[Westheim]

Raccoons (13-18) vs. Warriors (15-16) – May 7-9, 2058

Ranking sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, the Warriors were struggling especially to keep their sheets clean behind the FL’s best rotation with a 3.16 ERA on those guys, more than a run and a half better than the hideous bullpen. The defense was splendid, however. These teams had met last year, with the Raccoons meeting a grisly end in a 3-game sweep. Julio Moriel was the only significant injury for Sioux Falls, the infielder being on the DL with a broken foot.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (3-2, 1.80 ERA) vs. Bubba Wolinsky (3-2, 2.06 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (0-3, 4.91 ERA) vs. Ed Nadeau (3-1, 2.89 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-3, 5.45 ERA) vs. Victor Salcido (1-4, 4.05 ERA)

What a nice surprise, the Warriors bringing in not one, but two former Critters to start against Portland this week. Salcido had last pitched for the Coons in 2053, and Wolinsky went back all the way to 2051. Wolinsky and Nadeau were left-handers, but mind the common off day on Monday.

Game 1
SFW: 2B DeFusco – CF E. Maldonado – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF Marroquin – C E. Sanches – SS Barre – RF A. Huerta – P Wolinsky
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Stewart

The crowd was above-average for a Tuesday night in 56-degree weather, as the fans liked to be reminded of better days with Bubba Wolinsky in the house – he got hold of two rings in our 2040s trifecta of championships – but were soon reminded of current-day Raccoons business when Mike DeFusco opened with a single to left, was forced out by Elmer Maldonado, who stole second, and finally scored on a 2-out single to left hit by Steve Dilly. The team failed the bags full in the third inning when Lonzo and Brass let a DeFusco pop to shallow left drop between them for a single, and Stewart walked Miguel Medina, threw a wild pitch, walked Dilly, too, and then somehow got out of it when Jose Marroquin popped out to Jesus Martinez to strand the whole bunch, but now he was already on 59 pitches. Next, Stewart struck out bunting after Brassfield reached on an error to begin the bottom 3rd, although Lonzo and Royer hit 2-out singles to tie the game before Chavez grounded out to Dilly.

Stewart held his own, but Bubba found his way into a jam in the bottom 5th after a leadoff walk to Brassfield. Stewart bunted well this time, but the bags filled up on two singles by Bribiesca and Lonzo, which was weird enough. Neither ball left the infield, and Brassfield reached third base on Bribiesca’s grounder/single, but had to hold when Lonzo rolled one near Esteban Sanches along the third base line. To everybody’s surprise and for some perhaps even dismay, the Raccoons now took Bubba apart. Royer singled in two, Chavez and Brobeck each singled in one, and after a walk to Caswell, Jesus Martinez added a sac fly to center. Evan Alvey then came in and retired Brassfield to end a 5-run inning.

The Coons went on to squeeze out Stewart for seven innings and 109 pitches, which worked out to keep the score at 6-1 by the stretch. Javier Cortes was pitching for the Warriors before leaving with an injury, bringing on the third former Coon on that staff, Phil Baker, who was taken deep for a solo home run by Kyle Brobeck in the bottom 7th. Cas and Martinez then went to the corners with a pair of singles, but Brassfield whiffed his way ever deeper into a slump. Baker was still around in the eighth, gave up a pinch-hit single to Labonte, who stole second, and then scored on a Lonzo single to right-center. Royer singled, Chavez doubled, Lonzo scored, and Baker was yanked for Darren McRee, also an Oregon veteran, but with the Wolves, who got out of the inning without conceding another run. 9-1 Raccoons. Labonte (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Royer 3-5, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brobeck 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Caswell 2-4, BB, 2B; Stewart 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (4-2);

Game 2
SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P Nadeau
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Carreno

After a 9-run outburst, we just xeroxed in Tuesday’s lineup against Nadeau again. Thing was, Carreno was pitching, so nine runs were probably needed again. The sophomore retired the Warriors in order in the first, which created a treacherous false security, because the top 2nd began with a walk to Dilly, a Maldonado single, and then enough productive outs to get Dilly around to score in the inning. DeFusco reached on a Bribiesca error in the third, followed by a Rivera single and Medina double. One (unearned) run was in, while the two earned runners were stranded with Martinez making a sliding catch hustling in on a Dilly dinker, and Brassfield racing into the gap to snare a Maldonado rocket before it could get to the wall. Carreno added facepaw to headshakes when he came up following Martinez doubling and Brass walking to begin the inning, and forcefully bunted into an out at third base, which allowed Nadeau to bugger out of the inning.

