[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Continental League beat the Federal League, 7-3, with all runs being scored in the last four innings of the contest. The big offense came from the Thunder pair of Jose Palominos, who went 2-for-5 with a bases-clearing double, and Ian Stone, who entered as a substitute, but bashed a 3-run homer and won MVP honors.

On the Raccoons’ side, Gabriel Rios pitched a scoreless fourth inning. John Katzman played the entire game at short and went 0-for-3 with two walks, while Tyler Wharton subbed for Eddie Marcotte of Boston and went 0-for-1 with a walk.

No hits sounds exactly like the Raccoons.

Raccoons (40-50) @ Crusaders (40-48) – July 17-20, 2070

Another four games with the Crusaders to begin the new road trip. New York had the second-fewest runs scored now and the third-fewest runs allowed, and the Raccoons were probably still inept. The season series was now even at four.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (5-8, 5.19 ERA) vs. Jarod Nesbit (5-10, 4.51 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (6-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Paul Egley (5-8, 3.50 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (5-0, 1.91 ERA) vs. Dennis Marck (4-6, 3.35 ERA)
Vinny Morales (5-8, 3.64 ERA) vs. TBD

Colt Long (6-5, 3.72 ERA) had hit the DL after the Raccoons series and was now out along with Bryant Box, Willie Ospina, and Nick Ellis. For southpaws, Nick Robinson (3-1, 3.03 ERA) and Russell Anderson (1-2, 3.08 ERA) were in the mix, with 60 appearances and just two starts between those two for the season.

Game 1
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – 1B Morejon – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – LF Fumero – 3B Murcia – C Flowe – P Walla
NYC: C Marty – 2B Philpot – RF J. Acuna – CF B. Davidson – 3B Reber – LF Griffin – SS J. King – 1B Nakamura – P Nesbit

Katzman returned from his pointless All Star Game appearance and right away hit into a double play after Yocum opened the post-break part of the schedule with a single. Rest had done Nick Walla no good, as he was behind every batter in the first inning and gave up a single to Ryan Marty, a double to Javier Acuna, and a run on a deep sac fly to center to Bill Davidson. Kyle Reber also sent Wharton back, but made the third out. The leadoff man was on base in the second, when Tony Griffin singled, and third, when Walla plunked Marty. Neither scored, nor did Griffin and Joe King with their two hits in the fourth inning, but Walla sure wasn’t fooling anybody.

The Raccoons didn’t get a good chance to score until Fumero hit a double in the fifth inning and then actually was brought around with the tying run on Jake Flowe’s 1-out RBI single. Walla then hit into a celebratory double play, put another purple hat on base in the bottom 5th, but also got a 5-4-3 double play turned by Rafael Murcia. Yocum was on his third single of the game in the sixth inning, stole his 20th base of the year, and was still left on, while Bill Davidson hit a leadoff single for New York, but they were just as useless with a body on base. Was it any wonder those two teams brought up the bottom of the CL North…?

Murcia singled and Flowe socked a homer in the seventh inning to take an unexpected lead, and Walla somehow added another inning, scattering eight hits in seven innings of 1-run ball. Katz doubled and Wharton was walked with a plan in the eighth inning, and the Crusaders indeed got Corral to hit into an inning-ending double play there. Nava got three outs in the bottom 8th, and Valentin thought the game needed more leadoff singles, giving one up to Kyle Reber before ringing up the next three batters in the ninth inning. 3-1 Blighters. Yocum 3-4; Fumero 2-4, 2B; Flowe 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Walla 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-8);

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – 3B Katzman – 1B Morejon – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – LF Fumero – SS Mireles – C Flowe – P Gaytan
NYC: SS Roza – C Marty – RF J. Acuna – CF B. Davidson – 3B Reber – LF Griffin – 2B J. King – 1B Duhon – P Egley

Chris Duhon’s 2-run homer in the second inning put Gaytan in a hole, but the Raccoons made up the two runs at the next opportunity, as Flowe singled to begin the top 3rd, was bunted over to second by Gaytan, and then Yocum singled, Katzman singled, a double steal advanced those into scoring position, and Morejon tied the game with a sac fly… and then Wharton left another guy in scoring position, because of course he would.

