[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-37) @ Thunder (47-28) – June 29-July 1, 2054

Here was some task: the Thunder were first in runs scored, first in runs allowed, first in defense, first in the South, first in the CL, and 2-1 against the Raccoons this year. If there was something to gripe about with their roster it was a rather pedestrian pen with an ERA over four (behind the best rotation in the league), an absolute dearth of speed (17 SB for the entire season, or half a Lonzo), and injury issues that had felled David Barel, Zach Boyer, Ryan Cox, and a few odd pieces.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ryan Moore (4-4, 3.02 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-6, 4.41 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (6-6, 4.52 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 3.88 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (8-5, 3.17 ERA)

Righty, lefty, righty, and no Jay Gunderson (8-1, 1.98 ERA), the ERA leader, in this series.

The Coons called up Jim Larson with Eloy Sencion going on the DL. Larson had posted an 8.10 ERA in 14 games for Portland last year. In reality, the Raccoons needed a left-handed hitting second baseman to pair with Knight. The bench remained short, not counting Kyle Brobeck’s multiple talents.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C Gowin – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P de la Cruz
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – CF Ward – LF M. Allen – 3B Lamotta – P R. Moore

Also possessing multiple talents: Lonzo, who came up after a Ken Crum single to open the game and peppered a home run over the fence in left for an instant 2-0 lead. Ramsay rammed a homer to right to go back-to-back with him, and while Ryan Cox also reached base, Gowin found a double play to ease the team out of the inning.

Raffy pitched two nice innings to begin the game, but before he could retake the mound for the bottom 3rd, lightning and thunder hit the Thunder’s place and the game went into an hour-long rain delay. Knight and Pucks drove in 2-out RBI’s after play resumed against Moore, who was then hit for to begin the bottom 3rd. Mike Roberts grounded out in his spot, and while Mike Harmon singled, the Thunder left Raffy’s 5-0 lead alone. He even got around nicking David Worthington to begin the fourth inning, then was drawn to the plate in the top 5th when Jeremy Mayhall had Ed Crispin on third base two outs, and the Thunder were not in the mood to have Pucks bat again. Instead, Raffy hit a 2-out RBI single to center, 6-0. Crum was to end the inning with a groundout, but Mayhall failed entirely to catch David Worthington’s throw back to first base and Pucks scored on the error. Lonzo grounded out to leave two on in the 7-0 game.

Bottom 5th, the last inning for Raffy so he could get the W. It didn’t start well, as Ricky Lamotta and Scott King reached with leadoff singles, the latter of the infield variety, and then Raffy walked Harmon. Jonathan Ban hit a sac fly to right, Ed Soberanes popped out, and Worthington – knelled a 2-run triple into the gap. Now on 87 pitches and looking gassed, Raffy was yanked from a 7-3 game. Bak bailed him out by getting a groundout from Kevin Weese. The next half-inning began with Ralph Needham loading the bags with the 3-4-5 batters and no outs. He walked in a run against Ed Crispin, Knight hit a sac fly, and the Coons re-established a 9-3 lead. We did not hit for Bak when his spot came up and he stranded two runners in scoring position by making the final out, but right now we were more concerned about getting outs. Bak only got two more outs and left with the bases loaded in the bottom 6th, Jayden Ward reaching on a Ramsay error, while Mike Allen singled and Mike Harmon walked. Hitchcock got a baited a pop from Ban to banish the blow-up beast.

Bottom 7th of an endless game, Terrell got the ball, Crispin made an error to put Soberanes on, but then Terrell walked the bags full before he was yanked. Lillis inherited three on and no outs in a 6-run game, got a pop from Jayden Ward for the first out, and then gave up four runs on two singles by Allen and Lamotta. (buries face in paws) Luke Burnham and Harmon were retired to end the inning, but what should have been in the ******* books by now was instead a 9-7 game threatening to escalate into a nightmare. Worse yet, Hitchcock had been burned for a single out, and how would a sane person give the ball to the scrubs at the far end of the pen now. Lillis retired Ban to begin the bottom 8th, and then Daley was tasked with a 5-out save. He retired three in a row before Ward singled with two outs left to collect. Allen struck out. And Lamotta struck out as well! 9-7 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-5, HR, RBI; Cox 2-5, 2B; Crispin 2-4, BB, RBI; Daley 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (17);

Jason Terrell’s ERA was an average 3.86 ERA but he was very close to getting punted back to the Pacifics. 35 innings, 24 walks, 17 strikeouts. Those were the numbers that irked me more than a 5.35 ERA f.e. ever could.

