[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-46) @ Titans (58-34) – July 19-21, 2067

The Titans were only up 5-4 on the Raccoons this year, but I felt like they had kicked things into gear now and were soon going to dispatch of the Loggers. Why not start running away in this midweek series? Boston ranked fifth in runs scored, but allowed the fewest runs overall, barely 3.7 per game in fact. They did struggle for some pitching, though, with both Jason Brenize and Bryce Wallace on the DL out of that sterling rotation, and they were also without Josh Carlisle and Andy Lee.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (6-8, 3.51 ERA) vs. Tony Castellanos (3-3, 2.37 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-6, 2.85 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (8-8, 3.85 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (8-6, 3.34 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (2-7, 5.97 ERA)

Riddle was the only left-hander there.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – RF Dowsey – SS Novelo – LF Matas – 2B Bonner – P Gaytan
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 1B Joyner – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 2B Jer. White – RF Kaniewski – SS Onelas – 3B Portillo – P Castellanos

The Raccoons got the early paw up against the Titans with a 2-run first inning, Rich Monck singling home Lopez (single to left) and Starr (double to right) before Dowsey and Novelo filled the bases behind him and before both Matas and Bonner struck out to leave the bases loaded. The Titans made loud contact twice in the bottom 1st but went down in order against Gaytan, who then singled to center to begin the top 2nd. Jaden Wilson also singled, Castellanos threw a wild pitch, and Lopez knocked a 2-run double to center. The Coons were turning the spot starter Castellanos into mincemeat in record time as Starr lined out, but Monck dropped a soft single into shallow right, putting runners on the corners, before a Dowsey double in the right-center gap extended the score to 6-0. Novelo’s RBI single knocked out the Boston starter, and Gaytan had a fat lead to work with now. He got six outs in a row to begin his start, then hit another single in the top 3rd, but was left stranded against Sansao Tyson, another former Critters lefty (they were EVERYWHERE!!), and allowed a leadoff hit to Marcos Onelas in the bottom 3rd, but Miguel Portillo then hit into a double play to Novelo.

Gaytan needed only 30 pitches through four innings and only got one strikeout accordingly, then had a bit of a busier fifth, as John Kaniewski singled and he lost Onelas on balls, all with two outs. Portillo grounded out to Monck, though, and the Titans remained off the board. The counts were getting a bit longer after that, but the Titans were still getting 2-hit through seven. In between the Raccoons had continued to get the odd hit, but didn’t score from the third through the seventh inning until Joe Starr hit his third double of the game against Josh Atkins, and Rich Monck then cranked home run #20 for the season, 9-0. Gaytan remained in *great* shape, throwing 84 pitches through eight innings, and obviously batted for himself in the ninth, whiffing against Atkins, who was in there to take out the trash for Boston. After that, Wilson and Aguilar found base hits. The Coons emptied the bench, sending Marquise Early to bat for Starr with runners on the corners; his groundout brought in the tenth run of the game. Roberts then flew out in Monck’s spot before Gaytan was sent back to the hill, starting with Willie Acosta pinch-hitting in the #9 hole. He struck him out, then got a groundout from Steve Humphries to Bonner. Only Bill Joyner remained for a stellar shutout – and Joyner punked one over the wall for a homer. My snout tasted like ashes. Eddie Marcotte grounded out. 10-1 Furballs! Lopez 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Aguilar (PH) 1-1; Starr 3-5, 2 3B; Monck 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Dowsey 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Novelo 2-4, BB, RBI; Gaytan 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (7-8) and 2-5;

Ack! So close!!

