[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-10) @ Bayhawks (8-10) – April 27-29, 2060

The fourth and final stop on the road trip was at the Bay, where nothing good ever happened, and where the resident Baybirds had beaten the Raccoons six games outta nine last season. They were also sitting second in runs scored and also in runs allowed, with a +21 run differential, and yet two games under .500, none of which made any sense.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-2, 5.63 ERA) vs. Jeff Crowley (0-1, 3.80 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-4, 6.56 ERA) vs. Eric Braley (2-1, 2.73 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-1, 4.86 ERA) vs. Garrett Giustino (0-2, 3.00 ERA)

„Look at those three right-handers”, the most carefully crafted starters’ selection of the Portland Terrifics snickered, “How puny their ERA’s are, ours are nearly *twice* as high! Losers!”

This was the first series in a four-week residency on the western side of the mountains, and a seven-week string in which the Raccoons would not go east of the Mississippi.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Fox
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Van Barcum – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – RF Escalera – SS J. Nunez – P Crowley

Christopher walked, but was caught stealing, and Lonzo singled, but was left on by Cas and Nye to begin the Tuesday series opener, while Fox smartly gave up three singles and a run in the first inning to establish the pecking order right away. The first hit came from Allan Van Barcum, a 25-year-old that had been through several cups of coffee and was on the roster early in the season for the first time, but had already exceeded service time limits for rookies last year. Grant Anker forced him out, but then scored on Armando Montoya’s and Aaron Walker’s singles before Keith Redfern grounded out to Nick Nye. Starr and Brass began the top 2nd with singles and two groundouts by Perez and Benitez at least got the tying run home before Fox struck out, only to get plonked even harder for two runs in the bottom 2nd. Jesus Nunez doubled, Jeff Crowley dinked in a bloop single, and runs scored on Xavier Reyes’ groundout and, after a depressing walk to Van Barcum, another single hit sharply by Grant Anker. Montoya then flew out to Christopher in deep right. The Raccoons made two outs to begin the top 3rd then before lining up all those little rubber duckies in a neat row: Cas and Nye hit singles, Starr drew an 8-pitch walk, and then Trent Brassfield launched a 2-1 pitch well over the fence in left. GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That wasn’t even the end of the inning. Crowley put Perez and Benitez on base, and Chance Fox singled up the middle with them in scoring position and two outs, allowing both to score and extend the lead to 7-3. That was the end for Crowley, whose replacement Jorge Solis retired Joe-Chris on one pitch to get out of the inning. That wasn’t even the last RBI knock for Foxie Brown, who had another 2-out RBI single in the fifth inning, when Crowley put Starr and Brass on base, one run was conceded on a passed ball charged to Redfern, and the other was knocked home by Fox, who by then had not allowed any further runs and now had three RBI to match the runs he had given up early. The Raccoons reached double digits in the sixth with Lonzo’s leadoff triple and an RBI groundout for Cas, 10-3. The Bayhawks got three more singles and a run off Fox in the bottom of that inning, but he finished the frame before being pinch-hit for in the top 7th.

And then we were waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way, which happened in the bottom 8th. Rios was left over from the seventh and allowed a leadoff single to Redfern before being replaced with Loveless, who turned out to be listless. Jose Escalera singled, Jesus Nunez walked, and Chris Morris launched a grand slam to dead center for some 440 feet, axing the Coons lead to two runs all at once. Sullivan came in, allowed a double to Van Barcum, but then regained control and got out of the damn inning. Matt Walters had less trouble in the ninth, allowing only a single before finishing out the game. 10-8 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Caswell 2-5, RBI; Nye 2-5; Starr 3-4, BB; Brassfield 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Yes, boys! Pitching may suck, but maybe we can out-hit all our bothers!

