[Westheim]

Raccoons (62-50) vs. Canadiens (49-64) – August 8-10, 2072

The Elks weren’t going anywhere this year, but would surely still be motivated to take the Raccoons down with them. The season series so far had been hotly contested, Portland being 7-5 up, and the Elks brought the #4 offense and horrendous pitching and defense to Portland. They also had no speed. John Bustillos and Mario Rivera were key players locked away on the DL, in Bustillos’ case for the rest of the season.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (5-7, 4.05 ERA) vs. Adam McDonald (6-8, 4.26 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (9-9, 4.34 ERA) vs. Jay Williams (16-3, 2.33 ERA)
Nick Walla (11-2, 3.01 ERA) vs. Luis Renteria (0-2, 4.42 ERA)

These three were all right-handers.

Game 1
VAN: 3B Terrazas – 2B Ratliff – RF Dille – 1B Palominos – CF D. Moore – LF W. Griffith – SS Barre – C Vaillancourt – P McDonald
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF Licona – C Contreras – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – P Gaytan

The damn Elks jumped out to a 3-0 lead, all unearned thanks to a Woodley error on the first groundball of the game when he dropped a throw by Edgar Gonzales to put Juan Terrazas on base. Gaytan then immediately had nothing, walked Andy Ratliff before Kevin Dille popped out, then balked the runners into scoring position. A run scored on Jose Palominos’ groundout, and two more when Dan Moore popped a home run. The inning eventually ended, and then McDonald loaded the bases on a walk to Humph, an infield single by Yocum, and another walk to Katz. Licona hit a single through the right side to get a station-to-station run home, Contreras brought in a run on a fielder’s choice grounder, but Morales and Woodley hit shallow fly balls for outs and left runners on the corners.

After two innings of nothing much, the Raccoons then got Contreras and Morales on base to begin the bottom 4th. Woodley and Gonzales both hit into fielders’ choices at second base, but that was enough to squeeze Contreras around to score and tie the game at three.

Gaytan went into the seventh inning; after the early disaster he issued another two singles and two walks and struck out six, and when lifted because the Elks sent Ben Craig to bat for Terrazas with two outs in the top 7th, had that bewildering “look, boss, no earned runs!” look on his face, that Moore homer be damned. The game was also still tied at three; McMahan and LeVan entered in a double switch, moving Licona to right and ending V.D.’s day, and McMahan got a pop to second from Craig that Yocum then dropped. Ratliff grounded out instead. The Coons then scratched out a lead in the bottom of the inning when LeVan rolled a 1-out single, stole second, and scored on Yocum’s 2-out hit that barely got past Ratliff. Dille popped out against McMahan to begin the eighth, and Chad Brown struck out the next two batters. Bottom 8th, and Contreras and Woodley hit singles against different relievers, but the inning ended with Tristan Barre jumping to snatch a liner by Gonzales to retire the Coons. Rismiller then got paws on another lead, struck out Wade Griffith to begin the ninth inning, then got easy fly balls from Tyler Eaves and John Vaillancourt. 4-3 Critters. Yocum 2-4, RBI; Contreras 1-2, BB, RBI; LeVan 1-1; Gaytan 6.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K;

Game 2
VAN: SS Barraza – CF D. Moore – LF W. Griffith – 2B Palominos – 1B Eaves – RF Craig – 3B Kiblin – C D. Johnson – P J. Williams
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF Licona – C Contreras – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – 3B Gonzales – P Wharton

Another trying first inning saw Roberto Barraza, who singled and stole second, Griffith, drawing a 10-pitch walk, and Tyler Eaves get on base; Eaves hit a 2-out single to left, Barraza was sent home from second, and thrown out by Humphries to get Wharton through the inning. The Coons then got leadoff walks drawn in the first three innings, by Humph, Conteras, and Humph again, and never ******* scored any of those runners, and so Jimmy fell behind in the top of the fourth inning on Eaves’ leadoff double, Ben Craig’s RBI single, and then loaded the bases with Ryan Kiblin and David Johnson before fanning Williams and getting Barraza to pop out to elope with only one run on his ledger. His pitch count was a ghastly 68 after just four innings.

Licona drew another leadoff walk in the bottom 4th, but was doubled off the bags by Woodley to end the inning, and then Palominos homered off Jimmyboy to extend the Elks’ lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Y’know? **** walks. Hit homers!!

Jimmy lasted only 5.2 innings and departed with a runner, Johnson, left behind for Todd Sullivan to wave home by walking Barraza and giving up an RBI double to Moore. Griffith then struck out. The Raccoons finally scored a run in the bottom 6th on straight singles by Yocum, Katz, and Licona, but Contreras then ended the inning with a double play grounder. Williams ended up walking five Coons, almost all of them at the start of innings, and still cruised through eight innings and was never beaten up. Danny Nava then put out his former team in the ninth inning. 3-1 Canadiens. Yocum 2-4, 2B; C. Jackson 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

(sigh!!)

