[Westheim]

Raccoons (29-28) vs. Crusaders (26-30) – June 8-11, 2054

Four games with the New Yorkers in Portland to continue the homestand; the Crusaders made the scoreboard busy, having the highest batting average in the league and scoring the third-most runs, but also having the worst rotation and giving up the third-most runs. It worked out to +5 run differential (Coons: +15), and so far four games split evenly down the middle between these two teams.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Alex Murillo (4-2, 4.98 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-3, 4.64 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (6-4, 3.42 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (3-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-4, 3.93 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 4.48 ERA) vs. Jim White (1-7, 5.17 ERA)

Nothing but right-handers lined up for this set. In fact, neither team had a left-handed starter on the roster.

Game 1
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P Murillo
POR: 3B Venegas – LF Crum – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – 2B Boese – P Shui

The game was scoreless until the third inning when both Anton Venegas got his 10th steal of the year after singling, and Chris Gowin whacked his 10th homer of the season to have the Raccoons take a 2-0 lead. Shui held on to that very well, pitching very sublimely; through five innings he allowed only one base hit, a single to Prince Gates, and struck out nobody, but generated an endless amount of soft contact. The Coons mostly scattered their six hits through four innings, though Ken Crum opened the bottom 5th with a double to right, and by sliding awkwardly into second base, jamming a paw. He came out of the game, to be replaced by Mikio Suzuki (in center, with Pucks to left), who was then left on base with an orgy of poor contact from the brown-clad team.

Enter the sixth, and happy time with Shui was over at one. He walked Aaron Foss, the cursed former Elk, on four pitches to begin the inning, and collapsed from there, allowing singles to Ronnie Thompson and Gates, scoring a run, then walked Omar Sanchez, filling the bags with one out. Danny Rivera struck out in a full count, and Raul Sevilla flew out to Suzuki to strand the triplet of runners, but that had been unnerving. I had to open an entirely new bottle of booze…! Shui wasn’t back for the seventh after that meltdown, and the Coons tried to sneak the seventh inning from the bottom of the order with largely forgettable (or not, depending on how active your nightmares were) Jason Terrell. He walked Mike Seidman to begin the inning, but then got three soft outs from Oscar Caballero, Aaron Kissler, and Chris Navarro to keep the tying run on base. Hyun-soo Bak offered another leadoff walk in the eighth to Thompson, but Gates grounded out against him, and Brett Lillis jr. did the rest of the inning, again leaving the tying run in scoring position. Can we PLEASE get an insurance run going here…!? We actually could, in rather stupid ways. Pucks hit a 1-out double off Tim Abraham in the bottom 8th, and when Naughty Joe hit a pop behind the middle infielders, Sanchez and Thompson called each other off, nobody made a catch, and the ball dance into left-center. Pucks, who had gone quite daringly far towards third base, took his cue and made for home, scoring just ahead of a throw by Oscar Caballero. That was it for insurance – now it was time for Kevin Daley, or whatever the opposite of both in- and as-surance was. He struck out the first two in the ninth and Suzuki caught Caballero’s fly to end the game, but somehow even with the Crusaders packing their **** and heading for the clubhouse I still felt like another meltdown was coming. 3-1 Raccoons. Venegas 2-5; Suzuki 1-1; Gowin 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2B; Boese 2-4, RBI;

Ken Crum would probably have to sit out for a few days and couldn’t properly grab a bat either, so the Coons were a man short. In addition to that, Ramsay, Waters, and Gowin all got the day off on Tuesday after Lonzo had sat on Monday, leading Arthur Pickett to cry out about “treachery”, and that he was surrounded by Lancastrians.

One day, if I’m a good boy, maybe I’ll be able to manage a normal team.

Game 2
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Mills – P Seiter
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Cox – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Pickett

The Coons’ Tuesday lineup indeed resembled a “we’re closed” sign, with only two base hits in five innings. The Crusaders had five of the sort against seven strikeouts for Pickett, with the game’s only run scoring in the fourth inning on a sac fly hit by Oscar Caballero. Well, “only” only as it pertained to five innings. But Pickett gave up three more hits in the sixth inning – singles to Sevilla and Seidman and a double to briefly-Coon Ken Mills – as well as a run. He went six and two thirds before being relieved by Eloy Sencion, but actual support just wasn’t forthcoming, and the Raccoons didn’t reach base in the sixth or seventh innings at all. Turns out, Pickett had ventured out into the open rather carelessly only to find himself surrounded by Crusaders – a bit like Richard, Duke of York.

