[Westheim]

Luis Silva reported that Cameron Argenziano had a sore thumb and would be day-to-day for a few more days. He’d not miss a start; Monday was off, and from there he was on the tail end of the line anyway.

Raccoons (71-46) vs. Miners (55-60) – August 17-19, 2055

The Coons had a 6-game winning streak, and the Miners had a 5-game winning streak. Something’s gotta give here, and with the #9 offense and #5 pitching of the Federal League producing only a -3 run differential, perhaps it would be them. Last time these teams met, the Miners swept the Raccoons in 2052.

Projected matchups:
Kennedy Adkins (14-3, 1.57 ERA) vs. Victor Salcido (8-7, 3.82 ERA)
He Shui (15-5, 3.06 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (9-5, 3.87 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (8-7, 3.35 ERA) vs. Josh Swindell (3-8, 5.79 ERA)

The Raccoons continued to not draw any left-handed starters.

Game 1
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – CF Abercrombie – 3B Corrales – LF C. Jimenez – 1B Abecassis – C Lefebvre – RF Thomason – P Salcido
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – 1B Ramsay – 2B Walters – P Adkins

Ryan Spehar found the gap for a first-inning double and was singled home by Victor Corrales for a quick 1-0 deficit, but there was reason to believe that Adkins wouldn’t surrender any more, and Danny Munn’s 2-run homer in the bottom 1st flipped the score already. Trent Brassfield had opened the bottom 1st with a double. But Adkins did not not surrender any more… not; the Miners saw something in his delivery and kept hitting flies to deep right for threats. They didn’t get any hits in the second and third innings, but both Corrales and Alex Abecassis got doubles to tie the game in the fourth inning. Abecassis hurt himself and was replaced by Bill Hartman.

The Raccoons didn’t have much after Munn’s 2-piece in the first and Munn’s double in the fifth inning, which came with Pucks on first base and nobody out. Pucks made a bad step and stumbled half the way from second to third base, preventing him to score on the play, but hey, two in scoring position and nobody out! The Miners were mean beans, though, walked Chris Gowin intentionally to put the Raccoons into the three on, no outs trap, and here was the pitcher batting – Brobeck popped out, Rams hit into a double play, and I just hated life in general.

Pittsburgh answered with three singles to take a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, and chewed up Adkins to the point where he had 108 pitches on the odometer in what was really a mediocre start. Waters drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 6th, and then Venegas batted for Adkins and singled to center to put the go-ahead run on base. Brassfield scratched out a soft single on a 3-2 pitch, but Waters was held at third base against the strong arm of Chris Jimenez. There it was again – three on, nobody out. Lonzo grounded a sharp one to short that Spehar fired home to force out Waters, and then Victor Salcido struck out both Pucks and Munn to strand another three runners. Of course, when the Miners loaded the bases in the seventh inning with a single, two walks, and two outs against Eloy Sencion, and the Coons moved on to Zikizaki, Bobby Murillo snapped a pinch-hit 2-run single to put the ******* game away. 5-2 Miners. Brassfield 3-5, 2B; Munn 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Gowin 2-3, 2 BB; Venegas (PH) 1-1;

Gah.

Game 2
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 3B Corrales – 1B Mayorga – CF Abercrombie – LF C. Jimenez – C W. Gardner – RF Thomason – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 3B Venegas – 1B Ramsay – 2B Walters – P Shui

Portland did the early scoring on Wednesday; both Munn and Rams reached with bloop singles in the second inning before Matt Waters thumped a 3-run homer to take an equally-sized lead, and then the fourth inning came around with singles from Munn, Venegas, and Rams again, the latter hitting a 1-out single with the other pair on the corners, dinking it behind Spehar to extend the lead to 4-0. Waters hit another single to center, filling the bases, but Shui rumbled into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Pucks doubled home Lonzo in the fifth inning to knock out Jeff Johnson for Eddie Sotelo; Lonzo had stolen second base, nipping his 50th of the year in his second try in the game, having been thrown out two innings prior.

