[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-2) @ Crusaders (6-6) – April 20-22, 2038

The Raccoons hadn’t lost a season series to New York since ’32 and had won 10 games against them in the previous season. It was hard to say where the Crusaders would go; they had been reasonably near the playoffs in ’37, but so far looked thoroughly mediocre. They were sixth in runs scored, and third in runs allowed, with a bullpen determined to undo as much of the starters’ good work as possible. They also already had two sort of important players on the DL in Greg Ortiz and reliever Dan Dalton.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (2-0, 0.64 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (2-0, 1.62 ERA)
Josh Weeks (1-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jared Murphy (0-1, 2.08 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (1-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Matt Brost (1-2, 5.17 ERA)

Ottie was skipped ahead of Josh Weeks, who was fine again after leaving his last start early. All the Crusaders’ starting pitchers were right-handed.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger
NYC: CF L. Herrera – RF Montes – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – 2B Duenez – LF Hawthorne – 3B Sifuentes – SS J. Juarez – P del Rio

While del Rio vengefully retired the Raccoons in order the first time through, the Crusaders got Lorenzo Herrera and Andy Montes on base to begin the bottom 1st, but then saw Devin Phillips pop out and Graciano Salto hit into a double play. Nobody else reached base until the fourth inning, when Manny Fernandez singled. Troy Greenway beat Herrera in center for an RBI triple, and then scored on Maldonado’s single to give the Raccoons a 2-0 lead. The Crusaders also got a 2-out hit from Salto, a single to center, and he stole second base, but was stranded when Mario Duenez whiffed.

A Stedham double and Ramos’ RBI single extended the lead to 3-0 the following inning, while a leadoff walk drawn by George Hawthorne led nowhere for New York in the bottom of the same inning. All looked well! And then all came crashing down. Herrera singled in the sixth, Montes homered, and for good measure Salto also hit a home run to left that tied the game at three. All at once, Ottie was useless, putting Duenez and Hawthorne on base, too, and was whisked in favor of Ben Feist, who threw two pitches to Ramon Sifuentes and got an inning-ending double play grounder for his troubles. When Myers (walk) and Stedham (single) reached base to begin the seventh, Feist was retained to lay down a bunt, getting them into scoring position. Berto snuck the first pitch he saw past Duenez for an RBI single, and after that Cosmo also got his *first* RBI of the year with a … well, fielder’s choice, but at least Stedham made it across home plate. Cosmo stole second base, but Manny flew out to left to end the frame. Both teams then cobbled together a run in the eighth, with Maldonado’s stolen base in the top half being a big factor, while Citriniti was simply whacked for three singles in the bottom half. Cosmo got another RBI with his first homer of the season, hit off Jorge Villegas jr. with one out and nobody on in the ninth, and with a 7-4 lead the Raccoons stuck to Yeom Soung in the bottom 9th; the Crusaders had a mostly right-handed lineup even against Ottie, and the Critters had only three right-handed relievers (not counting Campbell). The only lefty bat (Montes) was up second in the inning, and Soung knew how to close. It sounded good underneath our furry skulls. In practice, leadoff man Herrera singled, and after that came three long slogs of at-bats… but all of them ended with a strikeout. 7-4 Raccoons! Ramos 2-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-4, RBI; Stedham 3-4, 2B; Soung 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (2);

And yet another win in relief for Ben Feist, who had not even been in the organization on Opening Day and now was the first pitcher to three wins on this team.

Oh Portland. Always stay wicked!

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Weeks
NYC: CF L. Herrera – 2B Duenez – C D. Phillips – 1B K. Henderson – RF Salto – 3B Sifuentes – LF Montes – SS Stalker – P J. Murphy

The Raccoons loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit in the first, and didn’t score a run either. Cosmo reached on an error, Greenway walked, and Maldonado got nailed. Tony Morales then flew out in pedestrian fashion to Salto. The bags would be full again in the second, again with two outs, and after Stedham hit a solo homer for the first mark on the board. Berto, Cosmo, and Manny all reached with two outs, two of them on walks, and Murphy kept melting, never throwing a strike to Greenway, forcing in a run. Maldonado popped out on 1-2, keeping it a 2-0 game with six stranded, while the Crusaders scored a run on nothing but Salto and Montes singles in the bottom 2nd. Tim Stalker grounded out to Berto, ending the second inning, after entering with a .267 bat and 5 RBI, and, yes, playing short at age *39*. Oh well, he still made a nifty play to retire Maldonado, simultaneously stranding Cosmo on third base in the top of the fourth. The missed chances became actual regret in the bottom of the inning, when an otherwise solid Weeks put Phillips on base to begin the inning, and served up a score-flipping bomb to Sifuentes with two outs.

