[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-38) vs. Indians (43-49) – July 21-23, 2053

The Indians had fallen off now, having posted two losing months after a 13-8 April, and were 5-12 in July. Their run differential was still +7, but there was a lot of average in that team. Sixth in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed… they were giving up the most homers, and hitting the fewest extra-base hits themselves, though, which was a weird occurrence. The Coons led the season series, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Antonio Alfaro (4-1, 4.57 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (4-3, 3.54 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-4, 3.72 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (4-9, 4.09 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-6, 2.62 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (5-8, 4.65 ERA)

Turpeau was the only southpaw approaching us here.

The Indians arrived without Angel Mendez (.327, 3 HR, 36 RBI), who from home announced his retirement due to struggles with post-concussion syndrome while the series in Portland was being played out. Making his debut at 19, he was not even 27 years old, and had batted .284 with 11 HR and 238 RBI as well as 178 SB and 830 hits in an 8-year career.

Travis Malkus was starting a rehab assignment with AAA on Monday, but would probably only rejoin the team on the weekend.

Game 1
IND: CF Locke – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – LF C. Morris – 1B Lovell – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Turpeau
POR: 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Blackshire – RF Lopez – SS Knight – P Alfaro

Crum singled home a 1-0 lead for the Coons in the first, bringing in Matt Waters, who had been nicked by Turpeau to begin the bottom 1st. He also nicked Matt Knight with two outs in the bottom 2nd, then allowed a single to Alfaro… and on the next pitch a 3-run homer to Waters! Harry Ramsay homered in solo fashion in the third inning, and that was a quick way to go up 5-0 on five hits! Alfaro in the meantime had faced the minimum through three innings, despite some hard contact throughout. Philip Locke’s and Bill Quinteros’ singles led to an Indians run in the top of the fourth, 5-1, but after that the Indians didn’t get another hit until Quinteros found another single in the sixth, and that was the last hit off Alfaro. The Rule 5 pick lasted seven innings, in part chased by iffy weather that gave us a brief rain delay in the fifth inning. The rain subsided initially, then picked up again by the bottom 7th, which began with Alfaro being hit for by Suzuki, who grounded out. Adam Foley then nicked Waters, which was the second welt for the Coons’ second-sacker in the game. Pucks singled, and both angrily swiped a pair of bases. Gowin’s groundout scored Waters, but Crum flew out to Chris Morris in left and stranded Pucks. Ryan Harmer got the ball in the eighth, allowed a hit to Edwin Ortiz and a walk to Locke, but Antonio Rios found a 5-4-3 double play to kill the effort. Raul Medrano offered a walk to Quinteros to begin the ninth inning, but that runner never got off first base before the game ended. 6-1 Raccoons. Waters 1-2, HR, 3 RBI; Ramsay 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Blackshire 1-2, 2 BB; Alfaro 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (5-1) and 1-2;

Game 2
IND: CF Locke – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – LF C. Morris – 1B Alex Ramos – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Brink
POR: RF Puckeridge – CF Perez – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – SS Knight – C Raczka – P Salcido

Bill Quinteros’ busy first inning included homering off Salcido for a 1-0 lead for the Indians, then throwing out Pucks at home plate as he tried to score from second base on a Waters single to right. Pucks himself had opened the inning with a double; Waters went to second on the throw, however, and then scored on a Ramsay single to tie the score at one after all before Crum grounded out. The Indians re-took the lead in the second inning however; Edwin Ortiz singled, and then Crispin and Raczka committed a pair of 2-out errors with Locke and Rios batting that absolutely forced the run around to score, but at least Salcido got a K against K-interos with a Q having formed in scoring position…

The Coons tied the game again in the bottom 2nd, and like the Indians had taken their lead in the top of the inning, it wasn’t all on their own merits; while the bags filled up with singles from Matt Knight and Salcido, and Pucks drawing a 2-out walk, it was then a blatantly wayward slider into Fernando Perez’ legs that forced home the tying run on the hit-by-pitch call, while Waters flew out to center on the first pitch to strand all the go-ahead runs. The inning after, Crum and Crispin went to the corners with 1-out singles, but were stranded by Knight and Raczka making weak outs.

