[Westheim]

Raccoons (38-21) @ Gold Sox (32-29) – June 14-16, 2055

Monday brought a brief trip to Colorado (at least not Carolina…), with the Gold Sox awaiting the Raccoons. They ranked fifth in runs scored in the FL, and seventh in runs allowed. Their run differential was goose eggs. Shady rotation, but the second-best pen in the FL by ERA, so you had to get them early. You listen, boys? No heavy stomachs to begin these games! Only two lunches per snout! (heavy bickering in the back of the team bus) Like against the Cyclones, the Raccoons had not won a series against the Gold Sox since 2047, which included three two-to-one sets in the regular season, two of them in the last two years, and a crushing sweep in the 2051 World Series…

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (8-0, 1.75 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (2-8, 4.74 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 2.88 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (2-4, 3.95 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (4-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Nick Robinson (2-2, 3.45 ERA)

Left-hander on Wednesday, but two righties before that. Lonzo got a day off in this thick string of games, with Matt Knight holding down short in the series opener.

The Raccoons also returned Pedro Rojas to AAA to begin the week, since him and Rams were just standing around on each other’s hindpaws and neither of them had hit a big league homer since I had bought a new calendar. We’d throw a few at-bats at another 23-year-old, last year’s trash heap pickup OF/1B Carlos Solorzano. The Dominican left-hander could play all outfield positions reasonably well although his arm wasn’t too strong. Also not a power hitter (zero homers in 20 AAA games), but he had batted nearly .340 between Ham Lake and St. Pete since the start of the minor league season, and had stolen 14 bases.

Game 1
POR: 3B Crispin – LF Lamotta – RF Munn – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – CF Solorzano – SS Knight – P Adkins
DEN: SS B. Andrews – C Mickle – 1B Joyner – LF Ramires – 2B I. Villa – RF Angulo – 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF Frederick – P C. Jones

Hits by Lamotta and Munn and Gowin’s sac fly gave the Critters a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Sox took Adkins through the wringer for 35 pitches in the bottom 1st. Now, they didn’t score a run, they just loaded the bags on two full-count walks and a scratch hit, after which Ivan Villa popped out hiiiigh to Munn in shallow right, and Angel Angulo struck out to strand a full set. Solorzano’s debut at-bat gave him a single and his first stolen base as well, but he was left on second base by the rest of the bottom of the order. He also tracked down Blake Mickle’s drive to center to end the bottom 2nd with Angel Montes de Oca and Jake Frederick in scoring position after leadoff singles. Yeah, it wasn’t Adkins’ best start by any stretch of the imagination and vocabulary. Bottom 3rd, leadoff hits for Bill Joyner and Bill Ramires, and they were on the corners. Ugh! Villa struck out in a full count, but Angulo tied the game with a groundout this time. Frederick and Mickle then grabbed a lead with two more singles off Adkins in the fourth inning, 2-1 Gold Sox.

At that point I was just annoyed. Adkins was out after five ****** up frames and 110 pitches. Munn was on base in the sixth, but stranded, and Solorzano opened the seventh with a double to left-center. He, too, was stranded, with nothing useful contributed between Knight, Lonzo, and Crispin. The Critters’ pen chipped in three scoreless innings after Adkins’ early exit, but the offense still had to score a run and it was increasingly not looking like it. The eighth was just meh, and the ninth began with Jim Cushing and the 5-6-7 batters. Matt Waters drove another ball into the gap for another leadoff double. But now, boys! Now you score him! Ramsay singled to right, Waters was sent for home plate… and thrown out by Angulo. Solorzano and Knight went down without much fight. 2-1 Gold Sox. Ramsay 2-4; Solorzano 2-4, 2B;

*******.

Game 2
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – LF Munn – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – CF Solorzano – RF Espinoza – P Taki
DEN: SS B. Andrews – C Mickle – 1B Joyner – LF Ramires – 2B I. Villa – RF Angulo – 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF Frederick – P Foley

Taki had a clean first, but then nailed Bill Ramires with a 1-2 pitch to begin the bottom 2nd. Jake Frederick’s 2-out double scored Ramires from second base and gave Denver a 1-0 lead. Foley enjoyed that for 3.2 innings, allowing only one base hit before leaving with an injury. Reliever Andrew Clarke nailed Espinoza to begin the fifth inning, but Taki forced out the runner with a bad bunt, and then got himself doubled off first base when Crispin lined out to Joyner. Awesometastic.

