[Westheim]

Finally, baseball!

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Loggers (0-0) – April 2-4, 2046

The Raccoons were up against the Loggers to begin the season. We had taken 11 of 18 games from them in 2045, and hoped to keep that pace going at the very least while opening the season with a weeklong homestand. Everybody was healthy, and we hadn’t lost a game yet! Yay!

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Sergio Piedra (0-0)
Ryan Person (0-0) vs. Ruben Guzman (0-0)
Sadaharu Okuda (0-0) vs. Mackenzie O’Toole (0-0)

Three right-handers to open the season, but there should be a southpaw waiting on the weekend.

Game 1
MIL: CF B. Allen – LF Reeves – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – 2B Davison – 3B Paul – P Piedra
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Wheatley

The first base runner of the season in a Raccoons game would be Ricky Payne, reaching by way of pain after getting drilled with a fastball in the second inning. The Loggers made something out of it, maneuvering the catcher around with singles by Ricky Espinoza and Jared Paul to take a 1-0 lead. The Coons had yet to cease slumbering – how dare they be called out to play on a Monday? – and settled for five strikeouts against a lonely Tony Morales single to center the first time through. Morales, the returnee, also had the second Raccoons hit of the season, a single to left in the bottom 5th, which led just as far as the first one had. Thus, when the Loggers scored two unearned runs on a gross botch by Armando Herrera in centerfield that put Bill Reeves on second to begin the top 6th, and Aaron Brayboy, the detestable scumbag, doubled him home right away, I immediately started to drink, and so did Honeypaws. A Daniel Hertenstein single and a run-scoring double play grounder by Payne ran the score to 3-0, and the Raccoons still had no concept of getting on base in any way, shape, or form. It took them seven innings to put a guy into scoring position, Matt Waters hitting a 2-out double to right. Morales walked behind him, but Al Martell was all too easily out at first base with a poor grounder, and the inning ended. Wheatley, who pitched seven decent, but unsuccessful innings, was replaced with Chuck Jones, who was taken deep by switch-hitter Reeves, another warning sign that maybe lefty relief was an area that should have been addressed in the offseason. For now there was little more to do than to accept an Opening Day shutout against the Loggers. The Loggers! 4-0 Loggers. Morales 2-3, BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L (0-1);

Game 2
MIL: CF B. Allen – LF Reeves – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – 2B Davison – 3B B. Johnson – P Ru. Guzman
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Person

To say that Ryan Person and Tony Morales had yet to get on the same page was a bit of an understatement. The first inning on Tuesday so Person issue two walks in loading the bases with one out, while runners then scored on a wild pitch, a passed ball, and finally a groundout. Person was completely out of control in his debut, walking five Loggers in the first three innings (while whiffing up six), then bunted into a force with Al Martell somehow having reached base to begin the bottom 3rd. Guzman responded with a balk, then got taken well deep by Derek Baskins in right-center for the Coons’ first runs of a so far miserable season, and for the score to be shortened to 3-2. While Person was not beyond, nor beneath walking a sixth Logger in the fourth inning, Bryce Toohey did his best and tied the game with a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, which at that point also gave us a full set of top 4 hitters that started the season batting 1-for-6… The inning continued with Manny – hitless yet – drawing a walk, and then Matt Waters found the leftfield line for a double, putting runners in scoring position with nobody out. Guzman lost Morales in a full count then, loading the bases with nobody out, and thus convincing me that an L was in the offing, even though Al Martell procured a lead with a sac fly to Reeves, 4-3. Person bunted the runners over, while Baskins flew out to leave them over.

Person then was yanked out of the fifth inning for allowing a single to Reeves, who stole second, throwing a wild pitch, and walking Brayboy, the seventh and final free pass of the day for him, leaving to the tune of runners on the corners and one out. Preston Porter ******* balked facing his first batter of the year, Daniel Hertenstein, tying the score at four, before ringing up Hertenstein and getting Payne to ground out to Maldo. Bottom 5th then, where now Guzman walked the bags full with Herrera, Toohey, and Waters, but also two outs. Morales lined out to Scott Davison to strand absolutely everybody.

