[Westheim]

Raccoons (29-33) @ Rebels (31-29) – June 11-13, 2068

The Rebs were nowhere in particular, middling around in the Federal League with a +10 run differential, and largely average values for most stats, except that they were weak on power and had good defense. Apart from that it was all a bit average. They had three relievers on the DL, including ex-Coon Jorge Quinones. They had also swept us in a series last year.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (3-1, 1.76 ERA) vs. Pedro Acebedo (3-3, 3.75 ERA)
Nick Walla (2-7, 2.99 ERA) vs. Bobby Marceau (4-2, 3.33 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (3-5, 5.38 ERA) vs. Sean Ranney (2-5, 4.98 ERA)

Ranney was the only southpaw in that rotation.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – 2B Arredondo – P Morales
RIC: LF Licona – SS Yniguez – CF Laybolt – C Vaillancourt – RF Ospina – 1B Ford – 2B Selep – 3B S. Rubio – P Acebedo

The Rebels scored on Vinny Morales before they made an out with a leadoff walk drawn by Juan Licona, who immediately scored on Adan Yniguez’ double into the rightfield corner. A walk to Matt Ford and a Matthew Selep single put another pair on base to begin the second inning for Richmond, but that time Sergio Rubio popped out and Acebedo bunted into a double play; also, by then the Raccoons had tied the game with a Corral double and Diego Mendoza’s RBI single in the top 2nd. Corral then drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning, finding Wilson and Starr on the corners; the former had singled and stolen second, and the latter had only reached base on an error by Yniguez. Diego Mendoza then blasted a 3-run homer to left, 5-1, with Acebedo’s cap flying off in the rocket’s draft, and he had to leave the game to go find it again.

After a very trying beginning, Morales then retired the Rebels 13-for-13 into the sixth inning until he gave up a 2-out triple to Darby Laybolt, but John Vaillancourt popped out foul to Mendoza to keep that runner on base and the lead slam-sized. Marquise Early also hit a 2-out triple in the top 7th, but this not only came with Joel Starr on base, but with Starr already having singled home Wilson, who in turn had driven in Manny Arredondo. Corral popped out to Selep, ending a 3-run inning. The Coons then gave two runs back when Morales ran into another spot of bother in the bottom 7th, being taken deep by Ford, 8-2, before allowing another hit to Selep, who was in scoring position with two outs when Jerry Morejon pinch-hit in the pitcher’s spot. Sean Thomas was brought in to face the left-handed batter, but gave up an RBI single before retiring Licona instead. Josh C and Dover would throw scoreless ball after that in the last two innings, while the Raccoons put Wilson, Starr, and Ramirez on base with two outs in the ninth, but Corral then struck out to leave them all stranded. 8-3 Raccoons. Wilson 3-5, 2B, RBI; Starr 2-5, RBI; Early 2-4, 3B, RBI; Corral 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mendoza 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Arredondo 3-4;

Jared Duhe went 0-for-5 and dropped his OBP to .339. The Raccoons got a bit crazy on Tuesday and batted Marquise Early (.413 OBP) leadoff.

Game 2
POR: LF Early – CF Wilson – 1B Dowsey – RF Corral – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – SS Novelo – 2B Arredondo – P Walla
RIC: LF Licona – SS Yniguez – CF Laybolt – C Vaillancourt – RF Ospina – 1B Ford – 2B Selep – 3B S. Rubio – P Marceau

Winless Walla gave up a single in each of the first three innings on Tuesday, but the Rebs never made it very far into Kentucky before being beaten back across the Cumberland; however, a single per inning was more than the Raccoons put together in the entirety of the first three innings. They didn’t land a base hit until Jaden Wilson dropped a single behind Selep to lead off the fourth inning – but then filled the bases with three singles in a row. Jake Flowe was up next and fell behind 1-2, at which point I was all but expecting a strikeout, popout, groundout, but instead Jake Flowe popped one out – and all the way out of the ballpark. GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

