[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-4) @ Bayhawks (9-9) – April 27-29, 2038

For three years in a row, the Raccoons had always won five of nine games from the Bayhawks, but it had hardly ever been easy, because some amount of games would take place at the Bay, and, invariably, nothing good had ever happened at the Bay. While the Raccoons were tops in runs scored (!!) in the CL, the Bayhawks had allowed the fewest runs, so here was a scenario of irresistible force vs. immovable object. They were ninth in runs scored (Coons: 3rd in runs allowed), had neither speed nor power, but the best defense in the CL, which was unfortunately a big deficiency for Portland…

Projected matchups:
Josh Weeks (1-0, 6.28 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (0-1, 6.23 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (2-0, 2.84 ERA) vs. Ryan Kinner (2-0, 0.36 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (1-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Rick Haugh (0-0, 2.70 ERA)

SP Josh Long was on the DL, and we might see the spot start by Rick Haugh on Thursday, or Lorenzo Viamontes (1-3, 3.52 ERA). Either one was right-handed; in fact all their starters coming up were right-handed. Another player on the DL for them was OF Edgardo Balderrama, batting .409 before straining an oblique.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Weeks
SFB: CF M. Castillo – 2B Schneller – RF Hennessy – LF D. Martinez – SS Greer – 1B McGrath – C Kennett – 3B Deming – P G. Rendon

Neither team had more than one hit in the first three innings; while the Raccoons wasted it on a Morales single that ended up with Stedham having two on and two outs and whiffing pathetically, the Bayhawks got theirs on a Mel Castillo double in the bottom 3rd, plating Sonny Deming, who had walked, from second base for the first run of the game. Weeks kept stumbling over his own paws, walking a pair to begin the bottom 4th before getting a much-desired double play grounder that Dave Myers stretched for, then allowed a 1-out single to ex-Critter Gilberto Rendon in the fifth that saw former Indian Dan Schneller nicked with two outs. Bobby Hennessy singled to left, the Bayhawks sent Rendon around third base, and he was thrown out by Manny Fernandez. Manny then swiftly put the Critters on the board as they took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning on back-to-back bombs to rightfield by him and Troy Greenway, when nothing more out-of-the-blue could have happened at that point, with Rendon seemingly in control with two hits and six strikeouts on his ledger.

Marshall Greer walked in the bottom 6th and was caught stealing, while Rendon was knocked out when Myers opened the seventh with a double. Southpaw Adam Moran got Jesse Stedham to fly out to right before giving up a gapper to Weeks for a blinding RBI triple…! Berto was nicked on the first pitch, but Cosmo landed the RBI single to cash the pitcher. A soft single by Manny loaded the bases, and the Raccoons were ready for the knockout (or at least I was), but had to settle for a sac fly when Greenway flew out to Hennessy. Maldonado however singled, 6-1, and the inning only ended when new pitcher Steven Wilson got Tony Morales to pop out to short. The game looked in the bag – despite Josh Weeks being anything but sharp, the Raccoons got him through eight innings in this game. Ben Feist would pitch the ninth, getting around a leadoff walk drawn by Mario Hurtado to put the W in the books. 6-1 Critters. M. Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Myers 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Weeks 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (2-0) and 1-2, BB, 3B, RBI;

Berto was 0-for-4 with an error in this game. Watching him struggle made me sad inside.

That walk off Feist was the last appearance for Mario Hurtado with the Bayhawks. He was traded downstate to L.A. overnight for C Robbie Sailas, who had hit .283 with 14 homers for the Pacifics last year before getting dumped into AAA this season, and and unranked pitching prospect, Josh Wilkes, who looked like he could have a lengthy relief career ahead of him.

