[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-16) @ Bayhawks (18-25) – May 24-26, 2072

The South saw the Bayhawks in fourth place on Tuesday morning, but the situation looked rather dim in terms of runs scored with a -37 run differential on the second-worst offense and average pitching. The pen was especially horrible, and they had a .311 team OBP, also second-worst in the league, but once they got on, they led the league with 43 stolen bases. The Raccoons had won the season series against the Baybirds for TEN straight seasons, 6-3 in 2071.

Projected matchups:
Jimmy Wharton (5-2, 3.19 ERA) vs. Brad Yoxall (3-0, 2.92 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (2-4, 5.16 ERA) vs. Nick Waldron (2-4, 6.08 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-1, 2.91 ERA) vs. Eric Stengel (3-5, 5.47 ERA)

Stengel was a left-handed pitcher. Katz was expected to return early this week, but had only gotten into three actual games in AAA so far, and we wanted to give him one more; he’d be back up on Wednesday instead.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – C Rivas – 3B Gonzales – CF LeVan – SS McFarland – P Wharton
SFB: 2B M. Flores – SS Bruce – CF Redding – RF J. Ward – LF Haus – 1B Bevilacqua – C H. Valdez – 3B K. Ball – P Yoxall

The Raccoons gave up their first run since *Thursday* in the second inning when Wharton hit Brett Haus and walked Keith Bevilacqua, and while Haus was caught stealing third base, Hugo Valdez still hit an RBI single to left-center to score Bevilacqua from second base. By then the Raccoons had already wasted a leadoff walk drawn by Humph in the first, when we hit into two forces at second before Woodley singled and Rivas grounded out, and a LeVan double in the second. Humph, Morales, and Woodley on an error then all loaded the bags in the third inning with one out, and Rivas slapped one just over Mario Flores’ glove for an RBI single to tie the game back up. Gonzales lined out to Ryan Redding then, but LeVan cashed big runs with a 2-out, 3-run triple to left! Yoxall then even walked the bags full with the 8-9 batters, but Humph flew out to Haus in leftfield.

Neither pitcher turned out to have a good day, though, as the Bayhawks came back in the bottom 4th, slapping Jimmy for four bas hits, beginning with a leadoff double by Redding. Jake Ward struck out, but the next three batters all singled. Haus and Valdez got RBI’s, but Haus also crucially was tagged out trying to go first-to-third on Bevilacqua’s base hit, and that cost the Baybirds the tying run as they remained 4-3 behind on Keith Ball’s groundout. Jimmy lumbered on with the 4-3 lead, nursing it through six innings, but that took him over 100 pitches already as the middle innings were extraordinarily chewy for him.

Josh Woodley’s homer to left-center extended the lead to 5-3 in the top 7th, but fellow first-sacker Lodewijk Bras matched the feat against McMahan in the bottom 7th, reducing the lead to one run again. Rismiller finished the bottom 7th in place of McMahan, then accidentally reached on a perfectly laid bunt in the top 8th when he was only supposed to move McFarland to second base for the second out. This lead to a 2-out RBI single for Yocum for a new insurance run, and then Rismiller, Rios, and Valentin would put the last six outs together without any more Bayhawks batters reaching base. 6-4 Raccoons. Woodley 2-5, HR, RBI; LeVan 2-4, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; McFarland 2-3, BB;

Eight in a row – and now Katz came back and took the roster spot of Ramon Mata.

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – CF Hamel – C Brown – 3B Gonzales – P Gaytan
SFB: 2B M. Flores – SS Bruce – CF Redding – RF J. Ward – LF Haus – C H. Valdez – 1B Bevilacqua – 3B K. Ball – P Waldron

Katz returned and hit a 2-out single for his first hit of the season, then scored once Morales walked and Woodley singled him home, but the other two were left stranded in the first inning as Hack Jamel popped out. Sam Brown and Edgar Gonzales hits and a Humph sac fly made it 2-0 in the second, but the way Gaytan was getting hit you were kinda hoping for more runs going forwards, maybe a crooked number. Gaytan was all over the place, scattered three hits in the first two innings, then struck out Flores and Ryan Bruce to begin the bottom 3rd, only to give up a homer to Redding, 2-1, and then two more singles before Valdez flew out to Humph near the warning track…

The Raccoons got another sac fly from Woodley in the fifth inning after Yocum and Morales had gotten on base, but the big knock didn’t want to come together, although Katz hit a loud lineout to Haus. The lead went bust in the same inning when Gaytan gave up nothing but rockets, a single to Bruce, a triple to Redding, and a sac fly to Ward, getting the teams even at three before Haus popped out to Yocum. After expending 92 pitches for nothing but fireworks, Gaytan was hit for with van Otterdijk in the sixth inning.

