[Westheim]

Raccoons (2-4) vs. Bayhawks (3-3) – April 13-15, 2054

The Baybirds had finished last in the South in 2053, but had a decent start to the new year. Scoring 28 and conceding 31 runs in their first six games, they were right around the middle of the league so far. There were some signs of trouble already, though, f.e. a league-worst 8.49 bullpen ERA after a week of play. The Coons had gone 7-2 against the Bayhawks last year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 5.14 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
He Shui (0-1, 18.90 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (0-1, 1.00 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (0-1, 15.00 ERA)

The 33-year-old Martinez would be the first southpaw opponent for Portland this year, and the only one coming up in this series.

Game 1
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – CF M. Brown – LF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – SS Peltier – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 3B Wiener – P Koga
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Cox – C Gowin – P Wheatley

Wheats struck out five the first time through the Bayhawks lineup, but he had also been perfectly fine through six against the Loggers, and then **** had hit the fan. The Coons gave him a 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st with a Venegas walk, Lonzo triple, and Waters single, but things started to fall apart rather quickly. Matt Waters left the game in the third inning with elbow soreness, to be replaced by Dave Blackshire, who immediately opened a defensive black hole on the right side that the Bayhawks hit a pair of singles through in the same inning, Matt Brown and Sam Witherspoon doing the honors. Danny Munn drew a walk in between, and Brown scored on Witherspoon’s ball past Blackshire. Adam Peltier then singled to center, Munn went for home from second base, but was thrown out by Matt Cox, ending the inning with the Coons still up 2-1.

The Raccoons remained stuck on three base hits through five innings, while the Bayhawks got Witherspoon on with a single in the sixth, and then Adam Peltier, former Coons farmhand, homered to left to flip the score to 3-2 San Francisco. Wheats was hit for to begin the bottom 6th, not that the move got the Coons anywhere nice. Pucks hit a single in the seventh, was forced out by Crum, and Ramsay rammed into a double play started by Peltier, whose very presence made me increasingly nauseous. Alfaro kept the Bayhawks in check for two innings, but Bobby Wiener and Matt Brown scratched out an insurance run against Kevin Daley in the ninth inning. Venegas led off the bottom 9th with a single to center, bringing the tying run to bat against righty Patrick Jones. Lonzo hit into a fielder’s choice, but Blackshire found a single to put Pucks into a walkoff position. He flew out to center, Crum found ******* Adam Peltier for a groundout, and the Coons kept losing. 4-2 Bayhawks. Lavorano 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waters 1-1, RBI; Alfaro 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Dr. Padilla reported that Waters might miss several games, up to the weekend, which sucked. Here was a problem with the roster – the middle infield backup was really just Dave Blackshire, and he was not a good middle infielder. There was now also no further middle infielder on the roster and Lonzo couldn’t get a day off.

Game 2
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – CF M. Brown – LF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – SS Peltier – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 3B Waldman – P T. Martinez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Philipps – CF de Lemos – 2B Blackshire – P Shui

To make it brief, Tony Martinez went 3-for-3 with the stick against He Shui, who was not quite as dismal as in his debut, but still sufficiently dismal to warrant boozing. Martinez opened a 4-run riot in the third inning by singling, followed by more singles by Armando Montoya and Matt Brown, who drove in the pitcher for the game’s first run, and then a 3-piece to left for Danny Munn, 4-0. That 4-0 score remained intact through six innings, with the Coons managing as many hits off Martinez as Martinez had against Shui. Martinez then doubled off Shui in the seventh, Brown drove in that runner, too, and Brett Lillis jr. completed the inning. The Coons got a run in the bottom 7th on Chris Gowin’s leadoff double and two productive outs (yey!), and in the eighth got Venegas and Lonzo into scoring position with a pair of singles and a team effort of a bobbled ball for an extra base for the runners. Ken Crum flew out to Jorge Felix on a 3-2 pitch, Venegas went home – and was thrown out for an inning-ending 9-2 double play. Rob Waldman in turn took Jason Terrell deep in the ninth inning, while the visitors’ Cody Lovett walked Pucks and gave up that run on a 2-out triple by Mikio Suzuki, but rung up Blackshire to end the game. 6-2 Bayhawks. Venegas 2-4; Lavorano 2-4; Suzuki (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI;

Eight games in, we had the worst rotation by ERA, the second-most runs allowed, and we had the tied-worst record in the league.