By the sixth, pitching returned to basically competent, with both bullpens taking over and encouraging fans to open their eyes again. Nobody got much of a rally going against the Coons’ Kelly and Moreno in the seventh and eighth, but then Josh Rella entered a 4-4 tie in the ninth, walked leadoff man Davison, and that runner would come around to score on singles by Kyle Edsell and Brent Allen, giving the Loggers a lead before Jared Paul, pinch-running for Edsell, was caught stealing third base and Reeves popped out. The Raccoons were behind against Caleb Martin in the bottom 9th, and had Martell leading off, which was hardly the best proposition. Martell flew out to Pat Lovell in right, but Ruben Gonzalez singled in his first at-bat of the season. That made Baskins the winning run, but he had already hit a homer on the day, how many more could he have in his bat at this point? Turned out, one more – the game-winning blast on a lazy 1-2 offering by Martin that was never seen again. 6-5 Raccoons! Baskins 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Gonzalez 1-1;

Derek Baskins should be declared a State Treasure and must remain a Raccoon forever!

Game 3
MIL: 1B Edsell – 2B Davison – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – LF Brayboy – C Payne – CF Reeves – 3B Paul – P O’Toole
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 2B Carreno – C Gonzalez – P Okuda

The rubber game started with another pitching implosion, and it was Okuda this time. He had no control, no stuff, and no luck either, loading the bases with a single and two walks, then gave up runs on a Brayboy double (two) and a Reeves homer (three) for a quick 5-0 hole. The Raccoons looked like they’d rally when their 1-2-3 opened with straight singles off O’Toole, but then Toohey whiffed and Manny grounded to short, barely beating out the relay throw by Davison to allow Baskins to score with a run. And then Waters lined out to Edsell and that was that. Okuda, who had angrily retreated to the clubhouse during the bottom 1st to hit a giant gong in the corner and to scream into the case with his collection of origami raccoons, returned for some damage control after that, lining up zeroes after that ugly five that had already derailed another game.

Ricky Espinoza drove in the game’s next run with two outs in the top 5th, singling home Edsell, who had reached on a Maldonado error, and the run was thus unearned. Ruben Gonzalez then wasted his first career home run on this stinker of a game, hitting a solo shot to left in the bottom 5th. Okuda batted for himself afterwards, hit a 1-out double to right, and was then stranded by Baskins and Herrera… Disappointed, he was then taken deep by Payne in the sixth, and disappeared from the game soon afterwards.

Fitting the general mood, we then got an hourlong rain delay that merely delayed the inevitable with a 7-2 score in the bottom 6th. After the delay, Maldonado would have two more singles. The first drove in Baskins and Herrera with two outs in the seventh and narrowed the score to an almost interesting 7-4. The second came with the same score and the Coons down to their final out against Caleb Martin in the ninth, and also with nobody on base to begin with. Toohey struck out, and the Raccoons were back under .500. 7-4 Loggers. Baskins 2-4, BB; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Maldonado 3-5, 2 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Ibold 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (1-2) vs. Condors (3-1) – April 6-8, 2046

The Condors had been out-scored 14-12 by the Bayhawks in their 4-game opening set, but had somehow taken three of the wins, which was something the Raccoons should perhaps look into in the future. The outlier had been former Coons farmhand Generos de Leon, getting dissected the ugly way on Thursday after a 3-0 start for Tijuana. The Critters had won the season series, 6-3, last season.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0) vs. Pedro Quinonez (0-0)
Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Marc Hubbard (1-0, 1.13 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 1.29 ERA) vs. Kellen Lanning (1-0, 1.29 ERA)

Quinonez was the first and only left-hander for the Raccoons this week.

