The Raccoons began the new week with the splendid news that Ken Crum was out with a sprained ankle and would not be back before September. Maybe the middle of September. He was off to the DL, and the Raccoons brought back … Roberto Medina…?
Woof.
Hope everybody likes their 13-inning, 1-0 losses.
Raccoons (59-52) @ Indians (55-56) – August 7-9, 2051
Stop number three of fou- five on this road trip would be Indy, with a three-game set starting on Monday. The Indians were even in terms of run differential, eighth in offense, and seventh in pitching. Power was not their thing (nor ours), and they were a whole lot of mediocre (so were we). The Coons led the season series, 7-5.
Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (4-6, 4.21 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (4-4, 4.00 ERA)
Juan Mercado (5-5, 3.94 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (11-11, 3.25 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (4-4, 4.09 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (10-4, 3.34 ERA)
Only righty opposition available here.
Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – RF Suzuki – P Salcido
IND: LF R. White – 1B Ed. Ortiz – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – CF Kokel – SS Clover – 3B A. Mendez – 2B Ragen – P Medvec
From the start, the weather looked like trouble, and we had an hour-long rain delay by the fourth inning. At that point the Indians were up 1-0 on a walk to Manny Poindexter and an RBI triple by Chaz Kokel, who also looked like trouble from the start. The Coons actually made up the deficit right after the rain delay, with Pucks getting on base and being singled home by Maldonado with two outs. Salcido returned from the rain delay clearly out of shape; he had thrown 50 pitches in the three innings before, and threw 36 more in the two innings after, few of them a sight to behold. But Waters singled home Crispin in the top 5th, and the Indians failed to bat home any of the three batters Salcido walked between the fourth and fifth, and he thus actually left the game with a 2-1 lead.
Lillis had a clean sixth, but the seventh saw trouble brewing. Willie Maldonado put Angel Mendez and Josh Hare on base, Eloy Sencion got a 2-out grounder from Rusty White to Jesus Maldonado that was played so tardily by the veteran that White reached base, and that made it three on and two outs for PH Juan Arguello, a righty hitting .259 with no home runs on the year. I had a hunch, but this time was surprised to find that scruffy batter grounding out to Crispin to end the inning. Sencion added a scoreless eighth against the middle of the order, and his spot came up in the ninth inning after Cesar Suarez had allowed a double to Ruben Gonzalez, had been ordered to walk Crispin intentionally, and then had seen Suzuki leg out an infield single; three on, one out for pinch-hitter Mitch Sivertson as we chose the subtle approach of maybe a dinker for an RBI single. It wasn’t quite the end result; he flew out to center, Ruben Gonzalez went home, Kokel’s throw arrived in time, but Gonzalez bowled over Poindexter, who lost the ball, and Ruben was safe with an insurance run before Waters whiffed. And then, Hitchcock, and a leadoff walk to Chase Clover. Sigh! Better yet, when Angel Mendez dropped a roller on the infield, Hitchcock threw that one away to put the tying run on base. Philip Locke grounded out, advancing the runners, and Mike Gilmore flew out to DeMarco, but Clover went home and scored. Somehow Rusty White popped out to Lonzo to strand Mendez in scoring position. 3-2 Coons. J. Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Suzuki 2-4; Medina (PH) 1-1;
Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – C Suggs – 3B Crispin – RF Suzuki – P Mercado
IND: 2B R. White – 1B Ed. Ortiz – 3B B. Anderson – CF Kokel – C M. Gilmore – SS Clover – RF A. Mendez – LF Hare – P Llamas
Waters singled, Lonzo doubled, and while Pucks grounded out poorly, DeMarco’s single through the left side gave the Coons an early 2-0 lead on Tuesday. The first two batters were on again in the second inning, then with Crispin and Suzuki singles; Mercado’s bunt was poor and led to Crispin being forced out at third base, but Matt Waters singled through the right side, and Suzuki went around to score from second base, 3-0. Lonzo and Pucks both added another run with yet another single, and it was 5-0 on eight Coons knocks by the time the inning was over. And while Mercado struggled with control and ran up quite the pitch count and was out of the game after six innings and 102 pitches, he at least didn’t allow a run. The Coons tacked on, Matt Waters scoring in the fourth and sixth innings, once on a Lonzo homer and then on a hit by Puckeridge, which ran the score to 8-0 by the seventh-inning stretch, when Mike Snyder was inserted to gain length.
