[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-32) @ Indians (24-42) – June 22-24, 2026

Two miserable teams met for a 3-game midweek series in Indianapolis that ddn't have any big implications anymore and it was only June. The Indians ranked 11th in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, but the Coons were getting there… the season series stood 4-2 in Portland's favor… so far.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (7-3, 3.96 ERA) vs. John McInerney (3-7, 4.09 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (4-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. Chris Munroe (2-1, 2.70 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (5-2, 2.42 ERA) vs. Mo Robinson (2-7, 3.70 ERA)

Just like the last few series; left-right-right from the opposition. Great. Don't go out of your way to break us out of our rotten funk! By the way, Tom Shumway (4-9, 3.97 ERA) is still alive, but somehow we keep on missing him in these series.

To open this series, Alberto Ramos got his first off day in … since … I don't know, when did Carthage fall? He had been through a rough series against Boston, here was a left-hander, and Tim Stalker had been hot off the bench last week. Well, at least as hot as a Raccoon could be.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Gomez – LF Carmona – 3B Gerster – C Burrows – P Gutierrez
IND: LF Loya – CF Folk – RF Duarte – 2B Pizano – C T. Perez – 3B Good – SS Benedetto – 1B Tinsley – P McInerney

As both starters got scratched for a first-inning run, Rafael Gomez plating Mora with a 2-out single in the Coons' case, and Rico Gutierrez kept wavering against whatever opposition dared to show up, Butch Gerster also made us long for the return of Matt Nunley from the DL. Gerster looked bad on Brody Folk's double in the first inning – although Folk pulled something and was out of the game immediately, replaced by Richard Linnell, who was no less a pest – and then dropped Matt Good's poor pop to begin the second inning for an error. At least that latter one got cleaned up when one shortstop grounded sharply to the other, the Coons going 6-4-3 to bail out Gutierrez, who didn't seem like he had a plan at all.

By the third inning, the Indians were on their third centerfielder, which was at least some misery we could chuckle about, with Linnell getting hurt diving for a Mora fly. He got the fly, but he also suffered some backlash to the neck and came out right away. Hello, Alex Zanches (sic!) – we hope dearly you got insurance out there. The Mora fly in question moved Stalker – who had doubled – to third base, after which the Indians walked Gonzalez, but surrendered the go-ahead run on another Gomez single with two down. Lo and behold, Gomez would come up with runners on the corners for a third time in the fifth inning, this time with one out after Mora singled, stole second, and Good's error put Gonzalez aboard. And a better defensive third baseman than Good (Nunley?) would have turned his spiked grounder for a double play, but Good was eaten up by Gomez' lance up the line and Gomez had his third base knock, a 2-run triple, holding all out RBI's in the 4-1 game, at least until Cookie's sac fly ran the score to 5-1. All eyes on Rico now, the lone surviving starting pitcher in the game at this point. He had whiffed a pair in the third, gotten through the fourth okay, and it was really about improving on the last few starts, but the Indians kept squishing him. Jason Benedetto hit a leadoff double to left-center in the bottom 5th, then scored on two groundouts to get the Indians back within three, but Rico struck out three in the bottom 6th while allowing a 2-out single to Mario Pizano.

Portland added a run in the seventh inning when they had Mora and Cookie on the corners with two outs and Cookie twitched to get going. Myles Mood twitched as well, but did so with the foot on the rubber and was rightfully called out for a balk, which brought in Mora, 6-2, and gave Cookie second base anyway, after which Butch Gerster(!) got an intentional walk to bring up Burrows. It says something about your stature in the league when they walk BUTCH GERSTER intentionally to get to you; indeed Burrows popped out. Rico would not get through the bottom 7th, surrendering a 2-out run on Trent Herlihy's pinch-hit single on his 100th pitch, with Ricky Ohl getting a fly out from Ricky Loya to end the inning after that. The Indians' pen eroded for two runs in the ninth, Gomez remaining unretired with another single, before the Coons sent Alvin Smith into the 8-3 game against his former team. Leadoff walk to Tony Perez – alright, here we go. No, we didn't. Good and Benedetto struck out, Matt Tinsley fouled out to Burrows, and the game went into the books a win. 8-3 Raccoons. Mora 3-5; Gomez 4-4, BB, 3B, 4 RBI; Kopp (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gutierrez 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

Indy's Linnell went straight to the DL, Folk went for further tests, and Jake Burrows went 0-5 with an RBI groundout in the ninth. Don't do the math on that.

