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Westheim · 07-02-2022, 05:13 AM

Raccoons (0-0) @ Indians (0-0) – April 5-7, 2049

Once more, the season started against the Indians, who looked like the sharpest competition this year – and looked like they had a bit of a good chance, I thought as I looked at the stash of old man joint cream that Dr. Padilla packed for the season-opening 6-game road trip. We went 12-6 against the Indians last year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Bill Nichol (0-0)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Bill Drury (0-0)
Dave Hils (0-0) vs. Enrique Ortiz (0-0)

The Indians would only offer righty pitching for this series.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 2B H. Acosta – 3B B. Anderson – C Pedraza – 1B de Castro – P Nichol

The Raccoons started the season by loading the bases in the first inning, putting Alex Adame on with a single – he stole his first base right away – before Maldo and Waters got walks drawn with one out. Mike Preble flicked an RBI single to shallow center for the first run of the year. Hugo Acosta intercepted a Pat Gurney grounder with a lunge, but couldn’t scramble and throw it to first in time, leaving Gurney with an infield RBI single. Eduardo Avila struck out, but Ruben Gonzalez found another soft RBI single before Wheats ended the inning with a fly to Angel Mendez. Now he just had to pitch better against the Arrowheads than last year, when they had constituted most of his problem zone – and did for sure, holding them to a Bobby Anderson single the first time through and no runners in scoring position whatsoever. That already beat the quintillion runs they stuffed him for on *last* Opening Day for sure!

Indy got a run in the fourth, though, when 2-out shenanigans amounted to a 2-out walk to Danny Rivera, a wild pitch, and an Acosta RBI single to get him home. Anderson struck out afterwards to end the inning. Perpetual pest Andrew Russ hit a single in the sixth, but didn’t get a steal off, no scored as the Indians stranded him at second base. But there was also no denying that the Raccoons had fallen entirely asleep after a raucous first inning with four hits and two walks against Nichol, who then allowed only one more hit and walk each through the next seven innings, and no runs. Wheats remained on, though – he nicked Anderson in the seventh inning, but kept that runner on base, and had a 1-2-3 eighth. His pitch count was attractive, and if only the Raccoons could have found some more offense, we would have been very comfortable with sending him for a complete game, but not with a 2-run lead and the middle of the order up in the bottom 9th. As things were, Ruben Gonzalez with two outs reached on an uncaught third strike against Sang-hoon Kim in the top 9th, bringing up Wheats’ spot and a pinch-hitter. Angelo Zurita grounded out, though. Come the bottom 9th, some things were out of order at first glance; Mike Lynn would pitch it, which could be explained with the fact that there was no natural right-handed batter among the Indians’ 3-4-5 hitters. Also, Maldo had gone missing, lifted for D with the insertion of Eddy Luna, while Zurita stayed in the game for D over Eduardo Avila. The mix worked out for a 1-2-3 inning. Bill Quinteros struck out, Danny Rivera grounded out to Waters, and Zurita snagged Acosta’s fly to put the Indians away for the day. 3-1 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Zurita – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky
IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – SS Russ – C Pedraza – 1B de Castro – P Drury

Adame had another single and stolen base in the first, but this time didn’t score. Him and Herrera wound up on the corners, but Matt Waters hit into a double play to kill the effort. Bill Quinteros doubled off Wolinsky in the first, but was stranded with a K to Rivera, before Preble romped a leadoff homer in the second, the Coons’ first bomb of the year. The second didn’t come much later – Bryce Toohey, having been left out of the opener entirely, socked a blast to left in his first at-bat of the year, making it a 2-0 lead. Gonzalez hit a single up the middle, but Bubba bunted into a double play to end that inning, too.

Bill Drury then went on to smash Maldo’s foot with a very wayward fastball. Maldo’s old man reactions weren’t quick enough to get out of the way, and he was left to limp to the dugout afterwards, accompanied by Dr. Padilla. Eddy Luna replaced him, stole second base, but was left on base when Matt Waters popped out. Rivera singled and was caught stealing in the fourth, while Waters improved himself to an RBI single in the sixth, driving home Herrera from second base to extend the lead to 3-0. Like on Monday, this was the point where the Indians got involved on the board. Bubba walked Quinteros to begin the bottom 6th, then gave up a homer to Rivera, which was the more disconcerting given that those were lefty hitters against the lefty Wolinsky. He retired Anderson, but Russ, the pest, then reached on a Waters error in the 3-2 game. Uh-oh. Alexes Pedraza and de Castro then both singled through the left side, with Russ getting himself thrown out at home plate on the second hit. Hah! Sucker! Somehow Bubba would boogie out of that mess then, remaining up 3-2. He was hit for in the seventh and did not return to the mound thusly, with Nate Norris getting the ball initially in the bottom 7th. He allowed singles to Mendez and Acosta, then was yanked. Quinteros singled off the left-handed Julian Ponce to make it three on and no outs for Indy in a 3-2 game. Rivera then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but that still tied the game. Preston Porter replaced Ponce, got Anderson to ground out, and thus stranded the go-ahead run on third base; all even at three through seven.

Back-to-back doubles by Pedraza and Aaron Brayboy (effortlessly snaps a piece of guard rail in half) off Porter broke up the tie in the eighth and gave the Coons their first deficit of the year. They had gone down silently in the top 8th, then faced Kim again in the top 9th. Waters stuck out. Preble popped out. Zurita struck out. 4-3 Indians. Herrera 2-4;

Where’s that offense we pay millions and millions for?