Down 3-2, the Coons loaded the bases again in the fifth, with Murphy yanked after putting Morales and Myers on. Jamal Barrow walked Berto with two outs, and Cosmo shot a 3-2 pitch up the middle. Stalker didn’t get that one, but the Raccoons took the lead back, plating a pair on the play, 4-3. The Raccoons were on the corners after this one when Cosmo boldly stole second base (his fifth on the year and third in the series), which became an extra run when Manny fought off enough to junk to hit a 1-2 pitch to center for another 2-run knock. Greenway struck out, and Weeks was overturned without getting the W either. Herrera’s 1-out double and two singles killed him, and Prieto replaced him with the tying runs on first and second and Kumanosuke Henderson batting. He popped out, but a wild pitch and a Salto single tied the game, and through five we were tied at six and none the smarter.

The abuse at the hands of Salto would continue, with Garavito pressed into service against right-handed batters in the seventh inning. Duenez singled, Henderson walked, and Salto slugged a 3-run homer to give New York a commanding lead. Down 9-6, the Raccoons got Greenway and Maldonado on, the latter being forced on a fielder’s choice grounder hit by Tony Morales. Casey Pinter was already the third pitcher of the inning and was trusted to remove Myers with two outs. He got as far as 1-2, then gave up a 3-run homer to tie the game. The madness! Garavito (leadoff walk to Montes…), Feist (Stalker single), and David Fernandez then all chipped in on the Crusaders’ next 3-piece, hit by PH Ricardo Salmeron. Portland went down in order in the ninth. 12-9 Crusaders. Trevino 3-6, 2 RBI; Morales 2-4, BB, 2B; Myers 3-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Ouch. Our bullpen keeps having a horrendous ERA, and the gap to the rotation isn’t really closing. They, too, are trying to undo all good deeds done by the lineup.

Game 3
POR: 3B Myers – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – CF Hooge – SS Williams – C Kilmer – P Sabre
NYC: CF L. Herrera – RF Montes – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – 2B Duenez – LF Hawthorne – 3B Sifuentes – SS Stalker – P Brost

There was no scoring early although both pitchers looked like a pinata ready to be broken wide open. Through three innings, Brost allowed only two hits but also some hard contact that never fell in, while Sabre scattered four hits, none of them with a guy in scoring position. When the fourth came, Cosmo hit a leadoff triple, extending a hitting streak to a cute 12 games. Troy Greenway, one out later, hit a shot to right that put the Critters up 2-0. Hawthorne answered with a leadoff single in the bottom 4th and Sifuentes came close to the wall, but even closer to Greenway’s mitten for the first out. The second out was Hawthorne, picked off by Sabre. Tim Stalker singled, but was stranded when Brost struck out. Montes hit a solo homer the following inning to reduce the lead to 2-1, still.

Cosmo and Greenway got the run back in subtler fashion in the top 6th. The former singled, stole second once again, and then scored on Greenway’s 2-out single that just barely got past Salto on the right side. It was already raining when Hooge doubled and scored on Elijah Williams’ single in the seventh, and pretty soon the tarp came on with a 4-1 lead on the board. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to skip the last three innings of pitching, but had Sabre wiped out for sure after a delay of over an hour. When play resumed, Jeff Kilmer completed a 70-minute at-bat with a single, putting them on the corners for Rich Vickers against lefty Casey Pinter, and Vickers hit another RBI single to center before Myers got doubled up and Cosmo was retired by Montes sliding through the wet grass in right. There were still nine outs to pick here, and the Raccoons turned to Citriniti first. He allowed two singles, but also got a double play from Jesus Juarez as I nervously paced up and down in the newly renovated VIP place above rightfield, yielding no runs to the Crusaders. Citriniti would end up logging six outs, while the Crusaders got nine from Pinter. The Raccoons sent Jermaine Campbell into the bottom 9th; while not a save situation, he had to be used at some point. Salmeron, Sifuentes, and Stalker went down in order, and the Raccoons took the set. 5-1 Critters! Trevino 2-4, 3B; Greenway 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Kilmer 2-4; Vickers (PH) 1-1, RBI; Sabre 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-0); Citriniti 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (12-3) @ Falcons (7-9) – April 23-25, 2038