That is back-to-back wins for Portland for the first time since June 5-6 in New York. Don't do the math either.

And Matt Nunley won't come back before maaaaybe the weekend.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Gonzalez – CF Mora – LF Carmona – C O'Dell – 3B Bullock – P Anderson
IND: CF Zanches – LF Loya – 3B Good – 1B Herlihy – C T. Perez – RF Kaczenski – 2B Mack – SS Pizano – P Munroe

Kyle Anderson struck out pairs in each of the first three innings, which was out of the ordinary on one paw, and exploded his pitch count quickly on the other. There was no scoring early, but the Coons loaded the bags in the fourth inning on Spencer and Gonzalez singles – it was the 100th single for Jarod Spencer this year in game #71 – and a walk drawn by Mora. Cookie flew out to Gary Kaczenski, but deep enough to get Spencer home for a 1-0 lead, and then Good's not so good defense showed again and he couldn't come up with Brett O'Dell's grounder with two down and let it escape for an RBI single. Bullock flew out to end the inning, and then Anderson also gave the Indians three on and one out with Good and Perez singling, a wild pitch, and then a walk to Kaczenski. Craig Mack turned an 0-2 pitch into an RBI single into centerfield, Pizano's sac fly tied the game, and Munroe thankfully grounded out to end the charade.

For the Coons it got worse before it could get better. Munroe struck Jon Gonzalez with a pitch in the sixth inning and Gonzalez went into the dirt at once before being helped off the field to be replaced by Terry Kopp. That was surely going to help offense! On to the seventh, Bullock drew a leadoff walk and was bunted over by Anderson, prompting an intentional walk to Ramos. Spencer singled sharply up the middle, Bullock dashed for home and arrived well ahead of Alex Zanches' throw, which put Portland 3-2 ahead and the other runners also took an extra base on the throw. A throwing error by Good on Rafael Gomez' grounder brought in a run, and Kopp would at least chip in a sac fly to give the Coons a 5-2 lead at the seventh-inning stretch. Anderson made it through seven before Josh Boles threatened to make it interesting in the eighth. He faced the top of the order, and ran three full counts on Zanches, Duarte, and Good, retiring the first two but losing Good on balls eventually. Herlihy singled up the middle, Good went for third, but he had just all the rotten luck at this point, stumbled slightly halfway to third base and that cost him a few inches – the margin by which Abel Mora threw him out at third base to end the inning. On to the ninth, where Juan Magallanes opened as pinch-hitter for Boles, reached on Craig Mack's error (D was not the Arrowheads' strong suit…) then stole second base, the first loot of his major league career. Ramos was walked intentionally again, and, disgusted, both runners pulled off a double steal. Spencer found the hole between Good's legs for a 2-run single, and the resulting 5-run lead survived contact with Jeff Mudge in the ninth. 7-2 Coons. Ramos 2-3, 2 BB; Spencer 3-5, 3 RBI; Kopp 1-1, RBI; Mora 2-4, BB; Anderson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-4);

Jon Gonzalez was unwell and unavailable for the series finale.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Kopp – C O'Dell – LF Magallanes – 3B Gerster – P Delgadillo
IND: CF Zanches – LF Loya – 3B Good – 1B Herlihy – C T. Perez – RF Kaczenski – 2B Folk – SS Pizano – P Mo Robinson

