[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-16) vs. Crusaders (17-19) – May 15-17, 2029

This was the first series this season with New York, who the Coons had beaten 13 times in 2028, and to whom the Coons had not lost the season series since 2024. The Crusaders had the worst offense in the Continental League (compared to the best for the Critters), and were entertaining merely average pitching. Their run differential was a depressing -30. They were also not exactly great in either power, speed, or defense, and it looked like the season might have a lot more trouble in store for them.

Projected matchups:
Billy Ramm (5-2, 2.93 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (2-5, 5.56 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (4-2, 5.30 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (2-1, 2.79 ERA)
Rin Nomura (0-0) vs. Robbie Gonzalez (0-4, 7.58 ERA)

Three right-handers on the plate here. The off day on Monday could allow the Crusaders to move Eddie Cannon (3-1, 3.51 ERA) into the set, but he was also right-handed.

We made two roster moves going into this series, activating Rin Nomura from his rehab assignment, as well as Jonathan Fleischer off the DL, placed Juan Barzaga (14.85 ERA) on outright waivers, and sent Trevor Draper back to St. Petersburg. Meanwhile we were still without Kevin Harenberg, but expected him to get back into the lineup by Thursday or Friday. Nick Valdes was standing next to me at the big window as the opening contest was about to start and asked me who would provide the thump with Harenberg out and Hereford having the blues. I shrugged, not knowing an answer. But in recent times, somebody had almost always come through…

Game 1
NYC: LF I. Vega – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – 1B Tadlock – RF Reardon – 2B T. Fuentes – SS Cameron – CF Ugolino – P Moffatt
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – P Ramm

Valdes was disgruntled before long given that Billy Ramm needed little time to ruin his evening out at the ballpark… and that of the remaining 23,000 and change in attendance, too. Leadoff walk to Chris Reardon in the second, then a booming homer by Tony Fuentes in line drive fashion, swiftly followed by another walk to Joe Cameron… and another 2-run homer hit by Fabien Ugolino. In the third, Ivan Vega singled and Andy Schmit homered, making it 6-0 and putting the game more or less to bed already. Sean Rigg came on in the fourth and had his very first pitch belted for a solo shot by Vega, while through five innings the damn Raccoons did not even touch SECOND base, and actually didn’t get that far until the eighth inning, when Nunley hit his second leadoff single in a row, and this time was not even doubled home by Gomez, but stranded on third base when Daniel Rocha fouled out on an 0-2 pitch. Ron Tadlock hit a leadoff double off Surginer in the ninth which turned into a tack-on run on Fuentes’ sac fly, which saw Abel Mora unleash such a bad throw (30 feet at best) that the trainer hustled out and hauled him in when Mora admitted to having felt pain. Magallanes took over for the last out on the Crusaders’ part, while Doug Moffatt completed a 4-hit shutout on six strikeouts and 89 pitches. 8-0 Crusaders. Nunley 3-3;

Well, the daily shambles report hints at elbow discomfort for Abel Mora, so he would be out of the lineup for at least a few days, but was officially listed as day-to-day and felt nothing while swinging a bat, so was available for pinch-hitting and running the bases. And he LITERALLY felt nothing, as in the arm doesn’t seem to be there anymore.

All good, all good. Bring the purple poopers on again.

Interlude: waiver claim

But in between, the Raccoons claimed left-hander Mauricio Garavito (0-0, 1.04 ERA) off waivers by the Bayhawks. The 27-year-old third-year reliever would replace Morales on the roster, who had an ERA of zip, but that did not show that he had allowed almost all of his inherited runners to score in his brief time up, and I wasn’t having that. So while we claimed Garavito off waivers, Morales ended up ON waivers.

Raccoons (21-16) vs. Crusaders (17-19) – May 15-17, 2029

Game 2
NYC: 1B J. Espinosa – LF I. Vega – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – CF Ugolino – 2B T. Fuentes – RF Reardon – SS Laughery – P Marron
POR: SS Ramos – CF Magallanes – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – RF Baldwin – P Delgadillo

Nick Valdes had over night gone through the empty bottles around the place, had sorted them by color and had taken them out for recycling; he also refused to leave before the team gave him a W. To that end, Rich Hereford sat in the middle game in addition to all the other personnel that could not be involved, because he had a dead guy’s look in the eyes and could take some watching from the sidelines.

