[Westheim]

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Pacifics (12-20) – May 9-11, 2050

Here were two teams that didn’t look like they were gonna go anywhere any time soon, even though the Raccoons had won five in a row at this point, probably just to annoy me. The Pacifics had the worst rotation in the FL and were allowing the fourth-most runs, and were scoring the seventh-most runs in the Federal League. Their pen and their defense were generally very good, though. The last meeting between these teams had been in 2046, with the Raccoons winning two of three games back then.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (1-2, 4.86 ERA) vs. Marc Hubbard (1-4, 5.09 ERA)
Elijah Powell (2-3, 5.05 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (3-1, 3.57 ERA)
Victor Merino (0-5, 4.71 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (1-3, 4.22 ERA)

Two righties and a lefty in this brief homestand. The southpaw Baker was the former Raccoon. The right-hander Craig was not.

Game 1
LAP: CF Shaw – SS Andrews – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – 3B Reid – RF S. King – 2B Larsen – P Hubbard
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky

Offense was slow to begin the game, with only one hit by Scott King for L.A. the first time through, while the Raccoons had two hits, but also couldn’t get anybody across. Brent Andrews got across in the fourth inning then, reaching base on a pretty dismal throwing error by John Castner that put him on second base to begin the inning. He scored on a single by Eric Monaghan right away. That run was unearned, but the three the Pacifics tacked on in the fifth were not. David Reid (single), King (walk), and Shane Larsen (RBI double) all reached to start of the frame, and Hubbard and Joshua Shaw both had productive outs to get everybody across for a 4-0 lead. The Raccoons had both Puckeridge and Lonzo caught stealing when they were on base in the middle innings, but Shaw stole a base off Eloy Sencion in the seventh and was then singled home by Andrews to tack on another run for the Pacifics, who got a 3-hit shutout pitched by Hubbard to kill the Raccoons’ little winning streak. 5-0 Pacifics.

Game 2
LAP: CF Shaw – 2B Larsen – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 3B Reid – LF D. Wright – 1B S. King – SS Andrews – P Jon Craig
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – P Powell

Lonzo smashed a leadoff jack in the bottom 1st for a 1-0 Coons lead, quickly followed by Armando Herrera going back-to-back with him. Powell turned in two solid innings to begin the game, then turned to horse **** again in the third, which began with a walk to Brent Andrews. Craig bunted badly, forcing out the runner, and was even thrown out at home after singles by Shaw and Larsen, but Powell STILL managed to give up a run by nailing Matt Diskin and allowing a bases-loaded single to Eric Monaghan. Somehow, David Reid failed to hit a grand slam when the writing was very much on the wall and instead flew out to Suzuki to end the inning with the Coons still up 2-1.

Bottom 4th, Maldo, Gonzalez, and Suzuki all hit 1-out singles to load the bases for the Critters, who found their way into a 9-2 double play when Ricky Lamotta flew out to Diskin, and Maldo was not nearly lumbering home fast enough to score on that throwing arm, being slapped out by Monaghan to end the soggy frame. Powell managed to wiggle his way through seven innings of 6-hit ball without blowing the lead, while the Raccoons were not doing anything outside of the two early homers and the three consecutive singles that led to nothing but sadness through seven innings. Ponce and Porter handled the eighth with more competence than usual, and Willie Cruz struck out David Reid to begin the ninth, but then got chipped for singles by Dylan Wright, who was run for with speedster Victor Flores, and King. Shortstop Shane Corry was down 2-2 in the count when he hit a sharp grounder right at Waters, and the Raccoons buggered out of the affair with a 4-6-3 double play to even the series. 2-1 Blighters. Herrera 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-3);

Is that right, Maud, still 128 to play?

(sigh)

Game 3
LAP: CF Shaw – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – SS Andrews – 3B Corry – 2B Larsen – P J. Baker
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Merino

For the second time in the series, L.A. took a 1-0 lead in unearned fashion, this time with Lamotta throwing a Monaghan grounder well over Maldo at first base. Even a juicy 25-year-old first baseman wouldn’t have leapt to catch that one. When not sabotaged by his own team, Merino had a solid start to the game, striking out four batters in three innings after only getting 11 batters in 36.1 innings prior to that. Portland eventually got the game tied up with back-to-back 2-out doubles in the bottom 4th, Gonzalez and Puckeridge doing the honors, before Lamotta lined out after also hitting a rocket, but into an occupied spot.

The next inning saw Merino hit a single, but he misread the play and was thrown out at second base by Bobby Grewe. Lonzo was then nicked with two outs, stole his 14th base, and easily scored when Armando Herrera doubled over Shaw in center for a go-ahead RBI double. Baker walked Maldo and Waters, both in full counts, but Gonzalez then grounded out to Andrews to end the inning. Puckeridge and Glodowski went to the corners in the bottom 6th, but Merino rolled into a double play and nobody scored.

