[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-51) vs. Rebels (60-59) – August 17-19, 2054

The Rebels ranked fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed in their league, with a +47 run differential. The bullpen was a problem with a 4.41 ERA, almost a full run higher than a sturdy rotation that continuously had their good work undone. The offense was kinda one-sided: bottoms in OBP and stolen bases, but tops of the league in round trippers. The last meeting between these two teams had resulted in the Raccoons sweeping Richmond in 2052.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (11-7, 3.57 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (9-10, 3.25 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (7-9, 4.31 ERA) vs. Eric Braley (7-8, 3.71 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (2-4, 4.82 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (11-8, 4.07 ERA)

Jackson was another southpaw to contend with. The Rebs had no injuries at all right now.

Game 1
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – RF W. Sanchez – LF Leal – CF Cooke – SS A. Murillo – C S. Acosta – P Wilcox
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Wheatley gave up leadoff doubles in the first inning to Jorge Henriquez, and again in the third inning to Steven Acosta, but neither of them got around to score; Acosta was even thrown out at third base when Wilcox knocked his bunt attempt quite hard back to Wheatley, who had time to make the toss to third base. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom 3rd, which started with a Wheatley single. Venegas forced him out with a grounder to short, but then stole second base to make amends. Harry Ramsay’s 2-out double to right brought him home with the game’s first run, but Chris Gowin grounded out to end the inning. Two Raccoons reached base the same way their first two times up in the game: Brassfield and Wheats; the former reached on errors twice, and the latter knocked two singles – the second time through the stars aligned, and Wheats plated Brassfield’s unearned run for a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Venegas left Allred, who had walked, and Wheats on base with the third out, but the Rebels opened the fifth inning with three straight hits off Wheatley, plating a run and putting the tying run in scoring position once Acosta doubled in Manny Cooke. From there, poor outs by Wilcox, Henriquez, and Danny Espinosa, who whiffed, kept the remaining runners stranded and Wheats kept a 2-1 lead by the middle of the fifth. Maud took the bottle of booze away from me, as if I didn’t have more hidden around the office.

The Rebs made their third error of the game in the bottom 5th, when Henriquez flubbed Matt Cox’ 2-out grounder that could have ended the inning and stranded Rams and his 1-out single on base. This allowed Pucks to come up and crank a 3-run homer to right, which put the score at 5-1 and Pucks merely 21 homers behind his 2053 output. The next two innings were calm, and Wheats was still going in the eighth inning, getting a K on Jose Ortiz to begin the inning, but then surrendered a triple to Henriquez in right-center. He hung around to get Danny Espinosa on a comebacker, but then made way for Eloy Sencion and Dave de Lemos by a double switch, as the Rebs brought their 3-4-5 batters to the plate, all hitting .277+, all with 14+ homers, including 21 for Mario Delgadillo, which was more than anyone in the Continental League had, and certainly more than any Critter. Delgadillo grounded out to strand Wheats’ runner, and while Sencion offered a leadoff walk to Willie Sanchez in the ninth, he retired the next three to finish the game. 5-1 Raccoons. Ramsay 3-4, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (12-7) and 2-3, RBI;

Wheatley was now unbeaten for more than three months, winning 12 straight decisions, with six ho-hums mixed in. I was giddy and invaded the clubhouse after the game, giggling and tickling and pinching him in the fuzzy cheeks. It probably bewildered him enough to do his utmost to finally lose one to get me off his fur.

Game 2
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – CF J. Gutierrez – LF Leal – SS Dau – RF Cooke – C S. Acosta – P Braley
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Pickett

Delgadillo gave the Rebs the lead with a sac fly in the third inning after Braley and Henriquez had gone to the corners against Pickett. The inning ended with Jose Gutierrez popping out, and then the Raccoons drew leadoff walks off Braley with Knight and Pickett in the bottom 3rd. Venegas tied the game with a double to right, and Lonzo put Portland up 2-1 with a single to left. He then stole second, and Braley lost Ramsay on balls, which got us to the dreaded three on, no outs stage. Cox and Brassfield both hit sac flies, 4-1, after which Braley offered another quadruple of balls to Pucks, then got burned on an RBI double zinged to left by Philipps. Knight grounded out, ending the 5-run onslaught. Braley had five walks and no strikeouts on his ledger at that point.