Hurtado had batted only 4-for-10 for San Fran, so both teams got rid of unwanted toys here.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
SFB: CF M. Castillo – 2B Schneller – 1B McGrath – LF D. Martinez – SS Greer – C Sailas – RF Hennessy – 3B Deming – P Kinner

Berto drew a walk to begin this game, but couldn’t get a steal off despite a visible urge to do so. Blame was on Cosmo Trevino, who hit a homer to right on the 1-0 pitch, putting Portland up 2-0. We’d get another run in the next inning; Tony Morales hit a double to open it and was on third base when Ryan Kinner inexplicably threw a wild pitch to Raffaello Sabre with two outs and two strikes. Sabre gave up a run on doubles by Greer and Sailas in the bottom of the inning. Hennessy also singled, but that was not enough to score Sailas, and a poor grounder by Deming and a K to Kinner without any funny accidents ended the inning with Portland still up 3-1.

Dan Schneller cut the gap in half with a solo homer in the bottom 3rd, which was nothing you wouldn’t expect from him having worked Raccoons pitchers with hammers for a living with Indy for the last six years. Speaking of hammers, Sabre took one to the head when Robbie Sailas hit a blast to right in the bottom 4th. That one came with Greer on base and gave the lead to San Fran, 4-3. Sabre wouldn’t make it out of the fifth, allowing a run by walking Mel Castillo, who advanced on a grounder, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch (…), and Dave Martinez and Marshall Greer then also reached base again ahead of Sailas, and we couldn’t take any more beatings from that guy. David Fernandez came on, gave up a fly to left, but the other Fernandez was on that and ended the inning. Dennis Citriniti then was demolished for three runs in the bottom 7th, which began with a Castillo triple and never seemed to end. Two runs scored after Garavito had replaced the yanked righty, on a pair of 2-out RBI singles… The Raccoons couldn’t get anybody out anymore and at the same time also couldn’t score anymore. There was the odd single or walk throughout the second half of the game, but they didn’t end the Bayhawks’ string of eight unanswered runs until Troy Greenway lifted a solo homer off Kinner in the ninth. In the bigger picture, that run was moot, though. 8-4 Bayhawks. Hooge (PH) 1-1;

Like I said, nothing good ever happens at the Bay.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B Myers – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – C Morales – LF Ledford – SS Williams – P Chavez
SFB: CF M. Castillo – 2B Schneller – 1B McGrath – LF D. Martinez – SS Greer – C Sailas – RF Hennessy – 3B Deming – P Haugh

Jesus Maldonado reached the .400 mark and a 13-game hitting streak when he singled home Troy Greenway and his leadoff double in the top of the second inning. That was the first marker on the board, and two more followed in the inning… after the Raccoons made three outs. Robbie Sailas was the assailant again, hitting a 2-run homer off Bernie Chavez with Greer on base once more. Portland equalized the following half-inning, with Cosmo reaching, stealing, and scoring on a sac fly. Haugh walked Greenway and Maldonado with two outs, but Tony Morales flew out and it was all for nothing.

The 2-2 tie continued while Dave Martinez reached for alleged catcher’s interference (I saw nothing!!) in the bottom 4th. Greer hit into a 6-4-3, which took the sails out of Sailas, too, and the inning ended with no runs scored. The Raccoons stranded their 3-4 batters on the corners in the fifth, where they had ended up with 2-out singles. Maldonado grounded out to short to waste the opportunity. While Bernie lacked stuff, the Bayhawks were also impatient. Through five innings, he threw only 57 pitches and got only two strikeouts. Yay, a complete game in the making? Over my dead body…

The Raccoons took a new lead in the sixth inning. Brad Ledford found the rightfield corner for a 1-out triple, then scored on Elijah Williams’ single before Bernie bunted skillfully into a double play to keep it 3-2. The Bayhawks didn’t; the 3-4-5 went off single, double, RBI single on Bernie to begin the bottom 6th, with a run-scoring double play grounder by Sailas giving them the lead. Poor boy didn’t get an RBI on that one; he had only been credited with six in two damn games so far. The Raccoons seemed beaten this time; after Trevino reached base and was caught stealing they were retired in order in the rest of the seventh, then the eighth, by relievers Adam Moran and Jason Frank. Bottom 8th, the Raccoons gave up an insurance run with Prieto on singles by Dan Schneller and Dave Martinez, with an assist by Manny Fernandez who threw the ball away trying to kill Schneller at third base. Jon Salls retired the Critters in order in the ninth. 5-3 Bayhawks. Trevino 2-5; Greenway 2-3, BB, 2B;

Like I said, nothing good ever –

Somehow neither Yeom Soung nor Jermaine Campbell ever pitches in this series….

