[Westheim]

We began the week with yet another roster move caused by injury. Arturo Carreno was sent to the DL on Monday with that quad strain, and with Al Martell not quite ready to be recalled from AAA’s rehab stint, we grabbed Josh Floyd to play a few games at short in Cincy. He was hitting .293 in irregular time in AAA this year.

Raccoons (41-19) @ Cyclones (31-28) – June 10-12, 2047

Last complete set before the draft – the Cyclones were within reach of the lead in the FL East, 2 1/2 games back, and needed to hold off the Critters to get closer. They were however seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed in the Federal League, with only a +10 run differential. The Coons’ was +62, which was still well under what you’d expect for a 41-19 team (by four games, to be precise). The last time we saw Cincy, we lost two of three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (5-3, 3.11 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (3-3, 5.31 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-6, 4.18 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (4-1, 2.79 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-3, 3.31 ERA) vs. Lachlan Clarke (4-5, 4.13 ERA)

The Cyclones would lead the charge with their only southpaw starter. They had nobody on the DL at all…!

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – SS Floyd – P Wheatley
CIN: 2B C. Vega – 1B Zuazo – 3B Burgos – SS C. Delgado – CF Mathes – LF Correa – RF N. Duncan – C Sicco – P Donovan

Three singles by Alvin Zuazo, Chris Delgado, and Dan Mathes, and Manny Fernandez grievously overrunning the middle one of them in leftfield, buried Wheats two down in the opening inning, and although Manny hit a jack in the top 2nd to try to make up for his sins, the Raccoons still trailed early, then 2-1. More power from recently awoken players would help – like Matt Waters. After Maldo drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, Toohey flew out to deep center and Manny whiffed, but Matt Waters hit a homer to left to flip the score, 3-2, only for the Cyclones to flip it right back. Chris Delgado hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, Ricky Correa beat Herrera in deep center for an RBI triple, and then scored on Nick Duncan’s sac fly to Pellicano to give them back the lead. What was up with Wheats? Still the First Half Blues? He once again lasted only five shoddy innings on 99 pitches.

Ruben Gonzalez kindly took Wheats off the hook for the day, bending a homer around the inside of the left foul pole with two outs and nobody on base in the seventh inning, tying the score at four, while the Coons had just as many hits – three o them longballs. Donovan had to settle for a no-decision likewise after Preston Porter got a double play from Zuazo following Carlos Vega’s 1-out single in the seventh. Pellicano singled off Jeremy Mayhall to begin the eighth inning to put the go-ahead run on base, but was doubled up by Maldonado… Porter gave up a leadoff double to Jesus Burgos to begin the bottom 8th instead. Delgado popped out before Mike Lynn took over – the bottom of the Cyclones’ order was heavily lefty-hitting, but Bonnie had pitched two days in a row and Curl had already been used in the sixth for the same batch of batters. Despite a 2-out walk to Correa, Lynn worked out of the jam without the go-ahead runner scoring, and would get two more outs in the ninth before a 2-out walk to Vega. Moreno came on in a double switch this time; Waters was out and Gurney in to play second base. He didn’t get much to do – Moreno walked Zuazo in a full count before giving up a walkoff blast to Burgos. 7-4 Cyclones.

Rotten game, through and through.

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – LF Fernandez – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Morales – SS Floyd – P Merino
CIN: 2B C. Vega – RF Meyer – SS C. Delgado – 1B Zuazo – LF Correa – CF Mathes – 3B Reid – C Solomon – P S. Chavez

Mercado hit a leadoff single, then was forced out by Herrera. The centerfielder stole second, reached third on Jaime Solomon’s throwing error, and then scored on Manny’s grounder for a wonky 1-0 lead in the first. It also didn’t last very long; Vega drew a leadoff walk off Merino, advanced on grounders to Maldo twice, and then scored when Zuazo legged out an infield single between the mound and the box. The Cyclones kept whacking away at Merino in the second; Solomon hit a single to center, Vega drummed a double to right to take the lead, and then scored on a Dan Meyer single, himself, the latter two with two outs. Portland countered, getting Floyd aboard with a leadoff single in the top 3rd. Merino bunted him to second, from where he scored handily on a Mercado double to center. Herrera singled to right, but the tying run had to stop at third base with Meyer right on the ball. Then Manny found the long overdue double play, 4-6-3, to kill the ******* inning.

