[Westheim]

Raccoons (36-57) vs. Loggers (50-42) – July 20-22, 2065

The Raccoons had 69 more games to play, which probably wouldn’t be all that nice, and the Loggers were in for three of them. They had won five in a row, were 7-2 against the Raccoons this year, and brought the CL’s #3 offense and #7 pitching. They had the highest team batting average in the league at .278, but were without starting catcher Tommy Guitreau, who was sorely missed in that lineup.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (5-11, 4.59 ERA) vs. Nick Waldron (3-9, 6.77 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (7-9, 5.24 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (9-5, 3.07 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (3-14, 3.78 ERA) vs. Adam Lunn (5-6, 4.23 ERA)

We’d see only right-handers, but “Tipsy” Bobby Herrera (10-3, 2.59 ERA) had pitched on Sunday and was not part of the group.

Game 1
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – SS Reber – C Jack – 3B V. Velez – P Waldron
POR: RF Corral – LF Bentley – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – CF Garmon – SS Aoki – C Arellano – P Alba

The Loggers had five left-handed hitters at the top of that lineup, which immediately went to work on Alba after Scott Franks grounded out. Johathan Merrill walked, Cesar Ramirez singled, and Fidel Carrera reached on an error by Rich Monck. From there, it was off to the races. Carlos Dominguez singled home two, Kyle Reber tripled in two more, and J.P. Jack made it 5-0 (three earned) with a groundout to short. Alright, see you tomorrow, everybody!

The Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 1st as Corral and Bentley hit singles and Waldron leaked a walk to Vic Morales. Between Monck’s grounder that resulted in an out at the plate, Starr’s sac fly to left, and a Garmon groundout they scored one measly run. Kyle Reber instead drove in another run off Alba in the third inning, and Alba only returned to get an out from Waldron in the fourth inning before being whisked away before that left-handed barrage could start again. Ricky Baca got five outs after Alba’s departure.

The score remained 6-1 into the bottom 5th when the Raccoons had the bases loaded again with two outs after a Corral single, Bentley reaching on an error, and Monck drawing a walk. Starr worked the count for a bases-loaded walk, but Corey Garmon, the dunce, poked a 3-1 pitch into the glove of Reber at short to end the inning. The tying run was back at the dish in the sixth as Waldron got whacked around for a double by Arellano, a pinch-hit single off Novelo’s bat, and then a Corral double into the rightfield corner, which drove in Arellano and reduced the score to 6-3. Bentley grounded out very poorly and the runners had to hold in scoring position, but with two outs Waldron threw a wild pitch and Morales dinked in a single in shallow left, and suddenly it was 6-5 with Monck at the plate. He grounded out to short, though.

Sansao Tyson then threw two shutout innings against the Loggers’ lefty lumbers, and against all odds the Raccoons rumbled back into a 6-6 tie when Bentley tripled to center his next time up and scored on *another* wild pitch by Waldron. The Loggers failed to tear Juan Carrillo limb from limb in the ninth inning before sending left-hander Steve Keller after the Coons in the bottom 9th. Joel Starr had none of that, cracked a walkoff homer, and the Coons won the ballgame…! 7-6 Furballs!! Corral 3-5, 2B, RBI; Bentley 2-5, 3B, 2B; Aoki 2-3, BB; Novelo (PH) 1-2; Tyson 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
MIL: SS Reber – RF C. Dominguez – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – 2B F. Carrera – 3B V. Velez – CF Franks – C Chinea – P Pizzichini
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – C Arellano – SS Aoki – CF Tallent – P Sanchez

The early innings saw the Loggers squander leadoff singles in both the first and second innings, while the Coons had Starr on with a single and reach second base on a balk, but that was it for early offense on Tuesday. The bottom 4th then arrived and Morales hit a 1-out single before “Pizza” hit Monck in the elbow to add a second runner. Starr grounded out, advancing the runners, and then Arellano dunked a single into shallow left-center to get both of them home for the first runs in the ballgame. Pizza would then walk Aoki, but Tallent grounded out to third base to end the inning.

Milwaukee wasted no time to get on the board as well; Scott Franks and Jerry Chinea got leadoff hits and went to the corners in the fifth inning, and while Sanchez got the pitcher out without issue, Kyle Reber plated Franks with a sac fly to left, 2-1. Dominguez grounded out to Monck, though. Cesar Ramirez smashed a leadoff double off the fence to begin the sixth, but was stranded on three rather hapless outs. Chinea came up with another single in the seventh inning before the Raccoons fudged a double play opportunity when Dave Wright grounded to Aoki and the shortstop’s throw pulled Monck off second base for an error. Thankfully Kyle Reber hit another sharp grounder right at Morales and the Coons got a 5-4-3 double play out of the inning that way.