Game 1
TIJ: CF J. Clark – SS A. Lopez – 1B Gibbs – RF Ito – C Pasko – 3B Barcia – LF B. Mendoza – 2B B. Oliver – P Quinonez
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – 2B Carreno – C Gonzalez – P Jackson

Quinonez sat down the first eight before Jackson singled, while Jackson also gave up a single to Quinonez in the third inning. As far as position players went, nobody was doing much of anything on either side, although the Raccoons reached the corners with one gone in the bottom 4th, with Herrera walking and stealing second ahead of a Toohey single. Matt Waters was hitting .182 in the early going, and the Raccoons needed a good whack – and got it, a 2-2 pitch dished over Jacob Clark in center for an RBI double, the first tally in the game. Toohey had to hit the brakes at third base, where he patiently waited while Gene Pellicano worked out a walk to fill the bases. Arturo Carreno hit a floater into shallow center that was uncatchable and landed for a 2-run single. Quinonez, unravelling, walked Gonzalez to refill the sacks, then gave up another single to Jackson for another run, 4-0. Baskins hit a sac fly, Herrera added an RBI single, and while Maldo popped out, Jackson now had a 6-0 lead to play with. He did so with good success for another three innings, giving up a total of five hits, but no runs whatsoever.

The Coons then saw a string of lefty hitters and thought that would be a good opportunity to see whether Chuck Jones still had a pulse in the eighth inning. Turns out, he hadn’t. The Condors, all lefties, hit him for four singles (one of the infield variety) and two runs before he was yanked in despair. With runners on the corners and one out, we went to Moreno. Ito hit a sac fly to left, and Mark Pasko whacked an RBI double to center. Sergio Barcia got on with a single. Could anybody here get an out? Benito Mendoza was hitless on the season, but that changed when he smashed a 3-run homer over the deepest bit of the fence in centerfield, flipping the score. A 6-0 lead had become a 7-6 heart attack. While I was breathing into a paper bag the Raccoons did absolutely nothing in the bottom 8th, and at least Bob Ibold didn’t make it worse in the top 9th. Facing righty Ben Arner in the bottom 9th, Nelson Mercado hit for Ibold in the #9 hole. He drew a walk in a full count, and Baskins hit a squiggler on a 1-2 pitch and legged it out for an infield single. Up came Armando Herrera, first half of the A-Cool-$10M-A-Year duo, and poked away at the first pitch, grounding to short. Jesus Banuelas threw the ball past Brian Oliver for an error, and the bags were full, but with nobody out – nooo! Maldonado also took the chance to swipe at Arner’s first pitch, getting the ball through the left side for a game-tying single. And Toohey? Toohey had been hit for with Gurney to give the poor guy some breathing space when the team had still been up by a ******* pawful and then some! But at least that was a lefty stick with the winning run 90 feet away. Arner hung in there, but Gurney made it quick, singling up the middle on the 1-0 pitch to walk off the Critters. 8-7 Coons. Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-2, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K and 2-3, RBI;

It’s early, but … this team!

Game 2
TIJ: C T. Black – SS A. Lopez – 1B Gibbs – RF Ito – 2B B. Oliver – LF Reidinger – 3B T. Ruiz – CF J. Clark – P Hubbard
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Merino

The first three innings consisted of a solo homer by Alex Lopez (who?) and not much else. Maldonado tied the game with a home run of his own, the first downpayment on that $38.5M contract of his, tying it all up in the fourth inning. Then **** the fan a bit when Hubbard nailed Toohey with a high fastball. Toohey ducked at the last second, and the ball hit his shoulder before it glanced off his helmet, which went flying. Next to fly where the batting gloves, and then Hubbard’s jaw when he got clocked by a stomping Toohey, who was unsurprisingly ejected for the left hook he threw there, but so was Hubbard. Pat Gurney replaced Toohey, who was probably headed for a suspension, stole second base, but Manny Fernandez continued his season-opening run of futility with a poor out. Waters then singled off Jason Jacobs, and so did Tony Morales, bringing home Gurney for a 2-1 lead with two outs. Martell left on two with a flyout to Ito.

