[Westheim]

All Star Game

In a see-saw All Star contest, the Federal League takes a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth, but concedes two runs to blow it, then retakes an 8-7 lead in the ninth, and blows that one as well for a 9-8 Continental League walkoff win in Tijuana. OCT Jose Palominos, CHA Oscar Matos, and IND Tony Torres put the game-winning hits and runs together in the ninth inning.

Bayhawks outfielder Jake Ward is named MVP for doling out three hits, including a 2-run triple in the second inning.

Portland representatives Danny Nava and Pedro Valentin pitch a total of 1.1 scoreless innings in the middle part of the game.

Raccoons (39-50) @ Crusaders (41-48) – July 11-14, 2069

Both teams were now officially playing out the string, being a pile of games behind the division leading Indians with nothing but garbage games left to play, 73 of them each, and of those, ten against each other. New York had the second-worst offense, beating out the Raccoons only, and ranked sixth in runs allowed. They were ahead in the season series, 5-3, after winning a four-game set in Portland just a week earlier.

By the time this series began, the Raccoons had shipped Juan Vegaa (0-0, 1.29 ERA) back to St. Pete and had brought back A.C. Stebbins from a rehab start. The Crusaders acquired excellent defensive catcher Ryan Marty (.302, 3 HR, 19 RBI) in the night before the series, sending reliever Roberto Navarro (2-0, 2.61 ERA) and a prospect to Cincinnati.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (7-6, 3.09 ERA) vs. Jarod Nesbit (9-7, 3.83 ERA)
A.C. Stebbins (4-3, 3.68 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (6-8, 3.71 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-11, 3.87 ERA) vs. Colt Long (4-6, 4.25 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (2-1, 6.23 ERA) vs. Alex Dominguez (4-8, 3.91 ERA)

Long was the only left-handed opposition here.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – LF Otal – CF T. Wharton – 1B Starr – 3B Gallo – 2B Fumero – RF van Otterdijk – C Flowe – P Morales
NYC: 3B Roza – SS Maudlin – CF Box – 1B Starwalt – C Marty – 2B Philpot – LF Duhon – RF Ledesma – P Nesbit

Jared Duhe began the hangover part of the season with a triple into the leftfield corner and then sodded off the field with a quad strain, being replaced with Pablo Novelo, who was left on base as Otal popped out, Wharton struck out, Starr got struck with a breaking ball and put on first base, and then Gallo finally ******* flew out to Chris Duhon to end the ******* inning. The Crusaders answered with a Josh Roza single, Jeff Maudlin’s 2-run homer, and Bryant Box’ single, and a Danny Starwalt homer. Marty also doubled and was brought around to score, and the ******* useless Raccoons were already down 5-0. Morales went on to issue a leadoff walk to Nesbit in the second inning, and was gone by the third.

The Raccoons then burned long man Mike Davis in what everybody assumed to be a lost game, especially when Davis right away game up a run in the bottom 3rd, going down 6-0, but the Raccoons then suddenly did things. Tyler Wharton hit one of those superficially useless solo homers in the fourth, and then Starr and Fumero rumbled on base before van Otterdijk swatted a 3-run homer to get the score back to 6-4. Davis went into the bottom 6th before allowing a leadoff single to reliever Fernando Chacon and a 2-out infield hit go Box, then was lifted in a double switch (Leggett for Gallo) for Danny Nava, who walked Danny Starwalt on four pitches to load the bases, but then got Marty on a high pop to Wharton in shallow center. Nava then allowed a run in the seventh with a Ryan Philpot single, a wild pitch, an RBI single to .091 hitter Raul Ledesma, who got the RBI, and then another single to Roza, before Maudlin finally made the third out. Box doubled off McMahan to begin the bottom 8th, and then Schmieder came in right away, who walked the bags full, and then gave up a pinch-hit grand slam to Josh Bursley. 11-4 Crusaders. Duhe 1-1, 3B; T. Wharton 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Gates (PH) 1-1;

Couple of … couple of tiny roster adjustments. Duhe went on the DL with the loose quad, and Mike Davis (0-0, 1.35 ERA) and Matt Schmieder (1-2, 5.56 ERA) were off the roster as well. Schmieder went on waivers since he had no options. Josh Mireles would pretend to be a major league shortstop in Duhe’s absence, and then we brought back more ham-and-eggers for the pen; Manabu Yamauchi hadn’t gotten on the snout in a while, and – **** it – why not bring back Jason Holzmeister for a week, until he pisses me off again!?

