[Westheim]

Jorge Romero started the Indians series and threw six shutout frames, then was saddled with six unearned runs in the seventh. Ralph Nixon committed two throwing errors in the inning, wrecking a 2-0 lead, and three errors in total in the game and was benched in the same inning for Hermundo. Raccoons did not recover from that blow and lost 6-2. Nixon homered in the first inning in game 2, but later committed another throwing error, this time without damage. Christopher Powell was dominant and fell two outs short of a shutout, then surrendering a solo homer to Jose Encarnacion. Bocci was 4-5 with 2 RBI, Cook bashed a 2-run homer, and the Raccoons won 7-1. Powell fanned five and allowed six hits and no walks, and now led the league with his 1.77 ERA. He only trailed Juan Correa in the Federal League, who was starving opponents to a 1.64 ERA tone pitching for the Scorpions.

Daniel Hall came off the DL for game 3. Whom to send down? To replace Hall and Cox I had brought up Henderson and Clark, but those were actually producing. Zuniga and McFarland were batting far below .200 – it hit McFarland, who was sent to AAA to make room for Hall, who was put right back into the lineup for Henderson, and was slotted to #7, where he would be able to improve his .000 average. He went 0-3 in the rubber game, which the Raccoons lost 2-0. Nixon committed two more errors! What was wrong with that guy!?

Nixon wasn’t hitting either. He was benched. Six errors in three games was shocking, to say the least. Hermundo came in and Costa and Simon were realigned. Nixon basically cost two games now and I had no idea why he wasn’t able to throw balls anymore. He had 11 errors on the season, so he had been messy before, but now it was outright awful. It wasn’t the fact that Cook was playing for the suspended Johnston. He messed up a shuffle to Costa at second as well. Why, oh why…

Strange thing of the week: the 17-21 Raccoons played a team with a worse record, the 15-23 Titans. That doesn’t come around too often.

The series opened with a 7-3 loss, in which Gary Simmons allowed a total of six runs over six innings. He only had two scoreless frames. Daniel Hall had his first hit of the season, singling up the middle in the top 9th. Romero then went four no-hit frames against the Titans, then blew up with six hits (and two fielding errors by Hall and Johnston) for a 5-run fifth. Why, oh why…! The Raccoons lost 6-3, never recovering from that blow. Only one run against Romero was earned.

This of course tied up the Raccoons and Titans (and who hadn’t seen this coming?), with two left in the series. We would try Nixon at 2B instead of Costa. With the distance two 1B shorter, maybe he would only commit two errors per 3-game series……

Ben Simon pulled his back in game 3 on a play. Simon had so far played in every Raccoons game (at least as pinch hitter), this streak was now in danger, although we only listed him as day-to-day. Powell pitched eight, surrendering a home run to Francisco Dominguez, before the Titans walked off 2-1 again Jenkins and O’Rearden in the ninth. Nixon flubbed one ball for another error. This left game 4. Evans got behind 2-1 early and struggled with command, going to 3-ball counts routinely. He walked only two, but needed 111 pitches through five innings. The Raccoons scored two each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, and Gaston came in to get some work with a 7-2 lead. He gave up two home runs for a 7-5 result… Simon grounded out pinch hitting in the eighth, keeping his record of appearing in all Raccoons games intact.

Horrible pitching meant a 7-3 loss to open the series in Las Vegas. Simmons sucked, O’Rearden sucked even harder. And that 7-3 also included two Aces runners thrown out at the plate by Sánz and Hall. Romero then surrendered two 3-run homers the next game and went down in the 8-2 loss (he still pitched seven plus). He’s crashed from 5-1 to 5-5 now with an ERA up to 3.33 …

Nothing was working. The lineup was juggled completely for game 3, I went with CF Clark – SS Hermundo – 1B Johnston – RF Sánz – 2B Simon – LF Hall – C Bocci – 3B Clement – P. Right, Nixon was out completely. He couldn’t even make 2B work all of a sudden. In was Clement who like Costa hit sub .200 and surely would be a big help.

Game 3, and the lineup worked wonders … except that it didn’t. Travis Newton no-hit the Raccoons for eight innings until he was completely exhausted and couldn’t throw strikes anymore. Powell had pitched 7.1 scoreless (albeit with eight hits, no walks, no K’s), and Justice had retired two lefties, so the game was still scoreless into the ninth and Newton was yanked. Marvin Newton came in, got two, then walked Hall. Bocci shot a drive to right, breaking up the combined no-hitter with a RBI double after 26 outs. Gaston tumbled through a rocky bottom 9th to record the save. So, this was the most awkward game I’d seen in some time…

Powell’s ERA was down to 1.53 despite a shaky outing. Six of the eight hits had been singles and two timely double plays had aided him as well. Ralph Hoyles was closest in the CL with a 1.91 ERA. Juan Correa still led the FL, but was up to 2.06 there. Yet, Powell’s record was 4-3. He received zero run support, with the Raccoons scoring 3.0 R/G when Powell started, down even from their paltry 3.18 R/G overall. Most interestingly, Powell had an ERA of 1.53, but this was his first game without a run allowed in 11 starts! Four times the Raccoons had scored him five or more runs, the other seven times they had given him two or less. He had allowed exactly one run nine times, and four in a loss to the Condors in April. He had gone six innings nine times, and seven innings seven times. Despite his lack of stuff and problems to get K’s, at the moment he was the best player on the pitching staff, and maybe the whole team.