Merino, still winless in ’50, held out through seven innings, stranding Andrews as the tying run on third base in his last inning when he got Larsen to ground out to Lonzo. Maldo hit into the seventh inning’s double play, but at least Porter and Sencion held together in the eighth inning, getting the 9-1-2 batters in order. Meat of the order thusly for Willie in the ninth inning, and still with no cushion, because the Coons obviously thought that two runs was plenty. Monaghan struck out, Larry Rodriguez grounded out, and Scott King pinch-hit for Grewe… but still struck out. 2-1 Critters. Puckeridge 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-5) and 1-3;

Even when it’s just three games… “We scored four runs on that homestand” never sounds too great.

Raccoons (15-20) @ Titans (16-15) – May 13-15, 2050

We had won two of three from the Titans in the first go at them this year. Scoring was not their thing and they sat third from the bottom in runs in the league, but also gave up the second-fewest runs, with a +16 run differential (Coons: -27).

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 5.04 ERA) vs. Tim Steinbach (0-4, 3.35 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-3, 4.81 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (2-2, 3.93 ERA)
Elijah Powell (3-3, 4.43 ERA) vs. David Barel (4-3, 2.08 ERA)

Right, right, left once more, and thus a Southpaw Sunday!

Wheats, how come you have the worst ERA amongst our starters? – “First half” only, you promise?

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C J. Jimenez – P Wheatley
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Steinbach

Both teams loaded the bases in the second inning of the Friday opener, but the Coons brought up Wheats with two outs after a Maldo single and walks to Luna and Juan Jimenez, and he grounded out to Chris Jimenez. The Titans got three on with one out and the #8 batter Jose Rodriguez up and the Coons failed to turn two on his grounder to Lonzo, allowing the other Jimenez to score. Steinbach then popped out. Things continued to not work out for Wheats in particular or the Coons as a whole. The Critters found a double play with Puckeridge in the third inning, while Wheats brutally drilled Tony Lopez in the bottom 3rd. Nothing came of that, but he didn’t strike out anybody in three innings, then had Chris Jimenez hit a single to center, which Herrera overran for an extra base, to begin the bottom 4th. Alejandro Silva drove home Jimenez, 2-0, but Wheatley then struck out Steinbach and Jason Monson to eventually get out of that inning.

Wheatley popped out on a bunt attempt in the fifth, while Herrera opened the sixth with a single. Steinbach threw away the ball on a pickoff attempt, allowing Herrera to second base, then gave up a single to Puckeridge on the very next pitch, putting the tying runs on the corners with nobody out for Matt Waters, who was fighting both various ailments and a ghastly pile of strikeouts on his ledger. He socked a 1-0 pitch to center; Lopez caught it, but the sac fly at least cut the lead in half. Maldo came through, though, driving a ball down the leftfield line, where it eventually hit the sidewall in a funny way to fool Rodriguez, allowing Puckeridge to score from first base and tie the score. Suzuki and Luna then left the go-ahead run on second base.

Wheats fought the Titans to a 2-2 draw through seven innings, striking out six eventually from the fourth onwards after eventually finding his mojo. The Coons didn’t get past a Puckeridge single in the eighth, however, and he had to settle for a no-decision. Sencion and Hitchcock held Boston away in the bottom 8th before Adam Bates gave up a single to Suzuki to begin the top 9th, then walked Jimenez. Watt flew out on the first pitch, Lonzo whiffed, and nobody scored. Danny Landeta’s 1-2-3 bottom 9th extended the game to free baseball, and the Raccoons squeezed through Bates in the 10th, aided by a Rodriguez error on a 2-out single by Waters. Rodriguez fumbled the ball on the first bounce for an extra base, and Waters then scored on Maldo’s scratch single through the right side to break the 2-2 tie. That was all the offense to be had, and Willie Cruz got another shallow lead to defend. Jose Rodriguez grounded out to Waters, but Elias Rodriguez singled up the middle in the bottom 10th. Monson hit another roller to Waters, but the Critters only got the lead runner, allowing Nate Massey to the plate. The count ran full while Monson, a quick runner, apparently didn’t get a go sign from his bench, and never made an attempt to run. It wouldn’t have made much difference; Monson struck out eventually to give the Coons a 3-game winning streak again. 3-2 Coons. Herrera 2-5; Puckeridge 2-5; Maldonado 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

Only seven games behind the damn Elks anymore, hah!!

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – P Wolinsky
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF D. Gonzales – P Turay

Turay, the little ****** drilled the entire Coons battery in the second inning, but didn’t get penalized for it, neither with run(s), nor with an ejection and banishment for life. Eddy Luna also worked a walk in the inning, but they were all stranded when Matt Watt flew out to Monson. He added van Hoy to his list of victims in the fourth, nailing him with Luna on first and two outs, but then Wolinsky whiffed. The teams totalled five hits, all singles, through five innings, none of them for extra bases, or with a runner already on, and correspondingly you almost had to call it a pitchers’ duel, even though at least one of the pitchers was working on becoming a serial killer in broad ******* daylight.

