[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-48) @ Titans (49-63) – August 10-12, 2054

The Titans were still in the bottom three in both runs made and runs made on them, although the run differential was not too horrendous yet at -88, with a third of a season to go. Infielder Adriano Chavez was on the DL, and would perhaps be for the rest of the year, while the Critters were up 9-3 on Boston for the year.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (7-8, 4.27 ERA) vs. Jordan Ramos (2-5, 4.55 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-9, 3.66 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (5-2, 3.01 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-7, 3.62 ERA) vs. Jose Arias (6-8, 4.83 ERA)

Ramos was the only *right*-handed starter in the Titans’ rotation at this point!

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Pickett
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P Jo. Ramos

Pickett marched into Concord and towards North Bridge and at once was beaten back with salvoes. Five of the first six Titans reached base on three singles and two walks, and they were held to two runs in the first inning mainly because with the bags stacked Larry Rodriguez bounced into a double play. That brought a run home, as did Will McIntyre’s single. Jon Lopez struck out to leave runners on the corners after former Raccoons backstop Ruben Gonzalez also singled. There were two more hits off Pickett in the second, then a leadoff double by Rodriguez in the third inning. He went on to score before Jon Lopez reached base on a throwing error by Venegas with two outs. A passed ball at 1-0 to Rocky Jimenez showed me that Tyler Philipps was despairing of Pickett just the same, and although the Titans failed to tack on anything, Pickett retreated to the relative safety of the harbor after five innings and would hold a grudge on the dastardly mutineers from there.

The Raccoons had scored one run on a passed ball in the second inning after Cox and Pucks had gone to the corners in the second inning, but after that had largely stalled out. Geoff Sather pitched in the bottom 6th, allowed Jon Lopez on with a leadoff single, then walked Jimenez. Great. Ramos bunted the runners onwards, Dave Roura struck out, but Matt Gilmore singled to center to get two more Boston runs across. Philipps reached base in the seventh and scored on Ryan Allred’s triple, but was then left at third base by both third basemen, Ed Crispin and Anton Venegas… Kyle Brobeck scattered two hits and two runs in two innings after the Sather disaster, which kept the Titans’ lead to three runs, but the Raccoons went in order against Walt Wright in the ninth inning. 5-2 Titans. Puckeridge 2-4; Allred 2-3, 3B, RBI; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – 1B L. Rodriguez – RF McIntyre – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – CF Weir – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P K. Spencer

If that was possible, Seisaku Taki had an even worse first inning than Pickett on Tuesday. He walked the first two batters he faced, but then got a grounder and a sac fly from the 3-4 batters. And then the Titans punched him four times for four 2-out singles, plating four runs in total in the inning before Kenneth Spencer grounded out. Half the tally was rallied away in the top 2nd; Spencer nicked Chris Gowin and was taken deep by Matt Cox right away. Taki remained crap in the following innings, too, constantly pitching behind in the count and being generally annoying… and annoyed by himself, too.

Even annoyed, he at least held the 4-2 score through four innings, then hit a 1-out double to left in the fifth inning. Venegas’ double right after that put the tying runs in scoring position for Lonzo, who grounded out to Roura, scoring Taki and moving Venegas to third base. Hector Weir picked Rams’ fly to center, though, and the Titans remained ahead. Offense kept coming from weird spots, though; after Pucks hit a soft single in the sixth, and with two outs, Prospero Tenazes batted. He hit his second career homer in his 118th big-league at-bat, and the Raccoons flipped the score and took a 5-4 lead, but Taki allowed two leadoff singles in the bottom 6th before getting sent to his room to think about what he’d done, and Eloy Sencion couldn’t keep the tying run on base, surrendering the lead on Roura’s sac fly.

A new Coons lead came together quickly; Lonzo hit a 2-out single off Jim Peterson in the seventh, then stole second. He needn’t have – Ramsay slashed a triple into the rightfield corner to chase him home anyway, but was left on third base when Chris Gowin grounded out to Rodriguez, although that 6-5 lead also brittled away in the eighth inning when Lillis and Hitchcock each gave up a soft single through the gaps on the infield, with Bruce Burkart chasing home Hector Weir to tie the score at six. Right-hander David Williams got in for the Titans in the ninth inning, but was greated rudely by Matt Knight’s double up the leftfield line. Suzuki, Venegas, and Lonzo then made meek outs in order to strand the runner at third base… Williams would pitch a second inning in the 10th, same for Hyun-soo Bak – but only Williams finished his. Bak walked three overall, including Weir and Jimenez with one out in the 10th. Eric Whitlow’s groundout moved the winning run to third base, and Jordan Marroguin’s bold single to center on a 3-1 pitch ended the ******* ballgame. 7-6 Titans. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Knight 2-4, 2B;