After the slam, Diego Mendoza hit another single before Marceau retired the bottom of the order, but was then pinch-hit for at the nearest opportunity with two outs in the bottom 4th after Selep had landed another isolated single that led to the runner getting stranded. That was the penultimate base runner that Walla allowed in the game; he would retire 13 straight Rebs like Morales on Monday, then give up a pinch-hit single to Bill Joyner, but then saw Licona pop out on the infield to complete the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately, the pitch economy wasn’t there and he was already at 100 pitches. The Raccoons had also not done a whole lot of anything on offense in the last four innings, so the score was still 4-0. Arrendondo and Starr singled in the ninth, but Early killed the inning with a 6-4-3 grounder, and then Kehoe got the ball for the home half of the (hopefully) final inning, got two outs, then allowed two singles to Vaillancourt and Ospina. Enough with that, then, and we brought in Pedro Valentin, who struck out Matt Ford to put the game to bed. 4-0 Critters. Wilson 3-4, 2B; Corral 1-2, BB; Flowe 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Starr (PH) 1-1; Walla 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-7);

Winning Walla!

Not so great was auxiliary leadoff batter Marquise Early, who went a swell 0-for-5 with that double play at the end.

Nothing says “steady” as much as three different leadoff batters by Wednesday of any given week, but here we go…

Game 3
POR: CF Ramirez – LF Early – 1B Starr – 2B Duhe – RF Corral – 3B Mendoza – C D’Alessandro – SS Novelo – P Gaytan
RIC: LF Licona – SS Yniguez – CF Laybolt – C Vaillancourt – RF Ospina – 1B Ford – 2B Selep – 3B S. Rubio – P Ranney

To demonstrate that sometimes your choices are meaningless and you WILL get forked no matter what you do, none of the three different leadoff batters we used in this series reached base the first time through against Sean Ranney, nor did Joel Starr. Ranney drilled Jose Corral, who was then wrapped up in a double play by Diego Mendoza to end the second inning. Ranney then also drilled D’Alessandro to begin the third inning, after which the selection of Oregon’s Finest struck out, struck out, aaaand… struck out.

Not that the pain ended there. Marquise Early *did* hit a single to begin the fourth inning for Portland, but was doubled up by Duhe, and in the fifth inning the Raccoons got Mendoza to double to left, D’Alessandro reached on an error, and with runners on the corners and one out, Pablo Novelo flew out to Willie Ospina, who immediately fired home to get another ******* double play, 9-2 on Diego Mendoza to end the inning.

What was the best point in time to mention that Tony Gaytan pitched finely, but seemed to have drawn the usual Walla lot for run support? He allowed two hits and struck out four through five innings of a game that was scoreless until Marquise Early lifted a solo homer to left in the sixth inning. The Rebs got a single in both the sixth and seventh against Gaytan, but didn’t come near scoring, while the Coons put Corral and Mendoza on the corners with nobody out in the seventh and then saw the bottom of the order do another great escape over the horizon, leaving the runners like litter where they were. The Coons loaded the bags again with Ramirez, who stole his first base of the year, singling, as did Starr. Duhe drew a 1-out walk to fill them up for Corral, who knocked out Ranney with an RBI single to right, 2-0. Right-hander Allen Tinsley replaced him, but gave up two runs on a Mendoza double before whiffing D’Alessandro and getting Dowsey to ground out in Novelo’s place. Gaytan pitched another inning, but walked Licona and gave up the run on an Yniguez triple before leaving the game after getting unlucky outs from Laybolt and Vaillancourt to starve the second runner on third base. Valentin put the game away in the ninth – but not without walking the leadoff man Ospina and giving up a 2-run homer to PH Jerry Morejon… 4-3 Coons. Early 2-5, HR, RBI; Starr 2-4; Corral 2-3, RBI; Mendoza 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Gaytan 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (4-5);

Raccoons (32-33) @ Canadiens (36-27) – June 14-17, 2068

The team was off to the frozen North then, while I had business in New York on Friday, trundling northwards from Richmond by way of what remained of the Fredricksburg and Manassas battlefields next to some very lovely strip malls. The damn Elks were just two games out in the division and were lusting for some Furballs to punch up, having swept the Raccoons in the first 3-game set of the year. They were fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed in the CL. Starter Nate Freeman and infielder Matt Kilday were on the DL for the Elks.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (9-2, 3.25 ERA) vs. Vince Ellison (6-1, 2.96 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-4, 4.67 ERA) vs. Ian Lowry (3-6, 3.73 ERA)
Vinny Morales (4-1, 2.08 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (3-3, 3.34 ERA)
Nick Walla (3-7, 2.73 ERA) vs. Ray Rath (5-5, 3.28 ERA)

Polaco was the only left-hander on offer. On draft day, the Elks would for the first time start Lowry, who they had picked up from the Wolves just a few days earlier.