He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, though, nicking Brobeck with two outs before getting shown the rightfield stands with Noah Caswell’s game-tying homer. The Coons then even took the lead in the fifth inning thanks to defense, and Brassfield drawing another leadoff walk. This time Carreno got the bunt down nicely, and Lonzo’s 2-out single brought in the run for a 3-2 edge. Royer popped out, brining the fifth to a close. Dilly nearly homered the game tied in the sixth, but was caught by Martinez on the warning track instead. Martinez then paired up with Caswell and two outs in the bottom 6th to create more offense. Cas singled to center, then was in motion when Martinez peppered a double to left-center and scored quite comfortably. Brass got the four-fingered salute, and Nadeau got out when Carreno grounded out to DeFusco. Carreno got two more outs, even though one of them was Devin Tarver singling and being caught stealing, then was lifted after a pinch-hit double by Andy Hudson in the #9 spot. DeFusco then fired a drive to deep right against Ornelas, which Martinez also caught while bouncing off the fence. Sheesh! Boys!!

Steve Royer’s homer in the bottom 7th extended the score to 5-2, coming off right-handed sophomore Danny Zepeda. Ornelas pitched another inning, then made way for Tanizaki in the ninth. Maldonado drew a leadoff walk, but was doubled off by Jose Marroquin. Tristan Barre singled, but Tarver grounded out to Lonzo. 5-2 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brassfield 0-1, 3 BB; Carreno 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-3);

Then – disappointment. Salcido was removed from the Thursday start in favor of longtime Warriors ace Ricardo Montoya (2-2, 3.38 ERA), who had not had the greatest start to the new season. He was a right-hander anyway, and the Raccoons crammed as many left-handed bats as possible into the lineup, because the Loggers might yet rock up another two southpaws to begin the weekend set. Only Lonzo remained for right-handed bats.

Game 3
SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P R. Montoya
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Royer – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – C Lathers – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose

Solo homers! Caswell hit two of them in the first and third innings for a 2-0 lead, while Dilly got the Warriors on the board with one of his own in the fourth inning; not that all things were DeRosey, as the Caswell homers were the only Coons hits at that point, and this time Pucks was the guy picking near-bombs off the fence, pulling down a pair in the first three innings as DeRose looked easily whackable. He somehow got around a DeFusco wall-tickling double to begin the fifth inning, but came unglued for good in the sixth. Marroquin singled to right. Barre singled to right. Devin Tarver hit a ball all the way to the moon, and the Warriors had a 5-2 lead. Montoya’s single knocked out DeRose for good.

The tying runs were on in the 5-2 game to begin the bottom 6th as Lonzo singled, Caswell walked, and Royer hit a scratch single through the right side. All eyes on Pucks – but the first pitch was wild and Lonzo scored that way. Pucks grounded out poorly, not advancing the runners further, and Toushi hit a sac fly, 5-4, before Alvey rung up Morgan Lathers to end the inning after Montoya got dumped. In turn, Medina homered off Siwik, who was left over from replacing DeRose an inning earlier, and Dilly singled before we brought in Hamann, who exploded further for another three base hits, a Marroquin single, Barre’s 2-run double, and Alvin Huerta’s pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single.

And yet, down five, the game wasn’t quite over yet. Lonzo opened the bottom 8th with a triple off Phil Nelson, then scored on Cas’ groundout. Royer homered, ejecting Nelson for Kellen Lanning, who got outs from Pucks and Toushi. The Warriors put two on against Tanizaki in the ninth, but left them on the corners before giving the 3-run lead to Zack Stahl. Lathers opened with a single, but Sheilds popped out to first. Jesus Martinez batted for Tanizaki, hit a hard grounder at Josh Wall at third base, and 5-4-3 went the Coons. 9-6 Warriors. Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Royer 2-4, HR, RBI;

Sigh. The rotation.

Raccoons (15-19) vs. Loggers (16-18) – May 10-12, 2058

The Loggers had won four straight games, as well as three straight games against the Critters. Overall they were third in runs scored and very much bottoms in runs allowed, with a terrible rotation – worst in the CL – and a mediocre pen that had a lot to do. Injuries included Ryan Bishton, Nick Roseto, and Curt Rosato, which sounded like one of those cryptic crossword riddles.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-3, 5.63 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (2-3, 4.50 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (2-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (1-1, 5.79 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-2, 1.71 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (3-2, 3.56 ERA)

Not *two* southpaws from Milwaukee. *Three*.

Game 1
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – 2B Garmon – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – CF Konecny – C Dye – P S. Webb
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Sensabaugh

The Loggers went up quickly, 1-0 on walks to Corey Garmon and Perry Pigman, then a 2-out single by recent Critter Gaudencio Callaia. Bill Sostre popped out to shallow center to end the inning, and Bribiesca and Royer flattened the score with a pair of doubles in the bottom 1st. 2-out walks to Caswell and Brobeck filled the bases eventually, but then Martinez popped out and the game remained tied.