Eddy Luna was then nailed in the sixth inning, which made it four welts and three walks offered by Turay’s ****** paws, a performance I wouldn’t even have expected from Edward Scissorhands. Wolinsky then nailed Tony Lopez with two on and nobody out in the bottom 6th, and we can not rule out that revenge was involved there.

Both pitchers were gone after seven shutout innings, Bubba allowing four singles to Turay’s three, and the only time a team reached third base was in that abortive yet infuriating top 2nd. Monson reached third against Bob Ibold in the bottom 8th after drawing a leadoff walk, but was stranded when Lopez flew out to Matt Watt. Adam Bates kept Portland from scoring in the ninth, and Hitchcock sent a scoreless game to extras while nailing Alejandro Silva in the bottom 9th; for those out there that couldn’t count that far, we were at six mauled batters by now, and still no ******* run on the board. From there, nobody reached base until Maldo hit a single in the 12th inning, but then Danny Landeta bunted badly and got him forced out, and the inning was killed more or less at that point. The Titans then walked off on Landeta in the bottom 12th with a leadoff single by Ryan Youngquist, who was run for by Jordan Giammarco, who swept second base by force, and then scored on a Silva single. 1-0 Titans. Lavorano 2-6; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Brilliant.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Powell
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Barel

The Coons went up 1-0 in the first on doubles by Lonzo and Waters, but Jeff Wheeler tripled home Monson to make up for that in the bottom 1st right away. Tony Lopez’ infield pop and Youngquist’s groundout stranded Wheeler at third base at least… Powell seemed to be scuffling, barely got through the bottom 3rd with a leadoff single by Barel, a wild pitch, and a walk to Monson, but the Raccoons got Maldo and Waters aboard to begin the fourth inning and, hey, crazy thought, how about scoring two runs in the same inning here for once?? And as if K-pop wasn’t bad enough, after Gonzalez fanned and Puckeridge scared the pigeons with a ball that was caught by Youngquist five feet from home plate, Ricky Lamotta then grounded out to Chris Jimenez to strand the runners for good. David Gonzales homered with Youngquist aboard in the bottom 4th, and the Titans got to scrawl a big red 2 on the board to take a 3-1 lead. I marked an L in my pocket schedule, then sought out the nearest stand that offered Irish brew.

While I engaged with some red-nosed locals, Powell was stuffed another five hits and a fifth-inning run and required rescue from Eloy Sencion following a Barel double in the bottom 6th. Sencion got Massey to ground out to Maldo, keeping it at 4-1 at the completion of six. Somehow the Coons brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth after Barel gave up 1-out singles to Lonzo and Herrera, but both Maldo and Waters struck out, and that was that. Ponce cocking up two runs in the bottom 8th against the bottom of the order sealed the deal. 6-1 Titans. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Waters 3-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 14 – The Gold Sox erase a 3-run deficit in the ninth inning, then pound out five runs in the 10th inning to beat the Pacifics, 13-8.
May 15 – Crusaders infielder Art Bent (.373, 1 HR, 9 RBI) smacks a 3-run homer for a 15th inning walkoff to beat the Indians, 4-1.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.337, 2 HR, 26 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Raul Sevilla (.284, 7 HR, 29 RBI), smashing .480 (12-25) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know from which end I want to skin that cat. On one paw, we had a .500 week, which usually means it wasn’t all **** and *******, but then again the Raccoons managed to play a whole week without scratching out more than two runs in regulation… EVER. Only eight runs total in six games, which Cristiano assures me is not conducive to long-term success. 16 runs allowed, which is better than you’d dare to dream about after this April, but then again … that offense. That offense!

Is there more hope in AAA? Not really. The only guy still in AAA that is hitting quite a bit is Brian Shedd, who does not really qualify as a prospect anymore (he’ll turn 28 in September) and has been in all of TWO major league games in the past four seasons. He made 18 appearances for the ’45 Coons, somehow, which is why he proudly wears a World Series ring on his sodden travels between St. Petersburg, Lubbock, and Rancho Cucamonga. Well yes, the Thunder might *claim* their AAA team plays in Anaheim, but when you look on the map it’s bloody clear they have their old sandlot out in bloody ******* RANCHO CUCAMONGA…!

So, uh, Shedd’s not the solution. I keep hawking the waiver wire. It got us… whatever the hell it is Ricky Lamotta does for a living.

From here, the Raccoons will zig-zag their way home via Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Vegas.

Fun Fact: The only regular position player waiting for the pitch in fair territory on this team with an OPS+ over 100 is Armando Herrera.

(blows)

That guy needs a new 5-year deal, I say…!