The Indians at least got a run-scoring double play grounder from Quinteros in the fifth inning after Locke and Rios had also set up camp on the corners against Salcido, which gave Indy a new 3-2 lead. This time the Coons didn’t answer any time soon; when Salcido was hit for to begin the bottom 7th, he was still on the hook for the 3-2 score. Suzuki, Pucks, and Perez made three shockingly weak outs on the infield to keep him right there. Flores and Hitchcock kept the Indians from scoring in the eighth, even though Rios led off with a single to left, and instead Waters opened the bottom 8th with a double in the right-center gap. Maybe now, Honeypaws! Maybe now! Ramsay singled, moving Waters to third base, and Crum singled to center, scoring him to get the team even, but that was it; Crispin slashed a ball into a 6-4-3 double play, and that was the inning. A pinch-hit homer by Josh Hare off Hitchcock reclaimed the lead for the Indians for a fourth time in the game, and now we carted up the sorry excuse of a bottom of the order in the bottom 9th against righty David Williams. Pinch-hitters were washed forth from the bench, thusly. Blackshire made no measurable impact, but Chris Gowin at least singled. Suzuki was still batting ninth, but popped out. Pucks was up with the Coons down to their last out – and Williams failed to log it. He hung a 69mph curveball for a 2-1 pitch, and Alan Puckeridge was so confused he almost forgot to whack it 370 feet for a walkoff homer…!! 5-4 Coons!! Puckeridge 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4, 2B; Ramsay 2-4, RBI; Gowin (PH) 1-1; Salcido 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K and 2-2;

Game 3
IND: LF R. White – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – CF C. Morris – 1B Alex Ramos – C Payne – SS Ed. Ortiz – P En. Ortiz
POR: RF Puckeridge – CF Perez – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – C Gowin – SS Knight – P Taki

Taki continued a trend of shaky early innings, giving up two hits, but at least no runs, in the first inning. The first runs in the game were courtesy of a 2-run homer to right by Ed Crispin in the second inning, with Ken Crum having drawn a leadoff walk ahead of him. Two innings later, another leadoff walk, this time to Ramsay, made Crispin pounce again when he hit an RBI single to center. 3-0, and all runs driven in by Crispin.

When Rusty White ran into a bad pitch by Taki and homered to right for two runs, Crispin had surrender that belt in the fifth inning; it also narrowed the score to 3-2, since Edwin Ortiz had also been on base, and the Arrowheads were out-hitting the Coons at that point, 6-3. The Coons tacked on a run with a leadoff jack by Crum in the sixth, only for White to strike an RBI single with two outs in the seventh, plating Ortiz again.

Like all Coons starters this week so far, Taki was hit for to begin the bottom 7th, but the inning led nowhere nice, nor did the top of the eighth. Cornejo struck Quinteros with a fastball, then threw away a pickoff attempt while pitching to Chris Morris, who singled home the tying run with two outs. Alex Ramos struck out, leaving the score even at four in the middle of the eighth inning. Well, Ed Crispin to the rescue! He batted against lefty Bill McMichael with one gone in the bottom 8th, and Waters and Crum on the corners. Waters had opened the inning with a single, had stolen second, and had advanced on Ramsay’s groundout, while Crum had been walked intentionally. Crispin hit the first pitch to left, Ortiz dove and missed it, and the resulting single put the Coons ahead again…! Gowin dutifully and immediately grounded into a double play then, giving the 5-4 lead to Kevin Daley, who struck out three Indians to put the game away, give or take an intermediate error by Waters on an Ortiz grounder. 5-4 Furballs. Crum 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Crispin 3-4, HR, 4 RBI;

Raccoons (57-38) @ Bayhawks (30-65) – July 25-27, 2053

The Baybirds were last in runs scored, next-to-last in runs allowed, had a ghastly -132 run differential, the worst rotation, the second-worst defense, nary a player you’d know by name, and the Coons had swept them in the first series between the two teams this year. This was somehow stinking – remember, boys! Nothing good ever happens by the Bay!