Well, for at least the rest of this week, I’d know where Maldo was – in the dugout, nursing a swollen foot. Dr. Padilla said it was only a contusion and he should be good to go after a week’s rest, which was right in the sour spot where you wanted neither between playing a man short for a week, nor lose an extra week on your (hopefully still) #3 hitter on merit. We swallowed the first bitter pill for the time being…

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Zurita – 1B Gurney – 3B Luna – C Brooks – P Hils
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 2B H. Acosta – 3B B. Anderson – C Pedraza – 1B Brayboy – P E. Ortiz

Quinteros’ first-inning homer to right meant that the Coons did not score first for the maiden time this season, but the 1-0 deficit looked temporary when the Indians misplayed the first two Coons balls put in play in the top 2nd. Zurita reached on a Brayboy error, while Gurney singled to center, but Quinteros overran the ball for another error, putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. And then the bottom of the order… struck out, struck out, aaaand… struck out. The Coons then only fell further behind by not scoring for another few innings before Brayboy hit a 2-run homer to right in the fourth. Hils would serve up another homer to Quinteros in the fifth, and besides getting romped for five runs in as many innings in his first outing as a Critter, also drew a walk in the top 5th and was doubled up by Matt Watt. Preble hit into a double play to erase Waters in the sixth. Sheesh.

Down 5-0, Zurita socked a leadoff triple in the top 7th, then was chased back to third base on a Gurney grounder near the third base line, which kept him from scoring, but Ortiz also allowed another runner on base by conceding the infield single to Gurney. A full-count walk to Luna meant that the Coons had the bags stuffed with no outs, which would surely end well. Justin Brooks remained hitless as a Raccoon, but drew a bases-loaded walk to force in our first run of the game. Bryce Toohey would hit for Orlando Altreche as the tying run, got nailed on the first pitch, and thus another run scored. Watt hit a sac fly, 5-3, and Adame slapped a soft single to left, loading the bases again for Waters. The 1-1 pitch was put into shallow center there for an RBI single, 5-4, and I wondered where the Indians only had that one reliever and were now out of them. Ortiz walked in the tying run against Preble, which was staggering, and it was even more staggering that he remained in the game still, AND struck out Zurita and got Gurney on a grounder to strand the bases loaded – although the game was now tied after all.

Bottom 7th, Ponce on the mound, and Quinteros started out by legging out an infield single, and also singling out a leg, having to limp away to his own dugout with an obvious injury. Philip Locke ran for him. Ponce struck out two and got Anderson on a fly to Watt to get out of the inning without Locke ever moving the go-ahead run into scoring position. Top 8th, and Brooks and Watt singles, next to a walk drawn by Adame off David Farris loaded the bases with two outs for Waters, who crunched a quick bouncer up the middle for a 2-run single…! Preble popped out, but it was 7-5 now. Ponce got two more outs in the bottom 8th, before Nelson Moreno was picked for a 4-out save in his first outing of the year. Alex de Castro flew out to Herrera, who came in along with Moreno in a double switch (Preble got an early start at packing his bag to head outta town), to complete the eighth inning. There was no tack-on offense in the top 9th, but there was also no significant rally by the Indians in the bottom of the inning. Ron Kurtz hit a pinch-hit single to center, but that was that. The game ended with a K to Rivera. 7-5 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, RBI; Adame 2-4, BB; Waters 3-5, 3 RBI; Gurney 3-4;

Raccoons (2-1) @ Bayhawks (3-0) – April 9-11, 2049

The Baybirds had rolled over the Knights to start the season and were now eager for payback for another CLCS loss against us. They had only scored 11 runs in three games, but had conceded only *four*, so I was a bit weary of more offensive struggles for us… Last year we had gone 3-6 against them in the regular season, with the aforementioned turnaround in the CLCS to make up for it, and then some.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Jesse Bulas (0-0)
Chris Crowell (0-0) vs. Ayden Cobb (0-0)
Jason Wheatley (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

No lefty starter in sight yet.

The Coons made a roster move before the series began. Maldo’s foot was still thick and Dr. Padilla considered him unlikely to get playing again with a week, which already made it about ten days of inactivity for him. At this point, a DL stint became viable and he was parked there. Right-handed 25-year-old INF Tim Rogers was called up from AAA. He had been a 12th round pick in the 2042 draft (!) and had hit for a .747 OPS in St. Pete last season. No power, no speed, just versatility and a singles bat.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Merino
SFB: CF Fink – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B Copeland – 2B Quiroz – RF P. Colon – 1B A. Marquez – P Bulas

The Coons didn’t score from their three singles they had the first time through, nor from when Herrera reached second base on a throwing error by Sebastian Copeland in the third. The good news was that Merino, while striking out to strand a pair in the top 2nd, held up on the mound and held the Bayhawks to even less in the early going. San Francisco didn’t get to three base hits until Pedro Colon dropped in a blooper with two outs in the bottom 5th. Alex Marquez then walked, but Bulas popped out and the game remained scoreless through five. Matt Waters and John Fink both drew walks in the sixth, and both were doubled up by the next guy in line, Preble and Todd Dau, respectively. A walk did break up the scoreless parade, though, and it was a 2-out walk issued by Merino in the seventh. That put Sergio Quiroz on base unnecessarily, and with two outs Quiroz scored quite easily on a pinch-hit double to left by Joe Ritchey. Merino got out of the inning, then was lifted for PH Matt Watt, who drew a leadoff walk to begin the eighth, thus putting the tying run on base. Bulas was lifted for right-hander Brad Barnes at that point, but gave up a clean single to Adame that sent Watt to third base with nobody out. When Zurita was sent to bat for Herrera, however, the Bayhawks countered with left-hander Bobby Nelson. It didn’t help – Zurita singled to right, tying the game, and Adame reached third base. Nelson then struck out Waters in a tense battle, but couldn’t quite get Preble removed, either – much the contrary, Mike Preble crushed a 3-run homer to left for a Critters lead…!