The 2-0 score survived pitching by Sencion and Prada, but not Terrell. The Rule 5er was obliterated in the ninth inning after filling the bases with walks and a hit batter, then threw two wild pitches, and gave up more runs on base hits, four runs in total. Ben Seiter finished a 4-hit shutout. 6-0 Crusaders. Ramsay (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 2B Russ – C Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – P Brobeck

There was a 40-minute rain delay as soon as the third inning on Wednesday, which was just awesome… The score was 1-1 at that point, with the Crusaders having taken a lead on Aaron Foss’ sac fly after Andrew Russ (snarl!) and Aaron Kissler had hit a pair of singles to go to the corners in the top 2nd, while the Raccoons overcame double plays hit into by Lonzo in the first and Waters in the second to have Suzuki single home Ramsay with two outs in the bottom 2nd after all for the tying run.

When play resumed, the Coons took a lead in the bottom 3rd when Gowin singled home Lonzo from second base, even though Lonzo continued to slump and only forced out Venegas before stealing his 21st base of the season. The Coons found another double play in the fourth, then by Suzuki, but Lonzo hit another single and stole another bag in the fifth, and even scored again, even though it took the bags to fill up with Ramsay getting nicked and Pucks walking, and then with two outs Matt Waters tipping an 0-2 pitch into play with a defensive swing, the high bouncer fooling Sopena, who missed it when he lunged for it, and somehow all paws managed to be safe as a run scored, 3-1. Suzuki then ran a full count, struck out… but Kissler also fumbled the ball and had to chase it down to the backstop, allowing the Coons to shove forwards again for another messy, messy run. Poor cursed Edwin Sopena’s day ended with a clean and proper 2-run single for Ed Crispin, but Brobeck hit another RBI single off Dave Washington, as did Venegas, AND Lonzo, AND Gowin, AND – no Ramsay didn’t hit 2-out RBI single. He hit a 2-out RBI double. The Crusaders moved on to lefty Matt Otte, who got Pucks to pop out after ten straight Raccoons had reached base one wicked way or another for a 9-run inning and an 11-1 lead.

The inning had gone on so long that Brobeck had gone cold and filled the bases with walks in the top of the sixth. He was yanked with one out and Kissler batting, Sencion taking the baseball. Kissler popped out to short, and Foss grounded out to Ramsay to end the inning. The Coons then tried their luck with the miserable Prada again in the seventh inning. The defense pulled him through two innings, ironically while also allowing an unearned run on a throwing error by Venegas in the eighth. Hitchcock pitched a low-leverage ninth inning, but all the low-level pitching had already been used up. 11-2 Furballs! Venegas 3-5, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-4, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2 RBI;

Four of the eight runs on Sopena were unearned.

And now, another four games of scoring only a run and a half per 17 innings.

Game 4
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 2B C. Navarro – LF Foss – P J. White
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Taki

Gates’ single and Sanchez’ triple, plus Danny Rivera’s sac fly to deep center gave us flashbacks to the last few years, when Seisaku Taki had actually been good, but had still constantly found trouble in the first inning. Maybe this was such a start after all – the Raccoons were surely offensively inept, not doing much at all the first time through before stranding pairs of runners in both the fourth and fifth innings without scoring. The Crusaders after the 2-run first didn’t reach scoring position again against Taki until … well, maybe next month? They had another two singles, but no walks and no guy in scoring position all the way through the end of the eighth inning.

The Coons had the bags full then in the bottom 6th as Gowin walked and Ramsay and Cox hit singles off Jim White to present Matt Waters with a full set and one out. Waters popped out on the first pitch, de Lemos grounded out to third base, and that was … (opens a bottle of One Eyed Jack’s) … Taki hit a leadoff single in the seventh, which led precisely nowhere, and it was still a 2-0 game with Taki on 101 pitches when he returned for the top of the order in the ninth. He walked Omar Sanchez with two outs in the inning. Rivera lined out softly to Waters, so Taki had at best a chance for a 3-run-comeback, complete-game W, and at worst a good chance to get a comforting pat on the bum and an “oh well maybe next time”. It was the latter – Ryan Sullivan retired Waters, Crispin, and Pucks in order to end the game. 2-0 Crusaders. Gowin 2-3, BB; Ramsay 2-4; Taki 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (5-5) and 1-3;

(big, doozy sigh)

Raccoons (31-30) vs. Gold Sox (27-34) – June 12-14, 2054

Glory days were over for both teams, it seemed. The Coons (five straight penannts, three rings) and Sox (five straight pennants, four straight rings) had dominated the last decade in the league, but right now were more at the soup-and-a-piece-of-bread level in terms of baseball quality and excitement. The Sox brought up the rear in the FL West, scoring the second-fewest runs in the FL, but also allowing the third-fewest runs. They actually had a +10 run differential, but that was a far cry from earlier years when they’d easily sit at +100 at this point. These teams had also met last year, then with Denver taking two games out of the three contested.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-7, 4.28 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (4-4, 4.17 ERA)
He Shui (5-5, 2.68 ERA) vs. Nick Robinson (3-4, 3.30 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-4, 4.46 ERA) vs. Andrew Clarke (1-2, 12.33 ERA)

Robinson would be the only southpaw coming up this week. The Gold Sox were without Gary Perrone, Chris Jones, and Angel Montes de Oca, at least as far faces were concerned that I could actually pin a name to.