We gained a meltdown. Snyder logged one out for FOUR runs; Angel Mendez singled, Josh Hare walked, wild pitch, then a K on Juan Arguello. White walked, Edwin Ortiz singled home two, and Bobby Anderson doubled in another pair. At that point Willie Cruz was called on to stop the shenanigans, and retired Kokel and Gilmore without conceding a fifth run. The Coons regained a run when Glodowski scored on a passed ball charged to Gilmore and thrown by Rich Knowles in the top 8th, 9-4, but Hare’s single off Cruz and a triple Paul Miles surrendered to the pinch-hitting Locke got the Indians back into slam range with two outs in the bottom 8th. Rusty White struck out, at least, and the Coons regained that run in the top of the ninth through Sean Suggs’ … run-scoring double play following DeMarco and Maldo occupying the corners against Michael McLaughlin to begin that inning… 10-5 Raccoons. Waters 3-3, 2 BB, RBI; Lavorano 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Glodowski 1-1; Mercado 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (6-5);
Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – LF Puckeridge – 2B DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – C Suggs – 3B Crispin – RF Glodowski – P de la Cruz
IND: LF R. White – 1B Ed. Ortiz – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – SS Clover – CF Locke – 2B Arguello – P En. Ortiz
The first Indian to put the ball in play hit a 3-run homer in this game, with Bobby Anderson doing the honors after Raffy walked White and nailed Quinteros. It didn’t get any better from there; while the Coons had a runner in each of the first three innings, none of them reached on a base hit, and two of them in fact reached on errors, Lonzo in the first and Maldo in the second. Lonzo stole a base, which was as much offense as we put together early on. De la Cruz meanwhile was neck-deep in trouble as soon as the bottom 3rd began. Edwin Ortiz singled, Quinteros walked on four pitches, and they advanced on a passed ball before Anderson walked anyway. Three on, no outs. Poindexter lined out to DeMarco, spelling Matt Waters at second base, and Chase Clover served a double play ball to Crispin, but he threw it away for an error, conceding a run right on the spot, and another when Locke singled. Arguello popped out, Enrique Ortiz whiffed, but de la Cruz was down 5-0 and looked like toast that had fallen on the marmalade side.
He didn’t get through the fourth inning at all, with Miles getting the last out there to strand two runners. But while Miles was engaged for length in innings, he only provided length in score, conceding three runs in an endless bottom 5th and not reappearing thereafter. Down 8-0, the Coons surrendered the game. When Lonzo reached with a leadoff single in the sixth, he got the “whatev’!” sign, and was promptly thrown out trying to steal second. Suzuki reached after that and Pucks hit a homer to right-center, but at that point he was putting sprinkles on a **** cake. Undeterred, Puckeridge added another run with a groundout in the eighth, which still didn’t even get the team into slam range. In the ninth the Coons merely emptied their bench, getting Matt Waters to draw a 2-out walk off Cesar Suarez, who then gave up an RBI double to Glodowski, but rung up Sivertson to end the game. 8-4 Indians. Sivertson (PH) 1-2;
Raccoons (61-53) @ Thunder (70-43) – August 10, 2051
In a southpaw battle between Bubba Wolinsky (12-8, 3.44 ERA) and Victor Marquez (12-3, 2.50 ERA), the Coons would try and salvage what there was to salvage from a 1-7 season series against the Thunder. This was the makeup from last week’s rainout, as if he had longed for another trip to the #1 offense and #2 pitching staff in the Continenal League…
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – CF DeMarco – C Suggs – RF Glodowski – 3B Kaufman – LF Medina – P Wolinsky
OCT: SS Adame – 2B Ban – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – LF R. Cox – C Adames – CF A. Herrera – RF M. Allen – P V. Marquez
To anybody’s surprise, the Coons went up 2-0 in the second inning as Glodowski doubled, scored on a Kaufman single, Medina found the gap for another double, and Wolinsky at least lobbed a sac fly before getting completely emaciated in the bottom of the same inning. The Thunder crushed him for five hits, four for extra bases, and four runs. Ryan Cox doubled, Jesus Adames tripled, Armando Herrera (sigh!) singled, and that was only the beginning as they batted through the order. Even the opposing pitcher hit a ******* RBI double…!