This was Gaytan’s fourth complete game of the year, and the third in which he allowed only one run, and the second of those that he actually won; he had lost a 1-0 game to the Crusaders in May.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Early – 1B Starr – RF Tallent – 2B Roberts – P Walla
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 1B Joyner – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 2B Jer. White – RF Kaniewski – SS Onelas – 3B Portillo – P Riddle

The Raccoons burst out for three runs in the first inning again, this time opening with a gap triple by Jaden Wilson, who scored on Novelo’s sac fly to Humphries. Lopez and Monck got on, and Early’s double and Starr’s groundout scored them, one after the other, before the inning fizzled out. Roberts drew a leadoff walk in the second, and Walla’s bunt was bungled for an error by Portillo. Novelo singled home a run, but Wilson and Monck struck out in the inning, Early leaving the bases loaded with Walla, Novelo, and Lopez, who drew a 1-out walk, with a fly to Kaniewski. While the Raccoons were up 4-0, the Titans only reached base by getting nicked (Joyner) the first time through. Humphries and Jeremy White had 2-out hits in the third and fourth innings, respectively, but remained on base.

The Coons then crowded Riddle out of the game in the fifth, and Josh Atkins then helped to fill the bases with Starr, Tallent, and Roberts before allowing a 2-run single to Walla, 6-0. Wilson’s infield single reloaded the bases. From here, one run scored on a wild pitch, another on a Novelo single to left, and another one when Lopez grounded to Portillo, who had to come in, and then pulled Joyner off the bag with a bad throw for another error. Southpaw Pedro Mendoza then restored order against the 4-5-6 batters, but the Titans were now underwater by nine runs, and Walla appeared to be just fine, even though he threw 72 pitches through five.

Then suddenly Walla wasn’t fine. Joyner got on in the sixth and he was taken well deep by Eddie Marcotte, who hit his 14th homer of the season. He then walked Jorge Arviso and Jeremy White on nine total pitches, allowed an RBI single to Kaniewski, and the Raccoons were scrambling to get the bullpen up, because there had been no indication that the guys would be needed any time soon. In fact, Onelas and Portillo made the last two outs of the inning before anybody got sufficiently warm, but Walla was then gone after six innings that suddenly turned sour, having thrown exactly 100 pitches. The Coons made it double digits in the seventh, getting singles by Novelo, Lopez, and Early off lefty Jesse Cruise for a run, but Holzmeister gave it back with 2-out hits by Joyner and Marcotte in the bottom 7th, 10-4. Josh C also allowed a run in his eighth, getting doubled off by White and Onelas, and almost giving up another double to Humphries with two outs after having walked Acosta in the #9 spot. Things then got actually dicey in the bottom 9th when the Raccoons brought in Chance Fox, who faced three and walked two, then was yanked for Dover, who got a potential game-ending grounder to Randy Tallent at short, but Tallent fudged it, and the bags were full. White then popped out and Kaniewski grounded out to leave the bases loaded. 10-5 Raccoons. Wilson 2-6, 3B; Novelo 3-4, 3 RBI; Lopez 3-4, BB, RBI; Monck 2-5; Early 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Roberts 2-4, BB, 2B;

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – RF Colter – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 2B Jer. White – 1B Joyner – SS Onelas – 3B Portillo – P R. Montoya

Ironically the worst starter by ERA in the selection offered by the Titans in this series was the only one to put up a zero in the first inning. Instead, Musgrave ran into a 5-run second inning as the Titans woke up for an Arviso double and an inside-the-park home run by Jeremy White, and then Musgrave inexplicably walked Montoya with two outs, Humphries got on base, and Joe Washington cranked a 3-run, outside-the-park home run…

Montoya in celebration struck out the side in the third and then went into cruise mode, while the Raccoons saw Musgrave struggle into the fifth inning, where he gave up a walk to Humphries, and a 2-run homer to Marcotte before an ungraceful departure. Alvey replaced with him two outs and nobody on, gave up an Arviso double, a White single, and a run, and then finally got Joyner out on a grounder to Monck, but the score was now eight-zip.

