[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-61) vs. Miners (60-57) – August 15-17, 2039

Final games against a Federal League team this year. (sour look) They had lost five in a row, so that already meant nothing, because the Critters were just completely anemic and hopeless. Pittsburgh sat fifth in both runs scored and runs allowed. Their run differential was +31 (Coons: +24). We had played the Miners for four straight years, and had lost the series every single time. Last time ‘round we’d won one of three.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Bedrosian (10-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. Roberto Pruneda (9-12, 3.23 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (10-6, 2.80 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (5-5, 5.25 ERA)
Drew Johnson (9-7, 3.06 ERA) vs. Tito Fuentes (9-2, 3.36 ERA)

We’d face three right-handers in this brief homestand.

With the Miners you always looked at Danny Santillano (.345, 29 HR, 93 RBI). He was The Batter in their lineup.

Game 1
PIT: SS Rowell – C Zarate – 1B Santillano – 3B Lastrade – CF Wade – 2B Majano – LF Palbes – RF Ugolino – P Pruneda
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Morales – LF Ledford – SS Williams – 1B Monge – P Bedrosian

The Raccoons started the week with three singles and a run driven in for Manny Fernandez before Troy Greenway hit into a double play to more or less kill the inning. The Miners hit three singles for a run of their own in the third, with Juan Palbes and Fabien Ugolino getting on to begin the inning. Rick Rowell singled home a run, and Danny Zarate slapped a grounder to Berto for a 5-4-3 double play to kill that inning too. The Miners had only one other hit through five, while the Critters had four, but couldn’t piece anything else together. Brad Ledford led off the sixth with a single, and was stranded like everybody else. Berto walked to begin the bottom 7th, but then was forced out by Cosmo, who stole his way to third base before scoring the tie-breaking run on a Fernandez sac fly. Like glue! Bedrosian was on 94 pitches and replaced with David Fernandez, who retired the bottom of the order, including the left-handed batting Juan Palbes (formerly of the Condors) and Fabien Ugolino, without issues. The Raccoons couldn’t scratch out an insurance run, then had to send Jermaine Campbell without, facing the top of the order. Rick Rowell hit a rocket to left that Ledford caught, but that left singe marks in the glove. There was no catching Zarate’s gapper that fell for a double, which brought up invincible Danny Santillano. The Raccoons didn’t bite and walked him intentionally, bringing up all 230 (advertised) pounds of Omar Lastrade, who looked more like his .278 batting average. He lined out to Berto. Adrian Wade grounded out, and somehow the Coons won a ballgame. 2-1 Blighters. M. Fernandez 2-3, 2 RBI; Williams 2-4; Bedrosian 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (11-3);

Between games, Mauricio Garavito came down with a virus and was isolated in an oxygen tent by Dr. Padilla, who was a real fanatic about healing players as quickly as possible. Garavito would be unavailable for at least the next two games, though.

Game 2
PIT: SS Rowell – LF Palbes – 1B Santillano – 3B Lastrade – CF Wade – 2B Majano – C Raymond – RF Ugolino – P M. Peterson
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – 1B Monge – SS Hernandez – P Sabre

Troy Greenway briefly ceased being dead from the waste up and hit a 2-out, 3-run homer to score Berto and Manny in the first inning. Sabre struck out three the first time through the order, not allowing much trouble to occur, but ran into Santillano eventually. The vivid slugger hit a double to right with one down in the fourth, and Omar Lastrade also landed a hit in Greenway’s territory, near the line. Santillano went for home, which inspired Lastrade to go from first to second … *before* Greenway even threw home. Greenway considered his options, and instead threw out the bumbling Lastrade at second base. That was the only run off Sabre through five, and while the Raccoons batted around the order against Peterson in the bottom 5th it transpired that it would be his last inning of the game. Dr. Padilla diagnosed an oblique tweak and removed Sabre from the game. Berto, Cosmo, Morales all landed hits, the latter two each getting home a run; Greenway walked, Maldonado singled, Monge hit an RBI single, and the score went up to 6-1.*

