[Westheim]

I couldn’t even read the pocket schedule correctly after last week – the Loggers series this week was on the road – there’s no 2-week homestand.

And somehow I’m still employed!

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Raccoons (17-14) vs. Scorpions (13-18) – May 10-12, 2072

For the third straight series, the Raccoons faced a last-place team, now from the FL West. The Stingers ranked tenth in offense and ninth in pitching in the FL, and were bottoms in home runs. They had speed though and a good defense, and got on base at a rate much better than the one at which they were converting runners into actual runs. They had also placed three regulars from the lineup on the DL already, all formerly from the CL: Justin Savalli, Wade Griffith, and John Schmidt all being out. These teams met for the fourth straight season. The Raccoons had won the series last year, two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (4-0, 2.33 ERA) vs. Taka Suyama (1-2, 4.83 ERA)
Crispino D’Urso (2-1, 2.84 ERA) vs. Kevin Schure (2-1, 3.41 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (4-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. Ryan Mann (1-2, 4.89 ERA)

More right-handers coming here, although there was the option to skip southpaw Chris Lubbers (0-1, 3.60 ERA) into the series thanks to the common off day on Monday.

Game 1
SAC: RF D. Johnson – C Bohannon – LF Streng – 3B Healey – 1B T. Rivera – 2B Philpot – SS Vidrio – CF Jurado – P Suyama
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – SS McFarland – P Walla

Walla started getting mostly pops and strikeouts, but by the third inning worked his way into a jam, beginning with a leadoff walk to Ricky Jurado. He nicked Dan Johnson, then walked Ian Streng on four pitches with two outs after Martin Bohannon had popped out, and then had Rick Healey drop in a first-pitch single behind Yocum to bring in two runs. Tony River then popped out, but Ryan Philpot led off the fourth with a triple and scored on Emilio Vidrio’s groundout, 3-0. They doubled that in the fifth inning on a 3-run homer by Healey, after Johnson had led off with a double and Bohannon had drawn another walk. Walla was lifted after the inning and would log his first L of the season in style. The Raccoons had only four hits in seven innings off Japanese “rookie” Taka Suyama, and put a runner on third base only once when Humph and Yocum hit back-to-back singles with two down in the bottom 3rd, but Hamel hacked himself out to end the inning. It wasn’t like it got any better against the bullpen. Holzmeister allowed another run on a ninth-inning homer by Dan Johnson, and the Coons entered the bottom 9th trailing by seven runs. Right-hander Jeff Tolliver walked Yocum, Hamel singled, and Morales got another walk off the righty to load the bases with nobody out, but that still meant the tying run was somewhere on I-5. Tolliver walked in a run against Woodley, and plated another with a wild pitch, but got outs from Gonzales and Brown before being lifted for right-hander Oliver Graham. Gabe Rivas batted for McFarland and hit an RBI single to right, prompting another move to closer Gustavo Vega. Jesus Morentin batted for the pitcher McMahan and singled to right, bringing in Woodley’s run, and now the tying run was at the plate… but Humphries grounded out. 7-4 Scorpions. Hamel 2-4, 2B; Rivas (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morentin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Rismiller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

At least Yocum got his first hit in five days…

Jesus Morentin (.409, 1 HR, 3 RBI) got returned to AAA after this game as Phil LeVan came off the DL.

Game 2
SAC: SS Vidrio – C Bohannon – LF Streng – 3B Healey – 1B T. Rivera – 2B Philpot – RF A. Warner – CF Jurado – P Schure
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – SS McFarland – P D’Urso

Crispy Bear had a 1-2-3 first like Walla on Tuesday, and like Walla on Tuesday he then started to give up runs. Healey doubled and Philpot took him deep to left in the second for a 2-0 Stingers score, but Schure was very wild and issued three walks the first time through, including to Gonzales and Brown to begin the bottom 2nd. McFarland hit an RBI single to left-center, 2-1, and Crispy Bear bunted the runners into scoring position from there. Humph’s groundout to second tied the game, and Yocum’s single past Philpot brought in McFarland and gave the Raccoons a 3-2 lead. Hamel hit another single, but Morales grounded out to end that inning.