Yusneldan Delgadillo told me before the game that his dead great-grandmother had appeared to him in a dream and had told him he would throw a complete game today, which was weird, but at least he didn't leave the game with an injury in the second inning, which was what happened to Mo Robinson just after a Gomez single, two wild pitches, and Magallanes' sac fly had put him on a 1-0 hook. But with dark clouds overhead, Delgadillo was probably no closer to a complete game than I was at this point, and indeed it started to rain in the third inning, which also saw Alex Zanches tie the game with a sac fly of his own after Pizano's leadoff double and a bunt by Pat Collins. There was a brief delay in the fourth inning, after which the middle innings were exceedingly dull right up until, with Zanches on first base and two outs, Trent Herlihy's fly to left looked like easy pickings for Magallanes, then hit the Coons rookie in the chest for a 2-base error, and if Zanches had been more alert, he would have scored. Tony Perez batted with men in scoring position instead, flew to deep, deep right, but somehow Rafael Gomez got glove on that drive that read 2-run double all over the bat, but instead ended the inning. When the tie was broken, it was the Indians anyway – Matt Tinsley homered off Delgadillo in the bottom 8th, giving them a 2-1 edge and Nick Salinas into the game for a save opportunity in the ninth. He threw one pitch with a chance for that, which Terry Kopp clobbered for a score-knotting leadoff jack, quietly also becoming the second Critter with as many as four home runs this season. When O'Dell doubled right after that, Bullock ran for him while Cookie batted for Magallanes only to be walked intentionally. Gerster bunted over the runners, after which Stalker batted for Delgadillo, who didn't want to let go of the bat for the dream with the complete game, but Dan, you are on 112 pitches and the game is on the ****ing line, so SHUT THE **** UP AND SIT DOWN. Stalker lined out to Good, Ramos was walked intentionally routinely now despite an 0-for-4 day, and Spencer grounded out to Good to strand a full set of runners, and that allowed the Indians to walk off against Surginer in the bottom 9th on Pizano's single, him stealing second base, and then Tinsley's walkoff single to right center. 3-2 Indians. Kopp 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Delgadillo 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K;

Matt Nunley returned from the DL in time for the Friday game, with Butch Gerster (.222) sent back to St. Pete, but the Coons were still without Jon Gonzalez as the weekend series kicked off in Mexico.

Raccoons (39-33) @ Condors (35-37) – June 26-28, 2026

Third in the South and six games out, the Condors were looking to have themselves some coonsteaks. They were actually having similar success to us in the runs thing, sitting eighth in runs scored and tied for second (with us) in runs allowed. They had a very good bullpen especially, something that the Raccoons could not claim at all at this point. The Coons' pen had an ERA .6 runs worse than the rotation… Portland had a 2-1 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (0-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Danny Castaneda (3-2, 3.62 ERA)
Mark Roberts (8-4, 2.70 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (6-4, 2.51 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (8-3, 3.97 ERA) vs. George Griffin (5-4, 2.84 ERA)

For a change, the left-hander would pop up in the middle game, as the teams' aces would match up, with the right-handed Costa Rican Castaneda in the opener instead.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C O'Dell – P Nomura
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – CF Chaplin – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF O. Larios – C Sanford – LF Denzler – 2B Bross – P Castaneda

Joel Denzler's throwing error when Ramos went first-to-third on Gomez' 2-out single in the third inning saw the ball get far enough away from Shane Sanks to allow Ramos to race for home plate, scoring the first run of the game, but the Condors were not far removed from a comeback. Bottom 4th, Nomura allowed runners to occupy the corners with nobody out after a Sanks double and Omar Larios' single. Pat Sanford grounded a ball sharply at Nunley, which was usually the recipe for goodness, but Nunley showed rust fresh off the DL and mishandled the ball into a run-scoring error. Denzler hit into a fielder's choice, stole second, but Dave Bross struck out, leaving it to the pitcher with two outs and as many in scoring position. Annoyingly, Castaneda singled through the left side to give himself a lead when Larios scored. Denzler tried to have some, too, but was thrown out at home by Cookie, ending the inning in a 2-1 deficit. The Raccoons would go on to put a man on base in every inning that followed, but usually hit into a double play (Gomez in the fifth f.e.) or popped out incessantly until the inning was over. The Condors added two runs in the bottom 7th on Mike Chaplin going 4-for-4 with a 2-out single off Billy Brotman, then stole second against Jeff Mudge and scored on Kevin McGrath's single. Mudge moved the runner over with a wild pitch, then conceded him on Sanks' single. Top 8th, at a point where nothing much was expected anymore from the Critters they got Nunley on base with a 2-out walk. Cookie singled in a full count, moving Nunley to third base, after which O'Dell found the gap with a drive and landed an RBI double. Suddenly the tying runs were in scoring position, the pitcher's spot was up and … and the bench consisted of Burrows, Bullock, and Magallanes. Ack! Bullock was sent because he could bat left-handed against Castaneda, who was not removed because the Condors could see our bench very clearly. Bullock flew out to Denzler, and that was more or less the ballgame. 4-2 Condors. Carmona 1-2, 2 BB; O'Dell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Nomura 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (0-2);

By Saturday the Raccoons had placed Jon Gonzalez on the DL, finally, with a broken elbow. He was out for the season. And with that, at 31 years and 38 days of age, it was time for the major league debut of 1B Kyle Koel, batting .400 with no homers in AAA in the 15 games since he had arrived there, which was a weird way of saying I had little to no hope for him.

