[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-49) vs. Capitals (44-74) – August 14-16, 2046

We would kick off our new 2-week homestand with a 3-game set against the Capitals, who were rolled up on the ground and protecting their head from all the kicks coming in. They were 31 games out in the FL East, had lost four in a row and 12 of their last 16, had the worst offense in the Federal League, and were allowing the fourth-most runs over there. The rotation was crummy, the pen was well worse, the defense nothing to write home about. With young starter Bruce Mark jr. and outfielder Jamie McGuigan they also had two of their more palatable players on the DL. The Coons had won the last two meetings with the Caps, both two games to one, in 2042 and 2044.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (9-7, 3.56 ERA) vs. Tony Granado (7-11, 3.90 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-9, 3.63 ERA) vs. Corey Booth (5-12, 5.51 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-7, 2.68 ERA) vs. Vince Burke (6-7, 5.05 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up in this series.

Game 1
WAS: LF Stipp – 2B Loyola – SS O’Keefe – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – RF E. Avila – C Pedraza – CF J. Sullivan – P Granado
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Okuda

The Capitals offered an entirely right-handed lineup, but Okuda seemed to get into the game well, whiffing three in two scoreless innings before a Toohey single and a Gurney homer to right-center gave him a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd. Granado allowed the next three on base, walking Tony Morales in a full count ahead of Manny Fernandez and Josh Floyd singles, bringing up Okuda with nobody out. Granado rung him up, then got a comebacker from Mercado for a force at home plate, but fell to Armando Herrera’s 2-out, 2-run single to left. Maldo grounded out, ending the inning. Okuda then promptly stumbled, walked Pat Stipp and Jon Loyola with two outs in the top 3rd, and followed that up with RBI singles handed to Chris O’Keefe and Ricky Jimenez. Alex Zacarias finally grounded out at 4-2… The relief was temporary. Eduardo Avila and Alex Pedraza opened the fourth with doubles, Pedraza scored to tie the game on a wild pitch, and then Stipp hit a single with two outs, and Okuda was taken deep by Loyola for a 6-4 deficit. Time to reach for the booze, I’d say.

There were more reasons to cry, though – Manny led off the bottom 4th with a jack to right, 6-5, which set the scoreboard in motion. It was his 1,053rd career RBI, all for Portland, and that tied him for the franchise record held by Matt Nunley. Standing ovations ensued, while I held Slappy’s firm hand as I sobbed. Finally a #5 pick that made it …! (wipes pokey black nose)

Okuda continued to pitch in the fifth, but was yanked after two outs and two singles. Ibold replaced him, got a 1-2 bouncer from Jon Sullivan that Maldonado bobbled, and then gave up a 2-run double to PH Brian Nigro, burying the Raccoons yet deeper, 8-5. The Raccoons would have Ibold for another inning, then kept abusing Aaron Hickey for the rest of regulation, which killed the Capitals’ rampant scoring, but at the same time the Raccoons found no inroads into the flammable bullpen of theirs. This included Leif Squires in the ninth inning, who walked Derek Baskins with one out, but struck out Al Martell and got a weak groundout from Nelson Mercado to end the game. 8-5 Capitals. Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Hickey 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
WAS: C Julian Diaz – LF E. Avila – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – 2B M. Gibson – SS St. Peter – RF Stipp – CF J. Sullivan – P Booth
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Jackson

Two scoreless innings with three strikeouts from the Raccoons’ starter, then the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 2nd – where had I seen that before? Toohey and Morales singled, Manny walked on four pitches, and that brought up … well, Castner, Martell, and the pitcher, so no guarantees. Castner got a run home the barbaric way, with a 6-4-3 double play, but Martell cashed Morales with a clean single to left, and then Jackson singled through the hole on the right, as did Mercado on a 2-2 pitch, bringing in Martell. Herrera grounded out, and Jackson was up 3-0. He promptly allowed a leadoff triple to Pat Stipp in the top 3rd, conceding the run on Jon Sullivan’s sac fly. (grabs Honeypaws tighter)