Emilio Vidrio hit a single and was caught stealing in the third inning, while Woodley reached base and was doubled up by Gonzales. In the fourth, Sacramento stole three bases off D’Urso and Brown, as Rick Healey drew a 1-out walk and stole second. Rivera struck out, but Philpot and Aaron Warner got him home with a pair of singles, then did the double steal, and D’Urso walked Jurado, but then struck out Schure to bugger out of the bases-loaded jam. Schure also walked Humph and Yocum with a pair gone in the bottom 4th, but Hamel couldn’t get them home and flew out to Streng instead.

While Crispy Bear already had a bad pitch count through five, Schure managed to walk the bags full in the bottom 5th for NINE walks in the game, but that brought McFarland to the plate with one out. He of course poked before getting into a good count, but managed to drop a 2-run single into right-center to give the Raccoons a new 5-3 lead. That was the end for the miserable Schure, replaced with lefty Jimmy Cockrum. He got D’Urso on a pop and Humphries on strikes.

Crispy Bear went back out for the sixth, gave up a leadoff single on 0-2 to Healey, struck out Rivera, then picked Healey off first base. He ended his day by K’ing Philpot. Rios took over in a double switch (LeVan came in to play right, and Morales moved to first, ending Woodley’s day) and got four outs before Newhard replaced him, allowed a single to Bohannon, but then got a double-play grounder from Streng, 4-6-3. Bottom 8th, and LeVan got a leadoff walk from Robbie Hernandez. Humph singled, Yocum walked, and we again had three on with nobody out. Hernandez was not able to solve this issue and walked in not one but *two* runs against Hamel and Morales, then got yanked for Oliver Graham again. Guerrero pinch-hit for a sac fly, but Graham retired three in a row to stop shenanigans. The Raccoons still used Valentin in the ninth, and watched him give up a triple to Rivera and a sac fly to Philpot… 8-4 Raccoons. Humphries 2-4, BB, RBI; McFarland 2-4, 3 RBI;

The Raccoons had six singles and *13* walks in this game.

Game 3
SAC: 2B Philpot – C Bohannon – LF Streng – 3B Healey – RF T. Rivera – 1B F. Contreras – CF Jurado – SS Vidrio – P Mann
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS Luebbert – P Wharton

After that ghastly pitching performance, Mann began his start on Thursday by walking Humph and Yocum, who did a double steal. Hamel’s groundout and Morales’ single each brought in a run, but V.D. was left on first base. Jimmyboy then walked a pair in the second inning, but didn’t allow them to score. He bunted Rivas and Luebbert into scoring position once they hit singles to start the bottom 2nd, and again a groundout and a single got the runners home one-by-one, this time from the 1-2 batters. Yocum then stole another base and scored on a Hamel single to center, 5-0. Morales and Woodley piled on more singles to score Hamel, but Morales was thrown out at the plate to end the inning on Edgar Gonzales’ single to right.

Up 6-0, the Coons mainly wanted length from Jimmyboy, who had already tossed 36 pitches in the first two frames, and allowed 18 more to pile on top of that in the third, and also two runs as Philpot singled, Bohannon tripled, and Streng got the second run home on a groundout to second. Rivera reached on a Luebbert error to begin the fourth, but got caught stealing. His pitch count kept ballooning at that rate, reaching *90* after just five innings of 3-hit ball. Portland got a leadoff triple from Gonzales in the bottom 5th and extended the lead again to 7-2 on Rivas’ groundout, but Jimmy shoveled Rivera and Fernando Contreras onto the corners through 1-out singles in the sixth, but then started a 1-6-3 double play on Jurado at least. Vidrio singled and was forced out by Warner, and that was it for Jimmyboy, 117 pitches in 6.1 innings. Holzmeister stranded the runner by getting a pop and a K, but gave up a homer to Streng in the eighth. Guerrero, Hamel, and V.D. Morales reclaimed the run with singles off Cockrum in the bottom 8th, and then Vinny Morales was sent out to pitch the ninth inning…! He gave up doubles to Jurado and Vidrio, walked Johnson, and was yanked for the closer. Philpot hit a comebacker that Valentin took to second for the only out on the play. Bohannon got rung up, and Streng hit a fly to left, where Jesus Guerrero had remained in the game and made a sliding catch to end it. 8-4 Raccoons. Hamel 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; V.D. Morales 4-5, 2 RBI; Woodley 2-5, RBI; Gonzales 2-4, 3B; Rivas 2-4, RBI; Guerrero (PH) 1-1; Wharton 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (5-2);