Top 4th, bases loaded with one out after Maldo (forced out by Waters) and Gurney singled, and Morales walked on four pitches against Chavez. Floyd managed a sac fly to Meyer to tie the game at three before Merino grounded out to first, then returned the lead to Cincy with singles conceded to Solomon and Vega, Meyer’s groundout getting Solomon home from third base in the bottom 4th. Armando Herrera’s first homer of the year tied the score at four AGAIN, and the Coons even went up on Chavez with a 2-out rally. Maldo doubled to center, Waters walked in a full count, and Pat Gurney found an RBI single in center to bring in Maldo for a 5-4 edge. That removed Chavez in favor of left-hander Chris Lulay, who walked Morales to fill the bags, but got Floyd to fly out to Meyer to strand all three runners.

Merino actually held on to that through six before Matt Waters jacked Lulay for a 2-run homer to center in the seventh inning, bringing in Maldo and his 1-out single, which put Portland up 7-4, same score as Monday, just the other way round. Merino scratched out one more out in the bottom 7th, but was chased after a Maldo error and a walk issued, Josh Rella cleaning up behind him. The Cyclones put two more on in the bottom 8th against Hitchcock, who was supposed to retire the 7-8-9, got as far as 8, then yielded singles to PH Mario Ochoa and Vega. Meyer grounded out to Maldo before we could bring in Moreno for a 4-out save attempt, Lynn being unavailable today. The save was off entirely when Maldo singled home Manny Fernandez against Mayhall in the ninth. Two more singles by Waters and Floyd (with two outs) added another run in Maldo’s shape against Danny Tankersley. The ball went to Porter instead then, and the Cyclones disappeared 1-2-3…! 9-4 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-5, HR, RBI; Maldonado 5-5, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gurney 2-5, RBI; Floyd 2-4, 2 RBI;

Maldo, unretired! – Hard to give the man a day off, but we wanted him back for the games in division and so he sat anyway on Wednesday.

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – LF Fernandez – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Morales – SS Floyd – 3B Coen – P Jackson
CIN: 2B C. Vega – 1B Zuazo – 3B Burgos – SS C. Delgado – CF Mathes – LF Correa – RF M. Ochoa – C Sicco – P Clarke

Clarke ran 3-ball counts against the first three batters of the game, whiffing Mercado, but walking Herrera and Manny. Toohey had less patience and whacked an RBI double to left instead, and Waters found the fence – but only the front side of it – for another double and two runs. Tony Morales popped out, but then the bottom of the order kept slapping away singles with two outs: Floyd to left, Coen to center, plating a run, and even Jackson, bringing in another run. Mercado flew out to Dan Mathes, making two outs in the same inning, but the Raccoons were up 5-0 at least. Jackson then struck out the side in the bottom 1st… but not in the way envisioned. He rung up Vega and Zuazo, then had Burgos at 0-2 before giving up a single. He went on to walk the bags full, gave up an RBI single to Correa, and then somehow struck out Mario Ochoa to make it three…

Jackson remained a kid playing with matches right in the middle of the Cincinnati Dynamite Co. – while Portland tacked on a run in the fourth when Herrera brought in Mercado, Jackson loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the inning, issuing two walks in the process, and that was against the 6-7-8 batters. David Reid pinch-hit but lined out to Floyd. Vega’s sac fly shortened the score to 6-2, and Zuazo was rung up by the ump to strand two, but Jackson’s pitching was FAR from making anybody in a brown shirt comfortable. Delgado got him for a solo home run in the fifth, 6-3, a run the Coons took back in the seventh after Manny and Toohey went to the corners with 1-out singles, and Vega had no double play on Waters’ grounder to right, having to concede Manny’s run. Morales struck out to end that inning. Somehow Jackson went seven innings and struck out eight, but it was miles away from pretty… It didn’t get much better with Bonnie in the eighth, who was taken deep by Correa for another solo shot, 7-4. Lynn would get the top of the order in the ninth. Vega struck out, and Manny caught a fly from Zuazo. Burgos’ grounder to Waters ended the game. 7-4 Raccoons. Toohey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Coen 2-4, RBI;

Raccoons (43-20) @ Loggers (28-35) – June 13-16, 2047

Off we were to Milwaukee for a 4-game set there, entering with a 2-1 lead in the season series. The Loggers were bottoms in runs scored in the CL, getting not even 3.4 runs out of every game, which was reminiscent of some old, old Raccoons teams. They were ninth in runs allowed, so their record was probably a lot kinder than it should be, with a -81 run differential having been piled up already. They had entered freefall recently, having won all of two games in June so far.

Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (6-6, 3.51 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (9-1, 2.82 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (1-7, 4.08 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-3, 3.36 ERA) vs. Carlos Vasquez (3-5, 4.36 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-6, 4.31 ERA) vs. Tomas Ruiz (2-10, 7.17 ERA)

Left, right, then right, left – Southpaw Sunday! The only notable DL absence they had to complain about right now was outfielder Brent Allen, and he might return by the end of the weekend.

I would have to fly out after half the games in the series, with the draft taking place on Saturday in New York, the team’s next destination.

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF A. Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – SS Floyd – LF Medina – P Baker
MIL: CF Reeves – LF Umbreiro – 3B Loyola – SS R. Espinoza – RF E. Hernandez – C Payne – 2B Velasquez – 1B Bush – P V. Padilla

The first five batters in the game all struck out before Jon Loyola hit a single and Ricky Espinoza flew out to Herrera. Waters walked in the second before being doubled up by Gonzalez, but the top 3rd saw leadoff singles from Floyd and the beleaguered (.085 entering the game) Roberto Medina. The runners were bunted into scoring position by Baker, but Gene Pellicano failed with another K. Herrera didn’t – his single to left-center brought in both runners for the first two markers on the board. Maldo singled, but Toohey’s fly in the gap was caught by Celio Umbreiro. While Baker shed two hits and no runs the first time through the lineup in his second start of the season, the Raccoons began the fourth inning by filling the bags with their 5-6-7 hitters and nobody out. Medina struck out (sigh of lamentation!), but Baker managed at least a sac fly to Bill Reeves to go up 3-0. Padilla walked Pellicano to restock the bags, then gave up *another* 2-out, 2-run single to Armando Herrera through the hole on the left, 5-0. The inning ended with Maldo, but the next began with another three Coons on base and nobody out. Josh Floyd hit a 2-run single before Luke Schwartz retired the 8-9-1 without suffering any more damage… in *that* inning. He got whacked around in the sixth, giving up another two runs on a pair of 2-out RBI singles by Gonzalez and Floyd, bringing home Herrera and Toohey.

Baker shut down the Loggers through six, then retired nobody in the seventh. Ernesto Hernandez hit a home run to begin the inning, before Ricky Payne singled, Jorge Velasquez walked, and Erik Bush hit an RBI single. That was it for the rookie, relieved by Rella, who got out of the messy inning for the cost of a Reeves sac fly, which reduced the lead to 9-3. Which was also as close as the Loggers got. Curl gave them nothing in the eighth, and while Portland didn’t tack on anymore, the Loggers only threatened with two runners against Hitchcock in the ninth, but couldn’t get another hit to force us to think about deploying Moreno before running out of outs. 9-3 Raccoons. Herrera 3-6, 4 RBI; Waters 0-1, 4 BB; Gonzalez 3-4, RBI; Floyd 3-4, BB, 3 RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1;

We had 13 hits – all singles. That’s normally a game you lose 5-4 or so.

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF A. Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – 2B Gurney – SS Floyd – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky
MIL: CF Reeves – LF Umbreiro – 3B Loyola – SS R. Espinoza – C Payne – 2B S. Pena – RF McIntyre – 1B Lovell – P Ru. Guzman

The bags were full before the Raccoons made an out on Friday with a walk, a single, and Maldonado taking another one to the bum. Toohey turned a 1-2 into a missile through Jon Loyola and up the line for a 2-run double, and the remaining two runners scored on groundouts by Manny and Gurney, giving the Critters a quick 4-0 paw up, all of which went out of the window in the bottom of the inning. Wolinsky offered a leadoff walk to Reeves, a single to Loyola, and another single to Ricky Espinoza for the Loggers’ first run. Ricky Payne struck out, but Sergio Pena struck a 3-run homer outta the park.

With that deflation still weighing on my chest, the Raccoons started with runners on base in the third again. Maldo singled, Toohey walked, and Manny socked a double to left this time, bringing in Maldonado to go up 5-4. Gurney added a sac fly, but Manny was left on base by the bottom of the order people, who got another chance to earn their oxygen in the fifth, with Manny and Gurney on base again, taking to the corners with one out. Floyd hit into a double play to kill the inning.

The bags were loaded with no outs in the top 6th then; Dave Peluso walked Gonzalez, mishandled Wolinsky’s bunt, and Pat Lovell fudged Mercado’s grounder to make a little bit of something out of almost nothing. This time, Herrera hit into the double play, 6-2-3 against boredom, before Maldo came to the rescue, cramming a triple into the rightfield corner to bring in a pair of 2-out runs. Toohey grounded out.

