[Westheim]

Raccoons (69-56) @ Loggers (57-65) – August 26-28, 2025

The Loggers were 21 games out, which was not an uncommon feeling for them. Eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed, their mix had been consistently crummy, and their rotation was even the second-worst in the Continental League. The Coons also held a 9-3 lead in the season series over them, although that had not helped them a lot in Indy the previous weekend.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (16-5, 2.46 ERA) vs. Vincent Alfaro (10-9, 2.93 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Jonathan Toner (7-11, 5.59 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (7-6, 3.03 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (9-6, 3.31 ERA)

After an off day on Monday, three right-handers, including one particularly sad example of how nothing beautiful can exist in the world, ever.

There were also a few injuries on the Loggers that were worth talking about. They had just placed SP Ian Prevost (9-10, 3.93 ERA) on the DL with a torn labrum and expected him to miss a good chunk of the 2026 season. Also, Jon Berntson and most importantly Ian Coleman (.274, 3 HR, 42 RBI) were on the DL, in Coleman's case the second time this year.

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

Both teams had only one base hit in the first three innings, and Roberts picked up the Coons', so we were yet waiting for somebody else than Justin Gerace to drive in a run… Abel Mora hit a leadoff single in the fourth, stole second base, and was generally ignored, while Matt Nunley not only struck out in the inning, but also began the bottom 4th with an error that put former Raccoon Josh Stevenson on base. To be fair, Nunley also started the double play on Willie Trevino to clean up afterwards, but he was making a dash for 20 errors at this point.

When Roberts hit a single over Manny Ferrer's glove to begin the sixth inning, it was his second hit on the day, one more than he had conceded to the Loggers, and also one more than the rest of the team had scratched out combined. And the rest of said team kept sucking the fun out of the game (and Roberts' winning streak), as Spencer flew out to Trevino, Mora struck out, and Nunley rolled one over to Ron Tadlock. The Loggers broke through in the bottom 6th, which saw Roberts shove a pitch into Manny Ferrer, who left the game with a badly bruised thigh, and was run for by Dan March. Stevenson sunk a drive in the gap for an RBI double, and that was the first run in the game, and probably the only one… Roberts lasted seven and was hit for in the top 8th after Stalker hit a leadoff single to left, an inning after Jon Gonzalez had hit a leadoff single to no great results. Same here; after Otis struck out, Spencer grounded into a fielder's choice, and Mora rolled over to Tadlock, Roberts' winning streak was officially over. There was one more chance to avoid blowing through a hole altogether in this game, coming against ex-Coon Joe Moore and his 3.88 ERA in the ninth, still down by one and with the middle of the order due up. Nunley and Gonzalez made pathetic outs before Elias Tovias doubled to rightfield. Alright, here comes "Danger" Gerace! And he struck out. 1-0 Loggers. Roberts 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L (16-6) and 2-2, 2B;

This team smells…

Hey, maybe Jonny Toner can pitch a second no-hitter against them! Wouldn't that be awesome?

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – RF Carmona – SS Stalker – P Delgadillo
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – 3B A. Velez – C A. Baker – 2B I. Flores – RF Feldmann – P Toner

No no-no for Jonny the Man, who got taken deep by Abel Mora right in the first inning for a quick 1-0 Portland lead. No joy though, because Ron Tadlock pulled the run back with a homer of his own in the bottom of the inning and both pitchers looked like after a pitchers' duel on Tuesday, we could well be in for a double drubbing on Wednesday. Control seemed like Jonny Toner's biggest problem, but thankfully Jon Gonzalez was around in the third inning to hit into an inning-ending double play just after Toner had lost Mora and Tovias on balls without coming particularly close.

The fourth inning was a rather sad one. Nunley drew another walk leading off, with Gerace popping out to Ryan Feldmann in shallow right. Cookie hit a ball into the gap in right-center for a double, but also pulled up lame and had to leave the game, with Greg Borg taking over. Stalker was walked onto the open base with one out, as the Loggers counted on Toner getting Delgadillo on strikes. Well, he got to 1-2, but then threw a wild pitch that plated Nunley with the go-ahead run. Delgadillo struck out after all, but Jarod Spencer dropped a single into shallow right center for a 2-out, 2-run single, extending the lead to 4-1 before Mora flew out to left. Toner wound up with five runs allowed in five innings after the Coons tacked on a counter in the top of the fifth, where Gonzalez doubled and was singled home with two outs by Justin Gerace, who with the Cookie injury looked like having notched a starting spot for the rest of the year… Thad bad apple!