There was then a rain shower between innings, which was slightly unnerving, because this was Denver, and just because it was June that didn’t mean we couldn’t get a game shortened by a blizzard, and we were down 1-0. But play resumed after a 35-minute rain delay (ruining Taki’s day, though), and the Coons went to work on Clarke. Danny Munn hit a double with one out, Gowin walked, and Waters socked another double to left to tie the score. A pair was then stranded in scoring position with Ramsay’s grounder that made it about 12 feet from home plate before being pickled by Mickle and thrown to first base for the second out. Solorzano flew out to left, and that was that for the rally. Bak held the tie in the sixth, but ex-Coon Tony Negrete struck out Espinoza, Tenazes, and Crispin in order in the seventh. Walters and Hitchcock offered more scoreless innings, but the Raccoons also failed to gain any traction through seven, eight, and two thirds of the ninth inning until an error by shortstop Marty Serna put Solorzano on base. The pitcher’s spot was next in the #8 hole, and facing Cushing the Coons went to Hernandez, who was a lefty batter with a pulse, and that was all the qualification he had. He also dished a drive to left-center for extra bases, and Solorzano dashed around the bases, and scored well ahead of Bill Ramires’ throw to the infield. Whoooey! Tenazes hit another single, but Crispin struck out to leave runners on the corners, and then Tommy Gardner got the ball for the bottom 9th. Gardner struck out Joyner and Villa… then gave up a double to Bill Ramires. Angulo was next, but swung and missed three times, and that evened the series. 2-1 Coons. Hernandez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

The Raccoons would send Humberto Hernandez (.308, 0 HR, 2 RBI) back to AAA after this game, because Pucks could be activated from the DL.

Also, the Raccoons would be up against a spot starter for the rubber game, as the Gold Sox enlisted the services of Jonathan Fenton (0-1, 9.00 ERA). The 31-yeaer-old would make his third career start, all this season.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – CF Lamotta – C Philipps – P de la Cruz
DEN: SS B. Andrews – C Mickle – 1B Joyner – 2B I. Villa – LF Ramires – 3B A. Montes de Oca – RF N. Aguilar – CF Frederick – P Fenton

Doom befell the Raccoons early on Wednesday, as Raffy de la Cruz threw four pitches – all balls – to Brent Andrews for a walk, then decided nope, and left the game with Luis Silva. Brilliant. The Raccoons went to Tapinaki, who would pitch two innings, but surrendered Andrews’ run with a Bill Joyner single and Ivan Villa’s groundout which scored the game’s first run from third base. After that, Kyle Brobeck had to come in for long relief, because there wasn’t enough bullpen available otherwise. Ivan Villa drove in another run off Brobeck with a 2-out single in the bottom 3rd, but that run was unearned thanks to a Crispin error that had put on Blake Mickle in the first place. Villa would not let go – while the Raccoons drew blanks exclusively against the scrappy, to be charitable, Fenton, Villa would power a 3-run homer off Brobeck in the fifth inning as things just continued to collapse. Brobeck would at least pitch 4.1 innings to keep the pen together – never mind that we now didn’t have a starter for Thursday. He also had one of only two hits against Fenton through seven completely pathetic innings, and when the eighth inning began with a walk drawn by Matt Waters, a Ramsay single, and then a 3-run bomb to left for Ricky Lamotta, everybody was somewhat stunned, but the Gold Sox quickly recovered and hung two runs on Lillis in the bottom 8th when he just couldn’t seem to retire anybody. 7-3 Gold Sox.

Well, that sucked.

There were multiple roster moves on the way home, all related to injuries. First, Raffy was placed on the DL with a sore shoulder, and Luis Silva opined that he would be able to get him back into shape by the resumption of play after the All Star Game, but I was secretly working on a plan to collect insurance. Brent Cramer came *off* the DL, and the Raccoons optioned Carlos Solorzano (.222, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to AAA. What we needed was a starting pitcher for the opener against Elktown.

Jesus Guzman was my no means major league ready at age 24 and a 6-3 record and 4.44 ERA in St. Pete, but he was the next guy in line and sometimes you had to bend over and take it, as Cristiano told me. He was a lefty signed for $33k in the July IFA period eight years ago, who had moved up the minors rather silently.