Raccoons (15-6) @ Canadiens (14-7) – April 30-May 2, 2038

At least I was at peace; there was no way this series was not going to go horribly wrong. Although – it was in Elk City, and hometeam meltdowns were a notable feature in this perpetual battle to the death. The damn Elks were second in runs scored, so our pitching would remain beleaguered, but they were now also allowing the fewest runs in the league after a dominant display of pitching against the Falcons during the week. The teams had split two games in Portland to begin the season.

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (2-1, 2.33 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (2-0, 6.43 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (2-0, 4.24 ERA) vs. Alex Lewis (0-1, 3.14 ERA)
Josh Weeks (2-0, 4.43 ERA) vs. David Arias (1-3, 3.72 ERA)

Sparkes was now the only Raccoons starting hurler with an ERA under four. And Lewis was the only Elks starter that was using the left hoof.

I was in the office on Friday, still banned from entering Tundra Nation after having ripped a laughing kid’s Elks cap from his head and stomping on it (the hat, not the kid) a few decades ago. Canadians were so sensitive …!

Nobody had expected me to come in, so I caught Slappy napping, Maud knitting, and Cristiano doing some sort of video chat with a guy sitting on his bed and wearing only one sock. Worse yet, none of them seemed particularly perturbed by me seeing them not working all too hard. Except for the guy wearing only one sock when I poked my head over Cristiano’s shoulder.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes
VAN: 3B Morrow – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – RF R. Phillips – C Clemente – SS Cabral – 2B Sprague – LF LeJeune – P Sealock

Nobody scored the first time through for either team, with Greenway making two great catches to strand a total of three Elks runners in the first two innings. Slappy woke up in the fourth inning, just before Manny Fernandez forced out Cosmo, then scored on Maldonado’s 2-out single for the first run on the board. Greenway would hold the lead together going forwards; while Sparkes was not pitching badly, he had a knack for allowing 2-out drivers with somebody in scoring position. He did that with Jerry Outram (who led the CL with 21 RBI) hitting a drive to deep right in the bottom 5th, and snatched that ball, too, then hit a 2-out solo jack himself in the sixth.

Bottom 6th, things threatened to go south. Ryan Phillips hit a leadoff single, and Sparkes walked Timóteo Clemente. Ramon Cabral grounded out, advancing the runners, but Sparkes then crucially got a K against Glenn Sprague. The Raccoons refused to get beaten by persistent pest Jesse LeJeune, batting .270 and from the left side to boot, and walked him with intent to get to the pitcher Sealock. Sparkes got him to 1-2, then gave up a line drive for a game-tying 2-run single. Eric Morrow struck out after that, but my black googly eyes were already wet at that point.

The next three innings saw no offensive heroics; for Portland, Yeom Soung, Ben Feist, and Mauricio Garavito held the tie. The Raccoons and Elks ended up in extras, with the Critters again retired in order in the 10th. Johnny Lopez would hit a leadoff single against David Fernandez in the bottom 10th, but was doubled up by Outram, who had yet to ram out anything. Cosmo hit a leadoff single off righty Marcos Ochoa, in his second frame of duty, in the 11th, then was forced out by Manny’s grounder to Sprague. A wild pitch moved Fernandez to second, and Greenway to first by intentional walk. Maldonado struck out, Morales grounded out, and they would have to try again in the 12th, then with Elijah Williams reaching via leadoff walk off Ochoa. Stedham struck out as he continued to drop into an ever deeper hole, Hooge grounded out, and Jeff Kilmer, batting for David Fernandez in the #1 hole, walked. Cosmo pushed a 2-out single past Brian Schneider at short, and Williams raced home with reckless abandon, breaking a very persistent tie for a 2-out run! Manny grounded out, bringing in Campbell for the bottom 12th. Morrow hit a single with two outs, but Lopez struck out to put the game away. 3-2 Furballs! Trevino 3-5, BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; D. Fernandez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

