[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-7) @ Knights (10-9) – April 23-25, 2041

Atlanta were the defending pennant winners in the CL, but had been rather average to start the season. While they were in second place in the South and only half a game away from the top, they were also only at a +2 run differential and fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. The Raccoons had gone down 3-6 in the season series in 2040.

Projected matchups:
Drew Johnson (1-2, 3.32 ERA) vs. Brad Santry (2-0, 1.15 ERA)
Ian Wilson (1-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. David Farris (2-1, 3.33 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (2-1, 7.17 ERA) vs. Chris Lulay (1-1, 2.70 ERA)

After a common off day on Monday, the Knights would greet us with two right-handers and a southpaw, assuming they’d skip Kurt Olson (1-2, 8.80 ERA), right-handed disaster.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Levis – C Morales – RF Ito – SS Hunter – CF Nettles – P Johnson
ATL: RF Hester – 1B J. King – CF Inoa – 2B Crim – C Horner – SS McKoy – LF Ledford – 3B Holmes – P Santry

Tony Morales improved on a .400 clip with a home run in the second inning, giving Portland a 1-0 lead. Rikuto Ito then singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Tony Hunter’s double past ex-Coon Brad Ledford to make it 2-0. Drew Johnson appeared fine in the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. He walked Ryan Holmes, and Billy Hester reached on an error by Levis, bringing up monster slugger Jamie King with runners on the corners and one down. King, though, hit a comebacker to Johnson for a force at second base, and Luis Inoa struck out to end the inning.

That little squeezer aside, Johnson handled the Knights remarkably well and did not allow another base hit to them in seven shutout innings. He struck out nine and even landed two hits, including a leadoff double, that dissipated in the infield dirt for a lack of support from the top of the order. The Raccoons completely trusted the two runs they had on the board already, then went for dinner. After Johnson exited on 101 strong pitches, Tim Zimmerman struck out two in the bottom 8th before Brent Clark took over against the left-handed top of the order, getting out Hester. Clark entered in a double switch that replaced Levis, hinting at the Raccoons thinking about having him close out the game. The Coons began the ninth with hits off Dusty Behrens off the sticks of Ito and Hunter, then made three embarrassing outs against Rico Sanchez, who Coons fans might remember… Clark was indeed in there for the bottom 9th, struck out King, then hung a pitch that was destroyed by Luis Inoa for a homer. Portland went to DeOrio *now*, getting a K against Joe Crim, before DeOrio faltered against more lefty bats. Adam Horner and Jose Garcia both walked. Andy Montes pinch-hit and slapped a single through the right side. Horner came around to score, tying the game. Holmes’ fly out to Ito sent it to extras.

Top 10th, Cosmo and Manny hit leadoff singles before Kilmer, Morales, and Ito made pathetic outs, not even getting a guy to third base. Chuck Jones then got the chance to show that he was not a wreck, pitching three scoreless innings, while the offense continued to do NOTHING. Nick Lando hit for Jones to begin the 13th and zinged a double to right-center, which was surely going to aid the Coons in ending this game on a high note. Two ****** groundouts and a walk to Tony Hunter later, Lando was still on second base. The Raccoons sent Bill Balaski to bat in place of Nettles, and the bold choice to axe an .059 hitter with an 0-for-5 day for literally any other left-handed batter against southpaw Vinny Ramirez rewarded Portland with an RBI single near the rightfield line. The Raccoons were out of left-handers, but still had to bring in a pitcher against three lefty bats after Matt Kilgallen’s easy final out to Montes in left. Juan Zabala got the ball. Ken Gibbs grounded out. Jamie King struck out. Luis Inoa was drilled with a breaking pitch. Good stuff. Manny Fernandez rushed to snatch Joe Crim’s liner to end the game before Tuesday had a chance to turn to Wednesday. 3-2 Blighters. Lando (PH) 1-1, 2B; Morales 2-5, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Ito 2-4, 2 BB; Hunter 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Johnson 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K and 2-3, 2B; Jones 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (2-0);