Cam Jackson survived the sixth by getting a double-play bunt from Waldron after allowing the 7-8 batters on base, and instead the Raccoons took the lead again an inning later. Yocum doubled, Katz, all of 1-for-7 this year, was walked intentionally, and V.D. popped out, but Woodley came through with a 2-out single to right, bringing Yocum home from second base. Again, the Coons didn’t build on having a pair on base beyond a “1” on the board, and Hamel grounded out easily to short. Jackson allowed another two base runners, the Ryans Bruce and Redding, who both hit a single in the bottom 7th, and BOTH were caught trying to steal second base by Brown. Holzmeister then got three outs from the 4-5-6 batters in the eighth, and Valentin would be sent out against the 7-8 Keiths and whatever the Baybirds would find at the back of the bench in the bottom 9th. Bevilacqua grounded out, but Ball bashed a double, tearing out a leg in the process. Willie Castillo ran for him and scored on Tony Solares’ pinch-hit single, and Solares stole his way to third base as Valentin fell asleep on the hill. The Bayhawks then walked off on a squeeze play on Flores’ bunt. 5-4 Bayhawks. Yocum 2-5, 2B; Woodley 2-3, BB, 3 RBI; Brown 3-4; Jackson 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

(listless stare)

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – 1B V.D. Morales – CF Hamel – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – P Walla
SFB: 2B M. Flores – SS Bruce – CF Redding – RF J. Ward – LF Haus – C H. Valdez – 1B Bevilacqua – 3B Efird – P Stengel

The Coons took the lead in the second on Walla’s 2-out RBI single through the left side, and it was unearned, since the entire inning had begun with Hamel reaching on a throwing error by Bruce. Gonzales walked, as did Humph to load the bases after the Walla hit, and then Stengel clipped Yocum with a pitch to force in another run. Katz fell to 1-2, but then shanked a ball through the right side on a bounce, and drove in his first two runs of the season, and a balk and an RBI single by Morales later, the inning ended after five unearned runs when Hamel flew out to center.

My dearest wish would have been for Walla to run with that lead, but he didn’t. The Bayhawks plonked him nearly to death over the next five innings, slapping a total of eleven hits against him, nine singles and two doubles. Three singles in the second scored a run, and a pair of doubles in the fifth cost two more runs, and now it was a ballgame again at 5-3. Flores legged out a 2-out roller for an infield single for the 11th and final hit off Walla, who was then relieved by Rismiller, who walked Bruce, but then got Redding to pop out and close an ugly book (although: 6 K and no walks) on Walla.

The lead went bust for good after the stretch as Jake Ward hit a single off Rismiller and then Haus homered off McMahan, who tried to get into the useless club with Pedro Valentin and Vinny Morales… and Holzmeister, who appeared after McMahan had gotten the first out in the bottom of the eighth, and then immediately wed a triple to Flores, nailed Bruce with a 1-2 pitch, and gave up sharp hits to Redding and Haus, a wild pitch, and three runs in total. Billy Thompson retired the Raccoons, who were miles away from any sort of earned run the entire game, in order in the ninth. 8-5 Bayhawks. V.D. Morales 2-4, RBI;

Raccoons (28-18) @ Condors (19-29) – May 27-29, 2072

The Condors sat fifth in the South, already a dozen games out of first place. They had the CL’s worst offense (hold our pitching staff’s sugar drinks), and gave up the third-most runs for a -53 run differential. The Raccoons had lost two of three games so far against them. Legend pitcher Jason Brenize, closer Chris Thompson, and infielder Adam Forrest were on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Steve George (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Bryan Farris (4-4, 3.53 ERA)
Crispino D’Urso (4-1, 3.08 ERA) vs. Julio Villalobos (3-4, 3.86 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (6-2, 3.32 ERA) vs. Carlos Torres (0-2, 4.88 ERA)

Torres and Joe Whitley (3-3, 4.03 ERA) had both pitched in a double-header on Tuesday, so the Condors could send in either one. Farris was the only left-handed starter they had.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – 1B V.D. Morales – CF Hamel – RF van Otterdijk – 3B Gonzales – C Brown – P George
TIJ: CF Pothier – LF E. Campos – 1B D. Cline – SS Rugar – C R. Alvarez – RF Rafferty – 3B D. Campbell – 2B Matthews – P Farris

Yocum singled and Katz homered, his first of the year, and the Raccoons had another early lead in the Friday opener. Steve George struck out a pair in the first inning, then bunted into a 1-5-3 double play in the second inning, which surely took the momentum out of Brown and Gonzales reaching base. George got five strikeouts in total the first time through while issuing a walk to Josh Rugar, and Matt Pothier legged out an infield single with two gone in the third inning, but was left on base, too.

