[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Continental League beats the Federal League, 4-1, in the annual All Star Game. MVP honors go to the Aces’ Aubrey Austin, who hits a 2-run home run.

For Portland, Josh Abercrombie plays the entire game, batting 1-for-3. Sean Sweeton rescues Will Glaude from a sticky fourth inning, getting one out with the bases loaded to escape, while Takenori Tanizaki pitches a scoreless sixth, and Matt Walters picks up the save with two strikeouts in the ninth inning.

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While all that was going on, the Raccoons signed international free agents RF/LF Jose Corral for $350k and SP Carlos Gomez for a whopping $900k, sending Steve from Accounting home with a headache. We had now blown well and truly through the soft cap, ensuring the max penalty for signing free agents next year, and since we were also 11 games out in the division with little hope of scratching our way back in, there was no reason why we shouldn’t blow the rest of the budget on the sixth player we’d been after, SP Franklin Hell, as well. That particular Venezuelan right-hander was still listening to offers as of the All Star Game.

Raccoons (46-43) @ Titans (39-50) – July 12-15, 2057

7-1 the Raccoons led the Titans this year, which sounded like a lot, and I had yet to work out why we were trouncing Boston so heavily in the last couple of years; it was 54-26 Raccoons since 2053, and that was with an actual losing effort last season. Right here and now, Boston was still batting a pathetic .235 as a team, ranked tenth in runs scored, and fifth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (7-8, 4.02 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (8-7, 3.27 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (9-6, 2.76 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (6-7, 4.21 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (9-5, 2.55 ERA) vs. Medardo Regueir (6-7, 3.09 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (1-1, 3.75 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (2-4, 5.65 ERA)

From the Titans: two right, two left.

The Raccoons carried only these four starters and Brobeck right now. Monday would be off, so a fifth-man solution would not be required until next Saturday, and who knows what the roster would look like at that point.

Game 1
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – 2B Labonte – P Taki
BOS: 1B I. Santiago – LF Ma. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – CF Weir – C Burkart – 3B W. de Leon – SS B. Andrews – 2B J. Watson – P Koga

Portland pieced two runs together from three singles and two stolen bases in the first inning as Lonzo forced out Callaia with a grounder to short, but then stole his 31st base of the year before being singled home by Abercrombie, who stole second base himself with two down, then was driven in by Pucks. Taki was being Taki again, though, and gave back a run on three singles in the bottom 1st, and was generally whacked around a bit once more. Even though Gaudencio Callaia extended the lead to 3-1 with a home run in the third, Taki didn’t look remotely comfortable out there, gave up a leadoff single to Matt Gilmore in the bottom 3rd, and a 2-out RBI double to Bruce Burkart in the gap before even walking Willie de Leon. Brent Andrews then grounded out to short to end the inning.

The Coons tacked on runs in the fourth, when Pucks hit a leadoff single and with two outs was brought in from third base by Koga with a wild pitch; and in the fifth, which Lonzo led off with a single, and the bases filled up with Abercrombie’s infield single and a walk to Pucks before Brobeck hit a sac fly to Hector Weir in center. Many more runners were frittered away, just like most of the resulting 5-2 lead, when Burkart drove in Eric Whitlow and Hector Weir with a 1-out single in the bottom 5th when Taki gave up three knocks in a row again. The Titans tied the game for good in the sixth inning; Ethan Torrence doubled off Taki, who was then sent to his room to think about what he had done, and Gilmore singled in the tying run with two outs against Ricky Herrera.

Brass and Pucks hit leadoff singles against Matt Otte in the seventh inning before Brobeck, Chavez, and Bribiesca made three outs on four pitches, which was staggering, while singles by Burkart and Brent Andrews upended Tanizaki in the bottom 7th, the shortstop driving in the go-ahead run for Boston with two outs. That 6-5 lead was blown by four different relievers in the top 8th, however, as a parade of pitchers for the Titans put Callaia and Abercrombie on the corners before right-hander Bryan McDuffie gave up a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run, 2-base knock over the head of centerfielder Antonio Cruz to flip the score around. Mike Lane held on in the eighth, but Matt Walters was taken deep by Whitlow in the ninth, sending the game to extra innings…