Since that opener was three time zones away, I took in the Crusaders-Capitals game in D.C. that night in person – Caps staff was surely confused to see me without my team around and called Maud in Portland to check whether I had gotten lost, how nice of them – and would then join the Coons game-in-progress on TV in my hotel room.

Game 1
POR: LF Early – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – SS Duhe – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – 2B Novelo – P Dominguez
VAN: 3B C. Castro – SS Barraza – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 1B R. Cordero – RF Atkins – 2B Eggert – P Ellison

I joined with the Raccoons down 1-0 and Jaden Wilson pulling down a Dan Moore drive to end the fourth inning in deep center. The Elks had scored their run in the second inning on singles by Tyler Chenette, Moore, and Rick Atkins, and the Raccoons were … present and all healthy, I presumed, while checking on the mini fridge how drunk I could get on my $50 travel allowance here. Turned out, not very, even though Duhe reached on an uncaught third strike to begin the fifth inning and then was doubled up on a 3-1 pitch by Jake Flowe, 4-6-3 went the Elks, which, I learned, was not the first double play the Coons had bungled into in the game.

On two hits through five, the Raccoons then got Novelo on base with a leadoff single in the sixth. When Dominguez failed to get a bunt down, Novelo tried to steal on an 0-2 pitch, but was thrown out, the pitch being high for ball one, and Dominguez singling to right on the next offering from Vince Ellison. Early also singled, Wilson popped out, and Joel Starr tied the game with a single to right-center. Corral added a single to take the lead, and then Duhe dropped in another RBI single to score Starr, 3-1. Flowe then lined out to Moore in center, but at least not on a 3-1 pitch…

Dominguez would maintain his unbeaten streak by defending the 3-1 lead through the end of the seventh inning, having to fight his way around an Early error in the seventh inning. The bottom 8th was contested by Yamauchi and McMahan, neither of whom had pitched in Richmond. Yamauchi nailed Dan Eggert before getting Corey Stovall out; McMahan then got Carlos Castro on a fielder’s choice to Novelo, who also collected Roberto Barraza’s groundout to end the bottom 8th. The ninth went to Dover – still up by two – since Valentin had been out two days in a row, and had thrown 26 pitches in his mixed save on Wednesday. Steve Varner put up a fight and a full count before grounding out to Duhe, while Chenette and Moore were less successful still and both struck out. 3-1 Critters! Dominguez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (10-2) and 3-3;

The damn Elks did another trade on Friday, bringing in 1B Andy Metz (.269, 14 HR, 46 RBI) from Dallas while parting with luckless outfielder Nick Vaughn and a catching prospect.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – SS Duhe – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – 2B Gates – P Pizzichini
VAN: 3B C. Castro – SS Barraza – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 2B Stovall – P Lowry

The Raccoons scored first on Friday, but not often enough. Gary Gates drove in a 2-out run with a single in the top 2nd after Lowry had walked Corral and Mendoza, and Joel Starr bounced into a run-scoring double play after Wilson and Duhe got on base to begin the third inning, but Pizza fumbled that 2-0 lead in the bottom 3rd when he walked Castro and then allowed 2-out RBI knocks to Roberto Lozada and new Elk Andy Metz to tie the game. Varner then flew out to Dowsey.

After Stovall came close to a homer in the fourth, Dominguez had a clean fifth inning, but the pitch count was already up there despite only three hits and three walks allowed through five innings. His spot then also came up with Flowe, Mendoza, and Gates on base in an unearned 2-out situation in the top of the sixth. The Coons very emphatically rolled the dice with Marquise Early, who hit a high fly to right – but beat neither wall nor Lozada and ended the inning instead. Josh C then pitched in relief, giving up a leadoff walk to Metz in the bottom 6th before somehow getting around that to keep the game tied.

