[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-59) @ Knights (71-32) – August 4-6, 2070

After barely coming out even against the two worst teams in the South, the Raccoons got to play the CL’s best offense AND pitching AND +198 run differential, and that outfit was on a 7-game winning streak, and had yet to lose a game against the Critters this year. RIP bozos – with or without Adam Lunn, A.C. Stebbins, Justin Hart, and Kris DiPrimio, these Knights were three sizes too big for the Brownshirts.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (7-9, 3.47 ERA) vs. Evan Alvey (3-0, 2.73 ERA)
Val Centeno (0-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Rob Wilkinson (9-2, 3.49 ERA)
Vinny Morales (5-8, 3.54 ERA) vs. Brett Bebout (10-5, 3.97 ERA)

Former Raccoon Evan Alvey was making a spot start to open the series, and was also the only left-handed pitcher we saw coming in this series and probably week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Yocum – SS Mireles – 3B Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – 1B Murcia – LF van Otterdijk – C Brown – P Gaytan
ATL: CF Jo. Soto – SS Guangorena – RF D. Mendoza – LF Troxel – 3B Schomer – 2B J. Munoz – 1B Mower – C L. Marquez – P Alvey

Yocum and Mireles singled and Katz raked a 3-run homer to begin the week, which was entirely not what we had expected, but Tony Gaytan had the Knights’ backs and gave up a first-pitch homer to Jorge Soto in the first, nearly a homer to Jon Schomer in the second, and then an actual homer to Lorenzo Marquez – an entire battery of ex-Coons – in the third inning. That narrowed the lead to 3-2, and it was blown for good on Tomas Guangorena’s 2-out double to left and David Mendoza’s RBI single, also to left, before the third inning was out.

Murcia, the Otter, and Gaytan then loaded the bases with three singles and one out in the fourth inning against the struggling Alvey. Yocum’s sac fly was all the Raccoons could scratch out for runs, but Marquez doubled home Jon Schomer and Jorge Munoz in the same inning to flip the score to the Knights, 5-4. Alvey was hit for in the inning, and Gaytan was knocked off the hill on Tom Troxel’s 2-out double in the fifth. Victor Ramirez then pitched the rest of the game, which turned out to be only the last out of this inning and the sixth, since then thunder clapped and lightning struck and everybody was shooed into the clubhouse. The storm lasted the rest of the day and night, and the umpires called the game at 11 at night. I had no arguments for why they should warm up the leftovers on Tuesday, either. 5-4 Knights. Yocum 1-2, RBI; Katzman 2-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Gaytan had of course been our only real hope to scratch a W in this series and we were now tumbling towards an 0-9 campaign against the Knights.

As expected, the core of the lineup hugged the bench on Tuesday. Val Centeno’s face screamed betrayal, but he had to show that he had the stuff to win (or stuff at all) first.

Game 2
POR: CF Otal – 2B Mireles – LF van Otterdijk – C Flowe – SS Murcia – 3B Gallo – 1B Huckaby – RF Colter – P Centeno
ATL: CF Jo. Soto – SS Guangorena – RF D. Mendoza – 3B Schomer – 2B J. Munoz – 1B Mower – LF Valencia – C L. Marquez – P Wilkinson

Atlanta took the lead three batters into their turns at-bat when Centeno walked Jorge Soto on four pitches and had a lazy fastball *obliterated* by David Mendoza, which made it 2-0 – but J.P. Gallo tied the game in the second inning with a homer of his own, following a double to left by Rafael Murcia. The ecstasy didn’t last long, since Centeno leaked another leadoff walk to Phil Mower and then gave up another 2-piece to Marquez in the bottom 2nd. Down 4-2, Portland’s 3-4-5 hit straight singles to load the bases for Gallo with one out in the third inning, but this time the flawed slugger whiffed, and Danny Huckaby grounded out to first.

Centeno bled another two runs through incompetence in the third inning, then hit a single and was driven in by Mireles in the fourth, got outs from the Atlanta batters in the bottom 4th, but was yanked when Soto hit another single. Gutierrez cleaned up behind him and got four outs in total and gave up another run in the bottom 5th, 7-3, before the top 6th saw Colter draw a 1-out walk from Atlanta’s Brian McLaughlin. Tyler Wharton batted for Gutierrez and singled, as did Otal, and the bases were filled again. Mireles hit a sharp grounder at Schomer, who threw poorly to second base and pulled Guangorena off the bag for an error, while a run scored. A strikeout on van Otterdijk and Flowe’s groundout ended the inning, though.

