[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 6-8, 2060

The best the Raccoons had managed against the lowly Loggers in the last six years had been to fight them to a draw three times, and they lost the season series the other three times. Last year had been a draw, never mind that the Loggers had bottomed out. The Loggers started the season with veteran reliever Roberto Alvarado still on the DL from last year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (0-0) vs. Julian Dunn (0-0)
Zach Stewart (0-0) vs. Ernesto Culver (0-0)
Tyler Riddle (0-0) vs. Roger Pritchard (0-0)

First southpaw of the season from an opposing team? Look no further than the last game of this series!

While the season started with an off day for the Raccoons, they would then not have another one until Week 3. Unless the Portland weather got funny eventually.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
MIL: CF Franks – 2B Garmon – SS Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF Pigman – RF Milian – C M. Reed – 3B Lange – P Dunn

The Loggers lineup had grown more anonymous since even last year, which didn’t stop known threat Perry Pigman to hit a 1-out single in the second inning for the first hit overall in the game, then steal second base. He moved up further on David Milian’s groundout, and then scored on a 2-out, 2-strike wild pitch. Yay, the Raccoons! Don’t worry, folks – we’ll be here all year!

In three innings, the fluffy Coons managed three walks – two drawn by Joey Christopher – and no base knocks, but new Nick Nye niftily knobbed a single into shallow right to begin the top of the fourth inning. Starr singled to left and Brass drew a walk, which filled the bases with nobody out, and me with much foreboding. Angel Perez tied the game with a sac fly to right-center, but Benitez whiffed and Tipsy Bobby popped out to leave the game tied. Neither team then managed to get as much as a third hit through the end of six, but Dunn was up to five free passes by then, without getting due punishment from either the Raccoons lineup or his own manager.

Dunn then allowed a leadoff double to Herrera in the top 7th, before the Loggers chose to intentionally walk Joe-Chris for an interesting strategy. Lonzo flew out to right on a 2-0 pitch, while Cas dropped a single into left that loaded the bags again. Nick Nye, our hero and savior, then on point hit into a double play, proving that he was already a full member of the team. Instead, Herrera came apart for a leadoff single by Corey Garmon in the bottom 7th, Garmon being forced out by Fidel Carrera (who?), and then Pigman’s RBI double and Milian’s RBI single gave Milwaukee a 3-1 lead. When the Portland Browns had Brass and Perez on base with one out in the eighth, Nick Fowler batted for Benitez, straight into another inning-ending double play. The tying runs were on base again in the ninth inning against closer Alex Diaz, in unearned fashion because of Diaz’ unearned error, but the runs would count. It was Christopher at third, Caswell on first after a 2-out single to center, and Nye in the box, at least until a wild 0-1 that scored Christopher and narrowed the gap to a run. Then, Nye flew out to left. 3-2 Loggers. Caswell 2-3, BB;

Yikes.

It was then the Milwaukee weather that got funny and gave us a rainout on Wednesday, and a double header on Thursday.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Stewart
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – 3B Lange – 2B Carrera – SS D. Miller – P E. Culver

Scott Franks singled on the third pitch by Zach Stewart in 10 months, stole his way to third base, and scored on Garmon’s single, but Garmon was later caught stealing in the inning. Two more Loggers singles by Ralph Lange and Carrera and a wild pitch by Stewart extended the Loggers lead to 2-0 in the bottom 2nd. For Portland, Angel Perez hit a leadoff double in the top 3rd, then reached third base on a wild pitch by Culver. Benitez walked, then advanced on a meek grounder by Stewart. Christopher whiffed, while Lonzo, starting the season 0-for-6, grounded sharply up the middle. Danny Miller lunged and contained the ball, but couldn’t get it out of his glove for an inning-ending flip to Carrera, waiting for it at second base, and Lonzo got an RBI infield single out of it. Cas kept the line moving with an RBI double to right, tying the game, but Nye then popped out on a 3-1 pitch and the inning ended.

The fourth brought the first Portland lead of the year. Brass hit a 1-out single to left, then was moving early on another Perez drive that fell for a double in left-center, and scored on that to make it 3-2 Critters. Perez was left on base by Benitez and Stewart, who was almost taken deep by Fidel Carrera (who?) in the bottom 4th, and looked shaky overall. Franks hit another single for the Loggers in the bottom 5th, but was doubled up by Garmon to end the inning almost immediately and before he could steal another 16 bases off the Coons’ backs.