Sanchez went seven before being hit for with Bentley in the bottom 7th, which didn’t lead anywhere in particular. Garvey got the ball for the eighth and conceded a leadoff single to Dominguez, but then collected three tame outs to keep Dominguez and the tying run stranded at second base. The Coons then finally put some distance into that score in the bottom 8th. Loggers righty Oliver Graham allowed singles to Corral and Morales, who reached scoring position on Monck’s roller to second for the second out. Starr – a true godsend since returning from injury – wasted no time to cash both runners with a single to left, 4-1, then scored on an Arellano double into the gap against Vincent Hernandez. Novelo grounded out against the southpaw, but Cruz Madrid got three outs without causing a national emergency. 5-1 Coons. Starr 2-4, 2 RBI; Arellano 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Sanchez 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (8-9);

Game 3
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – SS Reber – C Jack – 3B V. Velez – P Lunn
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – C Arellano – CF Tallent – SS Gardner – P Nakayama

Nakayama drew Monday’s lineup in the series finale, which at least didn’t go as instantly wrong as it did for Alba on Monday. The Coons in fact scored first when they got Starr and Arellano on base to begin the bottom 2nd and Joe Gardner hit a sac fly. Tallent also reached base, but the inning then fizzled out.

Nakayama worked his way through the Loggers lineup once before lightning forced a delay of about an hour for a brief but intense rain shower. Both starters returned after the weather delay, but Nakayama soon ran into a wall in the fifth inning. Dominguez led off with a single, he walked Reber on four pitches, and J.P. Jack doubled home the tying run. Velez’ grounder to short made it 2-1 Loggers before Lunn whiffed and Franks popped out to Monck behind second base to strand Jack on base. Nakayama didn’t return for the sixth, being replaced with Ricky Baca and the Coons tried to not hang a 15th loss on the “rookie” before the end of July, but after Tallent and Gardner fought their way to the corners against Lunn with two outs in the bottom 6th, Bentley’s fly to left-center was caught by the killjoy Merrill. Morales hit a 2-out single in the seventh, but was also left on base. In the eighth it was Tallent and Gardner again that reached base with 2-out singles and again they were stranded, this time by Aoki grounding out to Fidel Carrera. But no, it was the Loggers that would finally do something with 2-out runners after Jesse Dover put Reber and Wright on base with two outs in the ninth inning and then suffered a gap double by Vic Velez that extended the score to 4-1. Matt Ruskin struck out, giving the ball to the left-handed Keller again. He walked Corral leading off before striking out Novelo, who was batting for Spicer, who was drowning on dry land at this point. Morales grounded out to second and Monck flew out to center to finish the game. 4-1 Loggers. Starr 2-4; Tallent 2-4, 2B; Gardner 2-3, RBI;

3-15! I wasn’t sure how Nakayama was doing it, but someone make him stop, please.

Raccoons (38-58) @ Thunder (49-46) – July 24-26, 2065

Despite sitting fourth in the South and just over .500, the Thunder were just 3 1/2 games off the pace. They had taken two of three games from the Coons so far with their #7 offense and #3 pitching in the Continental League. Mike Weber was the only regular on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (3-4, 2.97 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (6-4, 4.61 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-6, 4.23 ERA) vs. Danny Baca (5-6, 4.27 ERA)
Angel Alba (5-11, 4.77 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (11-5, 2.55 ERA)

The Thunder sent up two of their three southpaws, and one of their two ex-Coons, the other being Josh Elling (9-7, 3.64 ERA). The left-handers would lead the way, with the righty Harris going on Sunday.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – SS Novelo – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – C Arellano – LF Tallent – 2B Gardner – CF Garmon – P Walla
OCT: RF Almanza – 1B I. Stone – LF Laity – C Bohannon – CF Thore – SS Palominos – 3B Bonilla – 2B Archuleta – P Riddle

Riddle was slapped around for five singles and three runs in the first inning, the first marker being put on the board by Starr, singling home Corral. Arellano got an RBI groundout and Tallent another RBI single in the inning. Walla immediately allowed a double to Roberto Almanza, a single to Ian Stone, and eventually a run on a sac fly by Martin Bohannon in the first, so neither pitcher was particularly awake and ready for action. Almanza doubled again his next time up, but was left on base then.