Shui threw a 1-hit shutout through five, and the only Miners batter to reach with a base hit, Vasquez with a single in the first inning, was caught stealing. But the Miners put Wade Gardner, the former Critter, on base with a sixth-inning single, and another ex-Coon, Nick Thomason, forced him out with a grounder, but was then bunted to second. Vasquez snipped a single to center, plating the runner, 5-1, and then stole second base, but was left on when Spehar flew out to Danny Munn. Josh Abercrombie drew the first walk off Shui in the seventh, but was also caught stealing to then end the inning anyway. Shui still had a 3-hitter through eight innings, but also had thrown 95 pitches. We’d *try* him in the ninth inning, but the pen was up and ready. Bill Hartman grounded out easily on the first pitch of the ninth inning, but Vasquez then dropped a single behind Lonzo. Spehar was Shui’s last batter and grounded to Waters. Throw to Lonzo, throw to Rams – ballgame! 5-1 Raccoons! Ramsay 3-4, RBI; Waters 3-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Shui 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (16-5);

Game 3
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 3B Corrales – 1B Abecassis – CF Abercrombie – LF C. Jimenez – C W. Gardner – RF Thomason – P Swindell
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – CF Monson – C Philipps – P Taki

Taki struck out five and walked one (Thomason) in the first three innings, but also needed almost 50 pitches to get that far, so I wasn’t mad about Shui having pitched a complete game the day before. The same three innings, the Raccoons scattered three hits for no greater good and didn’t score either. Top 4th, Spehar opened with a single past Waters, and then Corrales drew a walk. I sighed, and Maud walked in at just the right time with fresh muffins to distract me. Abecassis struck out, but Josh Abercrombie singled through the right side. Spehar went from second base, but was thrown out at the plate by Danny Fun! Taki ended the inning with a K on Chris Jimenez, stranding a pair. A throwing error by Anton Venegas made the fifth inning just as difficult, with the go-ahead run stranded at third base, and it all further escalated to where Taki needed 85 pitches through five innings.

Bottom 5th, Monson drew a leadoff walk, but didn’t get the jump he needed to steal a base, which would have come handy here. Philipps singled to center, though, and Taki bunted the runners into scoring position for Brass, who ran a full count, then eventually walked. Okay, Lonzo, we need a ******* base hit here. (gets another blueberry muffin stuffed into the snout by Maud to curtail the bad language) … The count ran full between Swindell and Lonzo, and Lonzo fouled off the first 3-2 offering. The second one was knocked forwards and upwards, and to deep center. Abercrombie was one the run, jumped and reached, missed it, then ate some dirt, while the ball went to the wall and Lonzo notched a bases-clearing double!

Taki went into the seventh, but walked Wade Gardner to begin the inning. Thomason flew out, and normally Taki would have been lifted by then, but the Miners weren’t batting for Swindell because they were anticipating the reliever to come in. And the Coons didn’t send a reliever because they were anticipating the pinch-hitter. So those two pitchers, neither of whom felt this was still his spot to be in, had another at-bat, with hesitation. Taki got two strikes, then a grounder to short that Lonzo turned for a double play, giving Taki seven very laborious shutout innings. Swindell then got stuck another run on back-to-back 2-out doubles by Brass and Lonzo for a 4-0 lead in the bottom 7th. Pucks lined out softly to keep Lonzo on base. Lonzo still had all the team RBI’s at that point, but a solo jack Matt Waters hit off Tony Martinez in the eighth inning took that distinction away from him. Walters and Bak got the last six outs without major trouble to put the game away for a series win. 5-0 Furballs. Lavorano 2-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Philipps 2-3; Taki 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

Raccoons (73-47) @ Crusaders (63-58) – August 20-22, 2055

The Raccoons hadn’t been particularly good this year against the New Yorkers (6-5), who had to start sweeping the top two in the division if they still wanted to get into the playoff fight, but as of now they were 10 1/2 games out. But we all knew the leads that the Raccoons liked to blow to the Crusaders… New York ranked fourth in runs scored and third in runs allowed with a +47 run differential (Portland: +130). They were missing starter Dave Washington and outfielder Oscar Caballero on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (5-6, 4.66 ERA) vs. Alex Murillo (4-11, 4.48 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (3-1, 2.91 ERA) vs. Neil Hamann (6-4, 3.63 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (14-4, 1.67 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (9-8, 3.61 ERA)

Hey there – a southpaw! That would be Hamann in the middle game.

Then, for problems, Friday’s opener was rained out and we got a double header on Saturday, with our two worst starters up. That wasn’t the first time this had happened this year. The Coons ended up changing the pitching assignments to get Brobeck to face the left-hander Hamann, paired with Tyler Philipps, who was the best option to bat ninth without being an actual pitcher.

