[Westheim]

Raccoons (32-38) vs. Loggers (37-29) – June 23-25, 2070

The Loggers came in with a 4-game winning streak and a narrow lead in the division. The season series was even at three, but it didn’t look like the #2 offense (!?) and #2 pitching (!!!) in the league were here to play silly games. They meant business.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (5-5, 5.52 ERA) vs. Tom Delaney (4-5, 4.13 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (6-5, 3.25 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (7-4, 4.10 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (2-0, 2.38 ERA) vs. Danny Ortiz (6-5, 5.20 ERA)

We got the three starters with the highest ERA’s, as if that was gonna help us not give up nine runs a game and lose by six. Also three right-handers.

The Coons made a roster change on Monday, dumping Matt Burgan (0-1, 16.20 ERA) back down to AAA and brought up the next tosser for the bullpen carousel as Cody Childress returned to pitch garbage innings now. Juan Vega was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster that couldn’t take any more chaff.

Game 1
MIL: SS Van Leeuwen – RF Da. Wright – C M. Rodriguez – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – CF Parrish – LF Alaniz – 3B Shapiro – P Delaney
POR: 2B Yocum – 3B Katzman – 1B Morejon – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – SS Mireles – LF van Otterdijk – C Flowe – P Walla

The Loggers put Dave Wright and Cesar Ramirez on the corners and left them there against Walla in the first inning, Josh Mireles put Vince Shapiro on second base with a gross throwing error in the second inning, and Wright was on again the next time up, but was caught stealing, as Walla had another buys outing. He walked Ramirez to begin the fourth, but then struck out the next three batters for a sign of life.

The Raccoons scattered a hit per inning in the first three frames, the best effort being a van Otterdijk double that led nowhere, before Tyler Wharton bashed a leadoff homer to left in the bottom 4th for the first run of the game, ending a 70-AB homerless stretch for the slugger. Of course the Loggers reacted immediately with Shapiro singling to lead off the fifth and Walla then mishandled Delaney’s bunt to add another runner with nobody out. He remained aggressive on a bad bunt by Sean Van Leeuwen and took it to third base, and this time got the lead runner out. Wright whiffed, but Manuel Rodriguez walked, and the bases were loaded with two outs and Cesar Ramirez bringing his .348 stick with eight homers to the plate. Walla did a half-decent job of not letting himself get hurt and instead hurt Ramirez by breaking his thumb with a 2-2 pitch that got him in the hand, forced in the tying run, and made me facepaw so loud it was audible on the NWSN broadcast. Casey Ramsey ran for Ramirez, Fidel Carrera singled home two angry runs, and another game was probably in the bin. John Parrish grounded out to Mireles to end the inning.

Bottom 5th, and Flowe led off with a wallbanger double in right. Walla and Yocum grounded out to short, not offering a chance to advance, but Flowe scored when Katz singled to left-center with two outs. Alaniz threw home, allowing Katz to second, and he scored from there on Morejon’s single. Wharton and Corral also singled to right, and the latter brought in Morejon with the go-ahead run, 4-3. Mireles ended the inning with a fly to center, while Walla got the bottom of the order out in the sixth before being removed from the game.

“Garbage innings” for Cody Childress ended up being facing the top of the order with a 4-3 lead in the seventh, which ended up with a Wright single, Rodriguez homer, Ramsey single, and quick dismissal for Childress. The Coons got five outs from Pacheco instead, and then opened the bottom 8th with a Corral double and Mireles single off Nick Walters, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners with nobody out. Luis Lerma entered and walked the Otter, then was removed for lefty Neil Mongillo. Fumero batted for Flowe and tied the game with a sac fly to right, and when Jesus Guerrero batted for Pacheco, he drove a ball to left-center for the go-ahead RBI double…! Yocum then grounded out poorly, Katz walked to fill the bases, and Morejon’s fly to right was caught by Wright, leaving the bases loaded and Pedro Valentin, who was WELL RESTED, with no cushion. Van Leeuwen tried to bunt his way on to begin the ninth, but eventually grounded out conventionally, and Wright and Rodriguez were rung up. 6-5 Raccoons. Katzman 2-4, BB, RBI; Morejon 2-5, RBI; T. Wharton 2-4, HR, RBI; Corral 2-4, 2B, RBI; Guerrero (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Cesar Ramirez was expected to be out until the end of July with the broken thumb, and the Loggers were NOT happy.

