[Westheim]

Over the break, the Raccoons got Juan Soriano off the DL and sent him straight to AAA. We then went ahead and placed Jose Corral on the DL with a case of knee tendinitis on Tuesday, and he should be out for up to a month as well.

All Star Game

The Federal League beat the Continental League in the dumbest way possible in the annual All Star Game, winning 6-5 on a walkoff home run by Dallas’ Ray “Crabman” Walker off the damn Elks’ Erik Swain. Why would they not use a position player to pinch- … because the roster have like 72 players on … okay, what the **** do I know.

Jack Kozak pinch-hit for the CL for no gains.

Eddie Marcotte was the MVP thanks to a 3-run homer off the Rebs’ Luis Olvera.

Raccoons (46-41) @ Indians (43-46) – July 17-20, 2064

Four more with the season series now even at four, this time in Indianapolis. By now Indy ranked eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed with a -21 run differential (Critters: +29).

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (10-4, 3.75 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (4-7, 3.53 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-6, 2.85 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (9-3, 3.38 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-6, 4.44 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (6-3, 4.21 ERA)
Angel Alba (5-8, 4.62 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (3-5, 5.31 ERA)

DeWitt and Pritchard were the resident left-handers. The Raccoons were able to get Rich Monck back in the lineup, but were now without two regulars in Burkart and Corral, the latter of whom had his roster spot taken by Marco Campos.

Game 1
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Starr – CF Campos – RF Tallent – P Elling
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – LF Vaughn – RF B. Johnston – 2B M. Weber – SS Jim White – P DeWitt

Both pitchers struck out in their first at-bats, DeWitt doing so with the bases loaded to end the second inning, and the Indians had them loaded again in the third against a wobbly Elling, who nailed Matt Martin, walked Danny Starwalt, and allowed a single to Nick Vaughn before Bryan Johnston had his 2-out drive caught by Kozak with his back right at the fence. The Raccoons had no hits the first time through, but two walks, then got a pair of 1-out singles in the third from Morales and Novelo before Kozak hit into a 3-6-3 double play. Elling never managed to put a clean inning together and finally gave up a run in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Johnston and Mike Weber. The Coons were still soul-searching, but got singles from Starr and Tallent, then Maldonado getting knocked while batting for Elling, and thus the bases loaded with one out in the top 7th. This time Morales grooved one into a double play to kill the inning.

The game looked a bit cursed until the Indians removed DeWitt with one out in the eighth after he got out Novelo on a fly to center. Kozak then singled off Kelly Whitney, and Melvin Guerra gave up a 2-out walk to Arellano before Starr hit a game-tying RBI double to right. Aoki batted for Campos, but popped out in foul ground behind the plate to end the inning with a pair left in scoring position… The teams then failed each other to extra innings, with the Raccoons managing to use four relievers to cover nine outs into overtime, with Nesbitt, Herrera, Carillo, and McDaniel all taking turns. Cody Kleidon struck out the side in the tenth inning before the Indians got another go at McDaniel, who put Johnston and Weber on the corners with left-handed 1-out hits before Jim White took him over the fence in left. 4-1 Indians. Starr 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Arellano – CF Maldonado – SS Aoki – RF Oley – P Riddle
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – LF Vaughn – RF B. Johnston – 2B Jim White – SS Cirelli – P Carreno

Riddle went on regular rest in this game because who had an urge to see the other remaining Coons starters any earlier than absolutely required? His game plan seemed to revolve around going through as many full counts as possible to get the pain over with sooner, but at least he didn’t allow a hit in the first three innings before Rich Monck hit one outta there in the fourth to give the Coons a 1-0 lead. Starwalt hit a single the second time through against Riddle, so a 140-pitch no-hitter was off the table, thankfully. Riddle was also on base with a leadoff single in the top 3rd, only to get doubled up by Kozak, and then drew a walk in the fifth, but was left on base by Morales and Kozak.

Riddle lasted just five and two thirds, departing after a 2-out walk to Alex Gomez in the bottom 6th that put him at 105 pitches, which was plenty for him anyway. The Coons had their skinny lead defended by McDaniel for four outs before Mike Hall retired only one of his two lefty sticks in the eighth before yielding for Dover, who allowed a 2-out single to Matt Martin that sent Vinny Atencio to third base, but then struck out Gomez to escape. The offense never put another thing on the board, but McGinley managed to retire the Indians in order in the ninth inning, although Nick Vaughn drove a ball all the way into Kozak’s mitten on the warning track. 1-0 Blighters. Monck 1-4, HR, RBI; Maldonado 1-2, BB; Riddle 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (10-6) and 1-1, BB;

Two games, three runs in regulation – both teams combined, that is.

With the way the Titans were going, the Loggers had a real chance at the playoffs this year!