Pickett would dismiss outright eight batters in 6.2 innings, but once he hit 100 pitches, his offerings went squidgey and he gave up singles to Jason Noble and Henriquez to put runners on the corners. The Raccoons went to Hyun-soo Bak, and he tipped the Rebels’ inning with an easy flyout by Danny Espinosa. The score was still 5-1, with no tally outside the third inning… at least until Lonzo got on base with a single in the bottom 7th, stole second, made up another seventh of a furlong on a wild pitch, and scored on Ramsay’s groundout.

Bak threw for four outs, getting the Coons’ 6-1 lead through eight, but what was smooth sailing right there turned into a nasty shipwreck on the Western Rocks in the ninth. Alfaro got the ball, and got Manny Cooke out before Acosta homered, 6-2. Jose Ortiz singled, and a walk to Henriquez brought in Hitchcock. Espinosa whacked a 3-run homer immediately. While I accepted my fate and death by drowning, groundouts by Delgadillo and Gutierrez made the Raccoons get away with a skinny win after all… 6-5 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, RBI; Pickett 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (8-9) and 1-2, BB;

The Coons took back first place in the division on Tuesday. Suck it, Elks!!

Antonio Alfaro (0-2, 6.00 ERA) was axed again after this disaster, and the Raccoons would have another look at Jim Larson, who held a 2.66 ERA in St. Petersburg.

Game 3
RIC: 2B Henriquez – 3B Espinosa – 1B Delgadillo – CF J. Gutierrez – RF W. Sanchez – SS Dau – LF Cooke – C S. Acosta – P B. Jackson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P de la Cruz

Raffy remained a mess, allowing a leadoff single to Henriquez, a walk to Espinosa, and a run to score on Gutierrez’ groundout in the first inning, then Brian Jackson to single home Manny Cooke with two outs in the second. While the Raccoons made up the deficit in the bottom 2nd as Cox doubled and the 8-9-1 batters hit straight singles, RBI’s to de Lemos and Venegas, Lonzo then killed the inning with a 6-4-3 double play grounder when Raffy looked like he could definitely use more runs.

Delgadillo drew a leadoff walk in the top 3rd and was singled home by Willie Sanchez, 3-2 Rebs, and de la Cruz also lost Todd Dau on yet more missed throws. Cooke popped out, Acosta struck out, but it was painful to watch. He needed *71* through three innings. Jackson hit a leadoff single off Raffy in the fourth, but was doubled up on a Henriquez grounder. Raffy would limp through five ****** innings, and was taken off the hook when the Raccoons scratched out a run in the bottom 5th, putting up four singles, but stranding three runners when Matt Knight grounded out to short to leave Rams, Brassfield, and Coxie on base.

From there, Brobeck pitched three innings, but not without giving up a run in the seventh, walking Pedro Leal, pinch-hitting in the #1 spot, and giving up a the run on Delgadillo’s single. The Coons had the tying run on third base on Brassfield’s 2-out triple, but stranded him just the same as Matt Knight and his leadoff single in the eighth. It only got worse in the ninth, where Jim Larson faced five batters and retired but one of them. Espinosa and Delgadillo hit singles, while Jose Ortiz and Jose Gutierrez both reached on Lonzo errors. Lillis replaced Larson and got two strikeouts to get out of the damn inning, while Lonzo opened the bottom 9th with a single off longtime-Critter Nelson Moreno, who put the tying run on base with a walk to Ramsay. Gowin grounded out another one in a full count – ah **** it, three on and no outs. (calmly gets up and packs booze and Honeypaws for the upcoming road trip) Brassfield struck out, which shocked nobody, but Cox hit a clean RBI single to center. At that point, Pucks batted for Knight, while Allred ran for Gowin, who was the winning run on second base. When Pucks knocked a grounder hard to a drawn-in Delgadillo, who threw out Ramsay at home, Allred carried the tying run on third base… Two outs, Ed Crispin batted for de Lemos and ended the game – with a single to right! Allred in to score, and Cox was right behind him, having taken a liberal lead at second base. Willie Sanchez’ throw was well late, and the Critters walked off to complete the sweep…! 6-5 Raccoons. Venegas 3-4, RBI; Lavorano 2-5; Brassfield 3-5, 3B; Cox 3-5, 2B, RBI; de Lemos 2-4, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Sweep!

