[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-43) @ Loggers (29-53) – July 5-8, 2049

Series of sadness? Surely. The Raccoons were on the plunge as we had seen recently, while the Loggers, who were our four-and-four partners this year in July, had done little else but losing all year long (and not just this year). They had a -98 run differential, were stuck in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, but had held the Coons to a 2-2 tie so far this year.

Projected matchups:
Dave Hils (7-4, 4.78 ERA) vs. Gabe Butler (5-7, 4.33 ERA)
Victor Salcido (1-4, 3.28 ERA) vs. John Morrill (5-7, 4.20 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (6-6, 5.04 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (5-9, 4.47 ERA)
Victor Merino (7-5, 4.52 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (7-9, 5.21 ERA)

Something rare to see here in this series – not one, but TWO left-handed pitchers, Butler and Padilla. Now, sshh, don’t make any quick moves. We don’t want to scare them and not shoo them away. Just look at them and marvel.

Matt Waters would rejoin the Critters from the DL on Tuesday.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – SS Adame – 2B Seymour – P Hils
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – C T. Sanchez – 3B N. Jackson – RF de Lemos – 2B Barrington – P G. Butler

Armando Herrera hurt himself on a sliding catch on the first defensive play of the game, requiring replacement by Mike Preble (with Watt to center). That one stung, but the Raccoons tried to made me feel better with a 3-spot in the second inning. Gonzalez and Luna opened with singles, Alex Adame drove an RBI double to right, and Luna scored on a passed ball. While Rich Seymour struck out, Hils drove in another run for himself with a groundout to Zach Suggs. Preble was then on in the third, was forced out by Maldo, but Maldo in turn scored on an Eduardo Avila triple, 4-0. Hils wasn’t exactly pitching great, giving up plenty of high fly balls, but he kept the Loggers shut out early on, while the Loggers seemed unable to keep the Coons off the bags. Gabe Butler walked the bases full with the 5-6-7 batters and one gone in the fifth inning, but then squeezed out the Coons’ Seymour and Hils, who made poor outs and left everybody stranded. Two more were left on the inning after, while Milwaukee’s Tony Sanchez drove an RBI double to score Zach Suggs in the bottom 6th and shorten the score to 4-1 against a Dave Hils that had been long torn in half by a proper team. Against the Loggers, he lasted seven innings on 103 pitches. And then Nate Norris got shredded in the bottom 8th. No stuff, no control, a hit and two walks to load the bases, and then Sanchez singled home a pair on a 3-2 pitch with only one out. Mike Lynn replaced him, got a double play comebacker from PH David Nagel, and that ended the inning. Since he had already pants on, and a hat, Lynn would also get the ninth inning with no cushion, and walked Tony Ferrusquia, but then got a K on Jose Delgado to end the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Adame 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Hils 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-4) and 1-4, RBI;

Armando Herrera ended up on the DL with back spasms, but Dr. Padilla opined that 15 days might be enough.

There I was, having looked forward to disposing of Rich Seymour (.183, 0 HR, 7 RBI), but now I only got to interact with the DL rather than the Alley Cats…

Game 2
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido
MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – RF McIntyre – C T. Sanchez – CF de Lemos – 2B Barrington – P Morrill

Victory remained a dim concept for Victor Salcido, who got lit up in all the colors of the rainbow in the second inning on Tuesday. Ernesto Hernandez homered to right, after which he hit not one, but two batters with pitches, Sanchez and former top prospect Dave de Lemos, batting all of .216. Worse yet, there were two outs, and John Morrill slapped an RBI single, a move mirrored by Jose Delgado afterwards. Nick Jackson grounded out, ending a dismal inning at 3-0. It didn’t get much better after that. Sanchez doubled home Hernandez in the bottom 3rd, 4-0, and the bases filled up through more incompetence, again with two outs. Morrill this time grounded out to Matt Waters, sharply…

While Maldo brought in Adame and his leadoff triple with a fourth-inning groundout, Salcido ended up getting yanked in the same inning after two more walks issued around an RBI knock by Zach Suggs, which sugged. The Coons went to Polibio O’Higgins, who got out of the inning with a grounder to Adame and a Will McIntyre fly to the fence in left that Preble barely got to.