The Elks had a spot starter on Wednesday then, 31-year-old left-hander Allen Beights (1-0, 3.38 ERA), a former #276 pick with scattered ABL experience or the 2067 Miners and 2070 and 2072 Elks. This was his 13th big league start and he was 3-7 with a 4.35 ERA for his career.

Licona was a late scratch from the lineup with some general soreness (he had not had a day off in this string of games), but he was available to pinch-hit.

Game 3
VAN: SS Barraza – 2B Ratliff – RF Dille – 1B Palominos – CF D. Moore – LF W. Griffith – 3B Terrazas – C D. Johnson – P Beights
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – C Contreras – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – CF Hamel – 3B Gonzales – P Walla

Both pitchers leaked a pair of walks in the first inning, but only Beights paid for it, giving up a 3-run homer to the white hot Contreras with Humph and Yocum in scoring position. Griffith then legged out an infield single, but was doubled off by Terrazas in the second, while Hamel hit a leadoff single and was caught stealing as his cold streak continued. Beights got Gonzales to ground out, but drew the attention of the team trainer and left the game after just 1.2 innings. Right-hander John Steele replaced him, gave up a single to Walla, who was stranded by Humph, and then was Walla’s first K victim in the top 3rd.

Walla struck out four in five tying innings, and half of the strikeouts turned out to be Steele. The Elks had four hits and three walks against him, no runs, but were constantly on base, and he needed 70 pitches to get that far. This continued afterwards with a 1-out walk to Moore in the sixth and a Griffith single right afterwards. Moore made a bid for third base, but was thrown out by Hamel. Terrazas then struck out to get the Portland Browns out of the inning.

Like Gaytan on Monday, Walla allowed no earned runs, but the start was a bit muddled if we were all honest. He lasted six and two thirds, issuing a fifth walk to Ryan Kiblin and then was relieved by McMahan to get Ratliff out, which he did. The Coons then finally got another run, AND FROM A LEADOFF WALK, in the bottom 7th, when Katz doubled home Humph against Dan Speake. Contreras singled, Morales walked, and the bases were full for Woodley, who hit a long fly to the wrong part of the premises, and was held to a sac fly by Moore in deep center. Hamel popped out, but the shutout was completed by McMahan, Sullivan, and Delgado in rather comfortable fashion to take the series. 5-0 Furballs. Contreras 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Hamel 3-4; Walla 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 6 K, W (12-2) and 1-3;

Raccoons (64-51) @ Gold Sox (58-54) – August 12-14, 2072

The Raccoons had a weekend trip to Denver on the schedule now, where they’d face the #8 offense and #4 pitching in the Federal League. They had a +11 run differential, were near the top in home runs, but had no speed and were not great in populating the bases in huge numbers. This was the third straight year these teams met; the Raccoons had won the last five series going back to 2063, and had taken two outta three last year.

Projected matchups:
Crispino D’Urso (11-5, 3.41 ERA) vs. Jasper Madsen (8-9, 3.67 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (5-7, 3.86 ERA) vs. Walt Chicas (8-8, 4.25 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (9-10, 4.36 ERA) vs. Josh Trotter (7-3, 2.98 ERA)

We decided to skip Josh Jackson and have him as additional righty relief option for this series, which was framed by off days. The Gold Sox lineup was rather thin on lefty sticks, but we also didn’t want to send Delgado back right now. Leftier times were coming. The Gold Sox had been off on Thursday, but their only left-handed starter Aaron O’Harra (10-8, 3.41 ERA) had gone on Wednesday and would not come up in this series.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 3B Katzman – CF Licona – C Contreras – RF V.D. Morales – 1B Woodley – SS McFarland – P D’Urso
DEN: 2B McNulty – 3B B. Metz – LF M. Sandoval – 1B Bussotti – RF Tuck – C Brann – SS Fischer – CF Wang – P Madsen

Crispy Bear coulda stayed home, because the Gold Sox were not fooled by his rookie charm, and hit him quickly and hard, particularly Miguel Sandoval, who homered off him in both of his first two at-bats. Sandoval, entering on 22 bombs, hit #23 with Beau Metz on base in the first, and then #24 in solo fashion in the third inning. In between the Sox got an unearned run with V.D. chipping in a throwing error in the second inning, so the Raccoons were 4-0 down and looking lost. Licona had doubled in the second without finding support, and Yocum led off the fourth with a triple to center. Katz popped out, but Licona got the run home with a grounder to short to get the team on the board at least.

