[Westheim]

Raccoons (12-18) vs. Scorpions (17-15) – May 7-9, 2035

The rather headless Raccoons next came up against the Scorpions in a brief 3-day stay at home. Sacramento was third in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed in the Federal League. Their run differential was -1 (Coons: -9), and while they were in the top 3 in home runs and stolen bases, they were in the bottom 3 in OBP. Infielder Tim Stackhouse and reliever Juan Zabala were nursing nagging injuries, while catcher Hector Alvarez was on the DL. These teams had faced another last year, with Sacramento taking two of three back then.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (2-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. Jason Lucas (4-2, 5.03 ERA)
Colt Willes (2-3, 3.76 ERA) vs. Josh Vercher (1-2, 3.26 ERA)
Ignacio del Rio (1-4, 5.00 ERA) vs. John McInerney (1-5, 6.37 ERA)

McInerney, once of the Indians, was the only left-hander in sight.

More pitchers with adverse ERA’s that would cause the Raccoons’ lineup much adverse results…

Game 1
SAC: CF Vermillion – RF Greenway – LF Sandstrom – 1B Cortes – 2B J. Rivera – 3B Downs – SS Stackhouse – C D. Maldonado – P Lucas
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – CF Fowler – C Wall – 3B Zeltser – 2B Stalker – 1B Lutch – P Chavez

So unusual was the sight of it, at first I didn’t know what to make of Jimmy Wallace hitting a ball over the fence in rightfield in the first inning. Cashing Ramos on first base, Jimmy’s fifth homer of the year put the Raccoons up 2-0, and he would add to that with a shot to left in the fourth inning, that leadoff jack getting the tally to 3-0. Singles by Kurt Wall and Tim Stalker extended the lead to 4-0 in the same inning, which was a welcome addition given that Bernie Chavez constantly looked like he as about to get splanked for a few markers on the board. The Scorpions didn’t score through four innings, but had a runner in scoring position in all but one of them; timely hitting was amiss for them, although that statement needed a correction in the top 6th. Mark Vermillion drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and came around on Carlos Cortes’ 2-out double to get the green-laced team on the board, too.

That was only the beginning of the end, though, as far as Bernie Chavez’ day was concerned. Adam Downs and Tim Stackhouse hit homers into the same section in leftfield to start the top of the seventh inning, cutting the gap to 4-3, and showing Chavez the door. Dusty Kulp replaced him and fanned Danny Maldonado, before the appearance of pinch-hitter Marquis Stubblefield lined up four left-handed bats. Garavito was called upon, got Stubblefield on a grounder, but allowed a single to extend Vermillion’s 20-game hitting streak. That was the tying run, and he also stole second base, but Troy Greenway went down on strikes to strand him. Some shuffling on defense had placed Hugo Salgado on first base, batting ninth for Portland; that almost came back to bite the team in the eighth, with Salgado missing Chris Sandstrom’s grounder for a leadoff single after which the Scorpions sent three straight lefty pinch-hitters against Chris Wise, Garavito’s replacement. One, Christian Abel, singled, but the other two struck out. Tim Stackhouse grounded out to Lutch at third base to end the inning. After Portland did nothing to extend their lead, Ed Blair was left to his own wisdom in the ninth. It began with a deep fly out by Maldonado and ended with a 2-out string of a Vermillion double, a Greenway single (on 1-2), and a Sandstrom triple (also, 1-2). When Abel grounded out, the Scorpions were up 5-4, and the Raccoons, facing Jorge Villegas jr., amounted to only a 2-out single by Edgar Barrios in the bottom 9th. The game ended with a K to Vince Lutch. 5-4 Scorpions. Wallace 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Barrios (PH) 1-1;

All Wallace’s fault. Should have hit three homers…

That was the last game for Vince Lutch (.219, 1 HR, 2 RBI), who was shanked to AAA afterwards; not for his 0-for-4 performance, or for the final strikeout (what was one more strikeout at this point…?), but for the dire need to get a proper first baseman lined up with Adam Avakian still unavailable. So here was the comeback for Chiyosaku Maruyama (for two games, Avakian’s health permitting), who was hitting .287 with no homers in AAA… He had mostly shown off antics in his Raccoons stint in 2034, hitting .170 with … no homers.