Walla allowed no further hits through five innings, and the Coons were still up 3-1 in the sixth when Arellano hit a 1-out single to left and then Tallent stuck his fat fuzzy tush into an inside pitch, and was awarded first base for it. The Thunder vehemently protested to no avail, then filled the bases when Gardner’s grounder was mishandled for an error by Ramon Archuleta. Garmon’s groundout scored an unearned run, but that was as good as it got, with Riddle ringing up Walla every chance he got in this game. The Raccoons’ young starter did however go seven innings, even though the seventh got dicey as Alberto Bonilla, Archuleta, and Ramon Lopez loaded the bases before Almanza got another double… but this time it was a double play to Gardner, 4-6-3, and it ended the inning.

Monck batted for Gardner against righty Brian Doster in the eighth, singled, but didn’t get further than that. He then handled a Ben Laity grounder off Jeremy Garvey and threw badly enough to Novelo that Ian Stone, the batter from first, was out and took a diving Novelo’s knee to the chest. Stone had to leave the game, being replaced by Jack Kozak. Carrillo replaced Garvey and got a first-pitch double play grounder from Bohannon to Novelo, ending another inning. Jesse Dover would finish the game with a save on three strikeouts, even though everybody around him played clownshoes, such as Novelo dropping Coby Thore’s pop to short and Arellano being charged with a passed ball. 4-1 Raccoons. Arellano 2-4, RBI; Monck (PH) 1-1; Walla 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-4);

Ian Stone went to the DL with an intercostal strain (whatever that was!), but Novelo’s knee was fine. Whatever it takes to get Kozak to hit three Jacks off the Coons staff!

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – SS Novelo – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – LF Tallent – C Lawson – CF Garmon – P Fox
OCT: RF Almanza – SS Archuleta – 2B Palominos – 3B Blackshire – 1B Laity – C R. Lopez – LF Alf. Mendez – CF Thore – P D. Baca

Through three innings the Thunder had a Jose Palominos triple that only saw him stranded at third base in the bottom 1st, while the Coons managed to get Garmon to third base but no further with a single and a stolen base in the top of the third. Neither team scored, but it got interesting in the fourth, which Danny Baca began by *drilling* Vic Morales, who took a long time to limp to first base, and then immediately had to rush to third on a double to left-center by Rich Monck. Nobody out, a pair in scoring position, and the Raccoons grounded out, struck out, and popped out; Starr at least got Morales home with the first run of the game…

The Thunder got Ramon Lopez on when he was nicked by Fox in the bottom 5th, but Alf Mendez found another inning-ending double play. Coby Thore then reached on a Novelo error to begin the home sixth, but Fox kept 1-hitting the Thunder and they stranded Thore at third base.

Nah, Fox wasn’t gonna pitch a shutout. There were too many ex-Coons on that Thunder roster, including Dave Blackshire, who by now was 37 years and old and hadn’t been a Critter since his age 26 season, but of course he found a solo homer to left in the seventh inning, getting the teams even at one. Nothing changed about that score for the rest of regulation. Fox pitched nine innings of 4-hit ball for just over 100 pitches, but that would be all for him.

The Coons got two pinch-hit singles in the tenth against Tetsu Kurihara, and also no run(s) thanks to Yukio Aoki, who led off with a single in Lawson’s spot, getting thrown out trying to make it a double. Arellano then singled in Fox’ spot with two outs, but was left on by Corral. The game then ended with just two pitches thrown by Cruz Madrid in the bottom 10th, the second of which Ramon Lopez blasted over the fence for a good 420 feet. 2-1 Thunder. Monck 3-4, 2B; Aoki (PH) 1-1; Arellano (PH) 1-1; Fox 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

(deep sigh)

Game 3
POR: RF Corral – CF Tallent – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Spicer – C Arellano – SS Aoki – P Alba
OCT: RF Almanza – LF Thore – 1B Laity – C Bohannon – 3B Bonilla – SS Palominos – CF J. Parker – 2B Archuleta – P Aa. Harris

Joel Starr continued to have a pulse, unlike his teammates, and hit a 3-run homer to right in the first inning. Corral singled and Tallent walked while Morales hit into a fielder’s choice ahead of him. Monck singled after Starr, was forced out by Spicer, and Spicer was caught stealing to continue his tailspin. The Thunder made up a run in the bottom 2nd when Alba nicked Bohannon with an 0-2 pitch, failed the bags full, and eventually Archuleta got home a run with a groundout, but the Raccoons got Corral and Tallent on the corners in the third inning before Morales hit a grounder to Alberto Bonilla for the first out, but at least got Arellano home, 4-1. Starr fanned and Monck flew out to deep right. The Thunder went on to lose Archuleta on a defensive play in the fourth inning. Blackshire replaced him as Archuleta hobbled off with a twisted ankle.