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Levis – C Morales – CF Ito – SS Hunter – RF Balaski – P Wilson
ATL: CF Inoa – 1B J. King – 2B Crim – SS McKoy – C Horner – LF Montes – RF Hester – 3B Holmes – P Olson

Meanwhile, here was Olson, after all. He tried to put the leadoff man aboard in every inning, but the Raccoons also tried to be as careless as could be. Berto in the first and Morales in the second were stranded after reaching base, but Berto was on again to begin the third inning, stole second with his rotund body plunging into the bag, kicking up volumes of dust and blinding Tyler McKoy so that he couldn’t handle the throw from Horner cleanly. Safe was the call, and after a groundout Berto scored on Manny Fernandez’ sac fly for the first run of the game. Morales drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, then was stranded again. It wasn’t until the fifth that Olson retired a leadoff batter, then again Berto, but Cosmo got on, stole second, and was singled in by Doug Levis with two outs, 2-0. Wilson meanwhile relied on his defense in shutting out the Knights so far, allowing one hit against three walks and looked like any light breeze might blow him over yet. Ryan Holmes’ leadoff single in the bottom 5th might do the trick, except that Olson bunted poorly and got Holmes forced out at second base. Inoa and King then made weak outs, completing five.

Tony Hunter legged out an infield single and stole second with two outs in the sixth. Atlanta walked Balaski with intent (not for the first time, either), but Johnson’s looper over Holmes landed for an RBI single, 3-0, and knocked out Olson. Berto landed another RBI single off Bill Nichol, then the inning ended with Cosmo’s groundout. Wilson completed seven shutout innings on a 2-hitter (were had we seen that before?) despite walking five Knights. The ball then went to Lindstrom, who retired nobody, got bombed for two runs by Jamie King, and surrendered another run on a Crim double and McKoy single, leaving in a 4-3 game with nobody out and the tying run on first. Zachary Krumholz’ pinch-hit single and another single by Holmes tied the game with two outs, and then PH Jose Garcia rammed a ball off the wall for a 2-run double that gave the Knights the lead. Top 9th, Rico Sanchez did his thing, meaning he created a mess. The bags were full with two outs and Tony Hunter batting, who placed an infield roller where none of the black-capped goons could play it, and everybody moved up 90 feet as a run scored. Balaski slashed a single to left to tie the score, but Jeff Kilmer flew out to Billy Hester to end the inning… But fear not – no extensive overtime required this time. Tim Zimmerman cleverly walked leadoff man Jamie King in the bottom 9th, then gave up a walkoff blow to Adam Horner… 8-6 Knights. Ramos 2-4, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Morales 2-3, 2 BB; Hunter 2-4, BB, RBI; Wilson 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 3 K and 1-3, RBI;

(stands at an antique payphone near the train station) Yes, Maud, hello? – Yes, listen. When we return home, I want you to have a giant ******* barrel ready. – Yes, filled to the brim with water. – I have an entire ******* bullpen to drown like ******* farm kittens.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Levis – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – SS Hunter – CF Reyna – P Chavez
ATL: SS McKoy – 1B J. King – CF Inoa – 2B Crim – C Horner – LF Montes – RF Ledford – 3B B. Cruz – P Farris

Cosmo’s first-inning homer gave Portland the lead, but Bernie Chavez got rid of it before even logging an out, conceding a single to McKoy, a wild pitch, and another single to King – bam, tied game. Crim walked, Montes slapped another RBI single, and Atlanta was even ahead by the time Ledford struck out.

Top 3rd, Berto and Cosmo reached base to begin the inning, then advanced to scoring position on Fernandez’ grounder to first. There they remained, Levis striking out and Kilmer flew out to center. That was largely it for the Raccoons in the first five, while Bernie Chavez was a mess, and through five innings walked four and gave up another two runs on a pair of doubles in the bottom 5th, ending up 4-1 behind. In the sixth, Kilmer and Balaski went to the corners with two outs, then were left there when Farris K’ed Tony Hunter. The score remained 4-1 into the ninth, where Dusty Behrens gave up singles with one out to the Tony Brigade, Hunter and Morales, in the 7-8 spots. Rikuto Ito batted for Alex Ramirez, struck out, and Berto hit a grounder to Joe Crim that ended the game… 4-1 Knights. Morales (PH) 1-1; Kilgallen (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (11-9) vs. Indians (9-11) – April 26-28, 2041