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (7-4, 2.45 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (2-14, 6.08 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (4-2, 4.11 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (2-4, 7.26 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-4, 3.65 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (2-13, 4.07 ERA)

Two southpaws following the right-handed Koga; him and de Anda had been pretty good pitchers for a while, and their collapse had been abrupt and sudden, and in Koga’s case (he was 29) also early. They were also burning almost $5M a year on former Dallas pitcher Tony Martinez, or about $2.5M per win.

I tell you, boys! This stinks! Something’s off here. In fact, his stinks worse than the fish sandwiches Mama Knight makes Matty every morning!

(Matt Knights’ sandwiches spontaneously flaps its tail)

Game 1
POR: RF Puckeridge – CF Perez – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – C Raczka – SS Knight – P Wheatley
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – LF G. Cabrera – RF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – C J. Ortiz – SS Peltier – CF Cramer – 3B Al. Diaz – P Koga

As expected, the Raccoons did next to nothing against the routinely pushed over Koga in the early innings, while the Baybirds whacked Wheatley around for five hits and three runs, two of which were earned because of course Pucks had to drop a fly ball for an error as well. Both the second and third inning began with a pair of singles for San Francisco, and they scored two in the former and one in the latter.

The Coons didn’t get the tying run to the plate until the sixth inning, having just two ******* hits off Koga in the first five innings. Pucks opened the sixth with a single, but was forced out by Perez. Waters legged out an infield roller for another single then. Also, Ramsay pounded the ball into a double play to kill the inning right after that. The tying run was at the dish again with Crispin and Raczka on the corners and one out in the seventh. That brought up Matt Knight, which was never a good sign if you were hoping for offense, but he banged the first pitch over the head of Brent Cramer in center for an RBI double, getting the team on the damn board and putting the tying runs into scoring position. While Wheats had some gas left in the tank, the Raccoons had to bat for him here; Suzuki grounded out to third base for him, pinning the runners, while Pucks walked in a full count, presenting Perez with stuffed bases. He singled to center, Raczka scored, and Knight was sent, but thrown out by Cramer, killing the inning, and giving me fits. Cornejo and Sencion held the Bayhawks away from the bases in the seventh and eighth innings, while Koga went eight with the lead. Patrick Jones, a righty with a 5.13 ERA, got the ball for the ninth inning. Gowin singled in place of Raczka, but that was it for the Raccoons, who dropped their first game at the ******* Bay of Horrors. 3-2 Bayhawks. Knight 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Wheats’ day only got worse. Thinking about drowning himself in the Bay, he unluckily chose the exact spot where I usually went after the usual soul-scorching loss in this stupid place, which thus was, whenever the Coons were in town, patrolled by several SFPD officers, paramedics, and a priest.

I liked the priest, Joe. He was Irish and knew a few dirty rhymes.

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Blackshire – RF Lopez – SS Knight – P Brobeck
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – LF G. Cabrera – RF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – C J. Ortiz – SS Peltier – CF Cramer – 3B Al. Diaz – P de Anda

The Coons had the bags full in the second, when Brobeck then flew out to Danny Munn to strand them all, and again in the third inning, then with Waters, Pucks, and Gowin reaching in order on a single, Adam Peltier error, and a walk. De Anda balked home a run, and Crum “singled” one in when a ball went inches past Peltier’s glove, who really could have reached a bit more for it, not that I was complaining. Ramsay slapped a clean RBI single to center, but Blackshire found a double play, 6-4-3. De Anda walked Tony Lopez, then gave up an RBI double to Knight in left-center. Brobeck ended the second straight inning, this time with a fly out to Gil Cabrera, but at least he now did so with a 4-0 lead on the board. Munn robbed Pucks of a homer and was robbed of a homer by Crum, all in the fourth inning, and by the fifth, Brobeck was batting with three on and two outs again. He grounded out to Alonzo Diaz, which was a staggering amount of non-hitting for the best-hitting pitcher since Jonny Toner on the roster.