The bags were full again with two outs in the top 7th after Lowry walked the leadoff man Wilson and was yanked. Juan Rosado walked Corral with two outs, then allowed a soft single to Dowsey. Flowe flew out to Lozada, and another three runners remained stranded. Carrington and McMahan put the seventh together before Kehoe in the eighth walked both Lozada and Varner, but in between Metz had already rumbled into a double play and Chenette then struck out in a full count. Neither team got a runner on base in the ninth, and so extras dawned on the combatants.

Jake Flowe didn’t take long to break the tie in the 10th inning, hitting a solo home run with one out against Matt Nelson, who had held the Coons down in the ninth inning. Arredondo and Gates made two quick outs after that and Pedro Valentin got the baseball against the top of the order, although the Elks had the pitcher in the #2 spot by now. Castro grounded out to Gates on the first pitch before John Bustillos (who?) pinch-hit, bringing a lefty stick with him. He struck out, and so did Lozada. 3-2 Critters! Wilson 2-4, BB; Flowe 2-5, HR, RBI; Mendoza 2-3, BB; Kehoe 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (2-2);

Above .500! Tah!

Yes, yes, Oscar, I’ll make a pick now. Don’t rush me!

I travelled with Semchez to Pittsburgh on the way back to take in a Rebs-Miners game. I witnessed Semchez eat a hot dog with nothing but relish on it and decided to not renew his contract once it would expire, right then and there. We have standards here.

The Miners won that game 4-0, and there was no Raccoons game to miss since the Raccoons were not playing on Saturday, suffering through a freezeout in Elk City. They had a double header going on Sunday. The pairing of Polaco and Morales for the third game in the series was replaced with Rath and Walla.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – SS Duhe – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – C Flowe – 3B Gates – 2B Arredondo – P Walla
VAN: 3B C. Castro – SS Barraza – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – C Varner – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – 2B Stovall – P Rath

Wilson got on with a single and was immediately doubled off to begin the second of hopefully two games on Sunday, after which Starr and Corral got on and Dowsey dropped an RBI single. Flowe struck out to end the inning, while Walla gave up two singles to Castro and Barraza to get going, but got a double play grounder from Lozada and another groundout from Andy Metz. Walla kept leaking singles, allowing another two in the second inning, along with an unearned tying run because the whole inning had started with Steve Varner getting on base on a 2-base throwing error by Gary Gates. Stovall drove in the tying run. Varner hit a solo homer his next time up to get the Elks a 2-1 lead in the fourth. This came after Walla singled in the top 4th and was doubled off by Wilson, and before Duhe reached base and advanced on a wild pitch to begin the top 5th, after which the inning began to drag. Two meek outs were made, Dowsey walked with two outs, and Flowe snuck an RBI single up the middle into center to tie the game at two. Gates flew out to Tyler Chenette to end that inning.

Both teams got a leadoff single in the sixth through Arredondo and Metz, respectively. Neither scored, with Arrendondo even stealing second base before being stranded, while Varner hit into a double play to erase Metz as baserunner. Dan Moore hit another leadoff single off Walla in the seventh, but also wasn’t brought around.

The Coons began the eighth with Flowe drawing a walk from righty Miguel Batista. Gates singled, and Batista’s wild pitch put a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Arredondo flew out poorly, preventing Flowe from going home, and Marquise Early batted for Walla with a sense of urgency. He also flew out to Chenette, but deep enough to get Flowe home with the go-ahead run on a sac fly. Wilson struck out, keeping the score at 3-2, while Josh C retired the 2-3-4 batters for the Elks in order in the bottom 8th. Portland was just as listless in the ninth before Pedro Valentin took the ball, and not only fumbled Walla’s win, but got overturned for a loss after a leadoff single by Varner and a booming walkoff homer by Chenette. 4-3 Canadiens. Arredondo 2-4; Walla 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K and 1-3;

Ack.

