[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-4) vs. Titans (5-4) – April 11-14, 2069

The Titans would finish the homestand by coming in for four games. The Raccoons had not won a season series against the blue team since 2061, with one draw and lots of losses. Last season had been another 5-13 drumming, including that extremely depressing sweep at home to end the 2068 season that cost the Raccoons a shot at a tie-breaker whiff if nothing else. The Titans had started off soft, with just 23 runs scored in nine games, and 32 runs allowed. Regulars Steve Humphries and Jared Robichaud had already gone down to injury.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Matt Nelson (0-1, 0.00 ERA)
A.C. Stebbins (0-1, 7.94 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (0-0, 1.13 ERA)
Nick Walla (1-1, 1.93 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (2-0, 1.20 ERA)
Vinny Morales (0-1, 3.12 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (0-2, 5.84 ERA)

Riddle was the only left-handed starter in this series.

The Raccoons still had Pablo Novelo injured and undiagnosed on the roster, so we were a guy short on the bench.

Game 1
BOS: SS C. Pena – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – RF M. Garcia – 1B A. Metz – 3B D. Miller – LF Joe Washington – 2B Jer. White – P M. Nelson
POR: SS Duhe – 3B Gallo – CF Wharton – 1B Starr – 2B Fumero – RF Corral – C Flowe – LF Otal – P Gaytan

J.P. Gallo socked a 2-run homer after Jared Duhe drew a leadoff walk from Nelson, which was a nice start along with Gaytan’s scoreless first. David Johnson had singled in that first inning, and the Titans would put somebody on base in every inning against Gaytan, pairs even in the third and fourth innings, but never scored against him. Gallo meanwhile also had the second Portland hit, a double in the third, but nothing happened with regards of additional runs in that inning. The bottom 4th began with Fumero grounding out, but Nelson then nicked Jose Corral. Flowe whiffed, but Benito Otal found another single. Nelson then got Gaytan to 0-2 before getting lazy down the middle and Gaytan also went for the middle, up and into centerfield with the stupid thing, hitting an RBI single to extend his lead to 3-0. Duhe added another run with a single to left, while Gallo now grounded out to Jeremy White to end the inning.

The Titans then finally got on the board in the fifth, beginning with Nelson’s leadoff single off Gaytan. Otal dropped a fly by Eddie Marcotte for an error, and then Johnson wrapped one around the left foul pole for a 3-run homer with one out, so two runs were earned on Gaytan, who finished the inning and then struck out the bottom third of the order in the sixth to regain some composure. Gaytan batted for himself once more after Otal rolled a shy 2-out single in the bottom 6th and now took Nelson into the left-center gap for an RBI double, upping the score to 5-3. Duhe left him on base by grounding out to Danny Miller.

Gaytan kept chugging along on the hill all the way into the eighth. Manuel Garcia hit a leadoff double in the inning, but Gaytan struck out Andy Metz and had Danny Miller pop out on his 106th and final pitch. McMahan then replaced him for Joe Washington, got a groundout on the only pitch he threw in the game, and that was the inning. Bottom 8th, George van Otterdijk batted for Jake Flowe against Pedro Mendoza and socked a leadoff double to left, but was in some discomfort at second base, and Luis Silva soldiered out there with both paws stoically buried in his brown hoodie’s kangaroo pocket to look at him, eventually collecting him. Marquise Early ran for him, while Lorenzo Marquez batted for Benito Otal, grounding out to short to keep the runner pinned. Wally Leggett flew out and Jared Duhe grounded out, leaving the runner on base altogether, and the bench was now also empty, while Pedro Valentin entered the game with the 2-run lead. He struck out White, PH Jonathan Gutierrez grounded out, but Cesar Pena and Eddie Marcotte snapped 2-out singles before Fumero got paws on a Johnson grounder to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Gallo 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; van Otterdijk (PH) 1-1, 2B; Otal 2-3; Gaytan 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, W (1-1) and 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Van Otterdijk had come out with back discomfort, which was gone by Friday morning, which was good to know, but Novelo was still in some tube and having pictures made.