Merino held on, but also worked himself up with long counts and was done after six innings of 4-hit ball and 102 pitches. Jacobs was still doing long relief for Hubbard in the bottom 6th when Maldo and Gurney opened the inning with soft singles. Manny, 0-for-11 with three walks by now, opted to waste no time and ripped away at the first pitch. To left. High. Deep. Gone! 3-run homer!

The Condors then had leadoff singles in the seventh against Porter and the eighth against Kelly, but hit into a 6-4-3 both times. The Raccoons, who had blown a 6-run lead the day before, felt content with their 4-run lead this time, and didn’t even blow it then. Kelly got the first out in the ninth, and Hickey got two more to put the game away. 5-1 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, HR, RBI;

Somehow, over .500.

Not feeling fuzzy about it, though.

Bryce Toohey had a bit of a sore paw after hitting Marc Hubbard with it, but the good news was he’d be as good as new by the time his 4-game suspension would be up. That one began Sunday and would continue through the entire Knights series that would start on Monday in Georgia. Gurney would sub at first, and we also put Nelson Mercado in center for the Sunday game, wishing to give every position player at least one start in Opening Week.

Game 3
TIJ: LF Banuelas – SS A. Lopez – 1B Gibbs – RF Ito – C Pasko – 3B Barcia – CF Reidinger – 2B B. Oliver – P Lanning
POR: LF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – CF Mercado – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Wheatley

The weather forecast was grim, and we’d waste Wheats on it anyway. Maldo at least gave the Coons a lead with a first-frame solo shot, and by the second inning the rain arrived and Wheats had to sit out a 27-minute rain delay between a double by Pasko and a walk to Barcia, but got out with pop outs by Marty Reidinger and Brian Oliver. Bottom 2nd, the Coons loaded the bases with three singles by Mercado, Martell, and Wheats (!), presenting Baskins with a rich basket and one out. He fell to 0-2, but then cracked a liner *just* past Ron Gibbs, but good enough for a 2-run single. Waters added a run with a groundout, sitting down Wheats, while Maldonado hit a 2-out RBI double. Lanning lost Manny on balls, then allowed another RBI double to Gurney in left-center. Mercado ended the 5-run onslaught with a strikeout at 3-2, but the Raccoons were up 6-0 now. Now, when did that ever go wrong?

The Condors scored before they made another out, although again a Maldonado error helped put a chink in Wheatley’s line, following up singles by PH Ryan Phillips in the #9 hole and Banuelas with a throwing error. Wheats then buckled down and got out of the messy inning, still up 6-1. Defense continued to not hold up; Wheatley walked Pasko to begin the fourth, and while Pasko was replaced by Barcia on a fielder’s choice, what should have been the third out, a bouncer to Martell by Oliver, was thrown away for another free two bases. Jacob Clark pinch-hit with runners in scoring position then, jabbed a sharp one at Martell, who didn’t dare to misplay another ball, and somehow the inning still ended. Wheats was in a sticky mess of his own, finally, in the sixth inning – and by the way, no, the Raccoons weren’t tacking on in the slightest – loading the bags with a single and two walks and only one out. He crucially struck out Oliver there, then faced a righty PH Tomas Ruiz, who fell to 2-2, then clubbed a gapper that emptied the bases and made what had been 6-0 by now a 6-4 game. Banuelas grounded out to end the inning.