Top 4th, and the Critters started with Otter and Gonzales hits before Brown walked and presented George with three on and nobody out. George poked and hit a grounder near short, but Rugar missed it narrowly as he dove for it, and George upped the score to 3-0 with an RBI single to left. Humph hit a sac fly and Yocum refilled the bases with a scratch single. Another sac fly by Katz and V.D. walking extended the inning further, but Hamel whiffed in a full count to strand a full set of runners in the 5-0 game. The Condors then got two back on a Robert Alvarez home run to left in the same inning, going yard after a leadoff walk to David Cline; a homer bombed by Rugar then further reduced the score to 5-3 in the sixth inning.

Katz tried to correct as things were heading in the direction of back-to-back games with blown 5-0 leads and hit another solo jack himself in the top 7th. Morales and Hamel slapped Juan Arguelles for singles and went to the corners with nobody out, and LeVan batted for van Otterdijk against the right-hander, but only hit a sac fly to left. Hamel was then caught stealing and the inning died quietly. George pitched into the bottom 7th with the 7-3 lead, but put Kevin Matthews and Matt Pothier on base and was yanked when the Condors arrived at the pitcher-bearing #2 spot with two outs and sent Jose Corral, batting all of .080. Rios would face the longtime Critter, and punched him out on three pitches to end the inning. Brown got on to begin the eighth then, but was forced out by Luebbert, who had entered with Rios in a double switch, but Luebbert then stole second and then managed to score from second base on Yocum’s 2-out single, 8-3. Rios then gave up a leadoff double to Cline in the bottom 8th and the Raccoons went to Vinny Morales for the first time in two weeks. He struck out two, then gave up the inherited runner on Dusty Rafferty’s single to left, but then got David Campbell out. The Condors did not amount to a major rally in the bottom 9th, either, and so Vinny actually finished the game. 8-4 Critters. Yocum 3-5, RBI; Katzman 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; V.D. Morales 2-3, 2 BB; Vin. Morales 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – C Rivas – 3B Gonzales – CF LeVan – P D’Urso
TIJ: CF Pothier – LF E. Campos – 1B D. Cline – SS Rugar – C R. Alvarez – RF Rafferty – 3B D. Campbell – 2B Matthews – P Villalobos

The Raccoons were once again infuriating at the plate against Villalobos, who had almost as many walks as strikeouts coming in, but the brown team got hardly on base at all the first time through – Gonzales hit a single and was stranded – and then missed big chances in the fourth and fifth innings, as Yocum walked and Katz doubled to begin the former, before the 4-5-6 made horrendous outs, and then another leadoff double by Gonzales led absolutely nowhere in the latter. Crispy Bear was throwing a 1-hitter through five innings, only giving up a single to Robert Alvarez, who was immediately doubled up by Rafferty, in the second inning.

2-out singles by Woodley and Rivas put runners on the corners in the sixth, but now Gonzales stopped hitting and flew out easily to Pothier instead. Crispy Bear in turn allowed 1-out walks to the 1-2 batters Pothier and Eddie Campos in the bottom 6th, and the pair did the double steal on him. He then struck out Cline and Rugar … but by then the game’s first run had scored on a passed ball charged to Rivas. (noisily facepaws)

Humph and Yocum reached with two outs in the seventh, knocking out Villalobos, but then Katz flew out to right, and instead back-to-back doubles by Campbell and Matthews gave the Condors another run off Crispy Bear in that inning. Plainly a forsaken game, and Cline rubbed it in with another RBI double off Cam Jackson in the eighth inning. McFarland hit a pinch-hit single in the ninth and was doubled up by Humph to end the ******* game. 3-0 Condors. Gonzales 2-4, 2B; McFarland (PH) 1-1; D’Urso 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, L (4-2);

Arf.

Humph got a day off on Sunday.

Game 3
POR: 2B Yocum – C Rivas – SS Katzman – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – LF van Otterdijk – CF LeVan – P Wharton
TIJ: CF Pothier – 2B E. Campos – 1B D. Cline – LF Rugar – RF Rafferty – SS D. Campbell – C Castaneda – 3B Matthews – P C. Torres

Yocum singled and stole second, then continued to advance on Rivas and Katz singles, all to leftfield, to score. Torres walked Morales to fill the bases and had yet to get anybody out, then walked Woodley on four straight balls. Gonzales popped out in a full count, but the Otter lobbed another single to left to drive in Katz. The inning then ended with LeVan and Morales rumbling into a 7-2 double play… But the horror inning for Portland was not that far behind. Jimmyboy got around a pair of runners across the first two innings, of whom Campos disposed of himself by being caught stealing in the first, but the bottom 3rd began with Matthews doubling to center, and it rapidly derailed from there, thanks to Yocum throwing away Torres’ bunt for a 2-base error to plate a run, and Jimmy helped NOTHING by walking the bags full. There was still nobody out, but Cline hit an RBI single, and so did Rugar, tying the game at three. Rafferty hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice, 4-3, and Campbell found Katz for a double play to end the miserable charade. Three runs were earned, and all deserved; and the fourth inning saw ****** pitching and ******** defense barf another two runs on the board. Wharton gave up a double to the opposing pitcher, Morales dropped a fly ball for a 2-base, run-scoring error, and then Cline had another RBI single to give the Condors a 6-3 lead.

