[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Titans (0-0) – April 3-5, 2040

2039 had all been about the Titans needing puffy handwarmers and using the Raccoons to make them. They had taken 14 of 18 games from us last year, and I didn’t exactly feel the winds of change having arrived as far as that was concerned.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Bedrosian (0-0) vs. Rich Willett (0-0)
Bernie Chavez (0-0) vs. Javy Santana (0-0)
Raffaello Sabre (0-0) vs. Leonhart Becker (0-0)

Right-hander, right-hander, Sauerkraut.

I already feel the anger rising in me.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – C Morales – SS Hunter – CF Nettles – P Bedrosian
BOS: RF M. Avila – 3B Gil – CF Vermillion – LF W. Vega – C Dear – SS Bunyon – 2B Toney – 1B Vadillo – P Willett

Absolutely nobody got a hit in the first three innings; Willett walked one, Bedrosian walked two, and there wasn’t much going on offensively on Opening Day. Maybe even the Raccoons’ Opening Day pitcher curse would arrive late this year! In terms of further hitting, Willett hit Cosmo with a pitch in the fourth inning, but Trevino was caught stealing by Matt Dear in what had been an overly predictable move by the Raccoons. The first base knock of the game did not arrive until the fifth inning, when Maldonado led off and slapped a 3-2 pitch through the left side for a single. Yay, offense! Tony Morales slapped another ball through the right side, and the Raccoons were on the corners for Tony Hunter, who hit into a fielder’s choice, but good enough to get Maldo home from third base for the Critters’ first run of the season. Stephon Nettles got on with an infield single, but Bedrosian struck out and Berto flew out to Mark Vermillion in center to end the inning. Ricardo Vadillo then hit a Boston single with two outs in the bottom 5th, but that was as far as they got through five.

That was about it through six, with Willett nicking Manny Fernandez in the top 6th without great effect. Tony Hunter walked to lead off the seventh, stole second base, then was doubled in by Nettles, though, so that was a 2-0 lead for us. Willett got through Bedrosian and Berto before conceding a gap RBI double with two down to Cosmo. Fernandez grounded to Vadillo, who fudged the ball, bringing up Troy Greenway with runners on the corners, but he grounded out easily to Mike Toney. Bedrosian struck out Willie Vega to begin the bottom 7th, giving him seven on the day, but Donovan Bunyon hit a single with two outs before Toney lined a ball right into Berto’s mitten to end the inning.

Bedrosian lived through seven and a third before walking John Davis in the #9 hole. The Coons went to new import Alex Ramirez against Moises Avila, who walked in a full count, then made another move to Chuck Jones, another new import, against the guys to follow. Gotta test that new bullpen! Jones faced only Antonio Gil, who spanked a grounder to Tony Hunter that ended up going 6-4-3 and ended the inning. THe bottom 9th was no less of a problem. Rico Sanchez was out for his first Coons game, and allowed a leadoff single to Vermillion before whiffing a pair. Chris Murphy then pinch-hit and singled, bringing up the tying run with two gone and runners on the corners. Mike Toney was in the box, and popped up the first pitch. Hunter snagged it, and the Raccoons had a winning record. 3-0 Coons! Maldonado 2-4; Nettles 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bedrosian 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

I liked that. More of that, please.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – C Kilmer – SS Hunter – CF Nettles – P Chavez
BOS: RF M. Avila – 3B Gil – CF Vermillion – LF W. Vega – C Dear – SS Bunyon – 2B Toney – 1B Vadillo – P J. Santana

Bernie Chavez struck out four of his first five batters this season, but critically not Willie Vega, who tripled leading off the bottom 2nd. Bunyon brought him home with another base hit, giving Boston an early 1-0 lead. Santana would open the third with a single to center, but Bernie struck out another two on his way out of the inning. The Raccoons’ offense had yet to arrive, but Manny Fernandez slapped a 1-out double to left with one gone in the fourth inning. Troy Greenway was halfheartedly walked, while Maldonado reached on Mike Toney’s error, loading the bases for Jeff Kilmer, who got ahead 3-1 against Santana, and the Titans weren’t keen on walking in the tying run. Santana was to challenge Kilmer, but Kilmer remained on top of him and hit a shot to left, that was very much outta here. GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Bernie Chavez went to work immediately in his attempt to get rid of the resulting 4-1 lead. Willie Vega hit a leadoff double off him in the bottom 4th, then scored on Toney’s 2-out single to make a run for it, even though the Critters’ defense visibly resisted the idea of giving up more runs and saved Bernie’s bacon twice in the fifth, before the bottom half tacked on another run on a flush of singles in the sixth, with Nettles singling home Maldo to make it 5-2. Vega singled off Bernie in the bottom of the inning, but was doubled up, 6-4-3, by Matt Dear, who however was 3-for-4 in catching Raccoons trying to steal a base and had already nipped both Berto and Cosmo in this series.

