[Westheim]

Raccoons (51-61) vs. Loggers (63-50) – August 11-13, 2042

The Loggers had slipped to 6 1/2 games out behind the damn Elks, so they needed the wins. On most days, the Raccoons were happy to give them away, so their chances weren’t all bad. They sat third in runs scored, seventh in runs conceded, and had a +50 run differential (Coons: still +7), which hardly screamed out greatness. The season series was at 7-5 in their favor.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (6-10, 3.93 ERA) vs. Chris Lulay (10-8, 4.69 ERA)
Corey Mathers (3-7, 4.40 ERA) vs. Joe Hicks (7-11, 3.81 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (7-10, 5.16 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (14-7, 3.66 ERA)

We would open the series against a left-hander, then get right-handers. The Loggers had no injuries to speak of, so there was that.

The Raccoons waived and DFA’ed Angelo Montano to begin this week, bringing back right-hander Alexis Cortes, who had so far made one appearance out of the Coons’ bullpen.

Game 1
MIL: CF Reeves – RF Cannizzard – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Simon – C F. Gomez – 2B V. Acosta – P Lulay
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Sieber – SS Cox – P Jackson

Nobody scored for three innings, despite ample runners. Jackson gave up four hits to the Loggers, none of which scored, while the Raccoons had the bases loaded in the bottom 1st, aided by an error by the hateworthy Ted Del Vecchio, but Justin Waltz’ fly to center ended up with Bill Reeves to end the inning. The ice was broken by Brad Simon (who?) in the fourth, hitting a 2-out solo homer to right on an 0-2 pitch. A Chris Lulay single to begin the fifth inning then signalled trouble. Reeves also singled, and the runners were on the corners with two outs when Jackson threw a pickoff past Yamamoto to allow Lulay to score with the game’s second run. Ah, it was always a relief to see the basics working well with a team! (pours some rust remover into his Capt’n Coma)

Jackson scampered on into the seventh inning, spilling a total of nine hits to the Loggers without conceding additional runs. Two Loggers being caught stealing also helped out. Zack Kelly replaced him after 116 pitches, conceded singles to Aaron Brayboy (who already had a 15-game hitting streak extended in this game) and Daniel Hertenstein, but saw Nettles catch up with a Del Vecchio drive to end the inning. In terms of hits, it was 11-3 Loggers, and it felt like the score was about 11-0, but was still really only 2-0. The shock effect was thus tremendous when the Raccoons haphazardly put Sieber and Cosmo Trevino on base in the seventh inning and Lulay faced Stephon Nettles with two outs. Now, Nettles had two singles off the left-hander in this game, but nobody was prepared for a crushed, score-flipping, 3-run homer to right-center that suddenly put the Raccoons in the driver’s seat. I asked Maud to pinch me, which she did, and it hurt, so it had to be real life. The Raccoons tacked on a run in the eighth on a single by Manny Fernandez, Justin Waltz getting nailed, and Jay de Wit slapping a 2-out RBI single in place of Cox. Derek Barker had pitched a quick eighth, and while Josh Rella leaked walks to Tim Cannizzard and Brayboy with two outs in the ninth inning, he struck out PH Jonathan Fleming to end the game. 4-2 Raccoons. Nettles 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fernandez 2-4; de Wit (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Let’s just say we totally stole that one.

The Loggers moved Sal Chavez into the middle game.

Game 2
MIL: CF Reeves – RF Cannizzard – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C Sicco – 3B Simon – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – SS Gutierrez – C Kilmer – P Mathers

First time through, Brayboy extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single off Mathers, and Brad Simon was tossed for barking on a strike three call that ended the second inning for the Loggers. He was replaced by Jared Paul. Nobody scored the first time through, however, with neither team amounting to more than a sole single. The Loggers broke through in the fourth inning, with Brayboy reaching with another single off Mathers, who looked decent enough until he served up a mile-long bomb with two outs to Valentino Sicco.

