[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-57) vs. Miners (61-58) – August 13-15, 2057

Last FL opposition of the year, and Pittsburgh was second in the FL East, eight games behind the Blue Sox. I wasn’t quite sure how they were going to catch up though, given that they were merely average in both runs scored and runs conceded, with a tiny +10 run differential. Even the Raccoons did better, with a +37 mark. There were some major injury problems for the Miners, who were without He Shui, Rafael Mendoza, Alex Abecassis, and Alex Vasquez at this point. The Coons had beaten them, two games to one, in series in both of the last two years.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (0-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (11-7, 3.01 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-5, 6.55 ERA) vs. Jeff Crowley (9-10, 3.85 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (1-1, 3.50 ERA) vs. Felix Castano (7-10, 4.23 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers lined up to face the Raccoons, including Sweeton, who had gone 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA since being traded away at the deadline.

Game 1
PIT: 2B C. Jimenez – LF J. Garza – 3B Corrales – 1B D. Williams – SS Spehar – RF B. Rivera – C W. Gardner – CF Thomason – P Sweeton
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – RF Griggs – CF Royer – C Zamora – 3B Bribiesca – P Sensabaugh

The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 1st, but failed to score when Royer grounded out and left Labonte, Brassfield, and Griggs stranded, while Sensabaugh managed to walk the bases full with nobody out in the second inning. Dustin Williams, Ryan Spehar, and Bobby Rivera were all lined up for the exclusively ex-Coon bottom third of the order, which of course didn’t end well for the Miners. Wade Gardner hit a sac fly, Nick Thomason hit into a double play, and Sweeton didn’t get a turn. Sensabaugh went on to test my patience further with a walk offered to Chris Jimenez in the third inning, but then picked off the runner to end the inning after a pop by Jose Garza. Bottom 3rd, bags full again, as Sweeton walked Lonzo (!) and Abercrombie, and Brassfield hit a scratch single, all with one out. At this point, both pitchers had issued four walks and had no strikeouts to their name. Griggs’ sac fly to center was as good as it got, however, and Royer grounded out to first to end the inning.

Ryan Spehar and Paul Labonte both hit 2-out RBI doubles in the fourth inning, plating their team’s third baseman, Victor Corrales and Arturo Bribiesca, respectively. Both teams put a pair on and stranded them in the fifth, as the score remained rigorously tied. Spehar singled in the sixth and Gardner hit a long drive to left, but Abercrombie picked the missile off the fence to end the inning. Instead, the Raccoons took the lead in the bottom 6th when an off-the-rolls Sweeton issued his sixth walk, leading off against Bribiesca, who was then doubled home after being bunted to second base, again by Labonte. Abercrombie singled home the extra run, 4-2, but Brassfield flew out to centerfielder Nick Thomason, who then opened the seventh with a jack to left. Sensabaugh got two more outs, then yielded for Ricky Herrera against Garza, who struck out to end the inning.

The Coons went on to get Griggs and Royer on base a the start of the bottom 7th, then made three miserable outs against lefty Matt Stephens to not score, whilst Tanizaki fudged up three hits to have Wade Gardner tie the score in the top of the eighth. After Tanizaki got an out from Jimenez to begin the inning, Walters kept the game tied in the top of the ninth inning, with Royer leading off the bottom 9th against right-hander Cruz Madrid, who registered three easy outs in order, two grounders to second base flanking a K on Zamora. Walters had a scoreless tenth, but the Coons couldn’t hit a bloody thing, and the game dragged on. Lane had a scoreless innings, Sencion had a scoreless inning, but still no Raccoons offense anywhere in sight, and so Sencion had to come back for the 13th inning and was taken deep by Spehar to break the tie. He then also failed the bags full with another single and two walks, but Jose Garza grounded out to Brassfield just in time to end the inning. Another ex-Coon waited in the bottom 13th, with the 5-4 lead going to Mike Lynn. Labonte led off with a single to right. Lonzo grounded out, advancing the runner. Abercrombie singled to center, scoring the runner. And we were tied again…! (neither his nor Honeypaws’ whiskers move)