Wolinsky pitched into the bottom 7th, but shouldn’t have. He walked Celio Umbreiro to begin the inning, then got taken deep by Loyola to cut the lead to 8-6. Josh Rella would relieve him and get out of the inning, while the Raccoons rallied with two outs in the eighth – still against an enduring Peluso – with Mercado and Herrera getting on base before being driven in by Maldo again. Maldo also began the bottom 8th with an error to put Will McIntyre on base against Hitchcock, but the runner was caught stealing as Hitchcock rung up Lovell in a 3-2 count, then also pitched the ninth in a wild one. 10-6 Raccoons. Mercado 2-3, BB; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Maldonado 3-4, 3B, 4 RBI; Gurney 2-4, 2 RBI; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Al Martell returned on Draft Day, with Josh Floyd, who hit 7-for-20 in his brief stint at short, being returned to AAA.

So that was now Waters at short again and Martell at second? Something like that.

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF A. Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Martell – C Morales – LF Medina – P Wheatley
MIL: CF Reeves – 2B Barrington – RF E. Hernandez – SS R. Espinoza – 3B Loyola – C Payne – LF Umbreiro – 1B Bush – P C. Vasquez

This was a day game, which meant I could watch it in its entirety – barring extras or rain – in my hotel room in New York before hopping across the street to League HQ for the draft. Chief scout Pat Degenhardt and me tucked into my comfy double bed and molested room service with some menial request every five minutes while watching it on the 90-inch vector screen suspended from the ceiling.

The first few innings were scoreless and also hitless – nobody landed a base knock until Medina, of all people, hit a leadoff double to right in the top 3rd. That hurt Vasquez’ feelings and also his arm, and he left with something soon diagnosed as biceps strain. Righty Nicholas Pollock took over with Wheats batting, getting no more than a grounder at 1-2 that advanced the runner, then plated Medina with a wild pitch to get the Coons up 1-0.

Wheats had three perfect innings on 35 pitches and three strikeouts before a 45-minute rain delay struck, which also got us in the danger zone to finish the game before the ceremonies; not even getting into how my left paw was stuck in a pot of honey. Wheatley retired 14 straight before walking Payne, with Umbreiro flying out to end the bottom 5th, still in a 1-0 game, and the Loggers didn’t hit in the bottom 6th either. The next half-inning, Miguel Herrera was pitching for the Loggers. He walked Waters, who advanced on Martell’s groundout, then walked Morales intentionally to bring up Medina with one out. I wondered why we didn’t bat for him while trying to extricate my paw from the honey pot still, but what the heck do I know? Medina batted, dropped a single into shallow-left, and Waters scored from second, 2-0. Wheats then found a double play, got taken deep by Ernesto Hernandez in the bottom of the inning, and gave up two singles to Loyola and Payne before being shuffled off to the pasture with Nelson Moreno coming on to try and save the skinny 2-1 for the time being. He did so by striking out Erik Bush – after a walk to Umbreiro loaded the bags.

With time getting tight, Mercado and Herrera hit singles to take to the corners to begin the top 8th. Miguel Herrera kept pitching and yielding singles: Maldo hit an RBI single. Toohey hit a single. Waters slapped an RBI single. The Loggers sought refuge in a new right-hander, Caleb Martin, with three on and nobody out, but drowned with a 2-run double by Martell, then a walk to Morales. Medina popped out. Manny batted and hit a sac fly from Moreno’s spot, while Mercado hit a high bouncer in the gap, that jumped over the fence from the warning track for a ground-rule double, which actually cost a run; Morales had scored from first base, but was set back to third base. Ben Coen hit for Armando Herrera and whacked a 2-run double. Maldo finally made the third out, concluding an 8-spot. At this point, I agreed with Degenhardt that it was a win, the first Wheatley win in a while, and we should go. We didn’t get that honey pot off my paw though, so it tugged along to the draft procedures... I was then surprised to learn on the other side of the street that the game eventually ended much closer than indicated, with Degenhardt finding out that both Bonnie and Porter got on the snout in the final two innings… Still a win, though! 10-5 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5, 2B, RBI; Coen (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Morales 0-1, 3 BB; Medina 2-4, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (6-3);

After the daft draft event, Degenhardt and me hung around with some other GM’s past our bedtime and missed our late flight to Milwaukee, then decided to hang it out in New York on Sunday and wait for the team to join us instead.