Mathers didn’t make it through five innings, though not necessarily because he didn’t pitch well enough for more. He did not allow more than the pair of Brayboy singles and the homer to Sicco, trailing 2-0, but came up in the bottom 5th with the tying runs on the corners after Waltz and Gutierrez singles and one out. Jay de Wit grabbed a stick and slapped an RBI single off the bench for the second time this week, causing more frenzy on Aruba. Cosmo dropped a single in a full count, tying the game because Gutierrez got the early start, but Nettles grounded out. With first base then open, the Loggers elected to walk Maldonado with intent, getting up a recently slumping Manny Fernandez with three on and two outs. This affront met the punishment it deserved, Manny poking a ball into left-center for a 2-run single, which gave him 69 RBI for the year and the Raccoons another 4-2 lead. Yamamoto ended the inning with a grounder to third base, and Mathers was in line for the W until he wasn’t anymore… Chuck Jones had a clean sixth, walked Del Vecchio to begin the seventh, but removed Sicco after that before being replaced with Tim Hale, who conceded a sharp single to Paul, and with two outs an even sharper double to the ******* opposing pitcher, which caromed around long enough in the leftfield corner to allow both runners to score and tie the game, too.

Tied at four in the bottom of the seventh, the Raccoons did some accumulating again. Cosmo got on, and so did Nettles. Maldonado struck out. Two down, Manny walked to fill the bases, bringing up Yamamoto, who had hit three homers and little else in the last week-or-so. He did not hit a slam, but he beat Bill Reeves to the fence in centerfield, hitting a double off the wall to empty the bags and stake Hale (ironically) to a 7-4 lead. The Raccoons refilled the bags with walks drawn by Waltz and Sieber, but Jeff Kilmer flew out against Marvin Verduzco to end the inning. The Raccoons went to Brent Clark for the eighth inning, where he made rather short work of the Loggers’ meat of the order, then stuck to him in the ninth with the left-handed Sicco leading off. He struck out, too, and Clark just remained in there to finish the game with a 2-inning save. 7-4 Raccoons. Waltz 2-3, BB; de Wit (PH) 1-1, RBI; Clark 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, SV (2);

Game 3
MIL: CF Reeves – RF Cannizzard – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C Sicco – 3B Simon – 2B V. Acosta – P Hicks
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B de Wit – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Casaus – C Kilmer – CF Anderson – P Moreno

This was a scheduled implosion start for Nelson Moreno after a decent time his last outing, but while he scattered a hit and two walks the first time through, the Loggers didn’t get to him early at least. Hicks meanwhile with the extra day off saw the minimum the first time through. Yamamoto drew a walk, and Sandy Casaus hit into a double play for Portland. Cosmo would get into the H column for Portland with a leadoff single in the fourth inning, and Hicks lost de Wit in a full count. Reeves then lost track of Maldonado’s fly ball, which fell for an RBI double, the first run on the board. Manny popped out, Yamamoto hit a comebacker, and it looked like the Raccoons would strand a pair in scoring position until Casaus hit a grounder up the middle that escaped the reach of Del Vecchio for a 2-run single and a 3-0 score, while Moreno completed a fifth scoreless inning to dip his ERA under five once again, and Van Anderson hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 5th for his first career homer, extending the lead to 4-0.

Top 6th, Moreno back on the mound, and the walls started to crumble. Brayboy led off with a single to right, extending his fiendish hitting streak to 17. Hertenstein singled, putting runners on the corners. Mound conference, while I consulted with Honeypaws whether I should bother Maud with the good rope or just throw myself out the window right away. Del Vecchio was gone on a sac fly, 4-1, which besides the shutout ended Moreno’s sub-5 ERA. Sicco struck out, but Simon hit a 2-out single. With his pitch count creeping up, the Raccoons wanted to get Moreno at least through this inning – and he struck out Victor Acosta to do so…! The Coons loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning then, bringing up Kilmer, who popped out, and Anderson, who whiffed. Justin Waltz hit for Moreno, who was on 102 pitches anyway, and grounded out to short to piss away a great chance to put the sweep in the books. Instead, the pen got involved, first with two outs from Cortes, who was then replaced with Kelly to face Cannizzard. Kelly retired four in a row, but remained in the game with the score still 4-1 and more left-handed bats up in the ninth inning. He walked Sicco, got a grounder from Simon, then was replaced with Josh Rella, who got grounders from Acosta and Fleming to complete the sweep after all. 4-1 Coons. Trevino 3-4; Yamamoto 1-2, BB; Moreno 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (8-10); Kelly 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

A sweep …!

Waiver claim

On Thursday, the Raccoons were awarded the contract of INF/RF David Harroun, a 30-year-old right-handed hitter that had been waived by the Stars. Harroun had last played in the majors in 2040, then hitting .219 with 1 HR and 10 RBI for Dallas, and was a .248 hitter for his career with 19 HR and 141 RBI. He took the roster spot of Eric Cox (.246, 0 HR, 9 RBI) for some more flexibility in the infield.