On the plus side, Alvey would finish the game in mop-up fashion for the Raccoons, allowing just one more hit in three further innings, while Montoya had a bit of a recovery with eight shutout innings, but then ran out of stamina, which had always been his weak point, and now in the twilight of his career prevented him from getting far beyond 80 pitches. Ramon Lopez promptly hit a leadoff triple against Jose Gomez in the top 9th. Starr and Monck hit singles, the former getting an RBI, as did Novelo after two productive outs, but that was as far as that rally went. 8-2 Titans. Lopez 2-4, 3B; Monck 2-4; Dowsey 3-4;

Raccoons (49-47) @ Thunder (53-43) – July 22-24, 2067

The Thunder led the CL South despite being only eighth in runs scored and second in runs allowed. They had a +45 run differential (Coons: +26). They were near the bottom in home runs, but had the strongest bullpen and a very good defense. The Raccoons had won two out of three games in the first series these two teams played against each other this year.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (8-6, 4.45 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (6-4, 5.68 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (9-6, 3.97 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (3-4, 4.00 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-8, 3.33 ERA) vs. Danny Baca (10-6, 2.83 ERA)

Looking like a Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – C Aguilar – RF Colter – 2B Tallent – P Nakayama
OCT: CF Thore – C Bohannon – SS Palominos – 1B I. Stone – LF J. Parker – RF Almanza – 2B D. Richardson – 3B R. Vargas – P J. Ortega

Nakayama’s struggles just didn’t want to end, and he gave up singles to Coby Thore and Jose Palominos in the bottom 1st before another RBI knock by Ian Stone and Johnny Parker’s RBI groundout put him in a 2-0 hole. Soon enough that felt like a 7-0 score because the Raccoons didn’t amount to much of anything against Ortega, and didn’t reach third base at all in the first five innings, while Nakayama allowed another unearned run on his own error in the fourth inning while otherwise lingering and relying on his defense. Nakayama also did not get a single strikeout while walking three across 5.2 innings before being replaced with Yamauchi in the bottom 6th. Daniel Richardson had drawn a walk and was on second base, and the lineup had flipped over to Thore, who grounded out to end the inning. Yamauchi went on to put Martin Bohannon on base to begin the sixth, and that run was surrendered by Chance Fox on a wild pitch and a single by Ian Stone…

Top 8th, and singles by Wilson and Monck off Josh Elling, a walk by Tetsu Kurihara to Dowsey, loaded the bases, and the Thunder thought they should maybe try somebody not formerly of the Raccoons with three on and two outs. Willie Campos, left-hander came in to face Justin Aguilar, who was hit for with Marquise Early, who struck out. Chance Fox held the Thunder away in the eighth, and Tallent hit another single in the ninth, but the Raccoons never crossed home plate as five pitchers pooled together for a 9-hit shutout on the Thunder’s side. 4-0 Thunder. Wilson 2-5; Dowsey 2-3, BB; Tallent 2-3, BB;

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – 2B Bonner – RF Tallent – P Rios
OCT: RF Almanza – C Bohannon – CF Thore – SS Palominos – 2B Archuleta – 3B D. Richardson – 1B I. Stone – LF Franks – P Aa. Harris

This was only Rios’ second start in four weeks, and he immediately **** the bed. He ran 3-ball counts against the first five Thunder he faced, striking out Almanza before issuing four straight walks. Richardson struck out again, but Ian Stone drew another bases-loaded walk for a 2-0 Thunder lead in the first, before Scott Franks lined out to Novelo to leave three men on. That was 38 pitches for NOTHING. Funnily enough Harris responded with walks to Dowsey and Novelo to begin the top 2nd, and Bonner singled the bags full. Tallent hit an RBI single past Jose Palominos, Rios struck out, and Wilson strung a 2-run single to left-center to flip the score to 3-2 Portland. Lopez then crashed into a double play, ending the inning.

Rios was being watched very closely in the following innings, but pitched to mostly short counts and soft contact as the Thunder were now eager to hit him and knock him over for some reason. The next walk he was involved in was one he drew himself from Harris with one gone in the fourth inning. Wilson singled him to third base, but was caught stealing, and Lopez flew out to right, leaving Rios stranded at third base. Rios did not issue another walk until Palominos got one with two outs in the bottom 5th. He remained on base when Ramon Archuleta grounded out, and that was all for Rios.