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Wheatley
BOS: 2B Roura – LF M. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – C R. Gonzalez – SS J. Lopez – RF D. Gonzalez – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P J. Arias

Former batterymate Ruben Gonzalez hit a solo shot off Wheats in the second inning, but the Raccoons were able to get Venegas and Lonzo on base in the third inning, then had Chris Gowin flip the score with a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center. But the Titans just wouldn’t stay the **** down, and Dave Gonzalez hit a solo shot to right against Wheatley in the fourth inning. It was otherwise a decent outing for him, allowing only two singles and a walk otherwise through five innings, but the Raccoons were just as lackluster offensively, two runs on four hits, same as Boston.

Chris Gowin then gave the Titans some of their own medicine with a solo jack off Arias in the sixth inning, giving Portland a 3-2 lead. After that, Brobeck and Tenazes hit singles to go to the corners with two outs, but Knight lined out to Rocky Jimenez to end the inning. Wheatley had a quick sixth as it began to rain, and got around Jimenez’ 2-out single in the seventh to stay ahead by that skinny run. The Raccoons failed to tack on, and the Raccoons played it by fuzzy ear in the bottom of the inning as the top of the order returned against Wheatley. He lost Dave Roura in a full count before the rain got too heavy and the grounds crew was called out to cover the diamond. Thus, Wheats’ unbeaten streak continued, because while he had walked the tying run on base, he wouldn’t return after a 45-minute rain delay, already on 94 pitches. Eloy Sencion came out, but Burkart batted for Gilmore and walked. Again, more rain, and Eric Whitlow being a nuisance in the box – but then grounded out to Crispin, advancing the runners. Rodriguez popped out, and the Raccoons then went to Kevin Daley, hoping for a 4-out save. Ruben Gonzalez struck out, which at least ended this inning. After the Raccoons again didn’t put up any more offense – or even a runner – in the ninth against Alex Diaz, Daley struck out Lopez before Dave Gonzalez reached when Harry Ramsay slipped on a wet spot and bumbled his grounder for an error. Jimenez floated out to center, but McIntyre singled to center to move the tying run into scoring position. Dave Roura ended the game – popping out to Knight at second base. 3-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Gowin 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Tenazes 2-2, BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (11-7); Daley 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (30);

The damn Elks beat the Loggers three out of four while we were fooling around in Boston, which gave Elk City a half-game lead by the end of Thursday – our off day – while the Loggers slipped to three games back of them. We were up against the best team in baseball next, though, so I did not expect a quick recovery.

Raccoons (65-50) @ Warriors (71-42) – August 14-16, 2054

This team ranked third in runs scored in the FL, and was giving up the fewest, not even four runs per game. They had the best rotation, the best defense, but lacked in the power department, sitting tenth in home runs in the Federal League. No injuries, though, and even in the middle of August they had four 10-game winners in the rotation. This was the danger zone. Last time the Coons lost a series to the Warriors, Jason Wheatley and Matt Waters were still Knights prospects in 2039. There had been only four series between the teams in the meantime, though, the most recent in 2051, when Portland took two of three.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (2-3, 4.86 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (11-6, 3.16 ERA)
He Shui (11-7, 2.60 ERA) vs. Shane Knox (10-5, 3.42 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-9, 3.83 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (11-4, 2.70 ERA)

Knox was a left-hander and would most likely pitch on Saturday – both teams came in on a day off.

The Raccoons would skip Pickett, who looked like more and more trouble. (looks at Raffy) The criteria were not the same for all our pitchers, though.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Allred – P de la Cruz
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – 3B DeMarco – P R. Montoya

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead on Ramsay and Gowin doubles in the first inning, and Raffy got three groundouts to begin his day, and that was about as good as it got. Nick Samuel walked and Mike DeFusco powered a score-flipping homer in the bottom 2nd, and a third-inning rain delay surely wasn’t gonna help Raffy much at all either. His control was a complete mess after the delay, which took almost an hour – but he had thrown only 24 pitches in the first two innings. He would pitch another four innings on 58 more pitches, occasionally missing badly and walking a total of four batters, and nicking Samuel in the sixth. The Raccoons made no rallying efforts whatsoever. Montoya was done after seven innings, striking out as many, and when Ramsay reached on a single at one point, Gowin was then quick to double him up. Alfaro and Sather pitched neat relief in the seventh and eighth, but that wouldn’t make up the 2-run deficit either. It was already the ninth when the tying run appeared as far up as the dish again, Lonzo hitting a 1-out single to left against Ben Lussier. And now Ramsay found a double play to rumble into. 3-1 Warriors. Lavorano 2-4; Ramsay 2-4, 2B; Gowin 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Those six hits by the 2-3-4 batters? All we got in this game.