Both teams added a run in the sixth with some extra base prowess, Mora driving in the Coons' run against right-hander Philip Rogers, and Delgadillo kept feeling his way deeper into the game. He allowed singles to both Ivan Flores and Ryan Feldmann in the bottom 7th, but struck out pinch-hitter Alexis Rueda and got Manny Ferrer to ground out to Nunley to get out of that inning. He started the eighth as well, then with a 7-2 lead after Stalker singled, stole second, and scored on Spencer's sac fly in the top of the inning. This time, consecutive 1-out singles knocked Yusneldan from the game; Tadlock hit a soft one between Stalker and Nunley, but Trevino hit a hard liner into shallow center, signaling that perhaps the time for some good relief had come. Billy Brotman entered to turn switch-hitting Alberto Velez onto his weaker side, then still surrendered a raging 2-run double. Vince D replaced him and got outs from Adam Baker and Flores, narrowly keeping Velez aboard and Brotman's 0.00 ERA for going on 30 consecutive games alive. The Coons, who stranded runners on the corners in the top 9th when Stevenson made an amazing catch on Stalker in the depths of centerfield, went to Snyder by default for the ninth inning, where the Loggers produced three soft outs in just four pitches. 7-4 Coons. Spencer 2-4, 3 RBI; Mora 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Gerace 2-4, BB, RBI; Carmona 2-2, 2B;

No diagnosis on Cookie was immediately available, leaving the Raccoons with three-and-a-half outfielders in Mora, Gerace, Borg, and Spencer.

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – RF Borg – SS Bullock – P Gutierrez
MIL: SS Ferrer – CF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – C A. Baker – 3B A. Velez – RF Feldmann – 2B I. Flores – P Villalobos

The Coons' 2-3-4 batters hit straight singles to load the bases in the first inning, bringing up Nunley in an early money spot, which Matt solved cleverly by working out a full-count walk to push home a run. Gerace grounded out to plate a second run, after which Villalobos struck Greg Borg in the paw to reload the bases and also cast the Raccoons deeper into their shortpawedness. The Druid found out that Borg failed to claw into a piece of pie at first base and advocated his removal from the game for evaluation, causing an early shuffle – Gerace to right, Spencer to left, and Otis in at the keystone. That left a shortstop and two catchers on the bench, but I was sure everything would be fine… For now, Rico came to the plate before he ever stepped on the mound thanks to Bullock's 2-run single up the middle, with Rico going down on strikes before grapping a ball with a 4-0 lead. Rico faced a lineup where nobody would face him from the left side, but held up without allowing a run before the Coons knocked out Villalobos in the fourth inning. They had extended the lead to 5-0 in the third, Gerace scoring Gonzalez with a sac fly then, and got to 6-0 in the fourth when Spencer singled, stole second, and soon scored on Mora's single. Alberto Velez would get the Loggers on the board in the fifth inning, knocking a leadoff jack off Rico, who was otherwise mostly unmolested and went eight inning on 107 pitches and only four hits allowed, one of those an infield single by elderly Ryan Feldmann and another one a knock by Villalobos early on… But wouldn't you know, the Coons came close to ****ing up anyway. Entering the ninth inning with a 6-1 lead, the Coons put in Jimmy Lee, who retired absolutely nobody, walked Josh Stevenson, threw a wild pitch, allowed an RBI double to Ron Tadlock, and then walked Willie Trevino. Snyder to the rescue, please! He certainly appeared...; Adam Baker hit a booming 2-run double to left, bringing up the tying run with nobody out, with Alberto Velez flying out to right. Synder lost Feldmann to a walk, then got a bouncer back to the mound from Ivan Flores. Snyder zipped to second, Bullock to first, game over, narrowly… 6-4 Furballs. Spencer 2-5; Mora 3-5, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5; Nunley 3-4, BB, RBI; Gutierrez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-6) and 1-4, 2B;

At the rate they are dropping at right now, what are the odds on us seeing Colombian Yeshiva Rambam alumnus Juan Magallanes on Monday?

Raccoons (71-57) vs. Condors (69-58) – August 29-31, 2025

Oh what a difference a division makes! The Condors' record was vaguely similar to the Coons', but they led their division while the Coons were out by almost double digits, trailing the Titans by 9 1/2 games at this point. Also, you know, they were out of outfielders. Tijuana sat fifth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, which didn't scream out PLAYOFFS exactly, but they were in first place alright… The season series was tied at three games each.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (6-7, 3.88 ERA) vs. Andrew Gudeman (12-6, 4.12 ERA)
Jack Sander (9-9, 3.92 ERA) vs. George Griffin (12-8, 3.76 ERA)
Mark Roberts (16-6, 2.41 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (7-7, 3.82 ERA)

Southpaw expected for Sunday.

