, 0 HR, 5 RBI) being returned to AAA. He had played for 24 days and 90 at-bats, and we were quite convinced that we had a potential Rookie of the Year on our paws, but it was too late in the season to really make a mark, and he had also cooled off recently. With Daniel Bullock waiting to be reactivated from a rehab assignment, now was a good time, and it left us some time to call Ramos back up later in the season.

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

Offense was slow to begin with, as the Loggers brought up only ten batters in the first three innings against Sander, and Prevost was facing the minimum until Sander dropped a blooper into shallow right. Spencer and Mora followed up with singles of their own then, and Sander scored for a 1-0 lead after the third inning, which ended on a K to Tovias. It was probably only fair for the opposing pitcher to get the Loggers on board then in the fifth inning, hitting a 2-out single up the middle to plate Adam Baker and get even with Portland. Sander went on to walk Ferrer to load the bases, then hit Jon Berntson to give them a 2-1 lead. Tadlock flew out to right-center to strand a full set then. This all came after the bottom 4th, where the Raccoons had runners on the corners and two outs for Bullock, who cracked a hard grounder up the middle that somehow found Dan March's glove for the third out, prompting a visibly angry Cristiano Carmona into yelling out lots of curses in Spanish, while Slappy nodded in agreement. I understood nothing, except that another good chance had been missed.

Maybe a swift comeback from the top of the fifth was possible, though. Ferrer made a ghastly throwing error on Sander's grounder to lead off the bottom 5th, putting the Coons' hurler on second base with nobody out. Spencer walked, but Mora hit into a fielder's choice that de-Jaroded the base paths and gave Tovias runners on the corners. Elias was hitless in the series; this would be a splendid spot! A walk was also fine, however, and with the bags full Jon Gonzalez found the gap between Coleman and Trevino for a 2-run double, flipping the score back Portland's way! Alfaro grounded out to first in his usual unhelpful ways, but Nunley turned an 0-2 pitch around for a 2-out, 2-run single to right, extending the lead to 5-2 before he was picked off… It didn't negatively affect the Coons' sweep ambitions though. Sander held up through seven innings, and the Raccoons added the sixth homer in both Tovias' and Alfaro's seasons, both off Joey Hopkins to extend their lead. The Loggers scored an unearned run on Billy Brotman in the ninth inning, but still went down without much noise, amassing only five base hits in the game. 7-3 Raccoons. Spencer 2-3, BB; Nunley 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Sander 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (8-2) and 1-3;

Everybody in the lineup had at least one base hit, which is always nice to have.

Not so nice to have was a broken finger, suffered by Terry Kopp, which would send him to the DL for the next two months. Well, gives Omar another chance to kickstart his Age? I don't know, trying to pick something good from these icky news.

Raccoons (43-30) @ Aces (36-35) – June 27-29, 2025

We were up 2-1 in the season series against Vegas, and like the Loggers they were mostly middling in many metrics. They were seventh in runs scored, but a nice fourth in runs allowed, although their run differential was only a +2 and also not indicative of a winning team. They had yet to recover from losing their most dangerous hitter Justin Dally for the season in early April, and last year's home run and RBI king Ron Raynor was only batting .250 with 11 dingers and 38 RBI as we were closing in on the halfway mark.

Projected matchups:
Graham Wasserman (1-6, 2.86 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (5-7, 3.51 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-5, 3.42 ERA) vs. Joel Trotter (4-6, 5.30 ERA)
Mark Roberts (8-4, 2.65 ERA) vs. Miguel Morales (7-3, 2.68 ERA)

Sam McMullen was obviously still left-handed after all those years, but the remaining two starters for them were right-handers.

With Kopp to the DL and Justin Gerace laboring on a bum shoulder, the Raccoons called up Dwayne Metts, because if you can't take a joke you shouldn't follow this team.

Game 1
POR: LF Spencer – CF Borg – C Tovias – 1B Mora – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – 2B Otis – SS Bullock – P Wasserman
LVA: SS A. Medina – 1B Retzer – LF Serrano – C J. Vargas – CF Raynor – 2B Burrier – RF Curro – 3B I. Alvarez – P S. McMullen

