[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-40) @ Loggers (44-47) – July 22-24, 2025

The Raccoons were mostly out of it by now, the Loggers had been for some time; it was another sad late-July series in Milwaukee. The Loggers sat tenth in runs scored in the CL, and their seventh rank in runs allowed didn't exactly propel them forwards. The season series stood at 7-2 in the Coons' favor, which put them two wins away from not losing the season series to the Loggers for 12 years in a row.

Projected matchups:
Jack Sander (8-5, 3.30 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (4-8, 3.45 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (6-4, 3.98 ERA) vs. Vincent Alfaro (7-8, 3.11 ERA)
Mark Roberts (10-5, 2.77 ERA) vs. Jonathan Toner (6-7, 4.93 ERA)

Maybe saddest of all in this series would be Jonny Toner again, winner of two straight games (both over the Crusaders) and still a hopeless wreck. He beat New York his last time out in an 8-1 rush, while walking NINE batters. No Raccoons starter has ever walked nine batters in a game. Before that, however, he pitched a complete game before the All Star Game on five hits, two runs, three walks, and six strikeouts. This would be his fourth appearance against Portland this season; he was 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA against the Coons.

All their starters were scheduled to be right-handers.

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

Two Raccoons hit into a double play in the first inning; Elias Tovias did so to end the top 1st, while former Raccoons centerfielder Josh Stevenson hit into a double play in the bottom 1st to clean up Sander's leadoff walk to Manny Ferrer. There was some more early ineptitude, like Jon Gonzalez hitting a leadoff double in the second and being stranded, but the abyss opened only in the third inning, which Jack Sander used to not only walk the bases loaded with one out, but then walked Stevenson with the bases loaded, conceded two on Ron Tadlock's single to left, and after Willie Trevino grounded into a force at second base, walked Ian Coleman to reload the sacks. Alberto Velez dropped a single in front of the onrushing Alfaro, who came too late as another two runs scored, and somehow Ivan Flores swung over a 1-2 pitch in the dirt to finally end the dismal inning that put the Raccoons into a 5-0 hole they were not likely to emerge from. Sander definitely didn't, leaving the game in the fourth inning with an injury after Elias Tovias had knocked a 2-run homer in the top of the fourth, and after a leadoff single by Adam Baker in the inning. Kevin Surginer and Daniel Bullock came on in a double switch that would not give the Coons much relief. Prevost's bunt was fielded for an error by Nunley, Manny Ferrer hit a 2-run double up the line in leftfield, and Stevenson singled through the clumsy Bullock. Nobody out! The Loggers would score three runs in this inning, then further down the road scored three runs on Jimmy Lee between the sixth and seventh innings, including a 2-piece by Trevino in the sixth. The Raccoons scored some stray runs throughout the massacre, with Jarod Spencer involved in most of them, but they never came close to challenging again in a real thrashing. 11-5 Loggers. Spencer 3-5, 2B, RBI; Mora 1-2, BB; Tovias 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Otis (PH) 1-1; Delgado (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Somehow, we stole four bases in this game, and it didn't really help us get anywhere…

The Druid came back the next day reporting that Jack Sander had strained an oblique and would probably miss his next start, but no any more. Which was surprising given that I had already tied him a noose after walking six and allowing as many runs in 3+ innings.

We had another off day next Monday, but of course Sander's next turn would be Sunday. Somehow we had to sneak a spot starter onto the roster or send Chavez on short rest on Sunday. And Chavez was not a pleasure on regular rest to begin with.

Speaking of Chavez…

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF O. Alfaro – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – P Chavez
MIL: SS Ferrer – RF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – CF Coleman – 3B A. Velez – 2B March – C A. Baker – P V. Alfaro

Spencer walked, stole second, and scored in the opening half-inning, singled home by Jon Gonzalez with two outs; Gonzalez notched his 46th RBI in this spot, fervently trying to defend his team lead from the relentlessly challenging Abel Mora, and no, there was no sarcasm involved here AT ALL. Tim Stalker extended the lead to 2-0 with a homer in the second inning, but Chavez blew it all in the bottom 2nd without much effort on Trevino's leadoff double and Alberto Velez' RBI single getting the Loggers halfway – which was something that could happen any given run through the lineup – then allowed 2-out singles to Adam Baker and, more infuriatingly, Vincent Alfaro for the tied score, 2-2, which drove me up the wall again.