Scoring the winning run now, despite a walk to Brassfield, would have been a bit much, so Griggs lined out and Royer grounded out to move the game to the 14th. Sencion gave the last bit he had for a third inning. Todd Oley pinch-hit for him and hit a 2-out single off Lynn, then stole second. Labonte walked. And Lonzo grounded out to short. And now what? Mancilla and Bravo had both pitched long outings on Sunday in that **** show AND two days in a row, so they were unavailable. John Scott took the ball as the last reliever on duty. Brobeck had been used to pinch-hit earlier, so he was no longer available. Thus, Argenziano was sent to the bullpen to warm up, which in this case was *fine*, since he was generally expendable anyway. In the event his arm came off from abuse, he wasn’t even insured for that. Because… it’s Argenziano!

Thomason singled and was caught stealing against Scott in the top 15th, while Abercrombie hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, but Brassfield mashed into a 6-4-3 double play. Scott found another inning in his arm, but that was gonna be that. The Miners were on Lynn’s FOURTH inning in the bottom 16th, and while he walked Zamora, Espinoza forced out the lead runner, and then Scott came to bat, because there wasn’t anybody left to pinch-hit, not even pretend players like Brobeck. He grounded out. Then came Argenziano, on two days’ rest. Oh it’s fine! Just pretend it’s a bullpen session! He sure did; Peter Bivens, playing rightfield for a few hours by now, hit a leadoff double, Spehar walked, and then Trevor Niemiec found a double play and Gardner grounded out to Lonzo. Speaking of Lonzo, he singled to knock out Lynn with one out in the bottom 17th, then stole second base. He moved to third on Abercrombie’s grounder against Dale Mrazek. Brassfield grounded up the middle; the ball was cut off by Spehar, and the throw to first was – not in time! Walkoff on an infield single…! 6-5 Blighters. Labonte 4-8, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Lavorano 3-8, BB; Abercrombie 3-7, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Oley (PH) 1-1; Walters 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Scott 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

So that’s a W for Argenziano (2-1, 3.32 ERA), and two L’s for the Raccoons, who were now without a bullpen for Brobeck’s start and without a starter for Wednesday altogether. Argenziano’s reward was going on waivers because we needed a fresh arm, even if that fresh arm was Colby ******* Bowen.

Lonzo stole three bases in the game – more than we had extra-base hits, which was only the pair of Labonte doubles – but was sore on Tuesday and got a day off. No point in willfully breaking Lonzo. We’re already willfully breaking all our pitchers.

Game 2
PIT: RF Bivens – LF J. Garza – C Monaghan – 1B D. Williams – SS Spehar – 3B Henriquez – 2B Niemiec – CF Thomason – P Crowley
POR: 2B Labonte – RF Griggs – LF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – P Brobeck – C Chavez – CF Oley – SS Bribiesca – 3B Espinoza

When I told Brobeck that he wouldn’t come out of the game until he allowed seven runs, I meant it as a threat, not as a challenge. But he pitched his usual dreck, although admittedly the error made by Todd Oley, overrunning one of the three singles in the inning for extra bases, didn’t exactly help. The Miners took a 2-0 lead in the inning, then sat up camp in scoring position right away in the third inning. Jose Garza singled, Eric Monaghan doubled, two on and nobody out. Dustin Williams then lined out to first, Spehar popped out to second, and Jorge Henriquez grounded out to third for three outs in order, none of which got a run home. The Miners went up 3-0 in the fifth as Bivens drew a leadoff walk and scored on Williams’ 2-out single, while the Raccoons’ first hit was Brobeck’s leadoff homer in the bottom 5th, shortening his own hook to 3-1.

Brobeck lasted seven innings rather than seven runs, but the offense also mounted only three hits to the Miners’ three runs. Bravo pitched a scoreless eighth, though it wasn’t pretty with a walk and two flies to the warning track. The tying runs then reached the corners with singles from Espinoza and Labonte in the bottom 8th, and nobody out. Yes, boys, time for a choke job! Griggs grounded out to third base, with Henriquez hustling in and getting the out at first base. Espinoza scored, 3-2, but the big guns grounded out and whiffed to strand the tying run at third base. Scott held the Miners in place in the ninth, but the Raccoons amounted only to an infield single by Chavez against Leonardo Ramos in their half of the ninth and took a loss, but at least the loss was on ******* time. 3-2 Miners. Chavez 2-4; Brobeck 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (2-6) and 1-3, HR, RBI;