Top 8th, and it was Yocum’s turn to come off the bench and bat. He went back to the bench real fast, but did a 360-foot lap around the bases with a double and Otal’s RBI single on consecutive pitches by Tim Cropp, narrowing the score to 7-5 with one out in the eighth. Otal stole second, but was ultimately stranded with poor outs by Mireles and van Otterdijk. The Knights then rioted for three runs off Danny Nava, who allowed a single to Valencia, nailed Marquez, and gave up an RBI double to Dennis Wright. The remaining runners scored on the 1-2 batters’ productive outs. The Coons scored another run off Nick Walker in the ninth when Murcia and Gallo went to the corners and Murcia scored on Huckaby’s groundout, but that was as good as it got. 10-6 Knights. Otal 2-5, RBI; Murcia 3-5, 2 2B; Gallo 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; T. Wharton (PH) 1-1; Yocum (PH) 1-1, 2B; Holzmeister 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

John Katzman did not appear in this game, but that preserved a 9-game hitting streak for tomorrow. Yocum meanwhile rejecting the concept of babying and extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – RF Corral – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – LF Otal – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – 1B Huckaby – P Morales
ATL: CF Jo. Soto – SS Guangorena – RF D. Mendoza – LF Troxel – 3B Schomer – 2B J. Munoz – 1B Mower – C L. Marquez – P Bebout

Tyler Wharton drove in a run (!) in the first inning when he hit a 2-out single to get Yocum and his leadoff double in to score, and then an Otal single and Gallo getting nicked by Bebout loaded the bases, only for Flowe to pop out to Munoz at second. Vinny Morales gave up three singles, but also got two double plays in the first two innings, with Mendoza and Mower kind enough to clean up their own team’s litter. Instead, the Raccoons tacked on (!?) with a Katz single and Wharton’s 17th homer (!!) of the season in the top of the third, 3-0. Morales responded by walking Soto and Guangorena and giving up a long fly to left to Mendoza with two outs in the bottom 3rd, but Otal made the catch on the warning track to end the inning.

Jorge Munoz left with an injury on a defensive play in the fourth inning and Dennis Wright took over the keystone, and then punched out with Schomer on base right away in the bottom of the inning. The Coons threatened again in the fifth as Katz and Wharton knocked 2-out singles, and then Otal turned a 1-2 pitch around for an RBI double to right. Gallo socked a triple over the head of Soto to extend the score to 6-0 and send Bebout to bed, at which point I sincerely wondered how the universe would inside-out itself to give the Knights the W this time around. Jason Bair grounded Flowe out to end the top 5th, and the Coons also stranded another runner in each of the next two innings, but Morales was still lining up zeroes… although his pitch count was elevated as usual; through six innings he was already at 84 pitches, and he wasn’t good for more than 100. Wright’s leadoff double to right, Mower’s groundout, and Marquez’ sac fly got the Knights on the board in the bottom 7th, and John Baxley hit another single before Soto went out in a full count – and that would be it for Morales.

The Raccoons went in order in the eighth while Ramirez gave up a leadoff double to Guangorena in the bottom 8th, but then struck out Mendoza and Troxel and stranded the runner on base with another out made by Schomer. Katz tacked on a run with a sac fly that scored Yocum in the ninth inning, while Pacheco got the bottom of the order in the ninth inning with a 6-run lead. Wright homered on his first pitch and he allowed a hit to Marquez and walked Soto before being yanked with one out remaining, which Gutierrez also couldn’t get, walking Guangorena to fill the bases. Valentin had to come in and pop out Mendoza on the very next pitch to end the game and earn a cheap save. 7-2 Coons. Yocum 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Katzman 2-4, RBI; T. Wharton 4-5, HR, 3 RBI; Otal 2-5, 2B, RBI; Morales 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (6-8);

Raccoons (48-61) @ Titans (52-55) – August 7-10, 2070

Boston was up 4-3 in the season series, but had a -14 run differential on the third-worst pitching and just average offense. They led the league in homers, which was always nice without staff around, but barely matched Yocum for stolen bases as a team, and they had the worst defense in the land.

Projected matchups:
Jimmy Wharton (6-7, 3.97 ERA) vs. Aiden Shaw (4-6, 4.73 ERA)
Nick Walla (7-9, 4.36 ERA) vs. Adam McDonald (9-8, 4.09 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-10, 3.66 ERA) vs. Matt Nelson (5-7, 4.90 ERA)
Val Centeno (0-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (10-5, 3.31 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up here.