12 innings, seven hits, one W. I’ll take it.

But I’d also take a cozy 9-1 win on Saturday.

Game 2
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B Myers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – CF Hooge – C Kilmer – SS Williams – P Ottinger
VAN: 3B Morrow – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – RF R. Phillips – C Clemente – SS Cabral – 2B Sprague – LF A. Perez – P A. Lewis

The offense had a good start, plating three runs in the first inning on Lewis. Cosmo hit a leadoff single, Myers walked, and when Cosmo tried to steal third base, Clemente threw the ball away to allow him to score. Maldonado’s 2-out RBI double and Hoogey’s RBI single then made it 3-0. For even better news, Ottie allowed only one runner on a leadoff walk to Phillips in the second, and Timóteo Clemente hit into a double play right away. He didn’t get a strikeout until Outram fell victim to him in the fourth, but he also didn’t try to break the defenders’ little necks, getting plenty of cozy bouncers and pops in the early going. The first major complaint about Ottie would come in the fifth when he bunted poorly and got Williams forced out, then tried to make up for it by stealing second, but was caught and thrown out by Clemente.

Then Phillips walked, Clemente singled, and Cabral walked, loading the bags with the tying runs and nobody out. Sprague hit a sac fly to right on 3-1, and I rolled into a ball with Ottinger suddenly having turned sour from one inning to the next. Crucially though, Alex Perez struck out, and Lewis made an easy third out, stranding the tying runs. Outram tripled to center in the sixth, but with two outs and nobody aboard, and was stranded by Phillips’ grounder. On to the seventh, Maldonado and Kilmer went to the corners with one out. We might have hit Berto for Williams here – but not with a southpaw on the mound. Williams hit a fly near the leftfield line, Perez hustled and tried to reach it instead of playing it safe, didn’t make it and then was lucky that the ball struck his arm on the bounce and didn’t get into the corner; it was still an RBI double, bringing up Ottie in a 4-1 game with runners on second and third and one out. Ottie was of course a really good hitting pitcher, .250 this season in 12 at-bats, but a spiffy .328 for his career (119 at-bats). There was no pinch-hitting for that guy… but he struck out. Cosmo grounded out to third, and the runners were stranded. Ottinger was knocked out in the bottom of the inning when Sprague and Perez hit 2-out singles, the latter of the infield variety, and left-handed Fernando Alba batted for Lewis. David Fernandez came on, served up a hovering baseball that was hit 430 feet, and the game was tied.

Fernandez walked Lopez and allowed a single to Outram in the eighth, then mishandled PH Jay Elder’s comebacker for an error. Lopez scored, after which Prieto barely restored order, getting a fly from Clemente and a double play from Cabral. The Raccoons were facing defeat now, though, and had to score a run off Tim Zimmerman (2.61 ERA) in the ninth, but were retired in order. 5-4 Canadiens. Myers 2-4; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Williams 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Yes, Maud, I would love to take a swing at the fruit basket. – (bites into lemon)

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Weeks
VAN: LF A. Perez – 1B J. Elder – CF Outram – C Clemente – 3B Morrow – SS Cabral – RF Pohl – 2B Sprague – P D. Arias