Game 2
SAC: CF Vermillion – RF Greenway – LF Sandstrom – 1B Cortes – 3B Bonnett – SS Laughren – 2B Stackhouse – C D. Maldonado – P Vercher
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – CF Fowler – C Wall – 3B Zeltser – 1B Maruyama – 2B Stalker – P Willes

Marquis Stubblefield replaced Troy Greenway after a solid beaning right in the first inning, but nothing came of the free runner for Sacramento. It would be the Critters to take another 2-0 lead in this game, though not until the third inning. Manny Fernandez hit a homer and Jimmy Wallace tripled before scoring on Fowler’s sac fly to Stubblefield, who took immediate revenge with a leadoff jack in the fourth.

That was about it for the first six innings, with the exception of an hour-long rain delay in the bottom 6th that knocked out Willes after six frames of 2-hit, 5 K ball. The 2-1 lead was inherited by David Fernandez, who got two outs before Erik Bonnett singled off him. Adam Downs pinch-hit for Paul Laughren, but popped out when the Coons brought in Antonio Prieto to toss from the right side. Prieto retired two more in the eighth before Abel doubled out of the #9 hole, putting the tying run in scoring position for the 21-game hitting streak-holding .322 batter Vermillion, who was hitless on the day. Reliever Jimmy Jackson was in the #2 hole, and the Critters would much prefer to face a right-handed pinch-hitter – which was all that was left on the Scorpions’ bench. Jimmy Wood, hitting .224 got the call – and struck out. The Coons continued to do NOTHING, then had to find a closer for the ninth inning. Garavito got the call with two left-handed bats up in the inning. He struck out the first of those, then served up a game-tying homer to Carlos Cortes, three second before a quarter-full bottle of Capt’n Coma shattered in a thousand pieces against one of the walls in my office.

The Scorpions failed to take the lead this time, but the Coons had already removed Jimmy Wallace for defense, which turned out to be a defenseless move, and when the #3 slot led off against righty Miguel Montoya in the bottom 9th, Nate Hall wiggled a bat. He walked in a full count, but the Coons wouldn’t ask Justin Fowler to bunt; we weren’t paying him $14M to *bunt*. He singled instead, and then Wall was told to bunt. This moved the runners into scoring position, although only Hall’s run counted. The Scorpions could play filthy moves, too, walking Bob Zeltser intentionally to force up Maruyama, who had even hit a single earlier in the game. The Coons were about outta moves; Barrios and Scheffer were all that was left on the bench, and one way or another Hugo Salgado would play first base again if this winning run didn’t come across… Barrios batted for Maruyama anyway, and popped out foul… (*animalistic scream*) … That left Tim Stalker, mired in a deep slump. He ran a full count, then avoided a ball going for his hindpaws that was judged ball four, with the Critters nursing a walkoff walk to even the series. 3-2 Raccoons. Willes 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

Game 3
SAC: CF Vermillion – RF Abel – LF Sandstrom – 1B Cortes – 3B Bonnett – 2B J. Rivera – SS Laughren – C D. Maldonado – P McInerney
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Salgado – CF Fowler – LF Wallace – 1B Maruyama – 3B Zeltser – C Scheffer – P del Rio

The Coons began the rubber game with the bags full after drawing walk, single, walk from McInerney. All those runners would score, and then some; Justin Fowler hit a 2-run double before Wallace whiffed. Maruyama plated Salgado with a groundout, and then they started to re-accumulate with straight singles from Zeltser, Scheffer, and del Rio, the latter plating the fifth and final run of the inning before Berto fanned. McInerney would not allow any more runs, but was still gone after three innings. Right-handed third-year call-up Matt Broughton had the bags full with one out in the bottom 4th after del Rio and Ramos singles, plus a walk to Salgado. He lost Fowler on balls, too, shoving home del Rio for a 6-0 lead. Wallace scored Berto with a groundout, but Maruyama’s groundout ended the inning.