Jackson allowed three hits and struck out seven through five innings, which was certainly a notch or two up from Okuda the day before. Walks to Avila and Zacarias in the sixth created some tension, but Gibson made the third out before I could break into actual panic. On the other paw, the Raccoons did little to nothing against Booth until they played Mercado and Herrera on the corners with two outs in the seventh. Maldonado flew out to Sullivan to end that attempt at run(s). Jackson began the eighth inning, facing the opposing pitcher unrelieved and getting an easy groundout. He then struck out Julian Diaz for his 10th K on the day. Avila popped out first-pitch, and that would be it for Jackson lest a major offensive explosion occurred against Corey Booth in the bottom of the inning. No such thing occurred after Toohey’s leadoff walk, thanks to Morales’ double play grounder. Manny singled, then was picked off first base. Josh Rella was brought out for the 3-4-5 hitters in the ninth then, still up by two runs. Ex-Coon Ricky Jimenez grounded out to Floyd at short. Zacarias walked. O’Keefe walked. Oh for crying out loud! Honeypaws, do something! Cody St. Peter popped out to Floyd. Pat Stipp, who was weirdly annoying despite hitting .171 for the year, hit an RBI single at 0-2. But there was no lefty hitter drawing up and thus no motivation to go to Mike Lynn in the sticky situation. That was when the count on Sullivan ran full. He thankfully hacked himself out… 3-2 Critters. Toohey 1-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Jackson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (10-9) and 2-3;

At this point Matt Waters rejoined us from the DL and Josh Floyd was reassigned to the Alley Cats.

But my main concern was the division standings. The Indians had swept the Blue Sox and were drawing ever closer…!

Game 3
WAS: LF Stipp – 2B Loyola – SS O’Keefe – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – RF E. Avila – C Julian Diaz – CF J. Sullivan – P Burke
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Merino

There was another ghastly all-righty lineup for another Raccoons southpaw. There was also another three-on, nobody-out in the bottom 2nd, this time with a Toohey single and back-to-back walks to Waters and Manny. Ruben Gonzalez lobbed an RBI single over shortstop O’Keefe, but Martell whiffed and Merino popped out. Derek Baskins broke through with a 2-run double up the rightfield line, and Herrera clubbed a ball up the middle for a 2-run single. That made for a 5-0 lead, and in total we had outscored the Capitals 12-0 in second innings in this series. Unfortunately, the games consisted of more than just second innings…

The fourth, for example, in which O’Keefe took Merino deep for a solo home run, although Merino allowed only three hits in five innings (but also struck out only one). Matt Waters’ solo homer in the fifth restored a 5-run lead, while Manny followed that up with a triple, scoring on Ruben Gonzalez’ subsequent groundout, 7-1. The Caps countered with a leadoff double by Stipp (!), who came around to score in the sixth, to which Maldo responded with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, 9-2. Merino went seven innings of 6-hit ball, and was followed by Preston Porter, who walked two and gave up a run for it in the eighth inning. And then the 9-3 game started to get away in the ninth inning. Bob Ibold had the ball. Julian Diaz had a 1-out single, but Sullivan grounded out. Then the Caps broke into a riot. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Josh Wotring and Stipp, the damn devil, and an RBI single by Loyola. Suddenly, this was a save situation. Mike Lynn got O’Keefe to ground out to enforce silence on the Caps’ part. 9-6 Coons. Baskins 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Herrera 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (11-7);

Raccoons (70-50) vs. Canadiens (58-61) – August 17-19, 2046

Ugh, the smell. I will never get used to the stench of the damn Elks!

Theirs was the most potent offense in the CL, but they remained near the bottom in pitching, allowing the second-most runs. Their run differential was only +12, compared to ours of +106, but at the same time, the Indians were only 4 1/2 games back and playing the limping Titans on the weekend (four games in three days). Elk City had OBP qualities and power, no injuries to speak about, and the devils were also up 6-4 in the season series. Oh boy.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (13-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (8-11, 4.47 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-2, 3.15 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (7-6, 3.61 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (9-8, 3.82 ERA) vs. Aaron Jones (9-8, 5.05 ERA)

Again, no southpaw in sight.

Game 1
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – CF F. Rojas – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – SS Price – LF P. Colon – 1B Bejarano – P Godinez
POR: LF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – P Wheatley

New opponent, new vibe. Wheats walked the first two batters, Martell made an error, and Travis Malkus brought in an unearned run with a groundout to Maldonado to put the Raccoons behind 1-0. But the first two batters also reached against Godinez – a 4-pitch walk to Mercado, a first-pitch single to left by Herrera – before coming around on a huge 3-run blast by Maldonado! That was not the last 3-spot for the Critters in the game, as they added another one right after that in the second inning. Weirdly, that run started with Wheats singling with two outs. Mercado walked, Herrera hit an RBI single, the RBI coming when Wheats ran through the stop sign and still scored ahead of Felix Rojas’ throw, and Maldo then drove in the trailing runners with another single. Toohey also singled, but Morales flew out to Pedro Colon to end the inning, Portland up 6-1. Waters and Pellicano then got on to begin the bottom 3rd and scored on Martell’s groundout and Wheats’ sac fly, 8-1, which spelled the end for Godinez for this Friday.

