[Westheim]

Raccoons (2-4) @ Thunder (5-1) – April 14-16, 2059

While the Raccoons were first in the CL in runs scored (!!!!!!!), the Thunder had allowed the fewest runs so far in the league. Of course, this was all hokum after six games, but it was nice talking about the Raccoons being first in anything when they were (tied for) last in what ultimately mattered, the bloody standings. We had also lost this season series three years running, 5-4 in 2058.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (1-0, 1.17 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (1-0, 1.29 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Mike Chartrand (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Justin DeRose (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (0-0, 2.57 ERA)

This was the first set of the year in which we were not expected to meet a left-handed starter.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF J. Martinez – C Monaghan – 3B Ojeda – P Stewart
OCT: LF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – RF D. Guzman – 1B F. Martinez – C Dye – SS O. Lira – CF Weant – 2B Gaxiola – P Llamas

The first things lighting up on the scoreboard in the RHE columns were two Coons errors in the bottom 1st. Danny Guzman reached when Lonzo flubbed his grounder, then got to second on an errant pickoff attempt by Monaghan. Somehow, he didn’t score. The Coons disappeared in order until Stewart hit a single up the middle in the third inning – so much for the #1 offense – and the Thunder would score the first run of the game in the fourth inning. Stewart struck out four batters in the first three innings against only one base hit, but didn’t get a K when he needed it after Guzman socked a leadoff double in the bottom 4th and scored on Felix Martinez’ groundout and Jonathan Dye’s sac fly. When the Coons’ Juan Ojeda hit a double in the following half-inning, it came with two outs, nobody on base, and the pitcher batting next, so take your wildest guess as to how many runs we scored.

Top 6th, Labonte and Lonzo led off with a pair of singles, which sure was a promising beginning to erase that 1-0 deficit. Or not. Labonte was thrown out in an attempted double steal, Caswell grounded out, and Brass flew out to Guzman, leaving Lonzo at third base with the tying run.

Stewart struck out ten Thunder in seven innings, which had yet to yield him any fruits when Ojeda hit a leadoff single to center in the eighth. Konecny batted for Stewart, but hit into a fielder’s choice, and Labonte’s groundout and Lonzo’s liner to Robby Gaxiola didn’t exactly accelerate anything but the losing here. Portland picked three outs between previously-battered Eloy Sencion and Reynaldo Bravo in the bottom 8th, then still had “only” one run to make up against right-hander Jerry Washington in the ninth inning. Cas’ leadoff double to right was a nice start, and Brass grounded out to at least send him to third base. Starr walked, setting up a double play to end the day for Jesus Martinez, except that Washington still lacked the aim and walked Martinez, too. Todd Oley batted for Monaghan, but hit a comebacker that saw Caswell forced out at home, and Ojeda grounded out to Ed Soberanes to leave the bases loaded. 1-0 Thunder. Lavorano 2-4; Ojeda 2-4, 2B; Stewart 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, L (1-1);

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF J. Martinez – C Monaghan – 3B Ojeda – P Argenziano
OCT: LF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – RF D. Guzman – 1B F. Martinez – C Dye – SS O. Lira – CF Weant – 2B Gaxiola – P Chartrand

Both teams rocked up with the same lineup on Tuesday, but this time the Raccoons drew first blood with Joel Starr’s solo home run in the second inning. That was the only scoring in the early innings, with Argenziano looking much less like an empty bucket this time around. Labonte looked unlucky, getting caught stealing *again* in the first inning before committing an error that allowed Chartrand on base in the third inning. He then made up for it my reaching and snatching Jose Mendoza’s 1-out liner and snapped the ball to first base in time to get the irritated Chartrand doubled off to end the inning.

Argenziano pitched five shutout innings to begin the game, but offered leadoff walks in the fifth, when Omar Lira didn’t score because the bottom of the order didn’t offer much even when he stole a base, and in the sixth to Mendoza. That one was the problem, because Mendoza not only stole second, he also gained another 90 feet on Monaghan’s throwing error, and was brought in without much fuss on Soberanes’ groundout to second base, tying the score at one. Two easy outs followed, but the game was tied.