Also, if there was one team with more injury problems to position players than the Coons (who were without Greg Borg at least for the weekend, and had Cookie in limbo still) right now, it was probably the Condors. They had six players on the DL, all of them position players, including regulars Mike Bednarski, Mike Matias, and Nick Hatley. Also, INF Bob Rojas had a sore shoulder, but was trying to play through it, being listed as day-to-day.

Game 1
TIJ: 3B B. Rojas – LF W. Ramos – SS Sanks – 1B McGrath – RF O. Larios – C Zarate – CF Betancourt – 2B E. Munoz – P Gudeman
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Gerace – SS Stalker – C Delgado – P Chavez

A four-pitch walk drawn by Shane Sanks represented the only base runner in the early innings, with Andrew Gudeman being perfect the first time through, whiffing five Critters in the process. Willie Ramos would draw a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, but pops over the infield by both Sanks and Kevin McGrath served to keep him on base even after Chavez threw a pitch over Delgado's head, with Omar Larios grounding out to Gonzalez to end the inning. Bottom 4th, the Raccoons got on base, actually. Spencer started with a K, but Otis then drew a walk from Gudeman, and Abel Mora hit a liner into the rightfield corner for a double, giving Jon Gonzalez a prime RBI opportunity. Gonzalez chased Larios to the wall with a long drive, but Larios made the catch. It was still enough to get Otis home with a sac fly, after which Nunley struck out, the seventh victim for Gudeman in this game. That left only one pitcher with an active no-hitter in the game, with Chavez retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings. That brought up Sanks again, and he drew another walk in a full count to begin the seventh inning. Chavez' pitch count was up there at 86 with nine outs left to collect, and the lead was most flimsy thanks to the Coons doing their royal best to strike out against Gudeman. Omar Larios ended shenanigans with a 1-out single to left, after which Chavez rung up Danny Zarate. Weirdly, with two on and two out, the Coons had Billy Brotman ready to intervene against the left-handers coming up, but the Condors sent a right-hander to pinch-hit now in Pat Sanford. That left Chavez in the game. Sanford grounded out to short, and the 1-0 lead stood through seven. Brotman struck out the side in the eighth instead, bringing up the Coons in the bottom 8th against Gudeman on 8 K. Brett O'Dell pinch-hit for Brotman to begin the inning, singling up the middle. Spencer singled to left, and Otis singled to right, loading the bases with nobody out. The Condors wound up collapsing completely from there, allowing between Gudeman and right-hander Sam Lowery two straight RBI singles to Mora and Gonzalez, a bases-loaded walk to Nunley, and after Gerace struck out, a long, high, and pretty one to right-center to Tim Stalker. GRAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! 8-0 Raccoons. Spencer 2-4; Mora 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Stalker 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; O'Dell (PH) 1-2; Chavez 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-7);

By Saturday we finally found out that Cookie Carmona had a torn hip flexor tendon, which was likely to put him out of his misery for the season. He was placed on the DL the same day. The Coons hurried up OF Devin Mansfield, who had already had two incredibly small cups of coffee with Portland in the last two seasons. The 25-year-old had amounted to 23 total at-bats and a .174/.208/.174 slash with no homers or RBI.

Game 2
TIJ: 3B B. Rojas – LF W. Ramos – SS Sanks – 1B McGrath – RF O. Larios – C Zarate – CF Denzler – 2B E. Munoz – P Griffin
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – SS Stalker – RF Mansfield – P Sander

Griffin retired the first seven Critters that dared to show up before allowing a single to Mansfield in the latter's season debut. Nothing came of that, while the Condors already held a 1-0 lead thanks to base hits by Kevin McGrath and Joel Denzler in the second inning. The Raccoons would get even with a pair of 2-out doubles by Gonzalez and Nunley in the fourth inning, with Gerace striking out afterwards. Both teams ultimately had one run and four hits through five innings, but more was to come. Sander was not exactly excelling and not fooling anybody. Shane Sanks hit a 2-out single to rightfield in the sixth inning, bringing up McGrath, who exploited a mistake down the middle for a 2-run blast to leftfield, putting the Condors up 3-1. Sander allowed Larios to reach on a walk after that, a base hit to Zarate, then was recycled for a fresh face. Justin Hess whiffed Denzler, ending the inning, but then was abused by more left-handed batters, including a walk drawn by Griffin, in the seventh inning. Vince D entered with the bags full and one out, and again a shortstop hit a grand slam, but this time it was Shane Sanks and that game was more or less in the books at that point, especially since the Raccoons put only one more batter on base in the last three innings, and that one got wiped out in a double play… 7-1 Condors. Nunley 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 3
TIJ: 3B B. Rojas – C Zarate – SS Sanks – 1B McGrath – LF O. Larios – CF Denzler – RF W. Ramos – 2B E. Munoz – P Little
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Otis – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – C O'Dell – RF Gerace – SS Stalker – 3B Bullock – P Roberts