Unfortunately, by now, Steve George had already made another start in AAA and had his ERA shoot up all the way to 1.06; he’d be up here next week, but the Coons had to improvise against the Loggers now. Jesus Guerrero (.303, 3 HR, 7 RBI) was optioned to St. Petersburg to bring up Val Centeno for a spot start on *Friday*, after which he’d immediately be returned to St. Petersburg for a replacement *infielder*.

Roster building can be hard sometimes. (stuffs a few muffins into his gob to gain the strength to endure it all)

Raccoons (19-15) @ Loggers (19-15) – May 13-15, 2072

The Loggers by now ranked first in offense once more, and ninth in runs allowed, but had a +22 run differential (Coons: zilch). The teams were half a game behind the Indians for second place in the division. The Coons had a 2-1 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Val Centeno (0-0) vs. Ayahito Ochi (2-2, 4.19 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (1-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (3-3, 4.35 ERA)
Nick Walla (4-1, 3.30 ERA) vs. Colt Long (5-1, 3.61 ERA)

Ochi and Long were two of the Loggers’ three lefty starters.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – 1B V.D. Morales – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – SS McFarland – P Centeno
MIL: SS Van Leeuwen – 3B Sowards – RF C. Dominguez – C M. Rodriguez – 1B C. Ramirez – LF Frank – 2B F. Carrera – CF S. McLaughlin – P Ochi

Single, walk, single and the bases were loaded to begin the game. An Otter sac fly brought in the only run while Morales and Gonzales popped out. Sean Van Leeuwen and Jesse Sowards then right away snapped singles off Centeno and I got mentally ready to burn the entire bullpen for 8.2 innings, but the Loggers’ kill squad in the 3-4-5 spots all made poor outs and scored nobody. Centeno next forced out Brown on a bad bunt in the second inning, but then scored himself after Humph walked and Yocum singled to right-center. The trailing runners advanced on the throw to the plate, then were driven in by Hamel singling to left. Ochi’s wild 1-0 to Morales advanced the runner, who then scored on Morales’ single to center. The inning only ended with the Otter grounding out, Portland up 5-0.

There was just this … Centeno-shaped problem and the fact that there’d be eight more innings to pitch for a W. And Centeno wasn’t gonna pitch most of them, because the Loggers already thrashed him relentlessly for five singles and three runs in the bottom 2nd. Ochi was lifted first after 2.2 innings, having given up a double to Gonzales, a walk to McFarland, and an RBI single to Humph in the third inning. Danny Mendoza then got Yocum to ground out. Ken Frank responded with a leadoff double and scored on two productive outs, 6-4, and Centeno shoveled the bags full with the Loggers’ 3-4-5 batters and two outs in the fourth inning, then got Frank to ground out to short to somehow get out of the inning. The Coons tried their best to score more and harder and bigger numbers, Sam Brown bashing a leadoff double to center in the top 5th, and then McFarland raked a triple over the head of Sean McLaughlin in center. Centeno struck out, but Humph banged an RBI double, 8-4, before being left on with groundouts to third base from Yocum and Hamel. Centeno managed to retire the 7-8-9 batters in order, completing five innings, barely, on 98 pitches, and was then quietly removed somewhere where he couldn’t harm our season.