The Falcons were left to compete against on that road trip (and also the last CL team to go against for the first time this season). They had superb pitching, so I wasn’t expecting much from my lame-duck offense.

The Raccoons expectedly were shut out to start the series. Evans went seven with poor command but scoreless. Jenkins was saddled with the loss when the Falcons walked off. With Cordell Atkins at second and two out, Bryan Stephenson singled to left. Hall picked up the ball, Atkins raced for the plate, and Hall through it mile past Bocci. We still out-hit the Falcons 4-3, for nought. So that made back-to-back 1-0 games. One that we won, but didn’t deserve to, and one, that we lost, and shouldn’t have.

The next game would not be 1-0, that much was guaranteed. Juan Berrios was ready to come off the DL, but I really didn’t want him in the game right now. He was sent for a rehab assignment to AAA. Simmons’ turn was up, but he was horrible. I didn’t want to, but I sent in Tony Lopez once again. The lineup was also changed again, switching Simon and the slow-footed Johnston in #3 and #5. Hermundo was dropped to #7 and Bocci brought up again. This was a work in progress, and probably a futile one.

Five innings from Lopez with three runs in, I would have been fine with it. He did exactly that, but it was far from pretty, as he walked five and plunked one. He took the 3-2 loss. Joe Ellis went eight frames for the Falcons and tied the CL record for strikeouts in a game with 13. The Raccoons were swept with a 6-2 loss in the last game. Romero was ineffective again. He had been 4-1 with a 2.50 ERA in April. In May this had turned inside out to a 1-5 record and a 4.43 ERA.

Oh, just what to do …! I got a message from Ralph Nixon complaining about his role as a luxury pinch hitter. Well, Ralphie, get your **** together and you’ll play, now get off my back, for fur ball’s sake.

The Bayhawks came to Portland to end this month, which had not been kind. The Raccoons were now where they always were, last in the CL North. The Raccoons had lost 9 of 11. The Bayhawks were playing .500 throughout. I could mention their solid rotation and weak bullpen which he should better get to quickly, but with a team averaging 3.06 R/G … why should I bother mention it?

With Daniel Hall (.167 / .352 / .214 – nicely skewed statline) in leadoff we’d play the Bayhawks. Powell pitched in game 1 and was wrecked for two homers and five runs over seven innings. The Raccoons trailed 5-1 in the bottom 9th, when runners began to reach base. Ken Clement, who had entered in a double switch in the #9 spot, found the bases loaded with one out. Ed King balked and a run scored, then walked Clement. Hall was up and walked, another run scored. Clark struck out and Simon dashed one to right. Henderson and Clement came in to score and tie it, and Hall ran against Rafael Lopez’ weak arm – and was thrown out. The bases were loaded again in the bottom 10th with one out. Kieran Lawson came to pinch hit for righty Bill Craig. He lobbed one over the head of Manuel Flores to send the Raccoons off with a 6-5 win.

In the eighth and top 9th inning of that game, I was about to quit this game for good. Jenkins couldn’t get out of the ninth and Justice got a lucky out, and Powell had been wrecked, and they were scoring NO runs whatsoever…

Evans’ struggles with command continued in an ugly way. He walked three in the first inning for the second time in a row, and walked five in his short five-frame outing. The Raccoons tied it 4-4 in the bottom 5th to get him off the hook. Paul Cooper (and later Ben Jenkins) continued where Evans had started and the Bayhawks scored two unearned runs in the top 6th. Cooper’s ERA was still 0.00 in 16 IP, but his command was lacking. Raccoons pitchers walked a total of nine batters in the game and we lost 8-5. Johnston was 3-4, that was the first offensive performance worth mentioning in some time.

Stephano Bocci’s 2-run blast in the bottom 8th was all the scoring in the rubber game. The unlikely combo of Simmons and O’Rearden had combined for eight shutout innings, Gaston got his 12th save. Bocci had three hits, which made up for 60% of the Raccoons’ offensive output.

In other news:
May 19 – Alfonso Aranda ups his hit streak to 25 games with a 2-hit performance in a 5-1 win of Oklahoma City over Tijuana.
May 22 – Aranda goes 0-4 and stops at 26 games of hitting, as the Thunder lose 6-4 to the Condors.
May 23 – Aces catcher Tony Clark goes to a 20-game hitting streak.
May 23 – Rebels 1B Irwin Webster has also hit in 20 straight games.
May 28 – As Clark and Webster race against each other, Webster’s streak is over first as he is shut down by the Dallas Stars and strands at 23 games of hitting.
May 29 – Tony Clark won’t go any farther, the Canadiens chilling him and ending his streak at 23, too.
June 1 – Juan Medine barely had come back into the Rebels lineup, now he is already out for the rest of the season with a torn back muscle.

Powell (1.94) no longer leads the league in ERA, that is now – with 1.81 – Gary Simmons. That’s right. There are two pitchers named Gary Simmons. This Gary Simmons pitches for the Milwaukee Loggers. He first entered the majors last year, going 5-11 with a 4.73 ERA, but now is 7-3 and fairly dominant.

After 10-12 in April, we tanked it to 10-18 in May. The Raccoons are their usual selfs. Up next was a trip to Oklahoma and New York, then a homestand against Vancouver and Cincinnati. The road part of that interleague week would bring the Raccoons to Dallas.