[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-56) @ Loggers (56-56) – August 6-8, 2040

As the battle raged for third place in the CL North – … no, I don’t think they cared either. But they were trying to look good for the home crowd at least, I’d guess. They were fifth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, leading the league in stolen bases and sitting second in bullpen ERA, while they were in the bottom three in home runs and defense. They only had one injury though (Joseph Ronan), so nothing was in the way of insufferable Ted Del Vecchio tearing the hapless Critters a couple o’ new ones. Milwaukee led the season series, 7-5.

Projected matchups:
Nelson Moreno (4-5, 3.15 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (3-9, 5.11 ERA)
Juan Zabala (0-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. Carlos Padilla (7-7, 4.56 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (10-6, 3.12 ERA) vs. Alfredo Vargas (8-12, 4.02 ERA)

There he was, the 13th starting pitcher lined up by the Raccoons this year. Have the baseball gods no mercy on us anymore?? The Loggers would line up a string of right-handers for the Coons to poke against.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Brito – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – CF Castro – 1B Salazar – P Moreno
MIL: C F. Gomez – CF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Paul – RF Duncan – 1B Zitzner – 2B V. Acosta – LF J. Nelson – P Piedra

The Raccoons began the week in style, loading the bases in the first inning with nobody out before only scoring on a bases-loaded walk issued to Kilmer while Fernandez popped out and Balaski slapped into a double play. The bases were loaded again in the third inning on shy hits by Jose Brito and Manny Fernandez, then Jared Paul’s error on a potential double-play grounder by Jeff Kilmer with one out. Balaski, in the same spot asbefore, flew out to shallow center, keeping the runners pinned, and Alex Castro struck out, leaving them all stranded. Kilmer would actually hit into a double play to kill the fifth inning then, but with only Manny on base that time. All that kept the score 1-0, as did Nelson Moreno’s fine pitching, conceding as little as feasible to the Loggers. Early on, only a Justin Nelson double to lead off the bottom of the third was scary, but he was stranded at third base and the 1-0 lead remained intact through five. The weather did not, and it started to rain at the end of the fifth inning.

After an uneventful, if wet, sixth inning, the Raccoons put Maldonado and Fernandez on base in the seventh, but with two outs, and Kilmer didn’t know what to do with the runners and popped out to Vic Acosta. Bottom 7th, Moreno issued a leadoff walk to Nick Duncan, who was bunted to second base by ex-Critter Travis Zitzner (oh boy, the good old times…). Tony Lira hit for Acosta, grinded out another walk, and the bullpen got started. Too late – Nelson slapped a single up the middle off Nelson, and Duncan came around to score and tie the game. When Danny Valenzuela hit in the #9 hole, Chuck Jones was brought in, got a groundout, then gave up the remaining runners on hits by Felipe Gomez and Tim Cannizzard with two outs. In turn, the top 8th saw singles by the runts of the litter, Castro and Salazar, but no help coming forth from Anderson and Berto, who ended the inning with poor outs. The Loggers instead beat another run out of the sorry remains of Jermaine Campbell in the eighth, starting with a leadoff double by Jared Paul, but the Raccoons did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning; Jose Brito doubled off Gualter Cymbron to begin the inning. Maldo struck out, but Manny singled, putting them on the corners for “Double Play” Kilmer, who struck out. Balaski did not, singing a ball through first-sacker Hector Alvarez for a 2-out, 2-run double. Tony Morales batted for Castro, slashed a single through the right side, Balaski raced around third base even against the strong arm of Nick Duncan, and scored to tie the game and take the loss away from Nelson Moreno …! Salazar flew out to center to end the inning against new pitcher Shane Jacobs, while the Raccoons sent Mauricio Garavito into the bottom 9th, where he was singled to death by Tyler Prestwood, Felipe Gomez, Dan Torri, and Jared Paul. 5-4 Loggers. Brito 3-5, 2B; Fernandez 3-5; Morales (PH) 1-1, RBI; Salazar 2-5;