Raccoons (70-51) @ Crusaders (62-59) – August 21-23, 2054

Weekend set in New York, where the Crusaders had yet to give up hope, and indeed they had been further behind the first-place-again Raccoons last year than they were this Friday morning, although this time there were another two teams in between. Plenty of games between all contenders left, though – the Raccoons in particular had another 16 games left with contenders after this three-game set. New York had only a +8 run differential, though, sitting second in runs scored, but second from the bottom in runs allowed. Their rotation was the main problem, having the worst ERA in the CL at 4.56, and the pen could not contain all the damage. The season series was even at six.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (12-7, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (9-8, 4.02 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (8-9, 3.64 ERA) vs. Alex Murillo (6-7, 5.10 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-7, 3.46 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (6-11, 4.96 ERA)

The Raccoons would not see a left-hander, nor 15-7 Ben Seiter, who had pitched on Wednesday. Seiter’s 3.96 ERA led the staff.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – P Shui
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P J. Johnson

Johnson struck out the first three Critters, but balked home Chris Gowin in the second inning to tie the game after Gil Cabrera had hustled out a run with a leadoff double, third base taken by force, and a sac fly for Omar Sanchez in the bottom 1st. Raul Sevilla and Prince Gates went to the corners with nobody out, getting a walk and single, respectively, in the bottom 2nd, but Mike Seidman’s infield pop and two strikeouts bailed Shui out of that inning. Portland went up 4-1 in the third inning instead. Shui’s leadoff single and Lonzo’s single with one out set up Ramsay, who cranked a 3-piece over the fence in right, although the Crusaders answered with a 2-run homer mashed by Danny Rivera in the bottom of the same inning, Shui having walked both Cabrera and Sanchez, although Cabrera had been thrown out trying to nip second base. Gates hit a leadoff single in the fourth, but was also caught stealing. Oscar Caballero plonked a homer off the left foul pole to knot the score at four after all, however.

Johnson was already pinch-hit for after the Caballero homer, while Shui continued in the bottom 5th… but didn’t finish it, failing the bases full with a hit and two walks before being dug out by Hitchcock, who got a groundout from Gates to end the inning on his only pitch of the inning. Ramon Montes de Oca had already gone the fifth for New York, but his first pitch in the sixth was hit over the wall by Chris Gowin, 5-4. From there, Hitchcock pitched a scoreless sixth, same for Sencion’s seventh, but Sencion hung around to give up a leadoff single to switch-hitter Raul Sevilla in the bottom 8th, and when Bak replaced him, Gates hit another single. Seidman’s groundout advanced the runners, and Caballero’s sac fly to center tied the game anew. Aaron Kissler grounded out to end the inning.

From there, extras; the Coons had Suzuki reach on an error and steal second in the ninth, but Willie Cruz struck out everybody else that dared step up, and Bak and Lillis held the Crusaders away in the bottom of the inning. Only Prince Gates reached with an infield single in the tenth inning, and the Coons still couldn’t reach against Ryan Sullivan in the 11th. The Coons put in Larson for the bottom 11th. Caballero grounded out, but Ken Mills, another former Critter, crashed a homer to right to end the game. 6-5 Crusaders. Gowin 2-4, BB, HR, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 2B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – P Taki
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P A. Murillo

Brassfield narrowly missed his first career homer when he clanked a leadoff triple high off the wall in left-center, but was at least driven home by Crispin with a 1-out single. Suzuki also reached, but Taki struck out and Venegas grounded out to keep those aboard.

Taki didn’t allow a hit the first time through, but Andrew Russ, the miserable shadow on humankind’s collective soul, hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th to dismiss any notions. He also stole second and reached third when Gowin’s throw got away from Lonzo, but when Omar Sanchez flew out to Brassfield and Russ went for home, the rookie threw him out at the plate! Hah! Stick it, Russ!! Hah!! – And yes, I’d definitely pay for that, and probably soon. Apart from that, Taki was sawing off the Crusaders like it was the easiest thing ever. The Coons’ offense didn’t amount to much besides the second-inning run, but the Crusaders had only four shy singles off him, but also only two strikeouts. Five broken bats though, and incessant weak contact. Taki was breezing through the innings so fast, he completed eight innings in an economical 81 pitches. A tack-on run would have been nice, but the Raccoons couldn’t find another run. Taki thus entered the bottom 9th with no cushion, facing the top of the lineup. Gil Cabrera grounded out to Lonzo. Andrew Russ grounded out to Crispin. And Omar Sanchez – … walked. Danny Rivera singled, and with two on and the switch-hitter Raul Sevilla up, the Raccoons sent Eloy Sencion to exploit his weak side. The Crusaders answered with Chris Navarro to pinch-hit to exploit Sencion’s left-handedness. Navarro hit the 2-1 pitch to deep left. Brassfield back, on the track – and he had it! 1-0 Blighters! Suzuki 2-2, BB; Taki 8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (9-9);

Rubber game, and back to the UNDEFEATABLE Wheatley!