I’ll get hate mail from the Blue Sox for this, but if Colby Bowen (0-1, 4.50 ERA) is already here, why not start him in the rubber game? (Maud coughs)

He hasn’t started a game since 2054. (Maud coughs louder)

In Ham Lake. (Maud really strains her throat)

And that was just one game. (Maud throws a pillow)

Game 3
PIT: RF Bivens – LF J. Garza – C Monaghan – 1B D. Williams – SS Spehar – 3B Henriquez – 2B C. Jimenez – CF B. Rivera – P Castano
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – RF Brassfield – C Chavez – CF Oley – 1B A. Wade – 3B Espinoza – P Bowen

Right out of the gate, the Miners whacked five straight singles and scored three runs before getting derailed by a double play. Oh sorry, did I say Miners? I meant the Coons. Abercrombie drove in a run, Chavez plated a pair, and then Oley hit into the double play, but it was a 3-0 lead for Bowen after the first inning. It was also as good as it got with Bowen. Bobby Rivera doubled home Henriquez with a run in the second, and in the third inning the Miners got another run as Bivens drew a leadoff walk, although the 2-base throwing error that put a pair in scoring position with one out was on Espinoza (again!). Victor Corrales hit an RBI single, with Monaghan thrown out at the plate by Abercrombie, and Williams popped out to Labonte to end the inning.

Hits by Abercrombie and Brassfield in the third inning only led to them being stranded in scoring position, but Labonte had another RBI double in the fourth, scoring Espinoza from second base with two outs to extend the lead to 4-2. Lonzo popped out, giving the ball back to Bowen, who then fudged the bags full with an infield single by PH Craig Sayre, his own error to add Bivens to the bases, and then a walk with one gone to Monaghan. Corrales inevitably hit a grand slam to right on the very next pitch, irrevocably flipping the score. (sigh)

Or maybe not! Mrazek was pitching by the fifth and he gave up a scattering of singles, but no runs in the inning. He was still around for the sixth, though. Espinoza got on and was bunted to second base by Ricky Herrera, who was still required to pitch more… Labonte grounded out, but Lonzo poked a 2-out RBI single, narrowing the score to 6-5, then stole second base, his 44th on the year, and the fourth in the series. Abercrombie then crashed the Miners lead with a triple to right, getting the score flat at six. Brassfield rushed a single through the right side, plating the go-ahead run and dismissing Mrazek. Ex-Coon Josh Mayo then rung up Chavez to get out of the inning. The next two frames were scoreless, but we kept littering the bases. Through eight innings, the Raccoons led the Miners by 11 hits and one skinny run. Walters struck out a pair in a quick ninth inning to keep it that way. 7-6 Critters. Labonte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Abercrombie 3-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 4-5, 2B, RBI; Espinoza 2-4; Royer (PH) 1-1; Herrera 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

I don’t know what you two want…! (is at odds with Colby Bowen, who clutches a pillow against his chest while rocking back and forth on the couch, and Maud, who is petting him between the fuzzy ears to make it all better)

We won the bloody ballgame…!

Colby Bowen (0-1, 5.40 ERA) was sent to the Alley Cats to finish his crying, and the Raccoons also returned Aaron Wade (.121, 1 HR, 4 RBI) for obvious reasons.

For the weekend set in New York, we brought up outfielder Elijah Johnson again along with left-hander Adam Harris, who had had a rough time at it in a cameo last year (8.10 ERA).

Raccoons (63-58) @ Crusaders (72-49) – August 17-19, 2057

The Portland Madhouse went on tour again, playing three gigs in New York on that weekend. We actually had three actual starting pitchers lined up. It was exciting. New York of course offered the league’s best offense and gave up the third-fewest runs, with a +115 run differential. They were up 8-4 for the season series. Key figures missing for them were Zach Suggs, which sugged for them, Chad Williams, and Austin Guastella.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (3-4, 4.80 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (14-7, 2.61 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (11-6, 3.55 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (0-1, 3.57 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (8-5, 3.76 ERA)