Game 2
BOS: 1B I. Berrios – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – LF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – 2B Jer. White – RF J. Evans – SS Canning – P M. Bell
POR: SS Duhe – 3B Gallo – CF Wharton – 1B Starr – 2B Fumero – RF Corral – C Flowe – LF Early – P Stebbins

A.C. Stebbins was not having a good day on Friday, facing an all-right-handed lineup, running 3-ball counts against everybody in the first inning and walking Johnson and Manuel Garcia with two outs, while everybody else hit a rocket to the outfield that was somehow caught. He was less fortunate in the second inning, where White and Jake Evans hit singles and Dave Canning socked a 3-run homer. Those were the only runs Stebbins allowed in five pretty dismal innings before being pinch-hit for, while on the other side Mike Bell was throwing a 2-hitter and didn’t look like he was gonna blink until the end. In the end it was the pitch count that got him, as he was up to 102 after eight innings, and heroic long relief by Matt Schmieder, who pitched FOUR innings after Stebbins’ early demise and didn’t allow any additional runs to the Bostonians, who then brought in their closer, Jose Gomez, to face the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 9th. They went down just as meekly against him as they had against Bell. 3-0 Titans. Schmieder 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Pablo Novelo was found to have a partial tear in his labrum that needed stitching up. He would be out for at least two months and thus disappeared onto the DL by Saturday. The Raccoons called up INF/LF Jacob Davis, who had made eight appearances for us in late 2067, and who had hit .240 in 68 games for St. Pete last season. Warm body.

Joel Starr had Saturday off after falling to .200 with the stick.

Game 3
BOS: SS C. Pena – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – RF M. Garcia – 1B A. Metz – 3B D. Miller – LF Joe Washington – 2B Jer. White – P Riddle
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Wharton – 3B Gallo – LF Early – 2B Leggett – RF van Otterdijk – C Marquez – P Walla

David Johnson walloped one of Walla in the first inning to give Boston a 1-0 lead they instantly blew and then some in the bottom of the inning as Duhe and Fumero began with singles. Wharton grounded out, Riddle plated a run with a wild pitch, and Gallo’s sac fly brought in Fumero to take a 2-1 lead. However, straight singles by the Titans’ 6-7-8 batters tied the game again in the second inning before Riddle slapped a poor bunt back to Walla, who started a spiffy 1-5-3 double play, ending the inning.

But for something new, in our 11th game of the season, $54M man Tyler Wharton finally drove somebody in that was not himself, when he followed a 2-out triple by Carlos Fumero in the bottom 3rd with a double to left that gave the Coons a new 3-2 lead. Riddle walked Gallo, the Coons pulled off a double steal, but Marquise Early then drew a walk when his count ran full. Wally Leggett also drove in his first runs since being claimed off waivers, hitting a 2-run single to right-center, van Otterdijk hit another RBI single, and Riddle’s pain only ended after Lorenzo Marquez bashed a 3-run homer on his first Portland base hit altogether, which led to Riddle’s removal after seven straight batters reached base and all scored, all with two outs…! Kyle Houck replaced him and K’ed Walla to end the inning. Walla now had the huge lead, but looked fairly hittable in this game, and he quite inexplicably walked Houck in the fifth, and on four pitches, AND he didn’t have much stuff altogether, but at least he lined up zeroes in some fashion. Johnson singled in the sixth, but was left on, and Joe Washington hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but ended up being doubled off.

Walla ended up pitching eight innings without much fanfare, and was not seen again in the ninth inning. Tyler Wharton was also out of the game after catching a Johnson fly to end the top 8th, which at first did not draw much attention in a lopsided game (builds some tension with shivering whiskers), while Danny Nava delivered s scoreless ninth to put the game away. 9-2 Raccoons! Duhe 2-4; Fumero 2-5, 3B; Gallo 1-2, BB, RBI; Marquez 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Walla 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-1);

The reason why Tyler Wharton was out of the game was not just sitting down the valuable asset for an inning of Otal in center before it could break, but because it had already broken. Wharton felt something in his shoulder after the catch on Johnson and consulted Luis Silva, who disappeared to the clubhouse with him, unseen by the NWSN cameras. The verdict was just shoulder soreness, and Wharton was ruled day-to-day on Sunday morning, but rest assured I cried and screamed all through the night, much to the delight of my neighbors.

