[Westheim]

(COUGH COUGH COUGH)

I’ve been felled by the plague, but I squeezed the last ounce of energy out of my dying body to bring you this update. (wheeze) No-no! Don’t touch it. I accidentally smeared nasal excretions all over it.

(cough!)

Keith Ayers, out at hooooome…! (dramatically cranks out eyeballs before letting a Vern Kinnear bobblehead drop out of his paw)

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Raccoons (47-44) vs. Wolves (35-56) – July 21, 2064

This was the silly postponed rubber game from the earlier series played in Portland, now interrupting our Midwest road trip. Whee. Jarod Morris (4-4, 3.83 ERA) was put up against the FL’s meekest offense, while we got to see some of left-handed sophomore Alan Deakin (2-2, 3.47 ERA), a swingman that was walking more batters than he struck out for the second year in a row.

SAL: CF J. Cervantes – 2B Hartgrove – C Preston – LF Grulke – SS M.-J. Park – 1B C. Santiago – RF Weir – 3B R. Rivas – P Deakin
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Starr – CF Campos – RF Tallent – P Morris

Morris first three pitches were all put on play, two for singles by Jimmy Hartgrove and Steve Preston, but Kyle Grulke and Myung-joo Park both struck out to strand the runners. The Raccoons neglected scoring on Morales and Kozak singles in the first inning, but Kozak would come around the next time and struck a solo homer off Deakin for the first marker on the board in the third inning. A bigger breakthrough was made in the fourth inning with Randy Tallent getting the rally going with a double. Morris reached on an error, Morales’ RBI single upped the score to 2-0, and Novelo singled to fill the bases. Kozak whiffed this time, but Monck singled in a 2-out run and Arellano drew a bases-loaded walk to get to 4-0 before Starr flew out easily. Morris was handling the Wolves really well by then, completing five shutout innings on four hits and seven strikeouts, and retired another four Wolves after that before giving up an 0-2 single to Cesar Santiago and a 2-run homer to Hector Weir in the seventh inning. McDaniel managed to restore order after Morris also walked Rico Rivas, but then gave up a double to Hartgrove in the eighth. Park singled in the runner with two outs against Carrillo, prompting a switch to McGinley for a 4-out save. He struck out PH Ricky Lopez to complete eight for the time being. The Critters failed to tack on against the Wolves’ pen, but McGinley retired all the little ducks in a row required to squeeze this one into the W column. 4-3 Coons. Morales 2-5, RBI; Kozak 3-4, HR, RBI; Monck 3-4, RBI; Morris 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (5-4); McGinley 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (22);

Raccoons (48-44) @ Loggers (48-45) – July 22-24, 2064

These teams were in an unexpected battle for second place in the division, and who knew how much faltering the Titans were still capable of? The Loggers had lost three in a row and ranked third in runs scored and 11th in runs allowed in the Continental League. They had a +6 run differential, but they were also struggling all over with their pitching and defense, and now had most of a (very capable) infield on the DL with Fidel Carrera, Kyle Reber, and Juan Ojeda all down and out. We were up 5-4 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (10-4, 3.64 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (2-1, 2.72 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-6, 2.72 ERA) vs. Oliver Graham (5-9, 4.37 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-6, 4.49 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (7-6, 4.53 ERA)

Only right-handed opponents were coming up here.

Game 1
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Arellano – CF Maldonado – RF Oley – SS Aoki – P Elling
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – C Guitreau – 1B C. Ramirez – SS D. Miller – RF D. Wright – 2B Gilliam – 3B Ruskin – P Colwell

While the Coons went in order in the first, the Loggers got Elling for a run on a Scott Franks single, a wild pitch, and Jonathan Merrill’s double to left before the 3-4-5 stranded Merrill on second base. The score would be flipped in the third inning in unlikely fashion as Colwell walked Todd Oley leading off before giving up the first ABL homer in the career of Yukio Aoki. Elling however had to insist on immediately blowing that lead by giving up a single to Merrill and an RBI double to Tommy Guitreau in the bottom 3rd…