Game 2
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – 2B A. Montoya – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – SS J. Nunez – RF C. Morris – P Braley

Bobby Herrera had a quick first inning, then was taken very deep to right by Grant Anker right out of the gate in the second inning to give San Fran a 1-0 lead. They frittered that away in the top 3rd, with Nunez’ throwing error putting Brass on second base with one out, and Lonzo cashing in with an RBI single to right. Lonzo stole second, his sixth bag of the year, had to hold on Cas’ grounder for the second out, but then scored on Nick Nye knobbing a ball to shallow center for an RBI single, and Portland was up 2-1. Starr popped out to end the inning.

Tipsy Bobby was allowing a single per inning more or less, but the Baybirds did some fine job in limiting their spread on the bases. Old Elks foe Aaron Walker hit a second-inning single right after the homer dropped by Anker, but was doubled up by Redfern. Montoya singled in the fourth, but was caught stealing. Whatever works! The 2-1 lead stood into the sixth when Nye led off with a single to left-center, then was running on a pitch that Joel Starr whacked into the gap for an RBI double, but was left on second for three straight poor outs by the bottom of the order. Herrera kept holding up despite another single in the sixth and a walk offered in the seventh, but neither runner made it into scoring position. The Coons then stole three bases in the eighth inning; Nye led off with a single, swiped second on the very next pitch by Braley, who was then made to walk Starr intentionally before being replaced with righty Zach Johnson, who conceded a double steal on the very next pitch. Perez’ shy single to right brought in a run, but Johnson then disappeared the bottom of the order with two strikeouts around Benitez’ lining out to his opposite number Reyes. Herrera batted there for himself, then returned to the hill as we hoped for two more outs from righty batters Henry Howie and Xavier Reyes. He struck out the former, but Reyes singled, after which Herrera replaced Herrera, picked Reyes off first base without throwing an actual pitch, then gave up a single to the lefty hitting Escalera before ringing up Montoya to end the inning. Yes, whatever works!

The Coons didn’t tack on in the ninth, leaving it a 3-run game. Matt Walters had been out three of the last four days (e.g. every day the Coons actually played since Saturday) and we’d try to get one nailed down without him. There were certainly enough closer XP on the roster! Ricky Herrera was still left over for the lefty batting Grant Anker to begin the inning, but lost him in a full count to a leadoff walk. Ruben Mendez then got the ball and on two pitches got a weird 2-6-3 double play on a ball Aaron Walker deposited right in front of the plate. He still couldn’t get the job done, allowing a homer to pinch-hitter Pat Fowler, then a single to Nunez. The Raccoons finally bothered Walters with Morris – the slammer from Tuesday – as the tying run, but he was hit for with a righty, Van Barcum. Walters got the K anyway. 4-2 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4, BB; Nye 3-5, RBI; B. Herrera 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-4);

Game 3
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – 2B A. Montoya – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – SS J. Nunez – RF Tomko – P Giustino

After a nice recovery appearance by Herrera on Wednesday, DeRose wasted no time getting his snout beating bloody in the first inning on Thursday. Reyes singled, stole second, and scored on the first of two doubles by Montoya and Anker, with San Fran plating two runs total in the inning. The Raccoons made no major moves to recover from that for a while, indicated by how Joel Starr had their first two base hits, a single in the second on which Maresh swiftly doubled him up, and then a solo jack in the fifth to half the deficit, but up until then Giustino had faced the minimum. Lonzo singled, stole second, and was stranded in the sixth, which was all the more shame since DeRose actually put his stuff together after the horrid, terrible, no-good first inning and strung up six zeroes on the scoreboard, scattering only three more base hits and never being in a real threat thereafter, but he was still on the hook.