Portland scored first in the first, Ramos walking, stealing, and scoring on a Stalker single. Never mind Alberto was almost doubled off second base on a stupendously early start when Magallanes lined out to Tony Fuentes. The lead was not going to last, but at least Delgadillo waited for more than the customary two innings before whistlingly wandering into a rape factory. It was a leadoff double by Andy Schmit that went through the left side in the fourth that would eventually give the Crusaders the tying run on Fuentes’ 2-out, 0-2 single to left-center, but the Schmit double was the one that bugged me because I could not help but imagine that 28-year-old Matt Nunley would have had that ball for breakfast. 38-year-old Matt Nunley didn’t seem to react well to it at all. It could not have been the plate with pie in his bare paw; he had made a 15-year career out of having pie on the field in the fourth inning… and the seventh…

Marron faced the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 5th then, having put on Ramos and Magallanes with singles before he also lost Tim Stalker in a full count. Jamieson was 0-for-2 in the game, but technically had the highest batting aveage in the lineup at .314 right now; we were hoping for good things! We got a pop to short. Nunley however, the chief cashier on the team still, singled to left to bring in at least Ramos with the go-ahead marker. Gomez flew out to Reardon in shallow right, but Reardon could not catch up with Tovias’ fly to right that reached the track for a 2-out, 2-run double, 4-1. The inning ended after an intentional walk to Chris Baldwin, who had his rule 5 status as his only excuse for being on the roster, and Delgadillo flying out easily to Vega in leftfield. Nunley had two on with two out in the bottom 6th and tested the D of Ugolino in center with a long fly, but it had too much hangtime and was a rather easy third out.

Delgadillo lasted one out in the seventh before allowing a single to Joe Cameron. Brotman came on against the left-handed Juan Espinosa and got a double play to clean up, and then Gomez and Tovias hit doubles off Brent Beene to go to the corners right away in the bottom 7th. Beene plated a run with a wild pitch, ended up walking Baldwin when the rule fiver didn’t even try very hard, and then the Coons sent Hereford to bat for Brotman, because watching and learning was one thing, but a 3-man ben was entirely another. Beene remained in to face him, ran a full count, then hung a curve that was never seen again after Hereford walloped it over the fence in left-center. That put the Coons up by seven, and they made it nine in the following inning with Daniel Rocha’s pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-run single past Schmit. Garavito made his Coons debut in the ninth and retired the Crusaders on six pitches. 10-1 Furballs. Rocha (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Magallanes 3-6; Stalker 3-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-5, RBI; Tovias 5-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Baldwin 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Hereford (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Delgadillo 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (5-2);

After that 5-hit effort, Elias Tovias’ batting average is up to a nice, round, .222 …

Also, on a staff with Mark Roberts, Tom Shumway, (and at one point Rico Gutierrez), Dan Delgadillo and Billy Ramm with a combined ERA of 4.27 co-led the team in wins with five each. Nobody else even had four.

And here came Rin, who had zero.

Game 3
NYC: LF I. Vega – 3B Schmit – C F. Delgado – 1B Tadlock – RF Reardon – 2B T. Fuentes – SS Cameron – CF Ugolino – P R. Gonzalez
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Nomura

Ivan Vega opened Nomura’s return by doubling to left after a 9-pitch battle, but Nomura dug a trench, struck out two, and Tadlock grounded out to third to waste the instant opportunity. In fact, the Crusaders’ first four hits off Nomura were all for extra bases. They just weren’t bunching them up until the fourth inning, in which Ron Tadlock opened with a triple to right, but scored on Reardon’s sac fly even before Fuentes hit a double (and was stranded). That erased a 1-0 lead from the second inning, which Hereford had opened with an infield single, Nunley had doubled to center, but the Coons only got a Tovias sac fly after that, and Nunley and Hereford bickered at each other in the dugout because Nunley thought Hereford should have scored on the double, which then would have put them even in terms of RBI, which was a stupid fight, but maybe it could bring out… the best in them?