The fourth was uneventful, and the Coons reclawed the lead in the fifth with Elmer Maldonado getting on base with a shy single to begin the inning and then setting himself in motion when Todd Oley found the leftfield line for a double, allowing Maldonado to score from first base. Oley scored on a pair of singles by Aoki and Elling(!), Morales hit another RBI single, and Kozak walked to fill the bases with nobody out. Starr promptly made an out, albeit in form of a sac fly, 6-2. The Loggers replaced Colwell with Ricky Pippin at that point, but Pippin walked Monck, allowed two runs on an Arellano single, and then would have gotten an inning-ending double play from Maldonado to short, but Danny Miller fudged it into an error and the bags were full once more. Oley drove home two more runs, Aoki another one, and the inning ended on a 9-2 double play when Elling flew out to Dave Wright, who hammered out Oley at home plate, but the score was now 11-2.

Elling would go seven innings in total after that, but not without scattering around another six base hits and three runs, one in the sixth after a leadoff double by Cesar Ramirez and two productive outs, and two in the seventh after the Loggers started off with three singles and followed up with two run-scoring groundouts. Nesbitt had a clean eighth, and Victor Herrera was trouble in the ninth and put a pair on the corners before the Loggers’ Guitreau – the non-DL team leader with 16 homers – popped out to Monck to end the game. 11-5 Raccoons. Morales 2-5, RBI; Arellano 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Oley 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Aoki 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 2
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Arellano – RF Oley – SS Aoki – CF Campos – P Riddle
MIL: LF Franks – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – C Guitreau – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – SS Gilliam – 2B Willoughby – P O. Graham

An unearned run put the Raccoons up 1-0 in the first inning when Arellano singled home Kozak; those two had reached on merit, but Monck had gotten on base with an error by Tyler Gilliam. Milwaukee overturned that score in the bottom 1st – and on merit. Franks singled, and with two outs Guitreau socked a game-tying double and Miller singled him home to make it 2-1 Loggers. They didn’t stop there; Franks and Ramirez went to the corners with base hits off a wonky Riddle to begin the bottom 3rd, and while Dave Robles hit a grounder to Aoki for a double play, Franks scored from third base to make it 3-1. Guitreau drew a walk, but Miller grounded out to short.

A weird game kept developing – through five innings, the two starting pitchers combined for ZERO strikeouts, with Graham walking three and Riddle walking one batter instead. The Loggers were still up 3-1, but Graham then issued 1-out walks to Arellano and Oley in the sixth inning before Aoki hit an RBI double to left-center to get to 3-2. Marco Campos was walked intentionally, but the Raccoons weren’t baited; Riddle had already singled against Graham his last time up, and making contact against Graham didn’t seem like much of a problem. Graham fell behind in that count, too, and then gave up a zinger up the middle and over second base for a 2-run, score-flipping single, 4-3! Groundouts by Morales and Kozak then ended that inning.

Riddle then resumed his ****** *** pitching in the bottom 6th and got romped with two outs as Gilliam doubled, Devin Willoughby hit a game-tying single, David Milian doubled, and Franks doubled in the latter pair before Riddle – still with zero strikeouts to his name – was yanked. Dover retired Ramirez to end the inning, Portland now *down* two again, and with Graham having been pinch-hit for, the two starting pitchers ended up tossing 11.2 combined innings for still ZERO strikeouts. Dover fumbled another run on the board in a messy seventh, and another run was beaten out of Mike Hall in the bottom 8th. The Raccoons never got a shot against the Loggers’ pen and went down quite meekly in the last three innings. 8-4 Loggers. Arellano 2-3, BB, RBI;

That entire ******* pitching staff needs being put out the door.