The eighth inning was agony. David Gonzales popped out, after which Christopher batted for DeRose and singled. He stole second base, then reached third on an uncaught third strike to Brassfield that got away. And then Lonzo hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 with runners on the corners… and *then* committed an error that put Reyes on base to begin the bottom 8th behind Ryan Sullivan, although Reyes then was caught stealing. None of this erased the 2-1 lead the Baybirds held since the start of the game, but the Raccoons brought the meat of the order up against Ryan Dow in the ninth. They were retired in order, sorta. Noah Caswell hit a leadoff double, but thought he’d get three out of it. Chris Morris disagreed and he was thrown out at third base. Nye and Starr didn’t reach base to begin with. 2-1 Bayhawks. Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1; DeRose 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (2-2);

Raccoons (11-11) vs. Loggers (8-12) – April 30-May 2, 2060

We came home from the roadtrip to find out that Maud had called in ill with the sniffles on Wednesday, and by Friday there were stains everywhere and both Slappy and Chad were sitting around on the couch, giggling, each with a set of underpants on their head rather than a baseball cap. I couldn’t find Cristiano Carmona at all until I walked down the hallway and heard knocking from the cleaning closet, where somebody had apparently wheeled him into along with the cleaning cart, because, as Cristiano said, he had tried to make them stop, but … And then he just started to rock back and forth, shivering.

In other words, all was well in Coon City!

Not that well were the Loggers, who were fifth in the division, and ninth in runs scored, but at least they weren’t bleeding runs quite as profusely as before, sitting sixth in runs allowed, for a -12 run differential (Coons: -9). We had won two of three games from them at the start of the year.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (1-2, 6.53 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (0-1, 4.22 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (1-0, 2.48 ERA) vs. Julian Dunn (3-0, 2.37 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-2, 5.73 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (1-0, 2.31 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday, unless the Loggers got funny with their off day they had had on Thursday.

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

Zach Stewart was not fixed. He loaded the bases in both the first and third innings as the Loggers’ top half of the lineup tried to slowly press him to death, but they couldn’t get a run across either time, either by means of poor pops in crucial situations, like James Wilks’ to shallow right that ended the top of the first, or because Marcos Chavez hit into an inning-ending double play as in the third. Danny Miller singled and was caught stealing in the fourth and the Raccoons finally scratched out a run to actually take a lead in that inning after being mostly mute for the first three. Nye and Perez put a pair of singles together for a 2-out run. Wilson walked Benitez, then rung up Stewart to end the bottom 4th before the pair switched positions and Stewart fell to 3-1 on Wilson before the Loggers chucker flew out to Cas in center.

Stewart was hit for after six surely shaky shutout innings when the Raccoons somehow erred the bases full with two outs and his spot up in the bottom 6th. Nye singled and stole a base, after which Starr walked and Brass grounded out. Perez whiffed, Benitez was walked intentionally for *reasons*, and then Nick Fowler fowled out behind the plate to strand everybody. One o’ those games…

Cas and Nye were on base with two outs in the seventh and stranded on Starr’s pop to short, while the Raccoons put two shutout innings together with Mendez, Loveless, and Bravo in the seventh and eighth innings, then hoped one day off was enough for Matt Walters to regain sharpness after pitching four outta five. No insurance run came together, though, because Oscar Caballero was nicked by James Murdock in the bottom 8th, but no actual base hits were dropped. Perry Pigman fell to 0-2 to begin the ninth inning before legging out a single on an infield chopper, but then was doubled up on Dave Robles’ grounder to Lonzo. Marcos Chavez was rung up to end the game. 1-0 Blighters. Nye 3-4; Perez 2-4, RBI; Benitez 0-1, 3 BB;

Not only was offense conspicuously absent from this series opener, but the Raccoons mascot was as well, as Chad was too outta whack to even stand, let alone frolic around with everybody’s annoying brats in the stands. This continued into Saturday, which was a day game, and I couldn’t shake Chad awake no matter how hard I tried. But we needed the mascot out there, since the Agitator had already reported on the lack of a mascot and that all the little kiddos had been very sad. (big black googly eyes wander over to Cristiano)

Don’t be like that, Cristiano! – Our mascot is now in a wheelchair and that much more inclusive!! (presses the costume’s head onto Cristiano’s as he keeps resisting)

Game 2
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – SS Carrera – 3B Lange – 2B Serna – P Dunn
POR: RF Christopher – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Caballero – C Perez – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – P Riddle

Also still paralyzed on Saturday: the offense. The Raccoons had nothing for two innings, then barely ached out a run in the third inning as Fowler singled, Benitez drew another walk, and after a bunt, Christopher’s grounder to short barely got Fowler home. The Loggers had put Pigman and Robles on the corners with singles in the first, but then Chavez flew out to Caswell, and they got only one more hit, no run, and struck out seven times from there through the sixth inning.