A better chance offered itself in the fifth despite a fly out by V.D. to begin the inning. Woodley then singled and McFarland doubled, and there was no sane reason to keep Crispy Bear out there in this game. LeVan pinch-hit, but was held to an RBI groundout, 4-2, Humph walked, but Yocum grounded out to Metz to end the inning. LeVan then stayed in center, Licona went to left, and Humph had the rest of the day off.

The Sox made hard contact against Cam Jackson in the bottom 5th, but could only get a single for actual countables, while Katz then led off the sixth with a homer off Madsen. Licona singled, then stole second, and when the ball glanced off his tush and past Kyle Fischer, dazzled on to third base as the tying run. Contreras wasted no time, singled to left-center, and the score was even at four. Jackson maintained the tie in the bottom 6th, but Chad Brown had lesser fortunes in the seventh, allowed a leadoff single in the #9 spot to long-ago Coon Ryan Bonner, then walked Metz with one out and gave up another RBI knock to Sandoval, this an RBI single. Rios replaced Brown and got a double play grounder from Italian rookie Clement Bussotti.

While the Coons’ 3-4-5 batters went down meekly in the eighth, the Gold Sox cobbled together an insurance run with Chris Tuck getting a hit off Rios, and Adrian Blair finding a hole on the right side for a 2-out, pinch-hit RBI single against Sullivan. Kelvin Castillo then slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth. 6-4 Gold Sox. Licona 2-4, 2B, RBI; C. Jackson 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Josh Trotter was moved up to the middle game by the Sox, utilizing that off day.

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – RF Licona – C Contreras – 1B Woodley – CF LeVan – 3B Gonzales – P Gaytan
DEN: 2B McNulty – 3B B. Metz – LF M. Sandoval – 1B Bussotti – RF Tuck – C Brann – SS Fischer – CF Wang – P Trotter

Humph opened the game zinging a double down the leftfield line for a double and was then right away left on base again. The Raccoons got the first run, still, on a second-inning solo home run by Woodley, but Mike Brann whacked one out against routinely whackable Tony Gaytan in the same inning and we were tied at one. Humph hit another double in the third, this one to left-center with one out, and again was left on base. You couldn’t blame the Coons for not trying at least that time, but both Yocum an Katz were robbed by outfielders, Dao-zi Wang and Chris Tuck, respectively, on long fly balls.

Sandoval singled to lead off the bottom 4th. Bussotti popped out, Tuck fanned, and Brann flew out to center, and the Sox took a 2-1 lead in the inning. Wait; what? Blame the *two* wild pitches *and* a passed ball the Coons’ battery fudged together in the inning, moving Sandoval all the way around to score without any bit of help from his own ******* team.

So by then I was fuming badly, with black smoke billowing forth from both of my fuzzy ears, and it didn’t get better in the top 5th, which LeVan and Gonzales led off with singles to go to the corners. Gaytan hit into a fielder’s choice, Humph – outta doubles – popped out, and Yocum preferred to draw a 2-out walk and let somebody else take the blame. Katz then grounded one to the Gold Glover Metz, who made a sure grab and fired the ball to first … where the non-Gold Glover Bussotti dropped it for an error, allowing the Coons to tie the score again. Alright, we’re all stupid. Can we please get a big hit with the bags full? Licona punched out, so: no.

Gaytan gave up another present to Beau Metz in his sixth and final inning to depart down 3-2, and Rios walked a pair in the seventh, but Bonner hit into a 5-4-3 double play against Chad Brown to end the inning. Brown axed the side in the eighth, after the Coons’ 3-4-5 had disappeared on two strikeouts and no runners in the eighth against right-hander Nick Dry. Castillo was then back for the ninth inning. Hamel and V.D. pinch-hit to begin the inning, but made outs. Castillo walked the tying run on base with two gone against Gonzales, but then rung up Sam Brown batting for Chad Brown, and the Coons lost a series against the Sox for the first time in a decade. 3-2 Gold Sox. Humphries 2-4, 2 2B; Woodley 2-3, HR, RBI; C. Brown 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF Licona – 1B Woodley – RF V.D. Morales – C S. Brown – 3B Luebbert – P Wharton
DEN: 2B McNulty – 3B B. Metz – LF M. Sandoval – 1B Bussotti – RF McLean – C Brann – SS Fischer – CF Wang – P Chicas

Jimmyboy walked McNulty to begin the bottom 1st, but the runner was caught stealing. Jimmy then struck out the next two, and four in total while facing the minimum through the first three innings. The Coons scattered three singles; Woodley and Brown were left on base in the second, and Humph got himself also caught stealing in the third. Katz hit a single to begin the fourth, but was left on first base.