In a southpaw shootout for season series honors, both starters struck out four in the first three innings. While Roberts was perfect, Little scattered two hits and a walk, one runner per inning, with Matt Otis' first-inning double and getting stranded on second base the furthest advanced the Critters managed. Roberts rung up Rojas and Zarate in the fourth before Sanks singled to right, but the inning ended on McGrath's grounder to Tim Stalker. Through five innings, Roberts would have eight strikeouts as well as absolutely no support whatsoever, with the Coons getting their leadoff batters on in the fourth (Gonzalez single) and fifth (Stalker walk) innings, but O'Dell and Bullock both hit one right at Sanks for a double play in their respective innings.

The Coons finally got on the board in the sixth inning. Mora reached with a 2-out single, and Gonzalez reached the scoreboard with his 2-run homer to left-center, his 15th of the year (…), and the first tally in a game where Roberts had nine whiffs and was desperately begging for his 17th win. Roberts continued to get through the Condors, whiffing Sanks to begin the seventh to reach double-digits, but hit a bump in the eighth with Willie Ramos' 1-out triple to right. However, next up was left-handed replacement (about of Devin Mansfield's stature on his team's depth chart) Eddie Munoz, who had been entirely overwhelmed for the entire weekend, having gone 0-for-9 with 5 K already. Roberts rounded him up for a sixth strikeout, then got Pat Sanford to fly out easily to Gerace. That put him at 107 pitches, and he also was due to lead off the bottom 8th, so Roberts' day was over in what was still only a 2-0 game. Nunley batted for him, grounded out, and Spencer flew out to Larios in left. Matt Otis grounded to Munoz, but reached base on a throwing error. However, Mora struck out against Zach Weaver, keeping this a 2-0 game. Snyder was up against the top of the order then, getting Bob Rojas to fly out to Spencer on the first pitch. Zarate struck out, but Sanks remained the polar opposite of Munoz, continuing to torture Coons pitching with a 2-out single to left. McGrath however had shot all his bullets already and went down on strikes, as the Coons claimed the season series and the 17th victory for Mark Roberts. 2-0 Critters. Otis 2-4, 2 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Stalker 1-2, BB; Roberts 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W (17-6);

In other news

August 25 – More injury news for BOS 3B/2B Rhett West (.324, 3 HR, 37 RBI), who will miss another month with a strained hamstring.
August 26 – SFB RF/LF Cesar Martinez (.281, 21 HR, 68 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with a fractured finger.
August 28 – The Crusaders lost two players to injury; SS Tom McWhorter (.228, 4 HR, 23 RBI) projects to miss a month with wrist tendinitis, while SP Alejandro "Ant" Mendez (4-8, 4.97 ERA) is expected to miss two starts after hurting his back moving furniture at home.
August 29 – As the Pacifics drill the Blue Sox, 12-2, L.A.'s Matt Jamieson (.254, 10 HR, 59 RBI) collects five base hits, including three doubles, and drives in a pair.

Complaints and stuff

Mark Roberts wrapped of Pitcher of the Month honors with a 5-1 record and 1.05 ERA during this month. Opponents hit .161 against him and he whiffed 43 in as many innings! It is the first POTM award for the 30-year-old southpaw.

During the week we reached a point where Miguel Carrasco rated almost half of our position players with the dreaded ice crystal for being somewhere between cold and frozen. The offense was bad enough this month to drop us back in the bottom three in runs scored after a somewhat decent summer in terms of runs scored, but as of Sunday night we are back to under four runs per game…

August was also our first month this year we didn't put up a winning record. Snyder hanging on to Roberts' gem on Sunday merely got us even for the month at 14-14, which coincidentally was also the Titans' worst monthly tally this season, back in May. Never mind the three months of roughly .700 ball they had. They went 15-13 this month, but that is really all they need right now… they could use a bit more health, though…

Rosters will expand on Monday and we will remain at home for another week to play the Thunder and Titans, but we also have three separate trips to the East Coast left due to some weird scheduling. We will be in New York from the 8th to the 10th and again to finish the season, and we will hit Boston from the 16th to the 18th.