Dave Blackshire disappeared from the backup infielder thematic by straining a rib cage muscle in AAA, not that he was a left-handed second baseman.

Game 2
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – C Philipps – P Pickett
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – LF S. King – CF M. Allen – 3B Sowards – P Zeigler

Pickett mumbled something about the thin red line when he saw the lineup, which he took as him being positive that they’d actually hold up and give him some runs – a remarkable sign of delusion, and Dr. Padilla should check him out right after the game. David Worthington’s 3-run homer in the bottom 1st surely put a dent into whatever expectations you had about this Tuesday game, but the Raccoons actually came roaring back from that, and it didn’t even take long. Dave de Lemos opened the top 3rd with a single and stole second base before reaching third on a wild pitch. Philipps walked in a full count, and Pickett hit a sac fly, by far his best action in the game so far. Anton Venegas made the second out, but Lonzo doubled home Philipps and then Ken Crum cranked a homer to center to flip the score to 4-3 Coons!

The Thunder opened the bottom 3rd with two singles, but Pickett struck out four of the next six batters, retiring all of them. There was the thin red line! The Thunder made three groundouts in the fifth, and Pickett eventually sat down 11 straight before Mike Allen reached on a Ramsay error in the bottom 6th. He walked Chris Sowards on straight balls, but the Thunder didn’t bat for Zeigler, who struck out to end the inning. That was the final inning for Pickett, however, who had already worked himself up on the Thunder in the first three innings to a degree that made me worry that he would be the second straight starter that wouldn’t get through five with a lead. Pickett wanted to go back to the dish to swing the twig in the seventh inning with de Lemos and Philipps on the corners and one out, but the Raccoons preferred Matt Cox. De Lemos scored without Cox’ doing on a wild pitch, while Cox grounded out, moving Philipps from second to third, from where he scored on Venegas’ single to right off newly arrived righty Jesus Cardenas. He stole second, but Lonzo flew out to Harmon to end the inning.

Up by three with just as many innings to go, the Coons patched the seventh together from Walters and Bak, then for the eighth had Brobeck transition from the hot corner to the hill again. Crispin took over at third base. Brobeck retired three in a row in the bottom 8th, but Sowards singled to begin the ninth, still in a 3-run game. The Raccoons would not use Daley, and Hitchcock only if the Thunder made them by getting the tying run to the plate. They didn’t – the next three batters all went down as Brobeck earned the 6-out save…! 6-3 Critters! De Lemos 2-2, BB, 2B; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Taki
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – LF S. King – CF Ward – 3B Sowards – P Llamas

Pucks’ struggles continued; he came up with the bags stacked after Gowin, Cox, and Knight singles in the second inning, and jabbed into a double play to Jonathan Ban to kill the inning. The Coons had three hits again in the third inning, but since that pile of hits had a Lonzo double for a foundation, scratch 2-out singles by Rams and Gowin were good enough to score the game’s first run. Cox struck out to strand another two, with the Critters piling up stranded runners already. The Raccoons left another pair on base in the fifth, and it was still 1-0 with Taki being constantly in trouble, but the Thunder had negated their three hits and two walks in four innings with two double plays as well. The bottom 5th, though, saw Sowards and Llamas (…) hit singles off him, and then Harmon reached when Knight bobbled what might have been another double play that would have ended the inning. Instead it was three on and one out for Jonathan Ban, the old pest, who brought in the tying run by grounding out to first base. Soberanes’ 2-out single through the left side brought in a pair though, and the Thunder took a 3-1 lead. Worthington grounded out, but Taki was now trailing, all on unearned runs.