Wolinsky would pitch five innings for five runs, the last being unearned on a Lonzo error, although he also walked three in the same damn inning… The game very much felt like it was over, despite the gap being only three runs, but the Raccoons made no rallying noises whatsoever throughout the middle innings. Waldo pitched two innings after Wolinsky was done exploding, conceding no runs, but Sencion gave up a run in the eighth. The Coons got a leadoff single from Brian Kaufman in the ninth, but then forced him out right away with a Medina grounder and never reached scoring position in the inning. 6-2 Thunder. Kaufman 2-4; W. Maldonado 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;
Should have skipped straight to Sioux Falls.
Raccoons (61-54) @ Warriors (51-63) – August 11-13, 2051
The Warriors continued their perpetual rebuilding process, although they looked less hopeless than most of the time. They were last in the FL West, but third in runs scored in the FL, and seventh in runs allowed. They were the Anti-Coons, 12 games under .500 with a +31 run differential, while we were seven games over .500, but at -9 in runs. The Warriors’ main weakness was a lack of power and a shoddy bullpen, and they were without a couple of regulars in the lineup, Josh Wall and Jon Elkins, and also 22-year-old sophomore RF Tony Rodriguez, who had his throwing shoulder stitched back together. The last time these teams met, the Coons won two of three in 2049. We had not lost a series to them since 2039, but overall the Warriors were the team we had our all-time worst win percentage against (.467).
Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (12-6, 3.03 ERA) vs. Fernando Salazar (5-8, 4.42 ERA)
Victor Salcido (5-6, 4.12 ERA) vs. Jayden Woods (2-3, 4.89 ERA)
Juan Mercado (6-5, 3.69 ERA) vs. Shane Knox (12-5, 2.65 ERA)
Southpaw Sunday! Both the two preceding right-handers had also thrown a number of games out of the bullpen as the Warriors’ staff was in a state of flux.
The Coons continued to give out off days to the regulars; Lonzo and Maldo were not in the lineup on Friday, and DeMarco was slated for a day off on Saturday, despite an off day on Monday. It was a rough stretch, and we were already down our most productive outfielder…
Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – LF Suzuki – 1B Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – SS Kaufman – P Wheatley
SFW: SS Moriel – 1B Haracz – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – RF Munn – CF D. Ramirez – 3B Walling – 2B DeFusco – P F. Salazar
It took merely SEVEN INNINGS for a runner to reach third base on Friday, which was Nick DeMarco, drawing a walk and going there on Ed Crispin’s 2-out single. Brian Kaufman popped out and nobody scored, still, in a game that was lacking action, but did present us with the lingering suspense of whether it would actually ever end. Wheats struck out only three, but also gave up only two hits through seven innings of shutout ball. It was tempting to hit for him to begin the top 8th, but what was that supposed to get us? Offense!? (snickers) … Wheats struck out, and the Coons went in order, but he also got three more outs from the Warriors without much fuss. Pucks opened the ninth with a single off lefty Carlos Castillo, then took off on a hit-and-run with DeMarco, who swung, missed, and Pucks was gonna be dead at second, except that Nick Samuel spiked the throw, Julio Moriel couldn’t contain the ball, and Pucks ambled to third base with nobody out in a scoreless drag of a game. DeMarco fell from 0-2, then clawed back to draw a walk, after which Ruben Gonzalez was smacked in the wrist for a very painful and dreaded three on, and nobody out; plus, Dr. Padilla removed Gonzalez from the game after pawing his wrist for an extended period of time and getting all the wrong grimaces from the catcher. Lonzo pinch-ran for him. Glodowski, the useless pelt, then lined out to Arturo Galaviz at second base. Oh, here we go…! Maldo pinch-hit for Crispin against the lefty Castillo, whom the Warriors saw fit to continue. Maldo fell to two strikes, but like DeMarco recovered, burping a 1-2 flayer through the left side for a 2-run single…! Kaufman getting doubled up after that spared us any tough decisions with the #9 spot. Wheats returned, got Dale Haracz with a grounder to Waters, but then Mario Villa snuck a single. Nick Samuel whiffed in a long battle, which made it kinda imperative to get out Danny Munn if Wheats wanted the shutout, now on … 116 pitches!? That came quickly…! Anyway! Go for it, Wheats! Five pitches to Munn, the last of them a swinging strike three…! 2-0 Blighters! DeMarco 1-2, 2 BB; J. Maldonado (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (13-6);
Second shutout of the year, and ninth of his career (regular season only) for Wheats!! Whee!!