Raccoons (54-61) @ Scorpions (58-54) – August 15-17, 2042

Sacramento still harbored playoff hopes, eight games out in the FL West, but the Raccoons had become routine ruiners of all hopes and dreams recently, having started with their own of course. They ranked sixth in runs scored and third in runs allowed in the Federal League. They were in the bottom three in OBP, but led the Federal League in homers with 132 bombs in 112 games, which made me slightly uncomfortable to have them around. They were also ravaged by injuries, lacking SP Josh Vercher and a whole host of position players, including Jesus Banuelas, Mike Preble, and Phil Rogers, as well as multiple backups and replacements. We had last met them in 2040, then taking two of three games from them.

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (1-4, 4.13 ERA) vs. Craig Czyszczon (10-4, 2.97 ERA)
Jake Jackson (6-10, 3.87 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (8-12, 4.64 ERA)
Corey Mathers (3-7, 4.36 ERA) vs. Melvin Lucero (8-8, 3.03 ERA)

Orozco was another southpaw we’d encounter here, while Lucero had been included in the package for Troy Greenway many years ago, along with their current closer, Lazaro Cavazos (3-6, 5.36 ERA, 32 SV).

Game 1
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Waltz – C Sieber – SS Gutierrez – P Lambert
SAC: CF A. Cedillo – SS Laughren – LF Porfirio – 1B E. Moreno – RF Ito – C Toki – 2B Freeman – 3B Zeltser – P Czyszczon

Stephon Nettles lasted one at-bat and a double before leaving the game with a strained hammy. He was replaced with Casaus, and Manny Fernandez moved to centerfield for the time being. Before he ever arrived there he hit a 2-piece to left-center off Cz- … Sz- … Maud told be it’s pronounced like “shone”, in the sentence “Manny’s homer shone a light straight into my heart”. We’ll just call him “their hurler”. Their hurler allowed another run in the second inning on straight 2-out singles by Gutierrez, Lambert (!), and Cosmo, but then struck out Casaus to escape the jam, while Lambert’s first runner was Eddie Moreno on a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd. Rikuto Ito, hitting .255 with 15 homers, hit into a double play. Lambert conceded an unearned run in the bottom 3rd, when Maldonado threw away a grounder by another former Critter, Bob Zeltser, to put him and “Nine Fingers” Freeman into scoring position with nobody out. Their hurler made a poor out, but Alfonso Cedillo amounted to a sac fly, shortening the score to 3-1, before Paul Laughren whiffed.

The first two were on again for Sacramento in the fifth inning, this time on a single by Manichiro Toki and Ben Freeman drawing a walk. Zeltser hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, their hurler bunted badly for another fielder’s choice at second base, and the tying runs remained stranded when Cedillo popped out to Omar Gutierrez at short. Which was also about where Lambert’s lucky streak ran out. Laughren and Joreao Porfirio opened the sixth with doubles to left, Eddie Moreno singled to move the tying run to third base, and Ito took it out on the team that had traded him in the misguided attempt to build a winner rather than a future, and belted a 3-run homer to left to rub it in. 5-3 was the score, and the Raccoons went for a new hurler themselves. Derek Barker would finish the inning. The Coons then did nothing to make up the 2-run gap in the next two innings, but got Justin Waltz to open the ninth with a single off Cavazos. Sieber struck out, while Cavazos moved Waltz to second base on a very wild 2-2 pitch to Gutierrez, who singled on a lame duck pitch down the middle to put the tying runs on the corners. The Scorpions hauled in Cavazos for concerns about an injury, replacing him with another former Raccoons farmhand, Fiorenzo DeSanctis, who had gone over to them in the trade for Chuck Jones. Jay de Wit batted for Zack Kelly and struck out, and so did Cosmo Trevino to end the game. 5-3 Scorpions. Nettles 1-1, 2B; Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 3-4;

Nettles would be day-to-day until early next week, Dr. Padilla opined, and best not bothered for the rest of the weekend.