Stewart would go six innings while holding the lead, but on almost 100 pitches was pinch-hit for to begin the top of the seventh. Kozak struck out in his place, and the Raccoons went in order, as did the Loggers’ bottom of the order against Ruben Mendez, who made his Raccoons debut in the bottom 7th. LaBat got the bottom 8th and would have had another clean inning if not for an error by Nick Nye that put Pigman aboard with two outs. Reynaldo Bravo came in and got Dave Robles to fly out to center to end the inning. While the offense remained reluctant to even put up a threat, and held itself to a pinch-hit Caballero single in the ninth inning, Matt Walters arrived in the new season without any mercy and struck out Milian, Lange, and James Wilks in order in the bottom 9th to get the series even. 3-2 Raccoons! Perez 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Stewart 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

(licks on the box score and smacks repeatedly) Could use some more spice.

Game 3
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – RF Caballero – LF Kozak – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – 3B Lange – 2B Carrera – C M. Reed – SS D. Miller – P Pritchard

Who had Jack Kozak for the team’s first stolen base in the new season? Probably nobody, but he still did it, singling to begin the top 2nd after the Coons left Nye and Cas on the corners in the first inning, and then taking off for second base. A bad throw by Mark Reed allowed him to third base, and that again allowed Chris Maresh to bring him home with a sac fly in his first Coons plate appearance, and that was a 1-0 lead. Noteworthy, while both ends of the Raccoons battery had made their last appearance in the majors as a Logger, Maresh had never caught Riddle, who had gone down in ’58 while Maresh had still been a Reb. Brass and Nye had more nothingburger singles in the third inning, but all we needed was Maresh coming back around to bat, offering another first in the fourth inning, the Raccoons’ first homer of the new season, a solo piece to left for a 2-0 lead. The other end of the reworked ex-Logger battery appeared profoundly solid in his first appearance in about 20 months. He allowed just one hit against three strikeouts the first time through, and didn’t get into many bad counts at all.

While Riddle was still 1-hitting the Loggers through five, Maresh remained a 1.000 hitter with a sixth-inning single that knocked out Pritchard after 5.1 innings, but was left on base by Gonzales and Riddle. When it then went south for Riddle, it did so in a hurry and without much chance to react. Inside six pitches, he gave up a 2-out string of hits to blow the lead with two outs in the bottom 6th: Pigman singled, Robles hit an RBI double over Cas’ head, and Lange added a game-tying single. Pinch-runner Matt Lock then reached all the way to third base with a stolen bag and a balk, but Carrera struck out and kept the game tied.

The Coons could not hit a lick to make something out of walks drawn by Brass and Nye in the seventh inning, with Cas and Caballero going down meekly on a K and a pop, respectively. Riddle held the 2-2 tie for another inning, but had to settle for a no-decision after that. Kozak got on base to begin the eighth, but then was stranded while Nick Fowler batted for Riddle with two outs and flew out to center. Bottom 8th, and the Loggers got a leadoff walk from PH David Milian drawn against Ryan Sullivan, then a Pigman single to center. Robles flew out to center, moving Milian and the go-ahead run to third base, which was what Ricky Herrera inherited: runners on the corners, one out, and soon two out with a guy on third when Pigman was caught stealing by Maresh. Matt Lock drew a 2-out walk, but Carrera grounded out lazily to short to kill the inning.

The tie was then forcefully broken by Trent Brassfield with a leadoff jack in the ninth inning, which meant that Ricky Herrera was sniffing on yet another win, the old victory hog! Alex Diaz further allowed a walk to Nye, but he was doubled up by Cas to end the inning. The Raccoons only had Alex Rios left in unused relievers on this day, and since the bottom 9th began with the left-handed hitting Mark Reed, stuck to Ricky Herrera for the time being. Reed singled to left, but Danny Miller popped out. Shane Larsen singled to center, but James Wilks whiffed. Milian was up with two outs. The switch-hitter was weaker against southpaws, fell to 0-2 against Ricky Herrera… and then singled the game tied with a ball through the left side. Kozak’s bad throw home allowed the trailing runners into scoring position, but Pigman’s sharp grounder to first base ended the inning and sent the game to extras.

Top 10th, Maresh singled and Diaz walked Gonzales and Joel Starr with two outs to load the bases for Brassfield, who laid off four straight errant pitches to push home the go-ahead run for the second inning in a row. Diaz was out, replaced with Jeremy Fetta, who got Lonzo to fly out to Matt Lock. It was then Alex Rios and nothing else anymore (except for starters) in the bottom of the inning. Rios didn’t muck around much longer. Six pitches dumped the Loggers, ending with a K to Fetta, who had to bat with the bench empty by then. 4-3 Blighters. Brassfield 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 BB; Kozak 2-5; Maresh 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

So that was Rios’ first career save, and the first of 17 wins this year for Ricky Herrera…!