Nothing major happened in the next few innings, although while the Raccoons were rightfully anemic and could hardly get the ball out of the infield, the Loggers did hit some deep flies, although without exception to an outfielder until the sixth inning when Velez tripled to deepest centerfield, but that was with two outs and Mora had no trouble with Dan March's easy fly to end the inning, still in a 2-2 tie. The Coons didn't see scoring position again until the eighth, in which Spencer reached on an error, Gonzalez doubled, but Alfaro stranded them by grounding out to short. Chavez completed eight innings to at least receive a no-decision (but got his pitch count over 100, making a short-rest start on Sunday the more unlikely), but the Coons - … no, the Loggers manufactured a chance for giving Chavez the win in the top of the ninth as ex-Coon Joe Moore hit Stalker with one out in the ninth, Baker was charged with a passed ball, and they walked the struggling Cookie to put another guy aboard. Otis grounded out to Tadlock in Chavez' spot, Spencer grounded out to short, and the Coons left runners on second and third for the second straight inning. Justin Hess got the game into extras by retiring the Loggers in order in the bottom 9th.

Moore was still at it in the 10th, allowing leadoff singles up the middle to Mora and Tovias. Jon Gonzalez seemed to be warming up recently, except for the power department. He had in fact not hit a dinger in three weeks, and this would be a wonderful spot. He fouled out behind home plate, Alfaro grounded out, and Moore lost Nunley in a full count to load them up, shifting responsibility to right-hander Brian Gilbert against Stalker, who cracked a single through the left side to break the deadlock. Only one run scored, with Tovias being held in deference to his non-speed, Trevino's arm, and the favorable matchup with Cookie, who nevertheless flew out to Stevenson in centerfield. Fortunately, the Loggers went down in order against Snyder, who got Baker to ground out to short, then whiffed Flores and Ferrer. 3-2 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Stalker 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Chavez 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

The Loggers whirled up their rotation after this one and evacuated Toner from the Thursday game. Instead, the Raccoons would see left-hander Jody Loughran (0-2, 5.14 ERA).

Game 3
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – SS Stalker – RF Borg – 3B Nunley – C Delgado – P Roberts
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Coleman – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – C A. Baker – 3B A. Velez – 2B Stevenson – LF Berntson – P Loughran

Spencer scored again in the first, albeit aided by Loughran's balk that moved him to third base ahead of Abel Mora's groundout to Stevenson, who still looked weirdly misplaced at the keystone. Like on Wednesday, the Coons got a second run in the second inning, this time Nunley plating Stalker with a sac fly. Mark Roberts had two men on base in the bottom 2nd, but pulled through that with Jon Berntson's fly to Borg to end the inning, and lined up a few zeroes on the board to begin his day's work. But through five innings the Coons also only had two base hits, so they weren't exactly pounding Loughran. The sixth began with Spencer reaching on an error by Berntson, then an Otis single to right, sending Spencer to third base. Mora hit a neat drive to deep left, but Berntson had that one secured, although Spencer still scored on the play to make it 3-0. The big blow didn't come until the following inning though, when Greg Borg hit a leadoff single, stole second (to go 9-for-9 this year), then was cashed in regardless by a long Nunley homer to right, 5-0. None of this could however push Roberts to a complete-game shutout, because while he was still nursing a 3-hitter, his pitch count stood at 88 through only six frames. Never mind that he didn't get through the seventh at all. Baker singled, Stevenson walked, Ivan Flores was drilled, and with the bases loaded and two outs, Roberts lost Ferrer on four pitches en route to the showers. Billy Brotman replaced him, couldn't handle Ian Coleman's left-handed bat and surrendered another two runs on a sharp single along the rightfield line before Ron Tadlock flew out to Mora.

At least the Coons found an immediate answer; Otis got on base to lead off the eighth against Gilbert, but got forced by Mora, although that also added speed to score from first base on Gonzalez' double into the rightfield corner, extending the lead again to 6-3. Stalker was a walker, and both runners scored on Nunley's raging double that reached the rightfield corner on the fly with two down, negating the Loggers' 3-spot from the bottom of the previous inning. Another run was added in the ninth on singles by Cookie and Spencer, then Otis' sac fly. 9-3 Raccoons. Spencer 2-5, 2B; Otis 2-3, BB, RBI; Nunley 2-3, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Roberts 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (11-5);