While I was trying to get rid of players, but Zabala and Zimmerman both mightily resisted getting drowned in the barrel, the Indians added RF/CF Alex Sanderfer (.139, 2 HR, 9 RBI) in a trade for two AAA players on Friday morning. Sanderfer had been with the Buffos. Whether that .139 batter could help out the Indians was up in the air; they were somehow fifth in both runs scored and runs allowed now and didn’t look like punching bags at all. The season series was however in the Coons’ favor at 2-0 and a rainout.

Projected matchups:
Nelson Moreno (2-2, 3.55 ERA) vs. Manuel Herrera (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Josh Brown (1-0, 3.52 ERA) vs. Chris Haskell (0-3, 4.29 ERA)
Drew Johnson (1-2, 2.42 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (1-1, 6.26 ERA)

That rotation, though… they had another 6+ ERA guy in Alex Flores, and all of their starters were right-handed.

Game 1
IND: 2B E. Vargas – 3B Hutson – CF D. Rivera – C Mordino – 1B Dodson – RF Sanderfer – LF D. Gonzales – SS D. Serrato – P M. Herrera
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – 1B Levis – C Morales – CF Ito – SS Hunter – RF Balaski – P Moreno

The Raccoons had three on and nobody out, their usual doom constellation, in the bottom 2nd after Levis singled, Morales reached on Enrique Vargas’ error, and Ito walked. Hunter lined out to Vargas, and only Balaski got a run on the board with a sac fly. Moreno struck out, then allowed a leadoff single to Herrera in the third. While nothing came out of that situation, it was only the beginning of the end for Moreno’s outing here. In the fourth, the Arrowheads clipped him for four straight singles to begin the inning by Sal Mordino, Pat Dodson, Sanderfer, and David Gonzales, tying the score, while Dave Serrato popped out. Moreno then walked the opposing pitcher to force in the go-ahead run before Vargas’ fly to left became an inning-ending, 7-2 double play with Sanderfer killed at home on a perfect throw by Manny Fernandez. Bill Balaski gave the Raccoons another lead with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, plating Hunter, but Moreno was out of whack and the bases were loaded again in the fifth with singles by Dan Hutson, Mordino, and Dodson, and one down. Sanderfer ran the count to 3-1 before poking, then hit into a 5-4-3 double play, which was exactly the kind of thing any team wanted from a newly added position player…

Through five, the score was 4-2, with Berto’s leadoff double, Cosmo’s grounder, and a wild pitch getting him around to score in the bottom 5th. The Indians were however out-hitting the Critters, 8-4, and came closer with David Gonzales’ leadoff jack in the sixth, inching in to 4-3. With Hunter and Balaski on base and no outs, Moreno didn’t get the bunt down, but the runners pulled off a double steal. Nels then poked a 2-2 pitch up the middle where it eluded Vargas and Serrato for an RBI single, 5-3. A Serrato error on Berto’s grounder cost probably two outs, but didn’t give the Raccoons any more runs in the end aside from Balaski’s, who would have scored even on a double play, as the next three batters made poor outs against Orlando Altreche.

Moreno was yanked in the seventh after nailing Hutson and giving up a double to Sal Mordino. Hutson was thrown out at home by Manny “Murder Arm” Fernandez, his second victim of the game, which technically gave Moreno 6.2 innings, but, eh, come on. Alex Ramirez, the fool, then came in, nicked Dodson, and gave up a 2-run triple to Sanderfer anyway… Gonzales struck out, with the tying run 90 feet away. The Coons scratched out another run in the bottom 7th on hits by the Tony Brigade, but Zabala gave that back with a leadoff double by Serrato (who hurt himself and was replaced by Danny Valenzuela) and the associated carnage. Damon DeOrio struck out three in the ninth, however, and everything was … – oh, no, wait. Danny Rivera singled and Dodson hit an RBI triple.