Wharton was gone after four ***** innings, and Torres somehow survived five innings, issuing six walks, including a pair of free passes in the fifth that didn’t inspire the Raccoons to greatness exactly. Somehow the 7-8 batters then got on with one gone against righty Case Hayden in the ninth inning. Humph popped out as the tying run, and Yocum grounded out, uselessly. Rivas and Katz then slapped hits through different holes on the infield to put runners on the corners and bring the tying run to the plate again, now with nobody out in the seventh. The Condors sent righty J.P. Knox, who gave up two long flies to right, none of which went out, or even fell the **** in. Morales hit a sac fly, and apart from that the team looked like the sad sacks they were. The Condors then effortlessly pulled that run back when McMahan walked Cline on four pitches and Rugar raked an RBI triple off Jackson in the bottom of the seventh. Jackson then walked the ******* bags full before getting the third out. LeVan singled to begin the eighth, but Hamel flew out to deep right again, and Yocum banged into a double play. Holzmeister fooled another run on the board in the bottom 8th, and the Raccoons taunted again in the ninth inning, down by four, with a 1-out Katz single and Woodley walking on the team’s last out, but Sam Brown then reliably grounded out. 8-4 Condors. Rivas 2-5, 2B; Katzman 3-4, BB, RBI; Woodley 0-1, 4 BB, RBI; LeVan 2-4;

In other news

May 23 – The Aces trade CL Adam Molloy (2-1, 1.73 ERA, 9 SV) and a prospect to the Capitals for RF/LF/1B Jay Lawyer (.286, 0 HR, 5 RBI).
May 23 – Richmond picks up SP Stewart Doubleday (1-7, 3.28 ERA) for a pair of prospects sent to Dallas.
May 24 – The Thunder end their 16-game losing streak by beating the Crusaders, 6-1.
May 25 – The Loggers expected to be without INF Sean Van Leeuwen (.286, 2 HR, 20 RBI) for the next month as the 26-year-old was down with shoulder soreness.
May 26 – TOP RF/LF Felix Casares (.214, 1 HR, 4 RBI) upends the Warriors with a 2-out, come-from-behind, unearned, walkoff grand slam off SFW CL Erik Swain (0-1, 2.08 ERA, 12 SV) in the ninth inning, giving the Buffaloes a 4-2 victory.
May 26 – Ruptured finger tendons might spell season over for Blue Sox SP Jarrod Annear (3-2, 3.14 ERA).
May 28 – DAL C Steve Varner (.301, 8 HR, 35 RBI) hits two home runs and drives in four, leading the charge as the Stars put down the Blue Sox, 15-4, with six home runs for the Stars in total.
May 28 – L.A. SP Cory Ritter (4-4, 5.36 ERA) is done for the year as he has bone chips removed from his elbow.
May 28 – The Knights suffer a heavy beating by the Crusaders, 14-1, and all New York runs score by the fourth inning.
May 29 – With a broken finger, VAN INF/LF/RF Juan Terrazas (.260, 2 HR, 13 RBI) is expected to be out until the All Star Game.

Player of the Week (FL): DAL 3B Jon Schomer (.295, 3 HR, 26 RBI), batting .464 (13-28) with 3 HR, 12 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): OCT OF/1B/2B Jon Reyes (.343, 0 HR, 24 RBI), stinging .556 (15-27) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Feckless hitting, spineless pitching, and headless defense easily can make for a 2-4 week against nominally trivial opposition.

The Coons scored 27 runs this week, six each in the first and second, and four more each in the third and fourth. In the second half of the game, they were almost entirely invisible and blew almost every lead they had with ease. The rotation was crap, the fielding was ghastly, and the offense was INFURIATING, as usual.

The team has only a +1 run differential after almost two months, which tells me they’re not gonna make it.

We will look silly at home next week, hosting the Falcons and Crusaders.

Fun Fact: No team in the North has a negative run differential.

The Indians are at +25, the Crusaders at +23. The Loggers barely out-hit their tossers, +18. The damn Elks are last with a +9 RD, and the Titans are even for runs scored and runs allowed.