Brass objected by hitting a leadoff jack to restore a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. Nothing else happened in that frame, which Argenziano completed with a 1-hitter on the board, but he was then hit for with Todd Oley to begin the top 8th, which nobody thought much of at the time, since it was *Cameron Argenziano*. Oley grounded out, though, and Labonte’s 1-out double was not met with enthusiasm and/or hits by Lonzo and Cas, and the score remained 2-1. Pesky Robby Gaxiola hit an infield single against Ricky Herrera in the bottom 8th, but was stranded on third base, with Herrera getting the bunt from Chartrand and Tanizaki doing the rest to get out of the inning. Instead, Brass hit another leadoff jack off Chartrand in the ninth, and the Raccoons fiddled another run together on top of that with a Starr single and a pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single from David Gonzales. Matt Walters retired the Thunder in order for a change. 4-1 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 3-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Starr 3-4, HR, RBI; Gonzales (PH) 1-1, RBI; Konecny (PH) 1-1; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Here was the fly in the ointment – Argenziano didn’t leave because we were so clever with pinch-hitting, but because of some throbbing pain or other and Luis Silva locked himself in his room with Argenziano all of Wednesday morning, which was totally not going to be a concern for anybody…

No news by the first pitch for the rubber game, though.

Some rest days were given out in the rubber game, with Lonzo, Ojeda, and Martinez all not in the lineup. It was reasonable to expect the remaining regulars to get a day off in Boston at some point or other, although the Titans didn’t have a left-handed starter at all, so there was no way to be particularly smart about it.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Bribiesca – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Oley – 3B Gonzales – C Beard – P DeRose
OCT: CF Martaranha – 3B Soberanes – 1B C. Santiago – C Almaguer – 2B O. Lira – RF J. Mendoza – LF D. Guzman – SS Gaxiola – P J. Juarez

The Raccoons took a rather brisk 3-0 lead in the first inning when Bribiesca reached on an error by Cesar Santiago and Noah Caswell immediately went deep to left-center. Brass singled, then scored on Starr’s double into the rightfield corner. Two meek outs later DeRose took the mound, and meek outs were over at that point. DeRose was just plainly *****. In the first two innings he offered two walks and hit no fewer than THREE batters, including the ******* opposing pitcher. It was an outright maddening experience. The Thunder didn’t score in the first despite two free runners, but scored pair in the bottom 2nd when they also mixed in two singles and just narrowly left the bases stuffed when Pedro Almaguer flew out to Brass in deep left. There were few redeeming qualities that DeRose displayed in this game, except perhaps a nice pounce on a grounder to get the final out in the bottom 3rd from Gaxiola when the tying run was at third base again. The Coons scratched out another run in the fourth on Starr’s single and Gonzales’ double, followed by Deshawn Beard actually doing *anything* with a sac fly to center. The Thunder took five pitches to make up that extra run in the bottom 4th, though, as Juarez (the ******* opposing pitcher) blazed a double to left, then scored on two well-placed groundouts.

Neither pitcher made it out of the fifth inning. Juarez was yanked after surrendering another run on Labonte’s double, two productive outs that Labonte score on Cas’ sac fly, and then another Brassfield double, while DeRose allowed singles to Lira and Mendoza to put the tying runs on the corners with one out before getting yanked. Ricky Herrera got a comebacker from Guzman that kept Lira pinned, then a fly to center from Gaxiola that ended the inning with the Raccoons still leading 5-3. He also got three outs in the sixth without allowing a run despite an error by Beard to throw a spanner into the gearworks.

Top 7th, Lonzo pinch-hit, singled, stole a base, and then scored on a bloop single by Labonte to gain more ground, but Pedro Almaguer answered that run with a solo jack off Bryan Roper in the bottom of the same inning. This was the first run that Roper allowed in the majors. The eighth was calm, but the Raccoons got three more singles from Martinez, Ojeda, and Caswell in the ninth inning to push another run across, but the run proved to be ornamental, since Walters, after two hiccups in the first week, again retired the Thunder in order to claim a series win. 7-4 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ojeda (PH) 1-1; Caswell 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2B; Starr 2-4, 2B, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Martinez (PH) 1-1; R. Herrera 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1);

Raccoons (4-5) @ Titans (4-4) – April 17-20, 2059

The wins had been split evenly in this matchup in 2058, nine for each team. While the Raccoons had just shaken off some loose winter coat and a 5-game losing streak, the Titans had lost three in a row themselves as we entered town, having gotten swept by the pesky Baybirds (tell me about it). They ranked fifth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed with a -2 run differential, while the Coons were tied for third place with a +10 run differential in either category.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Mike Pohlmann (1-0, 6.00 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (1-0, 3.24 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-1, 1.23 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (1-1, 3.97 ERA)
TBD vs. Ryan Musgrave (0-2, 9.90 ERA)