Fourth in the South early on, the Falcons couldn’t score at all, sitting at 3.5 runs per game, second-worst in the league. They were also tough to score on, with a -2 run differential. Their rotation was average, but their pen had a 1.06 ERA as of now. Last year, Portland had claimed seven wins over them in nine games.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (0-2, 7.11 ERA) vs. Matt Moon (1-2, 5.40 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (2-0, 2.14 ERA) vs. John Nelson (0-0, 1.54 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (2-0, 1.86 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (1-2, 4.71 ERA)

Pedraza was to go on short rest, with Keith Black, who would be up on Sunday, laboring on a hammy and ruled out for the weekend. We’d miss their only southpaw, Chris “Tuba” Turner (1-2, 2.36 ERA).

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Stedham – RF Ledford – SS Myers – C Morales – P Chavez
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – 1B Levis – SS Aparicio – RF Trahan – CF Ugolino – LF Aarhus – P Moon

The goal for Bernie was to not get thrown into another volcano so soon. Six decent innings would go a long way to reduce that ghastly ERA of his; and indeed totally unexpectedly a pitchers’ duel broke out. Neither team got much done for four innings, with Maldonado singling and being caught stealing, and Myers reaching base but then being ignored. The Falcons had two hits through four as well, and also had a guy thrown out on the bases (Doug Levis). Stedham would draw a walk off Moon to begin the fifth, and then Brad Ledford cracked his first Raccoons home run, shooting a ball over the fence in right for the first runs on the day. Myers got nailed right after, but with a 1-2 pitch, and could be persuaded by Tony Morales not to tear Moon’s guts out, since intent could not be reasonably expected. Morales drew another walk, and both were bunted over by Bernie. Two more runs scored, one RBI going to Bernie for a single, and another one to Cosmo because Bernie took out Tony Aparicio on the 6 side of a potential 4-6-3 double play, which would have ended the inning. It ended with a Maldonado K instead, but Bernie now had a 4-0 lead and the way he had been pitching –

Well of course he didn’t. It started subtly with walks to Dave Trahan and Greg Aarhus in the bottom 5th, but no runs; Ledford hit his second jack in the sixth, stretching the lead to 5-0, and in the bottom of that inning Mike Sawyer and Jose Farfan reached on soft singles. When Levis grounded to Berto, Berto fudged the ball. Bases loaded, one out, .175 hitter Tony Aparicio up. He was a right-hander; we could bring Soung after that, but didn’t want to waste a righty for one batter, and come on, it’s APARICIO. Berto got the K! – then was whisked (on 99 pitches anyway) for Garavito, who gave up a LOUD drive to right to Trahan. Back to the fence, Ledford, jumping, and – he caught it! OH BOY!!

As things were the Falcons would eventually score, but not until the eighth and in unearned fashion. Levis, Prieto’s runner was on second base with one out when Trahan flew out to Maldonado against Soung. Levis went for third base, Maldonado’s throw was no bueno, and Levis scored while Berto chased after the ball in foul ground. Soung angrily carved up Fabien Ugolino to end the inning. That was all though, with the Raccoons maintaining control until the end, even if the offense went to bed after the quick middle-inning sprint. 5-1 Furballs! Ledford 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Myers 2-3; Chavez 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-2); Soung 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Aarhus is a place in Denmark and not the one his family is said to hail from.

