[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-51) vs. Capitals (51-67) – August 16-18, 2060

The Raccoons had beaten the Caps each of the last three times these teams had met for a series, including the last two years. Coming in 24 1/2 games out of first place in the FL East, the Caps had no bigger goals to play for anymore than maybe end the odd streak like this here or there. They were average in scoring runs in the FL, but allowed the third-most runs around the worst offense in the league and a highly volatile bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (9-10, 3.88 ERA) vs. A.C. Stebbins (4-11, 4.56 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (0-2, 6.11 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (3-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (4-9, 3.72 ERA)

Stebbins was the only left-hander in that setup for Washington. Unusually for a Federal League pitcher, this would be Stebbins’ second appearance against the Raccoons this year, having previously fought them to a no-decision on June 13 when he was still with Sacramento. He had been traded to the Caps in July.

The Raccoons began the week with a roster move, sending Felix Ayala (.176, 0 HR, 0 RBI) back to AAA as Oscar Caballero came off the DL.

Game 1
WAS: SS Sherrick – 2B J.-C. Lee – CF Epperson – 3B A. Flores – RF D. Flores – 1B H. Ramsay – C C. Gowin – LF Calhoun – P Stebbins
POR: 3B Gonzales – LF Kozak – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera

Two innings were scoreless to begin the series, but then Bobby Herrera offered a leadoff walk to Jamie Sherrick in the top 3rd and things happened from there. Although Tipsy Bobby got two outs after that, he was then also picked apart with an RBI single and RBI double, respectively, by the Floreses Angelo and David, walked former Critter Harry Ramsay, and gave up another RBI single to another former Critter, Chris Gowin, that made it 3-0. Aidan Calhoun loaded the bases with another single, but Stebbins popped out to leave the bases loaded. Herrera lasted only five innings with the next two also being drawn out with long counts, but with no more runs for Washington. The Caps’ A.C. Stebbins went into the seventh with relatively little trouble before Caballero, Bernie Ortega, and Chris Maresh loaded the bases with three straight 2-out singles. All that did was bring up David Gonzales, who got a 3-1 count, and then flew out easily to left, but there just wasn’t a right-handed bat on the bench besides Maresh…

The Caps tacked on two runs in the eighth inning, both on Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who failed the bags full, then walked in a run against Joo-Chan Lee. Ricky Herrera replaced him, gave up a second run on Gunner Epperson’s groundout, but at least got out of the inning with Angelo Flores’ fly to center. David Flores hit a homer off Herrera to begin the ninth, and things just kept unraveling. Herrera put two more on base, then gave up a 2-out, 2-run double to Jamie Sherrick, and the Raccoons had to bother Ryan Sullivan just to get the ******** game over with. The Raccoons never got going, really, and lost by a whole bunch. 8-0 Capitals. Ortega 2-3; Fowler (PH) 1-1; Maresh (PH) 1-1;

Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 8.04 ERA) wound up on waivers after this game to make room for 27-year-old lefty Curt Therien, who had a 2.05 ERA in AAA this year and got the callup to the majors five years after being taken in the fourth round of the 2055 draft. He was *Canadian*, but what can you do…

Game 2
WAS: LF Law – 2B J.-C. Lee – 3B A. Flores – CF Calhoun – C C. Gowin – SS Sherrick – RF Epperson – 1B London – P Barbieri
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – C Maresh – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Surprise: the Raccoons were still batting on Tuesday and actually scored a run in the first inning…! Starr hit a sac fly after Christopher and Fowler had reached base with singles. Riddle struck out the first two batters he faced in the game, then in the second inning both got a 4-6-3 double play turned behind him with two aboard as well as hit into one for a mixed bag of a frame.

That was still better than the fifth inning, which was another one of those innings in which everything went wrong all at once. Two leadoff walks to Sherrick and Epperson surely didn’t help, but at least Mike London flew out. Barbieri then hit an RBI single for his first run driven in this year, and Riddle nicked Bryant Law with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Lee then rolled a 3-2 pitch through the left side for two runs and a 3-1 Washington lead. Flores struck out, Calhoun grounded out, but enough damage had been done in the 3-run fifth.