Those two made outs to begin the bottom 4th, but Tovias homered to break the 1-1 tie. The Coons actually put the next three batters on base on two singles and a walk, but Stalker flew out to Reardon to leave the bases stacked. Bitterly, Nomura walked two after Ivan Vega homered the game tied in the top 5th, threw a wild pitch, and surrendered the Crusaders’ go-ahead run on a Tadlock single. Felipe Delgado would be thrown out at home by Hereford to end the frame. This was not the last swing of the pendulum of fortune in the game, though. Nunley and Magallanes reached base in the bottom 6th, and at that point Abel Mora was sent to bat for Nomura, but grounded into a fielder’s choice at second. However, since running was not an issue, he remained in the game for the Ramos at-bat with two outs, and scored when Alberto rammed a shot through Ron Tadlock and into the corner for a 2-run double, flipping the Coons back into the lead at 4-3. Robby Gonzalez got yanked for Jesse Wright, who got Stalker to ground out to end the sixth. Surginer pitched a clean seventh before Wright walked Harenberg and got a new branding by Rich Hereford with a 2-run bomb over the wall in rightfield, 6-3! Ricky Ohl struck out the side in the eighth, and Josh Boles ended the game without creating the utmost danger… because Ryan Anderson hit into a double play before he could walk Ugolino to bring up the tying run… 6-3 Coons! Ramos 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hereford 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B;

This was the first save for Josh Boles in 12 days, and it was not entirely his fault…? But almost. He blew one attempt against the Rebels, but only made two appearances between the Rebels set and now.

Raccoons (23-17) vs. Thunder (24-17) – May 18-20, 2029

Despite their better record, the Thunder were, after being swept by the Aces during the week, five games out and only in third place in the South which seemed to have made a swift turnaround from the crapfest it had been only two years ago. They ranked fourth in runs scored, but ninth in runs allowed, so there were questions as to their viability as a contender despite the good record. Their rotation looked really crummy, ninth in ERA with a 4.44 mark. The Coons had beaten them six times in 2028 and had won the season series three years straight.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (2-3, 4.36 ERA)
Tom Shumway (3-3, 2.22 ERA) vs. Peter Gill (2-2, 3.16 ERA)
Billy Ramm (5-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Zach Warner (2-2, 6.07 ERA)

„Graveyard“ Gill figured to be the only southpaw we would get this week. He would be a nice measuring stick, though, as the Coons were so far 7-3 against lefty pitching this year.

The Thunder were tied for second in bombs, but dead last in stolen bases and nearly last in defense. But at least we would see Dave Garcia this time around, and on the field, too, not just in a cast on the sidelines… The perpetually injured ace outfielder was batting .325 with 5 HR and 24 RBI at this point. Also batting .316 for the team in limited exposure? 44-year-old Jose Gutierrez, who will probably still be suiting up when all of us are long dead and forgotten.

Game 1
OCT: SS L. Rivera – C Burgess – LF D. Brown – 3B D. Garcia – CF Dalton – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Sagredo – 2B Kane – P Klein
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – P Roberts

Dave Garcia whacked a 3-run homer off Roberts in his first chance, so there was a subtle hint that maybe us and Mark would not all be okay eventually. Mike Burgess had doubled, and Dan Brown had lined a sharp single to right to set Garcia up for early heroics. Roberts calmed down after that and only shed a flurry of singles in the next bushel of innings, and the Coons made up a run right away on a Stalker single and Harenberg double in the bottom 1st, but once Tovias doubled up Nunley in the bottom 2nd they did not get on base anymore, and it was still a 3-1 game in the bottom 6th when Ramos opened with a triple over the head of Dan Dalton in deep right-center. Jamieson drove in the run with a single after Stalker lined out to Mike Kane, but was then also caught stealing on a botched hit-and-run with Kevin Harenberg. Like you have to point out that anything involving Harenberg was ever botched… Roberts lasted eight in a budding loss before Abel Mora hit a 1-out double in his spot against a still resilient Chris Klein. Ramos narrowly landed a bloop which Ricky Loya got so close to that Mora had to hold halfway too long to make a bid for home plate, so Stalker came up with runners on the corners, lined a pitch over the leaping Dave Garcia and up the leftfield line. When Dan Brown could not cut it off and the ball rolled to the corner, everybody knew that this was a score-flipper rather than just a play to tie; Ramos came around from first base with the go-ahead run, and even had time for a refreshment and a chat with the third base coach on the way. Stalker moved up to third on Jamieson’s single, and the Thunder still hoped that the experienced Klein could get a double play grounder from Harenberg, but he hung his 101st pitch of the night and Harenberg did not miss it at all. The park roared KEVIIIIIN when the ball broke the plane over the rightfield fence, and out of the blue the Critters were up by a slam. The Thunder were so stunned, they could not even do harm onto Sean Rigg in the ninth inning. 7-3 Furballs!! Ramos 2-4, 3B; Stalker 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Jamieson 2-4, RBI; Harenberg 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Mora (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 2
OCT: SS. L. Rivera – RF Sagredo – LF D. Brown – 3B D. Garcia – CF Dalton – 1B J. Gutierrez – C L. Riley – 2B Kane – P Gill
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 1B Gomez – CF Magallanes – 3B Gerster – C Rocha – P Shumway