Some of the patrons were finally woken up when Joey Christopher opened the bottom 6th with a double into the left-center gap, just after the NWSN broadcast had returned from the personalized ad break with a picture of the Raccoons’ wheelchair-bound mascot being climbed on by four rowdy children of various ages, and his arms flailing as if calling for help. The Loggers walked Starr intentionally onto the open base, but Dunn then followed up with a wild pitch, making the point a bit moot. No further intentional walk was issued to Cas, but his grounder to first was butchered by Robles for an error that allowed Christopher to score from third base, 2-0. Nye’s RBI single added a run, but Caballero put a knife in the inning with a double play grounder, and Perez popped out. Riddle had another scoreless inning, though, and Ricky Herrera also retired three in a row in the eighth inning as it started to rain.

Before long it rained quite good and the game went to a rain delay with two outs, Nye at first base, and Caballero up in the bottom 8th. Alex Diaz replaced Dunn after the rain was waited out for 90 minutes, threw ONE pitch, and then the rain immediately picked up again and it really pissed it down, and the groundscrew scrambled to put the tarp on yet again. We then were made to sit that one out for *another* 70 minutes! Caballero then popped out after an at-bat that took nearly three hours. Matt Walters had tossed in the pen twice before either rain delay and was not brought back at that stage, and instead Ryan Sullivan got the save opportunity in the ninth inning. He got Corey Garmon and Perry Pigman quickly, but then walked Robles. Chavez struck out to end the game, though. 3-0 Wet Critters. Nye 2-4, RBI; Fowler 1-2, BB; Riddle 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (2-0);

Cristiano showed a waiver from Luis Silva on Sunday that he had a back injury and could not do any more mascot duties. Since Slappy and Chad were still slapped silly from whatever they had ingested, and Maud was also still ill, that only left one option. No, of course not me, I hate kids. I made Cristiano call Gustaf, is ever-shirtless and always-oily roommate to come in and do the mascot gig for the afternoon game.

Gustaf was dumb as a rock, but what was the worst that could *really* happen?

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

Same lineup as on the last Southpaw Sunday in Atlanta, although Chance Fox never batted, being bludgeoned to ******* death inside of two innings. Dave Robles got him for a 2-run homer in the first inning, which was one thing, but the second inning just never ended. Fidel Carrera led off with a single, Ralph Lange doubled, and Kozak klutzed a fly to left by Marty Serna for a run-scoring error. Pritchard struck out bunting in vain, but that was the only out that Fox got before being buried under the collapsing ballpark for good. Scott Franks singled, Gorey Garmon singled, and Perry Pigman singled. It was 6-0, runners on the corners and still only one out, and the Raccoons pulled the plug. Bravo got a pop on the infield from Robles and struck out Chavez to end the inning, but the damage had been done. Speaking of doing damage – Cristiano, why is Gustaf picking up pre-teens in the stands, throwing them against the netting behind home plate, and then catching them again as they ricochet back to him? – Can you … Can he stop doing that?