Raccoons (39-23) vs. Canadiens (29-36) – June 17-20, 2055

The Elks had lost five games in a row, so were due a rebound. They had also two of three to the Coons so far this year, so were due a rebound. The Elks had sunk to the bottom of the division, so were due a rebound. And here were the Coons, with a roster in disarray, facing the #4 offense and #9 pitching in the CL. The run differential was only -1 for Elk City, so they were due a rebound.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Guzman (0-0) vs. Anton Jesus (4-4, 4.70 ERA)
He Shui (7-3, 3.39 ERA) vs. Hyuma Hitomi (3-6, 4.28 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (8-1, 1.85 ERA) vs. Adam Middleton (4-5, 4.69 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (3-6, 4.03 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers coming up against us in this series. Also no Damian Moreno (on DL), nor Kyle Hawkins, perhaps, the latter having left his last game with an injury, but there were no news about that so far.

Game 1
VAN: SS Mullen – 3B Adame – 1B Wheeler – RF A. Walker – CF T. Turner – LF Magnussen – 2B Uranga – C Julio Diaz – P A. Jesus
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 2B Knight – CF Cramer – P Guzman

Guzman was chopped apart into his constituent parts without much fuss in the first inning. Dan Mullen, Alex Adame, and Aaron Walker quickly pumped out three hits and two runs on Walker’s 2-run single, and it only got worse from there. Tim Turner walked, Adam Magnussen walked, Jorge Uranga doubled home two, and Julio Diaz’ groundout plated Magnussen for a 5-0 score. Guzman would go on to tie a franchise record with eight walks in a start without getting shot in the face with the blunderbuss. He walked four straight with two outs in the second inning, giving up one more run, then added two zeroes, but also two mores walks, before being yanked after four innings to be sent back to AAA and hopefully never be seen again.

The Coons actually scored some runs in the bottom 4th after being blanked out by Jesus the first time through. Gowin singled, Munn doubled, and the runs scored on Rams’ groundout and a 2-out single for Matt Knight to shorten the score to 6-2. While the Raccoons emptied their pen for the second time in a row, they also reached the halfway point for a rally with Pucks singling, advancing on a Gowin groundout, and scoring on Munn’s single in the bottom 6th, 6-3. The tying run appeared in the box by the following inning, as Cramer and Espinoza took to the corners with leadoff base hits against Jesus, but only the former scored on a groundout by Crispin before the inning descended into a pile of meh. Lonzo whiffed, and while Pucks hit an infield single, Gowin grounded out to Dan Mullen to strand runners on the corners. The Raccoons never allowed another run, getting scoreless relief from Bak, Pucks, Sencion, and Gardner – all for the bum when they ran out of offense and didn’t get on base in the eighth or ninth innings anymore. 6-4 Canadiens. Puckeridge 2-4; Munn 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Sencion 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

It didn’t get better. While we disposed of Guzman right away, Tyler Philipps woke up wheezing and freezing on Friday and was diagnosed with bronchitis. He’d spend the rest of the weekend inhaling Luis Silva’s personal weeds mixture under a blanket, and the Raccoons needed to grab another catcher when what they really needed was more arms. Didn’t help, though – perpetual third catcher Jeff Raczka was called up.

Game 2
VAN: 1B Wheeler – 3B Adame – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 2B Aparicio – SS Mullen – LF J. Caballero – CF T. Turner – P Hitomi
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – RF Munn – CF Lamotta – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – P Shui

The Raccoons bitterly needed a long, sturdy outing from He Shui, and hey, maybe even a W! Tim Turner’s sac fly in the second inning, plating Tony Aparicio – age 41 – after Aparicio and Dan Mullen had both singled to begin the inning. Portland prepared an answer in the bottom of the inning when they got the bags loaded with Gowin, Lamotta, and Ramsay, and one out. Matt Waters grounded to Aparicio, and the old man could still spin a 4-6-3 double play with the youngest of them… Worse yet, Shui would hit a single to begin the bottom 3rd then but was also stranded on base as the entire lineup seemed to have crapped out all at once.

At least Shui’s pitching held up. He allowed only three base hits through five innings, and then the Raccoons finally rallied in the bottom 5th. Rams and Waters reached base to begin the inning, and were bunted into scoring position by Shui. Crispin’s sac fly tied the game, and Lonzo – plunging his average with a terrible 0-for-20 slump right now – dropped a single into right to bring in Waters with the go-ahead run. Lonzo stole second, reached third when Pucks reached first on an Aparicio fumble, and then Chris Gowin hit an RBI double to left. Munn sent home two to score with a single to left-center, and Hitomi for the showers, too. Ben Arner got a groundout from Lamotta to end the 5-run inning.