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Wheatley
NYC: CF G. Cabrera – 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – C Seidman – LF Caballero – P Sopena

The Coons scored first when Gowin scored from second base on a 2-out single by Suzuki. When Allred doubled to right, Suzuki tried to do the same, but was thrown out convincingly by Rivera. Wheats in the third and Ramsay in the fourth then both hit leadoff singles, but both were doubled up by the next batter in line, respectively. Wheats allowed two hits the first time through, but struck out nobody and seemed to rely too much on the defense for comfort, especially the outfielders. He was also talking to Dr. Padilla between innings there, and then retired Russ to begin the bottom 4th, but then waved for Dr. Padilla again. I fainted immediately, even before Dr. Padilla took him out of the game. Brobeck replaced him, gave up a single to Omar Sanchez, but then struck out two to get out of the inning.

The Coons went to 2-0 in the fifth on Crispin’s leadoff double and two productive outs. Brobeck singled with two gone, but was left on by Brassfield, but that lead went bust when Brobeck allowed a walk to Sanchez and a homer to Rivera in the bottom 6th, but he continued to pitch through the seventh, at least keeping the game tied while I sobbed for Wheats’ untimely demise.

Top 8th, Allred drew a leadoff walk from Sopena, then stole second. Brobeck still batted, grounding out to second to move the go-ahead run and a potential W to third base. Brassfield bashed a ball all the way to the fence in left … but had that one caught by Caballero. Allred scored, however, and the Raccoons were up 3-2. Hitchcock held the New Yorkers away in the eighth, while the ninth went to Daley. Rivera struck out. Sevilla flew out to left. Gates grounded out to Lonzo. 3-2 Coons! Allred 1-2, BB, RBI; Wheatley 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1; Brobeck 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (5-4) and 1-2;

In other news

August 18 – SAC OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.323, 0 HR, 27 RBI) hits his 2,000th career hit in a 4-3 loss to the Falcons. Gonzalez, 31, played exclusively for FL West teams in his 12-year career, winning a batting title and four Gold Gloves while hitting .309 with 54 HR and 669 RBI.
August 18 – VAN CF Damian Moreno (.297, 9 HR, 57 RBI) hits a second-inning single in a 5-4 defeat to the Cyclones, extending a hitting streak to 20 games.
August 18 – WAS SP Kyle Turay (14-8, 3.99 ERA) is out for the year, undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow.
August 22 – Vegas UT Jim White (.294, 8 HR, 68 RBI) ends a 15-inning game against the Thunder with a walkoff home run for a 4-2 Aces win.
August 23 – The hitting streak of VAN CF Damian Moreno (.303, 9 HR, 59 RBI) stretches to 25 games with a single in a 5-1 win over the Indians.

FL Player of the Week: SAC SS/3B Alex Adame (.334, 3 HR, 45 RBI), tapping .652 (15-23) with 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA OF William Kulak (.249, 4 HR, 22 RBI), hitting .375 (9-24) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(wipes tears away) Apparently, Wheats is suffering from nothing worse than forearm tendinitis. He will go to the DL, but should be as good as new after 15 days away. Brobeck might take the spot start(s) till then, because the AAA starters are all… not really making a convincing application.

Wheats’ unbeaten streak is now 19 games, even though he left Sunday’s game with the injury. I talked to him between starts this week and he thinks of an extension in the 5-yr, $23M neighborhood. Both Eric Hartwig and Cristiano Carmona were telling me no in unison. Both saw him coming apart quite early at age 34, and neither wanted him to be committed to forever.

Normally we would have returned Brassfield to AAA to preserve his rookie status for next year, but right now he’s quite indespensible to keep the lineup cycling. And we’re juuuust in first place.

Tough scratching next week: the Raccoons have to play the best team in either division that’s not them, first the damn Elks in Frostville, and then the Thunder at home. This could easily break our first-place run.

Fun Fact: 65 years ago today, Salvador Vargas knocked out six hits in a 5-3 Titans win over the Canadiens.

Vargas was a right-handed outfielder that played from 1985 to 1998, mostly with Boston. He was an All Star once in 1994 with the Wolves, but never led the league in any category. He batted .300 seven times, but never packed much power, with a career-high of 14 home runs in 1993 and 1995, and didn’t steal more than 11 bases in a single season, either.

For his career he batted .298/.347/.420 with 100 HR, 803 RBI, 1,663 hits, and stole 67 bags.