Instead the Baybirds hit four straight singles between Jorge Ortiz, Peltier, Cramer, and Diaz in the bottom 5th and scored three runs off Brobeck, narrowing the score to 4-3 again, after Brobeck had started the game with four scoreless innings. The Coons loaded them up against Cody Lovett in the seventh then, Knight coming up with one out and some runs direly needed to make my paws stop shaking. Lovett nailed Knight, which in this case I’d approve of, extending the score to 5-3 again. Brobeck now batted AGAIN with the bases loaded, struck out, and broke his bat over his leg before slamming the remains on the ground as he walked back to the dugout. Waters bailed him out with a bases-clearing double to right, giving the Coons their second 4-spot of the day, before being stranded by Pucks’ foul pop. They were also the final runs in the game; Brobeck went eight innings with only that regrettable string in the fifth inning soiling his line, and Vic Flores struck out the 3-4-5 batters in the ninth. 8-3 Raccoons. Waters 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Crum 2-5, RBI; Ramsay 3-4, BB, RBI; Blackshire 2-3, 2 BB; Knight 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brobeck 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-2);

Well, give or take 11 left on base.

For Brobeck. He left *more* runners on base as the team did as a whole (10). And he’s still batting .320.

Baseball is weird and makes no sense.

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons made a minor trade on Sunday morning, dealing former second-rounder and AAA 1B Scott DiPiazza, who was 26 years old and had St. Pete his home for four years now, to the Wolves for right-handed Venezuelan swingman Valentino Prada (1-3, 3.51 ERA), also 26 years old.

Prada had only one start among his 121 big-league appearances, but had three working pitches on paper and would surely cause further clutter in our clumsy attempts to sort out the back end of the rotation.

Since Prada did not arrive rested, having thrown 62 pitches in three outings across the last four days, he was not activated for the Sunday game. He’d only make the roster for the Vegas series starting on Tuesday.

Raccoons (57-38) @ Bayhawks (30-65) – July 25-27, 2053

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Blackshire – RF Lopez – 2B Boese – P Salcido
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – LF G. Cabrera – RF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – C J. Ortiz – SS Peltier – CF Cramer – 3B Al. Diaz – P T. Martinez

The Coons went double, single, RBI double to begin the game, then farted three times and stranded two in scoring position, which bit us in the rear by the third inning at the latest, when Salcido walked Diaz and then gave up a score-flipping 2-run homer to Armando Montoya for the first Baybirds hit in the game. The Raccoons did precious little in between Gowin doubling home the game’s first run and homering the game tied in the sixth, but I don’t want to skip completely over Naughty Joe’s double to left in the fifth inning, which unfortunately came with nobody on base and found no support from anybody batting after him. And we definitely shouldn’t skip over Tony Lopez’ 2-out, 3-run homer to left in that sixth inning, because with Tony Lopez you never know when his last good knock will be before I splatter a big fat hole into his chest with the blunderbuss. Tony Martinez nicked Ken Crum, allowed a single to Ramsay, and then had a changeup murdered for 390 feet and a 5-2 Coons lead, plus an early ticket for the showers.

It only got worse from here, with Matt Waters doubling to right in the seventh inning, then doing enough stretches at second base and shaking his head to attract the attention of Dr. Padilla. I sighed even before the two left the field together. Crispin would run for him and play third base from here on, with Dave Blackshire going over to short. Crispin was stranded.

Salcido went seven and a third on 108 pitches before yielding against Munn and Witherspoon. Sencion sat down the former, but Witherspoon singled to center. Switch-hitter Jorge Ortiz flew out to Crum, ending the inning. Daley did the ninth without allowing any more panic. 5-2 Raccoons. Waters 2-4, 2 2B; Perez (PH) 1-1; Gowin 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-4; Boese 2-4, 2B; Salcido 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (8-4);