Pittsburgh made up a run with straight 2-out singles in the sixth, Santillano, Lastrade, and Wade all poking for a base hit against Brent Clark. The Raccoons countered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning after Nickas, Ramos, and Trevino loaded the bags with no outs. Manny’s grounder got one run home, and that would be all of it, and also the last moment before it all started to fall apart. The Raccoons had Miller strike out the bottom of the order in the seventh, but he nailed Rowell to start the eighth. Back to David Fernandez, who gave up a homer to Juan Palbes, 7-4, put Lastrade on, and gave up a homer to Wade, too, 7-6. Campbell was sent into battle to get FIVE outs this time. Groundouts from recently-a-Coon Alex Majano and Bryant Raymond at least ended the eighth for a start. In the ninth Mark Walker hit a pinch-hit single with one out, but Rowell flew out to Ed Hooge in center. Palbes struck out, thankfully, because I wouldn’t have known were to put Santillano. 7-6 Raccoons. Ramos 2-4, BB; Trevino 3-4, 2B, RBI; Greenway 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Monge 2-4, RBI; Sabre 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (11-6); Campbell 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (23);

The good news – Raffaello Sabre would be fine to make his next start as scheduled.

The bad news – We still need an entirely new bullpen this winter.

Jon Caskey came off the DL and was assigned to the Alley Cats for rehab.

Game 3
PIT: SS Rowell – C Zarate – 3B Lastrade – CF Wade – 2B Majano – LF Palbes – 1B Ponto – RF Ugolino – P T. Fuentes
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – CF Maldonado – 1B Monge – SS Williams – P Johnson

Santillano had a day off in the finale – no excuses, Drew Johnson, we expect a shutout!! Before Johnson could get close to that, the Raccoons gave him another 3-spot in the first inning, but this time did it bit by bit. Cosmo got on, Manny drove him in, Kilmer doubled the runner home, and then scored on Maldo’s single to right. Adrian Wade’s leadoff jack then took it all away as early as the second inning. The Raccoons got that run back, though, with straight 2-out singles by their 1-2-3 hitters in the bottom 2nd. Fabien Ugolino’s leadoff double and two productive outs got another run on the board for Pittsburgh in the third, but the Critters did the same trick after Kilmer ripped a leadoff double, getting up to 5-2. Johnson then loaded the bases rather quickly in the fourth inning. Lastrade singled, so did Wade. Majano popped out, but Johnson walked Juan Palbes to get three aboard. Devon Ponto was a 23-year-old rookie with one career hit and spotting Santillano in this game. He flew out to Manny in shallow left, holding all the runners, and Manny raced back to catch an Ugolino drive to strand all their runners.

Ponto left the game with an injury after five innings, but the Miners were determined to give Santillano his day off and Mark Walker would replace him. Nobody would touch Johnson through the seventh inning stretch, with the score still 5-2 at that point. Johnson was out on account of 100 pitches. Prieto walked Zarate in the eighth, but also struck out two and the Miners didn’t get any closer. Nor did the Critters get further away in the bottom 8th. Monge got on, and Williams hit into a double play. That was that. Campbell was not available after getting eight outs in two days, so the Raccoons turned to Brent Clark; after the right-handed Majano, the Miners had a bunch of left-handers coming up. Majano walked, and Palbes singled. The tying run was at the plate with nobody out, and Bryant Raymond hit for Walker. Raymond was batting .133 and struck out. Nobody hit for .221 Fabien Ugolino, and struck out, and then ex-Titan stalwart Adam Corder pinch-hit. He was also right-handed, but also batting .160, and, you know, why not!? Brent “Youth of America” Clark was gonna face him, and gave up a single to center. The bags were now full. With Rick Rowell up, the Raccoons sent Miller instead. Rowell struck out to complete the sweep. 5-2 Critters. Ramos 2-4; Trevino 2-4; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2 RBI; Kilmer 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Johnson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-7);

Raccoons (60-61) @ Canadiens (75-45) – August 19-21, 2039

The season was so far out the window that I had no reason to not just plant myself down on the couch at home with Honeypaws in my clutch because there was nothing the damn Elks could do anymore to me or the Critters that would make the season any worse. So the Coons get swept – eh, happens all the time. I was gonna be a big boy about it! I wasn’t gonna cry!

The damn Elks were first in runs scored, second in runs allowed, and looked like they would get an October ticket to defend their ******* 2038 title. They were also up 6-5 in the season series.