And according to Maud we had Nick Valdes back on line 3, so I had to duck for the nearest bathroom. Arthur Pickett suggested getting an answerphone, but I wondered whether he shouldn’t be worrying about his pitchcraft more.

Game 3
SFB: RF Felix – SS Peltier – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – C J. Ortiz – CF M. Brown – 1B Caban – 3B Waldman – P Ruggiero
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Blackshire – P Pickett

The Coons found themselves behind again in the second inning, when Matt Brown singled, stole second, and scored when Pickett, Sheffield’s finest, had a throw by Ramsay skip by him at first base to allow the runner home on a 2-base error. Blimey! At least the Coons tied it up quickly. Ramsay doubled to left to begin the bottom 2nd, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on Gowin’s groundout.

When Pickett wasn’t missing picks at first, he wasn’t half as bad as the top 3 in the rotation had been – so far 0-6 with an ERA of glob. Pickett whiffed seven through five innings against three base hits, the same amount the Coons got off Ruggiero. That was before the Bayhawks added three more hits in the sixth inning. Munn singled, Jorge Ortiz doubled, and Matt Brown singled home the go-ahead run, all to left or left-center, before Armando Caban grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Pickett got through seven for one more hit by Rob Waldman to lead off the top 7th, from where the Bayhawks hit into two fielder’s choices and grounded out again with Peltier after that, but Portland’s 5-6-7 batters went in order in the bottom 7th and Pickett remained on the hook. Top 8th, Bak struck out two in retiring the 3-4-5 batters in order, and when Pucks hit for him in the bottom 8th, he turned an 0-2 from Ruggiero around for a homer to right, taking Pickett off the cleave with the game tied at two – not that Pickett noticed; after leaving the game he had gone to the loo in the clubhouse and was now stuck there as the bumf had run out.

Daley kept the game tied in the top of the ninth, while Ruggiero was still going on 111 pitches against the meat of the order in the bottom of that inning. He retired them in order, and the game went to extras. Daley, who had gone through the ninth on eight pitches, did the 10th, as well, getting around a leadoff single by Chris Baker with the help of Lonzo, who started a double play on Peltier’s grounder to short. It was then Peltier’s cockup that would give the Coons the winning run at second base with nobody out in the bottom 10th, throwing away Cox’ grounder for two bases behind Patrick Jones. Suzuki was half-heartedly walked, while Blackshire was asked to bunt, and did so very badly, getting Cox forced out at third base. Crispin hit into a fielder’s choice, but Venegas ended the game with a walkoff single to center. 3-2 Raccoons. Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Pickett 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K and 1-2; Daley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (3-6) @ Crusaders (5-3) – April 16-19, 2054

Pickett was eventually rescued and made it to New York with the rest of the team, where the third-place Crusaders awaited for a four-game dance card. They were seventh in runs scored, and third in runs allowed, with a +6 run differential so far. They had won 12 of 19 games against the Coons in 2053, a factoid I was not yet ready to talk more about. Their bench was potentially short to begin the series, with both Oscar Caballero and Raul Sevilla laboring on nagging injuries.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (0-2, 8.44 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (0-1, 13.50 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-2, 4.85 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (0-1, 3.71 ERA)
He Shui (0-2, 10.80 ERA) vs. Jim White (0-0, 1.13 ERA)

Only right-handers again? Where did all the southpaws go…!?

The Coons were of course in with a short bench of their own, with Waters still out for at least the opener. He had gotten an injection into the elbow on Wednesday in Portland, and I got myself an injection at the liquor store opposite the ballpark before that series even began…

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C Philipps – 2B Blackshire – P Brobeck
NYC: CF Kissler – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 2B C. Navarro – LF Foss – P Seiter

The Raccoons loaded the bases in the second inning when Seiter walked Cox and Philipps, and Blackshire snuck a single through the right side, but Brobeck whiffed and Venegas grounded out, and nobody scored. The Coons’ offense was two Lonzo singles and twice Lonzo being caught stealing by Mike Seidman before Crum and Ramsay went to the corners in the top 3rd and Matt Cox powered a homer to left for a 3-0 lead. Brobeck went on to knock Prince Gates out of the game by drilling him right in the funny bone with a fastball. The Crusaders were assured of vengeance, given that Andrew Russ replaced Gates. Russ stole a base right away, but was stranded with two groundouts.