His lead was extended in the top 6th when Daniel Richardson’s throwing error put Novelo on second base with nobody out. Bonner popped out, but Tallent socked an RBI double off Kurihara, 4-2. Colter batted for Rios, but him and Wilson left Tallent on base. The Coons then pieced outs together until the bottom 8th came around, and Yamauchi, left over from the seventh, allowed a single to Palominos and a game-tying homer to Archuleta, all even at four. Erik Swain then kept the game tied in the top of the ninth, in which Tallent got on base and was caught stealing. The Thunder brought the winning run all the way to third base as Almanza walked and Palominos singled against Josh C in the bottom 9th, but then Archuleta popped out to Ryan Bonner and the game went to extras. The Thunder stuck to Swain in the tenth, but he gave up a run on a leadoff single by Starr and a 2-out Dowsey double! Jesse Dover had not pitched all week and then came in against three left-handed batters in the bottom 10th. Johnny Parker grounded out hard to Starr, but Ian Stone and Nick Fowler both struck out to end the game. 5-4 Coons. Wilson 2-5, 2 RBI; Starr 3-5, 3B; Tallent 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Squeaky win that I didn’t really see coming, and the Raccoons also only had Holzmeister left in the bullpen there…!

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Early – 1B Dowsey – 2B Bonner – RF Tallent – P Gaytan
OCT: CF Thore – C Bohannon – SS Palominos – 1B I. Stone – LF J. Parker – RF Almanza – 2B D. Richardson – 3B N. Fowler – P D. Baca

Wilson singled and stole a base, but was ignored by the 2-3-4 batters in the top 1st. Tony Gaytan had gotten within the last out of a shutout on Tuesday, and on Sunday came within his own jittery throwing error on Coby Thore’s comebacker of getting the first out. He threw it away for two bases, then gave up singles to Bohannon and Stone, and Parker’s well-placed groundout meant that the Thunder scored two unearned runs in the inning. Gaytan then shut down the Thunder in the next three innings while waiting for the cavalry to arrive in his support. It took five innings for the Coons to mount anything against Danny Baca, who allowed one hit in four frames, but then had his lead evaporated by a Bonner double and a homer by Randy Tallent in the fifth…!

Unfortunately, as soon as the game was even, the Thunder unevened it again by running and stomping all over Gaytan in the bottom 5th. Richardson drew a leadoff walk, Fowler singled, Thore raked a 2-run double, and then scored after a wild pitch, two walks to Bohannon (who was caught stealing) and Palominos, and a Stone single with two outs. Gaytan finished the inning, but left the game moping about having given the Thunder a 5-2 lead.

Rich Monck socked a 2-run homer to center that had impressive length to shorten the score to 5-4 again in the sixth. Dowsey moved from first base to leftfield in the bottom 6th when Holzmeister and Starr entered the game in a double switch, then came close to a game-tying homer leading off the seventh, but the ball was caught on the warning track by Almanza. Baca lasted seven and a third, his final out being a long fly to left by Starr. Holzmeister got seven outs for the Critters, followed by one out from two batters by McMahan. When Parker hit a 2-out single in the bottom 8th, Dover and Matas entered in another double switch, ending Jaden Wilson’s afternoon. Dover got a grounder from PH J.D. Johnson to end the inning. The Thunder then sent Swain, who had pitched two innings for the L on Saturday, and who allowed a leadoff single to Lopez before Fowler fumbled Monck’s grounder for an error. Matas struck out and Dowsey smacked into a double play to end the game. 5-4 Thunder. Holzmeister 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