Top 6th, and Morales doubled, the Otter doubled, and Gonzales raked a home run to left for an 11-4 lead. Brown also got on against briefly-a-Coon Javy Carpio, but was doubled off by McFarland. The Loggers came right back with two runs off Rios, who allowed a 1-out double to Sowards, walked the bags full, and then had two runs waved home by Holzmeister. The Loggers left the bags loaded there, and the Coons, up by five and feeling like nothing, then went to Vinny Morales again. He gave up hardly anything but rockets, a couple of which van Otterdijk and Hamel shagged, and Van Leeuwen and Sowards bashed hits to go the corners in the bottom 7th, but Dominguez and Rodriguez popped out to leave them on. He gave up a leadoff homer to Cesar Ramirez in the bottom 8th, 11-7, but then got three outs, including a K even, although you got the feeling that the Coons didn’t care about his arm anymore for leaving him in there. Cam Jackson got the ball for the ninth and struck out the side… if you didn’t harp no about the double that Van Leeuwen strung and the homer that Dominguez blasted. 11-9 Critters. Humphries 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hamel 2-6, 2 RBI; V.D. Morales 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzales 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Brown 3-5, 2B; Woodley (PH) 1-1;

Centeno (1-0, 7.20 ERA) was right off the roster again

This rather pyrrhic victory regained first place for the Critters.

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – C Rivas – 3B Gonzales – CF LeVan – SS McFarland – P Gaytan
MIL: SS Van Leeuwen – 3B Sowards – RF C. Dominguez – C M. Rodriguez – 1B C. Ramirez – LF Frank – 2B F. Carrera – CF S. McLaughlin – P Crist

The Loggers batted through the order against Gaytan in the first inning as things continued to fall apart on the pitching side of the roster, scoring three runs on Sowards’ and Dominguez’ doubles, then a 2-run homer by Rodriguez (his 12th of the year…!), then got three more singles off Gaytan before Crist struck out to leave the bases loaded. Gaytan got little better after that, and the contact remained loud and constant. The Coons meanwhile wasted a Gonzales triple in the second inning for no gains, but by the fourth inning loaded the bass with Morales, Rivas, and Gonzales on a hit and two walks, rpresenting the tying runs, and bringing up the .138 hitter LeVan with one out. He hit a terrible roller in front of the plate, but Rodriguez stumbled out from behind the plate and Crist was too slow to get to it, and now the plate was unguarded to allow Morales across, and somehow a potential inning-killing double play turned into an RBI infield single. McFarland hit a sac fly to left, and then Gaytan snapped a 2-out RBI single to take himself off the hook! Humph punched a K to end the inning, but the thing was that the Coons still had to work with Gaytan on the hill… Crist returned the favor by hitting a 1-out single off Gaytan in the bottom 4th, then was forced out by Van Leeuwen, who easily scored on a Sowards double to left. Dominguez then pounded another homer. Gaytan ended up dismissed for six runs in four innings.

Rismiller pitched the next two innings, scorelessly and proving that it could be done against the Loggers, but then they hung two more runs on Newhard, and on ANOTHER homer by Manuel Rodriguez, who now had 13 bombs just 35 games into the season. McMahan also got booked for a pair in the eighth, walking Van Leeuwen, giving up an RBI double to Sowards, and then another RBI knock to Rodriguez. The Raccoons never did anything of value against Loggers pitching after the fourth inning. 10-3 Loggers. V.D. Morales 2-4; Gonzales 1-2, BB, 3B; LeVan 2-4, RBI; Hamel (PH) 1-1; Rismiller 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Again, the Raccoons only stuck in first place for a day.

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – CF Hamel – 1B V.D. Morales – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Rivas – SS McFarland – P Walla
MIL: SS Van Leeuwen – 3B Sowards – RF C. Dominguez – C M. Rodriguez – 1B C. Ramirez – LF Frank – 2B F. Carrera – CF S. McLaughlin – P C. Long

The Coons got two singles to begin the first and then choked in the middle of the order, scoring nothing, and the Loggers got THREE hits to begin the game against Walla, but hit into a double play for their only run with Rodriguez, and Ramirez left the last runner on base. The Coons’ battery then hit a pair of singles in the second, and was also stranded.