Control completely eluded Weeks, which was so perfect for a rubber game in Elk City. Outram singled in the bottom 1st in a full count, and he walked Clemente and Morrow before Ramon Cabral grounded out to first base to strand all the runners. The Raccoons scratched out the first run, getting a leadoff single from Troy Greenway in the second, then a 2-out single by Myers that dropped in front of Outram. Pat Pohl’s leadoff single in the bottom 2nd dissolved in Sprague’s 6-4-3 grounder, while straight knocks by the 1-2-3 batters in the top 3rd extended the lead to 2-0 for Portland. I was screaming for Greenway to hit a bomb, but he struck out, Maldonado grounded out, and the inning ended. In turn, the bottom 3rd saw Weeks beaten to death with two outs. Outram singled, Clemente walked, and Morrow hit an RBI single. Cabral walked to load the bases, and then Pohl hit a double over Greenway for two runs, flipping the score. It didn’t end, ever. Sprague hit an RBI single, Arias (…) hit an RBI single, and Perez hit an RBI single. That was the end for Weeks, who had his remains scraped off the mound in favor of Citriniti, who allowed another RBI single to Jay Elder – which made for nine straight runners with two outs in the inning, and seven runs – before Outram grounded out.

I didn’t even say anything, I just started to drink everything that got into reach.

Arias was removed when Morales and Myers reached base in the sixth, but Stedham made another out against Juan Melendrez. There was no rally in the team and they’d cash their first losing week, quelle surprise. The Raccoons were never close to scoring a run after the 7-run shellacking and the damn Elks were confident with managing what they had, ending a completely dismal baseball game after just three innings. 7-2 Canadiens. Ramos 2-4; Feist 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

In other news

April 30 – The Wolves win the completion of a suspended game from the opening week of the season when RF/LF/1B Oliver Witte (.267, 1 HR, 9 RBI) singles C Morgan Kuhlmann (.270, 2 HR, 11 RBI) across for a 6-5 walkoff win, then win another game from the Pacifics, 4-1 in all nine scheduled innings.

FL Player of the Week: SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann (.286, 4 HR, 17 RBI) hitting .526 (10-19), 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC LF/RF/1B Graciano Salto (.333, 3 HR, 16 RBI) batted .522 (12-23), 1 HR, 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: WAS OF/1B Scott Martin (.379, 6 HR, 18 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN CF/RF Jerry Outram (.375, 5 HR, 21 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Ryan Bedrosian (4-1, 1.38 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Eric Weitz (5-0, 2.06 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B/C Jeff Wilson (.321, 4 HR, 21 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: SFB LF/RF/1B Dave Martinez (.316, 5 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Four weeks in, all the confidence has dissipated. The rotation is horrendous and gets whacked all the goddamn time. The pen is no help. The team is still first in runs scored, but that is about all they do. Not included: Jesse Stedham, rotting in a 1-for-24 hole.

There are options. Steve Fidler has a 1.13 ERA in St. Petersburg, so he should get a shot at the major league rotation. The only thing is who’s getting dropped. There are … multiple candidates. Maud and Steve from Accounting advised me that Ottie (the only starter on the roster with options and no 10/5 rights) has to remain in the rotation, because we sell 35% more crap from the store in the ballpark when he pitches. Sparkes has a good ERA at least, but there’s Weeks and Bernie Chavez who have gotten nothing but whacked so far. Sabre, too, but he only has the fourth-worst ERA at 4.18….

And well, Steve Fidler is 27 and has never started a game in the majors, but he’s everything I can easily come up with.

That Jeff Wilson that was Rookie of the Month is the same Jeff Wilson we tossed into the Greenway deal last July. He arrived in Denver just a week earlier in the Gabriel Lara trade. Man, to have a hitting first baseman rather than Jesse Stedham now…..

And no, we won’t try Chiyosaku Maruyama for the 29th time.

Fun Fact: 16-8 still means the Raccoons are on pace to match their best ever record of 108-54, achieved in 1996.

They didn’t win anything that year, and then immediately plunged into the Decade of Darkness. It’s also the ONLY 100-win season on record for this ramshackle franchise.