[Westheim]

The Raccoons got rid of some minor leaguers that weren’t panning out after the draft on Monday, which included some former draft picks, too. Gone were left-handed reliever Craig Neal (2051, 8th Round), and various position players, including 2B/LF Tyler Colley (2049, 8th Round), 3B/SS Amari Williams (2049, 6th Round), SS Josh Hamilton (2052, 13th Round), OF/1B David Chasse (2052, 8th Round), and also 2051 second-rounder (!) Josh Vasilakos. The outfielder had never made it out of single-A in three years of trying, and had never hit for more than a .239 average or .641 OPS there.

…but especially gone were a pair of 28-year-old outfielders from AAA, neither of them hitting even .200 with the Alley Cats this year, and neither of them having had much success in various stints with the big league team. It had only been four games for Eddy Veloz (.111, 0 HR, 0 RBI), but Oscar Rivera had collected 279 PA across three seasons, batting .225 with 9 HR, 35 RBI. The homers were nice, but they weren’t enough to make him relevant.

Raccoons (32-32) @ Blue Sox (25-38) – June 16-18, 2054

Over in Nashville, the Blue Sox were having troubles scoring… well… they were scoring 4.2 runs per game, but that was the second-worst mark in the Federal League. By comparison, the Coons were 7th in the CL with just over 4.3 runs per game. The Blue Sox were ninth in runs allowed, and the Coons had taken two of three games when these teams had met last season.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (5-5, 4.20 ERA) vs. Travis Baker (3-6, 4.55 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. Felix Alvarez (4-6, 4.07 ERA)
He Shui (5-6, 3.04 ERA) vs. Rafael Mendoza (2-6, 5.26 ERA)

The Raccoons skipped Brobeck on the off day on Monday, and on Tuesday would face the Sox’ only left-hander, Travis Baker. Brobeck was in the lineup for that occasion, however.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – 3B Brobeck – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Taki
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P T. Baker

Both teams went through the order once in just two innings, but frantically stranded three runners each before Venegas hit a single to begin the third inning and stole second base. He was singled home by Lonzo for the game’s first run, but Lonzo was then left on second base. Craig Sayre hit his way to second base with a double in the bottom 3rd, stole third base, but was stranded there with a pop to Waters from Alejandro Ramos, and a fly to de Lemos by Jose Cantu. Dave de Lemos also robbed Mike Pfeifer of a drive to deep center in the fourth inning, but the Blue Sox finally clawed their way back into a tie in the fifth inning. Sayre reached base, stole second base this time, and was singled home by Ramos to get even on Taki.

A home run to left by Ken Crum, a Brobeck triple (!) and Ryan Cox legging out a 2-out infield roller for an RBI single gave the Coons a 3-1 lead, but there had been just way too much traffic on Taki, who had needed 95 pitches through five frames, and then saw Nick Nye reach on an infield single to begin the bottom 6th, then walked Pfeifer in a full count. The Coons went to Hitchcock with the tying runs on base, and Hitchcock eviscerated the bottom of the order to suffocate those tying runs.

Four outs from Eloy Sencion followed before the ball went to Valentino Prada, which was bold to begin with. Prada surrendered three singles on seven pitches, retired nobody, and when he went to the clubhouse found all his worldly belongings stuffed into the nearest trash bin and a note by me on the locker advising him to get the **** out. The Raccoons went to Bak with the bases teeming in a 3-1 game, and he got the Coons out with a lead, surrendering one run but striking out Edwin Flores to get the Coons out of the damn inning. The Raccoons would not tack on a run in the ninth despite singles by Cox and de Lemos, then handed the ball to Daley against the 2-3-4 batters. Sayre grounded out to Waters. Ramos struck out. Cantu hit a fly to deep right and … nah, Cox had that one under control. 3-2 Raccoons. Brobeck 2-4, 3B; Cox 2-4, RBI;

Valentino Prada (0-0, 5.40 ERA) ended up on waivers, as if anybody would take him. The Coons would have a look at the #8 pick from 2051, left-hander Matt Walters, who sadly hadn’t panned out as a starter, and had made 21 relief appearances in AAA so far. He had a 4.50 ERA, but also a .404 BABIP. He was striking out 12.3 per nine innings. That gave us three left-handers in the pen, but I was willing to have him see some big-league righties with those numbers. That curveball was a real bender!