Game 2
MIL: SS Van Leeuwen – 1B C. Ramsey – LF C. Dominguez – RF Da. Wright – 2B F. Carrera – CF Parrish – C Guitreau – 3B Shapiro – P Crist
POR: 2B Fumero – 3B Katzman – 1B Morejon – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – SS Mireles – LF Guerrero – C Flowe – P Gaytan

Tony Gaytan was not nearly on pace to match his 36 homers allowed from last season, but the Loggers sure lended him a hand in the game on Tuesday. Fidel Carrera went deep against him in both of his first two at-bats, the first coming with Dave Wright already on base in the second inning, and in the fourth he went for back-to-back solo bombs with Parrish, which gave the Loggers a 4-0 lead. Gaytan would linger until the seventh inning when he gave up a double to Shapiro and an RBI single to the opposing pitcher Crist, and that was about the story of his game. Crist was pitching a 5-hit shutout at the stretch, but was suddenly taken deep by Josh Mireles in the bottom 7th for a solo homer. It was unfortunately not a major rally starter, despite Guerrero then adding a single. The Loggers didn’t score against McMahan in the eighth, but Tommy Guitreau hit a solo home run off Danny Nava in the ninth, Nava pitching for the first time since that blister had popped up (quite literally). The bloody thing was then bleeding after the game, which the Raccoons lost by a bunch. 6-1 Loggers. Morejon 2-4, 2B; Yocum (PH) 1-1; Mireles 2-4, HR, RBI; Guerrero 2-3, 2B;

The Loggers then swapped infielder Casey Ramsey (.357, 0 HR, 13 RBI) back to the Rebels (where he had come from) for MR Raul Salas (0-2, 8.33 ERA, 1 SV) and a prospect.

Game 3
MIL: 2B F. Carrera – SS Van Leeuwen – C M. Rodriguez – LF C. Dominguez – 3B Di. Mendoza – RF Alaniz – CF Pritchett – 1B Kiger – P D. Ortiz
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – RF Fumero – CF T. Wharton – 1B Morejon – 3B Gallo – LF Guerrero – C Brown – P Rios

Michael Kiger, the #24 pick in the 2068 draft, was in the starting lineup for the first time in his ABL career, previously having made two appearances off the bench. He hit a single to begin the third inning his first time up, Rios walked the bags full behind him, but Carlos Dominguez’ groundout stranded three runners and kept the Coons 1-0 ahead from an unlikely 2-out run in the bottom 2nd where Sam Brown had singled and then scored from first on a Rios double, but Rios then overexcitedly overran second base and was thrown out by Mario Alaniz. Yocum drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd, stole his 16th base, and then was plated by Wharton with a 2-out double. Morejon hit a long fly, but Alaniz ran it down in the gap to end the inning.

Jerry Morejon was not denied his 40th RBI in the fifth inning, when he also batted with two outs and drove in Katzman with the third single of the inning (Wharton was also on base again). Gallo, who had found sub-.200 territory by now, then popped out. Rios meanwhile was 3-hitting the Loggers through six, looking mighty fancy after that wobbly third inning. He ran a few long counts for three outs against the 6-7-8 batters in the seventh, and then Ortiz loaded the bases with the Coons’ 2-3-4 batters and nobody out. Morejon grounded into a force at the plate – nifty play by Gold Glover Carrera – and Gallo grounded into a fielder’s choice at second, but that at least got a runner home to make it 4-0. Otal batted for a hitless Guerrero and rolled an RBI single that didn’t reach the outfield grass, and knocked out Ortiz, but Brown then flew out easily to Alaniz.