Another gluey sixth inning left Riddle toast after just six innings and 109 pitches, whiffing seven but getting on the snout enough to be on the short end. The Raccoons were basically invisible in the middle innings, with Barbieri still going strong through seven, but then gave up a leadoff double to PH Oscar Caballero in the bottom 8th. Christopher walked after that, so the Raccoons technically had the tying runs on base before the two Nicks procured three outs with a Fowler whiff and a 5-4-3 double play grounder hit by Nye, bye-bye. Therien made his ABL debut in the ninth inning, getting taken deep by Epperson for a solo homer. Starr and Brass hit singles against Ben Lussier to begin the bottom 9th, but the Raccoons couldn’t even topple that memorably toppleable left-hander anymore. Ortega, Maresh, and Kozak made three poor outs in succession and couldn’t even move the lead runner to third base. 4-1 Capitals. Christopher 2-2, 2 BB; Caballero (PH) 1-1, 2B; Mendez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
WAS: SS Sherrick – 2B J.-C. Lee – CF Epperson – 3B A. Flores – RF D. Flores – 1B H. Ramsay – C C. Gowin – LF Law – P Ratliff
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – C Perez – 2B Bean – P Damasceno

By the 20th inning of the series, Joel Starr retained 100% of the team’s RWI (runs wheezed in) with a solo jack to left in the bottom 2nd on Wednesday, again giving the Coons a 1-0 lead. The third was silent, while in the fourth both teams stranded two runners on base. Epperson singled and David Flores walked for Washington, while the Nicks got on to begin the bottom 4th and then got exactly nowhere from there. Chris Gowin singled to begin the top 5th and Law got bopped with a breaking ball, so there were two on and nobody out for Washington, but Ratliff did poorly on the bunt and knocked it back hard to DD, who got an aggressive out on the lead runner at third base. Sherrick’s grounder to Bean then was good for a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. There was an even bigger threat in the sixth inning, which began with a Lee double to left before the Caps made two weak outs. Damasceno then walked the bags full with David Flores and Ramsay before bringing Gowin up with three on, two outs, and fell behind 2-0 before Gowin hit a ball to deep center… but Ben Morris got back in time and made the catch on the run, ending the inning.

The Raccoons then did the unthinkable and scored a second run when Starr doubled and scored on a Perez single in the bottom 6th. The bags filled up there with two outs, but the Raccoons wanted more from Damasceno and saw him pop out against reliever Adam Foley. In the end, the Raccoons got only two more outs from DD on long counts against Law and Calhoun in the top 7th, then brought LaBat, against whom Sherrick grounded out. He got two more outs, and Bravo got one, in the eighth inning as the Raccoons tried to squeeze out a win here. And it worked – a bit better rested than at times in the last four weeks, Matt Walters retired the Caps in order in the ninth inning. 2-0 Blighters. Starr 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Damasceno 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (4-0);

No, we don’t know how DD does it, either… (shrugs!)

Raccoons (69-53) @ Crusaders (80-40) – August 20-22, 2060

Look, we asked the League Office whether we need to travel out here to get whooped, and they said yes. (shrugs again!) The Crusaders had the best offense, the best pitching, an 8-4 lead against Portland this year, and little concern that they’d build on that.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (8-7, 3.71 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (7-9, 3.52 ERA)
Chance Fox (11-8, 4.24 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (9-7, 3.15 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (9-11, 3.93 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (12-3, 3.18 ERA)

Only righty starters for the Crusaders, but they had a few regulars on the DL, missing all of Tommy Branch, Sean Zeiher, and John Webler with minor injuries at this stage. All were expected to return by early September. While we were not exactly catching them with their purple pants down, Branch and Zeiher accounted for 37 homers and 172 RBI and were 1-2 in both categories on the team.

Game 1
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Perez – 2B Gonzales – P DeRose
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – RF Austin – C McLaren – LF J. Acuna – 2B Spehar – CF Konecny – 3B V. Velez – P Luera

A single, a walk, and a Fowler error loaded the bases for New York in the bottom 1st with nobody out, but they only got one unearned run on Matt McLaren’s double play grounder before Javier Acuna grounded out to keep John Rosenstiel stuck on third base. Angel Perez hit a solo homer in the top 2nd to erase the gap, while DeRose offered a leadoff walk to Ryan Spehar, then struck out three in a row to get out of the home 2nd.

The Coons took a lead on Trent Brassfield’s solo jack in the fourth inning, 2-1, but then got some help from the Crusaders for a 3-run fifth inning that they started with nobody on base and two outs. Christopher then walked, and reached third base on a hit-and-run with Fowler, on which the third-sacker singled to left and Acuna bumbled the ball to allow Fowler to second base. Both then scored on Nye’s single to left, and Nye reached third base when McLaren fired away the ball on his stolen base attempt. A wild pitch by Luera ended the latter’s day and gave the Coons a 5-1 lead. New York lost the first reliever out of the pen, Noah Hollis, to injury then, and the second, ex-Coon Alex Mancilla, was taken deep to right by Kozak for another run in the top 6th.