Despite the fireworks, the Coons almost took Salcido off his well-deserved (3.1 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 0 K) hook in the fifth, getting Avila and Watt on base with two outs, after which Adame slapped an RBI single, and Maldo beat de Lemos for a 2-run double. Waters whiffed, though, and we remained just short at 5-4. And for what? For Preston Porter to get rushed for five hits and three runs by THE LOGGERS before the baseball gods’ tears of laughter brought a rain delay to the game that I used for staring silently and pondering where it had all gone wrong so badly. Ponce had a run beaten out of him in the sixth, after which the Coons somehow placed Seymour and Watt on base and Adame bashed his second triple of the game, shortening the score to 9-6 in the top 7th against lefty Chris Cortright. Maldo’s sac fly made it 9-7, but Waters ended the inning again. Then, next pitcher, next beating, with Danny Cancel walking the leadoff man Delgado on four pitches in the bottom 7th, then got roughed up with a Suggs RBI single, Hernandez double (although Hernandez also roughed himself up and left the game), and a McIntyre sac fly that was plenty deep. And yet, the tying run was at the plate with two outs in the eighth, Matt Watt facing righty Chris Kaye with Crispin and Gonzalez having reached base on merit, and Seymour… having reached base at all. Watt of course popped out easily to Dave de Lemos to piss the inning away. Cancel, the useless ****, was then ravaged for another four runs without even finishing the bottom 8th, requiring rescue by Norris. 15-7 Loggers. Adame 3-5, 2 3B, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Avila (PH) 1-1;

22 base hits. That’s … that’s just for the Loggers, mind.

The time of sentimentalities was over. Danny Cancel (0-0, 11.42 ERA) was unceremoniously purged. Brett Lillis jr. was recalled, this time as a reliever.

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gardner – P Wolinsky
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – 1B Lovell – RF McIntyre – C T. Sanchez – 2B Barrington – SS M. Grant – 3B N. Jackson – P Hollis

Matt Watt walked, then was caught stealing. Adame singled, Maldo tripled, and Waters hit a run-scoring grounder for a 2-0 lead in the first anyway. The Coons managed to blow that right away, too, with Bubba Wolinsky continuing to lose his fight against the 5+ ERA zone, allowing a single to Brent Allen, then nicking both McIntyre and Sanchez with two ******* outs. He walked in a run against Barrington, and Mike Grant reached on an error by Waters, tying the game. How Jackson didn’t hit a slam but grounded out was beyond me entirely. Gurney, Wolinsky, and Watt loaded the bases in the second, but Adame flew out to center to leave them all on.

Wolinsky continued to display zero control, best evidenced by the fourth, in which he drilled Jackson and walked Delgado, somehow without getting blown up. Baffling fact, though: in 6.1 innings of “watch out for your head” ball, the Loggers landed only three hits of an extremely erratic Wolinsky, and didn’t score again. Nor did the Coons, giving both Wolinsky and Hollis no-decisions in a 2-2 stall. But Porter got in line for a W for cleaning up behind Bubba; Ed Crispin reached base and stole second in both the sixth and eighth innings. He was ignored the first time, but the second time Wade Gardner got hold of a Kaye pitch and crushed a 2-run homer to left to break the 2-2 tie. That homer was the balance in the end – Lynn and Moreno, a rather formidable 8-9 squad for a team waiting for a bus to nowhere, held the Loggers to a Ferrusquia single in the last two innings to put the game away. 4-2 Coons. Maldonado 2-5, 3B, RBI; Preble 2-5;

Game 4
POR: CF Watt – RF Avila – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – LF Preble – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – 2B Seymour – P Merino
MIL: 2B Barrington – CF B. Allen – 1B E. Hernandez – C T. Sanchez – LF de Lemos – SS M. Grant – RF Lovell – 3B N. Jackson – P V. Padilla

The Coons went up 2-0 again in the Thursday finale, this time in the second, but it was Crispin again who scored the tie-breaking run, this time on a Ruben Gonzalez homer to left. But the Raccoons couldn’t do it without casualties right now, it seemed, as Mike Preble would make a lunging grab on a Victor Padilla fly in the bottom 3rd, but hit the ground hard and consulted Dr. Padilla after the inning, then was absent from the field by the Coons’ next defensive inning, replaced by Brian Nigro. The Loggers had two hits in that bottom 4th, from Barrington and Sanchez, but also ran into an 8-5-4-6 double play on that Sanchez single.