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Falcons (1-2) – April 10-12, 2060

The Falcons had dropped two of three games to the Condors to begin the year, and had lost the season series against the Raccoons last year, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (0-0) vs. Phil Baker (0-0)
Justin DeRose (0-0) vs. Neil Mongillo (0-0)
Bobby Herrera (0-1, 3.52 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (0-1, 3.86 ERA)

Mongillo was the scheduled southpaw for this series.

Game 1
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 1B Valcarel – SS Hullander – CF T. Stone – 3B Carbajal – P P. Baker
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – P Fox

The Raccoons came to Portland for their home opener, rain in the forecast (wasn’t there ever?), and a Kyle Fisher homer in the first inning that gave the Falcons an early 1-0 lead. Danny Ceballos, who led the Falcons with 6 RBI, the only batter with more than one, drew a walk and Luis Miranda singled to put on two more, but then the inning fizzled out for them with groundouts by Jesus Valcarel and Joe Hullander.

The rain came in the fourth inning, lasted an hour, and ended Chance Fox’ day early once he offered two clumsy walks in the fifth inning, but at least he finished that one, on the day after a double-header… The Raccoons offered little in terms of offense in the innings before the rain came, but when the bottom 5th came around found a way to get to Phil Baker, a Raccoon five years removed. Lonzo grounded out in place of Fox to lead off the inning, but then the 1-2-3 hitters all found singles and Cas driving home Chris tied the game. Baker threw a wild pitch, then allowed the go-ahead run to come home on Nye’s groundout, while Valcarel’s bobble of Starr’s grounder at first base conceded another run to the Raccoons before Perez flew out to Jose Rodriguez in center. The last man out on Thursday was the first man out on Friday as Alex Rios got the sixth inning, and also taken deep by Hullander to narrow the score to 3-2. The Coons answered against righty Josh Doyle in the bottom of the same inning: Fowler singled to begin the inning, and after two outs and a walk to Joe-Chris finally scored on Trent Brassfield’s 2-out RBI single. Cas walked to fill the bases, and Nye slashed a single up the middle to bring in two more runs, and also ended Doyle’s time on the mound. Franklin Mendoza replaced him, walked Starr to fill the bags once more, and gave up another 2-run single to Angel Perez. The inning ended with the guy it started with, Fowler flying out to Kyle Fisher in left, but the Raccoons had scored five to take an 8-2 lead.

The Falcons were down, but not counted out yet. Bravo’s seventh inning was clean, but the eighth, overseen by Elijah LaBat, was not. First Starr had a fumble at first for an error, and then Ceballos powered a 2-run homer to right, getting the Falcons back within slam range. LaBat ended the inning though against the next three batters. The Raccoons then needed three pitchers for the ninth inning, while no Falcon reached base. LaBat retired the left-handed Tim Stone. We then brought in Ruben Mendez for the last two outs, but he got only one, striking out Ricky Carbajal before shaking out his arm and drawing unwanted attention from the trainer Luis Silva. He came out of the game, and we had to go all the way to Ryan Sullivan to get the game over with, as he struck out Ernesto Quijada. 8-4 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Perez 2-4, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4;

And thus came the first roster move of the new season. Ruben Mendez had a mild shoulder strain and would have to sit out at least a week, and we couldn’t be without a reliever for that long. He was off to the DL, and J.J. Sensabaugh was brought back up right away, since a long guy sounded exactly like what the doctor ordered with four of our relievers having pitched two days in a row now…

…except we wouldn’t have needed to worry: the weather took care of Saturday and bullpen rest, and after a wonderfully friendly morning it poured all afternoon and evening, and no ballgame was feasible.

Yay, ‘nother double header…!

The scheduled starters for the second game, Mongillo and DeRose, were both bypassed in favor of the scheduled starters for the third game, Schaeffer and Bobby Herrera.