Also gone was Jeff Wheeler, who doubled off Shui in the sixth inning, but jammed his thumb sliding into second base and left the game for Juan Aragon to replace him. Aragon was stranded on base, while the Coons got hits from Rams and Crisps and a run in the bottom 6th. The Coons ran Shui until he was obviously out of gas after 6.2 innings. He nailed Mullen to begin the seventh inning, then gave up the run on a 2-out hit by Uranga. Aragon walked, and the Coons had to get Shui and bring in the pen. Takenori Dillydally gave up a 2-run double to Alex Adame to draw some ire from his GM, because that narrowed the score to 6-4. Tristan Waker struck out to end the ******* inning. The eighth was calm, after which the Coons went back to Gardner, who had not had any problem in last night’s ninth inning. Julio Caballero, who made his debut in this game and went 0-for-4, whiffed, but then Tim Turner singled. Diaz grounded out. Aragon flew out to Munn in fairly deep center. 6-4 Raccoons. Gowin 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Ramsay 3-4;

The weather on Saturday would not be up to allowing any sort of baseball being played in Portland, and the game was postponed into a double header on Sunday. Brobeck would have gotten a start at third base on Saturday, but was removed from the lineup on Sunday, since he was scheduled to start the Monday game against the Loggers. Daniel Espinoza won the assignment.

Game 3
VAN: CF J. Caballero – SS Mullen – 1B Wheeler – RF A. Walker – 3B Adame – LF Magnussen – 2B Aparicio – C Julio Diaz – P Herman
POR: CF Lamotta – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – 3B Espinoza – P Adkins

Dan Mullen’s homer gave the Elks a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. Both teams had a pair of 2-out singles in the first inning, but neither managed to tack on. The Coons then entered hibernation, while Adkins tried his best. Aparicio drove in a run in the fourth inning to score Adam Magnussen and his double, but those were all the hits the Elks had through eight innings against Adkins, but the Raccoons couldn’t gain any traction against Terry Herman. They had four hits by the stretch, one of them by Adkins, and hadn’t reached third base yet.

Adkins whiffed eight in his start, but didn’t get any help and was still on a 2-0 hook when he was hit for in the bottom 8th. Tenazes flew out in his spot, in what was another hapless 1-2-3 innings against a dominant Herman. Matt Walters held the line in the ninth inning, while Herman returned for the bottom 9th to face the 2-3-4 hitters. Lonzo grounded out. Pucks grounded out. Gowin grounded out. 2-0 Canadiens. Adkins 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L (8-2) and 1-2;

(calmly unscrews a new bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Game 4
VAN: 1B Wheeler – 3B Adame – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 2B Aparicio – SS Mullen – CF T. Turner – P Middleton
POR: 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – SS Knight – CF Cramer – C Raczka – P Taki

Wheeler opened with a double and this time stayed in the game. He would score on Tristan Waker’s sac fly to put the Coons into yet another early 1-0 hole, but at least Taki made it out of the inning before it could get really awful. Waters and Munn hit singles to make up the deficit right away in the bottom 1st, though; Pucks’ groundout moved Waters into second base to facilitate that awesome rally. Come the bottom 2nd, Knight drew a leadoff walk and reached third base on Cramer’s single. Jeff Raczka whiffed, but Taki snuck a single into right to give himself a 2-1 lead…! That inning continued with an RBI double for Crispin, a 2-run single for Waters, a groundout for Pucks, and after Munn hit a shy 2-out single that held Waters to third base, a Ramsay double to left. Waters scored, 6-1, but Munn was thrown out at the plate trying to make it a run from first base. Magnussen told him off.

So what was the worst that could happen with a 6-1 lead after two innings? Well, Tristan Waker hit another sac fly in the third inning, getting home Adame, so it was only 6-2 anymore. But the Raccoons’ 2-3-4 batters churned out three 1-out singles against Dan Lawrence in the bottom 4th to create a threat with Rams batting, but he found Aparicio for another depressing 4-6-3 double play. The Raccoons stranded two more in the fifth, Cramer and Raczka, although the latter had only reached on an error by Dan Mullen. Taki gave up a third run by sac fly in the seventh inning, this time to Wheeler’s fly to right after Juan Aragon had ripped a pinch-hit triple. Raczka reached on an error again in the bottom 7th, then by Aparicio, misfiring on his 2-out grounder to prolong the inning, while Brent Cramer, who had doubled, went to third base. Lonzo batted for Taki, slashed a single up the middle, and drove in Cramer with a tack-on run. Alex Mancilla struck out Crispin to end the inning.

