[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-40) vs. Falcons (44-56) – July 27-29, 2055

The Falcons were eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed with a -55 run differential, but were up 2-1 on the Raccoons for the year. They were bottoms in batting average and homers, and in the bottom three in starters’ ERA and defense. But if the Raccoons had proven one thing so far this year, then that they could lose to absolutely everybody.

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (11-3, 1.76 ERA) vs. Josh Clem (2-10, 4.54 ERA)
He Shui (12-4, 3.13 ERA) vs. Alfonso Jewel (1-1, 3.78 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-6, 3.05 ERA) vs. Joe Thomlinson (2-1, 3.53 ERA)

Jewel was their left-handed gem.

Game 1
CHA: LF Kulak – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – 2B J. Sanchez – CF Burr – 3B Sanders – P Clem
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C C. Gowin – 3B Brobeck – CF Solorzano – 2B Waters – P Adkins

While I still wondered who those people in the bottom half of the Falcons were, the Raccoons got a first inning run by singles from Lonzo and Pucks, a walk issued to Danny Munn, and then a groundout by Gowin. Brobeck hit a 1-2 pitch to deep center, but it was caught by Mike Burr. The Falcons threatened for the first time in the third inning with a leadoff single hit by Cory Sanders, and then Adkins fumbled Clem’s bunt. He recovered by hanging K’s on both William Kulak and Ian Woodrome, and got a grounder to Waters from Danny Ceballos to get out of the inning. Portland made it 2-0 in the bottom 3rd, again with an RBI groundout for Gowin after a pair of hits for Pucks and Munn, although the latter was stranded on third base when Brobeck and Solorzano both grounded out.

Clem continued to leak hits; Brass and Lonzo found a single to left and a double to center with two gone in the bottom 4th, and then were both driven in when a Pucks grounder up the middle got by Woodrome, 4-0. Pucks ended the inning with getting caught stealing, though. Adkins looked strong through five, then completely glitched out in the sixth inning. He offered walks to Woodrome and Ceballos, and surrendered the runs on a double by Luis Miranda, which cut the lead in half. All at-bats in the inning were long, and his pitch count rocketed to 107 as well. He still got two more outs from Sanders and Josh Frazier to begin the seventh inning on another eight pitches, then was removed. Thankfully, the Raccoons would pick the last seven outs from Walters, Bak, and Hitchcock without major drama. Only Matt Walters put a runner on base, walking Jason Schaack with two outs in the eighth. 4-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4; Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 4-4, 2 RBI; Adkins 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (12-3);

Game 2
CHA: LF Kulak – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – 3B Sanders – CF Conner – 2B J. Sanchez – P Jewel
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – C C. Gowin – RF Munn – CF Lamotta – 2B Waters – P Shui

Ricky Lamotta never batted in this game, hurting himself on a defensive play, as he dove for and caught a Ceballos fly in the top 1st, but his head seemed to whiplash and hit the ground, and he was kinda dazed afterwards, leading to Solorzano being in centerfield when the second inning began. Nobody found a base hit in the first two innings, but the Falcons found two hits and two runs in the third inning, Woodrome doubling home both markers with two outs as Jordan Sanchez (single) and William Kulak (walk) scored. The Coons answered with leadoff singles from Shui (!) and Venegas, but then Lonzo lined out to Ceballos, Pucks grounded out, and Brassfield flew out to Ceballos again… and nobody scored.

Shui failed the bags full to begin the fourth inning, giving up clean singles to Schaack and Miranda, a walk to Sanders, and conceded two runs on a groundout by Doug Conner and another single by Sanchez as the gap widened. The Raccoons didn’t make it onto the board until the fifth inning when Venegas hit a single and Lonzo doubled him in. But again, runner in scoring position, and a loud croak from the 3-4 batters, who both made soggy outs to the second baseman, and the Raccoons didn’t rally past 4-1. Shui failed the bases full to begin the sixth *again*, walking Miranda and giving up singles to Sanders and Conner. He also worked himself out from that jam, turning a comebacker from Sanchez into a 1-2-3 double play and whiffing Jewel, but then was done for the day. Danny Munn hit a homer in the bottom 6th, 4-2, and Venegas drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, then was forced out by Lonzo, Lonzo was caught stealing, and then Pucks singled and scored on Brassfield’s double to center, 4-3. Righty Adam Haller walked Gowin, then whiffed Munn, ending the inning. ****.