Game 3
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Maldonado – SS Novelo – RF Oley – C Lawson – P Fox
MIL: LF Franks – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – C Guitreau – CF Merrill – 3B D. Miller – SS Gilliam – 2B Willoughby – P L. Wilson

Kozak forced out Morales and his game-opening single in Thursday’s rubber game, then stole second unnecessarily ahead of Joel Starr’s homer to right that made it a quick 2-0. Offense then tried to die right there, as the Raccoons did not get another base hit until Kozak socked a double in the fifth inning against Wilson, who with two outs on the board then walked the bases full before managing to strike out Maldonado. It was still a 2-0 game at that point with Fox so far having struggled only with Guitreau, who had a bloop single in the second and a fly out to the warning track to end the fourth. Of course that **** couldn’t last, so the bottom 5th began with Merrill and Miller singles, Gilliam doubled home a run, and Willoughby’s sac fly tied the game before the ******* opposing pitcher swatted a go-ahead RBI double.

Fox pitched around another Guitreau single in the sixth and finished seven innings in what would almost have been good order if not for that ******* blow-up in the fifth. He was barely taken off the hook in the eighth then when Starr hit a leadoff single and got doubled off by Monck, but Aiden Shaw was then taken deep to right by Elmer Maldonado to tie the game at three after all. Better yet, straight singles by the 6-7-8 batters brought home another 2-out run against Shaw before Randy Birnbaum restored order, retiring Aoki, who was batting for Fox, who was suddenly in line for the win in this game (talk about undeserved…); and he got it! McDaniel and McGinley allowed no base runners between them in the last two innings, and the Raccoons got away with a series win. 4-3 Furballs. Starr 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Fox 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (7-6);

Raccoons (50-45) @ Aces (49-47) – July 25-27, 2064

The Aces had lost five in a row, so maybe we could be lucky with the timing here. They were otherwise seventh in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed in the league, but had swept the Raccoons in the first meeting of the year between these two teams. They had a pile of injuries, but mostly second-echelon players, like half a bullpen and then infielders Cesar Pena and Wally Leggett.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (5-9, 4.82 ERA) vs. Adam Edge (7-5, 4.15 ERA)
Jarod Morris (5-4, 3.74 ERA) vs. Tim Henderson (4-4, 4.69 ERA)
Josh Elling (11-4, 3.80 ERA) vs. Dan Graham (10-6, 3.72 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Whee!

Game 1
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Maldonado – C Arellano – SS Aoki – RF Tallent – P Alba
LVA: LF Lorenzo – RF D. Lewis – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B M. Davis – 2B M. Roberts – C Wheat – SS Boyce – P Edge

The Raccoons started the game well with a Morales triple into the right-center gap and Kozak’s RBI single. Starr walked, but Monck hit into a double play; however, Maldonado rescued a second run with a 2-out single before a K on Arellano moved the ball into Alba’s paws, which had led nowhere but disaster for most of a month. This game would hardly be an exception. Victor Lorenzo singled in the first, but Alba turned them away there; however, the second inning led to three stupid Aces runs on three straight 1-out singles by Mike Roberts, Tom Wheat, and Mike Boyce, the last of which Tallent overran for extra bases, although a wild pitch and another single by Lorenzo then put blame for the 3-2 deficit squarely back with Alba, and all the runs were earned. Portland tied the game in the top 3rd with a Starr double and Arellano single, and Randy Tallent went yard in the fourth for a 4-3 lead, which only survived four innings because Kozak threw himself into a screaming liner by PH Aaron Warner to heroically secure the last out of the bottom 4th with Tom Wheat waiting in scoring position. There was no catching Jaden Wilson’s monster homer to left in the fifth, though…

Tom Wheat went deep to left to give the Aces a 5-4 lead with two outs in the sixth, and that was the end of another **** outing for Alba, who found himself taken off the hook after being replaced with Victor Herrera when Rich Monck doubled home Kozak to tie the game at five in the seventh inning. The Aces regained a 6-5 lead in the same inning with spectacular bullpen stupidity by Herrera and Dover, who split the blame evenly in issuing no fewer than FOUR straight 2-out walks to Don Lewis, Jaden Wilson, Ken Hummel, and Mike Davis before PH Phil Macomber was dumb enough to poke and grounded out.

Top 8th, Aoki drew a leadoff walk from Danny Zepeda, who then plunked Tallent on base as well. A pinch-hit single by Novelo was picked up by Boyce behind second base, but with no play, and the bases were loaded with nobody outs for the 1-2-3 batters, who popped out, struck out, and popped out. (double facepaws while screaming) In the ninth, they went down in order instead. 6-5 Aces. Morales 2-5, 3B; Tallent 2-3, HR, RBI; Novelo (PH) 1-1;

(looks up to the baseball gods, extending both front paws) Will it ever stop???