Bravo pitched one more inning, but the Raccoons needed to burn somebody, and the most obvious option was Loveless, who had the most stamina of all the relievers. He put up a scoreless fourth before Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!) in the bottom 4th and Nick Nye homered over the fence in left, cutting the gap to 6-2. That was as good as it got for rallying, though, as Loveless got completely picked apart in the fifth inning. Two walks, three singles for four runs, including a 2-run single by Pritchard that hurt especially, and then another 2-out walk to Pigman, and he was yanked and sent to St. Pete right away. Mendez got out of the inning with a fly to center from Robles, but gave up a 2-run homer to Ralph Lange in the sixth inning. In between the Coons pointlessly filled the bases and left them full. Nick Fowler hit a home run batting for Mendez in the bottom 6th as the Raccoons tried to stave off losing by double digits. They didn’t look like they’d make it after the top 9th, Alex Rios’ second inning of work, in which he nailed Lange with the first pitch of the inning, and then threw Serna’s grounder well past Brassfield on first base for a 2-base error. The Loggers added an unearned run there in the inning, establishing a 10-run lead again. Joey Christopher drew another walk in the bottom 9th, but was then doubled up by Maresh to end the game. 13-3 Loggers. Nye 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 1-1, BB; Fowler (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI; Christopher 1-2, BB; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

April 27 – Thunder INF/RF/LF Omar Lira (.297, 2 HR, 16 RBI) is expected to miss a month with back spasms.
April 28 – The Cyclones score ten runs on the Stars in the sixth inning on their way to a 15-3 rout win. Cincy hits five homers in the game, two of them by 1B Marquise Saulsberry (.227, 2 HR, 10 RBI), who drives in a team-leading five runs.
May 2 – The Aces lose their closer Alex Flores (1-1, 3.60 ERA, 4 SV) to shoulder inflammation. He is not expected back before September, if that.

FL Player of the Week: DAL C Isaiah Dickerson (.552, 5 HR, 9 RBI), batting .600 (6-10) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.307, 4 HR, 11 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 4 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL C Isaiah Dickerson (.571, 5 HR, 9 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: NYC OF Sean Zeiher (.344, 4 HR, 28 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Justin Martin (5-0, 0.74 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Ben Seiter (4-0, 2.08 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN INF Rich Monck (.303, 3 HR, 19 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT C Travis Anderson (.342, 3 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

The team went 4-2 this week, but conceded 25 runs while scoring 22 of their own, thanks to the Sunday rout against the Loggers. The pitching remains … (moves paws around) … *a lot*! That -15 run differential doesn’t look good at all.

The only guy with a good ERA is the worst of the reclamation projects, Tyler Riddle, who is somehow unbeaten and has a 2.00 ERA. If only we didn’t drag around three whack jobs with ERA’s well over five…

There will be roster moves to begin the next week, although it’s not like I can just wish a new starting pitcher into existence. The weirdest starter in AAA is somehow the most productive one, with 23-year-old Angel Alba being a 4-0 pitcher with a 1.65 ERA for the Alley Cats. Alba was 4-4 with a 5.01 ERA last year in 12 games for St. Pete, after going 5-3 with a 2.70 ERA and also three saves in some relief outings for Ham Lake. Alba, a righty, was a scouting discovery in 2053 that so far has never performed in a way to get actually noticed, but who suddenly got upgraded to the #60 prospect by BNN. “Banjo” Pigg isn’t convinced that he’s the real deal, though. The actual #9 pick from a few years back who I have tooted my horn about quite a few times, Brett Cotton, in turn was 2-1 with a 5.48 ERA for St. Pete…

But we need a replacement for Loveless and then probably also delete Kozak, who doesn’t hit for anything worth writing about.

(oily shirtless muscular guy with a Raccoons mascot head on walks by in the background)

Four games with Indy coming up, then a weekend trip to Salem.

Fun Fact: The Blue Sox are not missing Nick Nye thanks to the emergence of Robby Cox hitting .367 in his spot.

Cox was already a regular last year, but hit only .251 with 14 homers. Now at short, Cox, age 29, is putting on a hitting clinic with a .367/.438/.532 slash and two home runs and 17 RBI in the first month of the season. Cox was a #7 pick in the draft, and thus much higher than Nye, who went at #45.

I’m just happy Nick Nye is hitting .364 and not the usual .217 for high-average imports here…