While Crum singled home Knight to make up one run in the sixth inning, Llamas and the Thunder pen then shut down further scoring attempts in that inning and the next before the Thunder knocked three singles off Taki for a fourth run, and first earned, of their own in the bottom 7th. Raul Cornejo for Oklahoma and Jim Larson for Portland each retired the side in order in the eighth inning before Alex Mancilla saw the Raccoons’ 9-1-2 batters in the ninth inning. Suzuki, Crum, and Lonzo went down in order yet again. 4-2 Thunder. Gowin 2-4, RBI; Knight 2-4;

Lonzo left Oklahoma with a 12-game hitting streak.

Raccoons (41-38) vs. Crusaders (38-40) – July 2-5, 2054

The season series between those two teams was even at four, and they’d play four more in Portland for the weekend. There was a lot of average to that Crusaders team, as they sat seventh in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, with a -12 run differential. Second-worst rotation, probably not helped by a creaky defense. Having Jim White, Landon Guillory, Andrew Russ (hiss!!), and Omar Sanchez on the DL surely also didn’t help, especially with infield defense with the latter three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (6-7, 4.38 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-7, 4.54 ERA)
He Shui (7-7, 2.42 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (3-3, 5.05 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0, 5.19 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (4-5, 3.72 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (5-6, 4.42 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (9-5, 3.23 ERA)

Washington was the only left-handed starter we would face this weekend.

Game 1
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

The Crusaders had runners on the corners against Wheats in the first inning, but Danny Rivera uncharacteristically hit into a double play to dispel the threat. On the other paw, Pucks came through for once, batting with Cox and Venegas on base and two outs in the bottom 2nd and socking a liner into the right-center gap for a 2-run triple! That was the only run-scoring event through five innings; Wheats struck out to leave Pucks at third base, while himself allowing two hits and a walk through six, and having every single one of those runners erased in a double play. Bottom 6th, Sopena walked Crum to begin the inning, then gave up a double to left to Lonzo to put a pair in scoring position with nobody out. The Crusaders laid a trap for the Raccoons and walked Ramsay intentionally, setting up three on with no outs, which would certainly lead to tears for me. Gowin grounded out poorly, with Crum thrown out at home. Cox popped out. Oh for ***** sake! Venegas hit a looper behind the infielders on the left side… and Ronnie Thompson couldn’t reach it! The ball dinked in, barely, and two runs scored! Knight struck out to strand a pair, but Pucks began the seventh with a single, stole second, and after Crum reached eventually scored on Lonzo’s sac fly to Danny Rivera. And Wheats? Retired the purple poopers in order in both the seventh and eighth innings…! The Coons tacked on a run in the bottom 8th when Venegas plated Gowin with a groundout, but the thing everybody wanted to see was Wheats finishing that shutout. He entered the ninth on 88 pitches, facing Aaron Foss in the #8 spot. Foss walked, which was not great, but Mike Bednarz struck out. Ronnie Thompson hit a spanker to Venegas then. That one looked good! Throw to second – out! – throw to first – out! It’s a shutout! 6-0 Raccoons!! Crum 0-1, 3 BB; Cox 2-4, 2B; Venegas 2-4, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-2, 3B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

Wheeeeeeeeats!

Should have given him a new 9-year deal before he rallied out of that 0-7 latrine…

Game 2
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P Washington
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Shui

The sky looked moody, so the battlecry for the Friday game was have the lead after five. The team seemed to oblige. Shui got around a single in the first, while Lonzo got nicked, stole a base, Crum singled, and so did Gowin, getting Lonzo home. Crum went to third base, from where Rams got him home with a sac fly to left-center. The skies start to leak in the third inning and there was a rain delay at the conclusion of it. When play resumed after 20 minutes, the Crusaders quickly rapped off singles with Rivera and Mike Seidman, plus a double by Oscar Caballero, and leveled the score at two.

The skies remained moody and the game remained tied all the way into the seventh inning, with neither team getting the other paw until Shui walked Aaron Foss in the top 7th and gave up a 2-out RBI double to Ronnie Thompson that put the New Yorkers on top, 3-2. Aaron Kissler struck out, ending the inning and Shui’s start. After him, Walters and Terrell held the Crusaders off the board, but what the Raccoons needed was a run to tie or two to win, but they remained hapless through eight innings against Washington. Ryan Sullivan got the ball against the meat of the order in the ninth inning. Ken Crum led off, fell to 1-2, then cranked a homer to right, and that tied the ballgame…! (high fives with Slappy) Nobody else reached until Brobeck drew a 2-out walk, and he was stranded when Matt Knight whiffed.