Shumway blatantly obviously lacked stuff, whiffing only one batter through five innings and blowing up a 2-0 lead that Rafael Gomez had given him with a 2-piece in the bottom 2nd (Gomez’ first dinger in ‘29…) when the Thunder strafed him for three doubles by Sagredo, Dalton, and Gutierrez, and he had had at least two of those on two strikes, but could not get rid of them. The Coons had only two base hits through four innings; Ramos had landed a soft single in the third in addition to the Gomez shot. The fifth then began with Rocha grounding out, but Shumway then worked a walk against a confused Gill, and Ramos rolled a ball on the infield that sparked even more confusion and the Thunder didn’t get any runner out on the play. Gill then walked Stalker on four pitches, loading the bases for Jamieson with one out. Dave Garcia made a strong play on Jamieson’s grounder to left, zinged to second for the second out, but the return zing was not in time and the Coons took the lead as Shumway came home. Thinking about it, Shumway would have been a better out to get here… maybe in a later inning? That brought up Hereford with Critters on the corners, but his liner was shagged by Lorenzo Rivera to end the inning.

The Coons tagged on a run in the following inning. Gomez’ leadoff walk turned into a run thanks to Magallanes’ grounder to first and Butch Gerster doubling to the fence in left. Shumway suddenly found his stuff, whiffing pairs in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the Coons also stranded pairs of runners in either inning and it was still a 4-2 affair. Shumway was on 92 pitches through seven and remained in even with right-handed Ricky Loya pinch-hitting for Gill to begin the eighth. Loya grounded out to short, but Shumway walked Rivera, then hung around to face Luis Sagredo, a lefty batter, who grounded out. That was it; with right-handed .311 power hitter Dan Brown coming up, the Coons went to Ricky Ohl (who got the out) in a double switch that also placed Harenberg on first base with a guarantee to bat in the bottom 8th and would do so with Gerster on second base and one out after a leadoff double off Dusty Kulp, who had an ERA under one that he soiled himself by throwing a wild pitch that allowed Gerster to score on a soft single to left hit by Harenberg. The Raccoons got an additional run after Ramos hit into a fielder’s choice, then stole second in a pitchout that nevertheless saw Liam Riley throw the ball into centerfield in eager anticipation. Ramos scampered to third, from where Stalker singled him in. With that, the save was off for Josh Boles, but not for Ricky Ohl, who retired the 4-5-6 batters in order to finish the game. 6-2 Coons. Ramos 2-5; Gomez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gerster 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Harenberg 1-1, RBI; Shumway 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-3); Ohl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (2);

Game 3
OCT: SS L. Rivera – C Burgess – LF D. Brown – 3B D. Garcia – CF Dalton – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Hodgers – 2B Kane – P Warner
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – 3B Nunley – RF Gomez – C Tovias – CF Baldwin – P Ramm

The Raccoons had two base hits the first time through the order: a Nunley single in the second… and a Jonathan Fleischer single in the third… Like on Tuesday, Billy Ramm was blown up immediately; Rivera walked, Burgess singled, Brown accidentally grounded out, Garcia hit an RBI single, and then Dalton and Gutierrez hit back-to-back doubles that ran the score to 4-0 in a third of an inning. There was something majestic about seeing a 44-year-old man bust his bones to second base, but I would rather see the Coons keep winning. Could they keep winning with Billy Ramm anywhere near them? Not bloody quite. He walked Victor Hodgers, nailed Kane, allowed one run on Warner’s grounder, and then two more on Rivera’s single, and was then yanked before the inning was over, stuck in a 7-0 hole. The game was of course over despite the Fleischer single that opened a 2-run rally in the bottom 3rd. Ramos doubled, and the runners scored on a Stalker sac fly and Harenberg single, respectively. Fleischer was abused for four innings of shutout ball, and we then got four outs from Garavito, the recent arrival, but the Coons did not threaten to have another rally in them until the bottom of the sixth when Warner allowed singles to Hereford and Nunley, who went to the corners to begin the inning. Gomez had doubled up Nunley the last time around, and now grounded to Garcia, but the perpetually limp Garcia missed it for an RBI single. Suddenly – the whiff of a chance. Tovias flew out to center, Mora hit for Garavito and popped out, and Magallanes whiffed entirely to blow off said chance.