Game 1
POR: 2B Yocum – RF Corral – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – LF Otal – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – 1B Huckaby – P J. Wharton
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – 1B Goodwin – RF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – C D. Johnson – 2B Robichaud – LF Grulke – P Shaw

The Raccoons shanked Shaw for three runs (one earned) in the first inning, all of which began with an Edgar Gonzales error on Yocum’s grounder to short. Katzman hit a homer, Big Wharton walked, and then scored on Otal and Flowe singles before Huckaby ended the inning with a groundout. Jimmy Wharton then reacted entirely reasonably and nailed Gonzales to begin the bottom 1st and immediately walked the bases full before getting yelled at by the pitching coach. It just didn’t help a lot. Manuel Garcia, David Johnson, and Shaw each drove in two runs in the inning, which just didn’t want to ever end as the Coons’ tosser gave up four hits, two walks, the hit batter, and six ******* runs. Wharton continued into the bottom 3rd, allowed two singles, and was yanked. Pacheco replaced him, plated a run with a wild pitch immediately, then walked Kyle Grulke. Shaw bunted, Gonzales singled home two, Eddie Marcotte walked, Curt Goodwin singled home two, and then Pacheco filled the bases with more walks and was yanked as well. Victor Ramirez struck out David Johnson and Jared Robichaud to end the ******* inning.

With that, the Raccoons were in the damage control zone – nobody cared for Jose Corral’s sac fly in the fourth that narrowed the score to 11-4, except maybe Aiden Shaw and his mother. Get through the bloody game, somehow. Ramirez pitched five outs, and then Holzmeister threw two scoreless innings on 14 pitches, which motivated us to send him out for another inning, in which he got battered for a 3-run homer by Danny Miller on another 32 pitches. McMahan did a 1-2-3 eighth. Aiden Shaw meanwhile gave up *14* base hits in 8.1 innings before being knocked out by consecutive RBI singles by Big Wharton (driving in Corral and his leadoff double) and Otal. The game then ended with Mike Rocheford getting a double play grounder from Mireles. 14-6 Titans. Yocum 2-5; T. Wharton 2-4, BB, RBI; Otal 5-5, RBI;

Blech.

Antonio Pacheco (1-0, 8.38 ERA) got axed. Who needs left-handers anyway? We brought up Todd Sullivan, the trade acquisition from the Stars, who had made seven scoreless appearances with the Alley Cats and would now wear his fourth different hat this year.

Game 2
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Otal – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – 3B Murcia – C Brown – 1B Colter – P Walla
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – RF M. Garcia – 2B Robichaud – 1B Goodwin – 3B D. Miller – LF Padgett – P McDonald

Walla came off a shutout, so hopes were less dim than usual that he could give us a good one, and he had a few shutout innings to start the game… you just had to be a bit lenient and not chew around too much on the fact that the Titans made a significant number of outs themselves, like Gonzales being caught stealing on a bad jump and Goodwin being tagged out on a double after overrunning second base. The Coons had no hits the first time through the order, but twice had the leadoff man on base with an error. Corral was left on in the top 2nd, and Wharton jiggered to third base on Corral’s double that followed an error by Miller, putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Murcia struck out. Brown struck out. And then the Titans pitched to Colter, who hit a 2-run double to center in a full count. Walla made the third out, nearly gave up a homer to Johnson in the bottom 4th, walked Robichaud to begin the bottom 5th – but picked him off after Goodwin popped out!

While Walla got around a leadoff single by Cody Padgett in the sixth, Yocum extended his 10-game hitting streak in style when he tripled home Colter with two outs in the seventh, extending the score to 3-0. McDonald gave up an RBI double to Otal, got lifted for Jose Gomez, but the right-hander walked Katz and then gave up an RBI single to Wharton. Corral hit a ball to deep right, but just for a long F9 to end the inning, and the ball went back to Walla after the stretch, who was on 75 pitches through six busy innings, then gave up two leadoff singles in the bottom 7th to Johnson and Manuel Garcia, but Robichaud hit into a double play… but then he nicked Goodwin with a 2-2 pitch and gave up consecutive RBI singles to Miller and Padgett and was hooked for Nava, who rung up PH Justin Beck to stop the bleeding at 5-2.