Roster moves. Prospero Tenazes (.317, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and Geoff Sather (0-0, 3.38 ERA) returned to AAA as the Raccoons added both Trent Brassfield (off the DL) and Dave de Lemos (from his rehab assignment).

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 1B Philipps – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Shui
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B R. Harris – 3B DeMarco – P Knox

The Raccoons scored first again, but this time in the second inning. Brassfield opened with a single – he had hit .400 in his first five games – and Knox added Philipps with four balls to the bases. Matt Knight found a spot in left-center for an RBI single to drop into. When de Lemos walked, the bags were full and still nobody out, but Shui struck out, Venegas was held to a sac fly in center by Jose Marroquin, and Lonzo grounded out; the third inning had another great scoring opportunity, though, as Gowin drew a leadoff walk and Pucks doubled to right-center, putting both of them in scoring position. Trent Brassfield pounced on a lazy 3-2 pitch and shot it up the middle for a 2-run single – his first career RBI’s – and extended the lead to 4-0, but would end up stranded on third base.

Shui allowed only one single in three innings before conceding three singles in one inning, giving up a fourth-inning run, or a quarter of his lead, although the Raccoons got the run back in the fifth. Pucks and Brassfield dropped singles again, with Knight scoring a run with a groundout. He then stole second base, the Warriors walked de Lemos intentionally, and got the K from Shui to end the inning. On the mound Shui, remained very decent; while Julio Moriel singled in the sixth, the runner got himself caught stealing, and when Jason Schaack hit a single in the seventh, he was doubled up by Ryan Harris. The Warriors went in order in the eighth, but Shui reached 105 pitches, and it was almost a little much to send him back out, since stamina wasn’t exactly at the top of pluses on his scouting report… although on Eric Hartwig’s scouting reports, pluses were generally hard to find. When the Raccoons offered no tack-on runs in the ninth, the Raccoons probably should have sent Lillis right away against the 2-3 batters, Moriel and Mario Villa, hitting .341 and .389 from the left side respectively. But Shui was out there to begin the inning. Moriel walked, but Villa shot a grounder at Ryan Allred at second base, and the Raccoons turned two. Dandy! …but then Nick Samuel rocked a double off the wall in left, and that was deemed enough. Lillis got the last out … but not before he was taken deep by Jason Schaack, getting Tony Rodriquez to ground out. 5-3 Raccoons. Brassfield 3-4, 2 RBI; Shui 8.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (12-7) and 1-4;

For the rubber game it would be Taki and Takagi, as if we needed more confusion.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – P Taki
SFW: CF Marroquin – SS Moriel – LF M. Villa – C Samuel – 1B Schaack – RF Rodriquez – 2B DeFusco – 3B DeMarco – P H. Takagi

Trent Brassfield continued to rake, doubling home Matt Cox in the second inning after Coxie had opened the inning with a double of his own. Rookie mistake then, however, as he didn’t go right away when Taki hit a 2-out ball to shallow center that happened to drop in. Brassfield now had to stop at third base, and there he was left on Venegas’ groundout. Two Warriors singles by Samuel and Rodriquez coupled with a clumsy error by Cox in the bottom of the inning then tied the game again right away, but at least Taki managed to pop up Nick DeMarco and get a cozy grounder from Takagi to keep two men in scoring position.