Game 2
POR: 2B Trevino – RF Waltz – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Harroun – CF Anderson – P Jackson
SAC: CF A. Cedillo – 3B Laughren – LF Porfirio – 1B E. Moreno – RF Ito – SS D.J. Mendez – 2B Freeman – C Toki – P Orozco

Manny Fernandez gave the Coons another first-inning lead, this time with a single that scored Cosmo from third base. Cosmo and Waltz had both hit singles to begin the game, but Maldonado had already rolled into a 6-4-3 disappointment. Also disappointing: the quick disappearance of the 1-0 lead. Cedillo opened the bottom 1st with a triple and scored easily on Laughren’s groundout. Cedillo then paired with Orozco to hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom 3rd, taking a 2-1 lead, which quickly became 4-1 on Porfirio’s MONSTER home run to right.

Jackson would last through six innings, allowing more hard fly balls, most of which ended up with an outfielder rather than a fan with a beer cup in his claws. We would have sent him back out, but the seventh inning saw Harroun hit a single for his first Critters hit, while Van Anderson reached on an Orozco error, all with two outs. Casaus batted for Jackson in this imperative situation and ripped a double over Ito’s head to score both runners! Cosmo singled to center swiftly, with Casaus sent around third base and sliding in safe just ahead of Cedillo’s throw, tying the game with the third run of the inning – all unearned, but well deserved on Orozco. And it was not over quite yet – with the throw to home plate having advanced Cosmo to second base, Waltz took advantage and hit a single to right-center to drive him in for his first career RBI, and the Coons took the lead, 5-4, before a slumping Maldonado grounded out.

Clark had a good seventh inning and got one more out in the eighth before walking Laughren for the tying run on base. Jon Craig replaced him, gave up a 2-out single to Eddie Moreno, and the tying and go-ahead runs were on the corners now. Left-handed hitter Juan Brito – .312 with 11 homers – pinch-hit for the right-handed Ito, so the Raccoons also made another change and brought on Chuck Jones in a double switch that removed Yamamoto. He gave up a fly to right that Waltz caught with at most medium trouble, and the inning ended with Portland still ahead by one. Top 9th, righty Omar Benitez allowed 1-out hits that put Anderson and de Wit on the corners. Cosmo like a veteran slapped a ball over Freeman for an RBI single, 6-4, and Waltz was a fresh rookie, but also singled up the middle to load the bases for the struggling Maldonado – but Maldonado had replaced Yamamoto at first base and there were no other options there anymore. He promptly chomped the ball into an inning-slaying double play… The Raccoons, having rediscovered back-end flexibility by necessity, remained with Chuck Jones to begin the bottom 9th, with left-handed D.J. Mendez leading off. He flew out. Freeman, a righty batter, grounded out to first. That left another lefty bat in Toki, who grounded out to de Wit on the first pitch to end the game. 6-4 Coons. Trevino 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Waltz 4-5, RBI; Casaus (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; de Wit 1-1; Jones 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (3);

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Gutierrez – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Waltz – C Sieber – 1B Casaus – CF Anderson – P Mathers
SAC: CF A. Cedillo – 3B Laughren – LF Porfirio – 1B E. Moreno – RF Ito – SS D.J. Mendez – 2B Freeman – C Toki – P Lucero

Both pitchers allowed one hit and struck out three in the first three innings, leading to no score on the board. That changed in the fourth, which was led off by Omar Gutierrez, and foremost led off with a jack to right. The score was still 1-0 when Gutierrez was at the plate again, then with Cosmo on second after a single and a stolen base. Gutierrez found the hole on the right side for an RBI single, and also reached the .300 mark with that single, which nobody quite had seen coming when the Raccoons had signed the 27-year-old rookie off the trash heap before the season. Maldonado walked after that, but the inning fizzled out quickly after that.

…and Mathers? After a good showing the first time through, the Scorpions had started to make fatter contact in the second run through the order, but still for little gains. They broke through in the bottom 6th, however, with a 2-out jack to right smashed by Porfirio, narrowing the score to 2-1. Moreno grounded out, while Casaus singled in the seventh, and then was swiftly picked off. Instead, Rikuto Ito tied the game with another revenge homer to lead off the bottom 7th. Before we knew how to react – except with dismay – Mendez hit *another* homer to right, thus giving Sacramento the lead, 3-2. The Raccoons went on to concede a run on something other than a homer in the eighth. Laughren tripled off Kelly, and Craig conceded the run on a groundout by Porfirio. Thus, the Coons were down 4-2 in the ninth, now facing left-hander Brad Lindeman and his 4.96 ERA. He offered a leadoff walk to Gutierrez, struck out Maldonado, who just looked lost at this point, but a Manny single put the tying runs on the corners for a hitless Waltz. He remained hitless, accepting a 4-pitch walk, loading the bases for Sean Sieber, who had been 9-for-11 last week, now was 1-for-10 this week. He still was a righty hitter, though, and … he struck out anyway. Casaus was in the box with the game on the line, having had a wholly invisible game in a first start at first base. He grounded out to second to end the game. 4-2 Scorpions. Gutierrez 3-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-4;