A Kane homer off Sean Rigg in the eighth moved Oklahoma out of slam range, but the Raccoons grappled against Dusty Kulp again in the bottom of the inning. Gomez, Jamieson, and Magallanes all hit singles, loading them up with two outs for Ramos, who would face new lefty Danny O’Reilly, hit a ****ty grounder on the infield, but legged the ****ing thing out for an RBI single. Out with O’Reilly, in with Ying-hua Ou against Tim Stalker. Ou lasted four pitches, all balls, before Paul Metzler came in for Harenberg, but Metzler was a right-hander actually, while Kevin was the go-ahead run. …and struck out. 8-5 Thunder. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Harenberg 2-5, RBI; Nunley 3-5; Gomez 2-5, RBI; Jamieson (PH) 1-1; Fleischer 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K and 1-1;

In other news

May 14 – The Titans amount to only six hits in a 3-2 win over the Loggers that takes 18 innings to complete until BOS 2B/3B Rhett West (.236, 5 HR, 19 RBI) singles home BOS 3B/SS Stephen Williams (.220, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and hands MIL MR Alex Gutierrez (0-2, 4.05 ERA) the loss in his fourth inning of work.
May 15 – The Knights acquire C Matt Dehne (.214, 2 HR, 9 RBI) from the Rebels in exchange for OF Billy Jennings (.189, 3 HR, 18 RBI) and an unranked pitching prospect.
May 15 – A torn labrum ends the season of MIL SP Morgan Shepherd (1-4, 4.34 ERA).
May 18 – BOS SP Jeremy Waite (4-2, 2.80 ERA) is expected to miss an entire year for elbow reconstruction surgery. Several elbow ligaments seem to be damaged for the 30-year-old right-hander.
May 18 – NAS MR Chris Pyles (0-1, 8.31 ERA) ends an 11-inning affair with the Stars with a wild pitch that plates DAL 2B/SS Lazaro Hernandez (.300, 0 HR, 3 RBI) to give Dallas a 10-9 win.
May 19 – LVA SP Jose Menendez (6-3, 4.34 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in a 3-0 shutout, whiffing five.
May 19 – The Wolves spank the Miners, 15-2, with SAL LF/RF Yasuhiro Kuramoto (.247, 4 HR, 12 RBI) driving in three runs in a 4-hit game.
May 20 – The Buffaloes rally to erase a 7-run deficit in the ninth inning against the Warriors, then still come apart for four runs in the top of the 10th inning to lose, 12-8.

Complaints and stuff

(makes a combing motion on Honeypaws’s fur, but does not actually hold a comb) We haven’t had a 1-run win in almost a month… and it is not for a lack of wins. Delgadillo and three relievers squeezed out Abramo Archibugi and the Aces in a 2-1 game on April 25, and since then the Coons have routinely won not only by two runs, but by three or more. 15-7 since that Aces game, and seven wins in a row with a margin of victory of 3+ runs (although there were of course defeats in between). Having too many good contributors to the offense is not a problem we are used to having. I am besides myself in this unknown situation. (is still pretend-combing Honeypaws)

Of course we still have pitching problems. I won’t say who is seriously behind the #8 ball right now, but he allowed 13 runs in 3.2 innings this week. Problem is, we still have no prospects to consider. There would be Dave Martinez, who got royally spanked in a brief cameo last season, and there would be Garrett Sparkman, a 27-year-old trash heap pickup (he signed in April) with barely two-and-a-half pitches that is part of the once-it-has-all-gone-to-hell reserve. He has a 3.48 ERA in 41.1 innings in St. Pete, but he also had a .264 BABIP working to his advantage.

The Waite injury news came out like 24 hours after the Titans signed him to a 4-yr, $12.64M extension. I don’t know who does the physicals over there, but they might be able to use a professional in that role! … Mena, put down the frog. – Yes, that is the one I licked last week. – No, he’s still dry. – Maybe Chad still has some glue for you.

Fun Fact: Despite all the injuries, Dave Garcia has been worth 61 WAR in a 15-year career and is a .293/.360/.494 batter.

He also has 276 homers and 1,057 RBI. There is a Hall of Fame case to be made there, depending on how much you allow for injuries to interfere with greatness, in Garcia’s case two Player of the Year belts, four Platinum Sticks, a Gold Glove, a bunch of All Star nods, and a few murderous 35+ HR seasons in his early 20s before his shoulders, hips, and knees started to steadily crumble.

That injury-adjusted Hall of Fame case is the same that is to be made for Jonathan Toner a few years down the road…