Hitchcock got the ball for extras, but gave up a run in the 10th by walking leadoff batter Jeff Buss, followed by a Brobeck error on Darrell Wagner’s grounder. Prince Gates hit a sac fly to give the Crusaders a new lead; the run was unearned. Sullivan was still in the game for the bottom 10th. He struck out Suzuki, but Cox doubled in the #9 spot. Pucks pinch-hit for Hitchcock in the #1 spot, but grounded out, and Lonzo looked at strike three to end the game. 4-3 Crusaders. Crum 2-4, HR, RBI; Gowin 2-4, RBI;

Blargh. (opens a new bottle along with Slappy and clanks the bottles together)

Game 3
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – C Philipps – P de la Cruz

Lonzo reached a 15-game hitting streak in the first inning when he hit a gapper in right-center for a double and at the same time chased home Ken Crum and his leadoff single from first base for a 1-0 lead. He then scored when Chris Navarro capitally threw away a Ramsay grounder for two bases, which wasn’t the last New York error in this game. Johnson walked Pucks, but Crispin’s groundout advanced the runners. Knight singled past Prince Gates with two outs, Foss overran the ball for an extra base, and two more runs scored. Philipps chopped another RBI single through the left side with two outs, 5-0, and the inning only ended with Raffy, who now had to get his act together, and for a starter (tah!) get at least through five innings. And with the lead, please.

…and he did! Without allowing a run! …it just wasn’t pretty. He walked four, struck out as many, gave up three hits and whacked Raul Sevilla pretty good with a fastball, but didn’t give up anything, although he fooled the bases full in the fifth inning before Rivera calmly grounded out to strand everybody and their mother. The Crusaders began the sixth with singles for Gates and Seidman, but for a departing gift, Raffy struck out the 7-8-9 batters in order, which was some highlight after all. Six shutout innings, could have gone worse.

Ken Crum had extended the lead to 7-0 with a home run in the fourth inning, collecting Philipps from second base. That was the last scoring event in the game, actually. The Raccoons faced a lot of lefty relief once they had beaten Johnson to death, and didn’t do much against them. Meanwhile, Larson and Lillis and Terrell offered three innings of scoreless relief, with the lion share, five outs, provided by Larson. 7-0 Critters! Crum 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Philipps 2-3, BB, RBI; de la Cruz 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (1-0); Larson 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

One more to go, and the ball would go to Pickett. Before that, though, we made a roster move. Jim Larson, after 2.2 scoreless innings, ended up on waivers, and the Raccoons brought Naughty Joe. Lonzo needed a day off, and the way the roster was right now that required a whole new infielder to do without headaches.

Game 4
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – CF Caballero – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – 2B Buss – LF Foss – P Seiter
POR: 3B Venegas – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Pickett

The Crusaders had four runners in the first two innings, but didn’t score. Oscar Caballero grounded into a double play, and they stranded three in total, while the Coons went up 1-0 on a Pucks sac fly without getting a base hit. Gowin drew a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and Cox’ groundout, and then came home when Pucks flew out to Caballero. The lead was not for long; Thompson was on base again in the top 3rd, and this time was doubled home by Sevilla, who then scored on a Rivera single to flip the score to 2-1 New York.

The first Coons hit in the game was then a score-knotting homer to right-center by Harry Ramsay, his fifth of the year, in the bottom 4th. Gowin followed that with a double to center, moved up on a groundout, and then scored on another sac fly for Pucks to Rivera, 3-2, but this lead, too, didn’t last. In the sixth, Gates singled, Foss doubled him home with two outs, and we were even again. Pickett pitched on, but ended up shafted in the seventh inning when Thompson reached base yet again and Raul Sevilla took him deep for a 5-3 Crusaders lead. Those pesky Crusaders! Damn clegs! Danny Rivera immediately hit another homer off Hyun-soo Bak, 6-3.