On the other paw, Ruben Gonzalez’ wrist kept swelling overnight, and he ended up going to the DL with a badly bruised wrist. This might take the rest of the month…! The Coons reached down to AAA to retrieve 2047 fifth-rounder Tyler Philipps, a very good defensive catcher *and* first baseman. He was mostly that – the offense was questionable. He ran like a catcher, and he didn’t have a lot of power, but a keen eye, which made him the worst leadoff candidate for me, since I wanted speed at least at the top of the order (although we had had speed throughout the lineup pretty consistently for about 20 years now). Anyway, the 24-year-old, batting righty and .251/.394/.353 with 3 HR, 31 RBI in AAA, would make his major league debut shortly.
Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – C Suggs – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – LF Medina – P Salcido
SFW: SS Moriel – 1B Haracz – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – RF Munn – CF D. Ramirez – 3B Walling – 2B DeFusco – P J. Woods
Salcido threw 31 pitches in the first, none of them a joy to watch, as he walked two and gave up two hits and two runs, with a Mario Villa RBI double over the head of Medina being the key knock in that mess. Villa homered his next time up, leading off the third inning, and the Warriors clipped Salcido for three more hits and a fourth run in that same inning, overall facilitating a rather brisk exit after five innings and with over 100 pitches for the routinely inconsistent right-hander… And the Coons? Much like on Friday, nada. Two hits through five, and two caught-stealings between Suzuki and Lonzo…
It didn’t get better any time soon. The Coons went in order the next two innings, while Nick Samuel took Paul Miles deep to left in the seventh for a tack-on run. At least the baseball gods eventually had mercy with us and sent a thunderstorm that ended the game with one out in the eighth inning and the Raccoons still no closer to a ******* base runner. 5-0 Warriors.
Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – C Suggs – RF Glodowski – 3B Sivertson – P Mercado
SFW: SS Moriel – 1B Haracz – C Samuel – LF M. Villa – CF D. Ramirez – RF Munn – 2B DeFusco – 3B Walling – P S. Knox
The Coons thought they might just as well try and tie yesterday’s score in the first inning of the rubber game, stuffing Shane Knox with five runs despite an inauspicious beginning. Only Lonzo reached from the first three, stole a base, and was then driven in by DeMarco, and then the meltdown started. Maldo reached, Suggs hit an RBI single, Glodowski doubled in a pair with a drive into the left-center gap, and then scored on a Sivertson single to right, 5-0. The inning ended with Mercado, who then gave back two of the runs right away on straight singles by Villa, Samuel, and Danny Ramirez, and by dropping Maldo’s feed on what should finally have been the third out on Danny Munn’s grounder. Mike DeFusco finally made the third out with a grounder to Waters…
…and Mercado never got it together. Knox drove a hard double in the second off him, and Villa homered to lead off the third inning, 5-3. DeFusco and Joe Walling went to the corners with two outs before Mercado was gracious enough to strike out Knox to strand the tying runs. Portland went back in the board in the fourth, though; singles by Waters (forced out by Lonzo), Pucks, and DeMarco scored a run, although Maldo then whiffed and Suggs grounded out meekly, which sugged. And Mercado? Put the 1-2 batters on to begin the bottom 4th, single, walk, misery, except no, Nick Samuel found Lonzo for a 6-4-3 double play, and Villa’s groundout ended the inning. Walling’s and Moriel’s singles in the bottom 6th made it 11 hits on Mercado before he was finally yanked, Willie Cruz giving up a fly to center to Samuel that DeMarco thankfully snatched, keeping it a 6-3 game.