Bernie Chavez pitched seven innings on 101 pitches without blowing the lead, so there was that. Top 8th, Greenway singled, Kilmer walked, and Nettles had another 2-out RBI single against left-hander Peter “Graveyard” Gill. Jon Caskey hit for Chavez at that point, but grounded out, then remained in at third base, making a nifty play behind Jermaine Campbell in the bottom 8th. Campbell went 1-2-3 on the Titans; Mauricio Garavito allowed a 2-hit hit to Dear in his season debut, but also escaped the ninth inning unharmed after that. 6-2 Raccoons. Kilmer 2-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Nettles 3-4, 2 RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Game 3
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Greenway – 1B Maldonado – 3B Caskey – CF Hooge – P Sabre
BOS: RF M. Avila – 3B Gil – CF Vermillion – LF W. Vega – C Dear – SS Bunyon – 2B Toney – 1B Vadillo – P Becker

Sabre got torn apart for six hits in the first inning. The first three batters all hit singles to take a 1-0 lead for Boston. Vega grounded out, but Dear also singled to left. That scored Gil, while Vermillion was thrown out at home by Fernandez for the second out, but Sabre allowed another two hits to Bunyon and Toney, and one more run, before Ricardo Vadillo flew out to center. Not the start for someone who was probably the most steady we had ever seen him in ’39! While the Raccoons’ offense got absolutely nothing done against Sauerkraut Becker, Sabre never stopped being bad. The defense patchworked him through the next two innings, but after Vadillo hit a leadoff single in the fourth, Sabre also fumbled Becker’s bunt, putting two on with nobody out. Avila and Gil made outs in the shallow outfield, but Vermillion knocked in a run with a 2-out single, 4-0, and that was the end for the ravaged Sabre. Brent Clark induced a pop from Willie Vega to escape the inning.

Top 5th, Hoogey opened with a single against Sauerkraut, and when Clark was used to bunt, Matt Dear threw that one away, moving runners into scoring position with nobody out. Tony Hunter then clipped the southpaw from Germany for an RBI single to left, with Clark cautiously held at third base. Cosmo was up as the tying run, but flew out in shallow right. Manny hit a sac fly in center; that ball was so deep, even Cristiano Carmona would have made it home in time, let alone Brent Clark. Kilmer doubled home Hunter after that, but the Raccoons stopped at 4-3 when Greenway grounded out. Mike Toney then countered with a huge homer off Clark in the bottom of the inning, extending the Boston lead to 5-3 again.

Berto pinch-hit and singled in the #9 hole to begin the seventh inning, but was doubled up by Hunter to short-circuit the inning. The Raccoons were retired in order in the eighth inning, but Jones and Ramirez were keeping the Titans just two runs away for the ninth inning, where we’d face right-hander Gilberto Castillo. Maldonado grounded out. Ledford hit for Caskey, but flew out to center. Hoogey flew out to right. 5-3 Titans. Hunter 2-4, RBI; Ramos (PH) 1-1;

Well, we couldn’t expect to beat Boston like a drum forever. Two outta three ain’t bad! It’s more wins than the damn Elks have so far (zero).

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Knights (1-2) – April 6-8, 2040

Home opener time! The Raccoons would host the Knights, who had scored 15 runs in their first set, but had also given up 16, the most in the league at this stage. The Critters had won seven of nine from the Knights for two straight years.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Dominy (0-0) vs. Jon Pereira (0-0)
Jared Ottinger (0-0) vs. Chris Lulay (0-0)
Ryan Bedrosian (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Brad Santry (1-0, 2.35 ERA)

One more southpaw to come up here, which would be Lulay on Saturday.

Game 1
ATL: CF N. Velez – LF Inoa – C Horner – 2B Matos – 1B J. Garcia – 3B B. Moore – RF Hester – SS Holmes – P J. Pereira
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Maldonado – C Morales – RF Ledford – SS Hunter – CF Nettles – P Dominy

The Knights would take the lead in the second inning, putting Jose Garcia (single), Bill Moore (walk), and Billy Hester (single) on base with one out against new Coon Dominy, who then handled Ryan Holmes’ comebacker for a force at home plate before giving up a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run single to the opposing pitcher. And NOW it’s a season!

Maldonado’s leadoff jack in the bottom half of the inning got the Raccoons back to 2-1, after which Morales singled, then bowled over Jesus Matos in a collision at second base on Hunter’s potential 6-4-3 double play grounder. Morales was out on merit, and Matos was out as well, but on account of injury. Andy Montes replaced him. Stephon Nettles hit a single with two outs, and Dominy hit a 2-out RBI double to left, tying the game at two. Berto added an RBI single, 3-2, before Cosmo flew out to Luis Inoa, but an Adam Horner home run tied the game right away in the third inning. Montes doubled, but somehow was left on base, and Nelson Velez walked in the fourth, but was doubled up by Inoa. The Raccoons’ expensive addition wasn’t faring all too well, walking four and whiffing three through four innings. He’d retire the Knights in order in the fifth, then walked Moore to begin the sixth, but sat down the next three, ending his Coons debut with a K to Pereira while keeping the score knotted at three.