Game 2
POR: 2B Fumero – LF Otal – CF T. Wharton – 1B Starr – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – SS Mireles – P Stebbins
NYC: 3B Roza – SS Maudlin – C Marty – 1B Starwalt – 2B Philpot – CF Box – LF Duhon – RF Ledesma – P E. Lee

Fumero began Friday with a double and being stranded on base by Otal, Wharton, and van Otterdijk, while Joel Starr tried staying under the radar by walking. Stebbins pitched around a van Otterdijk error in the first inning, only to give up a homer to Bryant Box for a 1-0 deficit in the second, after Box had even been dropped in the order for some reason against him. Box singled and stole second in his second trip to the plate, but was stranded, just like J.P. Gallo was stranded after both of his leadoff singles in the second and fourth innings as the Raccoons were again doing their utmost to avoid accidentally scoring a run. Gallo remained unretired in the sixth, drawing a 2-out walk to join Starr on base as free pass recipients, but both ended up left there with Jake Flowe’s miserable groundout to Starwalt.

Stebbins got stuck in the sixth inning, issuing a leadoff walk to Maudlin. Starwalt singled in a full count, and then Philpot hit another soft single to load the bases. Box’ grounder to Starr was not good enough to turn a 3-6-3 double play, and Maudlin scored to double the lead. Dover replaced Stebbins, let Box steal second base, and then surrendered both runs on Duhon’s single to center before retiring Ledesma. Brilliant.

Yamauchi allowed a run on singles by Roza (who stole second) and Marty in the bottom 7th, and Holzmeister was taken ******* well deep by Philpot in the eighth for another tack-on run. Lee pitched into the ninth inning on five hits and four walks allowed, then also put Corral and Flowe on base with 1-out free passes. Mireles, hitless until this point, then ended the game with a clever double play grounder, and Lee had a 5-hit shutout. 6-0 Crusaders. Gallo 2-3, BB;

(pale face)

Game 3
POR: RF Fumero – LF van Otterdijk – CF T. Wharton – 1B Starr – C Marquez – 2B Novelo – 3B Gates – SS Mireles – P Walla
NYC: 3B Roza – SS Maudlin – CF Box – 1B Starwalt – C Marty – 2B Philpot – LF Duhon – RF Ledesma – P C. Long

The Raccoons started the game with a Fumero double and then left him on base in the first inning. On the plus side, Nick Walla was not exploded on sight, and while he nicked Marty in the second, and gave up a 2-out triple to Maudlin in the third inning, he kept the Crusaders off the board in the early innings. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when it as donated to them on a wild pitch by Long, which came with van Otterdijk and Starr on the corners and one out. Marquez and Novelo made poor outs, so the runner would not have scored otherwise.

Long walked Walla and Walla allowed a single to Long in opposite ends of the fifth inning, but neither of them scored, being all alone on the base paths in their offensive halves of the inning. Bryant Box hit a long fly to the fence in the sixth inning, but Fumero rushed back and took the projectile within three feet of the wall to get Walla through the inning. Walla ended up going seven shutout innings, holding the gifted 1-0 lead in one piece, and then was hit for with Leggett to begin the eighth against Long, as they were both on 96 pitches. Leggett grounded out, but van Otterdijk hit a solo home run with two outs, 2-0, and Danny Nava then struck out two Crusaders in a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, and Pedro Valentin also had a blameless inning to put the game away. 2-0 Blighters. Van Otterdijk 2-4, HR, RBI; Walla 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-11);

Nick Walla finally wins a game!