McNulty drew his second leadoff walk in the fourth inning, and Jimmy also walked Metz this time around, but then popped out Sandoval, struck out Bussotti, and got Chris McLean to fly out to center. Portland wasted another single by Luebbert in the fifth, and the Sox finally got a single from Kyle Fischer in the bottom 5th… and then a 2-run homer, his second of the year, by .161 hitter Wang. (tosses his scorecard) Oh **** it! If we play **** like that we can just as well stay our ******* ***** home!!!

Wharton struck out eight in six innings and was hit for when V.D. and Sam Brown got into scoring position with one out in the seventh inning. The Sox moved first, bringing in righty George Christensen, who got LeVan to ground out to first and Humph to ground out to short, and nobody ******* scored, because our offense was just ***** like that.

The tying runs were in scoring position with one out again in the eighth inning, this time with Katz walking and then a Licona double against lefty reliever Manny Romero. The Coons sent Contreras, batting for Woodley, and the Sox sent righty Jose Robledo, who nicked Contreras to load the bases, then was replaced with another righty, John Silver. Morales hit a fly to center that was caught by Wang for a sac fly, and Sam Brown grounded out, ******* away another scoring chance that was fatter than the average reliever’s *** on this roster. Cam Jackson held the Sox to their 1-run lead in the bottom 8th, while Silver remained in the game for the ninth inning. Gonzales batted for Luebbert and flew out to McLean. Hamel flailed. Humph – bless his little heart – drew a walk, got balked to second, and then an error by Kyle Fischer on Yocum’s bouncer put runners on the corners for Katz, who had fallen under .300 with a weekend of general decrepitude. He ran a full count, then drew another walk to load the bases for Licona – ALSO not hitting as advertised in this series…! His grounder was right at McNulty and the game was over. 2-1 Gold Sox. Licona 2-5, 2B; S. Brown 2-4;

In other news

August 9 – The Aces beat the Knights in a ruckus game, 16-11. LVA OF Adam Seybert (.335, 4 HR, 56 RBI) drives in four runs on four hits and misses the cycle by the home run, and also doesn’t make any of his team’s four errors to keep the soundly out-hit Knights alive for most of the game. At one point, the teams score in eight consecutive half-innings.
August 9 – SFB INF Keith Ball (.206, 1 HR, 12 RBI), who hit double-digit home runs in the last two seasons, finally gets one out of the park in this game to beat the Condors, 1-0.
August 10 – The Rebs beat the Miners in 14 innings by a score of 4-3.
August 12 – Condors catcher Robert Alvarez (.281, 10 HR, 63 RBI) could be out until late September with a torn abdominal muscle.
August 12 – The Warriors beat the Crusaders, 3-2 in 16 innings. Both teams scored only one run in regulation, then one more in the 12th inning. Sioux Falls OF Jordan Lopez (.314, 19 HR, 65 RBI) ends the game with a walkoff single with the bases loaded.

Player of the Week (FL): DAL INF Sean Van Leeuwen (.343, 6 HR, 39 RBI), slapping .655 (19-29) with 6 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): MIL 3B/RF Jesse Sowards (.284, 6 HR, 43 RBI), poking .481 (13-27) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Stupid offense.

At one point this week the Raccoons were within two games of first place again, but that was before we went to Colorado and batted oh-for-plenty-thousand-and-three. The entire lineup was mushy all week, except for Contreras taking some rest heat into the week, but that dissipated by the time we hit the road.

Spending three days on a mountaintop, the Raccoons’ batting average with a runner in scoring position was some of the most derelict **** I’ve seen in 96 years in the league: 1-for-25 with 5 RBI; Contreras’ RBI single on Friday was the only hit with a runner on second or third all ******* weekend long! …and Licona’s and LeVan’s RBI groundouts on Friday, Katz’s RBI on Bussotti’s error on Saturday, and V.D.’s sac fly on Sunday brought in *a* run in some fashion or other; by game, they went ******* 1-for-8 on Friday, 0-for-9 on Saturday, and 0-for-8 on Sunday. (fumes!)

In that Katz/Bussotti inning, they went OH-FOR-FOUR WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION. (froths from the snout!)

Stupid offense.

Nick Walla has snuck into third place in the CL ERA race, but it’s not much of a race right now. Vancouver’s Jay Williams has a lead of 61 points over Walla and 56 points over the Thunder’s Harrison Hunt (8-9, 2.83 ERA). Wait, who? Hunt? That rings a bell that it shouldn’t. And we got essentially all of Cam Jackson for him.

Stupid management.

Three-team homestand coming against the Cyclones, Indians, and Loggers. Seeing the Arrowheads in this constitution could swiftly end our playoff pretender status.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons rank sixth/sixth/seventh in slash stats in the CL, but ninth in runs scored.

Stupid offense.