As a sign that Prada wasn’t gonna be back, his number #24 went to Walters straightaway. He did however not arrive rested and would not make his debut until Thursday at the earliest.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P F. Alvarez

Sayre singled, stole another base, and scored on Nick Nye’s single with two outs in the first, putting Wheats in a 1-0 hole, but the Coons would counter their game in the third inning, getting two guys on, two steals, and two runs. Pucks and Lonzo did the stealing; the latter singled home the former, and then was himself singled in by Chris Gowin. Ramsay then hit a double in the gap, but Gowin had to be stopped at third base, and Ken Crum grounded out rather harmlessly to end the inning. Not that Nashville didn’t answer: Edwin Flores hit a leadoff single off Wheats in the bottom 3rd, stole second, and was singled in by Sayre, who then was finally caught stealing.

Matt Cox’ leadoff jack in the fourth put the Raccoons on top again, 3-2, but Pfeifer answered with a leadoff single in the home half of the inning and then took off for second. Gowin threw him out, too, just ahead of a Tyler Lundberg homer that tied the game, but didn’t give the Sox the lead now. Cox struck out after the 3-4-5 batters all hit 2-out singles to load the bases in the top 5th, and that was probably bad news for Wheats, who looked like it was April all over again and didn’t fool anybody, really. Through five innings, he held a 3-3 tie, barely, but struck out only two batters, and that included Alvarez once (the other being Cantu).

Alvarez struck Matt Waters with a 2-2 pitch to begin the sixth inning. Pucks flew out, but when Wheats bunted his way to two strikes himself, Waters took off on the next pitch, which Wheats ticked through the left side for a single, sending Waters to third base with the go-ahead run. Alvarez and Venegas went the distance in their encounter, ending with ball four and the bases loaded. Lonzo stopped slumping for a second, slung a 1-2 pitch over Nye’s glove for an RBI single, and the Coons were in front, 4-3. Gowin added a run with a sac fly, but Ramsay flew out easily to Pfeifer to leave two on. Wheats went back to the hill, but Nye singled and Lundberg walked with one out, which ended his day. Hyun-soo Bak took over, ran a full count with ex-Coon Travis Malkus, who swung under a 3-2 pitch with the runners going for it. Gowin zinged the ball to second base and threw out Lundberg, the third CS on the BS this game, also ending the inning and closing Wheats’ ledger before it could get even nastier. Bak also offered the seventh inning, and Lillis handled the eighth, still holding on to that 5-3 lead. Ken Crum hit a double that led nowhere to begin the seventh inning, then drew a leadoff walk in the ninth against Dusty Gaddy. Since the Sox were running with reckless abandon, Crum also went and stole second base, his first theft of the season. Three straight outs from the 6-7-8 batters wasted him in scoring position for the second straight time. At least Daley put the Sox away on three groundouts… 5-3 Critters. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-5, 2B; Crum 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Bak 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

The Blue Sox tapped Marcus Wilkins (4-4, 6.28 ERA) for the series finale, which still put us up against a right-hander.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Shui
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P Wilkins

There was a lot of loud contact against Wilkins the first time through the Coons’ order, but only two hits and only one run; Ramsay got a leadoff triple to fall into deep left-center in the second inning, then scored on Crum’s deep out to Edwin Flores that followed right afterwards. Ramsay then whacked a leadoff double in the fourth inning, putting him officially on cycle watch, but was also depressingly stranded by the next three batters… Meanwhile, He Shui was doing well until Waters threw away Sayre’s grounder to begin the bottom 4th. Alejandro Ramos doubled right away, and while Cantu whiffed, Nick Nye’s single and Mike Pfeifer’s groundout flipped the score around to 2-1 Nashville before the inning ended with Lundberg popping out to Lonzo.

Cycle watch got a bit more pointless in the sixth, when Ramsay popped out to Malkus, and with the Coons not on a pace to get him back to the plate twice in regulation and/or make up a 2-1 deficit in the first place. It was the eighth inning when the Coons reached scoring position again, and then it took a throwing error by Cantu as Venegas tried to steal second base after a 1-out single to right-center had put him on base with the tying run. Lonzo grounded out poorly in front of home plate, and Gowin popped out to Lundberg, and the ******* tying run was left stranded the **** again. Shui pitched through eight innings without allowing an earned run, but Tommy Gardner got grounders to second baseman John Webler from Ramsay and Crum before Cox flew out to center to hang an L on him. 2-1 Blue Sox. Venegas 2-4; Ramsay 2-4, 3B, 2B; Shui 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (5-7);

Raccoons (34-33) @ Indians (26-39) – June 19-21, 2054

The Indians were another team that couldn’t score, sitting second from the bottom in markers on the board in our league, and eighth in runs allowed. -45 run differential, and the Coons had swept them in the only 4-game set played so far this year. Tan Brink and Mario Ceballos were two notable injuries for them. And while you could never ignore Bill Quinteros (.336, 10 HR, 37 RBI) and Bobby Anderson (.320, 9 HR, 33 RBI) in the middle of that lineup, the rest of their hitters was extremely shambolic. Jose Garza was third among qualifiers on their roster with a batting average of *.220*!