While Padilla allowed just one more hit to Mike Grant through six, the Raccoons actually tacked on eventually. Nigro popped out with Watt and Maldo on the corners in the fifth, and Crispin was stranded once more in the sixth, but in the seventh Watt and Avila got on against Padilla to begin the inning. Maldo flew out, but Matt Waters – still in a slump off the DL – whacked a much-needed RBI double to left to prevent a drop under the .260 mark for the day. Nigro popped out again for the second out, but Ed Crispin drove in his first two runs in the Bigs with a 2-out single to shallow left-center where everybody went on contact. Then Merino stumbled, giving up a run on a 2-out Grant single in the bottom 7th to narrow the score to 5-1. Grant plated Brent Allen, who had opened the inning with an infield single. Hernandez then walked, and Merino got two outs easily, but was beaten by Grant. He then grounded out Pat Lovell to Waters to end the bottom 7th. Merino returned for the eighth, but was knocked out with two outs after a walk, single, and RBI double. The Coons sent Moreno, who gave up a 2-run single to Sanchez, 5-4, another single to de Lemos that sent the tying run to third base, and then got Grant out to Seymour, somehow, upon which Matt Waters took Angelo Munoz deep in the ninth for a tack-on run. Moreno still didn’t get the save. He popped out Pat Lovell to begin the ninth, but then shook his head repeatedly and that caught the attention of Dr. Padilla. I sighed while he collected Moreno from the mound. Mike Lynn would finish off the game within two more batters. 6-4 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-5; Waters 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

The carnage report showed only “mild” injuries. Moreno was day-to-day with neck stiffness. Preble had a bruised rib cage and was also day-to-day. He might take a week-plus to get back to 100% (but the All Star break was looming) and would definitely be available for light duty at least, but would not be in the lineup at least on Friday.

Raccoons (42-44) vs. Indians (41-45) – July 9-11, 2049

These teams had fought for first in recent years, now the price was third, and maybe finishing .500… The Indians were ninth in runs scored and third in runs allowed, with a +27 run differential that hinted at rotten luck. The Coons’ run differential was +1, hinting at mediocrity. The season series was 5-4 in the Critters’ favor, and this was the final series before the All Star Game.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (6-6, 3.42 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (6-9, 3.77 ERA)
Dave Hils (8-4, 4.54 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (1-3, 2.88 ERA)
Victor Salcido (1-5, 3.93 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (7-8, 2.48 ERA)

Only right-handers up. No Andrew Russ to terrorize me – he was on the DL with a broken foot. Good! – (slaps paws on his snout and looks panicked, fearing the baseball gods were listening)

Game 1
IND: CF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C J. Rose – SS de Castro – P Drury
POR: LF Watt – RF Gurney – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Nigro – SS Adame – 3B Crispin – C Gardner – P Wheatley

Single, single, walk – not the start we envisioned from “Second Half” Wheatley in the opener. Danny Rivera brought in a run with a double-play grounder, and Bobby Anderson singled home one more before a K to official ******** Aaron Brayboy ended the damn inning, down 2-0. While Wheats made it through six with only an unearned run blamed on Gurney, putting Angel Mendez on to begin the top 3rd, he never stopped looking like a confused freshman on orientation day, and made me groan a lot. So was the offense, which had nothing through five before Watt, Maldo, and Waters all reached base in the bottom 6th, but that also only amounted to one run on a Waters single, and the Coons were down 3-1 after six. Wheats pitched another inning, allowing a 2-out single to Drury (…), but getting Mendez to fly out easily. He was hit for in the bottom 7th with Crispin on first and two outs, and the Coons sent Mike Preble… who struck out.