Mike Lynn then had a calm eighth, but the ninth was decidedly less calm. Up 4-1, Nelson Moreno allowed a single to Ken Crum, walked Quiroz, and gave up another single to John Hill. That was the tying runs aboard with one out, and lefty Dan Riley up. The count ran full, Riley singled to right, and two runs scored. Mike Roberts then grounded to Waters, but the Coons couldn’t turn two, only getting Riley at second. John Hill moved to third with the tying run, bringing up Fink with two outs. Moreno blew the save entirely by giving up a single at 1-2, with Dau flying out to Preble to send the game to extras and leaving me all frustrated. Nate Norris got the bottom 10th in a 4-4 tie, gave up a bloop double to Sean Suggs right away, but stranded that winning run on third base when Baybirds pitcher Jeremy Mayhall came up with two outs – and the Bayhawks had nobody left on the bench. Mayhall struck out, sending the game to the 11th, where Brooks batted for Norris in a 1-2-3 whitewash by Mayhall, thus also emptying the Coons’ bench. Kevin Hitchcock got the ball for the bottom 11th, gave up three singles and lost the game on Suggs’ 2-out RBI single. 5-4 Bayhawks. Zurita (PH) 1-2, RBI; Toohey (PH) 1-2; Merino 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K;

(bleeds from one corner of his snout)

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – SS Adame – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Crowell
SFB: RF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 2B Quiroz – 1B P. Colon – 3B Del Vecchio – CF Fink – P A. Cobb

For firsts this year, the Raccoons in the third inning had a runner caught stealing, good old Armando getting thrown out by Suggs, and also picked off a runner when Crowell caught Mike Roberts napping to end the bottom 3rd. Another scoreless tenseness fest seemed to be developing, with three ineffective Coons hits to two for the Baybirds at this point.

But the fourth began with Ayden Cobb – a Coons target his offseason if you can be bothered to remember – issuing leadoff walks to both Adame and Waters, then an RBI single to left to Pat Gurney for the game’s first run. Avila had gone 0-9 to start his Coons employment, but singled to fill the bases … with nobody out. (blows) But Ruben Gonzalez slapped a 2-run single through the left side, and then Eddy Luna landed another hit through the right side, loading the bases yet again and still with nobody out. Crowell struck out, a Watt groundout brought in a fourth run, and then Herrera popped out to end the inning. We did get an unearned run in the fifth; Adame reached, stole his fourth base, and eventually scored on a 2-out error by Todd Dau.

That was the point which Chris Crowell chose to randomly implode, loading the bases with the 5-6-7 batters to begin the bottom 5th, on two walks and a hit, after 2-hitting the Bayhawks with five strikeouts through four innings. Fink socked a deep sac fly to get San Fran on the board, while Ritchey pinch-hit for the wobbled Cobb, but flew out easily to Watt on the first pitch. But the explosion noises and special effects got louder from there. Roberts raked a 2-run triple, Dau singled, and it was time for the emergency parachute. The emergency parachute – Preston Porter – walked Sean Suggs, which sugged, but with two outs and two on got Watt to catch a Ken Crum drive to end the rally.

Top 6th, Luna opened with a single against Sebastien Parham. Porter was retained to bunt, but popped out. A Watt walk and a Herrera double to left scored a run, though, 6-4, and Adame’s hard single to left drove in two more, 8-4. Porter put two on, then turned to Ponce in the bottom 6th, with the left-hander getting a K on John Fink before conceding a run in conjunction with Ruben Gonzalez, who had the 2-2 pitch get away from him for a passed ball and Quiroz scoring from third base, 8-5. Riley eventually grounded out to Gurney. By the seventh, Nate Norris was pitching, and by the eighth he became the second reliever in the game to be ordered to bunt after a Luna single and fail at it, with the Coons not scoring in the inning. But at least Norris had a 1-2-3 bottom 8th to make up for that, maintaining a 3-run gap on the Baybirds. Top 9th, Lazaro Ochoa hit back-to-back batters to begin the inning, putting on Adame and Waters, but Gurney hit into a fielder’s choice. Angelo Zurita batted for Avila and socked an RBI double to left at least, while Gonzalez popped out, and Luna walked to fill the bases with two outs. Preble batted in that spot, belted the first pitch to deep center, and Fink didn’t get near it. The ball fell for a double, Gurney scored, Zurita scored, and Luna – was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Altreche then got the ball with a 6-run lead and made no moves to blow it. 11-5 Raccoons. Herrera 2-5, RBI; Adame 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; Zurita (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Luna 3-4; Preble (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Offensive outburst!

Could we have saved some for probably another pitching duel on Sunday? No?