Game 2
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 1B Valcarel – LF K. Fisher – SS Hullander – 3B Carbajal – P Schaeffer
POR: RF Christopher – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Caballero – SS Fowler – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera

For an ace, Bobby Herrera was pretty useless in the first game of the second double-header in a week, walking Jose Rodriguez, allowing a single to Takuro Yoshikawa, and then a 3-run homer to Luis Miranda, and that was only the first inning… A Rodriguez double and Yoshikawa single would add another run for the Falcons in the third inning while the Raccoons had pretty little to show for. They had three hits on the board in five innings, and then Tony Benitez hit into a double play – twice. The Raccoons pressed Herrera into the seventh inning, where he departed after Hullander and Rodriguez hit singles to go to the corners. Two outs, Yoshikawa then hit an RBI single off Sullivan to extend the Falcons’ lead to 5-0. Ceballos flew out to center to leave two on.

Tony Benitez also made a throwing error for a total gain of zero popularity points, and was hit for after the two Nicks reached base against Schaeffer in the bottom 7th and his spot came up with two outs. Lonzo hadn’t hit for a damn thing either so far, but ran a full count before getting an RBI single through the left side, which at least got the Coons on the board. Kozak then struck out to end the inning. Starr went deep to center for his first home run in the bottom 8th, knocking out Schaeffer, and the Raccoons got Cas and Nye on base against the pen, but Caballero popped out and Fowler struck out against Mario de Anda to prevent the Raccoons to do something with the tying run in the box. Alex Rios was abused for two innings to hold the Falcons to their pawful of runs, while the Raccoons brought the tying run back to the box against Adam Middleton in the bottom 9th. Brass singled, Joe-Chris doubled, but there were two outs already for Joel Starr, and his fly to center ended up with Rodriguez to end the game. 5-2 Falcons. Nye 3-4; Lavorano (PH) 1-2, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

To anybody’s surprise then, the Falcons didn’t send Mongillo at all, and the nightcap was started by Esteban Duran (0-1, 5.68 ERA), right-hander by trade, which retrospectively made some lineup decisions in the first game a bit eh.

Game 3
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Valcarel – LF K. Fisher – SS Hullander – C McCarver – 3B Carbajal – P E. Duran
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose

Caswell’s first-inning home run collected Christopher’s leadoff single and stolen base for a 2-0 lead on Sunday evening, and Joe-Chris scored again the inning after by hitting a 2-out home run himself for his first RBI of the year, 3-0. The Raccoons would continue to play the power game, only scoring again in the sixth inning, but then on a 2-run home run by Brassfield, then with Joel Starr on base, and extending the lead to 5-0. In between things had been a bit calm, and especially in the tops of innings. Through six the Falcons had just two hits (one of the infield variety) and one walk against DeRose, who had whiffed seven batters so far, although his pitch count was kinda up there. The Raccoons were by now trying to not use Sensabaugh in relief here and instead use him as a spot starter on Monday to mitigate the damage to law and order in the rotation caused by the first double header already.

Unfortunately a double hit by Joe Hullander on an 0-2 pitch and a walk drawn by Braden McCarver right after that extended the seventh inning long enough for DeRose to go over 100 pitches and the Raccoons would have to get the last six outs somewhere else. Walters would get the ninth regardless of score. At least that was the plan before Ricky Herrera was blown up for three loud, long hits, a walk, and three runs in the eighth inning, and didn’t even get out of it. Walters had to hang a K on Hullander to escape with Ceballos stranded on second base in a 5-3 game. He also struck out McCarver to begin the ninth before Ricky Carbajal popped out, which made him the first batter all year that didn’t fan against Matt Walters. Ernesto Quijada even drew a walk, but then Luis Miranda grounded out easily. 5-3 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, HR, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nye 3-4, 3B; DeRose 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Condors (2-4) – April 13-15, 2060

Without a breather, play continued on Monday against the Condors, who had an average amount of runs scored and allowed after a week of play, and a -4 run differential. Their rotation had been tough so far, but the bullpen had been very willing to give. We had a 6-year winning streak against the Condors, with a 6-3 series last year.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (0-0) vs. Marco Clemente (0-0, 1.59 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jay Everett (0-0, 1.80 ERA)

Yay-yay Sensabaugh…! Truth be told, if the selection between who to send on short rest hadn’t been between the two guys that had just missed most or more of a season on the DL, he probably would have been sent back for a more useful reliever type without making a start here… The Condors had only right-handed starters on offer for this series.

Game 1
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – 1B Sturgeon – C Waker – 3B Frasher – CF Alade – 2B L. Chapa – P M. Clemente
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Sensabaugh

Putting in Sensabaugh didn’t lead to a calm game; both teams chucked out six hits apiece through four innings, but only the Raccoons scored runs. The Condors twice left them on the corners, hit into a double play, and did all kinds of shenanigans to prevent themselves from scoring, while the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead on Angel Perez’ RBI double, scoring Nye in the second inning, then got another run in the third with a 1-out Christopher double and Cas’ 2-out RBI single. Nye singled again there, but the two runners were stranded when Starr grounded out to second base. In the fourth, Brass socked a leadoff double and scored after Perez’ grounder on Benitez’ sac fly, which was about the most useful thing Tony Benitez had so far done this season.