Game 1
DEN: LF Ayres – SS B. Andrews – CF Ramires – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – RF Angulo – 2B Larsen – P Craig
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

Chris Gowin hit a solo home run in the first inning, and Ramsay singled, Cox doubled, and Waters singled – all to left! – in the second inning for another run and runners on the corners with nobody out. Waters stole second, but Pucks grounded out to first baseman Bill Joyner, the runners holding, and then both Wheats and Venegas lined out sharply to Brent Andrews… The Sox had a runner in every inning against Wheatley, until they had three in the fourth and scored a run. He walked Blake Mickle, and singles by Angel Angulo and Shane Larsen cost him a run. Craig – not the former Coon, the former Thunder – popped out, and he hung a K on Vic Ayres to end the inning.

The Coons made two outs in the bottom 4th before Pucks unloaded a long homer to right-center, only his second in this trying season, 3-1. Wheats then landed a double to left, Venegas singled, and Lonzo hit another RBI double to get his pitcher home. Gowin’s groundout to Larsen stranded a pair in scoring position. Leadoff singles by Crum and Ramsay then led to Coons occupying the corners again in the fifth inning. Cox lobbed a ball past Larsen for an RBI single, but the bottom three made three straight outs without plating another run.

So all seemed nice and dandy with a 5-1 lead through six innings, even though the middle innings had all been kinda long for Wheats and he’d probably not pitch past the seventh. He didn’t get through the seventh either, thanks to a soul-bleaching sequence of an infield single for Larsen, his own error that put Arturo Carreno on base, and then a 3-piece to left-center for Ayres that axed the lead to size, 5-4. He got two more outs before the Coons brought on Lillis for Ivan Villa, who struck out on three pitches. On the other side of the stretch, Crum and Ramsay went to the corners again to lead off an inning, this time with two singles off Jim Cushing. Cox grounded to Larsen, who flubbed the throw to first base, and Joyner couldn’t come up with the spiked bouncer, allowing Cox to reach and Crum to score on the error before Waters and Pucks killed another inning with a K and a double play grounder. Lonzo hit into another ******* double play in the eighth, that one erasing Suzuki’s leadoff single. Daley allowed a leadoff single in the ninth (sigh), but struck out two of the next three batters, none of whom reached. 6-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crum 2-2, BB; Ramsay 3-4; Cox 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-7) and 1-3, 2B;

Game 2
DEN: LF Ayres – SS B. Andrews – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – RF Angulo – CF Frederick – 2B Larsen – P N. Robinson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Philipps – CF de Lemos – P Shui

Andrews’ single and Joyner’s homer gave the Sox a 2-0 lead in the third inning after Denver had already stranded three runners in the first two innings. Ayres doubled home Larsen the inning after that, while the Coons had yet to get on base, but Ken Crum’s leadoff jack to left reduced the gap to 3-1 to begin the bottom 4th. Matt Waters found a spot three rows higher up, and on a 1-2 pitch, to creep closer yet, and in fact the Coons got even still in the same inning on singles by renowned sluggers Tyler Philipps and He Shui, the latter driving Philipps home from second with two outs. Jake Frederick’s throw from center allowed Shui to second base, but Venegas whiffed to end the inning.

Shui wasn’t the only pitcher to drive in a run in this game, though. With two outs and nobody on in the sixth, Nick Robinson got him for a home run to right, breaking the 3-3 tie, and an Ayres double and Andrews RBI single even made it 5-3. The Raccoons had to climb the same old stupid hill all over again; Pucks got on base in the sixth, but was doubled off by Philipps, but in the seventh Cox reached on an error and Venegas singled him to third base, then stole second base himself, all with one out. Lonzo faced Cushing and had the tying runs in scoring position, but grounded out to Ivan Villa, and Gowin popped out to Larsen. Nobody scored…

The pitcher was in the #6 spot for the Coons by the late innings, and Crispin drew a 2-out walk there off Kellen Lanning in the bottom 8th. Ramsay then batted for Philipps, but grounded out to Larsen. Instead, a leadoff triple by Joyner off Terrell led to an extra Denver run in the ninth inning. Dave de Lemos had another leadoff single off Mike Lynn in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Cox whiffed and Venegas grounded into a double play to end the game. 6-3 Gold Sox. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Crum 2-4, HR, RBI;