Portland didn’t score after Corral’s leadoff walk in the fourth, and they wouldn’t have scored in the fifth either after 2-out singles by Morejon and Wharton had put them on the corners, but Joe King fumbled Corral’s grounder for an error, and that gave Portland a 3-2 lead. Fumero insisted on grounding out, leaving two on after all, and then Gaytan began the bottom 5th with a walk to King, drilling Duhon out of the game by taking his leg off at the knee, and then somehow not giving up a run as Egley bunted, Josh Roza whiffed, and Marty popped out to Mireles. Natsu Nakamura replaced Duhon, who went on the DL after the game.

Gaytan shed another leadoff walk to Javier Acuna in the sixth, and then a 2-run homer to Griffin to flip the score around to 4-3 New York. He gave up a 2-out hit to Marty in the seventh to get yanked, and Gutierrez surrendered the run when Marty stole second and then scored on Javier Acuna’s single to center. Egley was still pitching in the eighth, getting two outs before Benito Otal pinch-hit and singled. Egley then nicked Flowe, but van Otterdijk grounded out pointlessly. Steve George gave up another run in the bottom of the eighth, and Tyler Wharton hit a 2-out homer with Yocum on base off John Faughnan in the ninth … but thanks to that last run on George it wasn’t enough to get even. Corral grounded out to end the game. 6-5 Crusaders. Yocum 2-5; T. Wharton 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1; Flowe 1-2, BB;

Tony, you can’t give up walks AND homers. Pick one!

(reconsiders) Or none!

J.P. Gallo came off the DL on Saturday, which, y’know… yay! … Jamie Colter was made redundant for batting 65 points less than even Gallo…

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – 1B Fumero – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – LF Otal – C Flowe – 3B Gallo – P Rios
NYC: SS Roza – 1B Nakamura – CF B. Davidson – 2B Philpot – LF Griffin – C Marty – 3B J. King – RF Ledesma – P Marck

Wharton drove in another run by accident in the first inning on Saturday, knocking an RBI single after Katz drew a 2-out walk and gained second base on a wild pitch by Marck. Before we then had another run or hit, we had a 40-minute rain delay in the bottom of the third that was sure to trip up Rios, one way or another.

Katz scored again after Wharton batted in the fourth, but this time the run was unearned because of Joe King’s 2-base throwing error on Wharton’s grounder. Katzman, who had led off with a double, came home from second to make it 2-0. Corral scratched a single to move Wharton to third, from where he scored on Otal’s groundout. Flowe whiffed, Gallo was walked intentionally for some silly reason, and then Rios gave the Crusaders what they deserved and lashed a 2-out, 2-run double to up the tally to 5-0. Yocum grounded out sharply to Ryan Philpot to end the inning. In total, three runs were unearned for Marck, who was out of the game just two batters later; Fumero singled and stole second, then scored on a Katz single, 6-0, and that was the end for the right-hander. Dave Hyman gave up Katz’ run on an Otal single with two outs (after almost getting taken deep by Wharton, who flew out to Raul Ledesma at the fence). Hyman plunked Flowe, then gave up a 3-piece to .189 hitter J.P. Gallo, 10-0.

Something had to go wrong at some point, and Bill Davidson hit a home run off Rios in the sixth, and in the seventh Ledesma slapped a leadoff single off the left-hander, who then was consulted by the trainer and coaches, and left the game with an apparent injury, and I fainted through the nearest folding table. John Reynolds came in surrendered the Ledesma run while also walking a pair of Crusaders; those runners stayed on base.

Top 8th, and right-hander Jorge Solis nicked Gallo, who made it to third base on Yocum’s 1-out single, and from there came home when Fumero hit a sac fly to Davidson. That was the last run of the game; the Coons scored one short of a dozen on nine hits, four walks, two hit batters, and an error. Ramirez and Gutierrez finished the game on the hill. 11-2 Raccoons. Katzman 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gallo 1-2, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Rios 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (6-0) and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

This game is gonna go into the dictionary, right underneath the word “pyrrhic”.

Game 4
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Fumero – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF van Otterdijk – 1B Morejon – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – P Morales
NYC: SS Roza – 2B Philpot – 3B Reber – CF B. Davidson – 1B Nakamura – LF Griffin – C Marty – RF Ledesma – P R. Anderson

The Raccoons hit three singles and drew a walk in the first inning, and scored nothing thanks to Fumero’s 5-4-3 double play and Morejon grounding out with the bases loaded. Vinny Morales hit a single his first time up, meaning he had more hits than the Crusaders the first time through. Ten of the purple poopers went down in order before Philpot drew a walk off Morales and was caught stealing. Griffin’s single with two outs in the bottom 5th got them into the H column, where the Coons had six entries, but neither team managed to score inside of five innings.