The Coons got even in the fourth… but it was an unearned run… and to be honest the Loggers did all the work in getting van Otterdijk on base and around the bases, beginning with a 2-base throwing error by Fidel Carrera and ending with a game-tying wild pitch. Walla meanwhile was entirely at the mercy of the Loggers, striking out precisely nobody. Worse, after Carrera hit a 1-out double in the bottom 5th and advanced on McLaughlin’s groundout, Walla walked Long with two outs. Van Leeuwen then singled up the middle to give Team Green a new lead, 2-1, but Long was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

That score extended to 3-1 on a Sowards single, Dominguez double, and Rodriguez’ run-scoring groundout in the bottom 6th. Ramirez hit a long fly out that moved Dominguez to third base, but Frank then struck out to end the inning, the first K for Walla in a wretched start. Top 7th, and the 1-2 batters got on base again for the Raccoons to start off that one. Hamel struck out – #8 for Long – before Morales grounded to short to end the – … no, Van Leeuwen bobbled the ball and the bases were now loaded after the error. Van Otterdijk tied the game at once with a 2-run single to left-center, and knocked out Long at the same time. Nick Robinson then removed Gonzales and Rivas without issue, stranding a pair on base.

Walla got three groundouts, most of them sharp, from the Loggers in the bottom 7th, then was hit for with Mata in the eighth, which got the team nowhere as Nick Robinson got two outs to begin the inning there. And then he got taken deep to left by Humphries. Rios got the ball for the bottom 8th with the 4-3 lead, and got through the Loggers allowing only a pinch-hit single to Eric Frasher, but no bazillion of runs. Omar Vences kept the Critters quiet in the ninth, and then Valentin came on. The Loggers hit two groundouts before Carrera fanned in a full count, and somehow the battered Critters got outta town with a series win. 4-3 Raccoons. Humphries 3-5, HR, RBI;

In other news

May 11 – VAN SP B.J. Butrico (4-3, 5.65 ERA) fires a 2-hit shutout to beat the Rebels, 4-0.
May 11 – Washington closer John Faughnan (2-2, 4.32 ERA, 8 SV) has his flexor tendon snap on him and will miss at least 12 months.
May 13 – The Titans acquire catcher Ruben Perez (.250, 2 HR, 7 RBI) from the Buffaloes for two prospects.
May 13 – Cincy loses 1B Mike White (.318, 4 HR, 19 RBI) for a month due to a torn thumb ligament.
May 14 – The Crusaders send 2B Chris McNulty (.248, 3 HR, 15 RBI) to Denver and receive RF/LF Justin Donaldson (.207, 0 HR, 4 RBI), a prospect, and cash.
May 14 – Shoulder inflammation sends OCT RF Austin Gordon (.296, 5 HR, 19 RBI) to the DL for a month.
May 15 – DAL INF/CF Antonio Mendez (.302, 0 HR, 17 RBI) breaks his kneecap and is out for the season.
May 15 – A broken ankle could put Rebels OF Mario Alaniz (.227, 0 HR, 6 RBI) on the shelf until September.
May 15 – The Buffaloes beat the Rebels, 7-6 in 14 innings, after both teams scored a run in the ninth, both scored two runs in the 11th, and the Buffos finally break through in the 14th inning. TOP LF/RF Jose Banuelos (.305, 5 HR, 12 RBI) goes 4-for-5 with three walks and an RBI.

Player of the Week (FL): WAS INF Javier Vasquez (.325, 2 HR, 14 RBI), batting .600 (9-15) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.368, 7 HR, 28 RBI), cranking .583 (14-24) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

That Sunday game is the type of game we’d usually manage to lose. The defense was all that kept Walla in one piece, but that was already infinitely better than the two days before (19 runs allowed across the first two bludgeonings), and somehow we weaseled away with that one. If the team can win games like *that*, then maybe we can compete for something anyway. Never mind that second-worst rotation ERA in the CL (almost five!).

Offensively it’s not much better (eighth in runs scored), and by now we were at a -4 run differential while sitting half a game out.

Ham Lake 1B Justin DiMartino batted .319 before ripping his achilles tendon this week, and he might be out for the season.

On the flip side, Katz should go on rehab next weekend and then maybe rejoin us when the team would get on the road after playing the Titans and Thunder at home next week. It would be an I-5 road trip after that, going to San Fran and Tijuana.

I know that I-5 doesn’t go anywhere near San Francisco, Cristiano, but you have to drive pretty far on it to get there! – It’s not like you’re ever gonna find out with *your* set o’ wheels!

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are 8-3 in games decided by one run.

…and 2-5 in games decided by five runs or more.