DeRose then conceded two hard fly balls in the bottom 6th to Aubrey Austin, who got his 2,000th career hit earlier this week, and McLaren, which was enough to let him seek out medical attention for a craned neck and led the Raccoons to go to their own bullpen with two outs in the bottom 6th. Bravo got two outs from there and Therien got five (!), all without allowing a Crusaders run through eight innings. The last (hopefully) inning then began with straight leadoff walks offered by Richard Castillo to Gonzales, Morris, and Joe-Chris, but the Coons had to settle for one run on Fowler’s 6-4-3 grounder, and Nye grounded out to Vic Velez. Ryan Sullivan finished the game 1-2-3 then. 7-1 Raccoons. Fowler 3-5; Nye 2-5, 2 RBI; DeRose 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (9-7);

DeRose might miss a start with the craned neck, but there was an off day on Monday to work with, should he be ready to go by next Saturday.

Game 2
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Maresh – 2B Bean – P Fox
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – RF Austin – C Goodwin – LF J. Acuna – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B V. Velez – CF Konecny – P Cantrell

Nick Nye knocked a homer to left in the first for a 1-0 Coons lead that soon enough tied of Chance Fox. The left-hander had walked six against no strikeouts in his last outing, but whiffed three in two scoreless innings here before the stupid crept back into his game in the bottom 3rd. Kelly Konecny hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd and was bunted to second base, and then Fox plonked consecutive hitters in Omar Sanchez and Ryan Spehar. Austin hit a sac fly and Curt Goodwin grounded out to strand a pair, but good grace…..!

By then, Joey Christopher was already undressing after being ejected in the top 3rd for loudly protesting a strike three call, with Ben Morris taking over centerfield. The Coons scratched out a new lead with a run on singles by Starr (forced out by Brass), Kozak, and Maresh in the top 4th, the latter two hits with two outs. Cantrell Beaned the bags full, but Fox grounded out to short, and that lead died a grim death as well on base hits by Cantrell (…) and Spehar in the bottom 5th. Austin reached on a Bean error with two outs in that inning, but Kozak caught up with a Goodwin fly to left to keep the game at least tied for the Critters. Kozak and Bean then were on the corners in the top 6th, only for Fox to rumble into an inning-ending double play,

Seventh inning, third try to take a lead and hold it. Fowler socked a homer to right with one out, Nye singled, and Joel Starr hit another homer, a 2-piece to center, to zoom out to a 5-2 lead and knock out Cantrell. The Coons then loaded the bases with Brass, who reached on a flub error by Spehar, and walks Erik Lee issued to Maresh and Bean with two outs, and the Raccoons chose violence and sent Caballero to bat for Fox. Lee embraced violence, knocking Caballero down with a fastball into his shoulder, which forced home a run, while Caballero, who had two stints as a member of both teams, eventually picked himself up, stopped shivering, and took an emotional support blanket and went to first base. Morris grounded out to end the inning, but not until after Lee threw a wild pitch to bring in another run, the last of five in this inning. The Crusaders tried to cover distance with Lee, now that he had been hung with a likely L anyway, but he only gave up a 2-run homer to Starr in the eighth inning and was finally yanked, and Michael McLaughlin and Jason Rhodes held the Raccoons decent from there. The Crusaders never rallied against LaBat, Mendez, and Ricky Herrera. 9-2 Critters! Nye 4-6, HR, RBI; Starr 4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Kozak 2-4, BB; Maresh 2-4, BB, RBI; Bean 2-3, BB; Fox 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (12-8);

Whoop! Where did that come from suddenly??

Game 3
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Perez – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – RF Austin – C McLaren – LF J. Acuna – 2B Spehar – CF Konecny – 3B V. Velez – P Taki

Christopher and Rosenstiel hit doubles in either half of the first inning, but got zero support from their team and were stranded. Bobby Herrera continued to founder, loading the bases in the bottom 2nd before narrowly escaping on a Velez strikeout and Taki flying out to left, and when he got a 2-0 lead from another Christopher hit and Fowler’s second homer of the week, he immediately frittered it away in the bottom 3rd, walking Rosenstiel and giving up RBI knocks to Acuna and Spehar. Konecny then grounded out in a full count to leave two Crusaders on base. Herrera needed 95 pitches for five innings, allowing a runner into scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings, although the game remained tied at two.