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – 1B Gurney – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Toohey – SS Luna – C Brooks – 3B Rogers – P Wheatley
SFB: RF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 2B Quiroz – 3B Copeland – 1B D. Riley – CF Fink – P Nolte

The Coons had only one hit – a Waters double – in the first three innings, but the Bayhawks had two, both doubles. Copeland’s in the second led nowhere, but John Fink’s leadoff double would eventually give San Fran a 1-0 lead when he scored on productive outs by Nolte and Roberts. The thing was – Kevin Nolte, the reigning CL Pitcher of the Year, had the Raccoons’ little necks firmly squished between his mighty fists, and they weren’t doing much besides some frantic and panicked tail waggling. We had no base hits in the middle innings, and while Wheats was good, he wasn’t Nolte-great and his pitch count went up in the middle innings with a full-count each in the fourth and fifth. He nailed Suggs in the sixth, but that was with two outs and Crum flew out to Herrera to end the inning, the score still 1-0 on just three total hits in the game. The seventh was another 1-2-3 PR disaster for the Coons, while Wheats gave his all, struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh of his own, but then was at 107 pitches and wouldn’t go no further. His team had to dig him out now.

Eddy Luna’s 3-2 single to center to lead off the top 8th was only the third Coons runner on the day, but put the tying run aboard. Zurita batted for Brooks, but hit into a fielder’s choice for little actual advancement. Adame batted for Rogers, but flew out to Fink. Gonzalez batted for Wheats and singled to right, and sent Zurita to third base with the tying run. What would Watt do? Walk in a full count. Three on, two outs, Gurney up. The Baybirds stuck to Nolte. A ball, a strike. Another ball. And another ball – and this one Gurney had to evade, and it also eluded Suggs! Wild pitch! Zurita in to score, and Wheats was off the hook! Better yet, the Bayhawks halfheartedly put Gurney on the open base in a 3-1 count, but Waters grinded out a bases-loaded walk to push the go-ahead run across, and only NOW did Brad Barnes come in! Mike Preble hit a romper up the middle to drive in another two runs before Toohey struck out, and the Coons were now up 4-1…!

Zurita remained in right over Toohey, whose spot was taken by Mike Lynn. He only got two outs of the three batters he was assigned, walking Ted Del Vecchio, the unspeakably ghastly abomination. Hitchcock collected a K from Todd Dau to get out of the bottom 8th. Moreno then saved the game without as much drama and failure as on Friday… 4-1 Critters! Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

There were only seven total base hits in this game!

In other news

April 5 – DEN SP Gary Perrone (1-0, 0.00 ERA) opens the season by firing a 3-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against the Scorpions.
April 5 – Opening Day kills the 21-game hitting streak that DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (0-2, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has brought over from the previous season. The 24-year-old is held silent in two attempts by the Pacifics before injury is added to insult and he leaves the game with a sprained ankle in the Stars’ 4-0 loss. Del Toro is expected to miss most of April now.
April 6 – CIN SP Ross Mitchell (1-0, 0.00 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout on the Buffaloes in his second assignment as a starter in the majors after 187 bullpen appearances.
April 8 – Backup infielder Frank Mujica (0-3, 0 HR, 0 RBI) is traded from the Warriors to the Buffaloes in exchange for SP/MR Jeremy Ray (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
April 8 – The Titans win a rain-shortened, 8-inning game from the Loggers, beating them 3-1.
April 9 – Cincy loses SP Chris Jones (0-0, 6.35 ERA) for the season; the 24-year-old is out with elbow ligament damage.
April 9 – SFW LF/RF Danny Munn (.438, 1 HR, 4 RBI) surely tried, but to no avail; the 25-year-old has five hits and as many RBI while falling a triple short of the cycle in a 13-7 loss to the Blue Sox.
April 11 – Capitals SP Bruce Mark jr. (1-1, 3.38 ERA) strikes out 15 Pacifics in a 3-2 win for Washington.
April 11 – IND OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.455, 2 HR, 2 RBI) will be out for five weeks with a quad strain.
April 11 – The Crusaders walk off on the Aces, 4-3. All the game’s runs are scored in the ninth inning.

FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.448, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: TIJ OF Tim Burkhart (.526, 1 HR, 6 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Given that we played the two strongest teams (probably) in the CL to open this week I am not too concerned with some early returns. We hit .238 as a team an the pen took some flak here and there, along with both new starting pitchers, but if that is the baseline we’d operating on, I would feel confident going forwards. Even with that .238 team clip and only three homers, we somehow put out 32 runs, which ain’t shabby.

And lighter opposition will crop up, f.e. next week the Knights and Titans at the beginning of a 12-game homestand that would also see us reintroduced to the Crusaders and Falcons afterwards.

You think Alex Adame’s four stolen bases this year are impressive? The Loggers have a rookie named Jose Delgado who has already stolen SIX. And that is with the Loggers, where getting four times at-bat in a game is a bit of a lottery.

Fun Fact: Jason Wheatley is the only pitcher with two wins in the Continental League.

Which is weird, given that relievers surely had chances to get into multiple games. But no reliever in either league has two wins so far, while in the FL there’s two starters with two wins, Richmond’s Omar Lara and Salem’s Darren McRee.

I hope April excellence won’t interfere with Wheats’ second-half excellence, though.