In terms of call-ups, I figure a few relievers and some outfielders who had never dreamed of coming up, and who have probably flown far under the radar so far. We will get a sixth starter off the DL next week when Lance Legleiter's stint runs out. Borg will come back, too, and Terry Kopp will probably start another rehab stint next week just before minor league seasons end.

All our minor league teams have losing records by the way.

Fun Fact: Jonathan Toner holds the most All Star nominations as a Raccoon, being honored nine times – all consecutive – from 2014 through 2022. Nick Brown earned eight nominations, and Tetsu Osanai and Angel Casas represented the team five times.

Comprehensive and Complete (I hope) Portland Raccoons All Stars Compendium

1977 (3) – Jose Flores, Pedro Sánz, Ben Simon
1978 (1) – Ben Simon (2)
1979 (1) – Ben Simon (3)
1980 (2) – Stephano Bocci, Ben Simon (4)
1981 (1) – Ralph Nixon
1982 (1) – Daniel Hall
1983 (4) – Mark Dawson, Kinji Kan, Enrique Sanchez, Grant West
1984 (3) – Daniel Hall (2), Kisho Saito*, Grant West (2)
1985 (3) – Tetsu Osanai*, Vicente Ruiz, Grant West (3)
1986 (4) – Dimian Barrios, Carlos Gonzalez, Tetsu Osanai (2), Grant West (4)
1987 (2) – Tetsu Osanai (3), Armando Sanchez
1988 (3) – Mark Dawson (2), Tetsu Osanai (4), Armando Sanchez (2)
1989 (4) – Sam Dadswell, Tetsu Osanai (5), Kisho Saito (2), Scott Wade
1990 (none) –
1991 (3) – Neil Reece, Kisho Saito (3), Jason Turner
1992 (4) – Daniel Hall (3), Ben O’Morrissey, Kisho Saito (4), Scott Wade (2)
1993 (3) – Miguel Lopez, Ben O’Morrissey (2), Neil Reece (2)
1994 (none) –
1995 (6) – David Brewer, Ben O’Morrissey (3), Neil Reece (3), Kisho Saito (5), Jorge Salazar, Jason Turner (2)
1996 (4) – Tzu-jao Ban, David Brewer (2), Antonio Donis, Royce Green
1997 (1) – David Brewer (3)
1998 (1) – Manuel Movonda
1999 (1) – Conceicao Guerin
2000 (none) –
2001 (3) – Conceicao Guerin (2), Albert Martin, Jesus Palacios
2002 (3) – Ralph Ford, Albert Martin (2), Jesus Palacios (2)
2003 (1) – Albert Martin (3)
2004 (1) – Nick Brown
2005 (1) – Nick Brown (2)
2006 (none) –
2007 (4) – Angel Casas, Tomas Castro, Victor Flores, Kelvin Yates
2008 (6) – Luke Black, Craig Bowen, Nick Brown (3), Angel Casas (2), Tomas Castro (2), Adrian Quebell
2009 (4) – Ron Alston, Nick Brown (4), Angel Casas (3), Adrian Quebell (2)
2010 (3) – Ron Alston (2), Nick Brown (5), Adrian Quebell (3)
2011 (3) – Angel Casas (4), Jose Morales, Ieyoshi Nomura
2012 (1) – Nick Brown (6)
2013 (1) – Dylan Alexander
2014 (4) – Dylan Alexander (2), Nick Brown (7), Hector Santos, Jonathan Toner
2015 (3) – Angel Casas (5), Hector Santos (2), Jonathan Toner (2)
2016 (5) – Nick Brown (8), Ronnie McKnight, Matt Nunley, Hector Santos (3), Jonathan Toner (3)
2017 (2) – Jonathan Toner (4), Shane Walter
2018 (6) – Ricardo Carmona, Chris Mathis, Hugo Mendoza, Alex Ramirez, Ron Thrasher, Jonathan Toner (5)
2019 (6) – Tadasu Abe, Hugo Mendoza (2), Alex Ramirez (2), Hector Santos (4), Jonathan Toner (6), Shane Walter (2)
2020 (4) – Chris Mathis (2), Hugo Mendoza (3), Ieyoshi Nomura (2), Jonathan Toner (7)
2021 (4) – Danny Margolis, Hugo Mendoza (4), Ieyoshi Nomura (3), Jonathan Toner (8)
2022 (2) – Noah Bricker, Jonathan Toner (9)
2023 (1) – Brett Lillis
2024 (2) – Jon Gonzalez, Abel Mora
2025 (4) – Vince Devereaux, Jon Gonzalez (2), Ricky Ohl, Mark Roberts