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (4-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. James Powell (4-5, 4.72 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. Jimmy Charles (2-5, 3.62 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 4.07 ERA) vs. Pete Becker (0-2, 4.54 ERA)

Only right-handed starters for Indy right now.

The Coons slotted Brobeck in ahead of Pickett for this series, which put him in sync with Raffy, who would make his final rehab outing in St. Pete on Friday, and then would have to find a roster spot somewhere. Now, Brobeck wasn’t even pitching badly, but the question was where he’d fit on the roster if he wasn’t in the rotation. I wasn’t hot on our cavalcade of third basemen becoming even more pompous, but also didn’t want to get rid of Crispin.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – P Brobeck
IND: CF French – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – 1B Ed. Ortiz – SS Clover – P Powell

Venegas single, Lonzo single, double steal, two in scoring position with no outs, and then ****** groundout, ****** groundout, ****** groundout. No runs scored. In the second, Waters walked and Suzuki singled, and those runners would also be stranded in scoring position after a K on Philipps, and groundouts for Brobeck and Venegas. The bags filled up with two outs in the fourth, as Philipps walked, and Brobeck and Venegas hit soft singles. Lonzo’s grounder ended up with Bobby Anderson. With one runner stranded in the third, the Coons had left EIGHT on base in just four innings, scoring ******** nothing, which at least matched the Indians’ experience in the bottom halves of innings, although they were a lot less obnoxious about it, getting four singles off Brobeck, and hitting into a double play while Chase Clover got himself caught stealing.

The Raccoons stopped getting on base at all in the fifth and sixth, while Brobeck didn’t allow another runner until Bobby French hit a 1-out single in the bottom 6th. He stole second, and then scored on Jose Garza’s single to center. Quinteros grounded out, but Bobby Anderson whacked a 2-run homer, and that was the ******* ballgame. Although – Matt Waters doubled with two outs in the eighth, and Powell remained in to face Mikio Suzuki, because nothing bad had ever happened by somebody pitching to Mikio Suzuki. So of course Mikio Suzuki hit a homer to right, narrowing the score to 3-2. Philipps flew out, and then Matt Walters made his debut against the left-handed top of the order in the bottom 8th. They went in order on a fly to Crum and two groundouts. Top 9th, Caleb Martin retired Crispin and Pucks, then left with an injury. The ball went to righty Rich Knowles to face Lonzo, Lonzo flew out to French, and I was fuming. 3-2 Indians. Venegas 2-4; Suzuki 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Raffy’s last rehab start was cruddy, 5.1 innings and four runs, but there’s nowhere to go for him now, and he has to go back on the roster by tonight…

No clue how to make that work yet.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – 2B Boese – P Pickett
IND: CF French – 1B N. Fernandez – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF D. Diaz – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Charles

Stealing bases remained a failsafe way for the Raccoons to not score; Lonzo stole his 26th in the first inning and was left stranded. Ed Crispin scooped his fourth of the year the frame after and was also left on base. The Racconos scratched out one run in the third inning when Crum walked, Lonzo doubled, and Gowin’s groundout barely got the lead runner home, but then Ramsay grounded out to leave Lonzo stranded at third base again. Pickett had the Indians shut out on two hits through five innings, but the whole thing felt a bit like Queen Anne’s attempts to produce an heir to the throne. Numerous attempts, little if any success – except for Prince William, Duke of Gloucester! Pickett hit a single for himself in the fifth inning, but, oh bother, Prince Williams had hydrocephalus, and that runner didn’t make it either, as Ken Crum slapped one into an inning-ending double play.

The sixth finally brought another run, and even after Lonzo hit a leadoff single past Antonio Rios, stole second base, and came around on Gowin’s grounder and Ramsay’s sac fly to Bobby French, 2-0. The Indians didn’t take kindly to this, and in the bottom 6th Pickett soon felt like Harold Godwinson, getting beaten hard by one contender after another. The Indians scored one run on Ortiz and French doubles for a taste of Stamford Bridge, then went all Hastings on Pickett, flipping the score on Nick Fernandez’ home run to left and then even got a triple from Bobby Anderson before the inning was over, although he was stranded when Manny Poindexter flew out to Crum, keeping the score at 3-2. Pickett, taking an arrow to the eye, wasn’t seen again after that inning.