The routinely unlucky Wasserman shoveled himself a well-deserved grave right in the first inning, retiring the first two Aces batters before putting six straight batters on base with two outs. The Aces scored four on Danny Serrano's single, the 0-2 pitch that found Jose Vargas, Ron Raynor's RBI single, Cy Burrier's RBI single, the walk to Corey Curro, and Izzy Alvarez' 2-run single. McMullen struck out, cackling with glee. However, the Coons would clamber back into this game, and pretty soon. Daniel Bullock, of all people, hit 2-out RBI singles in both the second and fourth innings, and while Wasserman surrendered a homer to Allen Retzer in between, the Coons opened the top 5th with straight singles from the top of the order, plating Spencer already with Borg and Tovias representing the tying runs on base in a 5-3 game. Mora hit a scorcher to leftfield that was caught by Serrano nevertheless, and while Alfaro clicked an RBI single into shallow center, 5-4, Nunley hit a groundout and Otis popped out to Burrier to keep two men stranded. Unfortunately, Matt Nunley would detonate the Coons' efforts in more ways than one, making consecutive errors, a fumble and an errant throw, in the bottom 5th after a leadoff single by Danny Serrano. The Aces pulled the Coons' two runs from the top of the inning right back, yet Portland still wasn't finished off. Greg Borg hit a leadoff jack in the seventh, his first homer of the season, and the Raccoons put Tovias and Mora on base with nobody out, at least until Alfaro smacked a grounder for a double play. THAT was the fatal blow. No other Raccoon reached base anymore. 7-5 Aces. Spencer 2-5; Borg 2-5, HR, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B; Bullock 3-4, 2 RBI;

We had twice as many hits as them Aces…

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Borg – LF Carmona – SS Bullock – P Gutierrez
LVA: 1B Retzer – 2B Burrier – CF Serrano – C J. Vargas – LF Raynor – RF Curro – 3B I. Alvarez – SS A. Medina – P Trotter

The Oregonians scored first on Jon Gonzalez' leadoff jack in the second inning before embarking on more unlikely fail plays. After Rico Gutierrez reached on an uncaught third strike in the third inning, Spencer hit right into an inning-ending double play, and with Gutierrez back on the mound, Allen Retzer missed a homer to dead center by about two inches, tripling off the top of the fence with one out. Now the Aces failed; Cy Burrier flew out to Cookie, Retzer went, but was thrown out at home plate! Obviously the 1-0 lead was divine and would be enough, no need to score more; Jon Gonzalez hit into a double play in the fourth, then farted on Ron Raynor's grounder to put the Aces' leftfielder on base in the bottom 4th via an error. Problem was, that was the Aces' third runner and there was nobody out following hard singles to center by Serrano and Vargas… Curro flew to deep center, but Abel Mora made the play, however, Serrano was always going to score on that ball, tying the game at one. Rico whiffed Izzy, then got Andres Medina to pop out to strand the other two runners.

For the shockingly low number of base hits the Raccoons would amass (three as long as Gutierrez was pitching, which was seven innings), they kept hitting into an astounding number of double plays. Greg Borg found one in the fifth, and Jarod Spencer found one in the eighth. Both killed good chances proficiently. Rico was left with a no-decision, and was still 14 wins short of his 2024 tally, Trotter was done after eight, likewise unsuccessful in his bid for a victory, with Franklin Alvarado, who had sawed off the Coons' core with little effort in Friday's ninth inning, back out in the ninth inning, now in the 1-1 tie, and Mora was to lead off. He hit the first offering in the inning over Corey Curro for a leadoff double, but the Coons had squandered three leadoff batters reaching base since squandering their not-so-divine 1-0 lead, so confidence was low right now. Tovias, in a bit of a funk, struck out, and Gonzlaez was bypassed to get to Nunley in a prime double play scenario. Nunley grounded to Steve Hollingsworth, replacement at second base, but it probably wasn't due, and since Hollingsworth fumbled the ball, it was no out at all. Bases loaded, one out for Greg Borg, who hit a 1-1 pitch for a bouncer to Jose Navarro's left at shortstop, but Navarro missed it and the ball eloped into center for an RBI single. That was it, with Cookie whiffing and Otis – batting for Bullock – grounding out to Navarro after all. Snyder walked Curro in the bottom 9th, but struck out Raynor and Alvarez before Navarro popped out, evening the series. 2-1 Raccoons! Mora 2-4, 2B; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

Ricky Ohl picked up his fourth win of the season in relief here, which as you might notice, is twice Rico Gutierrez' total.

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – RF Borg – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – SS Otis – C Delgado – P Roberts
LVA: 1B Retzer – 2B Burrier – CF Serrano – LF Raynor – RF Curro – C Schoeppen – 3B J. Navarro – SS A. Medina – P M. Morales

Jon Gonzalez drove in the first run again, this time a 2-out RBI double chasing home Abel Mora in the first inning, but it took the Aces only until the second to equalize. Raynor's leadoff single, a wild walk to Corey Curro, and then a well-placed 2-out blooper by Medina produced a run before Miguel Morales was fireballed away to end the inning, which was the fourth K for Roberts in the game, and the 100th this season. Roberts was whiffing two per inning at a steady pace here, but unfortunately his pitch count was also rather steady in its skyrocketing ways, and he was near 80 pitches through four 8-K innings. At least he had the lead again; in the top of the fourth, Cookie had singled, stolen, and scored on Matt Otis' double to make it 2-1 for the brown team.