In other news

July 22 – NYC RF/LF Mike Bednarz (.258, 3 HR, 22 RBI), who was inches away from having his business card printed with the subscript “former ABL player” last year, collects three hits, a homer, and five RBI in a 15-3 drubbing of the Loggers. Bednarz, 29, did not play in the majors in 2052, but at all three minor league levels instead.
July 23 – The Miners pick up SP J.J. Hendrix (9-6, 3.60 ERA) from the Capitals, while INF/RF/CF Jimmy Reed (.273, 3 HR, 11 RBI) and a prospect go to Washington.
July 23 – The Capitals beat the Rebels, 13-12, despite blowing an 11-1 lead they hold in the middle of the sixth inning, collapsing on all fronts for 11 runs (five earned) from the bottom 6th through bottom 8th before rallying and winning the game in the ninth after all. Washington’s Jason Monson (.217, 3 HR, 14 RBI) leads all players involved with five RBI on three base hits, all for extra bases.
July 24 – DEN 3B/2B Ronnie Thompson (.259, 0 HR, 29 RBI) will miss a month with an intercostal strain.
July 24 – The Thunder accept 3B Mike Crenshaw (.273, 1 HR, 5 RBI), thoroughly unwanted in Dallas, for a minor league catcher.
July 25 – The Indians acquire left-hander SP Carlos Malla (7-9, 3.40 ERA) from the Stars for a bundle of four prospects.
July 26 – Las Vegas acquires OF Dustin Ransford (.291, 4 HR, 31 RBI) from the Condors for a pair of prospects: #21 C Tyler May, and #120 1B Felix Martinez.
July 26 – OCT SP David Barel (14-6, 2.30 ERA) 2-hits the Loggers in a 6-0 shutout, striking out seven.
July 26 – MIL SP John Morrill (5-7, 3.82 ERA) would miss the rest of the season to have bone chips removed from his elbow.
July 26 – Falcons C/1B Kevin Weese (.308, 2 HR, 41 RBI) would miss a month with a strained rib cage muscle.

FL Player of the Week: PIT RF/LF/1B Diego Mayorga (.342, 10 HR, 33 RBI), batting .600 (6-10) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC RF/LF Mike Bednarz (.284, 4 HR, 26 RBI), slapping .480 (12-25) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Matt Waters was diagnosed with a sore back and would be out for a few days while Dr. Padilla reassembles his spinal column. (points at oddly shaped bone lying on the ground) Didn’t you forget that one, Dr. Padilla? Looks like a lumbar vertebra. – Why’s your ashtray shaped like a lumbar vertebra??

So we’re now without our entire starting infield, at least for the next few games, and will be playing a guy short.

We have also somehow managed to fail our way into first place on Sunday, when the Knights beat the Crusaders, 6-1, to allow us to sneak through.

The Coons tried to trade for Carlos Malla, but couldn’t put the prospect bundle together that the Stars wanted. The Coons also thought about trading for John Morrill, but luckily didn’t before his elbow blew out.

The prospects thing is the real bother here. We don’t have enough that carry any weight and value with other teams. Teams always ask for Trent Brassfield, but apart from that everybody wants Pucks or Taki, which are obvious non-starters. It doesn’t look like we’ll put a division-winning trade together. The fresh meat currency just isn’t there, not even for a #5 starter.

Prada of course doesn’t really fit the description of a fifth starter – at least on a team that is on the verge of leading their division. He’ll probably not do much better than Alfaro. Not that we’re not gonna try and piss away a few games in August with him…

We go by Vegas on the way home, but will only host the Condors on the next weekend before making a pointless trip to Charlotte right the Monday after. That Falcons series will be the only time the Coons venture out of Oregon in August, with only six road games on the schedule, and three of those are down in Salem.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons spent $531k on six players in this year’s International Free Agent window.

Three pitchers and three position players, that is. Javier Simo is a Mexican lefty with four interesting pitches, but he lacks velocity and might be more of a finesse pitcher. He signed for $170k. For $130k we signed the six-pitch arsenal of right-handed Bonairean Jeroen Barelds, who somehow falls into the same finesse category, it seems. The third and final six-figure addition was 2B/LF Bernie Ortega for $112k; he has decent range, but a weak throwing arm, so will probably remain at second base. The 17-year-old Dominican bats right-handed, with a good eye and decent speed.

Furthermore, while looking at various Dominican players on the island, Pat Degenhardt also spotted a 17-year-old C/1B Generoso Castillo, who had a surprising amount of pop in his bat for a professional goat herder. The Raccoons managed to sign him for free, and to be honest I am more intrigued by his scouting report than any of those half dozen boys that actually cost us dosh.