That was even before the Raccoons ****** up another run in the eighth inning between Luke Ostler’s ****** tossing and an error by Matt Waters that cost a double play. Ostler walked two, and I didn’t know whom to rather drown between the two of them. Bottom 8th, a parade of relievers, and a Waters single, a pitch into Tyler Philipps’ hip, and another scratch single by Venegas loaded the bases with the tying runs and then some. Lonzo batted with one out against righty John Scott, lined out to Tim Burkhart in center, Waters went for home – and was thrown out. Steve Watson didn’t allow any more pathetic rally attempts in the ninth. 5-3 Falcons. Venegas 2-4, BB; Munn 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4;

At this point I accepted that the team was unfixable. They weren’t *great* in the slash categories, but they weren’t worse than 10th in any of them, even eighth in homers, and still BOTTOMS in runs scored.

The team was cursed, and no trade could turn them straight for the last two months. It wasn’t worth burning prospects for rentals. If the Indians collapsed even harder on their own, fine, we’d take the division crown. But I had zero confidence.

Also, Ricky Lamotta was diagnosed with a pretty bad concussion and was probably out for the season. The Raccoons didn’t have many options besides Prospero Tenazes, and instead called up Pedro Rojas in an attempt to fling something else at the wall. Pucks would go to centerfield again instead.

Game 3
CHA: 3B Sanders – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – CF Burkhart – LF Burr – 2B J. Sanchez – P Thomlinson
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Rojas – 3B Crispin – 2B Walters – C Philipps – P Taki

Pucks put the Coons up 1-0 in the first inning of the rubber game with a solo jack to right, and the Raccoons crowded the bases with a Crispin double, Waters single, Philipps getting nicked, and one out. Taki ran a full count before swinging and missing, but Brassfield laid off the junk in another 3-2 count and drew the walk for a 2-0 lead. Lonzo hit a deep fly to center, but Burkhart caught up with it and stranded three runners with a nifty catch. I calmly nommed a cookie without any booze in my paws or rage in my eyes. Maud was slightly concerned, but I explained to her that I had accepted defeat and that we just couldn’t stop the Indians. Then I was scolded for defeatism.

Munn hit his 19th homer, also a solo job, in the bottom 3rd for a 3-0 lead, only for Taki to put the first three batters aboard with two hits and a walk in the fourth inning. Mike Burr hit into a run-scoring double play, and the .105 batter Sanchez struck out to strand the tying runs in scoring position. Taki rung up eight through five innings, scattering four hits. The fifth Falcons hit was a Luis Miranda homer to left in the sixth inning, cutting the lead to 3-2. The aforementioned .105 hitter Jordan Sanchez then poked the game-tying blast in the seventh. – Okay, *fine*, Maud! I’ll have some Capt’n Coma! – Do we have … a glass or something?

The Raccoons sent Mountfuji into the eighth inning, where he got torn to pieces. Ceballos doubled. Schaack doubled. Miranda singled. Burr singled. By then there were three runs home and things just didn’t matter anymore. Ostler replaced him, got the last five outs somehow, and then a bus ticket to Florida. The Coons got Pucks to hit another solo homer off Chris Gowin’s brother Joe in the bottom 8th, narrowing the gap to two, and those tying runs reached base against Steve Watson in the bottom 9th when both Crispin and Waters drew walks. Venegas batted for Philipps, and drew *another* walk. Three on, nobody out, and Chris Gowin batting for Ostler. He found a double play, obviously, 4-6-3, with a run scoring and the tying run going to third base for Big Brassfield. Well, his name was Trent, but I was rooting for him to do things that would qualify him for a name like BIG BRASSFIELD. He struck out. 6-5 Falcons. Puckeridge 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Munn 2-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons (58-42) vs. Thunder (52-49) – July 30-August 1, 2055

The Raccoons had somehow already won the season series against the Thunder, 5-1, which contributed to the Thunder being already 9 1/2 games out in the South as the Knights threatened to run away with the division. This was the #4 offense and #6 pitching in the league, although the rotation ranked only eighth by ERA. With David Barel, Ed Soberanes, and Zach Boyer they had some significant personnel on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (2-5, 5.26 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (5-8, 4.90 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (1-1, 5.01 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (9-5, 3.37 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (12-3, 1.80 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (5-1, 4.10 ERA)

The Thunder had not played since Tuesday, being rained out on Wednesday and scheduled off on Thursday. As such, their rotation was anybody’s guess, but it started with the right-hander Llamas. The other two, who had not pitched this week either, were southpaws.

The Raccoons had returned Luke Ostler (4.50 ERA) to AAA, and added Ryan Harmer as another admittance of defeat. Raffy de la Cruz was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

The Thunder had just acquired OF/2B Dave Roura (.240, 5 HR, 37 RBI) from the Titans, parting with two prospects.