ALWAYS MORE GOODNESS 'ROUND HERE.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – LF Gomez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – 1B Koel – C O'Dell – P Roberts
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – C Zarate – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – LF Hatley – CF Chaplin – RF Denzler – 2B Bross – P Little

Amazingly, Kyle Koel failed to come up with the first chance of his major league career, a bouncer by Bob Rojas that was neither dangerous nor deceitful and went past Koel for a "single". Danny Zarate hit into a two-for-one right after that, which was probably everything that spared Koel from getting his skull parted with an axe after the game. Or during the game. He also flew out to Nick Hatley in a 3-0 count in the second inning, which was helpful in ticking off all the usual boxes about why a 31-year-old never made the major leagues.

While Koel was around for comic relief – depending on your affiliation with one team or the other, your quality of fun probably varied though – the two pitchers in question hardly missed a beat. Roberts put a few guys on in the early inning, but overall neither had his defenses breached for runs through five innings. Roberts had a 3-hitter, whiffing six, but was outdone by Little's 1-hitter and 7 K. Little would manufacture the first interesting situation for Portland himself in the sixth inning, walking Spencer with two outs, then putting Mora on when he dropped McGrath's feed at first base. Gomez grounded out to Sanks, though, ending the inning. The Condors also left a pair on in the bottom 6th, in which Roberts walked Zarate, then plunked McGrath, but nothing came of that, either. Nunley chugged a double in the seventh that led nowhere nice, then came to bat in the eighth with three on, two outs, and Markus Bates trying to keep Little's effort in one piece. He rung up Nunley on three pitches, and instead the Condors broke the drought with Pat Sanford's pinch-hit leadoff jack off Roberts in the bottom 8th. That was all Roberts allowed. And it was enough. Tony Harrell threw four pitches in the ninth, getting Cookie, O'Dell, and Stalker to fly out to Chad Highsmith in centerfield three times. 1-0 Condors. Spencer 2-3, BB; Roberts 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (8-5);

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C O'Dell – P Gutierrez
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – C Zarate – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF O. Larios – CF Chaplin – LF Denzler – 2B Bross – P Griffin

The Coons had Mora double in the first for no serious consequences, but Terry Kopp led off the second with a double into the rightfield corner. Griffin struck out Matt Nunley, except that Zarate could not contain the ball and not only did Nunley reach on the uncaught third strike, but Kopp also scooted to third base, allowing Cookie to bring him in for the first run in the game with a sac fly to center. It was not the last time in the game that Kopp was scored by Cookie; both hit doubles in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 2-0. Rico held the Condors hitless into the fourth until McGrath's solo homer got them on the board anyway, cutting that lead to 2-1.

Griffin left the game after only 5.1 innings of not being whacked around very hard by the Raccoons; instead he had whacked Kopp with a pitch, but nothing ill happened to his ERA after his departure because Nunley refused to let Cookie come up again and instead hit into a double play against Bobby Thompson, who would put the least effort ever into 2.2 innings of perfect relief, throwing just 24 pitches against the lackluster Coons, who STILL held a 2-1 lead because Rico was picking his fights carefully, at least until he met Pat Sanford, last night's spoiler. Sanford spoiled again, singling into leftfield, and Rico was gone after Bob Rojas bunted the tying run into scoring position. Ricky Ohl inherited that tough spot, in which the Raccoons would manage to make the absolute worst of what they had. Ohl had Zarate at 1-2 before allowing a liner to left. Ramos lunged, missed it, Cookie picked it up, saw Sanford making for home, unleashed a laser that was off, the runner scored, and Cookie left the game in pain, replaced by Magallanes while Zarate scooted into scoring position. And only after all that mess, Ohl struck out McGrath and Sanks to end the inning.

The Raccoons had the go-ahead run on third base with one out in the ninth inning. Facing Markus Bates, Rafael Gomez had singled, stolen second base (his first of the year actually), and had advanced on Kopp's groundout. All eyes on Nunley – except the Condors weren't buying it. They wanted the .136 slugger Magallanes up, right now. So they walked Nunley intentionally, only to have Bates drill the rookie, giving O'Dell three on with one down, but he struck out in a full count, and Tim Stalker flew out to Larios. GODDAMNIT, ****ING SCUMBAGS!!! Billy Brotman would then not get a single pitch across in the bottom 9th, but somehow retired the side in order thanks in no small part due to Magallanes making a sprawling catch on Larios' leadoff drive before tumbling over the warning track, eating some dirt in the process.