In overtime, the Titans’ previous loosey-goosey approach to bullpen management put starter Ryan Musgrave (6-7, 4.21 ERA) on the hill by the 11th inning. The Coons, on the other paw, had to work with Alex Mancilla by then, so I was not quite sure who had it worse now. The road team for sure struggled to get on base, although Marcos Chavez was on briefly in the 12th inning with a single, at least for a few seconds until he was thrown out trying to make it a double. Musgrave’s third inning, the 13th, began with a single by Steve Royer from the #9 spot, and the runner advanced on Callaia’s groundout. Lonzo came through with a single to left, sending Royer around third base to score and break the 7-7 tie. He then stole second base, and Abercrombie walked behind him. The snag: Mancilla was in the #4 spot, and there was only Ruben Zamora left on the bench, and the pen was thin, but if we weren’t going for it now, when then? Zamora hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, while Pucks walked, but Richard Anderson lined out to short to end the inning. Eloy Sencion then got the ball; it was him, Bowen, and the remaining starters at this stage. And it was Musgrave who led off the bottom 13th in the box… and singled to center. Bother! Sencion struck out Israel Santiago, while Gilmore hit into a fielder’s choice at second base. Whitlow ended the game with another K. 8-7 Critters. Callaia 2-5, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Abercrombie 3-6, BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 3 BB, RBI; Chavez 2-6; Labonte 0-1, 2 BB; Mancilla 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-2);

What a good way to come back from three days’ rest…

Game 2
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – CF Caballero – 3B Brobeck – LF Abercrombie – C Chavez – 2B Bribiesca – P Adkins
BOS: LF Weir – 3B B. Andrews – RF Whitlow – SS Sowell – C Burkart – 1B I. Santiago – 2B J. Watson – CF Torrence – P Regueir

Callaia reached second base on a throwing error by Andrews to begin the game, but after Lonzo singled to move him to third base, Callaia was thrown out at the plate as he tried to score on Brassfield’s fly to Weir. Caballero would get on with another single, but Brobeck flew out to end the top 1st. Adkins continued his pre-All Star Game trend of throwing too many pitches to not enough batters, needing 47 tosses for three scoreless innings, scattering two singles and a walk amidst a bunch of long counts. The Coons gave him a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Brobeck singled home Brass and Caballero as they whacked three straight hits off the lefty Regueir, while Adkins gave up a leadoff single to Whitlow in the bottom 4th, had to work around that, then spent the bottom 5th engorging himself with three long counts against the bottom of the order, walking Ethan Torrence to my annoyance. Andrews drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, but was doubled off when Whitlow *smacked* a ball right at Callaia on the first pitch. An error by Brobeck in the seventh also didn’t help to speed things up, and while Adkins eventually had seven-and-a-third shutout innings on his ledge, if seven-and-a-third shutout innings ever deserved to be marked with an asterisk, it was these.

Regueir refused to give up anything much after the Brobeck knock for the Coons’ only two runs, and McDuffie added two shutout innings after Regueir’s seven fine frames to keep the Raccoons close. John Scott got two outs after Adkins departed, but this time the Titans didn’t bring up Eric Whitlow in the ninth against Walters, and were instead sat down orderly to end the game. 2-0 Coons. Caballero 2-4, 2B; Adkins 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (10-6);

Game 3
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – 1B Brassfield – LF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 2B Bribiesca – C Zamora – P Sweeton
BOS: 3B Torrence – 1B Ma. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – SS Sowell – C Burkart – LF Y. Valdez – 2B B. Andrews – RF I. Santiago – P V. Scott

The Raccoons drew two walks in the first inning, but couldn’t get a knock to score anything. Boston instead went up on Yoslan Valdez’ homer in the second inning, 1-0, and while the Raccoons came back to tie the game right away with two outs in the third on Lonzo’s infield single and Brassfield’s gap triple, Sweeton kept struggling. He put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom 3rd before striking out Whitlow … but not until after a wild pitch had already scored Santiago with the go-ahead run, and Ken Sowell’s leadoff triple in the fourth also led to another Boston run on Bruce Burkart’s sac fly to center. The Coons then reached peak pawpalm in the bottom 5th as Sweeton walked Vic Scott to begin the inning, Brobeck threw Torrence’s grounder to second base when he had no play there, and the free runners also came around to score on two groundouts (Scott) and Sowell’s 2-out single, 5-1.