+++

How often have I written Lance Lynn so far and actually left it in there? I keep thinking “Let’s bring in Lance Lynn” whenever the need for a lefty arises… I suck

07-02-2022, 05:13 AM	#3936
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,827	Raccoons (0-0) @ Indians (0-0) – April 5-7, 2049 Once more, the season started against the Indians, who looked like the sharpest competition this year – and looked like they had a bit of a good chance, I thought as I looked at the stash of old man joint cream that Dr. Padilla packed for the season-opening 6-game road trip. We went 12-6 against the Indians last year. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Bill Nichol (0-0) Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Bill Drury (0-0) Dave Hils (0-0) vs. Enrique Ortiz (0-0) The Indians would only offer righty pitching for this series. Game 1 POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 2B H. Acosta – 3B B. Anderson – C Pedraza – 1B de Castro – P Nichol The Raccoons started the season by loading the bases in the first inning, putting Alex Adame on with a single – he stole his first base right away – before Maldo and Waters got walks drawn with one out. Mike Preble flicked an RBI single to shallow center for the first run of the year. Hugo Acosta intercepted a Pat Gurney grounder with a lunge, but couldn’t scramble and throw it to first in time, leaving Gurney with an infield RBI single. Eduardo Avila struck out, but Ruben Gonzalez found another soft RBI single before Wheats ended the inning with a fly to Angel Mendez. Now he just had to pitch better against the Arrowheads than last year, when they had constituted most of his problem zone – and did for sure, holding them to a Bobby Anderson single the first time through and no runners in scoring position whatsoever. That already beat the quintillion runs they stuffed him for on last Opening Day for sure! Indy got a run in the fourth, though, when 2-out shenanigans amounted to a 2-out walk to Danny Rivera, a wild pitch, and an Acosta RBI single to get him home. Anderson struck out afterwards to end the inning. Perpetual pest Andrew Russ hit a single in the sixth, but didn’t get a steal off, no scored as the Indians stranded him at second base. But there was also no denying that the Raccoons had fallen entirely asleep after a raucous first inning with four hits and two walks against Nichol, who then allowed only one more hit and walk each through the next seven innings, and no runs. Wheats remained on, though – he nicked Anderson in the seventh inning, but kept that runner on base, and had a 1-2-3 eighth. His pitch count was attractive, and if only the Raccoons could have found some more offense, we would have been very comfortable with sending him for a complete game, but not with a 2-run lead and the middle of the order up in the bottom 9th. As things were, Ruben Gonzalez with two outs reached on an uncaught third strike against Sang-hoon Kim in the top 9th, bringing up Wheats’ spot and a pinch-hitter. Angelo Zurita grounded out, though. Come the bottom 9th, some things were out of order at first glance; Mike Lynn would pitch it, which could be explained with the fact that there was no natural right-handed batter among the Indians’ 3-4-5 hitters. Also, Maldo had gone missing, lifted for D with the insertion of Eddy Luna, while Zurita stayed in the game for D over Eduardo Avila. The mix worked out for a 1-2-3 inning. Bill Quinteros struck out, Danny Rivera grounded out to Waters, and Zurita snagged Acosta’s fly to put the Indians away for the day. 3-1 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0); Game 2 POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Zurita – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – SS Russ – C Pedraza – 1B de Castro – P Drury Adame had another single and stolen base in the first, but this time didn’t score. Him and Herrera wound up on the corners, but Matt Waters hit into a double play to kill the effort. Bill Quinteros doubled off Wolinsky in the first, but was stranded with a K to Rivera, before Preble romped a leadoff homer in the second, the Coons’ first bomb of the year. The second didn’t come much later – Bryce Toohey, having been left out of the opener entirely, socked a blast to left in his first at-bat of the year, making it a 2-0 lead. Gonzalez hit a single up the middle, but Bubba bunted into a double play to end that inning, too. Bill Drury then went on to smash Maldo’s foot with a very wayward fastball. Maldo’s old man reactions weren’t quick enough to get out of the way, and he was left to limp to the dugout afterwards, accompanied by Dr. Padilla. Eddy Luna replaced him, stole second base, but was left on base when Matt Waters popped out. Rivera singled and was caught stealing in the fourth, while Waters improved himself to an RBI single in the sixth, driving home Herrera from second base to extend the lead to 3-0. Like on Monday, this was the point where the Indians got involved on the board. Bubba walked Quinteros to begin the bottom 6th, then gave up a homer to Rivera, which was the more disconcerting given that those were lefty hitters against the lefty Wolinsky. He retired Anderson, but Russ, the pest, then reached on a Waters error in the 3-2 game. Uh-oh. Alexes Pedraza and de Castro then both singled through the left side, with Russ getting himself thrown out at home plate on the second hit. Hah! Sucker! Somehow Bubba would boogie out of that mess then, remaining up 3-2. He was hit for in the seventh and did not return to the mound thusly, with Nate Norris getting the ball initially in the bottom 7th. He allowed singles to Mendez and Acosta, then was yanked. Quinteros singled off the left-handed Julian Ponce to make it three on and no outs for Indy in a 3-2 game. Rivera then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but that still tied the game. Preston Porter replaced Ponce, got Anderson to ground out, and thus stranded the go-ahead run on third base; all even at three through seven. Back-to-back doubles by Pedraza and Aaron Brayboy (effortlessly snaps a piece of