Ponce did the eighth and held the Indians in place, and then Matt Watt opened the bottom 8th with a triple before scoring on a passed ball charged to Jason Rose. Drury walked Maldo and Waters, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base, but rung up Nigro in a full count, and Maldo had to stop at third base on Adame’s shy single that followed. Here was a pretty big spot, and the Raccoons had arrived at Ed Crispin of 23 major league at-bats and a .575 OPS. Eddy Luna would pinch-hit for the kit and coaxed a bases-loaded walk, tying the game and taking Wheatley off the hook. Wade Gardner was lifted for Eduardo Avila, who shoved a 2-run single through the left side to flip the game all around…! I high-fived with Slappy, briefly, then remembered that it was all for naught and the plunge was still picking up pace overall, and sunk deeper into the cushions. Ruben Gonzalez ended the inning batting for Ponce, with the ball then going to Nate Norris. Neither of our two more established closers were available, Moreno with the neck and Lynn for pitching to lots o’ Loggers. Jason Rose hit a 1-out single between K’s to Brayboy and Alex de Castro, but Jordan Santiago’s fly to center ended up with Nigro to end the game. 5-3 Critters. Watt 2-4, 3B; Waters 2-3, BB, RBI; Avila (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

First save for Norris as a Critter, including his first stint with the team in 2044-45. Has 16 wins though.

Game 2
IND: CF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C DeFrank – SS de Castro – P Brink
POR: CF Watt – LF Gurney – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Luna – SS Adame – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – P Hils

An early rain delay paused the action after two innings and 28 pitches for Dave Hils, and ultimately got him out of the game after five. Brayboy singled home a run off him in the second, and Rivera went deep in the fourth for a 2-0 Indians lead, before the Coons ever landed a base knock; Gurney then singled up the middle in the bottom 4th, but was doubled off by Maldo, the second two-for-one found by the well-compensated veteran in this game. The Raccoons did scratch out a rally in the fifth, though. Waters opened with a double to left, and Luna singled to put the tying runs on the corners. Adame hit into a fielder’s choice bringing in Waters, 2-1, stole second base with two outs, and that prompted an intentional walk to Gonzalez. Here, the Coons sent Mike Preble to pinch-hit, and this time the move worked, as he slapped a game-tying single through the left side. Watt flew out to Bill Quinteros, leaving Hils without a decision.

Quinteros then doubled off Lillis jr., then scored on a Bobby Anderson single to grab a new 3-2 lead in the sixth for Indy. The Coons came back with two outs in the bottom 6th, getting Waters and Luna on the corners once more, then got an RBI single from Adame. The runners then swiped bags in unison, then scored together when Avila rammed a drive off the wall in leftfield for a go-ahead, 2-run double…!

O’Higgins answered with an 8-pitch seventh, and Watt and Gurney found the corners in the same inning, but then Maldo also found a THIRD double play. The eighth was largely uneventful, but then Nelson Moreno was well enough to pitch the ninth inning. He got two outs before Santiago singled with two outs. Philip Locke hit for Mendez as the tying run, but grounded out easily. 5-3 Raccoons. Gurney 2-4; Waters 2-4, 2B; Luna 2-4; Adame 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Preble (PH) 1-1, RBI;

First career win for Brett Lillis jr. …!

Somehow we were also back to .500 with a 5-1 week to this point, but I had little hope that this would be a permanent arrangement…

Next to Preble, neither Maldo nor Waters were in the lineup on Sunday. Both had made the All Star Game and would get an extra day of rest here… or as long as it would last at least.

Game 3
IND: CF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C DeFrank – SS de Castro – P Nichol
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Luna – 1B Gurney – LF Avila – RF Nigro – C Gonzalez – 2B Seymour – P Salcido

The Arrowheads took a 2-0 lead again, this time in the third on a Quinteros homer to right. Salcido lacked stuff, bled runners, and Quinteros knew what to do in those cases. It was his 116th career homer. Bottom 3rd, Rich Seymour led off with a single to center. Salcido then couldn’t get a bunt down, but Seymour stole second base at 0-2, the first bag of his career. And then Salcido actually singled to left, driving home Seymour from second to shorten the score to 2-1. Watt forced out the pitcher with a grounder, but an Adame single and a Luna walk loaded the bases with one out for Pat Gurney, but Nichol buckled down, rung up both Gurney and Avila, and I was left moaning and miserable.