No news on Argenziano on Thursday either. Options would of course be Carreno, who had pitched on Monday and would be available to fill the void (8.71 ERA in his first two AAA starts, by the way) or, heavens beware, J.J. Sensabaugh. Duarte Damasceno on paper as well, but we couldn’t hold over EVERYBODY in St. Pete, and his turn was next to go for them, so he wasn’t gonna be it.

There’s always Colby Bowen, though!

Game 1
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – LF Konecny – C Monaghan – 3B Ojeda – P Fox
BOS: LF Weir – RF Y. Valdez – C Burkart – 3B Wilken – 2B D. Mendoza – SS Leitch – 1B S. Diaz – CF Torrence – P Pohlmann

While the Coons got another early home run from Jesus Martinez to lead off the second inning, by then Fox had already been pelted for two runs in the first inning, allowing a single to Hector Weir, a walk to Bruce Burkart, and looked just about going to be fine before giving up a pair of 2-out RBI singles to Diego Mendoza and Alan Leitch. This didn’t get much better with time either, as the Titans kept flocking on base. Doubles by Randy Wilken and Mendoza scored them another run in the third inning, which ended with the bags full and Ethan Torrence grounding out meekly to Fox. And yet it was Fox to erase the deficit in the fifth inning, which already saw Eric Monaghan punch a gapper in right-center for a 1-out triple, upon which Ojeda annoyingly popped out to not cash in the runner. But Fox did, smashing a complacent breaking ball by Pohlmann for *434* feet for a massive 2-run homer! Tied at three, then. Pohlmann got some more, though – Bribiesca hit a single, and then Lonzo socked another long 2-run homer, and the Titans had enough and disposed of Pohlmann. Gabe Hill replaced him, allowed a single to Cas, and then narrowly the third 2-run homer of the inning, but Martinez hit a drive to the deepest part of the park and had to settle for a double. Starr flew out to Torrence to end the inning.

None of this made Fox’ pitching any more watchable. The Titans loaded the bags in the bottom 5th on a Mendoza single sandwiched by walks fumbled to Burkart and Leitch, and the Raccoons shoveled out of there only narrowly when Steve Diaz in a full count hit a sharp grounder right at Lonzo for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Fox was retained for the sixth, with more left-handed Titans batters to face, but got smoked for sharp hits by Torrence and Hector Weir, and a fourth run before being yanked with two outs. Ornelas got Burkart to ground out to get outta there.

Titans left-handers Hill and Dave Parra exploded for a 4-spot in the top 7th, extending a skinny lead to 9-4 for Portland. Lonzo, Cas, and Martinez (RBI) hit straight singles, Starr socked an RBI double, there was a run-scoring wild pitch, and finally a sac fly for Konecny. That put the Titans to rest for the night. They went down mostly meekly against Ornelas for another two innings, and didn’t make much wind against Roper in the ninth inning, either. 9-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Caswell 3-5; Martinez 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Monaghan 2-4, BB, 3B; Ornelas 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – CF Konecny – C Monaghan – LF Oley – 3B Gonzales – P B. Herrera
BOS: LF Weir – 2B D. Mendoza – C Arviso – RF Y. Valdez – 3B Wilken – SS Leitch – 1B S. Diaz – CF Lloyd – P Craddock

Jorge Arviso was alert and had consumed his coffee on time before the game, because he entirely killed the Raccoons’ running game and every offensive ambition, throwing out Lonzo, Oley, and Konecny trying to steal a base by the fourth inning, after which we stopped bothering to run, and which left us with no runs for our six base hits up to that point. Herrera was more silently efficient, didn’t allow a hit the first time through, although Weir singled off him to begin the bottom 4th. He was stranded on base, though. Randy Wilken hit another leadoff single in the fifth inning before Leitch and Diaz made weak outs. Not Ted Lloyd, though – he socked one over the wall in left, and those were the first two runs that Bobby Herrera allowed in 2059. Tipsy Bobby went on to pitch eight innings, allowing just four hits, but the Raccoons were discombobulated and couldn’t piece *anything* together. From the fifth through the eighth, we had a pair of Lonzo singles, and since the running game had seen all the fun murdered out of it by the pesky Arviso, he both times just waited at first base until the inning was over. Craddock also went eight innings, then yielded for right-hander Josh Carlisle in the ninth inning, which was led off by Martinez. Him and Konecny struck out, and Caswell batted for Monaghan, but grounded out to second base. 2-0 Titans. Labonte 2-4; Lavorano 3-4; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, L (1-1);

Neat complete-game loss.