When the Coons’ 6-7-8 batters made straight outs in the eighth, Nava was not hit for and thus returned to the hill in the bottom 8th. Gonzales singled, Marcotte walked, and Johnson knotted the score with a 3-run homer. He gave up a ground-rule double to Garcia, then was also tossed into the darkest dungeon anywhere near – wasn’t too hard to find a dark piss-stained hole in Boston – and Todd Sullivan got three straight outs and kept the go-ahead run on base on his way out of the inning. But the Coons did nothing of value to Tyler Gleason in the top of the ninth and then Gutierrez and his useless Mexican pelt got the ball for the bottom 9th. He walked the leadoff man Grulke on four straight pitches, then gave up singles to Tommy Pritchard and Gonzales to fill the bags with nobody out, and Marcotte was next. In other words, ballga-… Marcotte whiffed. Johnson hit a grounder on 0-2 that Katz fired home to get Grulke, and then Garcia popped out in a full count, sending the game to extras.

Both pitchers from the ninth got outs in order in the tenth inning, after which Joe Cash, another lefty, entered for Boston. Sam Brown hit a leadoff single up the middle before Gallo pinch-hit and whiffed, and then Mireles pinch-hit for Gutierrez, legged out an infield single on a bang-bang play at the plate, and also threw his back out and crawled off the field. Huckaby ran for him. A walk to Yocum filled the bases with one out, and Otal’s fly to left was … barely good for a sac fly. Katz struck out, ending his hitting streak, and Valentin gave up a leadoff single to Grulke, then another single with one out to Gonzales in the bottom of the 11th. Marcotte grounded out to short, moving up the tying and go-ahead runs, but Johnson popped out to Brown in foul ground to end the bloody ballgame. 6-5 Raccoons. Otal 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Corral 2-4, 2B; Colter 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Mireles (PH) 1-1; Walla 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Gutierrez 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

Mireles was day-to-day for the time being with the back issue and remained on the roster.

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Otal – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – C Flowe – 3B Gallo – 1B Colter – P Gaytan
BOS: LF Grulke – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – 1B M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – 3B D. Miller – SS Robichaud – RF T. Pritchard – P M. Nelson

It looked a lot like rain on Saturday and the Coons didn’t score from a 2-base throwing error by Johnson that put Otal on base in the first inning, so there was that. Gaytan then couldn’t get anybody out and got beaten around for a two runs on three hits (a lot with two strikes) and a walk in the first inning, and I was begging the baseball gods for the rest of the season to be cancelled once again. Gaytan drove in Flowe with a 2-out single in the top 2nd, but then allowed another single to Pritchard, who was forced out on Nelson’s bad bunt, nailed Marcotte with two outs, and then Corral dropped Johnson’s ******* fly to right for a 2-out, run-scoring error. Garcia flew one over to Otal in left, who successfully put the ******* clamps on it. There was a 20-minute rain delay after that second inning, both teams frittered away two singles in the third, and Gaytan put another two runners on base in the fourth and was yanked. Johnson hit into a double play against Nava, just like the previous inning had ended on a double play hit into by Pritchard.

Nelson was still in the game in the sixth trying to nurse his 3-1 lead when he issued 2-out walks to Flowe and Gallo, then a single to Colter. Bags full, van Otterdijk batted for Nava, struck out, and I just loathed the basic concept of existing. Instead Pritchard singled and Gonzales pinch-hit for Nelson and an RBI double in the bottom 6th. Another run scored against Holzmeister in the seventh, this one also unearned, as now Otal botched a catch on a 2-out fly with a runner in scoring position. Ramirez then got churned for a 3-run homer by Johnson in the eighth. Katz and Wharton hit meaningless 2-out RBI knocks in the ninth, as if that was gonna change anything. 8-3 Titans. Murcia (PH) 1-1; Katzman 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; T. Wharton 3-5, BB, RBI; Colter 1-2, BB;

******* useless, all of them.

Game 4
POR: 2B Yocum – LF Otal – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Murcia – C Brown – 1B Huckaby – P Centeno
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – LF Grulke – 1B M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – CF Holland – C Goatley – 3B Robichaud – RF Padgett – P M. Bell

The game began with a Robichaud error, and Yocum was joined on base by Otal and Wharton on soft singles, and all of them were left stranded with Bell’s K on van Otterdijk and Murcia’s lame fly out to Padgett. Grulke’s single, a walk to Garcia, and Jeremy White’s RBI single then put Boston up 1-0 before Mike Holland and Matt Goatley (seriously, who?) both popped out. Robichaud and Padgett then began the second inning with outs on the Boston side before Bell singled off Centeno, who gave up another three singles and two runs in celebration before White flew out to Otal…