Neither lineup managed to amount to much else inside five innings, with three hits for the Warriors and four for the Critters. In the sixth, the Raccoons loaded the bases at snail pace, as Ramsay reached on a Schaack error, Gowin walked, and Pucks hit a shy single to fill the bases with one out for Brassfield, who popped out at a very inopportune moment. The go-ahead run would score on a wild pitch by Takagi, who was lifted before the inning was over after an intentional walk to Allred. Taki then struck out against righty Ivan Ornelas. Ramsay and Gowin hit singles off Ornelas in the seventh, but were stranded by Cox, and when Pucks began the eighth with a double off Jeremy Ray, the Warriors were scared enough of Brassfield to walk him intentionally. The Coons tried a double steal, but Pucks was thrown out, and then Allred walked, only for Taki to hit into a double play. Yikes…

Venegas was on base to begin the ninth, then was caught stealing, and while Taki had pitched well through eight, he would not get the ninth in a 2-1 game after 103 pitches. Kevin Daley got groundouts from Schaack and Rodriquez, then rung up DeFusco to clinch the series. 2-1 Critters. Gowin 2-4; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Taki 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (8-9) and 1-4;

In other news

August 10 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.302, 14 HR, 50 RBI) drops five hits, a homer, a double, and two RBI in a 17-11 loss to the Falcons.
August 10 – The Falcons’ C Luis Miranda (.271, 8 HR, 52 RBI) is expected to be out until late September with a strained posterior cruciate ligament.
August 11 – The Stars blow a 6-run lead over the Gold Sox in the ninth inning, but then get two walks, an error, and a hit batter off DEN CL Mike Lynn (5-6, 2.55 ERA, 26 SV) to win in a 9-8 walkoff. DAL 3B/SS/RF Leo Arguello (.238, 0 HR, 17 RBI) takes one for the team to end the game.
August 11 – OCT C Kevin Weese (.250, 3 HR, 46 RBI) has three hits and six RBI in an 18-3 rout of the Knights.

FL Player of the Week: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.355, 18 HR, 75 RBI), hitting .556 (10-18) with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.305, 15 HR, 55 RBI), socking .452 (14-31) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Nobody knows what Trent Brassfield will amount to one day, but for a 21-year-old he’s making quite the stir right now. Scouting reports wildly disagree. Hartwig gives him 11/12/18 as potential. Pat Degenhardt thought him a 13/15/12 potential. OSA right now says 13/12/13. And to be perfectly honest, any of those would be great!

The one piece that’s still no the DL now is Ken Crum. He might start a rehab assignment next weekend, and then rejoin the team the week after that.

Just a quick home series against the Rebels in Portland, and then we’ll be off to New York again. Not the nicest August schedule here, but it’s actually an even number of home and road series from here to the end of the season.

Fun Fact: Lonzo reached the top 50 in career stolen bases this week.

Tied for 50th with Miguel Martinez, who is with Cincy these days, with 306 swipes, to be precise. Of course, Martinez is 31, and Lonzo is 27 and juicy.

While Lonzo looks like he can steal 60 a year for quite a while, whether he ever reaches the top spot in career steals will also depend on Alex Vasquez of the Miners. The 28-year-old has won the steals title in the Federal League for seven straight years, scooping 60+ six times, and 66 on average in that span, but this year he sits at only 30 at this point. That would be early to get old, but regardless, he has 504 career steals, which already puts him SIXTH all time:

1st – Pablo Sanchez – 721 – HOF
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino – 708 – HOF
3rd – Guillermo Obando – 686 – HOF
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos – 677 – HOF
5th – Rich de Luna – 567 – not technically retired, but not in the majors
6th – Alex Vasquez – 504 – active
7th – Oscar Mendoza – 494
8th – Moromao Hino – 485
9th – Hugo Acosta – 476 – active
t-10th – Jesus Banuelas – 474
t-10th – Jon Ramos – 474

And what’s ahead of Lonzo?

45th – Felix Rojas – 322 – active
46th – Raúl Herrera – 321
47th – Roberto Rodriguez – 317
48th – Ross Holland – 314
49th – Adrian Reichardt – 309
t-50th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 306 – active
t-50th – Miguel Martinez – 306 – active
t-52nd – Willie Vega – 303
t-52nd – Mark Vermillion – 303
54th – Tony Romero – 300

Martinez isn’t gonna drop him back out of the top 50th, at least not in the long run; he last stole a base on July 8, had only three for the entire season, and he was currently only pinch-hitting a lot for the Cyclones. Ahead, Reichardt used to be a Titans pest, Holland was an Elks pest, and Herrera was one of those grand additions that lasted half a season in Portland in 1984.

Dallas’ Felix Rojas included, there are a total of 12 active players ahead of Lonzo, including de Luna, current Crusaders pest Andrew Russ (390), and former Raccoons shortstop Alex Adame (427), who we basically got rid off after 2049 to allow Lonzo to become the starting shortstop from then on. Adame was traded to the Thunder in a 6-player deal, the only lasting return of which, ironically, has been Prospero Tenazes.