Roberts struck out only one batter in both the fifth (Retzer) and sixth (Curro), but he also reached 105 pitches while doing so, and the Coons had to get to their pen earlier than you'd like with your Opening Day man on the mound. Since Roberts led off the top 7th, there was no point in keeping him around for maybe another guy or two, and Daniel Bullock hit for him, reaching base when Navarro dropped his easy pop in fair ground. Whatever works! Morales was also removed at this point, and new pitcher Mike Espinoza got Spencer to hit one right into Medina's gaping maws for another unfortunate double play. The Coons then had to use their two best arms right in the seventh inning, because Vince D walked both Medina (then forced out by Alvarez' grounder) and Retzer, with left-hander Donovan May pinch-hitting at this point. Brotman came on, had him where he wanted him at 1-2, then still allowed a 330-foot drive to right. Greg Borg spoiled extra bases for May, and the inning ended. Brotman got the switch-hitting Serrano, who was better against right-handed pitching, to begin the bottom 8th, and Surginer K'ed Raynor and got Curro to fly out easily to Cookie Carmona, bridging the game to Snyder, who got a then unexpected insurance run via a pinch-hit 2-out RBI single by Elias Tovias in the top of the ninth, this one plating Otis against former Titan Harry Merwin. Snyder began his job by K'ing Casimiro Schoeppen, who wasn't aging well at all anymore, before Navarro flew out to center, and Medina rolled one over to Otis at second base. 3-1 Coons! Tovias (PH) 1-1, RBI; Mora 2-4; Otis 3-4, 2B, RBI; Roberts 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (9-4);

In other news

June 24 – The Gold Sox lose LF/CF Armando Martinez (.304, 9 HR, 42 RBI) for the next six weeks due to the 29-year-old suffering an oblique strain.
June 25 – LAP SP Bryan Hanson (10-4, 1.67 ERA) shines with a 2-hit shutout of the Warriors, claiming the 6-0 victory.
June 25 – The Aces look defeated as they trail 8-1 in the eighth inning, but then unspool a 7-run eighth and walk off in the tenth for a 9-8 victory over the Condors.
June 26 – Back-to-back doubles by the Scorpions' LF/RF Doug Stross (.342, 5 HR, 37 RBI) and C David Drews (.328, 11 HR, 59 RBI) end a 5:32, 19-inning affair with the Gold Sox in a 2-1 victory. The loss hands on DEN MR Rich Lester (0-2, 2.70 ERA, 1 SV) in his fourth inning of work.
June 27 – For whatever reason, the Loggers acquire CL Joe Moore (2-5, 5.67 ERA, 11 SV) from the Wolves in exchange for two prospects. The pair of youngsters includes #99 prospect 2B Rafael Padilla.
June 27 – The lead changes hands seven times in the Titans' wacko 12-inning, 14-12 win over the Thunder. BOS 1B/LF/RF Gil Cornejo (.267, 1 HR, 7 RBI) leads all players with four RBI, while OCT OF Dave Garcia (.310, 16 HR, 53 RBI) chips in five base hits and two RBI.
June 28 – The Wolves acquire C Matt Wittner (.354, 6 HR, 32 RBI) from the Capitals in exchange for INF/LF Travis Givens (.283, 2 HR, 15 RBI) and #99 prospect 2B Rafael Padilla.
June 29 – Catchers don't hit for the cycle all too often, but Dallas' Josh Wool (.300, 2 HR, 35 RBI) now has done it! The 29-year-old ticks off all the requirements in just four trips to the plate in the Stars' 8-5 win over the Cyclones. This is the 73rd cycle in ABL history, and the league-leading eighth for the Stars.

Complaints and stuff

That is five wins this week! Hooray! We still didn't gain any ground on the Titans…

Jonny Toner will one day retire with five strikeout crowns; that is a fact, because he already has as many and won't get any more. Will he make it to 3,000 K? If he continues at his whiff production of the last few years, he'd have to pitch until he's 46 … Will he still make the Hall of Fame? Well, how much value do you ascribe to four Pitcher of the Year awards and two triple crowns?

…and already we're encroaching on the All Star Game. We won't have an off day anymore until the event, playing another 14 straight against the Condors (on the road), and then on a homestand against the Indians, Elks (who are our four-and-four foes), and Crusaders.

Fun Fact: The following catchers had previously hit for the cycle: Lance Branch (1997), Felix Hernandez (2000), Jose Paraz (2004), and Jason Clark (2006);

In all of those games, either the Miners or the Thunder were on the receiving ends.

And yes, it is still unbearable here. Next year I will definitely spend the summer on the Faroe Islands.