Raccoons (56-41) @ Thunder (49-47) – July 25-27, 2025

The Thunder were fourth in the South, so two positions worse than the Coons, but were in fact much closer to the playoffs to the Raccoons, sitting six games out compared to the Coons' 8 1/2. Not that the Thunder had a convincing playoff case; while their offense was second only to the Titans' in the Continental League, their pitching was porous, with a bottom-three rotation and a mediocre bullpen, together allowing the fourth-most runs. They did however have an edge over the Coons in '25, holding a 2-1 lead after the first series this year.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (4-6, 3.48 ERA) vs. J.J. Menendez (5-8, 4.19 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (3-8, 3.32 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (11-6, 3.86 ERA)
TBD vs. Max Nelson (6-5, 3.44 ERA)

Our "TBD" is more likely than not Lance Legleiter (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who will not make his scheduled start in AAA on Saturday. All the Thunder starters here are right-handers, making us miss their pair of southpaws.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – P Gutierrez
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – LF Dobbs – CF D. Garcia – 2B Ts'ai – RF Sagredo – C Kubesh – 1B F. Larios – P J.J. Menendez

A walk to Alex Serrato, Brett Dobbs' double, and Zhang-ze Ts'ai's single put Rico Gutierrez in a quick 2-0 hole in the opener, while the Coons engorged themselves only on double plays early on. They had five base hits in the first four innings, all singles, and never reached third base, while Tovias and Nunley were each charged with a double play. Gutierrez got better, but not great, after the rocky start, allowed a run in the fourth, but wasn't routed from the game at least. The Coons' prospects were bleak through five, but they found a way into J.J. Menendez in the sixth inning, with Spencer hitting a leadoff single, getting forced out by Mora, but with two outs Jon Gonzalez homered to right-center, breaking that power drought, and hopefully for good, with his 10th (…) homer of the season, getting the team back to 3-2. Alfaro hit a single after that, but Nunley's drive to deep left was intercepted by Brett Dobbs. Gutierrez was hit for in the seventh inning with Tim Stalker the tying run on second base and one out, but Menendez got Otis to ground out and Spencer to lift one out softly to Dobbs to kill the threat. On to the ninth then, with the score still the same after Ohl and Lee had held on for Portland while the Thunder had used a bevy of relievers in the seventh and eighth before sending in right-hander Jesus Lopez for the ninth, who had a 2.40 ERA and no saves on the season. He was unlikely to get one, given that Omar Alfaro hit a leadoff triple, placing the tying run 90 feet away! Lopez lost Nunley on balls, then with Delgado batting for Stalker threw a wild pitch to get the teams even and place the go-ahead run in scoring position, but there he remained as Delgado whiffed and Cookie and Greg Borg both flew out softly. Gutierrez was spared the loss, which instead hung on Kevin Surginer in the bottom of the inning when Kevin surrendered a leadoff, walkoff jack to Dave Garcia, who his 19th bomb of the season to walk off his team. 4-3 Thunder. Mora 2-4; Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Alfaro 2-4, 3B;

That was Menendez' last outing with the Thunder, who traded him away before the next game, picking up graying 1B Mike Rucker from the Pacifics. Rucker, 38 years old and most well-known for being an all-or-nothing slugger with the Indians, had been batting .271 with five homers in limited action for L.A. so far. For his career, Rucker had 322 homers to go with a .254 average and 1,087 RBI.

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Borg – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – SS Bullock – P Wasserman
OCT: 1B M. Rucker – SS Serrato – C Pizzo – CF D. Garcia – RF Sagredo – 3B Flournoy – LF de Santiago – 2B Ts'ai – P Palomares

In a game properly moisted by an on-and-off drizzle, Wasserman got rushed even harder in the middle game of the series, surrendering base hits to all of the first four batters, culminating in a 3-run homer by Garcia. Dave Flournoy doubled with one out in the bottom 1st, and the Coons walked Ts'ai intentionally with two outs in the inning, only for Wasserman to lose Palomares on four pitches. Alfaro contained a Rucker fly with the bases loaded to finally end the miserable inning. Base hits by Mike Pizzo and Luis Sagredo in the second were answered by Flournoy with a 3-run homer to left-center, and Wasserman found himself on the way to the showers after that, surrendering seven earned runs in just 1.2 innings. That was pretty much the story of this game, with Palomares surrendering only a few scattered singles in his outing, while the Coons had to resort to much-abused Kevin Surginer for long relief again. Surginer loaded them up in the fourth, with ex-Logger Carlos de Santiago contributing a 2-out, 2-run single to run the tally to 9-0. Alfaro drove in a 2-out run in the sixth inning, plating Greg Borg with a single, but that didn't exactly get the Thunder to break a sweat for Palomares. De Santiago pulled that rally run back with a leadoff jack off Justin Hess in the bottom 7th, and the Coons put Ts'ai on third base with two errors after that. Vince D, who had replaced Hess, made an error on Ts'ai's grounder, and when Ts'ai tried to nip second base with a 9-run lead, Tovias' throw was wild and went into centerfield. Mike Rucker singled in that run, which was thoroughly unearned and had Ts'ai on the shortlist for a beanball on Sunday. The Thunder had Palomares go all the way in this game, and he completed the contest on 115 pitches, but not without blowing the Thunder's double-digit lead. Well, they still won by nine, but Daniel Bullock's 2-out single in the ninth chased home Gonzalez to REALLY make it close once more. Dustin Jurek then struck out, with the tying run just having lined up about two blocks from home plate. 11-2 Thunder. Gonzalez 2-4; Mora (PH) 1-1;