Deflation.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Brito – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – CF Kilgallen – P Zabala
MIL: 2B Lira – CF Cannizzard – 3B Paul – RF Duncan – 1B Zitzner – SS V. Acosta – C H. Alvarez – LF J. Nelson – P C. Padilla

Before the Raccoons had a base hit in the game, they had the bases loaded; Padilla nicked Tony Morales to begin the second inning, then walked Balaski and Tony Hunter in turn to fill the sacks, with nobody out of course, so I expected negative eleven runs from the endeavor, all the way. Anderson popped out in a full count, making me sigh out loud, but Kilgallen dropped a floater in front of Nelson for an RBI single. More wickedly, Zabala sloshed a ball through the left side for a 2-run single, with Tony Hunter probably dead at the plate if Nelson doesn’t throw the ball miles off target; he got an error for that, but the Coons got a 3-0 lead, growing to 5-0 on consecutive RBI singles by Berto and Brito, before the inning ended with Manny (K) and Morales (F7).

The immediate aftermath of the 5-run onslaught revolved around the thought of “alright, but how fast can they blow it”, when Zitzner, the first guy up in the bottom 2nd, reached on Hunter’s error and advanced on a passed ball. Somehow, Zabala stranded him at third base. The game calmed down a bit until the bottom three hit straight 2-out singles off Padilla in the fifth inning, giving Zabala a 6-0 lead on a third RBI. He completed five in the spot start on four hits, no runs, and six strikeouts, but was probably not going to go much deeper, given his lack of stamina. He struck out Cannizzard to begin the bottom 6th, with the batter getting ejected after getting into it with the umpire. Dan Torri would replace him. Zabala fell to 3-0 against Paul, who popped out then, while Nick Duncan hit a home run. Zitzner grounded out to end the inning, which would be all for Zabala.

Lindstrom pitched two innings of scoreless relief after that, while Bill Balaski ostensibly put the game away in the eighth, crashing Tony Rivas with a 3-run homer to right. In the ninth Jose Brito hit another one of those off former Indians starter Arnie Terwilliger, turning the game into a rout for good. Brent Clark pitched the ninth inning. 12-1 Raccoons. Brito 2-5, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Anderson 3-5, 2 2B; Kilgallen 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Zabala 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (1-0) and 2-3, 3 RBI; Lindstrom 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Elation!

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Brito – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Balaski – C Morales – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Sabre
MIL: 2B Lira – CF Cannizzard – SS Del Vecchio – RF Duncan – C F. Gomez – 3B V. Acosta – 1B Torri – LF J. Nelson – P A. Vargas

Sabre got taken deep by Acosta in the second inning, with Nick Duncan on base to make it a 2-0 deficit. While the Raccoons didn’t get a hit until Berto slapped a single with two outs in the top 3rd and was then left stranded by Brito, the Raccoons cranked up the silly to the max in the bottom of the inning. Nelson reached on a Sabre error to begin the inning, then was on third base with two outs. Del Vecchio, the persistent painbringer, slapped an RBI single to right, 3-0, while Anderson missed Hunter’s throw on Duncan’s grounder for another error that put runners in scoring position. Gomez hit the first pitch he saw into shallow right for a single. Del Vecchio scored, as did Duncan when Balaski’s throw was nowhere near Morales – the THIRD error of the inning. Acosta grounded out, finally, with a roller to short, leaving Sabre down 5-0 and looking like he’d seen a witch.

The Raccoons then battered Vargas for three *earned* runs in the fourth, with Maldo hitting a leadoff single, advancing on a passed ball, and then Manny, Morales, and Anderson each hit liners for RBI hits. Maldonado hit a 2-out triple that led to no run in the fifth, but Hunter doubled home Balaski in the sixth to inch the Critters to within one run of the Loggers, while Sabre held up his part of the box score through the conclusion of the sixth inning. Portland was retired in order in the seventh inning, while the Loggers smashed three hits, two doubles, for two runs off Jermaine Campbell in the bottom of the inning, extending their lead to 7-4, and even though Hunter drove in Balaski *again* in the eighth inning, those two stirring alone was not going to be enough. Anderson hit a 2-out single up the middle and Jeff Kilmer walked the bases full, bringing up Berto with three on and two outs against Kurt Crater, but his sharp grounder was right at Acosta and ended the inning.