It didn’t get much better after that. Salcido put his paws into a meatmincer in the fifth inning, getting bludgeoned for four runs when he couldn’t retire anybody anymore. I didn’t quite know what was the worst thing, the four runs overall or the 2-run double that Brayboy hit in particular… For highlights, O’Higgins struck out the side in the sixth inning, while the Coons had three on and nobody out in the bottom 7th after Nichol issued walks to Gonzalez and Seymour, and Bobby Anderson bungled Lillis’ bunt to load them up. Watt promptly popped out, but Adame dropped an RBI single into right, 6-2. Luna was the tying run, but grounded out to bring in only one, and Gurney flew out to center against Jason Palladino, leaving the Critters 6-3 behind. The tying run was back at the plate with two outs in the eighth after Avila and Seymour had reached. Ed Crispin was already in the #9 hole after a double switch, and would face new pitcher and righty John Steuer… and got carved up. Sang-hoon Kim’s ninth was flawless. 6-3 Indians. Adame 3-5, RBI; Seymour 2-3, BB;

In other news

July 5 – The Indians have an eighth-inning, 10-run rally for a 12-5 win over the Crusaders.
July 6 – DAL SP Noe Candeloro (3-5, 4.50 ERA) is a strike away from a no-hitter against the Scorpions when he gives up a 3-2 single to Sacramento’s Nate Culp (.240, 15 HR, 44 RBI). DAL CL Dale Mrazek (3-3, 4.65 ERA, 17 SV) completes the 3-0 win after that.
July 6 – The Condors pick up 2B/OF Miguel Martinez (.250, 0 HR, 9 RBI) from the Falcons for a handful prospects.
July 6 – CIN OF Nelson Galvan (.298, 0 HR, 33 RBI) is a homer short of the cycle in a 5-hit game as the Cyclones beat the Capitals 8-4. Galvan drives in four runs with two doubles and a triple next to two singles.
July 7 – NAS C Jose Cantu (.292, 11 HR, 45 RBI) has the second 3-homer game of the season after Topeka’s J.P. Angeletti, doing massive damage for 5 RBI in a 14-7 win over the Rebels.
July 7 – VAN OF Angel Escobido (.255, 11 HR, 39 RBI) can’t prevent his team’s 4-0 loss to the Titans, but staves off a combined no-hitter for Boston with a 1-out single in the ninth inning off BOS MR Ron Purcell (3-2, 5.04 ERA, 6 SV). Five pitchers combine for the 1-hitter in a game that starter Jake Jackson (6-3, 4.29 ERA) left with an injury in the second inning.
July 8 – Dallas’ Juan del Toro (.345, 12 HR, 55 RBI) bangs out two homers and three singles for three RBI in a 4-0 win over the Scorpions.
July 8 – Indy trades SP Brian Jackson (5-7, 3.86 ERA) to the Miners for a prospect.
July 9 – CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.320, 7 HR, 43 RBI) will miss a month with a bruised kneecap.
July 11 – The Indians acquire SP Paul Medvec (7-6, 2.74 ERA) from the Scorpions for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.345, 12 HR, 55 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS 1B Jeff Wheeler (.344, 7 HR, 44 RBI), swatting .519 (14-27) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We have two All Stars, Matt Waters and Jesus Maldonado (!), who both made it in by winning the voting at their position, in Maldo’s case by just a couple of thousand votes. It’s the second appearance for Waters, who also was nominated last year, and the seventh for Maldo – all consecutively!

Man, Slappy, Cristiano, you guys filling out 10,000 ballots really paid off!

We will be at home for a while longer after the All Star Game, playing three more series with the Loggers, Crusaders, and Thunder before heading out again at the end of the month.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are third in runs scored in the CL.

Which doesn’t make much sense. We’re batting .253, second from the bottom, and we’re not even up there in homers or stolen bases (sixth, twice). And yet somehow – up there. All the while Maldo was third in RBI on the team with just 38 in 89 games.

Nothing made much sense in this season…