Tied ballgame, with me not being any less pissed with DeOrio than he was with the displeased fans. The game trundled on into extras, where DeOrio was made pitch the 10th even though he thought that was beneath him. Me poking against the acrylic glass window with the blunderbuss pointed at him probably did a lot of convincing! Bottom 10th, Kilmer and Lando hit 1-out singles, one as pinch-hitter, the other after Berto had been replaced for defense. Cosmo grounded out, sending them into scoring position, Manny was walked with intent, and Levis flew out to right, continuing a dismal game. There were more 1-out singles in the bottom 11th, now by Ito and Hunter. Balaski flew out to left, while Kilgallen struck out hitting for Chuck Jones. Zimmerman allowed a single to Valenzuela in the 12th, but the Arrowhead got himself caught stealing. The bottom of the inning started with Lando flying to the warning track, but into an out. Cosmo then singled and stole second base off Joe Robinson and Mordino. Manny grounded out, moving him to third base, and Levis was walked intentionally to get Robinson to face another left-handed batter. The ploy did not work – Tony Morales ended the game with a slapper to center for a walkoff single. 8-7 Raccoons. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Morales 2-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Hunter 3-5, BB, RBI; Balaski 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Kilmer (PH) 1-1;

So the Raccoons went a 2-week road trip without a W in regulation and it looks like that’s not gonna change soon, huh?

Game 2
IND: LF D. Gonzales – 3B Hutson – C Mordino – RF Sanderfer – 1B Dodson – 2B E. Vargas – SS D. Serrato – CF D. Rivera – P Haskell
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – CF Ito – SS Hunter – 1B Kilgallen – P Brown

Indianapolis took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a Sanderfer homer, a Dodson single and stolen base, and assorted defensive shenanigans, like Kilmer lobbing a ball away. Portland however made it up the next inning, with Hunter hitting a leadoff single, Kilgallen ripping a triple, and Brown poking a little dinker for a game-tying single. Brown struck out five Indians in the first three innings, but walked a pair in the top 4th before giving up an inevitable run on a Danny Rivera single. Portland again made up the difference quickly, this time with Balaski and Ito singles in the bottom 4th. Haskell balking Balaski to second base also helped. Tony Hunter then gave the Critters their first lead of the day with a single over Vargas’ head, bringing Ito around to score from second base, which he had reached on Danny Rivera’s prior throw to home plate that didn’t beat Balaski. Hunter stole second, then scored with two outs when Brown socked a baseball to the base of the fence in the far-left corner for a 2-out double and a 5-3 lead. The inning ended with Berto’s groundout.

Brown pitched 5.2 innings with lots of traffic. Jim Drews knocked him out with a pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth, narrowing the tally to 5-4. Lindstrom got a fly from Gonzales to Fernandez to strand a pair. Portland then stranded five runners over the next two innings, scoring one run in the meantime when … Joe Robinson threw a wild pitch to get Cosmo across in the seventh. They sure didn’t make for easy watching. (stirs a glass of Capt’n Coma, degraded motor oil, and some antidepressants with a rusty screw) Zimmerman put runners on the corners in the eighth, which Brent Clark cleaned up by getting a shot at Tony Hunter for an inning-ending double play from PH Nick O’Leary. Whatever works. DeOrio worked, for once, getting the Indians out before the sky could collapse on the ballpark again in the ninth. 6-4 Raccoons. Trevino 2-5; Hunter 2-3, BB, RBI; Levis (PH) 1-1;

Ah, what gives. (exes glass with rusty bits floating amongst the semi-dissolved antidepressants)

Game 3
IND: LF Valenzuela – 3B Hutson – CF D. Rivera – C Mordino – 1B Dodson – RF Sanderfer – 2B E. Vargas – SS D. Serrato – P A. Cobb
POR: SS Hunter – 3B Trevino – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – LF Reyna – 2B Lando – CF Nettles – P Johnson

Another Sanderfer triple helped buried the Raccoons two deep in the second inning, plating Pat Dodson before he scored on a Vargas sac fly. Portland made up a run in the bottom 3rd on hits by Hunter, Cosmo, and … well, a throwing error. The tying run, Cosmo, was however stranded on third base by Morales and Levis. Meanwhile Johnson merrily kept leaking runners, with Valenzuela singling home Dave Serrato for another run in the fourth.