With Thursday being off and Angelo Montano already being decided to be skipped on his normal turn, the left-hander instead was put into the bottom 8th, emerging from it without allowing six runs or even just one run. Thus, when the Raccoons started the ninth with Brito and Maldonado singles off Cymbron, they had the tying runs aboard with nobody out. Manny rapped another single up the middle, presenting Balaski with bases loaded… and no outs. Predictably, he made a poor out to Duncan in shallow right. The Raccoons were destined to throw another fat chance away, but Gomez lost Cymbron’s 1-2 pitch to Morales, which scored a run, 7-6, and crucially took the double play away from Tony Morales, who then struck out instead. Hunter popped out on the first pitch he got. 7-6 Loggers. Maldonado 3-5, 3B; Fernandez 2-5, RBI; Balaski 2-4, BB; Hunter 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Anderson 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Frustration.

Raccoons (58-58) @ Scorpions (64-49) – August 10-12, 2040

Final stop on the long road trip, with the Scorpions being up on the schedule for the first time since the 2036 season. Back then the Raccoons got swept in the three games in the most-recent winning season the Scorpions had enjoyed. Second in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, they were leading the FL West – tied with the Wolves – as the series began. Sacramento played the power game, having two hitters (Mike Preble, Carlos Cortes) with 20+ homers already, and more than one homer for the team per game. They were also in the bottom three in defense, but nobody’s clown show featured shoes as big as the Critters’ …

Projected matchups:
Ian Wilson (3-3, 2.08 ERA) vs. Josh Vercher (6-11, 4.64 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (4-5, 3.13 ERA) vs. Jeremy Truett (13-5, 3.59 ERA)
Sal Lozano (1-1, 5.20 ERA) vs. Al Scott (12-3, 2.76 ERA)

Right, right, left – it was Southpaw Sunday again! … Unless the Scorpions also used our common off day to skip Truett. Which was unlikely, but people are people. A skip would move right-hander Lachlan Clarke (9-4, 4.09 ERA) into the series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brito – 3B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Wilson
SAC: SS Banuelas – 3B Laughren – LF Preble – 1B E. Moreno – RF Cortes – CF Rogers – 2B E. Williams – C Huichapa – P Vercher

Brito opened the set with a double to left, moved to third base on a grounder, and then it got weird. Maldonado was nicked by Vercher, who then attempted to pick him off, but threw the ball over the head of Eddie Moreno. Maldo moved to second, Brito scored, and Manny slapped an RBI single to get up to 2-0 early on. The Raccoons did not put much else together in the early going, but the Scorpions only found one base hit against Wilson, too, the first time through the order. Wilson walked Preble with one out in the fourth, but then got a double play grounder from Moreno. Phil Rogers and Elijah Williams, the latter formerly on the Portlanders, would reach the corners with back-to-back 1-out singles in the fifth, and this time they came through, with Ernesto Huichapa’s sac fly cutting the Raccoons’ lead in half.

It remained 2-1 through six, but Brito reached with one gone in the seventh. He advanced on a grounder by Cosmo, who had been forced to sit out all of the Loggers series with two barking hindpaws, but now was back in action, then singled in by Maldonado’s drop next to the leftfield line. Preble threw to home plate, late, and Maldo reached second base on the throw. Manny hit a fly to deep right, but had it caught on the warning track by Carlos Cortes, ending the inning. The same Cortes opened the bottom of the inning with a single to center, then was doubled up by Rogers, 4-6-3, with the pen already stirring for Portland. But Wilson found his way through the inning despite Williams’ 2-out single, then remained in the game when left-handed batter Rai Higashi opened the eighth in place of Vercher. One pitch later, with Higashi out to Anderson, the Raccoons made the move against righty hitter Jesus Banuelas, bringing in Alex Ramirez, who allowed a single, but then got two more outs to complete eight. Brent Clark put the game away with a 1-2-3 ninth, which as a statement was underselling the magnificent play by Tony Hunter on the middle out, lunging, knocking down, springing up, and zinging the ball to first to nip Cortes. 3-1 Raccoons. Brito 3-5, 2B; Maldonado 2-3, RBI; Wilson 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-3);

And then – no Southpaw Sunday! Al Scott was indeed moved up into the Saturday edition of the Raccoons in the Cali state capital.