We’d miss their two southpaws, including Kennedy Adkins (13-8, 2.56 ERA) – sniff! – who was 1-2 with a 3.32 ERA with New York, which sounded like numbers he also could have posted in Portland…

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – RF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – LF Johnson – CF Oley – P Carreno
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Adame – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Sevilla – RF Ogawa – LF Kirkwood – C Kissler – SS Larsen – P Seiter

Carreno loaded the bases ineptly in the first, but got a double play from Ikuo Ogawa to bugger out of there, but then gave up FIVE 2-out hits, four of them with two strikes, in the bottom 2nd to take a 3-0 deficit in the snout. Particularly aggravating was the second knock, Seiter’s double that plated Shane Larsen. Following Oley’s leadoff double in the top 3rd, however, Carreno got back with an RBI single of his own, which marked his first career RBI. Labonte singled to advance Carreno, who eventually scored on a 2-out error by Larsen, who bungled a Brassfield grounder. Brobeck whiffed, ending the inning. New York answered with two unearned runs, though, with Lonzo making another throwing error, but that only aggravated Carreno getting punched for another bushel of hits in the inning, including another Seiter hit, which was driving me up the wall. Omar Sanchez grounded out to first to strand the bases loaded. Ogawa, Chris Kirkwood, and Larsen stuffed Carreno for another three hits and a run in the fourth inning, and that was the game for that particular rookie.

A Brobeck homer in the sixth plated Brassfield, shorted the score to 6-4, and kinda got the Raccoons back into the race, but when Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the seventh, he was doubled up by Abercrombie, and that took the air out of it again just as Harris’ season debut did, giving up a leadoff double to Mike Pfeifer in the #9 spot in the bottom 7th, and that run scored as well, singled home Alex Adame. The eighth was uneventful, despite Alex Mancilla being involved, and then Ryan Sullivan faced the top of the order in the ninth. Two grounders and a fly to right retired the Raccoons. 7-4 Crusaders. Brassfield 2-4;

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – RF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – LF Johnson – CF Oley – P DeRose
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Adame – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Sevilla – RF Ogawa – LF Kirkwood – C R. Salas – SS Larsen – P Turay

Scratch singles by Oley and Labonte were just enough to get a run home in the third inning, but DeRose managed to blow the lead and then some just when he got the ERA back under four, serving up a pair 2-out jacks to Raul Sevilla and Ikuo Ogawa in the bottom 3rd. Brassfield in the fourth and Johnson in the fifth hit into double plays, and the Coons just couldn’t gain any sort of traction. DeRose kept soldiering on, pitching not that bad at all, although his fielding was less stellar. In the bottom 7th the Crusaders had put Larsen on with a single and Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for Caballero with one out. He grounded to first, Brassfield fed the ball perfectly fine to DeRose, but DeRose looked down to locate the bag, then missed the ball tossed to him, and Kissler was safe. Better be lucky than good, though, beause Alex Adame lined into a double play to Labonte to dissolve that New York rally.

Turay was still going in the eighth, but Oley and Griggs got soft singles off him. Labonte hit into a fielder’s choice, which moved the tying run to third base, and then Turay nicked Lonzo. Turay was yanked, but not after he walked in the tying run against Abercrombie, and then the Coons choked against the pen as Brass popped out and Brobeck grounded out to first base…. Eloy Sencion then walked Omar Sanchez to begin the bottom 8th, which was the ONE thing that was not advisable with Sanchez. Just returning from injury, Sanchez, the go-ahead run, swiped second base, which reduced Lonzo’s lead on the season to 44-36. He also reached third on a grounder against Mike Lane, hit by PH Dustin Huber. Ogawa struck out, and when Mario Villa pinch-hit for Kirkwood, Ricky Herrera came in and fanned *him*, starving Sanchez at third base! All that did was extend the game to extra innings, where the Raccoons still couldn’t hit a lick, and then sent Bravo for the bottom 10th. The silly prick allowed a leadoff single to Pfeifer, walked Sanchez, who stole second, and then walked Huber and Ogawa, too, allowing the Crusaders to walk off without much of a fight. 3-2 Crusaders. Labonte 2-5, RBI; Oley 3-4; Griggs (PH) 1-1; DeRose 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

(sigh)