After a calm fifth, Angel Perez singled home another run after Starr and Brass both reached base ahead of him in the bottom 6th, extending the lead to 4-0 before Benitez and Sensabaugh brought the inning to an unsatisfying conclusion. Sensabaugh then managed to blow most of the 4-0 lead when not properly supervised for just five minutes in the seventh inning, offering leadoff walks to Jon Alade and Luis Chapa, and long doubles to PH Bobby Fish and Scott Moore. Reynaldo Bravo had to get the last two outs of the inning, getting a grounder to short from Casey Ramsey and a standard fly to center from Jason Sturgeon to avoid a total blow-up, but it was 4-3 anyway now at the stretch.

Bottom 7th, and Christopher opened with a double to right-center against Blake Lewis, who also allowed a soft single to Lonzo on the very next pitch. Runners on the corners, Lonzo took off for his first stolen base attempt of the year … and depressingly was thrown out. Lewis then nicked Cas, Nye whiffed, but Starr punished him with a 2-out, 2-run double, also finally getting Christopher home. The Condors tried to come back against Bravo in the top 8th, getting a leadoff single from Tristan Waker, and then Eric Frasher reached on Nick Nye’s error. The Raccoons went to LaBat against the left-handed bottom of the order. Alade hit into a fielder’s choice, and Chapa and Nick Samuel both struck out to leave a pair on the corners! After Perez singled to begin the bottom 8th and was doubled up by Benitez, Matt Walters retired the Condors in order to put the game away. 6-3 Critters. Christopher 2-4, 2 2B; Nye 2-4; Starr 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Thanks, J.J. (1-0, 4.26 ERA), here’s a “Happy Apendectomy!” card, which is all I could find in the top drawer, and inside you’ll find a ticket back to St. Pete. The Raccoons brought up Bryan Erickson, a 25-year-old right-hander and former eighth-round pick that had done solidly in St. Pete last year. He had very low stamina, so really wasn’t a long man.

Game 2
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – 2B Palmieri – CF B. Fish – P Mauricio
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Stewart

Hard to say what the crowd celebrated more in the bottom 3rd on Tuesday – that Lonzo hit a 2-out single to plate Tony Benitez and tie the score at one after Casey Ramsey had given the Condors the lead with a sac fly in the top of the inning, or that he then stole his first base in almost a full year before being stranded by Caswell. The Condors answered with a 2-out, 2-run home run by Bobby Fish, collecting Eric Frasher, in the fourth inning, but the Coons saw Nye reach for the second time in the game, getting Nicked for the second time, and Starr singled on a 3-1 pitch. Brass whiffed in a full count, but Angel Perez found an RBI single, 3-2. Benitez and Stewart were easy outs to end the inning, though.

The Coons arrived at the same unhappy spot – Brass and Perez on base and the #8 spot up with one out – in the bottom 6th and had to go to the bench. Nick Fowler drew a bases-filling walk, but Stewart whiffed, and Christopher’s fly to left was caught by Alfredo Mendez on the warning track… The tying run was left on third base again the inning after when Caswell doubled and found no help whatsoever, and instead Scott Moore took Stewart deep to knocking him from a now 4-2 game in the top of the eighth inning. Erickson made his ABL debut with two outs from Samuel and Sturgeon. Brass hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th and was doubled up, and Caballero pinch-hit for a leadoff single against Brett Lillis jr. in the bottom 9th, bringing the tying run to the dish again. Christopher flew out to left, and Lonzo hit into a force at second base, none of which helped greatly. Cas’ single to right-center at least brought up Nick Nye was potential walkoff man with two outs, but he found Ramsey’s glove for the final out instead… 4-2 Condors. Caswell 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB; Benitez 1-2; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

There were 15 batters left on base in this game. 13 of them were Raccoons.