Game 2
POR: 2B Brito – 3B Trevino – RF Maldonado – C Kilmer – CF Kilgallen – SS Hunter – 1B Salazar – LF Castro – P N. Moreno
SAC: SS Banuelas – 3B Laughren – RF Cortes – LF Preble – 1B E. Moreno – 2B A: Cedillo – CF Rogers – C Toki – P Scott

Singles by Brito, who breached the .400 mark, and Cosmo, then an error by Banuelas, and the Raccoons had three on and nobody out to start the game. Kilmer struck out, Kilgallen hit a sac fly, and that was all they got, with Hunter also making a poor out to end the inning. The Raccoons continued to strand pairs in the second and third innings as well, at least scoring one run on singles by Castro, Brito (!), and Cosmo in the former for a 2-0 edge for Moreno, who got his ERA under three when he allowed two hits and no runs to the Stingers 3.2 innings into the game.

Kilmer and Hunter reached base with singles in the fifth inning, and then Damian Salazar grounded out to strand both of them, which was the fourth pair left on by the Critters, which had to come back to bite them at some point, and that point was the very same inning. Manichiro Toki hit a 1-out single to center, was bunted over, scored on Banuelas’ single, the shortstop took his 29th bag of the year off a sleepy Kilmer, and then Paul Laughren dropped an RBI single in rightfield to tie the game. That also took care of a 2-something ERA for Moreno for the time being…

He got a new lead though, with Scott suffering a meltdown in the seventh inning. Cosmo hit a leadoff double and Maldonado walked, after which Jeff Kilmer bashed a ball well over the centerfield fence for a go-ahead 3-run homer. With Scott gone, Hunter got on base against Craig Czyszczon – Gesundheit! – stole his way to third base, and was stranded by Salazar and Castro anyway. Nelson Moreno lasted another six outs before ceding the ball to Brent Clark for the ninth (he had thrown 100 pitches). Clark walked Eddie Moreno, allowed a 1-out single to Rogers, and plunked Higashi to fill the bags, then was yanked for Alex Ramirez with Elijah Williams in the box. Both Williams and Banuelas popped out on the infield to end the game. 5-2 Critters. Brito 2-5; Trevino 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Kilmer 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Moreno 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-5); Ramirez 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (2);

Back to .500 for Nels!

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Lozano
SAC: SS Banuelas – 3B Laughren – LF Preble – 1B E. Moreno – RF Cortes – CF Rogers – 2B A. Cedillo – C Huichapa – P Truett

The Raccoons had both Berto and Cosmo caught stealing in the first inning, then produced an unearned run for Sacramento through a Balaski error in the bottom half of what quickly became a second-rate sitcom on Sunday. At least Lozano resisted the urge to implode entirely at the beginning, and then Balaski even made himself useful at the plate, driving in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning, the fourth straight Critter to land a base hit to start the frame; Maldonado had homered the game tied off Truett, and then the 4-5-6 just kept dishing out singles. Balaski’s made it 2-1, after which Tony Hunter walked, filling the bags with no outs, dooming the entire operation. Anderson singled home a run, 3-1, but Lozano lined out to Alfonso Cedillo, with Hunter being picked off second base on the play. Berto then grounded out. Again, just ONE run from three on, no outs. How did they DO that???