The game then trundled along for another three innings without scoring, or even the threat of a runner in scoring position on the brown team, before Boston skipped a heartbeat or two when, 5.1 innings into the game, Mike Bell left it with the Titans’ trainer and pitching coach looking just as depressed as him. Ancient Tyler Riddle replaced him and got five outs, even though another error put van Otterdijk on second base with nobody out in the seventh. The Coons’ 6-7-8 batters would not move him an inch for the rest of the inning. Centeno somehow failed his way through seven innings while abusing the defense, but didn’t allow any more runs than the Titans had gotten in the first two rancid innings. Corral pinch-hit for him to lead off the eighth and both him and Yocum hit soft singles off Mike Rocheford. Travis Davis got Otal out, then yielded for right-hander Edgar Cornejo. Katz socked an RBI double to right, putting the tying runs in scoring position for Wharton, who bashed a double up the leftfield line on the very next pitch, and the game was suddenly tied. The Otter popped out, but Rafael Murcia hit a ball into the gap for a 2-out, go-ahead, RBI triple. The Titans went to Gleason, who gave up an RBI single to Brown, another single to Huckaby, and finally struck out Corral, who had begun the out-of-place, 5-run rally. With Nava unavailable, Sullivan turned away the Titans in the bottom 8th to set it up for Valentin, who struck out the 6-7-8 batters to get Val Centeno’s first career W over the line. 5-3 Critters. Yocum 2-5; Katzman 2-5, 2B, RBI; T. Wharton 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Corral (PH) 1-2;

In other news

August 4 – The Pacifics beat the Cyclones, 4-3 in 15 innings.
August 6 – TIJ SP Jason Brenize (9-6, 2.34 ERA) wins his 200th ABL game by beating the Canadiens, 6-3. The 8-time Pitcher of the Year goes 7.1 innings in his 21st start of the season.
August 6 – SFW INF Jared Duhe (.281, 7 HR, 50 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk for the only marker on the board in the Warriors’ 1-0 win against the Miners. Warriors SP Alex Diez (11-3, 2.10 ERA) pitches a 5-hit shutout.
August 8 – Rebels UT Travis Bickerton (.307, 5 HR, 33 RBI) could be out for six weeks after breaking his thumb.
August 8 – A home run by ATL OF David Mendoza (.290, 21 HR, 80 RBI) beats the Condors, 1-0.
August 9 – Thunder 1B Ian Stone (.277, 23 HR, 63 RBI) drives in six runs with two homers and a sac fly in an 8-3 win against the Bayhawks.
August 10 – NAS 1B Orlando Reyes (.275, 7 HR, 28 RBI) has himself a day in a 14-1 rout of the Buffaloes, landing five hits, two homers, a double, and four RBI.
August 10 – The season of OCT 2B/SS Jose Palominos (.302, 17 HR, 56 RBI) ends owing to a torn labrum.

Player of the Week (FL): SAL OF Chris Bauer (.344, 11 HR, 61 RBI), hitting .565 (13-23) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): POR CF Tyler Wharton (.307, 17 HR, 60 RBI), sticking .500 (13-26) with 1 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Tyler Wharton won Player of the Week (‘bout time) and Val Centeno won his first game over Mike Bell’s dead body and the Titans’ own bullpen inflagration.

Congratulations to the pitching staff, they’re currently pissing me off harder than the position players. That’s taken you some effort and commitment, huh!?

Not a lot to say. The string is long, the string is sad. The string leads directly to New York now for three games, a day off in transit, and a stopover in Dallas on the way home, although we’d only be in Portland for three days against the Miners before leaving again for an Indy/Milwaukee road trip.

Fun Fact: Jason Brenize is so gonna be in the Hall of Fame.

Ignore the eight Pitcher of the Year awards (and he’s at least competing for a ninth this year). He is 200-105 with a 2.60 ERA in 2,811 innings, striking out 2,809 batters. The guy at age 33 has already won three triple crowns (2062, 2066, 2069), and led the league, combined, more often in wins, ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, and WAR than all other CL pitchers combined in the 2060s: six times he led in wins, five times in ERA, eight times in strikeouts, five times in WHIP, and eight times in WAR.

Hell, they’re gonna name the entire Hall of Fame after him, won’t they??