Game 1
OCT: SS Almadanim – 2B Ban – RF M. Harmon – LF D. Guzman – C Monaghan – 1B R. Cox – CF Roura – 3B J. Rivas – P Llamas
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – P Brobeck – 3B Venegas – 1B Rojas – 2B Waters

Today’s go-ahead solo homer was chucked by Gowin in the second inning, and after Matt Waters walked his way on base to begin the third inning, Pucks finally took pity on him standing out there on the field, all ignored, and singled him home with two outs for a 2-0 lead. Brobeck didn’t look too bad so far, although he had given up a double to Mike Harmon in the first inning. In the fourth, Jonathan Ban and Eric Monaghan went to the corners with singles, but Pucks tracked down Ryan Cox’ fly to end the inning just in time. Pucks struck out to strand Brassfield and Lonzo and a pair of 2-out singles in the fifth as the team failed itself along in the game.

Brobeck buckled in the sixth, offering leadoff walks to Ban and Harmon, then got some pats on the back and some kicks in the bum during a mound conference, and didn’t even break after that. He hung strikeouts on both Danny Guzman and Monaghan, and Cox popped out to Lonzo rather harmlessly, stranding the tying runs right where they were. But he didn’t get through the seventh; Roura singled and stole a base, and Hélder Almadanim drew another walk. With two outs and the switch-hitting Ban up, the Raccoons made the switch to Lillis, who bailed out to the jam with an inning-ending groundout, a roller in front of the plate that Gowin hurled to first base just in time. Bottom 7th, Big Brassfield bashed a bomb, a 2-run homer to left with Pedro Rojas on base to extend the lead to 4-0! Lillis got two more outs, Ryan Harmer struck out Monaghan, the only batter he faced, and then Bak pitched a clean ninth to complete a 5-hit team shutout. 4-0 Coons. Brassfield 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Brobeck 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (3-5);

The pitching assignment for Saturday went to lefty ex-Furball Bubba Wolinsky (6-4, 3.29 ERA).

Game 2
OCT: SS Almadanim – 2B Ban – LF D. Ramirez – CF Roura – 1B R. Cox – RF D. Guzman – C Burnham – 3B J. Rivas – P Wolinsky
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 3B Waters – 2B Knight – CF Solorzano – P Argenziano

Bubba filled the bases for the Coons without the brown team landing a base hit in the first. He walked Venegas and Big Brassfield, and plunked Lonzo, bringing up “Double Play” Gowin with one out, but to everybody’s relief Gowin struck out. So did Waters.

The Raccoons went up 1-0 eventually, with Solorzano and Venegas hitting a pair of singles and the former scoring on the latter’s with two down. The team had only one other base hit through four innings, while Argenziano shone with one hit, one walk, and six strikeouts through five shutout innings. He soon had to share the spotlight; the bottom 5th saw Venegas on with a leadoff single, and then Lonzo hit a home run to right to extend the score to 3-0! Even better, Pucks hit a single to center, and then BIG BRASSFIELD socked another 2-piece to left, 5-0, and that was the end of Bubba. Not wanting to take a backseat to all the homering, Pucks would unfurl a 3-piece with two outs in the sixth inning, finding Venegas and Lonzo on base and taking Mike LeMasters behind the shed.

With an 8-0 lead, the Coons could be lenient with Argenziano and see how far he could take his shutout bid. The Thunder didn’t get on base again until Jose Rivas hit a 2-out single in the eighth inning, but he also walked PH Dave Lee. Almadanim grounded out to Knight, but that was now already on his 110th pitch. He still got the ball for the ninth inning, but with that pitch count and the 2-3-4 batters up, the bullpen was warm behind him. Jonathan Ban grounded out to Lonzo on a 1-0 pitch. Danny Ramirez walked in a full count, however, and Roura would probably be the last batter for Argenziano. He hit a flare to left that BIG BRASSFIELD caught hustling in, and that gave Argenziano *one* more shot with Ryan Cox – just *one*. Cox popped out to Lonzo, and that was the most unlikely, bewildering shutout in a while…! 8-0 Critters! Venegas 2-2, 2 BB, RBI; Lavorano 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Brassfield 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Argenziano 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K, W (2-1);

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons made a last-minute trade after all, acquiring OF Jason Monson (.209, 4 HR, 26 RBI) from the Crusaders for 2B Joe Boese (.286, 0 HR, 1 RBI).