The Scorpions put runners on the corners in the bottom 4th, then left them there. Lozano got another five outs in neat fashion before Cortes hit a 2-out single in the bottom 6th. Lozano nicked Rogers, and maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall, but it didn’t become entirely apparent until after Cedillo whacked a score-flipping 3-piece to right. That was 4-3 for the home team, Lozano would not be back for the seventh, and while Maldo hit a 2-out triple to center in the seventh inning, Manny struck out to strand him. Sacramento tacked on an unearned run in the bottom 7th against Campbell, with Banuelas hitting a single, taking his 30th base, reaching third base when Morales’ throw went through Hunter, and then was chased on Laughren’s sac fly. The Raccoons had the tying runs on board in the eighth; Hunter drew a walk from Tony Fuentes, while Salazar hit for Anderson against lefty Justin Kaiser and reached base on yet another error. Brito then struck out pinch-hitting against Czyszczon, leaving everybody stranded. Garavito then got torn up for three runs in the bottom 8th without knowing what the **** was happening to put the game away…

…or was it? Top 9th, Lazaro Cavazos pitching. Leadoff single for Berto. Another single for Cosmo. Maldo reached, too. Three on, no outs, which prompted the Scorpions to go to John Landrum. That was excusable – they were an FL team and could not know every single curse lingering over the Critters. Manny popped out. I groaned loud enough to be asked by bystanders whether I was alright. Then Landrum walked in a run against Morales. Balaski slapped a 2-run single. Suddenly the tying run was on base. And just as suddenly it was all over, when Tony Hunter hit a grounder to second base, to the shortstop, to first – ballgame. 8-6 Scorpions. Trevino 2-4, BB; Maldonado 3-4, HR, 3B, RBI; Balaski 3-5, 3 RBI;

In other news

August 8 – It’s 2,000 career hits now for VAN 2B Dan Schneller (.328, 8 HR, 23 RBI) with two more coming in a 5-0 loss to the Indians on Wednesday. Schneller singles of IND SP Jake Jackson (7-12, 4.36 ERA) for the milestone. A career .288/.386/.427 batter with 196 homers and 792 runs batted in, Schneller was the 2029 Rookie of the Year and 2037 Player of the Year on those same Indians. He was in San Francisco for two-and-a-half seasons before being traded to the Canadiens in July.
August 10 – TIJ SP Bill Quintero (7-9, 4.01 ERA) 3-hits the Buffaloes in a 4-0 shutout.
August 10 – SFW 2B/SS Mario Colon (.227, 12 HR, 51 RBI) objects to his team blowing a 4-3 lead to the Crusaders with four runs conceded in the top of the ninth by hitting a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 Warriors win.
August 12 – The only score in the Gold Sox’ 1-0 win over the Loggers is a home run by SS Ryan Johnston (.258, 6 HR, 35 RBI).
August 12 – NYC SP Jamal Barrow (3-12, 4.62 ERA) needs to have bone chips removed from his elbow and will miss the rest of the season.

FL Player of the Week: SAL 1B/LF/RF Jose Rivera (.326, 21 HR, 84 RBI), hitting .476 (10-21) with 3 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL SP Brad Santry (16-6, 2.93 ERA), pitching 16.2 innings for a 2-0 record, 0.00 ERA, and 18 K

Complaints and stuff

Ho-hum week after all. Nobody quite knows what Jose Brito is putting into his foodbowl in the mornings, but it looks green and leafy and none of the other Critters will touch it. Nelson Moreno pitched rather fine again. I like how he walks fewer people than in AAA. Of course the strikeouts are very low, but he’s only 21. Most pitchers are not nasty yet at 21.

Apart from him though, the season can’t end soon enough. The Caps and damn Elks are up next week.

Bernie Chavez was sent to AAA this week for a rehab assignment. We’re looking for two starts to get him warmed up, so he should be back late next week / early the week after that. Also back in AAA was Steve Nickas, who cleared waivers for the 87th time in his career. He then quickly strained an oblique and went to the minor league DL.

Fun Fact: Since 2007, the Raccoons-Capitals series has always seen one team take at least three series in a row before the other team took over for just as long.

It’s true; we haven’t played them as often as some other teams, but it’s always been three or four sets in a row before the honors went to the other team.

The Raccoons won the last three sets…