Also a loss for a complete cycle through the rotation was Cameron Argenziano, who was diagnosed with back soreness for lack of an actual break or tear. Since the Raccoons had no wiggle room on the roster, especially with two Rule 5ers that had yet to wash out, we had to shrug and take the L and put him on the DL to miss two more starts rather than one, then called up Carreno.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – C Monaghan – 3B Ojeda – P Stewart
BOS: LF Weir – RF Y. Valdez – C Burkart – 3B Wilken – 2B D. Mendoza – SS Leitch – 1B S. Diaz – CF Torrence – P Glaude

After being shut out on Friday, the Raccoons scored a quick run on Saturday; Labonte doubled to right, and Lonzo’s groundout and Cas’ sac fly got the game’s first run home rather quickly. The lead didn’t last, however, since Stewart allowed a leadoff single to Wilken in the bottom 2nd, followed by an 8-pitch walk to Leitch and a game-tying single to Steve Diaz. Torrence grounded out to third and Glaude whiffed in another full count to strand a pair in scoring position. Stewart hadn’t walked anybody in his first two starts, but lacked sharpness in this game and ran both full counts galore and issued also more walks to Valdez in the third and Diaz in the fourth innings, although the Titans couldn’t gain enough traction to make an impact on the scoreboard. He was however on the forefront of a Raccoons assault in the sixth inning. After getting just two hits in the first five frames against Glaude, the Coons had Stewart slap a single through the right side to begin the top 6th, and Labonte and Lonzo quickly got two more singles to the other side to fill the bases. Annoyingly, Caswell popped out foul to Wilken, but Glaude then lost Brassfield to a four-pitch walk, which restored the Coons to a 2-1 lead. Glaude rallied though, struck out Starr and Martinez, and that was the inning for the Furballs… Worse, Stewart folded altogether in the bottom 6th. Wilken and Mendoza took the corners with 1-out singles, and Leitch’ groundout tied the game again. Diaz and Torrence then both drew full-count walks until the Raccoons threw the anker and Stewart out of the game. Tanizaki got a groundout from PH Jim Auld to end the inning with the bags just as stacked as the Coons left them.

Top 7th, and Monaghan hit another triple (!?), this time leading off against righty Grant MacKinnon. Juan Ojeda’s single to left gave us a 3-2 lead and him his first Critters RBI. Tanizaki was used to bunt, but knocked the ball hard into the infield. The missile somehow missed all the usual suspects to turn such a bad bunt into a double play, though, and instead wound up with Mendoza, who then flung the ball behind a desperately retreating Diaz for a 2-base error, giving the Coons a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Labonte was walked with intent to get forces on every base, but Lonzo’s sac fly to right-center sorta ignored that. Caswell singled to center, with Tanizaki scoring from second base, but Labonte first stopped at second, then went for third base after all, while Leitch, cutting off the ball, didn’t go home and instead got the sure out on Labonte. Right-hander Mike Bell then replaced MacKinnon and got Brass to pop out to end the 3-run inning. The last two innings saw the Raccoons steal three bases off Bruce Burkart, who was not Jorge Arviso, but not actually scoring a run; Starr scooped one in the eighth, and Lonzo nipped *two* in the ninth, but still was stranded on third base. This left another 3-run lead for Walters to save after scoreless innings by Tanizaki and Bravo.