Rios returned for the eighth, walked PH Randy Fisher and then drilled Carrera – somehow – in the inside thigh, and the infielder eventually left the game, limping and bent over in agony. Shapiro replaced him, while McMahan replaced Rios, grinding the 2-3-4 batters for a fielder’s choice grounder, a pop to Brown, and another groundout to Yocum, and didn’t allow any runs. Fumero drove in Katzman for an extra run in the bottom 8th, and Victor Ramirez put the lid on to finish a combined 3-hit shutout against THE LOGGERS. 6-0 Furballs! Katzman 2-3, 2 BB; Fumero 2-5, 2B, RBI; T. Wharton 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1 RBI; Rios 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (3-0) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Fidel Carrera cried all the way to the airport, I hear, and would be day-to-day for the rest of the week, but the Loggers were pretty angry regardless because of the Ramirez injury.

Not sure I made it better with the Raccoons-themed get-well card I had Maud send to them. It has a smiling little raccoon with a broken leg in a hospital bed, and the text “Get Well Furry Soon!” …

Raccoons (34-39) @ Knights (46-24) – June 27-29, 2070

After the CL’s second-best offense, why not play the best offense? We got to visit Atlanta Thunderdome (5.4 runs per game), and the worst part was that they somehow also had the best pitching!? They had a +137 run differential thanks to the best offense, the best pen, the best defense, and the second-best rotation. Catcher Justin Hart was hitting .320 with 14 homers and 70 RBI, or one for every team game played (although he had played in only 65). They had a few injuries, most notably starter Adam Lunn, but c’mon! Give the Coons a *chance*! … Atlanta was already up 3-0 in the season series, so I wasn’t sure why we even made the trip.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (5-6, 3.68 ERA) vs. Scott Triebwasser (6-2, 3.26 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (4-5, 4.50 ERA) vs. Rob Wilkinson (6-1, 3.11 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-5, 5.44 ERA) vs. Brett Bebout (8-2, 3.80 ERA)

No southpaws in sight. Or wins.

Game 1
POR: 2B Yocum – 3B Katzman – LF Fumero – CF T. Wharton – 1B Morejon – SS Mireles – RF Corral – C Flowe – P Morales
ATL: CF J. Soto – SS Guangorena – C Hart – 1B DiPrimio – 3B Schomer – 2B J. Munoz – RF Troxel – LF C. Cardenas – P Triebwasser

The Coons got nowhere with the three runners they had in the first two innings, which included Yocum getting caught stealing by Hart, and Morales almost made it through the lineup once just fine, but then gave up a leadoff single to Triebwasser in the bottom 3rd, and the pesky tosser stole second base and then scored on two groundouts by Jorge Soto and Tomas Guangorena…! It was his second stolen base of the season.

The Raccoons had a hard time getting on base, and when they did with Fumero in the sixth, got themselves caught stealing again before Wharton could hit another single off Triebwasser. Morales, who relied heavily on the defense, was chewed up for 97 pitches in six innings, at the end of which the Triebwasser run was still the only marker on the board while both teams had scattered five base hits.

The game went into the bin for good in the seventh when Childress ended up with the ball and cluelessly filled the bases before drilling Guangorena to force in a run. He got nobody out, and when Nava replaced him got Hart, Kris DiPrimio, and Jon Schomer out in order, but at the cost of two more runs on Hart’s groundout and DiPrimio’s sac fly. Ian Lowry then allowed two hits but no runs in the eighth. Triebwasser went seven shutout innings, and the Knights’ Angel Alba (waves hi to ex-Coon) and Alvaro Garza didn’t blink either. 4-0 Knights. Fumero 2-4;

The Knights’ Jorge Munoz (.341, 1 HR, 10 RBI) left the game late and was on the DL by Saturday with patellar tendinitis.

And Cody Childress (0-1, 9.95 ERA) was back in AAA for being useless. Next warm body: Holzmeister. AGAIN.