Katz hit a single to begin the sixth, but Wharton grounded out, the Otter walked, and then Morejon and Gallo made poor outs on the infield to keep those runners stranded, too. Morales hit another single in the seventh and was quickly forced out by Yocum’s grounder to short, and Yocum was left on base.

Bottom 7th, New York made an out with PH Jonathan Merrill before Reber walked. Davidson flew out, Nakamura singled, and then Morales nicked Acuna to fill the bases. Ryan Marty was up with three on and two outs, and hit a ball right back and comfortably to Morales for a cozy third out. These teams were somehow deserving of each other…

Anderson’s spot start ran seven-and-a-third, and Morales completed eight shutout innings, and the scoreboard was still empty. Closer John Faughnan faced the 6-7-8 in the ninth. Two outs were made before Flowe doubled, but Corral’s pinch-hitting appearance ended with a poor grounder to Joe King at second. Nava retired the 3-4-5 in the bottom of the inning to send the game to overtime. Yocum flew out with Faughnan still in, but Fumero singled and stole second. Faughnan and Katz danced for a full count, and then Katz hammered a ball over the fence in right for a homer! Christopher Tinari replaced Faughnan, got Wharton on a long fly to right, but then put the next three on base and plated a run with a wild pitch. Valentin retired the Crusaders in order to claim the series. 3-0 Blighters. Katzman 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Morejon 2-5; Morales 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K and 2-3;

In other news

July 14 – The Indians send OF Matt McInnis (.236, 0 HR, 4 RBI) to the Titans for two prospects.
July 16 – The Falcons trade 3B/2B Paul Weber (.288, 6 HR, 26 RBI) and a prospect to the Scorpions for 2B/3B Alex Rodriguez (.216, 4 HR, 30 RBI) and cash.
July 17 – Rebs OF Juan Licona (.318, 4 HR, 31 RBI) sits pretty with a 20-game hitting streak thanks to a ninth-inning single in a 16-4 rush against the Miners. Licona was 0-for-3 with two walks before the late breakthrough.
July 17 – CIN SP Blake Anderson (5-5, 4.85 ERA) and Luis Briseno (4-4, 3.84 ERA) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Buffaloes in an 11-0 rout. The only Buffos single is hit by C Pat Cohen (.259, 6 HR, 33 RBI).
July 18 – The Falcons send LF/RF Tony Lopez (.293, 9 HR, 39 RBI) to the Warriors for 30-year-old AAA infielder Danny Moraida and a prospect.
July 18 – Milwaukee trades SP Tom Delaney (6-6, 4.57 ERA) to Pittsburgh for infielder Roland Hood (.255, 4 HR, 7 RBI) and a prospect.
July 19 – Topeka sends 2B/SS Ramon Archuleta (.228, 7 HR, 34 RBI) to Denver, along with a bag of cash, for right-handed swingman Josh Morris (1-2, 3.03 ERA).
July 20 – Richmond’s Juan Licona (.314, 4 HR, 32 RBI) has his 22-game hitting streak ended in an 11-1 loss to the Miners.

Player of the Week (FL): SAC 2B/3B Matt Kilday (.342, 0 HR, 13 RBI), batting .600 (9-15) with 4 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.380, 12 HR, 76 RBI), raking .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons win a series, but Gabriel Rios left with the injury and has been in the humming tube thing since then, so we’re probably ******. Yes, we’re ****** anyway. I mean… who else would you even consider a fifth starter on this train wreck of a team?

The price on Jose Espino is up to $1.4M by now and we’re about to run out of dosh unless we can flip a contract soon. It’s going *great*.

Monday is off, and then we’re at the Loggers and Thunder. That’s gonna be a not so fun week.

Fun Fact: Val Centeno has not allowed a run across 13.2 innings in his last two AAA starts.

Let’s just not say anything else about his numbers right now.

Okay, this much: he has a 5.43 ERA in AAA this year. And it’s going down from A LOT MORE.