Game 1
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Munn – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Monson – P Argenziano
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – CF G. Cabrera – SS Z. Suggs – LF Culp – 3B Gates – 1B E. Stevens – RF Buss – C Seidman – P A. Murillo

An Omar Sanchez double past Munn and a Zach Suggs single in front of Munn gave the Crusaders a first-inning run, but the Purple Poopers also hit into a double play to end this and the following innings, while the Raccoons found singles from their 8-9 batters and then a huge 3-run blast by Brassfield to left in the top of the third for a 3-1 lead. Lonzo got on base afterwards and was left on base, then did one better in the fifth inning after Brassfield hit a leadoff single. Lonzo tripled into the gap to extend the lead to 4-1, and scored on Munn’s single to center, 5-1, after Ramsay had grounded out to first base. That was the end for Murillo, who had surrendered ten hits in 4.1 innings. Argenziano meanwhile didn’t get a K until the fifth inning, but was also holding the Crusaders remarkably short after the first-inning hiccup. Omar Sanchez hit an infield single to begin the bottom 6th, but was then caught stealing as the Crusaders continued to have things go wrong. Meanwhile for Lonzo, it continued to go right. He batted with Monson and Brassfield in scoring position and two outs in the eighth inning, and hit a single to left-center off Jim White to drive home two more runs. The Crusaders had pairs on base in the eighth and ninth innings, once courtesy of Argenziano and once of Ryan Harmer, but still didn’t get anybody home. Mike Seidman struck out to leave Erik Stevens and Jeff Buss in scoring position to end the game. 7-1 Raccoons. Brassfield 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Lavorano 3-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Ramsay 2-5; Monson 2-5; Argenziano 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (4-1) and 1-3;

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – P Brobeck – RF Monson – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – C Philipps
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – CF G. Cabrera – SS Z. Suggs – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – LF Culp – 3B Gates – C Reese – P Hamann

Lonzo singled and stole second in the opening frame of the nightcap, but the rest of the team had trouble keeping up and he was kept on base. Brobeck hit a single to begin the top 2nd, but was also not supported by the rest of the crew, then gave up a run in the bottom 2nd, which he started quite terribly by nailing Raul Sevilla and walking Nate Culp. Even with that invitation, it took the Crusaders a 2-out RBI single from their own pitcher Hamann to drive in a run. Omar Sanchez grounded out to leave a pair on the corners. Brobeck kept leaking runners; two singles in the third, and then a leadoff single by Prince Gates and four straight balks to very light hitting Justin Reese in the fourth. Hamann popped up a bunt attempt, Sanchez grounded into a fielder’s choice to Knight, and Gil Cabrera bounced out to Venegas. Brobeck was trying his best to get turned inside-out, but the Crusaders weren’t getting over the hump against him.

Well, they still led 1-0, though, and then the fifth inning began with a single for scarcely-used Prospero Tenazes, and a four-pitch walk to Knight, just like the previous Crusaders inning. At 0-2 to Philipps, Hamann threw a wild pitch to put the runners into scoring position. But now, boys! Now you gotta score them! Philipps grounded to Suggs, which got the tying run home, and Suggs lost the ball on the transfer for an error, allowing Philipps to reach as well. Knight got home by Venegas… but that was with Venegas hitting into a 6-4-3 double play. Sigh.

Brobeck offered two more walks to begin the fifth inning, SOMEHOW got out of the jam with a 2-1 lead and Monson racing down Prince Gates’ drive to deep center to keep the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but his pitching was so awful that he was not invited back for the sixth inning, even against the shoddy battery. He got one more turn at-bat, though, hitting a single with two outs and nobody on, and Monson grounded out to end his day.

The Crusaders eventually did tie the game in the seventh inning against Kazinori Kawasaki, who offered a single to Zach Suggs, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to Danny Rivera in quick succession, all of which sugged. Justin Reese then whacked a leadoff double of Kawasaki in the bottom 8th after the Raccoons had once more stranded Lonzo in scoring position in the road half of the inning. We were ready to send Lillis until Jeff Buss, a righty stick, pinch-hit for the pitcher and then had the current pitcher face one more. Buss hit a sharp grounder to Venegas, who picked, turned, and tagged out the advancing Reese, while Buss was safe at first base. Instead, Lillis imploded, walking Omar Sanchez, and giving up hits to Suggs and Rivera, which sugged, and gave the Crusaders a 4-2 lead. Bak had to get out of the inning, and then the Coons faced their former haphazard closer Willie Cruz. Crispin singled to right, bringing up the tying run with Munn pinch-hitting for Monson, but whiffing. Tenazes singled to center. Waters batted for Knight and flew out to left. Ramsay batted for Philipps and whiffed. 4-2 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4; Crispin (PH) 1-1; Tenazes 2-4;

To be honest, there was a metric crap ton of missed chances on both sides, so it wasn’t like we were cheated out of one here.

Rubber game!