Game 3
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Starr – CF Campos – RF Tallent – P Fox
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – LF Vaughn – RF B. Johnston – 2B Jim White – SS Cirelli – P R. Pritchard

With rain in the air, the Raccoons started in a rush, getting Morales and Novelo on base right away before Kozak drove both of them in with a single played into extra bases and the second run by defensive discombobulation between Eddy Ramirez and Bryan Johnston. Three poor outs followed, as well as Martin doubling and Starwalt walking in the bottom 1st before Vaughn grounded out to strand a pair. The Indians got Fox in the third with three singles by Ramirez, Gomez, and Vaughn, and then got more singles in the fourth, leading off with Jim White singling to right. Pritchard hit a single, Martin walked, and Gomez flipped the score with a 2-run single. The rain then picked up and Fox was gone after an hourlong rain delay, Portland down 3-2, but the game continued on the other end of the downpour.

Kozak reached base on a Starwalt error to begin the top of the sixth and then dashed to third base on Monck’s single, presenting the tying run with nobody out. Arellano struck out, which was a nice start, but Starr then hit a gapper for an RBI double to get even and lift Fox off a wet hook. Marco Campos, already batting a sturdy .155, then grounded to Martin, which wasn’t gonna help, until Martin’s throw tailed away from Starwalt and bounced into the dugout, which gave the dumb-but-lucky Coons two free runs and a 5-3 lead. Tallent and Oley then left Campos at second base.

The Coons then got five outs from Nesbitt without doing anything silly, but Victor Herrera barely got one out to complete seven, giving up singles to Vaughn and Atencio before White grounded out. He gave up *another two singles* to left-handed batters to begin the bottom 8th, which put Eric Cirelli and Matt McInnis on base as the tying runs. Jesse Dover completely failed as replacement, walked the bags full with Ramirez, walked in a run with a free pass to Martin, then struck out two before giving up a game-tying single by Vaughn. He then walked in ANOTHER ******* RUN against PH Matt Rogers. Hall replaced him, got Chris Lovins to ground out, but by then the game was already firmly in the L column, and Kleidon retired the Critters in order. 6-5 Indians.

This bullpen.

Game 4
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Maldonado – RF Oley – SS Gardner – C Lawson – P Alba
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B M. Martin – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – RF B. Johnston – 2B M. Weber – LF Lovins – SS Jim White – P Pichardo

Alba struck out three in the first inning, but also gave up a double to Martin and threw a wild pitch, so things could still go either way. Johnston then hit a homer for a 1-0 Arrowheads lead in the bottom 2nd, and Jim White came close to another one, so things were clearly going *that* way, although the Raccoons tied the game in the top 3rd in doubly-unearned fashion as it took TWO errors and a Starr single to get Scott Lawson to score. Monck, slumping badly, popped out to strand a pair of undeserved runners on base.

Alba tossed the game in the fourth then, failing Johnston and Weber on base with 1-out walks before giving up a 2-run double into the rightfield corner to Lovins and another RBI single to White, 4-1. Alba hit a leadoff double in the fifth and was stranded, then gave up another homer to Martin on the way to departing after five runs in five innings. Herrera and Carrillo allowed another run between them in the sixth, before the Raccoons were forced into another chance by Pichardo, who drilled Lawson and walked Novelo to begin the top 7th. Morales hit into a fielder’s choice, Kozak popped out, but Joel Starr singled home a run against Jeff Caldwell before Monck made the final out of an inning with two board for the third time on the day. Carrillo then issued two leadoff walks in the bottom 7th, one of which was waved around to score on a Weber single off Mike Hall. We got in another pointless rain delay in the eighth inning, wasting 50 minutes plus the remaining two innings’ worth of everybody’s time. 7-2 Indians.

Matt Martin went 5-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle in this game, while the Coons were one hit short of having anybody get at least two knocks in the bloody affair.

In other news

July 14 – SAC SP Jay Williams (6-6, 3.30 ERA) will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured finger tendon.
July 16 – A strained hamstring could cost Capitals SP Jon Reyes (4-7, 4.29 ERA) the rest of the season.
July 17 – The Blue Sox rout the Capitals in the first game after the break, beating them 14-1.

FL Player of the Week: NAS C David Johnson (.298, 16 HR, 61 RBI), batting .476 (10-21) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA OF/1B Cody Padgett (.319, 4 HR, 57 RBI), clipping .563 (9-16) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

That was a right miserable series in Indy. Nothing worked: no offense, no starting, no relieving. At least nobody broke their little neck.

We will now kindly abandon our pathetic efforts to bring in new pitching because there is no helping this staff, except maybe with a plastic bag firmly pulled over everybody’s fuzzy numb skull.

We play the Wolves for the make-up game on Monday, then six with the Loggers and Aces on the road next week.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons almost sent out a precious prospect this week in an attempt to put a band-aid on a 20-foot crater.

The Bayhawks can keep Rocheford. I hope they’re forever happy with him.