guard rail in half) off Porter broke up the tie in the eighth and gave the Coons their first deficit of the year. They had gone down silently in the top 8th, then faced Kim again in the top 9th. Waters stuck out. Preble popped out. Zurita struck out. 4-3 Indians. Herrera 2-4; Where’s that offense we pay millions and millions for? Well, for at least the rest of this week, I’d know where Maldo was – in the dugout, nursing a swollen foot. Dr. Padilla said it was only a contusion and he should be good to go after a week’s rest, which was right in the sour spot where you wanted neither between playing a man short for a week, nor lose an extra week on your (hopefully still) #3 hitter on merit. We swallowed the first bitter pill for the time being… Game 3 POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Zurita – 1B Gurney – 3B Luna – C Brooks – P Hils IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 2B H. Acosta – 3B B. Anderson – C Pedraza – 1B Brayboy – P E. Ortiz Quinteros’ first-inning homer to right meant that the Coons did not score first for the maiden time this season, but the 1-0 deficit looked temporary when the Indians misplayed the first two Coons balls put in play in the top 2nd. Zurita reached on a Brayboy error, while Gurney singled to center, but Quinteros overran the ball for another error, putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. And then the bottom of the order… struck out, struck out, aaaand… struck out. The Coons then only fell further behind by not scoring for another few innings before Brayboy hit a 2-run homer to right in the fourth. Hils would serve up another homer to Quinteros in the fifth, and besides getting romped for five runs in as many innings in his first outing as a Critter, also drew a walk in the top 5th and was doubled up by Matt Watt. Preble hit into a double play to erase Waters in the sixth. Sheesh. Down 5-0, Zurita socked a leadoff triple in the top 7th, then was chased back to third base on a Gurney grounder near the third base line, which kept him from scoring, but Ortiz also allowed another runner on base by conceding the infield single to Gurney. A full-count walk to Luna meant that the Coons had the bags stuffed with no outs, which would surely end well. Justin Brooks remained hitless as a Raccoon, but drew a bases-loaded walk to force in our first run of the game. Bryce Toohey would hit for Orlando Altreche as the tying run, got nailed on the first pitch, and thus another run scored. Watt hit a sac fly, 5-3, and Adame slapped a soft single to left, loading the bases again for Waters. The 1-1 pitch was put into shallow center there for an RBI single, 5-4, and I wondered where the Indians only had that one reliever and were now out of them. Ortiz walked in the tying run against Preble, which was staggering, and it was even more staggering that he remained in the game still, AND struck out Zurita and got Gurney on a grounder to strand the bases loaded – although the game was now tied after all. Bottom 7th, Ponce on the mound, and Quinteros started out by legging out an infield single, and also singling out a leg, having to limp away to his own dugout with an obvious injury. Philip Locke ran for him. Ponce struck out two and got Anderson on a fly to Watt to get out of the inning without Locke ever moving the go-ahead run into scoring position. Top 8th, and Brooks and Watt singles, next to a walk drawn by Adame off David Farris loaded the bases with two outs for Waters, who crunched a quick bouncer up the middle for a 2-run single…! Preble popped out, but it was 7-5 now. Ponce got two more outs in the bottom 8th, before Nelson Moreno was picked for a 4-out save in his first outing of the year. Alex de Castro flew out to Herrera, who came in along with Moreno in a double switch (Preble got an early start at packing his bag to head outta town), to complete the eighth inning. There was no tack-on offense in the top 9th, but there was also no significant rally by the Indians in the bottom of the inning. Ron Kurtz hit a pinch-hit single to center, but that was that. The game ended with a K to Rivera. 7-5 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, RBI; Adame 2-4, BB; Waters 3-5, 3 RBI; Gurney 3-4; Raccoons (2-1) @ Bayhawks (3-0) – April 9-11, 2049 The Baybirds had rolled over the Knights to start the season and were now eager for payback for another CLCS loss against us. They had only scored 11 runs in three games, but had conceded only four, so I was a bit weary of more offensive struggles for us… Last year we had gone 3-6 against them in the regular season, with the aforementioned turnaround in the CLCS to make up for it, and then some. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Jesse Bulas (0-0) Chris Crowell (0-0) vs. Ayden Cobb (0-0) Jason Wheatley (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (1-0, 0.00 ERA) No lefty starter in sight yet. The Coons made a roster move before the series began. Maldo’s foot was still thick and Dr. Padilla considered him unlikely to get playing again with a week, which already made it about ten days of inactivity for him. At this point, a DL stint became viable and he was parked there. Right-handed 25-year-old INF Tim Rogers was called up from AAA. He had been a 12th round pick in the 2042 draft (!) and had hit for a .747 OPS in St. Pete last season. No power, no speed, just versatility and a singles bat. Game 1 POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Merino SFB: CF Fink – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B Copeland – 2B Quiroz – RF P. Colon – 1B A. Marquez – P Bulas The Coons didn’t score from their three singles they had the first time through, nor from when Herrera reached second base on a throwing error by Sebastian Copeland in the third. The good news was that Merino, while striking out to strand a pair in the top 2nd, held up on the mound and held the Bayhawks to even less in the early going. San Francisco didn’t get to three base hits until Pedro Colon dropped in a blooper with two outs in the bottom 5th. Alex Marquez then walked, but Bulas popped out and the