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – P Adkins
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – CF G. Cabrera – SS Z. Suggs – LF Culp – 1B Sevilla – 3B Gates – RF D. Rivera – C Seidman – P Seiter

After Brassfield drew a leadoff walk to begin the game and got exactly nowhere with it, the Raccoons put their slowest runners on base in the second inning, and then actually got Gowin to score from second base on a Venegas single to right-center for a 1-0 lead with one gone in the second inning. That was all through five – neither team had more than two hits, and Adkins also had only one strikeout, but at least was efficient and got weak contact as opposed to Tuesday, where the Miners were hitting him easily. He needed just 51 pitches through five.

But then came the sixth inning. Omar Sanchez opened with a single to center, and then Cabrera and Culp filled the sacks with walks. Adkins got to 0-2 on the next two batters, and struck out Gates, but not Sevilla, who had already singled in the tying run. Danny Rivera grounded to Waters for the third out and were now tied after six, with Adkins suddenly up to 76 pitches… Seidman hit a leadoff single then in the next inning, but was doubled up by Seiter’s bad bunt and the game remained tied through the seventh inning. Both hurlers were still going in a tense eighth; the Coons drowned 1-2-3 with their 1-2-3 in the lineup, but Suggs singled to center with one down in the bottom 8th. Culp shot the next pitch at Waters for a 4-6-3 double play on which both runners were beat by at least 30 feet, which sure sugged… for them.

Willie Cruz was back in the ninth inning, getting quick outs from Munn and Gowin. Then Waters singled to center. Then Rams singled to right-center. Then Venegas singled to left-center. Waters went from second base, was waved around, and scored just ahead of Cabrera’s throw to break the tie…! Ramsay also went to third base, while Tenazes batted for Adkins, but popped out. The Coons went to Hitchcock, who had been wrapped in foil all week, and popped out Buss to begin the bottom 9th. Gates grounded to Lonzo for the second out. Danny Rivera was suspiciously batting seventh despite sitting around the .300 mark and 15 homers. Hitchcock got him to 1-2, then gave up a game-tying blast to right. Seidman reached on a Waters error, but Erik Stevens grounded out to Venegas to send the game to extras, where the game didn’t hang around for too long before Eloy Sencion gave up singles to Omar Sanchez to begin the 10th and to Nate Culp to end the 10th… 3-2 Crusaders. Venegas 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Adkins 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K;

In other news

August 16 – Pacifics SP Omar Vargas (6-6, 6.19 ERA) is done for the year, having been diagnosed with radial nerve compression.
August 17 – Wolves SP Blake Sparks (9-9, 2.76 ERA) will try to rehab a partially torn UCL over the winter and come back for Opening Day.
August 18 – NAS C Jose Cantu (.305, 16 HR, 70 RBI) chips in three extra-base hits and six RBI in a 16-2 rout of the Crusaders.
August 18 – LAP C Chris Maresh (.254, 2 HR, 26 RBI) hits a 3-run homer for the only scoring in a 3-0 win over the Condors.
August 19 – ATL 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.295, 9 HR, 39 RBI) would miss two to three weeks with a lat strain.
August 19 – The Pacifics take 17 innings to down the Condors, 6-3. They score three runs in the ninth, and another three runs in the 17th inning.
August 21 – The season of DAL SP Rich Morrall (4-14, 5.58 ERA) ends with ruptured finger tendons.
August 21 – The Pacifics beat the Stars, 1-0 in 10 innings. LAP 1B Chris Rice (.286, 12 HR, 53 RBI) drives in the game’s only run with a 2-out double in the top of the tenth.

FL Player of the Week: DEN RF/LF/1B Nelson Aguilar (.371, 5 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .464 (13-28) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.276, 15 HR, 65 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The inability to find a ******* closer that doesn’t ******* **** up ever five ******* minutes. That one’s driving me mad.

Where are the Grant Wests of modern times???

I can’t even… I am raging mad right now about that Sunday game. On the last strike! ON THE LAST ******* STRIKE!!! (tries to strangle Hitchcock while Brass and Pucks try to pull him off the right-hander)

RAH!! … (hiss!!!) … Loggers and Baybirds at home next week. So that means I can’t even claim “oh well, nothing good ever happens at the Bay” when we’re not even playing at the ******* Bay!!

Fun Fact: 17 years ago today, the Condors’ Alvin Zuazo hit for the cycle against the Bayhawks.

Zuazo went from a scouting discovery out of Venezuela signing for free with the Condors to winning a World Series with the Stars 20 years later, and in between was a rather reliable first baseman with some good offensive seasons, who somehow won only one Platinum Stick while batting .270/.343/.393 for his career. He led the FL in RBI in 2046, driving in 117 runs for the Cyclones, which at age 36 was also his best season for homers with 22. He landed 1,703 hits overall with 133 HR and 792 RBI. He also stole 158 bases.