Game 4
POR: CF Ramirez – LF Early – 1B Starr – 3B Mendoza – 2B Duhe – RF Dowsey – C D’Alessandro – SS Novelo – P Morales
VAN: 3B C. Castro – SS Barraza – RF Lozada – 1B A. Metz – LF Chenette – CF D. Moore – C Herr – 2B Stovall – P Polaco

Eddy Ramirez opened the late gig with a home run to left, and Starr scored a second run, singled in by Duhe, as the 3-4-5 batters all reached in the top of the first inning. Dowsey and D’Alessandro left a pair on base before the 2-0 lead went to Morales, who then went on to throw 34 pitches in the bottom 1st and gave up FIVE runs. Castro grounded out, but he drilled Barraza. Lozada singled to right, and Dowsey threw that ball away for the first error of the inning, allowing Barraza to score. Metz hit an RBI single, Chenette singled, and Moore’s grounder to third was fudged by Mendoza, allowing another run to score. Morales walked Kevin Herr to load the bases, and Stovall hit a sac fly. Polaco then snapped a 2-out RBI single, Castro singled to refill the bases, but Barraza then finally ******* flew out to Ramirez to end the 5-run (three earned) inning.

Things went a bit silent after that. Morales did the honorable thing and fell on his own sword for another four innings, not giving up any more runs, although plenty of damage had already been done. The Coons had also little going immediately after the battering before Polaco walked a pair and gave up an RBI single to Ramirez with two outs in the fourth, although Pablo Novelo then also ran into the third out on the base paths. Dowsey chased Polaco with a leadoff single in the sixth, but was then doubled off by Novelo, who was trying his darndest to get demoted to St. Petersburg.

The Coons got a scoreless inning from Yamauchi before Wilson batted for him and singled to start the seventh. Ramirez also singled, two outs were made again, Mendoza walked, and Duhe … popped out after Juan Rosado balked home a run to shorten the score to 5-4. Sean Thomas then ****** the bags full in the bottom 7th and Jesse Dover allowed one run to score on a groundout by Stovall before whiffing Rick Atkins in the #9 hole, but the Elks were now two ahead again. Dover was himself charged another run in the eighth when Lozada hit a single, Metz drew a 2-out walk, and then McMahan could not get rid of John Bustillos, who socked an RBI double past Starr and up the line. Metz was thrown out at the plate trying to score by Dowsey, ending the inning. Corral, Ramirez, and Early then went down in order against Matt Nelson in the ninth. 7-4 Canadiens. Ramirez 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-4; Dowsey 2-4; Wilson (PH) 1-1;

In other news

June 13 – The Wolves flip SP Ian Lowry (3-6, 3.73 ERA) to the Canadiens for two prospects. The deal includes #192 prospect INF/LF/CF Ray Olin.
June 14 – The Stars beat the Scorpions, 14-4, scoring 11 runs in the seventh inning alone.
June 15 – Terrible blow for the Loggers, who lose 2B/SS Fidel Carrera (.288, 3 HR, 25 RBI) for the season. The 29-year-old is out with a torn back muscle.
June 17 – Condors SS Jason Turner (.200, 7 HR, 20 RBI) will miss six weeks with an oblique strain.
June 17 – The Blue Sox beat the Buffaloes, 1-0 in ten innings.

FL Player of the Week: LAP LF/RF John Miller (.369, 18 HR, 59 RBI), raking .571 (12-21) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA C/1B Oscar Matos (.310, 9 HR, 32 RBI), socking .364 (8-22) with 4 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

That was a brief stay over .500 …

After Tuesday’s game Nick Walla appeared inside the ABL top 10 for ERA despite the .300 record he was pitching to. He had the lowest BB/9 in the Continental League, and ranked second behind only Mike Bell for K/BB. After Sunday’s outing he was up to fourth in ERA in the CL, one ninth of a run behind league ERA leader Ricardo Montoya, and yet … 3-7 for his record.

Dominguez meanwhile got his eighth W in nine starts and got his unbeaten streak to ten besides reclaiming .500 for the Strugglecoons on Thursday with the 7,700th regular season W in Raccoons history.

Sunday’s double header will not lead to pitching complications, since we will be off on Thursday after a 3-game series in Milwaukee. We then return home for a 6-game homestand hosting the Thunder and Condors.

Fun Fact: Nick Walla is not only fourth in ERA in the CL, but also t-3rd in losses.

SCORE HIM SOME RUNS, YOU DIMWITS!!