Del Rio took the big lead and ran with it; Sandstrom had singled in the first, and Laughren would single in the fifth. In between he survived a throwing error by Bob Zeltser that put Maldonado in scoring position. He looked like he was cruising towards a shutout right up until Maldonado and Stubblefield hit back-to-back 2-out doubles in the top of the eighth, totally out of the blue. That of course scored the Scorpions a run, and gone was the shutout. Bottom 8th, facing Jimmy Jackson, the Raccoons loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit as Scheffer and Ramos drew walks and Laughren bobbled Stalker’s grounder for an error. Manny Fernandez pinch-hit for a ghastly roller on the infield that nevertheless wasn’t dug out in time to have any play at all and left him with an RBI infield single. Fowler added a sac fly, Wallace whiffed to end the inning, and then del Rio was back out there. He finished the game in just three more batters and 99 total pitches. 9-1 Raccoons. M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Fowler 1-3, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; del Rio 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (2-4) and 2-3, RBI;

For the first time in a while, the Raccoons ditched sole or joint possession of last place in the CL North, squeezing half a game ahead of the Indians and tying the Loggers at a dismal 14-19, five games behind the virtually tied Titans and Elks. Milwaukee, however, played on Thursday and beat the Caps to break the tie, and the Indians won their game to set the Critters back into a tie for last place.

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted...

Raccoons (14-19) @ Loggers (15-19) – May 11-13, 2035

The Loggers were in a rut as a franchise and in this current stretch of games, having lost 14 of their last 19 games, starting with the final game in Portland back on April 18. Not that we hadn’t been through an extended .250-ish spell already… They were eighth in runs scored and runs allowed, so greatness was not in the books for them once more. They had a -17 run differential, while the Coons’ was up to -1 and was begging to see some wins tacked on to become positive. The Loggers led the season series, 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (3-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. Alfredo Casique (5-1, 4.57 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (3-3, 3.82 ERA) vs. Ernesto Lujan (2-3, 4.05 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (2-4, 5.27 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (3-2, 3.06 ERA)

All righties here; meanwhile the Coons made another roster move, ditching Maruyama back to St. Pete after a 1-for-6 filler performance. Rich Vickers was promoted, batting .336 with five homers in St. Pete; that still didn’t open a spot for him in the lineup…

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – CF Fowler – 1B Avakian – C Wall – 3B Zeltser – 2B Stalker – P Sabre
MIL: RF Valenzuela – SS Garnier – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – 1B O. Huerta – CF Prestwood – C Paiz – P Casique

Avakian mishandled the first grounder put in play by Danny Valenzuela, who stole second, reached third on Wall’s throwing error, and then was stranded by Maxime Garnier’s and Steve Wilson’s awful grounders, plus Josh Conner’s fly to Fowler. Yup, two struggling teams matching up here! Bob Zeltser then fumbled Omar Huerta’s grounder for the Coons’ third error in two innings, Tyler Prestwood reached on an infield single, and somehow Sabre didn’t kill himself outright but struck out Edgar Paiz and Alfredo Casique to bail out of the constant mess surrounding him. And yet, the Raccoons again scored first as in every game this week, and again it was more than one marker at once. Zeltser and Stalker drew leadoff walks in the top 3rd. Sabre bunted them over, Berto popped out, but Fernandez singled to left-center to get both in. Runners were in scoring position again the following inning after a shy roller past Conner off Avakian’s stick and a double to the wall hit by… Wall. Bob Zeltser’s looper to shallow left and Tim Stalker’s sac fly to right scored one run each, 4-0, briefly outpacing their error total at that point, at least until Kurt Wall threw another ball away in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bill McWhirter chimed in, committing a fumble error that put Berto on base in the top 5th; the Coons maneuvered their free runner around with a Wallace single and Fowler’s sac fly. Berto in turn made it 6-0 in the sixth with a 2-out RBI double plating Tim Stalker, and Sabre also got around after hitting a single when Sergio Piedra threw a wild pitch to get him home from third base, 7-0.