Tipsy Bobby threw just four pitches in the bottom 6th, which then somehow worked out for three outs. Konecny singled on the second pitch, and Velez’ double play grounder to Fowler and Taki’s grounder to short on the next two pitches cleaned up.

As happened so often these last two years, Ricky Herrera then got into a tied game, pitched a scoreless inning, and then things occurred when the Raccoons came back to the plate, in this case Fowler mashing his third homer of the weekend and the second off Taki. With Christopher on base, it gave the Coons a 4-2 lead in the top 8th, with nobody out. An infield single by Nye knocked out Taki, Nye stole a base, but Juan Carrillo walked the bags full anyway, bringing up Kozak with nobody out. The Coons then struck out, struck out, and … had Morris pinch-hit for Ortega, but fly out to Konecny in center to strand absolutely everybody. Ricky H. got one more out, and Bravo got two in a 1-2-3 eighth for the Crusaders, and Walters then got the 4-2 lead in the bottom 9th. Konecny struck out, but Velez singled past Fowler into left. Goodwin struck out, but Omar Sanchez *doubled* past Fowler into left, and Velez came around to score on the play. With the tying run in scoring position, however, Walters struck out Rosenstiel and completed the sweep! 4-3 Raccoons! Christopher 2-4, BB, 2B; Fowler 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

In other news

August 18 – In a rare 7-4 loss to the Blue Sox for the Crusaders, their 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.307, 11 HR, 73 RBI) hits a then-go-ahead 2-run home run off NAS SP Marshall Ward (5-6, 4.24 ERA) in the second inning for his 2,000th career hit. Austin, age 35 and in his first year out of Las Vegas, has a home run title and a Gold Glove among his achievements in a 13-year career, batting .292/.389/.462 with 217 HR and 965 RBI. He also led the CL in doubles three times.
August 19 – The Knights put out 11 runs in the first inning on the Scorpions and win 12-6 in six innings by the mercy rule… or a mighty thunderstorm that hits the area and causes a power outage, too.
August 20 – The Loggers beat the Indians, 11-7 in 16 innings, after blowing a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth. This is only the first game of a split double-header, which finished nary 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled start of the nightcap, which the Indians win 9-0.
August 22 – Salem 2B Myong-joo Park (.405, 1 HR, 16 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 12-10 win against the Pacifics, driving in four runs in a 4-for-5 day in just his 19th ABL game. Park, age 26, signed a minor league deal with the Wolves out of Korea in 2058 before debuting against the Miners in late July. The Wolves score 10 of their 12 runs in the fourth inning.
August 22 – The lone run in the Bayhawks’ 1-0 win against the Aces is a home run by SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.292, 22 HR, 82 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAL 2B Myong-joo Park (.405, 1 HR, 16 RBI), batting .632 (12-19) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.292, 22 HR, 82 RBI), hitting .391 (9-23) with 3 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders have lost five in a row, six of seven, and eight of their last eleven games, while the Titans won 11 in a row before a Sunday loss to the damn Elks to rapidly close the gap in the North down to six games. It’s a bit like last year when the Raccoons were 15 games out at the All Star Game and got as close as six as the season neared its conclusion. To be fair, we’re not that far behind and back in single-digits of deficit, and if the Crusaders keep sagging some more, maybe the division will actually be interesting. Its now in fact the closest division in the league.

We have Monday off, giving us a chance to slide DeRose to the end of the line and maybe make it through the week without having to bring on another starting pitcher. The road trip finishes in Boston, after which we’ll start a 10-game homestand by hosting the Aces.

Lonzo might come off the DL in time for the series opener in Boston! Isn’t that exciting…!?

Fun Fact: Nick Fowler’s first two home runs of the year also came in consecutive appearances.

He knocked three off the Crusaders on Saturday and Sunday, and before that hit one each against the Loggers and Indians on May 2 and 4. Those were not consecutive games *played* for the Raccoons though, as the May 3 game, the opener with the Indians, was postponed by weather to May 4, and Fowler did not appear in the first game of the double-header.

Fun Fact (Bonus Round): For the second time in three seasons, a Crusaders cycle is followed by a Wolves cycle within five weeks.

It was Gunner Epperson for New York and against the Loggers, then Jeff Buss for the Wolves against the Capitals in April and May of 2058. This month Kelly Konecny has repeated the Crusaders-on-Loggers crimes, two weeks before Sunday’s Myong-joo Park rookie cycle against L.A.