Game 3
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – 2B Palmieri – CF B. Fish – P Everett
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Kozak – SS Fowler – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – P Riddle

The Condors’ Scott Moore hit into a double play after a leadoff walk to Mendez on Wednesday, but the Raccoons made it up to the visitors by hitting into double plays in the second and third innings, and only one of those involved Tony Benitez… In turn, though, Nick Nye hit his first Portland homer in the bottom 4th for the first run in a so far offensively shy game. Riddle looked beatable if shaken at the right frequency, though, and the Condors tied the game indeed in the fifth when they began to lay off the garbage around the zone. Bob Palmieri hit a double to right, then scored on a 2-out single by the opposing pitcher Everett, which was depressing. Mendez walked, but Moore grounded out to Jack Kozak in another full count. Through five, Riddle’s pitch count was well over 80 then…

The Condors then picked him limb from limb in quick succession in the sixth. Ramsey socked a leadoff triple and scored the go-ahead run on Nick Samuel’s groundout. The 6-7-8 batters then clipped three 2-out singles for another run inside five pitches. Everett grounded out to strand two, which the Raccoons somehow made up right away in the bottom of the same inning. Cas doubled with one out to try and get something going, and Nye singled him home obligingly before stealing second as the tying run. Kozak flew out easily, though Fowler walked. Maresh singled shyly to left, but Nye had to hold. Tony Benitez was yoinked for Lonzo, who took one for the team in that spot; an 0-2 pitch to the hip specifically, which with the bases loaded and two outs pushed home Nye with the tying run. Joel Starr grounded out batting for Riddle, though, so more runners were uselessly frittered away.

By contrast, the Condors were driving in whatever was on base. Moore and Ramsey reached against Bravo in the seventh, and Jason Sturgeon beat a double over the head of Caswell with two outs to get both of them home and break the 3-3 tie. Frasher ended the inning with a groundout, and LaBat and Sullivan had scoreless innings after that, but the Raccoons could not get back on the horse and lost their first series of the year. 5-3 Condors. Caswell 2-4, 2B; Nye 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 1-2, 2 BB; Maresh 2-4;

In other news

April 5 – The Warriors lose 3B Steve Dilly (1-for-1, 0 HR, 2 RBI) to a quad strain on Opening Day. The 36-year-old is expected to miss six weeks.
April 7 – Season over for Pittsburgh closer Cruz Madrid (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 SV), who was diagnosed with a torn UCL and is headed for Tommy John surgery.
April 10 – Richmond SP Steve “Beefsteak” Hawkins (1-0, 0.00 ERA) not only fires a 4-hit shutout against the Scorpions, he also goes deep against SAC A.C. Stebbins (0-2, 5.56 ERA) for the only run of the 1-0 ballgame.
April 11 – No runs in regulation as the Blue Sox beat the Stars, 2-0 in 10 innings.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.407, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: IND 1B Jason Schaack (.409, 4 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Some guys are hot, some guys are not. This is true for the lineup especially, where we got hot starts from Brass, Cas, Nye, and Perez, but the rest of the lineup has been somewhere between soggy and absent. The third base platoon is already looking like it’s dead on arrival, with Benitez and Gonzales batting .067 between another in these first nine games. Lonzo was just marginally better and is – hh!! – not even leading the team in stolen bases.

Bobby Herrera is 0-2 to start the season, but what else is new…

The bullpen was quite decent so far, except for Bravo blowing up that last game with the Condors and that one time Ricky Herrera got scorched for a 3-spot. Boy’s already got a win though, so it will all be fiiiine.

All players we placed on waivers at the start of the season arrived in St. Petersburg safely.

And right away it’s off four a 4-city road trip, which is quite early in the season for such severe punishment. At least the travel itinerary made sense: New York, Boston, Atlanta, and the Bay on the way home. That would almost get us clean through the month.

Fun Fact: The quest for the top of the stolen base career leaderboard continues. Hopefully.

Just one stolen base in his return from malady, but I’ll waffle about his .172 BABIP and small sample sizes for a bit, then seemingly seamlessly bring your attention to the current top 12. Strange number, but the #11 and #12 guys were active.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 614
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 578
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Gonzalez (active) – 495
t-9th – Oscar Mendoza – 494
t-9th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 494
11th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 489
12th – Chris Navarro (active) – 488

That was a lot of active players of a career leaderboard, but on the other paw there was nothing behind *these* six for miles and miles. Lonzo was the third-youngest (behind Sanchez and Ceballos), but had gotten the second-fewest stolen bases last year, seven before getting hurt. Omar Gonzalez had stolen just three bases, and now was an unsigned free agent.

Sanchez (34) had taken the most bags last season, ahead of Vasquez (20), Ceballos (18), and Navarro (15). Truth be told, at this stage only Vasquez looked like a threat for the top four on the leaderboard…!