Oh, and they had been no-hit by Ben Lipsky on Wednesday! … But more on that below.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (6-11, 3.76 ERA) vs. Eric Weitz (13-8, 3.07 ERA)
Steve Fidler (3-6, 3.95 ERA) vs. Alexander Lewis (10-9, 4.37 ERA)
Ryan Bedrosian (11-3, 3.55 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (16-3, 2.97 ERA)

Lewis would be the lone southpaw to come up this week. Serial killer Jerry Outram was still on the DL and would be until late September, but the damn Elks MIGHT get him back in October. Fernando Alba was also on the DL for them. For Portland, Mauricio Garavito was still ill.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – CF Hooge – 1B Maldonado – SS Williams – P Chavez
VAN: CF M. Reyna – 1B J. Lopez – 2B Sprague – C Clemente – LF DeVita – RF R. Phillips – SS Cabral – 3B Schneider – P Weitz

Johnny Lopez, Glenn Sprague, and Timóteo Clemente all clubbed singles off Bernie Chavez in the first inning, putting the damn Elks up 1-0. I sighed, hugged Honeypaws a bit tighter, and got read for a long evening. Ramon Cabral opened the bottom 2nd with a single, and Bernie walked the bases full. Sprague singled in a pair with two gone in the inning, 3-0, Clemente added another run on a single, and while Marc DeVita grounded out, the game was very much in the bin.

While I would have liked the Raccoons to be a bit of a stepping stone for the damn Elks rather than just getting stepped on, they only had two base knocks through five and Bernie gave up another run on a Ryan Phillips homer in the fifth, his final inning in this particular botched start. The Coons had their best chance yet in the sixth; Berto hit a soft leadoff single, after which two consecutive batters grounded into forces at second base. Greenway slapped a double to left, but Manny had to hold at third base, and Kilmer popped out to short to strand both of them. Greenway was then lifted in a double switch with Nelson Fonseca inserted for hopefully three innings of not too much pain after not pitching at all in the Miners series (just like Garavito). The damn Elks tore into him for three runs, getting their first three batters on base in the sixth inning. Schneider singled, Weitz reached when Fonseca himself fudged his bunt, and Reyna hit an RBI single. Manny threw home well too late, and the trailing runners advanced, scoring on a sac fly and a Clemente single. Weitz mellowed in the eighth, nicking Brad Ledford in the #9 hole before allowing straight singles to the 1-2-3 batters, getting the bags filled up and the Critters’ first run home, so they now only trailed by A ******* MILLION. This would have been Greenway’s spot, but now Fonseca was hit for with Tony Morales, who jerked a ball into a run-scoring 6-4-3 before Kilmer struck out. 8-2 Canadiens. Ramos 2-4; Trevino 2-4, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4;

(cries)

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – C Kilmer – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – 1B Monge – LF Ledford – SS Hernandez – P Fidler
VAN: CF M. Reyna – 1B J. Lopez – 2B Sprague – C Clemente – LF DeVita – RF R. Phillips – SS Sibley – 3B Schneider – P A. Lewis

Johnny Lopez took Fidler deep in the first, so here we were again, a-trailing. But Fidler didn’t suffer any other unhappy accidents early on and held the damn Elks to three base hits before Troy Greenway hit a homer to right to tie the game in the fourth inning. That was all through five – the Raccoons had two hits, the damn Elks had four, and I had cookie crumbs all over myself and Honeypaws.