Berto also got entered into the error log in the bottom of the inning, misfielding a McWhirter grounder with one down. That was the fifth error of the game and Sabre was starting to become annoyed and bickered at the infielders and his catcher. The pitching coach hustled out to calm the waves, and Sabre’s very next pitch resulted in a 4-6-3 double play. Zeltser singled home Wallace in the seventh, the fifth straight inning in which the Coons scored, 8-0, but Prestwood opened the bottom 7th with a double to left. Not that it gave the Loggers a run – Paiz popped out and PH D.J. Mendez lined out to Ramos, who found Prestwood far off base and doubled him up with a toss to Stalker. Howard Haws retired the Critters in order in the eighth inning to end their scoring streak, and Danny Valenzuela legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 8th. Garnier singled to center, sending Valenzuela to third, and the Loggers scored their maiden run on a groundout by PH Jeremy Leftwich, but stranded Garnier. Sabre completed the inning, but would not be asked to do the ninth after 103 pitches and lots of frustration.

Bottom 9th, still up 8-1, but not for much longer. Robby Ciampa was assigned the mop-up duty, and boy, was he mopped up. He walked Huerta on four pitches. Prestwood flew out, but Paiz singled. Kymani Farmer fanned, putting the Coons one out away from sealing the deal, but straight extra-base hits by Valenzuela (RBI double), Garnier (2-run triple), and Leftwich (RBI double), brought the Loggers in ****ing save range. Ed Blair donned pants in a hurry, but gave up an RBI single to Josh Conner when he finally arrived, which brought the tying run to the plate in McWhirter, who lined to left, which was where Wallace roamed… but somehow the ball found *him* rather than bouncing over the track waiting to be found, and the Raccoons narrowly escaped major humiliation. 8-6 Blighters. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Avakian 2-5; Zeltser 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Stalker 0-1, 2 BB, RBI; Sabre 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (4-2) and 1-3;

Ciampa didn’t, though – he went on waivers IMMEDIATELY. He had spun a 1.80 ERA for the Condors in 15 innings. In 6.1 innings with Portland, his ERA was 11.37 and we had seen enough.

By Saturday, John Hennessy was back after having spent a few weeks with the Alley Cats. He had been in six games, had saved five, and had pitched to a 1.69 ERA. I’m sorry, John, I was being dumb by claiming Ciampa off waivers…

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – CF Fowler – 1B Avakian – C Wall – 3B Zeltser – 2B Stalker – P Rendon
MIL: RF Valenzuela – SS Garnier – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – 1B O. Huerta – CF Prestwood – LF K. Farmer – C Paiz – P Lujan

Both teams got their first batter of the game on base, but while Fernandez doubled up Ramos, the Loggers’ Conner and McWhirter chipped another two singles to get Valenzuela around for the first run of the game. Bob Zeltser’s 2-run homer in the top 2nd cashed Fowler, who was nicked, and flipped the score, but Edgar Paiz’ double and Valenzuela’s second single of the day tied the game back up. Garnier also singled, sending Valenzuela to third, but Conner grounded out. That was six hits off Rendon in just two innings…