Lonzo went to 4-for-4 with a leadoff single in the eighth. That put the tying run on base, but was it gonna be more successful than the last couple Jacobite risings? Gowin flew out, Ramsay flew out, and Lonzo didn’t get a jump this time, so when Pucks finally singled with two outs, he only reached third base. The Indians brought righty Chris Edwards for Charles at this point, and the Raccoons’ rally met their end at Culloden; the French showed up this time… but only in form of Bobby French catching Suzuki’s fly to center rather easily, stranding pretenders on the corners.

Bottom 8th, Sencion retired two, but Nick Fernandez singled, stole a base, and reached third by the time there were two outs. The Coons went to Daley in a double switch, hoping him to get out of the inning and be available in case of a comeback, with de Lemos taking over centerfield. Daley walked both Anderson and Poindexter to fill the bases, then had Lonzo snatch Rios’ liner to short to end the inning. It was Rich Knowles in the ninth inning against the bottom of the order, or what would be left of it. Crispin flew out. Waters batted for Naughty Joe, ran a full count, and walked. De Lemos flew out to French. Crum grounded out to Rios. 3-2 Indians. Lavorano 4-4, 2B; Puckeridge 4-4, 2B;

Jeeves, would you be so kind to press this pillow onto my face until I stop struggling?

Raffy was back on the roster then by Sunday, with the Raccoons optioning Joe Boese (.143, 0 HR, 2 RBI), which was not the best solution available for sure…

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Taki
IND: CF French – 1B N. Fernandez – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF J. Garza – SS Clover – P Becker

Taki threw 28 pitches in the first inning, walking French to get going, although he was forced out by Fernandez. The runner then stole second as Quinteros struck out in a full count, and scored on Anderson’s single. Manny Poindexter hit another single, but Rios popped out to strand two. The Coons also did what they did best, stranding a pair in the top 2nd after Pucks (walk) and Waters (double) made it into scoring position with one out, and then de Lemos grounded out to third base to pin them, and Quinteros easily took a weak fly by Taki to shallow right to end the inning. A Clover error put Venegas on base to begin the third inning, and the Coons expertly stranded him at third base with three groundouts.

The game then fell silent for a few innings, with neither team reaching, and only five base hits combined for both teams through five innings. Still that 1-0 Indians lead, though. The Coons, not short on 1-run losses this week, then actually squibbled three singles together for a run between Gowin, Cox, and Waters in the sixth inning, before de Lemos flew out to French to expertly strand another pair. Taki held the tie through seven innings, giving up only three hits in total. When Chris Edwards gave up a 1-out single to Ramsay and a double to Cox in the eighth inning, the Raccoons had a pair in scoring position again. Pucks was up, poked the first pitch to center, and French made the catch, but Ramsay dazzled home to take a 2-1 lead. What a rousing success! Hitchcock struck out the side in the bottom 8th, but an insurance run was not in the cards for the Critters, who didn’t get past a pinch-hit 1-out single by Suzuki in the ninth inning. The 2-1 lead then became Daley’s problem in the bottom of the ninth, with Jerry Cordova hitting for Fernandez to begin the inning. He grounded out to first, but Quinteros very much didn’t ground out – he walloped a game-tying homer to dead ******* center. Outs made by Anderson and Poindexter then sent the game to extras.

The Coons were useless in the top 10th against Michael McLaughlin, a lefty, then sent their own southpaw, Walters. The rookie gave up a leadoff single to Mike Gilmore, but Garza hit into a fielder’s choice, then was doubled up by Clover, where both left-handers continued to pitch. The Indians were out of bench-players, which made McLaughlin’s 1-out single from the #1 spot – both teams in fact were now batting their pitcher first – in the bottom 11th so frustrating, and then Cordova drew a walk. Quinteros struck out, after which the Coons sent Bak after Bobby Anderson, who grounded out to short. The Coons didn’t reach – with Brobeck batting for Bak in the #1 spot, but popping out, in the top 12th. Eloy Sencion got the ball after that, falling to 3-0 on Poindexter before the leadoff man grounded out. He plunked Jason Perry, and Chase Clover singled with two outs, but Danny Diaz flew out to Suzuki in center. Yay, more sad-sack baseball!