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – 3B Katzman – LF Fumero – CF T. Wharton – 1B Morejon – SS Mireles – RF Corral – C Flowe – P J. Wharton
ATL: CF J. Soto – 2B J. King – 1B DiPrimio – 3B Schomer – RF S. Valdez – SS Guangorena – C L. Marquez – LF Troxel – P Wilkinson

The Coons met Wilkinson with three straight singles to load the bases without making an out, and then Wharton struck out, Morejon struck out, and Mireles … grounded out to short. Corral and Flowe reached base to begin the second, but after a bunt by Jimmyboy, Yocum barely got a run home with an infield single before Katz popped out and Fumero flew out, and Atlanta immediately erased the lead when Jimmy Wharton walked Santiago Valdez and Guangorena doubled him home in the same inning.

Big Wharton and DiPrimio exchanged solo homers in the third inning, and the Coons then didn’t reach at all in the next two innings before Atlanta went up 3-2 on straight 2-out singles by Joe King, DiPrimio, and Schomer in the bottom 5th… Mireles hit a double to knock out Wilkinson in the sixth, but was stranded by former Critters left-hander Evan Alvey, who blew the lead in the seventh then (those Coons genes!) with another bushel of singles hit by Yocum, Fumero, and Big Wharton, tying the game at three. Van Otterdijk and Mireles then made poor outs on the infield to leave the remaining runners stranded.

Bottom 7th, Ben Ellis doubled off Victor Ramirez in a pinch-hitting assignment and the go-ahead run was in scoring position right away… Ramirez rung up Soto, but walked King, and when DiPrimio grounded to short, Mireles threw away the easy-as-pie 6-4-3 grounder for an error and the bases were loaded instead. Somehow Ramirez got pops from Schomer and Valdez to prevent an escalation, and the Knights stranded all their runners. The eighth saw Flowe left on base after hitting a single, while Erik Swain’s appearance in the ninth inning left me with little hope for a friendly resolution of the 3-3 tie in regulation. He killed the 2-3-4 batters on sight, but after Pacheco nailed John Baxley to begin the bottom 9th, Nava cleaned up behind him and the game went into overtime.

Swain still told the Coons nope in the tenth, despite a Corral single, and Nava got around a Schomer double to lead off the bottom 10th to extend the game. The Coons passed on Yocum’s 1-out single in the 11th, and then lost the game with Lowry in the bottom of the inning as he drilled Tom Troxel, walked Baxley, got a grounder, and then threw a wild pitch to allow Troxel across to score. 4-3 Knights. Yocum 4-6, RBI; Fumero 2-6; T. Wharton 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Flowe 2-4, BB;

…

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – LF Fumero – CF T. Wharton – 1B Morejon – RF Corral – C Flowe – 3B Gallo – P Walla
ATL: CF J. Soto – 2B J. King – C Hart – 1B DiPrimio – 3B Schomer – RF Troxel – SS Guangorena – LF Valencia – P Bebout

Walla gave up a run with a single, walk, RBI single sequence from King, Hart, and DiPrimio right in the first inning, but Tyler Wharton went deep in the second to tie it up again. Walla nailed Guangorena and walked Soto in the second inning, and I had a hunch another big inning was just around the corner. Hart drew a leadoff walk in the third, but was forced out and the go-ahead run never got off first base in the inning for Atlanta; but it was just all a bit **** again. And they also fleeced him for *70* pitches in just three innings.

Gallo, already useless at the dish, then threw a grounder away for more traffic in the fourth inning, but the Knights still didn’t break through. Gallo reached on a Schomer error himself in the top of the fifth, but was forced out on Walla’s ****** bunt, and I was becoming quite depressed at this stage of proceedings.

Walla ended up being knocked out in the sixth on hits by Guangorena (who was forced out by Rafael Valencia) and – with two outs! – Bebout, and McMahan allowed the go-ahead single to the switch-hitting Soto. He walked King as well before Hart popped out. Holzmeister appeared in the seventh, walked the bags full for no outs, and then was replaced with Ramirez. Guangorena hit a fly to left that was caught by Fumero, who turned it into a 7-2 double play by hammering out the sluggish DiPrimio at the plate. Lorenzo Marquez pinch-hit, and also flew out to Fumero, and nobody scored – but two runs scored for Atlanta in the eighth with serial incompetence from Yocum (leadoff error), Pacheco, and Valentin. Swain sniffed out the Raccoons in no time. 4-1 Knights. Corral 2-3, BB;