This gruesome loss knocked the Coons into a double-digit value in terms of games back relative to the Titans. They had probably already been killed off by the Elks the previous week…

We made a roster move for the Sunday game to get spot starter Lance Legleiter onto the roster. Greg Borg was sent to AAA; he was an odd choice, but also the only player that a) had an option, AND b) had already used the option this season. Borg would be back soon, but daddy needed a starter right now…

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – P Legleiter
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – LF Branch – CF D. Garcia – RF Sagredo – C Pizzo – 1B M. Rucker – 2B Ts'ai – P Nelson

Dave Garcia never came to the plate in the game, breaking his foot on a jumping catch on Matt Nunley's 2-out drive in the first inning. Frank Larios replaced him. The Raccoons still broke out in the second inning, piling a 4-spot on "Doppler" Nelson, who allowed a single to Alfaro, nicked Stalker, but didn't bleed until with two outs. Spencer hit an RBI double to right, and Abel Mora conquered the fence for a 3-piece to re-tie Jon Gonzalez for the team RBI lead with 49. The Thunder went down in order in the first against Legleiter, had a Sagredo single in the second, and had Nelson with a single and Rivera getting plunked in the third inning, but after Alex Serrato flew out to Alfaro, Ezra Branch smacked into a double play to keep them off the board against the short-staminaed Legleiter, who needed 48 pitches through three. Bottom 5th, Ts'ai drew a 1-out walk, followed by Legleiter throwing a wild pitch. That took the bunt off Nelson, who instead singled over Stalker's head to put runners on the corners. Rivera's grounder to Nunley was the second out, but Ts'ai scored, ending Legleiter's string of 10.1 scoreless innings to begin a Coons career. Serrato grounded out to Spencer, keeping it at 4-1 through five, with Legleiter over 80 pitches, which didn't bode well for a team that had to find 6.1 innings in their pen the previous day. At least Monday was a day off…

Legleiter got one more out, although he could have maybe gotten through the sixth inning if not for Alfaro dropping a Branch fly for an error to begin the frame. Larios flew out to center, but that brought up three left-handed bats against a tiring righty, so Brotman came on and notched a double play from Luis Sagredo to dissolve the threat, then hung around to pitch all of the seventh, ultimately logging five outs on just nine pitches before being hit for in the top 8th. This put the Coons, still up 4-1 after a Cookie single and Spencer double play in the eighth, in a position to finish the game with two relatively rested relievers in Ohl and Snyder without bothering the parched part of the pen again. Ricky Ohl did his part well in the bottom 8th, retiring John Kubesh on a fly to left, Lorenzo Rivera on a grounder to short, and Alex Serrato on strikes. Snyder came on for the ninth although the save opportunity had been taken off in the meantime when Elias Tovias hit a solo shot off Mike Tandy in the top of the ninth. Branch grounded out, but Snyder lost Larios in a full count. Sagredo singled through on the right side, with Larios making for third base, being greeted by a deadly laser throw by Omar Alfaro that allowed Nunley to tag him out in a game of inches. That one killed the Thunder for good, with de Santiago pinch-hitting for a flyout to Cookie to end the game. 5-1 Coons. Spencer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mora 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Tovias 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Nunley 3-5; Alfaro 2-5; Legleiter 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (1-0); Brotman 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

We out-hit them 13-4 in this game, but it still remained somewhat close until the end there…