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Griggs – C Zamora – CF Royer – P Sensabaugh
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Adame – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Sevilla – RF Ogawa – LF Kirkwood – C R. Salas – SS Larsen – P Luera

When Caballero reached with an infield single and Alex Adame hit his first homer in 25 years, I should have gone home straightaway. But we hung around, saw Sensabaugh face another nine batters, and still not get out of the first inning. The Crusaders WHACKED him, and when Adame singled again in the same ******* inning, the rookie was dragged off the hill. John Scott retired Omar Sanchez to get out of the inning, also pitched the second inning (Monday was off anyway), and then we lined up the scrubs. Mancilla actually pitched the Raccoons all the way to the stretch then, giving up a run in four innings. By said stretch, the Raccoons had a Brobeck double … and nothing else. Adam Harris managed to give up a stupid run in the eighth on two 2-out walks and an RBI single by Adame. Lonzo reached base in the ninth – on an error – and then Abercrombie flew out and that was the entire ******* ballgame. 8-0 Crusaders. Mancilla 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

August 14 – Vegas OF Jose Ambriz (.234, 1 HR, 28 RBI) might miss a month with a herniated disc.
August 15 – The hitting streak of SFW LF/RF Jose Marroquin (.277, 13 HR, 49 RBI) ends after 24 games in a 6-5 win against the Aces. Marroquin goes 0-for-3.
August 15 – The Cyclones rout the Loggers, 14-1. The Cyclones score six runs each in the first and last innings, and 11 different Cincy players split 12 RBI between them.
August 18 – NAS INF Nick Nye (.335, 26 HR, 86 RBI) reaches a 20-game hitting streak in a 3-2 win over the Miners, in which he hits two singles.

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.306, 16 HR, 79 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS INF/LF Willie de Leon (.357, 2 HR, 29 RBI), poking .556 (10-18) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Trying week. F.e. we try to find enough pitching to get through the damn schedule. For the weekend, the Raccoons had NINE relievers on the roster, and still almost wound up tossing Brobeck into that last game in New York when Sensabaugh was beaten to within an edge of his senses for just two ******* outs.

It will be fun next week when we play the damn Elks and the Aces. “Fun”.

It’s August and we have already lost two of the season series against the CL North teams (Loggers, Crusaders), although we have also won another (Titans).

Lonzo tied Oscar Mendoza with 494 stolen bases, seventh-best all-time, with his Miners series, but then didn’t add in New York (getting on base would help…). We’ll look at the depressingly huge gap to sixth-place Rich de Luna (570 SB) after the end of the month.

We might bring up Ryan Wade to pitch some games down the stretch here. He can hardly do worse than the other Wade.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have already had 12 different starting pitchers this year.

For the guys on the Opening Day roster, Kennedy Adkins started 23 games, and Sean Sweeton and Seisaku Taki made it 22 each. Craig Kniep started 13 games before and after banishment to AAA. Roberto Oyola was sold for a sandwich after seven games.

Our conundrum Kyle Brobeck has pitched nine mostly horrendous games as a starter (and 23 overall).

Leftovers from earlier years? We had them, Cameron Argenziano and Josh Mayo both starting four games.

The Youth of America? Ramon Carreno (11), J.J. Sensabaugh (4), Justin DeRose (4) are all represented.

Even ******* Colby Bowen.

Compared to that, only ten pitchers have pitched exclusively in relief for the Raccoons this year: Bravo, Harris, Herrera, Lane, Mancilla, Ornelas, Scott, Sencion, Tanizaki, Walters;

Potentially add Ryan Wade, and Chance Fox might get a look-at in September, too. Ornelas, if he returns in time…?

The last time the Raccoons used more than a dozen starting pitchers was 2040, although injuries played a role. Raffaello Sabre was the only pitcher reaching 162 innings with 33 games, answering every call. Bernie Chavez started 25 games, Nelson Moreno made it 22, Ryan Bedrosian 19, and it was just getting fuzzier from here with Angelo Montano (15), Sal Lozano (12), Kyle Dominy (12), Ian Wilson (11), Cory Lambert (4), Nelson Fonseca (4), Jared Ottinger (2, sigh), Jose de Leon (2), and Juan Zabala (1).