The Coons had been after Monson in the winter, but the Scorpions wouldn’t make a reasonable deal for him, then sent him to the Crusaders for Chris Navarro just one week into the season. He had batted .193 for New York, and they were tired of him. There was no drawback to this trade. Naughty Joe was a known quantity (and little of it), and Monson was in a contract year, and even if he didn’t hit, was still an excellent outfielder with three Gold Gloves on his shelf.

Raccoons (58-42) vs. Thunder (52-49) – July 30-August 1, 2055

Southpaw Sunday with Mike Zeigler, who we had anticipated on Saturday. Close enough.

Game 3
OCT: SS Almadanim – 2B Ban – RF M. Harmon – LF D. Ramirez – C Monaghan – CF Roura – 1B R. Cox – 3B J. Rivas – P Zeigler
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – RF Munn – CF Monson – 2B Knight – C Philipps – P Adkins

Ryan Cox’ double to center was the only base hit the first time through either lineup, and he was stranded in scoring position as Adkins got a pop from Jose Rivas, whiffed Zeigler, and got a grounder to Knight from Almadanim. The Raccoons had Monson and Knight on by a walk and a welt in the bottom 2nd, but then had Philipps ground into an inning-ending double play. Danny Munn walked in the fourth, but the Coons were hitless until Matt Knight shoved a leadoff single through the right side in the bottom 5th. The game was still scoreless then, Adkins yet to give something up since the Cox double earlier. Philipps threatened to hit into another double play, but the ball skipped under Almadanim’s glove and the Coons had another single and two Critters on base. Adkins bunted them over, then saw both of them plated; Venegas hit a sac fly to Roura, and Roura swiped but missed Lonzo’s fly into the left-center gap which became a 2-out RBI triple! Unfortunately Pucks would look at strike three in a full count to leave the runner at third base…

Oklahoma found three straight singles in the sixth inning between Zeigler, Almadanim, and Ban… but Zeigler overextended himself by bidding for a double against Big Brassfield and was thrown out at second base, and the rest of the bunch was stranded when Mike Harmon popped out.

Then Jason Monson got his first set of paws for applause in the bottom 6th. Danny Munn hit a 1-out single ahead of him, and then Monson socked a homer to left to double the score to 4-0! Not even the Agitator could talk this one down now! Hah!! Portland scored another crooked number the inning after as Venegas hit a home run, Lonzo doubled, and Pucks chipped in an RBI single off Jay Gunderson. Brassfield doubled, but Pucks only scored on Munn’s groundout to Ban, 7-0. Joe Nix replaced Gunderson, but gave up another run on Monson’s RBI single to left. Knight singled, Philipps singled and Monson scored, and then Adkins hit a ******* RBI double to right-center…! The Thunder arrived on their third reliever of the inning in Isaiah Mowatt. Venegas was unimpressed and hit another RBI single, but Lonzo finally ended the inning with a fly to Harmon. The Raccoons had shoved seven across for an 11-0 lead.

And Adkins? He was on 86 pitches, and while he retired the 7-8-9 batters in order, that cost him another 13 pitches in the eighth. We wouldn’t dare to push him to 125 pitches like Argenziano the day before, although he’d at least get the ball for the ninth inning. Almadanim singled on his first pitch in the ninth, but Monson tracked down Ban’s fly to center. Harmon chopped a bouncer back to Adkins, whose throw to second was imperfect – good enough to get the lead runner, but not good enough to get both of them as it got Lonzo out of sorts. Danny Ramirez hit a fly to deep right, but Solorzano tracked it down for the final out. 11-0 Furballs! Venegas 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Lavorano 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Waters (PH) 1-1; Monson 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Knight 2-4; Philipps 2-4, RBI; Adkins 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (13-3) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