Wharton was expected to be hampered for up to a week, which was not long enough to move him to the DL. He was not in the lineup for the series finale, Monday was off, and we’d play it by ear from there. (puts the oxygen mask back over his snout)

Game 4
BOS: SS C. Pena – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – 1B A. Metz – 3B D. Miller – LF Joe Washington – RF J. Evans – 2B Canning – P R. Montoya
POR: SS Duhe – 2B Fumero – 3B Gallo – 1B Starr – CF Otal – RF Corral – LF van Otterdijk – C Flowe – P Morales

The diminished Critters took another lead in the first inning with a Duhe double and two productive outs from Fumero and Gallo. Otal then hit another leadoff double in the second, but Jose Corral had dinner reservations and socked a 2-run homer to get the run home pronto. Jake Evans took Vinny Morales deep for a solo job in the third inning, which also saw another leadoff double by Duhe. Fumero flew out to fence and Washington, but Gallo struck another double off Montoya to drive in Duhe again, 4-1. Joel Starr’s RBI single tacked on, and Jake Flowe’s solo homer to right in the fourth inning knocked out another Titans starter early on, with Montoya chased after 3.1 innings and six runs. Right-hander Jim Allen got out of the inning, but Fumero, Starr, and Otal piled up on base with one out in the bottom 5th. Corral’s sac fly was the only extra run, 7-1, and Allen K’ed van Otterdijk to strand the other two runners.

Morales kept trucking along, having a 4-hitter at the stretch, but had mostly used up his pitch allotment. Houck was back in for Boston, giving up a run when Otal tripled home Fumero with two outs in the bottom 7th. Corral then walked, but van Otterdijk popped out to strand two more. Morales threw two more pitches, one for a Jake Evans wallbanger and another for Canning to ground out on before Rios replaced him against PH Jonathan Gutierrez, whom he retired, and then Pena, whom he walked. Dover then entered with Early in a double switch and gave up a long fly to the fence to Marcotte, but it hung long enough for Otal to pick it six feet away from the wall. Duhe hit a solo homer in the bottom 8th, 9-1, before Dover returned for the ninth inning, where he allowed a homer to Andy Metz, another homer to Washington, and then ANOTHER homer to Evans with two outs. Childress had to come in and strike out Canning to end the game. 9-4 Furballs. Duhe 3-5, HR, 2 2B, RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, RBI; Otal 3-4, 3B, RBI; Corral 1-2, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-1)

Wharton did not play in the game.

Raccoons (7-5) @ Indians (9-3) – April 16-18, 2069

The first-place Indians (!) had won six games in a row here, and ranked fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed with a +10 run differential (Portland: +17). They were rated last in defense, while the Raccoons were ranked first in defense after just two weeks, so what were we even waffling about? Reliever John Nesbitt was the only early injury for Indy, and the Raccoons had won 12 games against them last season.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-0, 1.46 ERA) vs. Justin Esch (1-0, 1.93 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (1-1, 3.29 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (0-0, 5.40 ERA)
A.C. Stebbins (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Miguel Lopez (1-0, 9.00 ERA)

The Indians came off two off days on Thursday and Monday, so they had plenty of wiggle room in that rotation. This was three right-handers, but southpaw ace Mike DeWitt (2-1, 2.81 ERA) would be the next in line.

Big Tyler was not in the lineup, but he was confirmed to be available to pinch-hit.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – 2B Fumero – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 3B Gallo – CF Otal – C Flowe – LF Early – P Pizzichini
IND: CF Hilario – 2B Masterson – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – RF T. Torres – LF Menchaca – SS Valadez – P Esch

Pizza pitched a scoreless inning and then disappeared down the tunnel with Luis Silva, and I was starting to become a bit nauseous. The Raccoons had to go to Cody Childress from there, but he pitched only three innings before getting worked up by the Indians in the bottom 4th. Matt Rogers got him for a leadoff homer, he walked Tony Torres, and after a 2-out intentional walk to Fernando Valadez, Justin Esch singled to center. Torres scored, and Valadez scored when Otal threw the ball away for an error. Jose Hilario singled to right on an 0-2 single after that, but Corral rushed in and fired home to throw out the pitcher at the plate to end the inning. This gave Indy a 3-0 lead with Esch so far not having allowed a whole damn lot, and nothing much would change about that until Gallo randomly hit a home run to right in the seventh inning.