While the Coons also got decent relief from Garavito and Campbell, the offense produced little of value. There was the odd single, but we either found a double play to hit into or Cosmo got caught stealing again… By now the Raccoons had attempted five stolen bases, and had been through out four times. Raul Sanchez had a walk and two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning, keeping the game still tied, but Hooge, Berto, and Cosmo made outs in order in the bottom 9th against righty Ruben Vela, and the game went to extra innings. Brent Clark held the Knights away in the 10th inning, while Vela was good for another three outs. The end came in the 11th, with Rafael Zacarias allowing a single to Ryan Holmes, then a homer to Dominique Dichio, that weird guy that cropped up every three years or so to hit a highly annoying homer off some hopeless Critter. Matt May opened the bottom 11th by clipping Hunter, bringing up the tying run right away. Nettles and Kilgallen both lined out to Montes before Berto singled to left, moving Hunter to second base. Cosmo grounded to Montes with two outs, who now fumbled the ball and loaded the bases for Manny Fernandez with two outs. And Manny grounded out to the pitcher. 5-3 Knights. Ramos 2-6, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

No-no, the bullpen is totally reworked and *fine*.

It’s *fine*.

The Raccoons would have more irregular lineups through this series, since the policy was still to give everybody a day off in the first week, and the team would not have an actual day off until the third week of the season, too. We also didn’t get to see Lulay as expected, but the Knights went back to Brad Santry, who had pitched on Monday.

Game 2
ATL: CF N. Velez – LF Inoa – C Horner – 1B J. Garcia – RF Montes – 3B B. Moore – SS Holmes – 2B DiNatale – P Santry
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Morales – LF Hooge – 1B Kilgallen – 2B Caskey – P Ottinger

The return of Ottie to the rotation brought thousands of kids to the ballpark who had no idea what they had signed up for. He actually retired five Knights in a row to begin the game, whiffing two, before Bill Moore hit a double. Nothing came of that, but by the third inning Santry hit a double off him, too. Again the Knights failed to pounce, but at least Santry was also sitting down strings of Critters – seven in a row before Devin DiNatale threw away Caskey’s grounder for a 2-base error in the bottom 3rd. Jared Ottinger came up and crashed a home run to right-center, and the entire ballpark went nuts. Even Slappy clapped!!

Unfortunately, Ottinger, who heard “Ottie! Ottie!” chants when he returned to the mound for the fourth inning, still had to pitch. Jose Garcia hit a 1-out single in the fourth, and Montes hit a deep fly out. With two down, Ottinger walked Moore, and gave up a run on Ryan Holmes’ single. DiNatale then popped out, which the stupid kids took as a sign that everything would be alright. In the fifth, the 1-2-3 batters loaded the bases on two walks and a soft single. Garcia was batting with one out, and the pitching coach tried to talk skill into Ottinger, who fell to 2-0 before giving up a 2-run double to right. Montes hit a sac fly, 4-2, and Ottinger threw a wild pitch at 0-2 to Bill Moore with two outs. Garcia went to third, and Moore went down on the next pitch, which hit him in the shoulder before the carom struck him in the helmet. Dichio replaced him as pinch-runner and at third base, while Alex Ramirez replaced a dismembered Ottinger in a double switch (Manny entered in place of Ed Hooge). Ramirez got Holmes to ground out, ending the damn inning. DiNatale then homered off him in the sixth instead, and Jermaine Campbell got torched for two runs in the eighth, while the Raccoons had no offense to offer except for that Ottinger home run until … well… maybe Sunday? 7-2 Knights.

And a losing record has been attained!

Yay.

Game 3
ATL: CF N. Velez – LF Inoa – C Horner – 1B J. Garcia – 3B B. Moore – SS Holmes – RF E. Martin – 2B DiNatale – P Lulay
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Greenway – 1B Kilgallen – CF Nettles – 3B Caskey – P Bedrosian

Bedrosian opened his second start with a walk to Nelson Velez, who was then doubled up. In the second, he nailed Jose Garcia, conceded a single to Bill Moore, and then walked Holmes. Three on, no outs, mound conference. Evan Martin hit a long fly to right that Greenway reduced to a leaping grab and a sac fly at the fence, and when DiNatale lined to right, Cosmo made a lunging grab, caught Holmes off his base, and flung the ball to Matt Kilgallen in time for a 4-3 double play. The Raccoons’ offense the first time through was nothing more than Nettles drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second base, and being left to fend off the monsters there for himself.