In other news

July 22 – CHA SP Doug Moffatt (7-9, 3.74 ERA) 1-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 win, whiffing a staggering 14 batters, including every batter in the San Francisco starting lineup at least once. A second-inning single by San Fran's Roger Allen (.219, 4 HR, 27 RBI) is everything that separates Moffatt from a no-hitter.
July 24 – PIT 1B/OF Bruce Tomlinson (.260, 1 HR, 26 RBI) goes to the DL with a broken wrist, unlikely to return before September.
July 25 – No-hitter! Richmond's SP Todd Wood (7-9, 4.06 ERA) holds the Gold Sox hitless in an 8-0 Rebels win while whiffing six and spilling five bases on balls. The 28-year-old Wood, who missed all of 2023 with injuries and went 10-14 last season, spins the 49th no-hitter in ABL history, and the second in Rebels lore after Roger Weaver's 1984 gem over the Capitals. It is also the first time the Gold Sox are involved on any side of a no-hitter.
July 25 – The Canadiens trade OF/1B Elijah Luckett (.267, 1 HR, 25 RBI) to the Wolves for RF/LF Justin Jenkins (3-for-7, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and a prospect.
July 26 – The Bayhawks acquire Sacramento's C Jaiden Jackson (.303, 6 HR, 30 RBI) for an AAA pitcher and #17 prospect INF Tim Stackhouse.
July 26 – Back stiffness puts SFW C Mike Thompson (.225, 11 HR, 58 RBI) on the DL for the next two weeks.

Complaints and stuff

Dave Garcia had featured in all but two of the Thunder's games this season, but left the ballpark on Sunday with one of those funny boots and on crutches and would probably miss most of August with a broken foot. There is so much Neil Reece to this guy, it's staggering. Will he get into the Hall of Fame? Neil Reece managed on under 2,000 base hits, and Garcia is at 1,587 right now, but overall has been a more elite batter even, with a career .297/.363/.503 slash, 228 HR and 838 RBI. And he is only 30 years old! But without the injuries, the CONSTANT injuries, Garcia could really have been the key position player of his generation. As it stands right now, he is a 9-time All Star, 2-time Player of the Year, and has a batting title and a Gold Glove, too, which is plenty of silverware.

Yeah, it was the Elks series last week that prevented me from shuffling Alberto Ramos for rentals in a vain attempt at catching the uncatchable Titans, which was just as well because we certainly didn't perform like a playoff team this week, either. I half-heartedly tried to find a rental shortstop at the start of the week, but that led nowhere, and by now there is no point in trading up anymore.

There is also no real point in trading down because the overall package isn't terrible. If we could just have gotten the offense to break out earlier. Our power numbers are shocking. And the offense was dead-last for two months, which killed us probably more than losing three of four in Vancouver at a random point of the season, and let's face it, the Coons drop three in a set in Vancouver pretty much every year. It's what they do in Elktown. No point in blaming the Elks specifically for this year's general disappointment, because the team was already in arrears due to the accumulated badness of the first two months.

Better luck next year? Who knows. The core crew will still be around for a while. The only key free agents are Wasserman, who will not be missed after his paw in Saturday's blowout, and Matt Nunley, who can probably convinced that there is more food in Portland than anywhere else and that he should stay around for a decent, but not luxurious salary. It's not like Mike Grigsby is going to lead us to the playoffs any time soon.

Also free agents: Otis, Delgado, Lee, Hess; none of them are likely to be showered with coins for another season.

This week Dan Delgadillo (who you may or may not remember) started a rehab assignment in AAA to see what was left of that arm.

Fun Fact: The Loggers, who are behind in the season series to the Raccoons 9-3 after Thursday's 9-3 rubber game, have not won a season series against the Raccoons since Cookie Carmona's sophomore season and Matt Nunley's September cup of coffee in 2013.

For Nunley, that cup of coffee led into his ROTY season in '14 when he batted .285/.355/.419 with 8 HR and 53 RBI in 146 games. He beat the .774 OPS only twice since then, but he remains a regular 3 to 4 WAR player by other means. In fact, ignoring this season and his '13 cup of coffee, Nunley has been worth at least 2.9 WAR in every season except 2019, when injuries limited him to 107 games and 1.7 WAR. He has almost always been glove-first, but for his career he is still an above-average batter, too, with a .729 career OPS and 106 career OPS+, even though he has not reached either mark in four years.

Nunley is now 34. Depending on how he holds up, he could manufacture a Hall of Fame case fringe enough to survive on the ballot for a few years. The bare minimum for that might be to reach at least 2,000 base hits. He sits at 1,737 right now. Yeah, I know, the Hall of Fame is full of glove-first third baseman…