Down 3-1 in the eighth inning after more stingy relief by Nava, McMahan, and Schmieder, the Raccoons got Marquise Early on base with a leadoff single, and there came Wharton carrying a stick to the plate as the tying run. He popped out to Valadez behind short, but Duhe singled, sending Early to third base. Fumero got a run home by grounding into a fielder’s choice, then stole second with two outs, but was then left on base when Starr grounded out easily on a 3-2 pitch, leaving the score at 3-2. Dover shook off the shell shock for a 1-2-3 eighth before Indians righty Shamar King put the leadoff man and tying run on base, conceding a single to Corral. Gallo struck out, but an Otal single and a walk scratched out by Flowe loaded the bases with one out for … uh, Marquise Early? The Coons sent Wally Leggett instead, who ran a full count before hitting into a double play to kill the game. 3-2 Indians. Otal 2-4, 2B;

No news on Pizza from the trainer’s room by Wednesday, so we now had two injured players on the roster.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – LF Fumero – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 3B Gallo – CF Otal – C Flowe – 2B Leggett – P Gaytan
IND: CF Hilario – LF Spicer – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – RF T. Torres – 2B Masterson – SS Valadez – P J. Flores

Tony Gaytan struck out six in the first three innings, but found himself 1-0 behind on a Matt Rogers homer and for his own offense being on a meager single through three innings. They then loaded the bases to begin the fourth when Flores offered leadoff walks to Starr and Corral before Gallo scratched a single, so there were three on with nobody out. Otal popped out, which was … yes. But Jake Flowe laid off the garbage and made Flores walk in the tying run. A passed ball brought in the go-ahead run, and Leggett was then walked semi-intentionally. Tony Gaytan had driven in two runs in his last start, and drove in another one here with a single to left-center…! Duhe hit a comebacker that Flores took for an out at the plate on Flowe, but that was the last out he got, getting knocked out on Fumero’s 2-out, 2-run single to right that made it 5-1. Left-hander Pablo Apodaca struck out Starr to end the inning.

Gaytan was a bit out of tune after the long batting inning and struggled allowing two hits in the bottom 4th, then walked Valadez to begin the fifth, but Apodaca bunted forcefully into a double play. Jose Hilario then singled, but was caught stealing as the Indians mostly removed themselves from contention in the inning. Instead the Raccoons tacked on a run in the sixth with Leggett drawing a leadoff walk and being singled home by Fumero. Gaytan did not get another K until he rung up Alex Gomez in the bottom 6th, then right away gave up a second homer to Rogers, 6-2. Scott Masterson got on base in the seventh, and also got himself caught stealing. Gaytan fumbled on until he walked Hilario with one out in the eighth and then was removed. Rios replaced him, but put Malcolm Spicer and Rogers on base and left a three-on, two-out mess for Pedro Valentin to sort out. Matt Martin popped out to Starr on a 1-1 pitch to end the inning after coming up as the tying run. Valentin then made it “interesting” in all the wrong ways with a pair of free passes to Torres and Masterson in the bottom 9th. Valadez flew out, moving the lead runner to third base, and Guillermo Lujan hit a sac fly, and then Valentin finally stopped mucking about and K’ed Hilario to end the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Fumero 2-5, 3 RBI; Flowe 2-3, BB, RBI; Gaytan 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (2-1) and 1-3, RBI;

Coons scored six runs here without the benefit of an extra-base knock.

Wharton back on Thursday? He pinch-hit in the ninth inning again, and maybe … (sharply draws in air between teeth) No. Nor were there news on Pizza. We continued to play with a 23 1/2-man roster for the rubber game.

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – LF Fumero – RF Corral – 1B Starr – CF Otal – 2B Leggett – C Flowe – 3B Davis – P Stebbins
IND: CF Hilario – 2B Masterson – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – RF T. Torres – LF Valencia – SS Valadez – P Mi. Lopez