Old Man Maldo then opened the seventh inning with a triple into the rightfield corner off Pedro de Leon. He was old, he was grumpy, but once he found fourth gear, he was still good for one…! The Warriors walked Suggs intentionally, which made zero sense, then had de Leon concede the run on a Glodowski single to left. Sivertson then grounded into an out at second base, but stole the same base with Willie Cruz at the plate – the Coons wanted more outs from him and sent him to bat, which stunningly resulted in an RBI single through the left side…! De Leon was gone, but was charged another run when Jose Jacinto sent home Sivertson with a wild pitch, 9-3.
After Cruz’ scoreless bottom 7th, the Coons dared bring back Snyder with a 6-run lead, resulting in an Allan Mason single, two walks, stacked bags, and Eloy Sencion donning pants and a hat. He gave up two runs on a Villa single on his first pitch, then retired Ramirez on a grounder to Sivertson, plus three more in order in the ninth to take the series. 9-5 Coons. Waters 2-6; Lavorano 2-5; Puckeridge 2-5, 2B; DeMarco 2-5, 2 RBI; Suggs 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Glodowski 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Medina 1-1; Cruz 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K and 1-1, RBI;
In other news
August 9 – PIT SP Jerry Cruz (12-9, 3.55 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Capitals, taking the 3-0 win.
August 9 – SFW INF Julio Moriel (.303, 1 HR, 43 RBI) has four hits and six RBI from the leadoff spot in a 15-4 trouncing of the Pacifics.
August 9 – It looks like the season of CIN 1B Manny Liberos (.210, 9 HR, 47 RBI) might be over; the 35-year-old has been diagnosed with a broken wrist.
August 10 – A day later, the Cyclones also lose 38-year-old INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.261, 1 HR, 26 RBI) for the year. The right-handed batter needs to have bone chips removed from his elbow.
August 10 – The Gold Sox blow four leads, but still prevail to beat the Stars, 14-13, in a wild one in Dallas. Denver’s Ivan Villa (.304, 24 HR, 73 RBI), Raul Sevilla (.298, 9 HR, 73 RBI), and Sean Lassley (.383, 2 HR, 6 RBI) all have four hits apiece, Sevilla leading the team with five RBI, but the most runs are driven in on the losing side by Dallas’ Steve Humphreys (.211, 7 HR, 30 RBI) plating six on two homers, including an eighth-inning, game-tying grand slam.
August 12 – The Crusaders beat the Scorpions, 5-4 in 15 innings after previously both teams scored a run in the 10th inning.
FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.316, 3 HR, 55 RBI), driving .452 (14-31) with 2 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND 3B Bobby Anderson (.294, 8 HR, 79 RBI), hitting .409 (9-22) with 1 HR, 11 RBI
Complaints and stuff
Always a delight to sponsor both league’s Players of the Week in any given week……
Phi-l-i-pps. One L, two P. – Yes, Maud, actually three P. – But not all behind another! – Yes, please also tell clubhouse guy Gus. – Yeah, better write it down.
We continue to be in first place sans rhyme or reason, when it once again looks like none of the buggers will break 15 homers or 80 RBI for the year. Yes of course we’re still last in runs scored.
But we have new fans. The Thunder are rooting HARD for us. It’ll be a free pennant for them if we win the division. Right now though everybody is within eight games (minus the Loggers), and all but the Elks are even within four games, so I’d be hesitant to book accommodation in Oklahoma City for early October yet.
Injuries to Ken Crum and Ruben Gonzalez of course won’t help, and anybody remember Cullen Tortora? He was supposed to bring something beyond medical bills…!
Next week brings a homestand with the Caps and the Crusaders, in any case. In fact, I will be in Portland for the rest of the month. The Coons’ only road series left this month is in Elk City, and they keep not having me there.
Fun Fact: Willie Cruz had his first career hit and RBI on Sunday.
Well, if the pitching stuff don’t work anymore for him, maybe he can become a ******* outfielder…!
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Was distracted with the World Cup a bit the last two weeks, but the schedule there is thinning now and the Coons' will pick up again 