3B Phil Macomber (.316, 1 HR, 12 RBI) was then shipped off to the Wolves as punishment for his earlier overboarding aggressiveness as the Aces instead received left-hander Ryan Hogues (2-3, 3.51 ERA, 15 SV), some $800k in cash, and a prospect to boot in #120 SP Jorge Flores.

Game 2
POR: 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Maldonado – C Arellano – SS Aoki – RF Oley – P Morris
LVA: LF Lorenzo – RF D. Lewis – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B M. Davis – 2B M. Roberts – C Wheat – SS Boyce – P T. Henderson

Rich Monck hit his 16th homer, a solo shot to begin the top 2nd, for the usual 1-0 Coons lead, which was then as usual immediately ****** up for two runs in the next half-inning. Morris retired Vegas in order in the first, but then walked Alex Alfaro, allowed a single to Mike Davis, and – after Oley dropped a long fly by Roberts in foul ground to put the batter back in the box – another walk to Roberts for three on and nobody out. Wheat grounded into a game-tying 6-4-3 double play before the go-ahead run scored on a passed ball charged to Arellano… what a team effort…

Top 3rd, Morris singled and two walks filled the bases with nobody out, which already dismayed me again. Starr tied the game grounding out, Monck whiffed, and Maldonado grounded out to Alfaro… In the fourth, the Critters got their first two batters on before Oley hit into a double play and Morris grounded out to short, and that was it with threats for the Raccoons for the time being. Morris wobbled on into the bottom 6th where he walked Jaden Wilson base. Wilson stole second, then tried to score from there on Mike Davis’ 1-out single, but he was thrown out by Oley. Davis went to second on the play, then scored on another sharp single by Roberts, giving Vegas the 3-2 lead. Morris was dismissed at that point, with Carrillo ending the inning.

Starr once more tied the game in the seventh against Zepeda, after Morales doubled and reached third on a passed ball now charged to Wheat, and the Aces regained the lead in the same inning against Carrillo with a pinch-hit Warner triple and Vic Lorenzo’s sac fly… The Aces tacked on two runs in the eighth against the ******ed pen; McDaniel parked Alfaro and Hummel on base, and Nesbitt waved them around with a pair 2-out RBI singles given up to Wheat and Boyce before Starr nearly fell into the home dugout pulling down a Miguel Falcon pop in foul territory, just to get another stupid inning over with. Left-hander Gabe Molina then disposed of the Raccoons in short order in the ninth. 6-3 Aces. Starr 2-5, 2 RBI; Arellano 2-4;

The Aces won the season series by now.

In five games.

Game 3
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – 1B Kozak – 2B Monck – RF Tallent – LF Maldonado – C Lawson – CF Campos – P Elling
LVA: LF Lorenzo – C Wheat – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B M. Davis – 2B M. Roberts – RF K. Hummel – SS Boyce – P D. Graham

Elling, whose record said “not on my watch!”, didn’t put an Ace on base before the Raccoons broke out for a 3-run third inning; Lawson and Campos went to the corners before Morales tripled them home and then scored on Novelo’s groundout. Kozak hit a 2-out single, but was left on. Of course, Elling then immediately stumbled, walked Boyce, and allowed runs on a Lorenzo double and Wheat single with two outs in the bottom 3rd, because nobody here had any ******* clue what they were doing…

Two more Aces reached in the fourth, but didn’t score; after that the fifth was calm and then the Raccoons got Tallent on base with a 1-out single in the sixth. Maldonado reached on a throwing error by Roberts, and a double steal put the pair in scoring position with some insurance runs. Lawson got home a run with a groundout, but the Aces didn’t trust Campos’ .145 stick and walked him intentionally, getting the last out on Elling’s grounder. The Aces then had not one, but two infield singles in the bottom 6th, but Jaden Wilson, who had the first of the two, was also caught stealing before Davis hit the other one, and the effort amounted to nothing but an annoyance for me.