In other news

August 11 – DEN SS/1B/LF Ryan Cox (.232, 4 HR, 43 RBI) will miss at least a month with a torn meniscus.
August 15 – A concussion puts Knights OF Brian Oliver (.327, 20 HR, 73 RBI) out for the rest of the season.
August 16 – Games in Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Dallas are all rained out on Saturday and rescheduled for Sunday, cramming the schedule to the tune of 15 games.
August 17 – PIT CF/LF Kevin Burch (.279, 11 HR, 50 RBI) should be out for a month with a tear in his hamstring.
August 17 – NYC OF/3B Joe Graf (.274, 3 HR, 17 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI in a busy 16-10 win over the Stars.

FL Player of the Week: WAS C Nate Evans (.302, 9 HR, 63 RBI), batting .519 (14-27) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB SS Jorge Gonzalez (.311, 1 HR, 46 RBI), splasing .485 (16-33) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Nick Valdes sent a thank you message after being wired the hard numbers by Steve from Accounting. The deconstruction trades in July saved him almost $4M of his precious dosh, which he wrote would come in handy to restock that police union slush fund and to bribe those two judges blocking his motion to build oil wells in Crippled Tree National Park up the Willamette. (looks up from the papers in his paws) I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud, Steve from Accounting, was I? (Steve from Accounting shakes his head)

So, with this sweep of the Loggers we have pretty much made the damn Elks kings of the North, which is such a pleasing thought to have in my head. (reaches for barf bucket)

If you use the concept of an “established major leaguer”, a guy that is, say, in his third full season, or at least nearly third full season, the Raccoons have – ignoring the bullpen – only six of those. Manny, Maldo, Kilmer, Cosmo, Jackson, and Moreno as being right on the cut-off. Of course there’s another pawful of veterans in the pen. There is a lot of rookie faces on this team, and there are more in the pipeline.

Angelo Montano – an established major leaguer in the very worst way if at all – arrived in AAA unmolested by waiver claims, which is good, since we might still require his services for garbage innings for the rest of this season and certainly the next.

We will return home for a 9-game homestand, hosting the Caps, Titans, and Indians after an off day on Monday. We will need a fifth starter only once more this month – against Boston on Saturday – and we might just use Brent Clark again. This delays the arrival of Jason Wheatley to September. Wheatley is 14-8 with a 2.83 ERA in AAA, with 66 BB and 114 K in 178 IP. That works out to 3.3 BB/9, which is just over half of his walk rate from last year in AAA, when he had a 4.66 ERA and 6.2 BB/9.

Adam Capone also has a sub-3 ERA for the Alley Cats, but his peripherals don’t match up. He has more walks than strikeouts (both just under 5 per 9 innings), and not really in the cards for September. Victor Merino and Generos de Leon down in AAA are having more trouble altogether and are not candidates for a September cup of coffee. Deeper down in the minors, the Coons released 2040 11th-rounder Joel Ray this week owing to his 7.27 ERA in Aumsville.

Then there is the curious case of #13 prospect Matt Waters, shortstop of the future. He is still in AA, and hitting .173 with 8 homers for the year. That isn’t the entire story, though. His BABIP is *.214* …! That is an impossible amount of bad luck in 323 at-bats, but it is what it is. He also strikes out quite a bit, so that doesn’t help, but he is nowhere near the usual rancid .173 bloke and the Raccoons are still not entirely discouraged from the thought of him being the future at short. He’s also only 21 and having noticeable power *and* some speed. He has only six steals this year, but it’s hard to get one off when you’re never on base…

Fun Fact: Nelson Moreno’s W on Wednesday was the 5,500th regular season victory for the Raccoons.

Not too unfitting for #5,500 to be won by somebody who ended the day with a 5.00 ERA. Hey, it was at least not a 55.00 ERA….

It was his first milestone win and maybe also the last one if we follow through on our plans to move him to the closer’s spot down the road.