Puzzled by the ’53 Critter Scott, the Raccoons ended up having Brobeck pitch in a lost cause in the seventh inning after Sweeton was dug out of a jam by Ricky Herrera in the sixth. Brobeck offered a bunch of walks in two scoreless innings, which was the sort of “oh well” pitching that we still tried to get used to halfway through the season. The Coons couldn’t touch Scott through eight innings of 4-hit ball, then came up against the lefty Otte in the ninth. Abercrombie hit a leadoff single… and that was as good as it got, with meek outs from Brobeck, Caballero, and Bribiesca afterwards. 5-1 Titans.

Game 4
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – C Chavez – 2B Labonte – 3B Anderson – P Carreno
BOS: 3B Torrence – 1B Ma. Gilmore – CF Whitlow – SS Sowell – LF Weir – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – RF Y. Valdez – P Glaude

Will “How’s He Doing It??” Glaude (6-6, 1.93 ERA) struck out six in the first three innings and got a 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st when Carreno clumsily walked Matt Gilmore before giving up back-to-back doubles to Whitlow and Sowell. When Carreno wasn’t throwing meatballs he was actually halfway decent, striking out six Titans through five innings, even though that took him 77 pitches, and while the Raccoons were doing next to nothing against Glaude, who through five innings rung up eight Critters against three singles and a walk. The tying runs were on to begin the sixth though, with a walk to Callaia and Lonzo getting nipple-tickled with a wayward changeup. Abercrombie and Brassfield also ran 3-ball counts, using them to hit into a fielder’s choice and finally a double play.

Chavez’ double and Anderson’s RBI single in the seventh knocked out both pitchers, as the Titans went to Otte with two outs and the Raccoons sent Caballero to bat for Carreno, but he flew out to Whitlow and the tying run was left on base. Whitlow then homered off Tanizaki in the eighth, giving the Titans an insurance run. They sent out right-hander Alex Diaz for the ninth inning against the 4-5-6 batters. Two full counts resulted in Brass popping out and Pucks walking, after which Chavez was all too eagerly grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. 3-1 Titans. Callaia 1-2, 2 BB; Chavez 2-4, 2 2B;

In other news

July 10 – In one of the league’s more Dadaist moments in history, SFW 3B/SS Julio Moriel (.316, 0 HR, 26 RBI) slips and falls off the fan stage outside the ballpark at the All Star Game, messing up his shoulder in the process. He’s out for the season.
July 12 – MIL SP Julian Dunn (10-7, 4.10 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Crusaders for a 2-0 win, striking out eight batters.
July 12 – The Capitals trade INF Alejandro Silva (.301, 2 HR, 37 RBI) to the Wolves for a prospect.
July 12 – Wolves 1B Belchior Fresco (.277, 8 HR, 48 RBI) is going to miss a month with a broken thumb.
July 12 – The Thunder and Bayhawks have a 1-1 tie through nine innings, both score three runs in the 10th inning, another run in the 12th inning, and then silence holds lease until OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.239, 4 HR, 36 RBI) hits a walkoff RBI single for a 6-5 win in the 20th inning.
July 13 – Blue Sox SP Mike Chartrand (12-6, 3.23 ERA) strikes out nine Cyclones in a 3-hit shutout, claiming the 9-0 win.
July 14 – The Wolves acquire SP Alfredo Llamas (3-8, 4.30 ERA) from the Thunder while parting with five prospects. The highest-ranked prospect in the package is #141 SP Gabe Ortega.
July 14 – The Aces send 3B Jeremy Welter (.226, 1 HR, 17 RBI) to Los Angeles for two prospects including #193 ranked outfielder Steve Humphries.
July 15 – LAP RF Matt Diskin (.331, 11 HR, 47 RBI) is expected to miss six weeks with an oblique strain.

FL Player of the Week: SAL 1B Jose Campos (.429, 3 HR, 8 RBI), batting .538 (7-13) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN CF Damian Moreno (.270, 13 HR, 48 RBI), hitting .389 (7-18) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Uhm. Anybody remember Daniel Benitez, who we signed for $240k and sent straight to Aumsville last week? He did his first start that week, striking out nine Crestview Partisans in seven innings without allowing an earned run! … He also blew out his elbow and his out for the next 12 months.

Sometimes it’s just not your day, or your week, or your month or your year, huh?

Damn Elks and Thunder on the road next week.

Fun Fact: I have yet to tell Nick Valdes that we have already blown over $2M on the international free agent pool.

$2,487,000 to be exact, including $875,000 tax. The bidding war for SP Franklin Hell is approaching the million bucks mark.

Steve from Accounting has breathing problems. Won't anybody think of the books!?