Nettles then hurt a claw on a defensive play in the fourth inning and came out of the game with Horner (leadoff walk) and Moore on the corners again. Maldonado replaced him, while Holmes and DiNatale both popped out to piss another chance away. The Raccoons maintained zero base hits on their ledger until Maldonado singled with two outs in the fifth, then swiftly got caught stealing because a light drizzle had set in and he wanted to get back into the dry dugout.

Bedrosian failed his way into the seventh, still only 1-0 behind, then left after 101 pitches with DiNatale on second and two outs. Chuck Jones rung up Nelson Velez to end the inning. Manny erred onto base with a single in the bottom of the inning, but nothing came out of that either. Maldonado hit a 1-out single in the eighth, then was kept from trying to steal when I subtly knocked on the window overlooking the Field of Sadness with the barrel of the blunderbuss. Caskey walked. Berto batted for Chuck Jones, fell to 0-2, then still floated a ball into shallow center as the drizzle got worse and became actual rain. Maldonado went, Velez didn’t get there, and Maldonado scored to tie the game at one. Three pitches later, the game went to an hour-long rain delay with Tony Hunter down 1-2 against Lulay, who was knocked out by the advent of ill weather that might have ended the game before Berto’s single. When play resumed, still in a drizzle, 66 minutes later, Hunter worked a walk, which brought up Cosmo with three on, one out, and Ruben Vela pitching. He struck out in a full count, but Manny Fernandez drew four balls in four pitches to push home the go-ahead run with two outs! Then Kilmer grounded out – but Rico Sanchez sat down three in a row to put the game away! 2-1 Furballs! Maldonado 2-2; Ramos (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

April 2 – IND SP Jake Jackson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) spins a 6-hit shutout over the Loggers in a 2-0 Opening Day win.
April 2 – The Buffaloes beat the Miners, 6-4, on only three base hits. Drawing six walks and getting hit twice helps about as much as the grand slam by 1B Chris Delagrange (1-for-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI).
April 3 – The Aces’ only hit in a 2-1 loss to the Bayhawks is a home run by C Danny Gomez (1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI).
April 4 – The Buffaloes walk off on the Miners, 5-4 in 17 innings, on a sac fly by SS/1B Justin Lamphere (2-for-3, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
April 5 – OCT SP Sebastien Parham (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will miss the entire season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. The 25-year-old right-hander faced just two batters in his first start.
April 6 – The Condors’ new addition, RF/LF Roy Pincus (1-for-4, 0 HR, 0 RBI) will miss most of the season. The 36-year-old has suffered a broken kneecap.
April 6 – IND RF/LF David Gonzales (.429, 0 HR, 2 RBI) would miss four months with a pretty bad concussion.
April 6 – The Titans erase a 5-3 deficit in the ninth inning against the Bayhawks before walking off on a grand slam by C Matt Dear (.188, 1 HR, 5 RBI) for a 9-5 victory.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.522, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: IND SP Jake Jackson (2-0, 0.00 ERA)

Complaints and stuff

First, Stephon Nettles’ claw will be fine. It’s just a blister, says Dr. Padilla. He might be able to play on Monday. Maybe we’ll give him a day off anyway.

Whether anything else will turn out fine is a bit up in the air. The Raccoons scored 19 runs in the first week, second from the bottom in the CL. Troy Greenway and Manny Fernandez are batting 3-for-38 between them. It’s not like the top of the order is much better; Berto and Cosmo are 9-for-44, and 1-for-3 in stealing bases. Hooge and Ledford are under .200, and so is Tony Morales, and Caskey, too. Matt Kilgallen has no hits at all. The entire offense has been down to Kilmer, Nettles, and Maldonado. Those three were good enough for three wins, somehow.

Maybe Jared Ottinger can be turned into a first baseman…?

All players waived and designated for assignment on Opening Day (Pena, Sims, Nickas) went unclaimed and were assigned to AAA afterwards.

The Raccoons signed “depth” for the rotation this week, too, adding 25-year-old right-hander Cory Lambert for $275k. He had never pitched in the majors so far, and would be assigned to the Alley Cats, too, given that AAA had been his home for the last four years. He had originally been a fifth-round pick out of high school by the Baybirds in ’33.

Elsewhere, ex-Coon Dusty Kulp got two years and $1.3M from the Capitals in the first week of the season.

Fun Fact: 63 years ago today, Samuel Serra of Dallas hits for the very first cycle in ABL history.

The game was a 20-10 spank-out over the Miners. Serra, a first baseman, hit .337 with seven homers that first season, but then gradually was reduced in production and was flushed out of the majors by the time he was 31 in 1982. He hit .293 with 22 homers and 153 RBI for his career, all spent with the Stars.