Bottom 8th, down 6-3, Naughty Joe opened with a single off Seiter, which was just the fourth Coons hit in the game. Lonzo asked to pinch-hit, despite a 15-game hitting streak, and legged out an infield roller for a single. Phew!! And for what? Venegas hit into a double play and Crum flew out to left. (holds Honeypaws tighter and looks glumlier) Brobeck held the Crusaders in place in the top 9th, while Chris Gowin hit a single to center with one out in the bottom 9th off Sullivan. Cox whiffed, Pucks rolled over, and the series ended in a split. 6-3 Crusaders. Gowin 2-3, BB, 2B; Lavorano (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 1 – TOP 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.310, 13 HR, 59 RBI) collects a third-inning single in a 9-6 loss to the Gold Sox to extend a hitting streak to 20 games.
July 3 – The Capitals trade OF Jason Monson (.292, 7 HR, 17 RBI) to the Scorpions for two prospects.
July 4 – IND SP James Powell (6-7, 4.31 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Canadiens, claiming the 6-0 win.
July 4 – It takes 11 innings for a single run to be scored in the Warriors’ 1-0 win over the Gold Sox. SFW C Nick Samuel (.233, 9 HR, 48 RBI) hits a walkoff single to score OF Elmer Maldonado (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI).
July 5 – SFW RF/LF Tony Rodriquez (.303, 6 HR, 38 RBI) will miss three weeks with a case of shoulder soreness.

FL Player of the Week: TOP OF John Gough (.254, 2 HR, 21 RBI), batting .419 (13-31) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA C Luis Miranda (.274, 5 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 1 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.285, 14 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .333 with 11 HR, 31 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 1B David Worthington (.241, 11 HR, 61 RBI), whacking .320 with 8 HR, 39 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN CL Mike Lynn (5-4, 2.27 ERA, 17 SV), saving 8 games with a 0.00 ERA and 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Terry Herman (9-4, 2.75 ERA), going 5-1 with 1.59 ERA, 24 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.286, 12 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .277 with 6 HR, 17 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.318, 6 HR, 42 RBI), batting .307 with 2 HR, 15 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Five games back and slowly creeping closer – we should trade up this month, but I have yet to have any striking idea besides the left-handed second baseman. Thankfully those grow on trees! Given some very modest requirements, Cristiano actually found more switch-hitting second basemen than left-handed second basemen…

It doesn’t have to be a star, just somebody to cover the second half with Waters on the shelf.

On the same day Wheats shut out the New Yorkers, ex-Coon Corey Mathers threw a 6-hit shutout over the Miners for the Caps. Mathers was a piece that was used to lure in Ryan Person from the Miners, who pitched well for half a season in 2046, but missed the second half and postseason due to injury. He left as free agent for the Bayhawks, with the compensation pick used to draft Curtis Scholl, who is now a 27-year-old AAA outfielder with the Falcons, who took him as a Rule 5 pick in 2050, had him bat .196 in 83 games in ’51, and have since done their best to not make him put on their uniform again.

The Titans and Loggers will be in town next week. Then it’s gonna be the All Star Game and a 3-city road trip to Boston, Elktown, and Vegas.

Fun Fact: Wheats threw his 11th career shutout (including the playoffs) on Thursday, and the first since 2051.

It was his first shutout of the Crusaders. He made it a habit to shut out the Loggers early in his career, but … well, it‘s the Loggers. The only CL North team he has never thrown a shutout against would be the damn Elks.

Wheats is now 149-103 with a 3.39 ERA for his career. 1,711 strikeouts in 2,316 innings. I also claim he has momentum, because this is his season:

LOSS LOSS LOSS
LOSS LOSS
LOSS LOSS
ND
ND
WIN WIN
ND
WIN WIN WIN
WIN WIN

It should be noted though, in his losses this year, the Coons are scoring 2.4 runs. In his wins, they are scoring 5.7 runs – without ever scoring more than seven runs for him! So he basically gets six every time he goes out since the middle of May, and manages to tuck in just under that for his own damage.

Still not sure whether that merits a new contract.