And he didn’t. The Titans slapped four hits off him, beginning with a 1-out double by Yoslan Valdez, and then three straight 2-singles with the 4-5-6 batters, who were on base in now a 5-3 game with two outs and Steve Diaz batting. The Coons twitched and brought in Eloy Sencion, who secured the game with a strikeout. 5-3 Coons. Labonte 2-4, BB, 2B; Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2 RBI;

Game 4
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – 3B Ojeda – C Beard – P Carreno
BOS: LF Weir – 1B S. Diaz – C Arviso – RF Y. Valdez – 3B Wilken – SS Leitch – 2B Larsen – CF Lloyd – P Musgrave

Remarkable things from Sunday included Carreno not getting drowned in the nearest bay right away – in fact he didn’t allow a hit in the first two innings – and then Carreno even teamed up with another problem kit in Deshawn Beard to take the lead in the third inning. The battery socked a pair of leadoff doubles up either line, followed by Lonzo stuffing an RBI triple into the rightfield corner. That made it 2-0, and Caswell hit a jack to double that again to 4-0. Carreno had one more up his sleeve, answering a leadoff double by Ojeda in the fourth inning with an RBI single to left-center to further extend the score to 5-0 in the fourth.

The Titans didn’t get any sort of hit off Carreno until Wilken bopped a double in the bottom 5th, which of course led to a 2-out run on Shane Larsen’s RBI single. Carreno struck out Lloyd to end the inning, though. He puckered on, while Dave Parra walked the bases full in the seventh inning, giving free passes to the 4-5-6 batters with one out. Ojeda grounded to Larsen for an out at second base, but the Titans couldn’t turn two and the lead was extended to 6-1 before Beard also grounded out.

And Carreno? Still going well in the late innings. He walked Torrence, pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot, in the eighth, but Weir flew out easily to end the inning. Carreno was on 86 pitches at that point, which was a shocking display of competence. Diaz grounded out easily to begin the bottom 9th. Arviso hit a sharp grounder, but right at Bribiesca, who had replaced Lonzo at short in a ninth-inning shuffle. Yoslan Valdez shot a double to right, but Wilken ended the game with a cozy grounder on the very next pitch. 6-1 Furballs! Labonte 2-4, BB; Caswell 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Carreno 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 14 – Knights SP Enrique Ortiz (0-1, 4.66 ERA) will miss at least a month after suffering an oblique strain.
April 16 – Buffaloes CL Kyle Zanni (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 2 SV) is going to miss the entire season with a torn UCL that requires Tommy John surgery.
April 18 – The Knights suffer another brutal injury, as three-time and defending Player of the Year 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.231, 0 HR, 3 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a torn UCL. The spiffy Nicaraguan switch-hitter requires Tommy John surgery as well.
April 18 – A bases-clearing double by Rebels SS Jason Turner (.293, 0 HR, 8 RBI) brings about the decision in the Rebels’ 15-inning, 7-4 win against the Blue Sox.
April 19 – Crusaders and Canadiens play 15 innings in Vancouver to get a single run to score. In the end, a walkoff home run by VAN OF Kyle Hawkins (.133, 1 HR, 3 RBI) gives the Canadiens a 1-0 win.
April 20 – LAP 1B Harry Ramsay (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBI) could miss four months or longer with a snapped achilles tendon.

FL Player of the Week: CIN C Tom Wheat (.395, 2 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .571 (12-21) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.423, 1 HR, 13 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Turnaround week – after a 5-game losing streak the Coons won five of their next six games and got back up to second place behind the Crusaders, who were already trying to escape.

The thing stunning me the most (besides Ramon Carreno pitching a complete-game win after being banished to St. Pete to begin with and getting lit up there) is the power game. This team hasn’t hit 100 homers in any of the last three seasons; they stopped at 99 last year, but they hit just 267 in total across three seasons. Now – 17 bombs in two weeks. And it’s not just one player being on a white-hot streak. We’ve had strong production from almost every spot in the lineup, and I wonder how long it will last.

Maybe six months…? Seven? Please…? (anxiously eyes skywards to try and gauge the baseball gods’ mood)

There’s still three wonky spots in the rotation, though.

But there were these little signs everywhere that the stars were just not aligned for the Critters this year. For example… recently-dis-Rule 5’ed Daniel Amburn lasted four days in St. Pete before breaking a wrist. I don’t think he’ll ever play for the Raccoons.

Next week we start a two-week homestand featuring the Loggers, Condors, Knights, and Indians.

Fun Fact: The Aces are off to an 11-2 start.

The Aces have been terrible for … SO LONG. Their last playoff appearance was 2027, when they won the CL South with all of an 81-81 record. In the 31 years in between they have had six winning records, and finished in the first division in the South seven times. They have been rotten *forever*. I feel like it’s time for Vegas to finally pick up their stuff and go somewhere.