Elling made it through seven and two thirds before handing the ball and the 4-2 lead right off to McGinley, because honestly, **** the rest of that bunch. McGinley entered in a double switch with Starr that moved Kozak back to left, gave up a single to Wilson right away, then got a grounder from Alfaro that Morales barfed away for an error, and then finally struck out the pinch-hitting Falcon to get the *eighth* over with. Lawson singled to begin the ninth, but was left on base, while McGinley got three quick outs to salvage one game from the series. 4-2 Raccoons. Lawson 2-4, RBI; Elling 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (12-4) and 1-3;

In other news

July 21 – The Knights pick up the Canadiens’ closer, Erik Swain (3-4, 3.83 ERA, 18 SV), in exchange for four prospects, including starting pitchers #44 Josh Tarver and #192 Dave Almy.
July 21 – IND 2B Mike Weber (.295, 5 HR, 36 RBI) drives in seven runs on four hits – a triple shy of the cycle – in a 13-2 takedown of the Canadiens.
July 22 – The Miners have a 6-run walkoff rally in the bottom of the ninth against the Rebels, capped with a 3-run homer for a 7-4 win by PIT C/1B Nick Dingman (.301, 14 HR, 35 RBI).
July 23 – The Aces send right-hander Curt Carter (1-6, 4.71 ERA, 20 SV) to the Blue Sox for two prospects. The deal includes #103 SP Sonny Moschella.
July 23 – The Indians trounce the Canadiens again, 15-3, this time with leadoff batter Eddy Ramirez (.259, 12 HR, 52 RBI) driving in five runs on a homer and a single.
July 24 – SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.264, 4 HR, 25 RBI) will miss the rest of the year with a ruptured disc.
July 24 – Washington edges out Topeka, 2-1 in 14 innings, while scoring in the first and last innings and nothing in the dozen frames in between.
July 25 – The Bayhawks send right-hander Mike Rocheford (4-0, 2.41 ERA, 3 SV) to the Stars for two prospects.
July 25 – New York acquires RF/LF/2B David Milian (.298, 1 HR, 15 RBI) from the Loggers in exchange for 3B/2B/CF Victor Velez (.254, 9 HR, 52 RBI) and a prospect.
July 25 – A second-inning home run by ATL OF Kyle Fisher (.388, 2 HR, 7 RBI) is enough to beat the Loggers, 1-0.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF Roberto Almanza (.310, 0 HR, 59 RBI), clipping .520 (13-25) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ 3B/RF Eric Frasher (.254, 9 HR, 46 RBI), batting .455 (10-22) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The prospects the Baybirds got from Dallas aren’t even ranked!! Not even top 200! Not even … aaah!!!

The Coons also tried to nibble around on other teams for some relief help or so this week, but were only turned down with ridiculous demands, like a fine young right-hander on the Miners, Juan Betancourt, who was nothing *special*, but could have helped *us* quite a way, and they want Morales or Alba for him. Sure! What else?? HOW MANY ******* KIDNEYS DO I HAVE TO TOSS IN??

(is handed a soothing tea by Maud and immediately adds a splurge of Capt’n Coma to it)

Part of the problem here is maybe that we have no attractive medium-oomph players. We only have some really good ones, and a bushel of stinkers. And nobody wants the latter, and there’s no reason to trade from the former when we’re a pawful of games behind Boston.

Oh well. We can’t trade for half a new roster anyway, which we would have to. Monday will be a day off, and then we play six at home against the Thunder and Falcons. The latter series is already in August.

Fun Fact: Josh Elling is only one behind Mike Bell of Boston for the CL wins lead of 13.

I don’t know what’s more shocking – that a Critter is that close to the lead, or that Jason Brenize with his 1.68 ERA and 172 strikeouts has only won EIGHT games this year. That’s half of the FL and ABL leader, Dallas’ Ray “Crabman” Walker (16-3, 2.43 ERA, 179 K). Walker is third in ERA and tops in strikeouts, so there’s a triple crown thing going on in the FL.