Wheats tacked on a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts to somewhat salvage his day (looks uncertain and reaches for a bottle o’ booze), while the Raccoons looked like a threat to score for the first time in a while in the bottom 7th. Waters walked and stole second to begin the inning against righty Luis Ortiz, followed by Maldonado taking a disinterested walk from the Condors’ side. Manny singled to right, once again loading the bags with nobody out. Gurney hit an RBI single to center. Mercado hit an RBI single to right, and the Condors replaced their mauled righty with another run-of-the-mill righty, Cesar Perez. Tony Morales promptly hit into a run-scoring double play, and Martell flew out to left. Then they ran away with it in the eighth, whooping Perez with straight RBI knocks by Gonzalez, Maldo, and Manny, the middle one an RBI triple into the corner in right to complete the blowout. 12-4 Coons! Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Maldonado 3-4, BB, HR, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Fernandez 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Gurney 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Herrera (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 3 – SAL OF David Vasquez (.556, 1 HR, 3 RBI) is a triple shy of the cycle in his second game as a Wolf, going 5-for-5 in an 8-3 win over the Scorpions.
April 6 – Warriors LF/RF Mario Villa (.368, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has built a hitting streak begun in 2045 to 20 games with a single in a 5-3 loss to the Capitals.
April 7 – SFW LF/RF Mario Villa (.304, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has his hitting streak halted at 20 games with a dry effort in a 2-1 win over the Capitals.
April 8 – MIL SP Sergio Piedra (2-0, 0.00 ERA) and CL Caleb Martin (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 1 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Knights. ATL OF Bill Melendez (.143, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has a single to ruin the no-hitter.
April 8 – The Canadiens pick up OF Felix Rojas (.273, 1 HR, 1 RBI) from the Miners in exchange for RF/LF Victor Vazquez (.0-for-2, 0 HR, 0 RBI).
April 8 – The Warriors unload for 11 runs in the fifth inning and beat the Capitals again, 15-6. SFW 1B Manny Liberos (.318, 2 HR, 8 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits.

FL Player of the Week: DAL INF/CF Jose Rivas (.591, 0 HR, 1 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: POR UT Jesus Maldonado (.423, 2 HR, 7 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Was it worth waiting all offseason for this? Well, that’s an eye-of-the-beholder thing. Some people are just very much into getting lashed with a spikey whip on their naked bottoms.

The offense eventually realized that the season had begun after leaving Wheats to soak an Opening Day shutout loss, while the defense kept betraying him even when the team ran circles around the Condors to the tune of 25 runs on the weekend. They swept that series… after starting it by blowing Jake Jackson’s 6-0 lead. Also, poor Maldo, a single short of the cycle on Sunday…! He had to console himself with the Player of the Week nod.

Chuck Jones looks pretty much dead from up here, and his stats have a certain smell to it. This one could get hairy. If I remember right, I didn’t want a 3-year deal… or did I just want it to be cheaper? I could ask Steve from Accounting, but I hate being told that I’m wrong.

Yes, Maud, sorry, Maud …! (puts his open bottle of booze back on the coaster emblazoned with the Raccoons mascot)

Adam Bates, taken by the Pacifics in the Rule 5 draft in December, was returned to the Raccoons on Opening Day. The Wolves held on to Steve Petersen for the time being.

Next week, road trip to Atlanta and Elk City. We’ll have the first meeting with the Crusaders on the following homestand, which will last two weeks and almost but not quite cover the rest of the month.

Fun Fact: Robbie Peel, who retired after the 2043 season, was the only ABL player in history from Jamaica.

Hailing from Portmore, the left-hander’s family moved to the US when he was little and he came through the school system and thus the draft, being taken in the third round by the Knights in 2026, but ended up taken as a rule 5 pick by the Wolves and then traded to his principal team, the Miners. He would spend half of his 13-year career with Pittsburgh in two stints, leading the FL in saves (despite winning 14 games in relief!) in 2035. He was an All Star twice and a regular closer for his teams despite only managing 7.0 strikeouts per nine innings for his career.

Overall, he pitched to a 63-53 record with a 3.51 ERA and 236 saves, whiffing 621 batters in 798.1 innings.

That leaves only one player in the run of only-one-from-this-country series, and every Raccoons fan worth their whiskers knows him!