Top 8th, Lillis rung up Magnussen, but gave up a single to the switch-hitting Waker. Hitchcock entered as scheduled, gave up a 2-out single to Aparicio, but struck out Mullen to get out of the inning. Sencion got the ball for the ninth inning. Julio Diaz hit a 1-out double off him, but two strikeouts and a grounder by Adame ended the game and split the series. 7-3 Critters. Waters 3-5, 2 RBI; Munn 3-5, RBI; Knight 0-1, 3 BB; Cramer 3-4, 2B; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, RBI; Taki 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (6-4) and 1-3, RBI;

In other news

June 16 – ATL RF/LF Pat Stipp (.237, 4 HR, 23 RBI) drives in six runs from the leadoff spot with four hits in an 18-3 socking of the Scorpions.
June 16 – Aces OF Ken Hummel (.375, 1 HR, 17 RBI) has broken his foot and is going to miss a month.
June 17 – TOP SP Angelo Munoz (7-4, 2.90 ERA) will miss at least three weeks with a herniated disc.
June 18 – The Loggers trade LF/RF Eric Cobb (.276, 3 HR, 11 RBI) to the Bayhawks for INF Adriano Chavez (.222, 0 HR, 1 RBI) and a prospect.
June 19 – Sacramento loses OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.365, 2 HR, 31 RBI) for the season; the 32-year-old is laid up with a fracture in his knee.
June 19 – The Knights’ Bruce Mark jr. (4-4, 4.11 ERA) and two relievers pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Falcons, who only get a double from RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.321, 2 HR, 35 RBI) in the 3-0 Knights win.
June 19 – It takes 12 innings for the Blue Sox to beat the Capitals, 1-0. NAS OF/1B Edwin Flores (.275, 5 HR, 27 RBI) doubles home the winning run in the top of the inning.
June 20 – Next blow for Sacramento: SP Mike McCaffrey (5-3, 3.16 ERA) is also out for the season with a case of shoulder inflammation.

FL Player of the Week: PIT C Wade Gardner (.310, 7 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .471 (8-17) with 2 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT C Eric Monaghan (.274, 9 HR, 35 RBI), batting .435 (10-23) with 4 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Jeff Raczka is back! Not to crap on Jeff, but he’s doing scratch duty up here while Philipps is down with lung disease for the seventh straight season. When you pass through waivers that often, it says something about your playing prowess.

He does blend in nicely, though. We mentioned Lonzo being in a terrible slump (two hits and one bag taken all week), but there’s still a lot more shrugs and blows and puffs around this roster. Right now, nobody has a better OPS+ than Danny Munn, and he’s only at 109. He’s also hitting .228. Waters is terrible. Rams is terrible. We’re at a point where Ricky Lamotta with a 100 OPS+ almost counts as revelation and/or a great investment. Perhaps Trent Brassfield and Anton Venegas could fix a thing or two, but the former was at least one week and perhaps two away, and Venegas was not likely to return before the weekend, and to be honest, both should get a few games of rehab in AAA at least before coming back…

For consolation: the double header on Sunday will not create even more problems with the rotation than we already have. Thursday will be off, so that will reset Adkins to start Friday’s game on regular rest. That still doesn’t make me feel any fuzzier about what we might have in the Loggers series that starts on Monday: Brobeck, [blank], and then Shui.

We didn’t feel like a team that’s last in runs scored at least at the start of the month, but right now it’s becoming more and more noticeable.

It’s also one of those pleasant four-city road trips to Milwaukee, Vegas, San Francisco, and then New York. We’ll be back home only next month.

Fun Fact: The list of pitchers to offer eight walks to the opposing team in a single game is long and Brown.

Three of the pitchers – nine total – were named Brown, including a Hall of Famer:

Juan Berrios (1980)
Ramon Ocasio (1981)
Logan Evans (1981)
Nick Brown (2002)
Chris Brown (2015)
Travis Garrett (2024)
Darren Brown (2034)
Jared Ottinger (2038)
Jesus Guzman (2055)

None of them dared to do so in their major league debut, though.