Portland got a paw up in the sixth, with Kilmer and Maldonado hitting doubles to take a 2-1 lead, but Monge grounded out after that to end the inning, and the damn Elks ripped Fidler’s spine out right after that. Lopez singled. Sprague doubled. Clemente drove them in with a single to left, and the score was flipped before Fidler got an out in the bottom 6th. DeVita singled, Phillips popped out, but Ross Sibley also hit an RBI single, 4-2, and with runners on the corners Fidler was yanked. Prieto conceded another run on a Brian Schneider single, 5-2, but Lewis and Reyna struck out to leave runners on the corners. But Miller and Garavito got slapped around for another four hits and two runs in the seventh inning, and it was just all getting away again. Down by five, Lewis stumbled in the eighth, with Berto and Cosmo reaching before Jeff Kilmer homered to left, and suddenly it was almost a ballgame again with a 7-5 deficit and six outs’ time to get there. The tying runs reached when Monge walked and Ledford got nicked while the Elks cycled through relievers. Righty Domingo Murillo came in for Joel Hernandez with two outs, we said nah, and Tony Morales pinch-hit, and singled up the middle to load the bags. Next pitcher, righty Natanael Abrao. Ed Hooge hit for Garavito, fell to 2-2, then slapped a ball through the right side. Monge scored, Ledford scored, Morales fell down after turning second base and was tapped out as he scrambled back to the base, ending the inning in a 7-7 tie. Brent Clark held up in the bottom 8th, but so did Tim Zimmerman in the top 9th. Clark remained resilient in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras – but the Raccoons were running out of pitchers. Sibley and Jacob Kolbe reached against David Fernandez in the bottom 10th, but Reyna flew out to left to keep the game going. The game ended with Nelson Fonseca though, when he gave up a homer to Sprague in the 11th inning. 8-7 Canadiens. Kilmer 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Monge 2-5, 2B; Morales (PH) 1-1; Hooge (PH) 2-2, 2 RBI; Clark 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

(cries more violently)

There was a roster move, with Nelson Fonseca (0-1, 6.10 ERA) was dispatched to AAA prior to Sunday’s game. Well, and now? Ottinger?

Ottinger.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Monge – SS Williams – P Bedrosian
VAN: CF M. Reyna – 1B J. Lopez – 2B Sprague – C Clemente – LF DeVita – RF R. Phillips – SS Cabral – 3B Schneider – P Sealock

The little idiots kept being little idiots, wasting four singles for nothing in the first three innings. The top 3rd was the worst; Berto hit a leadoff single, then was caught stealing. Cosmo was ahead 3-0 eventually, then popped out. In the bottom of the inning, Miguel Reyna hit a single, stole second, reached third on Morales’ error, and then scored on Glenn Sprague’s 2-out single. Yay, a deficit. Clemente flew out, but the damn Elks had three singles in the following inning before hitting into a double play to get nothing out of a wonky Bedrosian, who bunted Monge and Williams into scoring position in the fifth inning. Berto batted with one out, and plated the tying run with a grounder, but Cosmo flew out to center to leave Williams at third base. Reyna singled off Bedrosian in the fifth and was doubled up by Lopez – it was almost like 1997, with these two teams battling for fifth place. In reality, the Raccoons were close to being 20 games behind the damn Elks…

Those damn Elks were up 7-6 in hits through five, but the score was still 1-1. Nobody got a hit in the sixth, though Clemente walked and was stranded. With Monge and Williams on base again in the seventh, Bedrosian was hit for with Brad Ledford with one out already on the board. Ledford hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, Ramos struck out, and I looked at Honeypaws and wished for also having my brains and mind replaced with cotton stuffing so it all wouldn’t hurt as much.

Bottom 7th, Prieto was at work. He walked Cabral on four pitches to begin the inning, fumbled a 2-out Reyna grounder for an error, and nailed Lopez to have the bags full without even the benefit of a base hit. Sprague, hitting .245 with 13 homers was up, drilled the first pitch he got to center, and Maldonado somehow caught the damn thing, keeping the bases full. Somehow the game remained tied through eight, and Zimmerman kept holding the Raccoons to doing absolutely nothing of value. Ottinger was sent into the bottom 9th, partly because he was rested, and partly because this had to be gotten over with. Brian Schneider hit a leadoff single and was bunted to second. Reyna popped out. Morales was then charged with a passed ball, sending the winning run to third base, but Johnny Lopez fell from 3-1 to striking out against OTTINGER, sending this game, too, to extra innings. Zimmerman remained in there, just less sharp. Berto singled. Cosmo singled. Manny lined out to Sprague, with Berto BARELY getting back to second base before being doubled off. Then Troy Greenway shot a ball through the right side and some bit up the line – enough to take the lead with an RBI double! Maldonado was walked intentionally to get Morales up, who was 0-for-4 and a double play risk, but the Raccoons had already batted Kilmer earlier and he was out of the equation. Well, Tony Morales ******* emptied the bases with a double in the cavernous right-center gap, adding three runs to the board. TONY MORALES!! And now the Raccoons were so sure of their act that they didn’t bat for Ottinger against Raymond Pearce when he came up with two on and two down, and instead sent Ottinger to pitch the bottom 10th to reset the rest of the pen. Oh it was only the middle of the order! Sprague flew out to center. Clemente was nailed. Alex Perez, pinch-runner earlier, flew out to pretty deep center. Ross Sibley pinch-hit in the #6 hole, an actual left-hander for the first time this inning. And he flew out to center. 5-1 Coons. Ramos 3-5, RBI; Greenway 2-5, 2B, RBI; Monge 2-4, BB; Williams 2-3, BB; Ottinger 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