Portland still took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning when Wall was hit to begin the frame and Stalker dropped in a single. Rendon hit into a fielder’s choice, but Berto found the hole on the right side for an RBI single, only his fifth run driven in on the season. Another inning later, Kymani Farmer gave the Coons a major break; with one out, we had Fowler and Avakian on second and first, respectively, and Kurt Wall blooped a single to shallow left. Farmer tried to catch it, then pulled up too late, and had the ball go through the wickets for an extra base, allowing Fowler to score and the other runners to reach scoring position for Zeltser, who came up with a sac fly to Farmer. Stalker was walked with intent to fan Rendon, stranding a pair, but the Coons were up 5-2 and the pen was ready for anymore Rendon-shaped shenanigans. Huerta’a 1-out single was deemed a shenanigan and Rendon was yanked. Prieto got two grounders to escape the inning, then logged another Logger out in the seventh. Garavito replaced him against PH D.J. Mendez, but then put Valenzuela on with a single and hit Garnier. Dusty Kulp faced Conner as the tying run, but fanned him in a full count to end the inning. In turn, the Critters scratched out a run on Mike Bass, with Nate Hall singling home Avakian with two outs in the eighth; Hall had entered the game in a double switch that upgraded defense in leftfield. Huerta and Farmer hit singles off Kulp in the bottom 8th, but Huerta also was thrown out at third base by Manny Fernandez on the latter base hit, ending that inning. Top 9th, the bases were loaded against Bass, who was clearly meant to see this game out, but walked Fernandez, PH Rich Vickers, and gave up a 1-out single to Avakian after Fowler flew out. Kurt Wall batted with three aboard, got a single over the second base bag, and another run scored. Bass walked Zeltser with the bases loaded, which finally saw him removed and taken behind the shed. Sergio Piedra came in and struck out Tim Stalker, and the same happened with Hall. That sent the game to the bottom 9th… and another near-disaster. Up 8-2, David Fernandez faced four Loggers and put three aboard with a single and two walks. Ed Blair came on, facing Josh Conner, who grounded the 2-1 pitch to Berto. Zip to Vickers at second, zip to Avakian – and game over! 8-2 Raccoons! Avakian 3-5; Wall 2-4, 2 RBI; Zeltser 2-2, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Hall (PH) 1-2, RBI;

What’s that? A 4-game winning streak? What??

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – LF Wallace – CF Fowler – 1B Avakian – 2B Vickers – 3B Zeltser – C Scheffer – P Chavez
MIL: RF Valenzuela – SS Garnier – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – CF Prestwood – 1B Leftwich – C Paiz – P Olguin

Berto drove in a pair for the fifth time this week the Critters drew first blood, coming to the plate with Vickers (single), Zeltser (double), and Scheffer (walk) all aboard and two outs in the top 2nd. His single to right-center was good for two, but as many were stranded when Fernandez popped out. A Josh Conner homer cut the lead in half, but Berto would stir again in the fifth inning, singling, stealing second, and finally coming home on a Wallace groundout to stretch the gap to 3-1 again. To no avail – Bernie Chavez, who really pitched like someone with a 5.27 ERA rather than his 2.57 mark from last season, surrendered three sharp base hits to Paiz, Valenzuela, and Garnier in the bottom of the fifth, and the Loggers tied the game on those…

Chavez allowed leadoff base hits four times, the last of those occurring in the bottom 6th when McWhirter singled to center. Prestwood flew out, but Leftwich and Paiz also hit line drive singles, chasing McWhirter around to give Milwaukee the 4-3 lead. Chavez was yanked after fanning Olguin, with runners on the corners and two outs and with his ERA having gone up again… John Hennessy popped out Valenzuela for his first batter faced since coming back from the Alley Cats, and the only one in this game.