Extra innings, yay? Alberto Ramos got on base after an 0-for-4 day when Bates plunked him as well, then was caught stealing before Spencer singled. He was left on by Mora and Gomez. Somehow there was an 11th despite Brotman and Mudge conspiring in the bottom 10th, and Kopp met Zach Weaver's first pitch for a leadoff jack. That one was already impressive and well outta here, but the next pitch was hit even further by Matt Nunley as the Coons went back-to-back when it was least expected! Merrily, Jonathan Snyder, though unseen for a while, was still alive and well nurtured and would surely get through the meat of the order with no issues in the bottom 11th. Well, again, all depended on your standards for "no issues". McGrath led off with a scathed liner to left for a base hit. He thought he had a triple. Magallanes though he had a double. The rookie was right, throwing the runner out at third base. Sanks sharply grounded out to Nunley, and Larios rolled over to Spencer to end the game after that. 4-2 Coons. Kopp 3-4, HR, 2 2B, RBI; Carmona 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Brotman 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

In other news

June 26 – The Aces trade 2B/3B Emilio Farias (.359, 0 HR, 10 RBI), who is 39 years old, to the Capitals for OF Luis Leija (.286, 2 HR, 24 RBI), age 29.
June 26 – BOS 1B Jay Elder (.235, 3 HR, 31 RBI) drives in five in the Titans' 18-3 rout over the Falcons, in which BOS SP Guillermo Regalado (5-3, 2.20 ERA) even carries a no-hitter into the eighth inning before having it broken up by CHA 1B Russ Greenwald (.286, 0 HR, 0 RBI) with a leadoff double.
June 27 – Rebels and Wolves end up in a 6-6 lock in the seventh inning, then don't score for about three hours before the Rebels break through with two in the top of the 18th inning to win eventually, 8-6. No player on either team did anything remarkable in a 6:38 slog.
June 28 – NAS SP Sergio Arendondo (1-3, 6.33 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.

Complaints and stuff

Yeah, THAT Russ Greenwald. There is only one in the census records going back to 1790.

When Terry Kopp is your last hope for one-swipe offense, you might as well fold.

With that broken elbow, that 5-year extension to Jon Gonzalez looks REALLY good now. Man! I really have a paw for assembling players into teams that everybody talks about! Speaking of talk – I think a momentous occasion like the major league debut of a 31-year-old career AA roster filler like Koel (pronounce: coal) in the starting lineup like on Saturday marks the point where any once hopeful team officially resigns from the competition. In our case and this year, it occurred on June 27.

No, Maud, we'll give out the Jon Gonzalez bobbleheads anyway next month. They were expensive. – No, we won't model arm casts onto them.

As far as our outfield "depth" was concerned, Greg Borg went on the DL with a separated shoulder, joining Omar Alfaro and Devin Mansfield as nominal Alley Cats on the minor league DL. So it would be interesting to find a replacement for Cookie Carmona, who has to hit the DL with shoulder soreness and is probably out until the All Star Game.

Lost in last week's detritus was the fact that the Raccoons had been swept by the Stars for the first time since 1997, also known as the Year of Brrrr.

At 7-17 and with two games left in June, the Raccoons still have a chance for a 7-19 month.

The Raccoons most recently lost 18 games in a month … TWENTY YEARS AGO. It was May of 2005, also known as the penultimate howl of the Decade of Darkness. It was the Yoshi Yamada Year. Nick Brown won 15 games. Clyde Brady went deep 22 times. They still lost 92.

Fun Fact: Jonathan Toner and Mark Roberts have identical 1.07 career WHIP marks for the best among active pitchers.

Of course, Toner's has been on the rise. He is with the Wolves right now. Wolves occupy the third and fourth spots as well, Jorge Beltran and Joel Davis, the latter a former Raccoons reliever. Jonny Toner has been demoted to swingman status by now. He has made 12 appearances (4 starts) this season, going 36.2 innings for a 3-1 record and 2.45 ERA. He has struck out 34, which is even an increase in K/9, but he could not be further from the Hall of Fame right now…

No clue when the Coons most recently lost 19 in a month, but not as long as I have kept the monthly stat caps in 2004.