Game 4
POR: 2B Fumero – LF Otal – CF T. Wharton – 1B Starr – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – SS Mireles – P J. Wharton
NYC: 3B Roza – SS Maudlin – C Marty – 1B Starwalt – 2B Philpot – CF Box – LF Duhon – RF Ledesma – P A. Dominguez

There was not a lot of offense in the early innings on Sunday, and some of that also caught itself stealing, like Fumero in the first and Roza in the third inning; nobody scored, and that continued in the fourth when Philpot hit a gapper in left-center for a 2-out double, but lusted for a 2-out triple and was thrown out to end the inning by Tyler Wharton. Duhon and Dominguez hit singles to go to the corners in the fifth against Jimmy Wharton, who was not showing a lot of stuff, but at least kept them off the board.

Fumero hit another leadoff double in the sixth inning, but Otal popped out. Wharton was walked intentionally by the Crusaders, but Starr struck out and van Otterdijk grounded out to waste that chance. Bottom 6th, and things finally came apart for Jimmy Wharton, who allowed a leadoff single on a 1-2 pitch to Maudlin, then walked Marty in a full count. Starwalt popped out, but Philpot’s grounder to Gallo was bungled for an error, and then Wharton walked in the game’s first run against Box. Dover replaced him, allowed a sac fly to Duhon, then struck out Ledesma. The Raccoons then scored a run with a Flowe double and Corral’s RBI single in place of Dover in the seventh, but Fumero’s fly to deep center was taken by Box to end the inning. McMahan then got into the bottom 7th, walked Bursley and mishandled Roza’s comebacker by trying to get a double play, but getting nobody instead by going to second base. Nava replaced him; Maudlin grounded into a force at third base, but then **** came apart for good. Nava threw a wild pitch, nailed Marty to fill them up, and then conceded two runs to Starwalt, and another run on Philpot’s groundout, 5-1. The Raccoons didn’t get another runner on base for the rest of the game. 5-1 Crusaders. Fumero 2-4, 2B; Corral (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

July 9 – Cyclones OF/1B/3B Dallas Baker announces his retirement after reinjuring an already torn labrum in his shoulder. The 30-year-old 3-time All Star spent his entire career with Cincy and batted .282 with 86 HR and 485 RBI.
July 9 – LVA RF/LF Alfredo Rosado (.307, 6 HR, 33 RBI) will miss two months with a badly sprained ankle.
July 10 – The Titans acquire RF/LF/1B Justin Dowsey (.271, 6 HR, 27 RBI) from the Thunder in exchange for grizzled MR Pedro Mendoza (3-0, 3.32 ERA, 2 SV) and a prospect.
July 10 – In a separate deal, Boston sends 1B Andy Metz (.232, 9 HR, 39 RBI) to the Falcons for the return of left-hander Tyler Gleason (4-4, 2.31 ERA, 18 SV) and #165 prospect SP Guillermo Arzola.
July 12 – Almost 40-year-old bench piece Omar Sanchez (.242, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is sent from the Stars to the Scorpions for INF/LF/RF Mike Baird (.290, 0 HR, 12 RBI).
July 12 – The Warriors trade SP Dan Speake (9-3, 2.66 ERA) to the Falcons for outfielder Sal Gil (.234, 4 HR, 24 RBI) and a prospect.
July 12 – DEN RF/LF Steve Millen (.320, 12 HR, 60 RBI) clinches a 1-0 win for the Gold Sox over the Warriors with a sixth-inning home run.
July 14 – The Condors bring in SP Ryan Mann (7-6, 3.46 ERA) from the Buffaloes, parting with a prospect in the deal.

FL Player of the Week: CIN INF Daniel Richardson (.312, 0 HR, 40 RBI), slapping .625 (10-16) with 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Dan Moore (.370, 8 HR, 44 RBI), going .647 (11-17) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Hey, Matt Schmieder made it to AAA without getting claimed off waivers. And… well, otherwise I have only bad news here, as there will be another 69 games of *this* until the merciful end of the season.

And I don’t know how we’re gonna try to fix it yet.

Road games in Indy and Atlanta coming up for the rest of the road trip.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are well in play for another top 5 pick next year.

I know, but what else do we have to look forward to here??