Now it was basically about Wheats holding up, which he basically did, but not very efficiently. Through six, the Elks didn’t get another hit of him, but he had a few long counts and needed 98 pitches to complete six innings, naturally limiting him to only scraps in the late innings. The Raccoons also laid down their weapons against the pen in the middle innings, mostly going down tamely. Wheats went home after a quick 1-2-3 seventh, but Porter and Curl took care of the lead competently enough (other than on Thursday…), and the Raccoons tacked on a late run on three singles off John Roeder in the bottom 8th. Herrera got the game’s final RBI. 9-1 Raccoons. Mercado 2-3, 2 BB; Herrera 3-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Baskins 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (14-4) and 1-2, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – LF van der Zanden – 1B Bejarano – 3B Price – P Furuya
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky

Naturally wonky Bubba Wolinsky was all over the place, which led to an unpleasant sequence in the second inning in which he had two outs, nobody on, drilled Arnout van der Zanden with two strikes, and then melted from there. He walked Ricardo Bejarano in a full count, then gave up a lousy 2-run double to Rick Price. Those early markers stood out – the Raccoons worked no second-inning wonders themselves on Saturday, and had only two hits against an efficient Furuya in four innings. Wolinsky needed 81 pitches to even get that far. We dragged him through six innings, somehow, on 108 pitches, with the score still 2-0 Stinkers.

Ibold and Lynn put runners on the corners in the seventh before a K to Julio Diaz resolved the dilemma on base, but Raccoons offense was still absent, Furuya retiring Manny, Castner, and Gonzalez (who had entered in a double switch with Lynn) in order in the bottom 7th. He didn’t get Mercado to begin the eighth, though – Nels’ hit a homer to center to get the Coons on the board and shave the deficit down to 2-1. Too bad that the 2-3-4 then made excessively easy outs to let Furuya off the hook… Moreno kept the Elks where they were in the ninth before Pat Gurney hit in his spot to open the bottom 9th against Sam Gibson, right-hander with a 3.38 ERA, singling to left to put the tying run on the map. Waters flew out to left. Manny flew out to left. Baskins batted for Castner, singled to center, and that sent Gurney to third base… BUT … of course we couldn’t bat for Ruben Gonzalez anymore, because we were out of catchers, and Ruben Gonzalez had at best had “a pulse” the last few weeks. He popped out to Malkus. 2-1 Canadiens. Gurney (PH) 1-1; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

(groans!)

No, Maud, I don’t think apple pie is gonna fix my … (sniffs) … (sniffs) … Well, why don’t you leave a slice on a table there and I will have a look at it when I’m done weeping?

Game 3
VAN: CF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – LF van der Zanden – 1B Bejarano – 3B K. Saito – P A. Jones
POR: RF Mercado – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Okuda

The Elks scored six runs in the first to take the series, as Okuda exploded for the second time this week. Escobido opened with a single, stole second, and Jerry Outram, who had been SUSPICIOUSLY SILENT for two days, rammed one out. What followed was a cavalcade of walks, defensive mishaps (Martell), infield singles, and a 2-run double with two outs by the opposing pitcher that ran up a 6-0 tally. Baskins doubled and Toohey singled for a run in the bottom 1st, but that fell out of a completely hopeless Okuda in the top 2nd again, with Hickey replacing him before the inning was over. Portland answered with two on hits by Gonzalez, Martell, and Mercado in the bottom 2nd, 7-3. But before any wrong hope could come up that the Raccoons might pull one out here, Hickey ran into a 4-run fourth himself, including a 2-run homer by Diaz, and the Raccoons were truly and fully buried.