July 20 – Aces INF/RF Vic Morales (.341, 6 HR, 59 RBI) puts up a 20-game hitting streak with a single in a 6-1 loss against the Bayhawks.
July 20 – Indy sends SP Ignazio Flores (7-10, 4.55 ERA) to the Aces for a prospect.
July 20 – The Loggers acquire MR Aiden Shaw (8-4, 3.83 ERA) from the Crusaders, parting with #81 prospect RF/LF/1B Mike Eggert.
July 21 – LAP SP Melvin Lebron (9-7, 4.40 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout to beat the Stars, 5-0.
July 21 – Loggers catcher Tommy Guitreau (.265, 13 HR, 56 RBI) objects to having to bat eighth with two homers and six RBI in a 15-4 rout of the Canadiens.
July 21 – Due to a separated shoulder, the Cyclones would be without OF Melvin Avila (.334, 5 HR, 37 RBI) for at least three weeks.
July 21 – Salem INF/CF John Katzman (.276, 3 HR, 38 RBI) will miss a month with elbow tendinitis.
July 21 – The Capitals send SP Joe Chalmers (8-9, 4.16 ERA) to the Pacifics in exchange for outfielder Alex Romero (.295, 5 HR, 17 RBI).

July 22 – DAL CL Roberto Ramirez (2-4, 4.33 ERA, 30 SV) saves his 400th career game in a 5-2 win against the Cyclones.
July 22 – The Loggers kill the 28-game hitting streak of the Falcons’ Diego Mendoza (.310, 9 HR, 33 RBI) in a 5-2 Milwaukee win. Mendoza goes 0-for-4.
July 22 – The 20-game hitting streak of the Aces’ Vic Morales (.338, 6 HR, 59 RBI) dies in exactly the same circumstances as he goes 0-for-4 in a 5-2 loss to the Titans.
July 22 – The Pacifics beat the Blue Sox, 8-5 in 14 innings. Only one of the five Blue Sox runs is earned against L.A. starter Joe Chalmers (8-9, 3.90 ERA) in his first Pacifics outing.

July 23 – The Falcons out-slog the Loggers, 15-13, in a wicked game in which both teams only fail to score in two half-innings each and that goes back and forth until the Falcons take command with a 6-run seventh. Falcons OF Sal Gil (.247, 2 HR, 15 RBI) is the only player to drive in four runs in the game with two singles and a home run.
July 23 – The Dallas Stars walk off, 2-1 in ten innings, against the Cyclones when Cincy catcher Josh Heath (.266, 0 HR, 16 RBI) attempts to pick Xavier Reyes (.361, 1 HR, 40 RBI) off first base, but throws the ball away, and Andy Yocum (.340, 1 HR, 47 RBI) scores from third base with the winning run instead.
July 24 – The Capitals beat the Gold Sox, 3-2 in 14 innings. WAS OF Brent Campbell (.246, 3 HR, 30 RBI) is responsible for the walkoff single.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/CF/2B Darby Laybolt (.348, 14 HR, 44 RBI), socking .364 (8-22) with 5 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA SS/3B Trent Taylor (.298, 9 HR, 39 RBI), poking .583 () with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Trent Brassfield hit a walkoff homer for the Indians on Monday against the Crusaders. Should have brought him back when we had a chance…! (considers) Actually, we have a Chance, but I don’t think the Indians are interested.

Jose Corral didn’t make it off the DL in time for the series finale here, but he was expected to be back early in the next homestand. We would, starting on Tuesday, host the Falcons and Condors for the occasion. The Condors had tied us for team homers this week, 82 on each team.

That would also mark the end of the month. The Coons were nowhere right now, not really trying to go either up or down with trades. But we would listen to offers, although so far nobody approached us with any trade suggestions.

Fun Fact: Roberto Ramirez (3-4, 4.17 ERA, 30 SV) is the active leader in career saves.

He was tied with David Hardaway with 400 saves on a 73-78 record and 3.69 ERA. He had struck out 679 batters in 989 innings. Whether the 37-year-old Ramirez had enough juice left to challenge for 500 saves remained to be seen – only eight pitchers in league history had collected 500+ saves, with six more having sputtered to a stop anywhere between 489 and 499.

Ramirez had mostly been the regular closer in his 14-year career, outside of his debut season with the Buffos, and then a few years in between in L.A.

This was his second Dallas stint, and his fourth season there in total. In his career he had been an All Star twice, in 2062 and 2065, but had never led the league in saves – but he was tying for the FL lead currently. The next-closest pitcher in career saves was 53rd-place Justin Round with 348, but he was also already 35.