So that was another series loss. Because have you seen the punching bag they’re sending up for the rubber game? The Coons never hit punching bags. They gift them bouquets of roses…

(looks at Lonzo, who has just bitten the blossom off a rose, and looks back, munching)

Game 3
DEN: LF Ayres – RF Angulo – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – SS Serna – CF Frederick – 2B Larsen – P Clarke
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – P Pickett

So of course Clarke was perfect the first time through the Coons’ order, while Larsen singled home a pair in the second inning to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Ramsay hit a single in the fourth to stave off the looming perfect game, and while Pucks and Philipps reached the corners on a walk and a single in the fifth inning, that only left Pickett to poke and he poked into an easy third out at Villa’s corner. Clarke, that piece of ****, had a 2-hitter going through six, then singled home a run off Pickett in the seventh when Jake Frederick found his way to second base for a 3-0 score.

The tying run was at the dish in the bottom 7th, which was surely going to be one of those pro forma situations; Cox walked, Waters singled and Pucks had the chance with one out. He sure tried to hit into a double play to Larsen, but the ball hit off the edge from infield grass to dirt and bounced under Larsen’s glove for a single, loading the bases with runners that were just as confused as Larsen. Ed Crispin batted for Philipps, signalling that it was go time now. He hit a sac fly, which didn’t help much at all, while Chris Gowin then grounded out to third base. The Coons got the last two innings from the shallow end of the gene pool – Prada and Terrell – with Clarke getting hit for in the top 9th against the latter. It was still 3-1 in the bottom 9th against Lynn, who just seemed to be one and it was all for nothing. Cox walked, Waters hit into a double play, and the Coons lost to a guy with an ERA higher than Mount Hood. 3-1 Gold Sox. Puckeridge 1-2, BB; Pickett 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (4-5);

In other news

June 9 – The Falcons’ SP Art Schaeffer (5-6, 4.34 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against the Condors, claiming a 9-0 win.
June 9 – A torn labrum ends the season of WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (6-2, 1.79 ERA), the 2053 FL Pitcher of the Year.
June 9 – ATL SP Carlos Malla (4-4, 5.23 ERA) could also be out for the rest of the year after suffering a torn rotator cuff.
June 10 – SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.274, 7 HR, 36 RBI), has four hits, three of them home runs, and four RBI in an 8-7 win over the Stars.
June 10 – Vancouver SP Hyuma Hitomi (2-4, 4.06 ERA) squeezes out the Indians in a 1-0 shutout, allowing three hits against three strikeouts.
June 11 – The Gold Sox rally for six runs in the ninth inning to stave off defeat against the Warriors, claiming an 8-6 win instead. DEN INF Brent Andrews (.349, 4 HR, 18 RBI) hits a grand slam as part of the huge rally.
June 13 – The Aces acquire 33-yr old INF/RF/LF Eric Miller (.256, 9 HR, 37 RBI) from the Cyclones in exchange for catcher Bobby Ortega (.183, 0 HR, 3 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.278, 9 HR, 42 RBI), batting .355 (11-31) with 5 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Jon Alade (.264, 10 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .414 (12-29) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

… lost to a guy with an ERA higher than Mount Hood AGAIN.

It’s now mid-June – the draft is on Monday – and Lonzo still leads the team in RBI. Narrowly! But still. He also leads the league in stolen bases, while Chris Gowin leads the batting title race, is third in homers, and nowhere near the lead in RBI.

I don’t know whether there is a savvy trade that can swing this misery around at all or whether we just have to sit that one out.

At least Raffy’s rehab starts in St. Pete are becoming progressively less ****:
1.0 IP, 7 ER
5.2 IP, 4 ER
6.2 IP, 4 ER
6.0 IP, 2 ER
7.0 IP, 0 ER
He will make one more rehab start next week and then his 30 days are up and he has to come onto the roster.

The Raccoons will be on the road next week. After an off day on Monday, we’ll visit Nashville and Indianapolis for six games.

Fun Fact: Jay Gunderson has a 1.73 ERA to lead the CL by more than a full run.

He’s also undefeated, and by the way, he’s 29 and the nine starts (13 appearances) he has made this season are the first nine starts he’s made in four years with the Thunder. He previously started 17 games with the 2050 Wolves. For his career he’s – for a righty reliever – a decidedly mediocre 19-13 with 3.81 ERA and 3 SV in 152 games (26 starts) and 349.1 innings.

He is also wearing #80 and he was a waiver claim in January of 2051, so there are a lot of “that’s unlikely” remarks to his player history.