The third began with a Robby Gaxiola single, and Garmon flicked one over the infielders as well. Perry Pigman was not content with that, and instead waffled a 3-run homer well up into the rightfield stands. The Raccoons answered with three doubles and two runs, whacked by Royer, Chavez, and Brobeck in the bottom 3rd, which left us a run short at 4-3, but there was still a way to go. Probably not for Sensabaugh though, as he gave up a fifth run on hits by Jonathan Dye and Gaxiola in the fourth, then another homer to Pigman and a walk to Dave Robles before getting disposed of. Ornelas got out of the inning, but gave up a walk, a single, a double steal and a balk, and ultimately two more runs to Gaxiola and Garmon in the top 6th. Brassfield’s leadoff jack in the bottom 6th merely made it 8-4, but then Labonte singled, Lonzo singled, double steal part deux, and then Royer doubled to right, driving in two, and knocking out Sam Webb. Chavez flew out against Josh Costello, but Caswell singled, however, Royer was thrown out at the plate by Pigman, and the inning ended.

The seventh was remarkably calm in comparison to anything else, with Ricky Herrera and Costello just going about their business. Siwik had a clean eighth, then was hit for with Pucks, who singled to begin the bottom 8th against Brett Lillis jr., then replaced by Roberto Navarro. Bribiesca singled, but Lonzo crashed into a double play *hard* and Royer flew out to Pigman at the warning track. Sencion then gave up a run in the ninth; Pigman got on, but was caught stealing; yet with two outs Callaia doubled to right, Sostre singled to left-center, and Callaia scored an extra run. The tying run though reached the batter’s box with nobody out in the bottom 9th after Ryan Dow allowed singles to Chavez and Caswell right out of the gate. Now Brobeck got doubled up, 4-6-3, and Martinez grounded out to Robles… 9-6 Loggers. Bribiesca 3-5, 2B; Royer 3-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB; Labonte (PH) 1-1, Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

Plain awful.

Game 2
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – 2B de Kok – C Dye – P V. Marquez
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P B. Herrera

Marcos Chavez reclaimed sole possession of the team home run lead with his fifth bomb, a 3-run smack in the first inning after Marquez had already allowed a double to Labonte and brushed Lonzo. Marquez also walked the 7-8 batters in the bottom 2nd, who were bunted over by Herrera. Labonte’s single and a Sostre error plated them, 5-0, and right about at that time it began to rain.

No ****.

The third inning saw Gaxiola and Robles land hits off Bobby Herrera for a run, while Marquez was taken deep for a 2-piece by Jesus Martinez, 7-1, and did I mention the 27-minute rain delay already? Marquez disappeared after that, while Herrera at least soldiered on through five innings to at least qualify for the W, if the pen would be so inclined. He needed 80 pitches to get there anyway, but had actually needed more pitches per inning before the rain than after it, because then the Loggers found him less sharp and made contact early, simply hitting it at the defense. Herrera faced four batters in the sixth inning and retired none of them. Walk, double, RBI single, plonked – that’s how it went against the 3-4-5-6 batters, and then he was unceremoniously yanked. Bravo gave up a sac fly to Teo de Kok, but got a double play grounder from Dye to bugger out still ahead by a slam. The Coons’ offense had gone to bed, so we needed to piece nine outs together from the pen. Neal Hamann got five of them, then allowed three straight 2-out singles, a run, and the tying run to reach the box in the top 8th. Tanizaki and Sheilds entered in a double switch that removed Brobeck, and Dye hit a sharp grounder to Sheilds’ left that was played for the third out in a way I seriously doubted Brobeck would have managed to. Right-hander Roberto Alvarado then walked the Rule 5ers with one out in the bottom 8th; Labonte flew out to Callaia, but Lonzo found a space to drop a 2-out RBI single to plate Toushi. Pucks batted for a hitless Royer, but whiffed to end the inning. Tanizaki remained on the hill, aiming for a 4-out save in the ninth, which began with a pop over the infield by Kelly Konecny. Gaxiola’s fly to deep left was caught by Pucks. Steve Valenzano struck out. 8-4 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, 2B; Tanizaki 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

We were out-hit, 8-7, but drew seven walks as well.

The Raccoons had faced MR Danny Zepeda (1-1, 5.17 ERA) just earlier this week with the Warriors, now had a chance to do so again, as the Loggers acquired the 26-year-old in a trade for a third-rate prospect between games. This did of course nothing to rid us of Riddle on Sunday.