Seiter again issued consecutive walks in the fourth inning, but this time to the 8-9 batters in the Coons’ lineup and to begin the inning. Venegas grounded out, advancing the runners, but Lonzo grounded out to Russ and Ken Crum’s foul pop stranded them right there. By the way, did I mention vengeance earlier? The bottom 4th began with two outs before Chris Navarro singled off Brobeck. Aaron Foss drew a walk. Seiter singled home a run, which was when I started to drink. Brobeck walked Aaron Kissler to fill the bases, then issued three straight bases-loaded, full-count walks to the 2-3-4 batters to find himself 4-3 behind… and yanked from the game. Alfaro replaced him and got Raul Sevilla to fly out to right, ending the ******* inning. Brobeck left with six ******* walks issued, a number also reached by Seiter once he shuffled Pucks to first base at the start of the fifth inning. Pucks stole second, then scored on a pair of groundouts, tying the score at four, with all Portland RBI’s going on Cox’ ledger.

That didn’t last long. Alfaro batted for himself and made the third out after Philipps and Blackshire reached base in the top 5th, then offered two leadoff walks in the bottom 5th and got burned for three runs on three hits by Foss, Mike Bednarz, and Russ, that ******* skunk *********. Aaron Kissler would add two more with a homer off Terrell in the seventh inning, and the Raccoons just kept getting kicked and pummeled: Eloy Sencion gave up another homer to Aaron Foss in the bottom 8th, that one being a solo shot. 10-4 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-5; Philipps 2-3, BB; Blackshire 2-3, BB;

…

Game 2
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Cox – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – 2B Blackshire –
P Taki
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena

Lonzo actually managed to not get thrown out after singling in the first inning, but was also stranded on second base. The Coons took a lead in the top 2nd, though. Gowin and Ramsay went to the corners, and the catcher scored when Ed Crispin snuck a single through between the middle infielders. Blackshire, Taki, and Venegas in that order lined out, struck out, and grounded out, stranding a pair, and there was no further scoring until the fifth inning, when Blackshire and Venegas got on base and Lonzo beat Kissler in left-center for a 2-run double, extending the lead to 3-0. And it wasn’t as if Taki had suddenly found peak form, but at least he kept the bombardment to a minimum. The Crusaders had only one base hit through four innings, although he had also walked a pair, and Blackshire had made an error for some more traffic. Five strikeouts, though. Taki returned to the mound with a 4-0 lead, Pucks having driven in Lonzo in the top 5th, gave up a leadoff single to Kissler, but Foss grounded right at Blackshire and the Coons turned two on that ball. Then Sopena singled. Oh splendid – a 2-out single by a pitcher. Nothing wrong has ever happened after THAT…! Taki walked Ronnie Thompson, Prince Gates, bum elbow or not, singled home a run, and Sanchez walked to fill the bases, and then somehow Danny Rivera grounded out to let Taki go.

Top 6th, Sopena filled the bases with the 6-7-8 batters on two walks surrounding an Ed Crispin hit, but thought he’d get an out from Taki. But Taki slapped the first pitch through the right side for an RBI single, giving himself a 5-1 lead. Only one more run scored on Venegas’ 5-4-3 double play, and Lonzo struck out. Taki gave up a single to Seidman and a homer to Foss in the bottom of the inning to soil his line after all, leaving in a 6-3 game. As if that would stop the meltdown! Bottom 7th, Alfaro got one out from Thompson before nailing poor Prince Gates, who this time stayed in the game. Lillis took over tossing, giving up a double to Omar Sanchez, who tore out a leg and was replaced with Navarro, then got a grounder to Blackshire, which was lobbed past Ramsay for a run-scoring error. JESUS H. CHRIST!! With the tying runs on the corners, the switch-hitting Sevilla struck out before the Coons made a double switch to get Hitchcock on the hill. Cox was out of the game, with Dave de Lemos going into center. Hitchcock struck out Seidman, which was at least ending the damn inning.