In other news

July 26 – The Knights acquire SP Austin Wilcox (8-9, 4.85 ERA) and $3M in cash from the Falcons for five prospects.
July 26 – SP Troy Ratliff (6-6, 3.86 ERA) is traded from the Buffaloes to the Warriors in exchange for two prospects.
July 26 – The Condors send C Tim Lehman (.247, 8 HR, 45 RBI) to the Cyclones for outfielder Jamie Harmon (.241, 8 HR, 35 RBI).
July 27 – Gold Sox OF Bill Ramires (.341, 10 HR, 59 RBI) figures to be out six weeks with a strained hamstring.
July 27 – The Loggers get MR Ben Lehman (1-6, 7.40 ERA, 1 SV) from the Cyclones for a minor leaguer.
July 28 – LAP LF/RF/1B Salvatore Rodrigues (.335, 11 HR, 57 RBI) hits for the cycle in the Pacifics’ 7-1 win over the Buffaloes. The 24-year-old only gets four attempts at the plate, and converts them all. It’s the second cycle of the season after that of CIN Juan del Toro two months earlier.
July 28 – In another deal with the Cyclones, the Loggers grab back infielder Ricky Lopez (.325, 5 HR, 28 RBI) for two prospects.
July 29 – Scorpions 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.294, 1 HR, 36 RBI) is a home run short of the cycle while churning out five hits with no RBI’s but four runs scored in a 9-1 win over the Capitals.
July 30 – At age 42, INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.247, 5 HR, 40 RBI) collects his 2,500th career hit with the Capitals in a 10-5 loss to the Warriors. The milestone is a single off left-handed MR Juan Rivera (2-5, 4.76 ERA, 1 SV) in the eighth inning. Marquez, a 5-time Gold Glover, also has 1,684 career walks with a .272/.388/.397 slash and 199 HR and 1,062 RBI.
July 31 – WAS CL Tommy Gardner (4-3, 3.24 ERA, 17 SV) will miss at least one week with elbow soreness.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.298, 18 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .517 (15-29) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR OF/1B Alan Puckeridge (.275, 9 HR, 36 RBI), batting .478 (11-23) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.328, 24 HR, 76 RBI), raking .430 with 10 HR, 26 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN OF Aaron Walker (.292, 12 HR, 68 RBI), batting .367 with 5 HR, 29 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Ricardo Montoya (13-2, 2.80 ERA), going a perfect 5-0 with 1.19 ERA, 33 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Tan Brink (12-6, 2.47 ERA), going 4-1 with 1.42 ERA, 17 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW LF/3B/RF/1B Steve Dilly (.249, 12 HR, 55 RBI), batting .245 with 4 HR, 13 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT INF Hélder Almadanim (.268, 2 HR, 34 RBI), poking .297 with 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Puuuucks!

First career shutout, *obviously*, for Cameron Argenziano on Saturday. He took 125 pitches, but he has long lost prospect, or hopeful status, so I didn’t feel like we were gambling with an asset by leaving him in that long. He won’t have an extra day, either, because the Raccoons won’t have another day off until the 16th of the month.

…and only the third career shutout for Adkins, but the second with the Raccoons. Seriously, what were the Caps and Buffos doing with the kid??

I don’t recall the Raccoons ever sweeping a series without conceding a run at all. 23-0 against the Thunder on the weekend! And it wasn’t even a CLCS!!

We even rallied all the way to *11th* in runs scored. Don’t get too excited, we were all of three runs ahead of the Condors. The 10th place Titans were six markers ahead.

The Scorpions offered Steve Wyatt this week, who’s having an off year with just 10 homers on a .234 clip on Wednesday, when we had talks. He also has another $33M on his contract and I wasn’t keen on getting *that* along with a 31-year-old on an off year. Also, they wanted He Shui, so – no.

The trade for Monson was more of an opportunity, because either he’s gonna hit or he’s gonna be gone in two months anyway. I wanted him in the winter and now, I’d take him because we realistically couldn’t get anything else. Naughty Joe for his part batted .213 with 2 HR, 15 RBI for the Coons in 114 games, which somehow sounded like too many games for a player of his non-stature. He was almost 27 at the time of the trade and would have been sent to AAA soon anyway.

As mentioned a second ago, the Coons will not have an off day for another two weeks… and not a home game either. A dreadful 4-city road trip was upon us, three of the destinations being on our side of the mountains: Vegas, Elk City, Indy, and LA-LA-Land.

Fun Fact: The 1,684 career walks of Felix Marquez only rank him 15th all time.

The most walks of all time were drawn by Pablo Sanchez – 2,047! – who played until he was 45 years old and for 27 seasons in total. Sanchez was more successful as a hitter with four batting titles and three Player of the Year awards, and also stole 721 bases, leading that career leaderboard as well. Marquez was at 335 stolen bases for his career. In turn, Sanchez won only one Gold Glove.

They have something in common though: neither of them played for a Continental League team in his 20s or 30s, but both did so in their 40s! Marquez’ age 41 season was with the Elks, while Sanchez spent a year and a half with the Indians and one each with the Bayhawks and Knights, all after turning 41.

+++

Don’t wait for an update tomorrow; I’ll be gone all day for a work event. Service should resume on Saturday, unless I drink myself to death to make the pain go away.

Fun Fact: Other than the Coons GM, I’m actually a teetotaler.