game remained scoreless through five. Matt Waters and John Fink both drew walks in the sixth, and both were doubled up by the next guy in line, Preble and Todd Dau, respectively. A walk did break up the scoreless parade, though, and it was a 2-out walk issued by Merino in the seventh. That put Sergio Quiroz on base unnecessarily, and with two outs Quiroz scored quite easily on a pinch-hit double to left by Joe Ritchey. Merino got out of the inning, then was lifted for PH Matt Watt, who drew a leadoff walk to begin the eighth, thus putting the tying run on base. Bulas was lifted for right-hander Brad Barnes at that point, but gave up a clean single to Adame that sent Watt to third base with nobody out. When Zurita was sent to bat for Herrera, however, the Bayhawks countered with left-hander Bobby Nelson. It didn’t help – Zurita singled to right, tying the game, and Adame reached third base. Nelson then struck out Waters in a tense battle, but couldn’t quite get Preble removed, either – much the contrary, Mike Preble crushed a 3-run homer to left for a Critters lead…! Mike Lynn then had a calm eighth, but the ninth was decidedly less calm. Up 4-1, Nelson Moreno allowed a single to Ken Crum, walked Quiroz, and gave up another single to John Hill. That was the tying runs aboard with one out, and lefty Dan Riley up. The count ran full, Riley singled to right, and two runs scored. Mike Roberts then grounded to Waters, but the Coons couldn’t turn two, only getting Riley at second. John Hill moved to third with the tying run, bringing up Fink with two outs. Moreno blew the save entirely by giving up a single at 1-2, with Dau flying out to Preble to send the game to extras and leaving me all frustrated. Nate Norris got the bottom 10th in a 4-4 tie, gave up a bloop double to Sean Suggs right away, but stranded that winning run on third base when Baybirds pitcher Jeremy Mayhall came up with two outs – and the Bayhawks had nobody left on the bench. Mayhall struck out, sending the game to the 11th, where Brooks batted for Norris in a 1-2-3 whitewash by Mayhall, thus also emptying the Coons’ bench. Kevin Hitchcock got the ball for the bottom 11th, gave up three singles and lost the game on Suggs’ 2-out RBI single. 5-4 Bayhawks. Zurita (PH) 1-2, RBI; Toohey (PH) 1-2; Merino 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; (bleeds from one corner of his snout) Game 2 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – SS Adame – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Crowell SFB: RF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 2B Quiroz – 1B P. Colon – 3B Del Vecchio – CF Fink – P A. Cobb For firsts this year, the Raccoons in the third inning had a runner caught stealing, good old Armando getting thrown out by Suggs, and also picked off a runner when Crowell caught Mike Roberts napping to end the bottom 3rd. Another scoreless tenseness fest seemed to be developing, with three ineffective Coons hits to two for the Baybirds at this point. But the fourth began with Ayden Cobb – a Coons target his offseason if you can be bothered to remember – issuing leadoff walks to both Adame and Waters, then an RBI single to left to Pat Gurney for the game’s first run. Avila had gone 0-9 to start his Coons employment, but singled to fill the bases … with nobody out. (blows) But Ruben Gonzalez slapped a 2-run single through the left side, and then Eddy Luna landed another hit through the right side, loading the bases yet again and still with nobody out. Crowell struck out, a Watt groundout brought in a fourth run, and then Herrera popped out to end the inning. We did get an unearned run in the fifth; Adame reached, stole his fourth base, and eventually scored on a 2-out error by Todd Dau. That was the point which Chris Crowell chose to randomly implode, loading the bases with the 5-6-7 batters to begin the bottom 5th, on two walks and a hit, after 2-hitting the Bayhawks with five strikeouts through four innings. Fink socked a deep sac fly to get San Fran on the board, while Ritchey pinch-hit for the wobbled Cobb, but flew out easily to Watt on the first pitch. But the explosion noises and special effects got louder from there. Roberts raked a 2-run triple, Dau singled, and it was time for the emergency parachute. The emergency parachute – Preston Porter – walked Sean Suggs, which sugged, but with two outs and two on got Watt to catch a Ken Crum drive to end the rally. Top 6th, Luna opened with a single against Sebastien Parham. Porter was retained to bunt, but popped out. A Watt walk and a Herrera double to left scored a run, though, 6-4, and Adame’s hard single to left drove in two more, 8-4. Porter put two on, then turned to Ponce in the bottom 6th, with the left-hander getting a K on John Fink before conceding a run in conjunction with Ruben Gonzalez, who had the 2-2 pitch get away from him for a passed ball and Quiroz scoring from third base, 8-5. Riley eventually grounded out to Gurney. By the seventh, Nate Norris was pitching, and by the eighth he became the second reliever in the game to be ordered to bunt after a Luna single and fail at it, with the Coons not scoring in the inning. But at least Norris had a 1-2-3 bottom 8th to make up for that, maintaining a 3-run gap on the Baybirds. Top 9th, Lazaro Ochoa hit back-to-back batters to begin the inning, putting on Adame and Waters, but Gurney hit into a fielder’s choice. Angelo Zurita batted for Avila and socked an RBI double to left at least, while Gonzalez popped out, and Luna walked to fill the bases with two outs. Preble batted in that spot, belted the first pitch to deep center, and Fink didn’t get near it. The ball fell for a double, Gurney scored, Zurita scored, and Luna – was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Altreche then got the ball with a 6-run lead and made no moves to blow it. 11-5 Raccoons. Herrera 2-5, RBI; Adame 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; Zurita (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Luna 3-4; Preble (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Offensive outburst! Could we have saved