Johnson was out of gas after six innings and 101 pitches, still trailing 3-1, with Portland kept short on four hits. It only got better from here, with Zabala coming on and walking Vargas before Serrato and Gonzales hit infield singles to put three on with nobody out. Chuck Jones replaced Zabala, struck out three, and somehow the Raccoons were still alive. Alex Ramirez held out in the eighth, while the Raccoons kept poking futilely until the bottom 8th, which began with Eric Peck giving up leadoff singles to Hunter and Cosmo. With the tying runs on, Morales popped out before Nate Norris replaced Peck and walked Levis. Balaski had the bases full with one out now *and* faced a right-hander. He needed only one pitch to tie the game with a sharp single to right-center, plating Hunter and Trevino to make it 3-3. Miguel Reyna then prompty smashed into an inning-ending double play, and put the tie-breaking run on second base to begin the ninth when he dropped and kicked Edwin Alfonso’s liner to left. Good man. Only $2.7M left on that contract.

*Somehow* Brent Clark got out of that mess without a loud explosion despite a Hutson single, getting a K and two pops. That allowed for a walkoff in regulation (cough), with the bottom of the order up against Luke Moses in the ninth. Lando struck out, Nettles singled (!), and Manny Fernandez pinch-hit and sent the game to extras (…) with a 4-6-3 double play. Dan Hutson broke the tie off Lindstrom in the 11th, not that anybody was blaming Lindstrom, pitching for the fourth time in five days for this ruckus team, for giving up that homer. Better yet, Lando rescued the Raccoons from the brink of defeat with a 2-out RBI single, cashing Balaski, in the bottom of the 11th, levelling the score at four. Nettles singled, Kilmer pinch-hit and walked, and the bags were full for Tony Hunter, who ended the game with a walkoff single to right. 5-4 Critters. Hunter 3-6, RBI; Trevino 2-5; Levis 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Lando 2-4, BB, RBI; Nettles 2-4, BB;

In other news

April 22 – SFB SP Ryan Kinner (0-2, 8.40 ERA) hadn’t looked right from the start and was now going to be shut down for four months with shoulder inflammation named as the culprit.
April 22 – TOP INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.309, 1 HR, 6 RBI) was going to miss six weeks with a strained hamstring.
April 22 – IND C/1B Edwin Alfonso (.200, 0 HR, 1 RBI) ends the Indians’ game with the Thunder with a walkoff single in the 15th inning, giving Indianapolis a 7-6 win.
April 24 – Salem SP Jon Pereira (2-0, 1.75 ERA), imported as a type A free agent, could miss the majority of the season after tearing finger tendons.
April 24 – A broken foot would keep OCT C Rick Urfer (.195, 0 HR, 2 RBI) out of action for a month.
April 25 – The Blue Sox rush the Stars for 10 runs in the second inning for a 13-2 win.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/SS Jesus Banuelas (.371, 0 HR, 5 RBI), hitting .545 (12-22) with 2 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.260, 3 HR, 10 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

So that was another winning week, the second in a row with three extra-inning wins. Nobody’s seen that before, I think, but I *do* see that the damn Elks are in town starting tomorrow and our bullpen is entirely dead. The problem might lie with insisting to turn every ******* 3-game set into a 35-inning dragfest.

Damon DeOrio is the second-best reliever on the team with a 5.23 ERA. I see several problems arising from this. Rest assured that our pen is the very worst in the league.

We are now half a game behind the damn Elks and first place, but they are in for four games starting on Monday and I don’t see how we beat them, especially with Wilson leading the charge. Yes, Ian Wilson has a 1.62 ERA. We all know it’s fake.

Fun Fact: Damn Elks are leading 11 of 18 batting categories on the BNN player stats page.

Mostly to blame is Jerry Outram, who is a monster, hitting .388/.469/.765. Would you believe he’s a former #1 pick?

Not included is “strikeouts” (Sal Mordino). In case you’re wondering, Raccoons lead zero categories.