I also still had to get that honey pot off my paw, and finding utensils or qualified personnel on a Sunday was not easy in New York, at least until Degenhardt took me to the Lower Eastside in Manhattan, where we found Rubinstein’s Deli & Blacksmith (we all have to broaden our portfolio to make enough dosh these days!), and with Sabbath over by Sunday, the owner extricated me from my gooey prison. I still got to keep the pot to lick it out, though, but we took sandwiches back to the hotel for the afternoon game.

Game 4
POR: RF Pellicano – CF A. Herrera – 1B Maldonado – LF Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – 3B Coen – P Merino
MIL: CF B. Allen – LF Reeves – 3B Loyola – SS R. Espinoza – 1B E. Hernandez – 2B S. Pena – C Nagel – RF Bush – P T. Ruiz

Nobody reached base until Ruben Gonzalez singled to open the third inning. Pellicano’s double scored him for a 1-0 lead, which went away an inning later on Pena’s sac fly following a pair of singles that sent Espinoza and Hernandez to the corners. Espinoza followed up a Reeves double with a 2-out RBI single the inning after, and the Loggers led 2-1 after five innings, while the Raccoons had two each in hits and errors…

Matt Waters flipped the score in the sixth with a 2-out homer to left, just after Ruiz had walked Bryce Toohey, and just before Pat Gurney grounded out on a 3-0 pitch. At least he made a diving grab in the bottom of the inning, which wasn’t something you were expecting from Gurney at second base. The top 7th then began with Gonzalez singling and Ben Coen drawing a walk. Merino bunted them into scoring position, and Pellicano hit a sharp grounder to left. Loyola narrowly missed it and the Coons got an RBI single out of it. Herrera grounded out to first, allowing Coen to score from third base, while Pellicano moved to second. From there, Maldo scored him – with another homer to left. That was Ruiz’ demise, although two Loggers hits also scratched Merino for another run in the bottom of the inning, but he actually went into the eighth and might have completed eight if not for a Coen throwing error that put David Nagel at second base with one out. Merino whiffed Bush, but then departed, with Moreno retiring the pinch-hitter, McIntyre. Moreno got two strikeouts and a grounder to short in the bottom 9th, but that wasn’t enough to end the game: Brent Allen reached on an uncaught third strike charged to Gonzalez and the Coons failed to turn two on the Loyola grounder. Espinoza grounded out to Gurney to indeed end the game and complete a forceful sweep. 7-3 Coons. Pellicano 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 1-2, 2 BB; Gonzalez 2-4;

In other news

June 10 – NYC LF/RF/1B Rich de Luna (.243, 0 HR, 8 RBI) finds his 2,000th career hit in a 5-4 win over the Blue Sox with a second-inning single off NAS SP Matt Sealock (5-7, 3.84 ERA). De Luna, who got his debut as a 19-year old Gold Sock in 2033, is a career .299/.337/.375 hitter with 38 HR and 628 RBI to his name, plus 494 stolen bases. He won a Gold Glove and was an All Star once in his career.
June 13 – Gold Sox INF Ivan Villa (.278, 10 HR, 55 RBI) will miss two weeks with a strained oblique.
June 15 – The Titans trade SP Tommy Kubik (4-7, 7.05 ERA) to the Blue Sox for OF/2B Jeremy Hampton (.238, 2 HR, 15 RBI) and a prospect.
June 16 – The Condors switch INF Paul Laughren (.220, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to the Buffaloes for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.271, 12 HR, 31 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 3 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA 3B/SS Bobby Thibault (.247, 2 HR, 33 RBI), hitting .471 (8-17) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Six wins in a row after that L in the opener in Cincy! We also scored a whopping 56 runs this week, but don’t get used to it, we’ll not play the Loggers forever. Poor jokes aside, we scored our last 100 runs in just 16 games, so the offense has finally come together for the most part.

Well enough that we can overcome some middling pitching performances even!

The Indians have lost only one game since leaving Portland, so they remain in the 10-games-out range (they went 5-1 this week), the only team in the division that has a shot of catching the Critters this year; the third-place Elks are already 15 games out.

The Critters will join us in New York for a 3-game set starting on Monday. Then it’s back home, for a 6-game homestand with the Aces and Falcons.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons won 100+ games only once in their existence, a 108-54 campaign in 1996.

I am dreaming.

Of 1996, not what came after it…