They’re from Aalborg.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – C Morales – SS Williams – P Sparkes
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – 1B Levis – SS Aparicio – RF Trahan – LF Aarhus – CF Ugolino – P J. Nelson

While Sparkes whiffed five against two hits in the first three innings, the Raccoons had only a Williams double to show for against Nelson, but the fourth began with a Cosmo walk on four pitches, and Manny quickly singled him to third base. Greenway’s strikeout, Hooge’s pop, and Stedham lining out to Levis stranded the two runners right where they were. In turn the Falcons got Jose Farfan on with a leadoff single, he stole second, reached third on Morales’ terrible throw, and then scored on Levis’ grounder, putting Charlotte up 1-0. To add insult, Tony Aparicio homered right after that, while the Raccoons couldn’t score Elijah Williams even when he hit a screaming 1-out triple in the fifth. Nobody on the Raccoons seemed to be able to cobble anything together, and they soon arrived in the ninth inning in a game that just breezed by them. There they faced, Josh Livingston, once not the answer to any good question in the brown shirt. At least he was a right-hander tasked with defending a 2-0 lead against an array of lefty bats. Manny walked to get things underway, but then impatient poking led to two fielder’s choice plays, doing nothing greater than replacing Manny with Hooge at first base. Stedham grounded out to Farfan, ending this game in defeat. 2-0 Falcons. Williams 2-3, 3B, 2B;

Cosmo’s hitting streak ended at 13 games.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – LF Ledford – SS Myers – C Kilmer – P Ottinger
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – 1B Levis – SS Aparicio – CF J. Reyna – RF C. Robinson – LF Nuno – P Pedraza

Rubber game time saw Ottie opposing Pedraza on three days’ rest. Portland got the quick jump for sure, with Berto singling, stealing second base, and scoring on a Manny single. Greenway then pumped a homer over the farthest-away fence, 3-0, and with two outs Ledford walked and Oscar Aguirre fumbled Myers’ grounder for an error, but he would handle Jeff Kilmer’s ball to end the inning. Ottie had a scoreless first, then singled and stole a base in the top 2nd – oh yeah! Just like Jonny Toner!! … Cosmo would walk and both advanced on Manny’s groundout, after which Greenway pushed a ball through the not exactly Gold Glove material Doug Levis for two 2-out runs. …and then the Falcons socked Ottie for three in the bottom 2nd. Jonathan Reyna doubled to right (poor play by Greenway, though), and scored on Chris Robinson’s single through the wide-open left side. Federico Nuno also got on, a walk to Aguirre filled them up, and Mike Sawyer hit a 2-out, 2-run single. Farfan walked, but Levis grounded out to end the dismal inning.

After that slip and a double play he hit into in the third inning, I made some reconsiderations on the Toner comparisons again, but the defense was also no actual help in any way, also when the Falcons tied the score at five in the bottom 4th, AND had a runner thrown out at home plate. The balls were just dropping in everywhere, and most damage was again done by the bottom of the order.

Ottie batted in another run to take 6-5 lead in the top 5th, scoring Maldonado and his leadoff double with a 2-out single of his own, and maybe people would stop walking the #8 guy intentionally ahead of him at some point. For now, Berto clipped an RBI single past Aguirre, 7-5, and Cosmo broke the score open with a triple in the right-center gap, 9-5, but, well, that was the Coons’ second big lead of the day already… Ottinger went back to the mound, got humped some more, and retired after four+ dismal innings with an Aparicio single and Reyna RBI triple in the bottom 5th. Nobody made ANY play behind him (the BABIP for Ottie in this game was a dreadful .500). Garavito conceded the runner on third with nobody out, which was not exactly reason to part the old man’s skull with an axe, but it was now a 9-7 affair and the pitching and defense were wearing on me, and the old Falcons scout that sat next to me at the bar – or at least I thought so. Only later did I realize he had taken his hearing aids out after two innings.

By the seventh the lead was melting faster again. Tony Aparicio (!?) hit another homer off Citriniti, and Reyna doubled, all with no outs. Soung came on, got a grounder from Robinson that moved the tying run to third base, but then struck out Nuno and Ugolino to tell off the Falcons. The bags were then full in the top 8th on a bloop single by Cosmo, Greenway walking, and Maldonado singling off Raul de la Rosa. Ledford would have been great to have hit against the righty here, but had been culled in a double switch a bit earlier. Tony Morales hit for Soung, and battled out a full count for a bases-loaded walk, giving the Critters their first run since the fifth, and their tenth in the game, 10-8. Myers struck out, Kilmer grounded out, inning over.