Game 3
MIL: CF Valenzano – 2B Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Mi. Gilmore – SS Sostre – LF Callaia – 3B Gaxiola – P Riddle
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – P Stewart

Stewart disappeared from the ERA race in the first inning, giving up two singles out of the gate, then a 3-piece to Robles. Dave Robles also doubled home a run in the third inning, in which the Loggers smashed Stewart around for four hits in total, and another run singled in by Gaudencio Callaia. To Stewart’s credit, while he wasn’t fooling anybody, he at least dragged out his stint on the hill to six innings, and it wasn’t like the offense was coming to his rescue either. Normally we would have parked him after five innings and 90 pitches with a 5-1 deficit, but the sixth was against the all-left-handed bottom of the order, and Stewart retired those in order.

For offense, Royer had singled home Bribiesca in the third inning but the Coons’ box score was mostly barren otherwise until the bottom 6th when Chavez, Caswell, and Brobeck slapped straight singles to score one run and bring the tying run to the dish. Brass grounded out, Pucks whiffed, and that was about as good as it got. Brobeck hit into a double play to quell a tiny uprising with Cas’ leadoff single in the bottom 8th, and instead Ricky Herrera and Siwik allowed another run between them in the ninth inning. Lillis then finished the game on the Coons. 6-2 Loggers. Bribiesca 2-4; Caswell 2-4; Brobeck 2-4, RBI;

In other news

May 6 – In the only two games played on Monday, two shutouts are pitched by BOS SP Ryan Musgrave (4-1, 2.33 ERA) against the Scorpions, and VAN SP Luis Arroyo (1-3, 5.40 ERA) against the Pacifics. Both get away with a 5-hitter. The Canadiens win 3-0, the Titans by double that margin.
May 6 – The Falcons surprisingly swap SP Josh Clem (2-1, 3.71 ERA) to the Pacifics for two prospects, including #156 SP Alex Gomez.
May 7 – Pittsburgh acquires RF/LF/1B Angel Angulo (.268, 5 HR, 17 RBI) from the Stars in exchange for SS/2B Trevor Niemiec (.265, 0 HR, 7 RBI).
May 8 – The trades continue with the Condors taking on C Tristan Waker (.191, 3 HR, 21 RBI) and almost $1.5M in cash from the Canadiens in exchange for 1B John Rosenstiel (.213, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and #62 prospect SP Mike Perez.
May 9 – The Crusaders sweep a double-header from the Blue Sox with a pair of walkoff wins, 7-5 in the 12th inning and 4-3 in regulation. New York’s INF Zach Suggs (.246, 5 HR, 15 RBI) homers for the first one, while rookie OF Sean Zeiher (.262, 2 HR, 7 RBI) wins the second one with a walkoff double in his 12th ABL game.
May 12 – The Cyclones’ only hit against the Buffaloes is a 2-run double for OF Mike Thomason (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBI) with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, followed by a sac fly hit by 1B/2B/OF Greg Gill (.158, 0 HR, 5 RBI). Combined with a sac fly hit by 2B/SS/LF Mike Tovar (.284, 1 HR, 12 RBI), the Cyclones beat the Buffos, 4-2, with the Kansas team scattering eight hits for no greater good.
May 12 – New York acquire LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBI) from Atlanta for OF Dan Nork (.302, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.354, 4 HR, 14 RBI), slapping .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR OF/1B Noah Caswell (.306, 4 HR, 12 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Caswell won Player of the Week after slumping the few weeks before, but I thought Steve Royer had nearly as good as a week before Cristiano showed me the actual numbers. Nothing to sneeze at; he hit .400 (10-25) with two homers, three doubles, and drove in nine runs. Maybe I’m a sucker for RBI’s because getting those means you actually ******* did something with three on and nobody out…

So whenever I said this winter that Steve Royer would be paid $3.12M for rotting on the roster on his way to inevitable free agency after the 2058 season, I didn’t quite foresee him hitting for a .925 OPS in 28 games. He looked like warming the bench and subbing people here and there for markedly less than his 300 at-bats from last year, but right now it’s hard to take him out of the lineup, especially with what we hoped would be a formidable pair of corners outfielders, Martinez and Brassfield, vastly underperforming. Give that man a 5-yr, $25M contract, quick!

Speaking of contracts, Steve from Accounting pointed out that I was consistently mixing up the 6-year deals of Bobby Herrera ($24M) and Noah Caswell ($36M). I’m sorry, Steve. It’s a lotta money anyway. Now excuse me, I have to get in my ’89 Pontiac and grab dinner before the donut store closes!

The Raccoons would fly around aimlessly the next few weeks, from New York back home to play the Aces, and then back out to Atlanta for consecutive series, which made no sense. No off day until after that Knights series, either.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have hit 22 home runs, none by a guy you can state with conviction that – yes! – that’s an infielder!

All the guys cycling through first base have the odd one while playing as *an* infielder, but they are really outfielders, except for Toushi, who has no home runs to his name (since 2053). The exception is Kyle Brobeck with two homers, and it’s well-established by now that our answer to “What’s Kyle Brobeck, really?” is more or less “**** all…” …