Navarro lobbed away Crispin’s grounder for a 2-base error to begin the eighth inning, and were those really the teams that had tied for first place last year? None on the Coons ever managed to advance Crispin, which gave me harder headaches than any booze ever could, but at least Hitchcock had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom 8th. Daley struck out Thompson to begin the bottom 9th, then had Gates tick a single and Navarro scratch out a walk to put the tying runs on base. Ramsay made a nifty pick on a Rivera bouncer, though, fired to second for the out, and the return throw to first base was in time to end the game with a 3-6-3 double play…! 6-4 Coons. Venegas 2-5; Crispin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Blackshire 1-2, 2 BB;

Omar Sanchez, hitting .316 with 6 RBI, was expected to miss at least a week with a hamstring strain, only deepening the Crusaders’ injury woes. They kept him on the roster, where they now had three dinged-up position players, even when Oscar Caballero reported for duty again on Saturday. Same for Matt Waters – after missing four games, he was back on his hindpaws on Saturday. Blackshire remained in the lineup – Lonzo had yet to get a day off after starting all 11 games so far without an off day.

I had also threatened it for a while – but Kyle Brobeck would make his first career start at third base on Saturday.

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Crum – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – SS Blackshire – P Wheatley
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B Russ – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P A. Murillo

Alex Murillo had been acquired only this week by the Crusaders in a trade that sent Mark Haney and a prospect to the Buffaloes. He didn’t allow much in the first two innings, and while Brobeck didn’t immediately kill Wheats on D, Blackshire did, fumbling Caballero’s double play grounder for an error after Prince Gates had opened the bottom 2nd with a single. Foss hit a 1-out RBI single to get New York ahead before Murillo bunted a hard comebacker at Wheats, who took it to third base to start a 1-5-3 double play. The Crusaders went on to chip three singles to load the bags with Thompson, Russ, and Rivera in the bottom 3rd. Gates flew out to right, where Crum fired home, but couldn’t get Thompson, not even close, and then left the game with a bum shoulder. Kissler doubled, Foss walked, the Crusaders put up a 4-spot, and the Raccoons were drowning early again. Wheatley allowed another run in the bottom 5th, that one coming on two singles and a Brobeck error. (bites into his fist)

At the same time the Raccoons had one hit off the occasional reliever Alex Murillo in the first five innings, from which they seamlessly went into pounding the right-hander for a 5-spot in the sixth. Starting with Waters, the first five Raccoons all rapped base hits, plating two and putting three aboard. Brobeck’s groundout scored a run, but Blackshire whiffed. Lonzo batted for Wheatley, singled home a pair, and then was caught stealing again. The Crusaders answered with Bednarz and Sevilla singles to hang a sixth-inning run on Terrell, which Waters clawed back with a homer to left in the seventh, 7-6. Suzuki grounded out, Pucks doubled, and Gowin hit a soft single, but Pucks was stopped at third base with the tying run, where he remained when Neal Hamann got Ramsay to ground out. Terrell, Lillis, and Hitchcock pieced together the seventh and eighth innings on the hound while keeping the Crusaders to a 1-run lead, but the Coons were held away by Eddie Sotelo in the eighth inning before facing Ryan Sullivan in the ninth. Venegas, Waters, and Suzuki struck out in order, ending the game. 7-6 Crusaders. Waters 2-5, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gowin 3-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Ken Crum would miss at least a few days with a sore shoulder now, similar to the Waters deal that we had just gotten through. Ah, the joys of a short bench and a completely braindead rotation…

Game 4
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Shui
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B Russ – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P J. White

The Coons went up 1-0 with a leadoff double by Venegas and two helpful outs from Lonzo and Waters, which was better than nothing, and it became 2-0 in the third inning when Lonzo doubled home de Lemos with two outs. Lonzo, by far the team RBI leader at that point, because baseball tended to be funny like that, got one more in the fifth, again with two outs, singling to left-center to get in Venegas, who had also singled and stolen second base, his first theft as a Critter. There was not much more going on; the Coons had no other base runners than those mentioned through five, while He Shui looked like he had his crap together now. Sevilla had a hit in the first, Thompson had one in the third, but he struck out four in as many shutout innings before being given the extended 3-0 lead. Bottom 5th, Kissler and Foss went to the corners with 1-out singles, and White swung away, but hit into a fielder’s choice. Thompson eeked out a walk, loading the bases, making me queasy, especially with Andrew ******* Russ up, but the dismal stinker flew out easily to de Lemos to end the inning and sink the tying runs.