Nothing good came out of a Fumero double in the first, but Otal’s leadoff double in the second led to an early 1-0 lead on the second career RBI of Jacob Davis (he had gotten one in ’67). Stebbins singled, but Duhe left the pair on base, before Fumero hit another double to begin the third inning. Corral’s grounder and sac fly by the struggling Starr made it 2-0, but it all started to come unglued for Stebbins in the bottom 3rd. Valadez hit a leadoff double to right and was bunted to third base by Lopez before Hilario’s grounder was bungled for an error by Duhe (the run would have scored anyway). Masterson then walked, double steal, but Gomez bounced out sharply to third base, which kept the runners pinned. Matt Rogers was batting .316 with six homers and was sent to the open base, even when that meant that Stebbins faced a right-handed batter with the bases loaded now. Matt Martin of course hit a score-flipping 2-run single before Torres struck out…

The middle innings were rather dull. Neither team did much, but the Indians at least got Stebbins to a hundred pitches in six innings, so he was hit for in the seventh. Van Otterdijk struck out in his spot as the Coons went down 1-2-3. Starr hit a 2-out double in the eighth with nobody on and was left on base by Otal. The Coons were still down 3-2 into the ninth against Shamar King after McMahan got two out and Nava got four without any drama associated with their outings. Leggett led off the ninth inning with a single in a 3-2 count, but a hit-and-run call went awry when Flowe missed and Leggett was thrown out. Flowe then grounded out. Wharton batted for Davis, but flew out to right to end the game. 3-2 Indians. Fumero 2-4, 2 2B; Leggett 2-4;

In other news

April 11 – The Falcons trade 29-year-old 1B Justin Savalli (.194, 1 HR, 2 RBI) to the Scorpions for 35-year-old OF Matt McInnis (.325, 1 HR,4 RBI) and $2M, which will pay for almost all of McInnis’ remaining salary ahead of free agency.
April 12 – The Loggers blow a 5-run lead in the ninth inning at home, but still manage to walk off on a wild pitch by New York’s MR Jon Dominguez (0-1, 1.08 ERA) in the bottom of the ninth, taking an 8-7 victory.
April 13 – Warriors SP Harry Poteat (1-1, 2.05 ERA) spins a 2-hit shutout against Sacramento for a skinny 1-0 win. He strikes out eight batters.
April 13 – Condors C/1B Mike Brann (.212, 0 HR, 0 RBI) was going to miss at least a month with a broken forearm.
April 14 – The Crusaders beat the Loggers, 7-1 in 12 innings after a 6-run outbreak in the top of the 12th.
April 15 – OCT 2B/SS Jose Palominos (.275, 3 HR, 8 RBI) will miss two to three weeks, having sprained his ankle.
April 16 – The Condors beat the Knights, 5-4 in 14 innings.
April 17 – OCT SP Alfredo Picun (2-1, 2.59 ERA) 3-hits the Falcons, 2-0.

FL Player of the Week (2): NAS INF Jordan Sellman (.327, 3 HR, 9 RBI), batting .414 (12-29) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week (2): LVA C/1B Chris Haynes (.400, 5 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .464 (13-28) with 2 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The team has the worst OBP in the league at .303 at this point, which means Stebbins loses every game and the other three starters have almost a 2 ERA between them and it’s still not enough. The other thing is that maybe we should stop trying to catch live grenades with the snout and keep our best team on the field. Tyler Wharton is expected to be back in the lineup on Friday in Tijuana, so there’s that, but he’s not even near a 100 OPS+ right now.

The Raccoons have only three players raking right now, one of them suddenly being Benito Otal, who was looking like he was going to claim that leftfield assignment for good before long. The others were Duhe and Fumero. Joel Starr was struggling big, but he also was up against a terrible .200 BABIP so far, so it wasn’t all old age and departed skills.

Still no news on Pizza as of Thursday night. Potential fill-ins would be Childress out of the long man role, and I hear all the cries for Centeno and Jimmy Wharton, but they both had identical totals of nine walks and nine strikeouts from 15-16 innings in AAA so far, and were not ready. The only other option in AAA was Victor Chavez, a bit of a forgotten starter, who was already 25 and was in his fourth AAA season.

The rest of the road trip included stops in Tijuana, Atlanta, and Milwaukee.

Fun Fact: Tony Gaytan had the third-most strikeouts in the CL with 21.

This was behind Mike Bell (30) and Jason Brenize (26). He had 9 K/9 after three starts, after previously not topping 6.9/9 in his previous seasons. I sure hoped for more strikeouts and fewer walks to compensate for all the homers he tended to give up – so far 58 bombs in 508 innings, and three already this season.