A Bonilla homer in the bottom 4th got the Thunder closer again, 4-2, but the Coons loaded the bags with Tallent, Morales, Starr, and one out in the fifth inning against a foundering Harris. Rich Monck ended a full month of home run futility when he struck a monster blast to right on the first (and final) pitch offered by Harris – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

The 8-2 lead briefly took the air out of the Thunder, but Thore hit a double into the gap to lead off the sixth, but then was stranded rather quickly. Jose Palominos hit a solo jack off Alba leading off the seventh, but Alba then struck out Johnny Parker, who threw his helmet in frustration and was ejected. Alf Mendez replaced him. Alba finished the inning, but gave up 2-out singles to ex-Coons Blackshire and Kozak on the way out before Almanza rolled over to Aoki. Alba was hit for with Bentley in the eighth inning, but by that point it had started to rain and the rain got pretty heavy very fast. Joe Napier finished the top 8th on the hill, but the game never came back from the between-inning break as the grounds crew threw the tarp on the field. It remained there for two hours before the game was called. 8-3 Furballs. Corral 2-4, 2B; Tallent 1-2, BB; Starr 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Monck 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Alba 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (6-11);

In other news

July 20 – The Gold Sox trade SP Mike Lieb (6-6, 3.63 ERA) to the Buffaloes for two prospects. The deal includes the #72 prospect SP John Santamaria.
July 20 – Rebels SP Dan Garicia (5-7, 5.32 ERA) will miss the rest of the season after tearing his rotator cuff.
July 20 – A broken elbow ends the season of Pacifics 1B Alejandro Olivares (.262, 7 HR, 35 RBI).
July 22 – DEN 2B Miguel Ulloa (.293, 6 HR, 32 RBI) is a triple shy of the cycle in a 5-hit game with two RBI in the Gold Sox’ 13-9 loss to the Stars.
July 22 – Indy trades right-hander Antonio Pichardo (1-2, 3.96 ERA, 2 SV) to the Miners for a prospect.
July 23 – Tijuana acquires INF William McColgin (.255, 6 HR, 36 RBI) from the Gold Sox for a pair of prospects.
July 24 – VAN SP Ken Nielsen (8-2, 2.14 ERA) was going to miss at least a month with a strained oblique.
July 26 – WAS 3B/SS Zach Suggs (.263, 11 HR, 32 RBI) could miss the rest of the season after suffering a bruised kneecap.

FL Player of the Week: CIN RF/LF Roberto Soto (.366, 12 HR, 45 RBI), hitting .560 (14-25) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: DEN/TIJ INF William McColgin (.268, 7 HR, 41 RBI), bashing .556 (10-18) with 1 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

For a new low, this week we reached the point where all our starting outfielders (Spicer, Garmon, Corral) had a WAR of at least -1.0; Corral was still cursed (even though he went 8-26 with two walks this week, better than *nothing*), Garmon had never hit all year long, and Spicer was in a sub-.100 slump in the middle of the week, then sat against the southpaws, then did nothing but fail on Sunday. The air for him was getting rather thin as far as spending August in Portland was concerned.

Next time Cruz Madrid asks me why he’s not named closer, I’ll have him duct-taped to a chair and have him watch all his stupid game-losing gaffes on repeat for 26 hours straight. His eyes will also duct-taped wide open. Blinking is for winners!!

To be honest, the only player besides Joel Starr that hasn’t been going on my whiskers in the last couple of weeks is … uh… Chance Fox? He’s 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA across 38 innings in his last five starts right now.

You’ll never guess though, which player currently has the most WAR for the Raccoons this season.

Bruce Burkart started a rehab assignment on Friday, so we won’t suffer Scott Lawson for much longer. With Monday being off, he’s not going to get another starting assignment in this call-up for sure.

The Portland WAR-What-Is-It-Good-For?s would travel home via Vegas with a day off on Monday. The weekend would see the Falcons coming to Portland, as well as deadline day.

Fun Fact: The single-season record for losses in a season for a Raccoons starter is 21.

Gary Simmons posted that mark all the way back in 1981, his second and final season as a starter (and also his final season as a Critter). He went 3-21 with a 4.60 ERA, which, y’know, wasn’t *great*, but at times some offense would be nice.

Nakayama hasn’t had more than three runs of support in any of his last six games (all of which he lost), and more than one run of support just twice in that stretch. Overall he’s gotten seven runs of support three times, five runs once, four runs twice…. You get the vibe. For the season, his average run support is a spectacular 2.6 runs per game.

But if you give him 4+ runs, he’s 3-2 with a no-decision!

And he’s also the Raccoon with the most WAR this year. Yes, a guy with a 3-15 record was worth +2.3 WAR. If you replaced him with just any old can opener, than can opener would be 0-17.