some for probably another pitching duel on Sunday? No? Game 3 POR: CF Watt – 1B Gurney – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Toohey – SS Luna – C Brooks – 3B Rogers – P Wheatley SFB: RF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 2B Quiroz – 3B Copeland – 1B D. Riley – CF Fink – P Nolte The Coons had only one hit – a Waters double – in the first three innings, but the Bayhawks had two, both doubles. Copeland’s in the second led nowhere, but John Fink’s leadoff double would eventually give San Fran a 1-0 lead when he scored on productive outs by Nolte and Roberts. The thing was – Kevin Nolte, the reigning CL Pitcher of the Year, had the Raccoons’ little necks firmly squished between his mighty fists, and they weren’t doing much besides some frantic and panicked tail waggling. We had no base hits in the middle innings, and while Wheats was good, he wasn’t Nolte-great and his pitch count went up in the middle innings with a full-count each in the fourth and fifth. He nailed Suggs in the sixth, but that was with two outs and Crum flew out to Herrera to end the inning, the score still 1-0 on just three total hits in the game. The seventh was another 1-2-3 PR disaster for the Coons, while Wheats gave his all, struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh of his own, but then was at 107 pitches and wouldn’t go no further. His team had to dig him out now. Eddy Luna’s 3-2 single to center to lead off the top 8th was only the third Coons runner on the day, but put the tying run aboard. Zurita batted for Brooks, but hit into a fielder’s choice for little actual advancement. Adame batted for Rogers, but flew out to Fink. Gonzalez batted for Wheats and singled to right, and sent Zurita to third base with the tying run. What would Watt do? Walk in a full count. Three on, two outs, Gurney up. The Baybirds stuck to Nolte. A ball, a strike. Another ball. And another ball – and this one Gurney had to evade, and it also eluded Suggs! Wild pitch! Zurita in to score, and Wheats was off the hook! Better yet, the Bayhawks halfheartedly put Gurney on the open base in a 3-1 count, but Waters grinded out a bases-loaded walk to push the go-ahead run across, and only NOW did Brad Barnes come in! Mike Preble hit a romper up the middle to drive in another two runs before Toohey struck out, and the Coons were now up 4-1…! Zurita remained in right over Toohey, whose spot was taken by Mike Lynn. He only got two outs of the three batters he was assigned, walking Ted Del Vecchio, the unspeakably ghastly abomination. Hitchcock collected a K from Todd Dau to get out of the bottom 8th. Moreno then saved the game without as much drama and failure as on Friday… 4-1 Critters! Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0); There were only seven total base hits in this game! In other news April 5 – DEN SP Gary Perrone (1-0, 0.00 ERA) opens the season by firing a 3-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against the Scorpions. April 5 – Opening Day kills the 21-game hitting streak that DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (0-2, 0 HR, 0 RBI) has brought over from the previous season. The 24-year-old is held silent in two attempts by the Pacifics before injury is added to insult and he leaves the game with a sprained ankle in the Stars’ 4-0 loss. Del Toro is expected to miss most of April now. April 6 – CIN SP Ross Mitchell (1-0, 0.00 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout on the Buffaloes in his second assignment as a starter in the majors after 187 bullpen appearances. April 8 – Backup infielder Frank Mujica (0-3, 0 HR, 0 RBI) is traded from the Warriors to the Buffaloes in exchange for SP/MR Jeremy Ray (0-0, 0.00 ERA). April 8 – The Titans win a rain-shortened, 8-inning game from the Loggers, beating them 3-1. April 9 – Cincy loses SP Chris Jones (0-0, 6.35 ERA) for the season; the 24-year-old is out with elbow ligament damage. April 9 – SFW LF/RF Danny Munn (.438, 1 HR, 4 RBI) surely tried, but to no avail; the 25-year-old has five hits and as many RBI while falling a triple short of the cycle in a 13-7 loss to the Blue Sox. April 11 – Capitals SP Bruce Mark jr. (1-1, 3.38 ERA) strikes out 15 Pacifics in a 3-2 win for Washington. April 11 – IND OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.455, 2 HR, 2 RBI) will be out for five weeks with a quad strain. April 11 – The Crusaders walk off on the Aces, 4-3. All the game’s runs are scored in the ninth inning. FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.448, 1 HR, 8 RBI) CL Player of the Week: TIJ OF Tim Burkhart (.526, 1 HR, 6 RBI) Complaints and stuff Given that we played the two strongest teams (probably) in the CL to open this week I am not too concerned with some early returns. We hit .238 as a team an the pen took some flak here and there, along with both new starting pitchers, but if that is the baseline we’d operating on, I would feel confident going forwards. Even with that .238 team clip and only three homers, we somehow put out 32 runs, which ain’t shabby. And lighter opposition will crop up, f.e. next week the Knights and Titans at the beginning of a 12-game homestand that would also see us reintroduced to the Crusaders and Falcons afterwards. You think Alex Adame’s four stolen bases this year are impressive? The Loggers have a rookie named Jose Delgado who has already stolen SIX. And that is with the Loggers, where getting four times at-bat in a game is a bit of a lottery. *Fun Fact:* Jason Wheatley is the only pitcher with two wins in the Continental League. Which is weird, given that relievers surely had chances to get into multiple games. But no reliever in either league has two wins so far, while in the FL there’s two starters with two wins, Richmond’s Omar Lara and Salem’s Darren McRee. I hope April excellence won’t interfere with Wheats’ second-half excellence, though. +++ How often have I written Lance Lynn so far and actually left it in there? I keep thinking “Let’s bring in Lance Lynn” whenever the need for a lefty arises… I suck Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.