In other news

June 24 – Rebels SP Eric Stengel (8-4, 3.36 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Buffaloes and takes a 4-0 victory.
June 25 – The Aces beat the Thunder, 10-9 in 17 innings. Both teams scored three runs in the 14th inning for added agony. Thunder teammates 1B Ian Stone (.297, 14 HR, 36 RBI) and OF Danny Perez (.251, 8 HR, 35 RBI) both went 0-for-7, with Stone punching a golden sombrero.
June 26 – SAC INF John Schmidt (.286, 0 HR, 16 RBI) hits the DL with back spasms and is expected to be out until early August.
June 27 – Falcons SP Gary Peoples (3-4, 4.10 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout to beat the Crusaders, 6-0.
June 27 – NAS SP Justin Taylor (2-6, 5.20 ERA) would have pitched a 1-hit shutout against Sacramento, but his team didn’t score either, and Taylor instead puts the first two batters on in the tenth inning, allows a triple to Stingers OF/2B/SS Mike Pinault (.263, 13 HR, 50 RBI) and takes the 2-0 loss.
June 27 – IND 1B Miguel Medina (.263, 0 HR, 9 RBI) puts out five hits, including a double and three RBI, in an 8-6 win against the Aces, which wasn’t bad for a 39-year-old bench player.
June 27 – The second batter of the Canadiens-Condors game, VAN LF/CF Jeff Hawkins (.288, 5 HR, 13 RBI) goes deep for a home run and that remains the only tally in the 1-0 Vancouver win.
June 28 – The Miners deal INF/RF Victor Morales (.306, 4 HR, 21 RBI) to the Stars for two prospects, including #82 CF/LF/2B Willie Cordova.
June 28 – San Francisco trades LF/RF Ian Streng (.258, 4 HR, 31 RBI) and over $1.3M in cash to Washington in exchange for three prospects.
June 29 – WAS SP Bobby MacDonald (8-5, 3.42 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout to beat the Wolves, 5-0. The lone Wolves hit is a third-inning single by OF/3B Luis Carmona (.333, 2 HR, 16 RBI), batting eighth. He’s then caught stealing.

Player of the Week (FL): CIN OF Anthony Schneider (.275, 4 HR, 34 RBI), batting .571 (12-21) with 5 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): VAN 1B Hector Moreno (.243, 6 HR, 28 RBI), slashing .591 (13-22) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(has face in paws)

How can they be so useless…?? Another week in which we failed to break three runs scored per game, and another casual sweep in which we might just as well not have bothered to bat at all.

Cristiano Carmona pointed to a discrepancy in Nick Walla’s ERA (5.30 AFTER lowering it for four outings in a row…) and FIP (3.83). Which meshes with my eyeball analysis that one catastrophic inning seems to happen to Walla pretty much every time he puts pants on. Jimmy Wharton is no better. I’m still waiting for Rios to remember that he can’t be a starter.

J.P. Gallo is 0-for-his-last-20, with an RBI groundout this week. Which means he’s driven in more runs in his last 20 at-bats than Katzman.

What an exhausting, exhausting, exhausting team. I am so exhausted.

Right-hander Mike Davis, who made ten appearances for the Raccoons between the last two seasons, is out for the year after suffering a torn labrum while pitching with the Alley Cats.

Next week: at Falcons, and then we’re home for the final homestand before the All Star Game, which is good because I need to refill the subscription for my jackhammering headaches, and the funny blue ones with the smiley faces that keep me from murdering people. We will play 11 with Indy, New York, and the stinking Elks on the homestand.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have so far played three CL South teams this month and have been swept by all of them.

May 30-June 1 @ Aces
June 3-5 vs. Condors
June 27-29 @ Knights

An absolutely useless 0-7 against the South in June, never scoring more than three runs. Merely terrible at 7-12 against the rest of the league, though! Tah!

Oh yeah, the Falcons series starts on Monday.

(presses face deeper into his paws)