Lonzo was batting again with two gone in the seventh, but this time with nobody on. He reached with a single anyway, stole second, and was then singled home by Waters, 4-0. Pucks grounded out, but after Shui added another shutout inning, Chris Gowin opened the eighth with a homer to left. Devin Crawford issued a 2-out walk to de Lemos, who was running with Shui batting and scored when Shui buried a double in the left-center gap. Venegas grounded out, giving the ball back to Shui, who entered the bottom 8th on 99 pitches, so a shutout was unlikely. Navarro flew out, but Thompson, while whiffing, ran a long at-bat and Shui was then lifted with 109 pitches and four outs still to go. Bak would get the last four outs for the Coons for an all-Asian combined 5-hit shutout. 6-0 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Shui 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-2) and 1-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

April 13 – MIL SP Jeff Fox (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and MR Tyler Riddle (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Falcons. The Loggers win, 4-0, opposed only by a single by Juan Arreola (.219, 1 HR, 4 RBI).
April 13 – OCT 1B/LF/RF Ryan Cox (.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI) could miss three months with a torn meniscus.
April 13 – Titans INF Adriano Chavez (.214, 0 HR, 2 RBI) could be done with baseball for the year after breaking his kneecap.
April 14 – ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.417, 1 HR, 5 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 4-3 loss to the Crusaders. The 34-year-old goes 4-for-4 with one RBI in the losing effort.
April 15 – The Crusaders trade INF Mark Haney (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to the Buffaloes, along with #73 prospect C Jerry Martinez, for MR Alex Murillo (0-1, 0.00 ERA).
April 16 – DAL 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.313, 0 HR, 2 RBI) might be out for the season after tearing his UCL.
April 17 – Gold Sox closer Mike Lynn (1-0, 1.17 ERA, 4 SV) puts away his 300th game in a 4-1 win over the Warriors. The 36-year-old three-time Reliever of the Year, has saved games for four different teams in his career, going 63-53 with a 2.46 ERA and 877 K in 766 innings.
April 18 – TOP SP Bill Hernandez (1-0, 4.91 ERA) 1-hits the Cyclones in a 4-0 shutout. The lone Cyclones base knock is a single by SS/3B Juan Ojeda (.353, 0 HR, 4 RBI) to begin the ballgame. Hernandez then retires the next 27 batters in order.
April 18 – The Warriors trade 3B/1B Doug Triplett (.278, 1 HR, 2 RBI) to the Miners for 2B/SS Ryan Harris (.297, 0 HR, 2 RBI).
April 19 – The Condors get 3B Mike Crenshaw (.500, 1 HR, 3 RBI) from the Thunder in exchange for OF Ricky Lamotta (.333, 0 HR, 4 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.382, 4 HR, 12 RBI), batting .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.429, 1 HR, 8 RBI), hitting .611 (11-18) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Huh? What? Sorry, I was scouring the waiver wire for a new roster.

The top 3 in the rotation all had three cracks at it, and apart from Taki and Shui in New York now and Wheats for six innings against the Loggers (but not seven…) have been atrocious. 2-7 with a 6.36 ERA in total. Yikes!

Compared to that disaster, the pen has mostly held up, despite being asked to pitch a lot of innings already. Still – most runs allowed in the league, exactly five per game, and it’s mostly on the rotation, which has the worst ERA in the CL, and the defense is wickedly also rated like a snuff movie… how much of that is Waters missing for most of this week? Blackshire just isn’t a second baseman. If he was hitting under .273 I’d have a bit of an excuse to drop him for a proper middle infielder.

What else is going wrong? Crum is probably going to missing all of the following series in Elk City, and Matt Cox, despite a neat 3-run homer this week, so far is Tony Lopez 2.0, which sounds as bad as it is. Pucks and Venegas, and especially Ramsay, are also not clicking yet.

And despite all of that rah-rah about everything wrong with the lineup, we’re at least in third place in runs scored in the CL. It could be worse.

But not by much.

Three more cities on the road: Elk City, Atlanta, Vegas. And that would already be the end of April then.

Fun Fact: Leo Villacorta hit for his second career cycle this week. He had previously done so as a member of the Dallas Stars.

That was all the way back in 2042! This makes Villacorta the player with the farthest-apart individual cycles, at 11 years, 7 months, and 8 days, beating out the previous record of Bruce Boyle, whose two cycles came 10 years, 10 months, and 4 days apart, but with the same team, the 1992 and 2003 Condors.