The most marvelous thing was the relief; Sencion pitched three shutout innings through the 14th, and McLaughlin was still in the game as the 15th dawned, having already tossed five innings for one base hit, and on 51 pitches. Way to go, Coons. Sencion’s spot led off the 15th inning, and for him Tyler Philipps struck out… but reached first base when Poindexter lost the ball towards the backstop. Lonzo jabbed a comebacker at 1-0, but McLaughlin fired the ball past Clover for an error, and the Coons had first and second. I swear to all the baseball gods in heaven and elsewhere, if you don’t score now, you will never get another cookie for the entire season!! Gowin coaxed a walk from McLaughlin, who was then lifted for another left-hander, Bubba Poss with three on and nobody out, which felt like things would go south HARD now, especially with three lefty hitters showing up now – except that the Raccoons had ONE weapon left: Ken Crum. We’d hit him for Pucks, though, who was three spots away. Poss’ first pitch was hit through a diving Danny Diaz into rightfield, though, and two runs scored as the tie was finally broken! Cox singled to re-load the bases for Crum, who grounded to Anderson, who went home to get out Gowin. Waters whiffed, but Crispin struck the first pitch he got into left-center for a 2-out, 2-run single. Suzuki ended the inning with a K. Terrell got the 4-run lead in the bottom 15th (the only other option would have been Lillis), and gave up a 1-out double to Diaz. Poss grounded out as the Indians still had to bat their relievers, and Cordova popped out to Crispin in foul ground to end a real drag of a game. 6-2 Raccoons. Cox 4-7, 2B; Waters 2-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Taki 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Sencion 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-0);

All the runs in the 15th inning were unearned, so McLaughlin didn’t save his skin, but at least his ERA.

In other news

June 16 – The Titans rally for six runs in the ninth inning to eek out a 7-6 win over the Cyclones in Cincinnati.
June 17 – MIL OF Joe Gragg (.230, 2 HR, 17 RBI) might miss the rest of the season with a torn back muscle.
June 17 – Loggers and Miners go to the 10th inning tied at four, but end the 10th inning decidedly not tied at four anymore as the Loggers break out for six runs in the top of the inning and the Miners, who have only three hits all game, including two homers, go down silently in their 10-4 defeat.
June 18 – The Stars beat the Warriors, 3-1 in 14 innings. DAL MR Bobby Shenk (1-0, 1.83 ERA, 1 SV) earns the win with four near-perfect innings of relief.
June 19 – At age 41, Vancouver utility Felix Marquez (.243, 2 HR, 24 RBI) drives in five runs on three hits in a 15-2 drubbing of the Titans.
June 19 – TOP LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.257, 9 HR, 27 RBI) will miss at least two months with a torn meniscus.
June 20 – A fifth-inning single by catcher Ray DeFrank (.338, 4 HR, 41 RBI) is all the Aces can muster offensively against TIJ SP Nick Young (3-6, 4.71 ERA) and CL Dale Mrazek (0-2, 1.84 ERA, 15 SV), who combine for a 2-0 shutout win.
June 20 – The Miners fall behind by a run in the top of the 12th inning of their game against the Cyclones, but tie the score in the bottom 12th, load the bases, and then get a walkoff grand slam off CIN CL Adam Bates (2-5, 6.33 ERA, 16 SV) smashed by PIT C Angel Lara (.342, 2 HR, 10 RBI) for a 12-8 win.

FL Player of the Week: WAS OF Neville van de Wouw (.280, 7 HR, 24 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 2B Tony Aparicio (.280, 7 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .417 (10-24) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Still .500, still leaving things to be desired. The offense was the main problem this week. That and Daley giving up a stupid homer to Bill Quinteros in the ninth inning on Sunday, making us churn through that pen for another six innings.

Going unclaimed on waivers, Valentino Prada was released on Friday. In nine innings for the Coons between two seasons, he walked nine batters and gave up nine runs, which was as remarkable as it was unforgettable.

What will happen with Brobeck from here is up for debate. On one paw, he doesn’t really fit in, and on the other paw he looks like a bit of a gift if only you can make use of him. If he batted *left-handed*, the Raccoons could turn Ed Crispin into something useful and that would be a net gain, probably. But he doesn’t bat left-handed and I’m still thinking this is more like a jigsaw puzzle with 800 pieces, some of which are missing. – (looks at Wheats and Taki in the corner, holding weird shapes in their paws and munching eagerly)

The Coons go home for a series against the damn Elks now, then will go straight back East for six games with the Falcons and Thunder. Off day on Thursday. Wednesday should be the return of Raffy to the major league mound.

Fun Fact: He Shui (5-7, 2.77 ERA) is getting less than 3.1 runs of support per game.

That included an 8-spot, two 6-run games, one 5-run game, and the Raccoons even managed to lose of of those. They’re 5-9 in his starts.