The Coons opened the seventh with Ramos and Fernandez singles off Olguin, then pulled off an aggro double steal. Wallace’s sac fly tied the game, and Fowler’s single to right put Portland ahead and got Fowler to 30 RBI, the first batter in the CL to reach that mark. Fowler was then thrown out when he ran while Avakian missed in a hit-and-run, and the inning fizzled out with the 5-4 score. In response, the Loggers ticked Dusty Kulp for Garnier and Wilson leadoff singles in the bottom 7th… Conner grounded out, moving the runners into scoring position. David Fernandez appeared to face PH D.J. Mendez, who fell to 0-2, then hit an RBI single to left anyway… Omar Huerta had another pinch-hit RBI single, Milwaukee had the lead again, and the Coons kept picking through that ****ty bullpen, hoping to find somebody, anybody, to get outs. Chris Wise wasn’t that guy; he walked Corey Price to fill the bases, and also Edgar Paiz to push home a run. Kymani Farmer popped out and Valenzuela flew out to center to strand three in a 7-5 contest that was rapidly sapping all my energy. The Coons would get the tying runs on base in the eighth – Vickers and Salgado singled – but left them there with Barrios whiffing and Ramos flying out against Sergio Piedra, the third Loggers relief man of the inning. Following a fine eighth by Prieto, however, the tying run was at the plate against Alex Banderas in the ninth following a leadoff double by Manny Fernandez. Wallace and Fowler grounded out poorly, and Avakian flew out to Mendez in leftfield, which wasn’t even enough to get Fernandez across… 7-5 Loggers. Ramos 3-5, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2B; Wallace 2-4, 2 RBI; Vickers 3-4; Scheffer 0-1, 2 BB; Salgado (PH) 1-1;

Eh. I didn’t know what to do with a winning streak anyway…

In other news

May 8 – PIT SP Julio Palomo (2-2, 2.72 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 Miners win.
May 8 – The Thunder amount to only one hit in 10 innings against the Cyclones, who nevertheless can’t score either. An Andy Schmit (.350, 7 HR, 23 RBI) single and an Alfredo Rojas (.293, 3 HR, 8 RBI) homer end the game with a 2-0 walkoff in the Thunder’s favor in the 11th inning.
May 10 – After 13 innings of battle, VAN OF/2B Jesse LeJeune (.291, 2 HR, 16 RBI) ends the Canadiens’ contest with the Stars with a walkoff grand slam off Joe Perry (1-2, 8.16 ERA), ending the game with a 5-1 win in their books.
May 10 – SAC RF/LF Troy Greenway (.340, 6 HR, 24 RBI) will miss up to two weeks with a bruised knee.
May 10 – Vancouver swingman Denny Marsh (0-0, 6.43 ERA) is out for a year with a torn UCL and will have Tommy John surgery shortly.
May 13 – IND MR Bernardo Martinez (2-1, 1.23 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season with elbow ligament damage.

Complaints and stuff

First winning week since Opening Week. That is the amount of terrible baseball we’ve witnessed so far… and just when they looked like they could get over the hump and close in on .500, they delivered another pitching stinker like on Sunday…

Showing signs of life: Tony Morales. The 21-year-old backstop (his birthday was on April 24) is up to .234 with 7 homers in AAA, including six multi-hit games in his last nine starting assignments. Yes, he had some hole to dig out of; he dropped as low as .137 after an *0-for-26* stretch and was close to getting sent back to Ham Lake. He had only four strikeouts in that 0-for-26 though, so the baseball gods tried to trick me there, but I wasn’t fooled! (shouts upwards) You hear that!? You sorry sods ain’t fooling me!! (shakes fist)

Boy, Alberto Ramos will pay for that…

Considerable anger was directed at the Raccoons’ coaching department on Wednesday after the controversial intentional walk to Mark Vermillion in the top of the eighth inning the night before, which it turned out had killed his 21-game hitting streak. I told Cristiano Carmona to go on this Gobble thing and invite everybody in green and yellow to bite me. – It may not always look like it, but we’re trying to win some ****ing ballgames, too!!

The Gold Sox have claimed Robby Ciampa’s contract, so that is one step towards winning some ****ing ballgames.

Still last in homers though. That is the part that keeps annoying me and has for a long time. Whenever I look at our pitching homer stats, I see that our park still plays small… but… oh well, maybe it’s our pitching.

Our pitching, our hitting, our defense, and our mascot … (points at Chad in the costume having his head stuck in a waste basket) … those four things aside, we’re pretty well off…

Fun Fact: The damn Elks’ closer, Bryce Sudar, has a 6.89 ERA.

Ha-hah, what a miserable team. Ha-hah, poor effort.

Ha-hah.

(groans)