In other news

August 17 – CIN SP Ben Lipsky (8-10, 3.88 ERA) walks three and strikes out seven as he no-hits the Vancouver Canadiens for a 5-0 win! It is Lipsky’s second career no-hitter and the first for the Cyclones in almost 20 years. In addition to Juan Garcia’s 2008 perfect game they also had no-hitters pitched by Manuel Garza (1997) and Mike Fernandez (2020).
August 18 – Boston righty SP Joe Hicks (8-9, 4.03 ERA) strikes out 15 Rebels in an 8-1 victory.
August 18 – The Crusaders win 10-6 in 10 innings against the Blue Sox. NYC C Juan Herrera (.274, 3 HR, 12 RBI) hits a walkoff grand slam against former Crusaders reliever Casey Moore (7-3, 3.26 ERA, 25 SV).
August 18 – The Thunder also have a walkoff home run, 1-0 in regulation over the Pacifics, hit by INF Al Martell (.251, 9 HR, 40 RBI) off LAP MR Eric McKee (4-4, 5.63 ERA, 5 SV).
August 19 – ATL LF/RF Nate Nelson (.215, 15 HR, 46 RBI) was out for the year with a ruptured achilles tendon.
August 19 – The Knights win 1-0 over the Aces on a 2B Jesus Matos (.268, 9 HR, 58 RBI) home run. The Aces had nothing but a single by OF Nate Rossi (.249, 10 HR, 58 RBI) for base hits against Brad Santry (14-7, 3.07 ERA) and Matt May (4-4, 3.12 ERA, 23 SV).
August 20 – LAP INF/CF Brian Bowman (.295, 1 HR, 34 RBI) would miss most of the remainder of the year with back soreness, which was always good news for a 24-year-old position player.

FL Player of the Week: PIT OF Adrian Wade (.308, 13 HR, 60 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS OF Willie Vega (.272, 10 HR, 60 RBI), hitting .600 (12-20) with 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Winning week, not that it helps anymore (and even then we lost two of three to the damn Elks).

Not a lot else to say. Funny that we thought the rotation might be the weak link, but they’re second in ERA in the Continental League, while the bullpen is second from the bottom with an ERA – being *worse* by merely 1.2 runs per nine innings. Hence – rebuild that damn thing entirely.

Will Brent Clark be any help? He sure had a great curve, and was striking out 10.8 per nine innings, same as in AAA. He was also walking 3.4/9 in the majors – exactly HALF of his BB/9 with the Alley Cats. HALF.

We’ll put Clark in the MAYBE column.

Will we have money? Maybe $3M as of now. Almost $5M if we can trade Danny Monge. Considerably less if I can’t please Nick Valdes before he sets next year’s budget.

Fun Fact: Ben Lipsky spun his pair of no-hitters 10 years, 1 month, and 2 days apart, the greatest distance between no-hitters for any ABL pitcher.

The previous maximum was just under six years for Jorge Villalobos (2024, 2030).

Lipsky had previously no-hit the Aces as a sophomore with the 2029 Bayhawks. His record that year was only 13-12 with a 3.17 ERA, but he led the Continental League in WAR amongst pitchers.

But then again, WAR is a useless stat.

+++

*…and then the inning fell victim to the infamous gotta-replace-your-injured pitcher bug. Brent Clark, injected at #8 after the game had automatically put Ledford in to pinch-hit for Sabre, whose spot led off the bottom 5th, batted with three on and two outs and the inning ended.