At 11-3 the game was over, but this wouldn’t be a Coons-Elks game if we couldn’t bake in some late controversy. Preston Porter was pitching in the seventh when Angel Escobido doubled. He then, with an 8-run lead, stole third base off Gonzalez. The Raccoons were not amused, and somehow Jerry Outram took a baseball to the ribs from Porter. Diaz’ 2-out single drove in Escobido, 12-3, and besides some bickering here and some hoof-stomping there, no major fight broke out. The bottom of the inning began with Manny doubling to left, followed by a Ruben Gonzalez homer that was nice for his stats but useless for today, same for the 2-out solo homer Mercado hit later in the inning, which was the game’s last hurrah. 12-6 Canadiens. Mercado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Toohey 2-4, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Herrera (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 13 – Topeka’s RF/CF J.P. Angeletti (.287, 11 HR, 70 RBI), hits for the cycle in an 11-6 win over the Crusaders. Angeletti goes 4-for-5 and drives in three runs. It is the second cycle of the season and the third in Buffaloes history after Jerry Henry (2004) and Jimmy Roberts (2015).
August 13 – Indians and Blue Sox both score three runs in the tenth inning, then nothing until the Blue Sox offer two in the top of the 18th. The Indians come roaring back and walk it off with a grand slam by Danny Rivera (.281, 15 HR, 90 RBI), nailing down a double-length, 11-8 win.
August 13 – Dampening the euphoria in Indianapolis, IND CL Tommy Gardner (5-5, 2.15 ERA, 31 SV) will be out until early September with a sore shoulder.
August 14 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.296, 21 HR, 86 RBI) connects for a single and a homer in an 8-3 win over the Wolves, extending a hitting streak of his to 20 games.
August 14 – DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.364, 16 HR, 89 RBI) drives in eight runs on three hits (including two home runs) in a 17-5 deletion of the Falcons.
August 16 – The hitting streak of OCT OF Juan Benavides (.294, 21 HR, 86 RBI) ends at 21 games with a hitless performance in a 4-2 loss to the Wolves.
August 17 – SAC LF/RF Nate Culp (.308, 15 HR, 58 RBI) would miss two weeks with a knee contusion.
August 17 – The Indians are swept and shut out, 9-0 and 4-0, in a double header by the Titans, including a combined 1-hitter by BOS SP Kyle Turay (6-11, 5.10 ERA) and MR Jeff Turi (4-3, 1.80 ERA) in the early game.
August 18 – The hitting streak of the Warriors’ Matt Diskin (.340, 10 HR, 64 RBI) soars to 25 games with a double in a 9-3 loss to the Gold Sox.
August 18 – NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.275, 14 HR, 47 RBI) hits a home run to beat the Rebels, 1-0.
August 19 – The Gold Sox end the 25-game hitting streak of SFW RF Matt Diskin (.336, 10 HR, 64 RBI), who goes hitless in four attempts in Denver’s 7-1 win.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.368, 18 HR, 93 RBI), batting .500 (15-30) with 4 HR, 14 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA SS Tony Aparicio (.280, 10 HR, 57 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Damn Elks! (spits)

The Indians are now within four games, and maybe we should come up with a plan against them soon. It’s a bit of a problem that we suck against them especially. Weird that we can neither handle the damn Elks’ all-out attack, nor the Indians’ stingy pitching and general low scoring. I think this is as good a time as any to despair!

Okuda this week, 6.1 innings and 15 runs (11 earned). That is … that is not great.

Wheats keeps hammering away on his resurgence, though. His second half has been mildly amazing. His most recent defeat came in June, and he’s gone 7-0 in nine starts since then. He was already Pitcher of the Month in July, and he looks like a candidate in August, too, so far going 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA. Only six hits allowed in 20.2 innings!

Armando Herrera is within one point of Jerry Outram for the batting title, .348 against .349. Julio Diaz has fallen to .329, a distant third place.

Next week, Crusaders and Baybirds. I’m sure we’ll find ways to wobble those games away, too.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez was taken with the #5 pick in the 2031 draft and has been part of this ramshackle organization ever since.

He had only one RBI this week, amidst seven hits, bringing his total to 2,010 for his career, and barring a major explosion in the last six weeks he’ll post a sub-100 OPS+ for the first time in his career. He is 36 years old, mind. That one RBI, on a home run on Tuesday, tied him with Matt Nunley for the franchise record, though. They are the only two players to have reached quadruple-digits in the category.

And he’s won some of all: the Raccoons took on rings in 2044, he won a Gold Glove in 2042, the odd All Star nomination (4) and Platinum Stick (3) here and there, the 2037 CLCS MVP award, and – surely not least – the 2036 Player of the Year award. Back then he hit .326/.370/.491 with 19 HR and 90 RBI. It was the only time in his career he hit more than .290 for a season, and his 211 hits that year were by far a career high, although he’d hit more homers and drive in more runs (including a best of 105 in ’40) in other seasons.

For most of his career he’s been a steadily-defending corner outfielder with a strong arm, reliably putting up a 110+ OPS. This year he keeps being cursed with a .255 BABIP and the power seems to have gone away now, too, with only seven homers so far. Granted, being hurt and fighting for playing time isn’t helping him here.

The perpetual Critter (we’d hope) is signed for $1.5M for two more seasons, although that last year is a vesting option that requires 550 PA, which is not a mark he’d reach *this* year.

For his career, Manny has hit .282/.337/.426 with 188 HR and 1,053 RBI. He has 187 stolen bases.

And his cheeks seem to be getting chubbier.