Portland figured they had just enough pitchers left to cover two innings competently, with Prieto and Campbell lining up. Williams replaced Berto for defense when Prieto came in, which seemed to pay off immediately when Aguirre was retired on a slow roller to third base that Myers played very well and with great experience. This was a double-benefit given that Prieto was later socked for back-to-back doubles by Sawyer and Farfan and the lead was again scrubbed down to one run, with the tying run stranded at third base. No offense came forth in the top 9th, but Campbell opened the bottom of the inning with a Reyna grounder, then got into the left-handed bats at the bottom of the order. Robinson struck out, Nuno grounded out, and this game was barely put into the books as a W. 10-9 Critters. Ramos 2-5, RBI; Trevino 2-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Greenway 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2B;

Ottinger was socked for seven runs total, while batting 2-for-3 with an RBI. Ouch. Garavito got the W.

In other news

April 20 – Dallas’ 2B Hugo Acosta (.407, 0 HR, 8 RBI) has four hits and 5 RBI in a 15-3 drubbing of the Wolves.
April 21 – ATL SP Danny Orozco (1-1, 1.80 ERA) 2-hits the Condors in a narrow 1-0 win, striking out five and walking nobody.
April 22 – PIT CL Andy Hyden (0-1, 2.84 ERA, 5 SV) shuts down the Rebels in a 7-5 victory, nailing his 300th career save; 295 of those had come with the Cyclones. Hyden, 32, was the 2030 FL Rookie of the Year and had a 2.94 career ERA and as of today 666 career strikeouts.
April 22 – The Wolves have a scare when SP Phil Harrington (1-1, 1.40 ERA), routine Pitcher of the Year, leaves his start early with an oblique issue, but he should not miss more than one game.
April 23 – Atlanta acquires defensively challenged 2B Jesus Matos (.296, 2 HR, 10 RBI) from the Warriors, parting with OF Justin Simmons (.358, 1 HR, 3 RBI).
April 23 – Sacramento rookie LF/RF Mike Preble (.263, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hits his second career homer for all the scoring in a 1-0 win over Topeka.
April 23 – In a 13-0 rout of the Gold Sox, PIT C Kurt Wall (.333, 2 HR, 17 RBI) has four hits, including a homer and a double, and 6 RBI.
April 24 – The Gold Sox acquire 1B/C Jeff Wilson (.333, 3 HR, 16 RBI) from the Scorpions, parting with SP Gabriel Lara (0-3, 6.75 ERA).
April 24 – LVA SS/2B Chris O’Keefe (.297, 3 HR, 16 RBI) will miss at least a month with a broken foot.
April 25 – The Warriors’ new acquisition, OF Justin Simmons (.349, 1 HR, 4 RBI), will be out for three weeks with a cracked rib.

FL Player of the Week: WAS OF/1B Scott Martin (.412, 6 HR, 18 RBI), pushing .583 (14-24) with 4 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC LF/RF Andy Montes (.435, 2 HR, 5 RBI), hitting .571 (8-14) with 2 HR, 4 RBI in reduced hours

Complaints and stuff

Thankfully, Monday is off because our pen needs it. The pitching and defense have not been all that great, and we knew about the defense beforehand, but the pitching … eeeek.

We are first to 100 runs scored (101 precisely), which isn’t something that I ever remember happening. But were’s also at best average in many important pitching categories, fifth in starters’ ERA, sixth in bullpen ERA, and seventh in defensive efficiency. That’s still a +29 run differential, but I can’t help but be worried… especially with the damn Elks behind us by only two games *and* with a weekend set in Elk City coming up at the end of the road trip. Before that the scheduling gods have put a Bayhawks series at the Bay, so the next week could get super ugly.

Nothing good has ever happened at the Bay, and I hate not being near my players when they’re shifting horse manure in the frozen tundra of Polarland. I like to yell at them in person.

And they like to keep nomming while I do that.

Fun Fact: Jerry Outram leads the CL with 20 RBI and is a challenger for the batting race with a .397 clip.

Nobody on the damn Elks is even remotely near him in any category. It would be a shame if a pitch broke his jaw. I mean, accidents happen.

(makes a few notes, then closes notebook) Alright, what’s for dinner?

(eyes narrow to slits and the snout slowly shifts into a devilish grin)