[Westheim]

Raccoons (34-34) @ Loggers (37-30) – June 17-19, 2030

Four games in three days with the division-leading (!?) Loggers, who had the highest batting average in the league, but only the fourth-most runs. They were tied for third (with us) in runs allowed. We even had won four of five games against them this year… and we were still four spots below them in the division…

Projected matchups:
Sean Rigg (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. Joe West (4-6, 2.76 ERA)
Jose Menendez (6-4, 3.21 ERA) vs. Josh Long (1-7, 4.87 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-5, 4.68 ERA) vs. Francisco Colmenarez (9-3, 2.08 ERA)
Tom Shumway (2-6, 3.18 ERA) vs. Mike Hodge (1-3, 4.83 ERA)

It was not my usual nature to let the weaker guy go first in a double header, but there was intent to replace Rigg with another pitcher after the spot start, and it only made sense when he started the opener.

Colmenarez was the only southpaw we were expecting.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – P Rigg
MIL: CF Creech – 3B V. Diaz – C J. Young – LF Cambra – 1B Arroyo – RF Wheeler – SS Lockert – 2B Holder – P J. West

Rigg threw 27 pitches in the opening frame, including full-count walks issued to Vinny Diaz, Jim Young, and Esteban Arroyo, before Mike Wheeler grounded out to Ramos on the first pitch he saw, stranding all the precious runners. Top 2nd, Harenberg grounded out to begin the inning, but then Rich Hereford doubled to right and Joe West walked the bags full after that, bringing up Pizzo with three on and one out. The beleaguered backstop struck out, while the spot starter Rigg dropped a bloop into shallow right, near the line, to plate the first two runs of the game. Whatever works! Ramos also struck an RBI single to right-center, but Mora grounded out, leaving the score at 3-0. The Loggers made up a run immediately. Rigg walked Kaleb Holder in the bottom 2nd (way to go…), then allowed 2-out singles to Gabe Creech and Diaz to maneuver the second baseman around.

Then some light rain got involved, which intensified enough to give us a 25-minute rain delay in the fourth inning, which was so gonna help Sean Rigg cover at least some more distance… It was five innings in the end for the spot starter, and he also left trailing in the game thanks to a ****ty fifth inning. Jim Young led off with a single and the doors were blown off the barn right away. Firmino Cambra coaxed the fifth walk that Rigg gave up, Esteban Arroyo singled to load the bases, and Mike Wheeler hit a game-tying 2-run single. The go-ahead run scored on a Holder groundout, putting Milwaukee up 4-3. Portland actually loaded the bases in the sixth inning with a Stalker single, a Matt Lockert error that put Jamieson on, and after Pizzo whiffed Ryan Allan walked in Rigg’s place. That would bring up Ramos with two down, but he grounded out to Arroyo…

Top 7th, how about another attempt? Mora led off with a single, knocking out West, but went to third base anyway on Nunley’s single off righty Jonathan Hose. In a stunning upset, Harenberg ripped the first pitch he got from Hose to deep left, off the fence, and that one tied the game as an RBI double, and it also left runners in scoring position with nobody out. The Loggers wanted to piece of Hereford, walking him intentionally, which was such a nasty move to set up the Critters with three on and nobody out. With the greatest pains, the Coons got one run on a Jamieson groundout. Stalker popped out, Pizzo pathetically whiffed, stranding a pair in a 5-4 game. The Raccoons got through the sixth and seventh with Fleischer, then longed to use Ohl for two outs in the eighth and Boles for four after that, starting with the #1 batter Creech. A grounder to short and two strikeouts did away with the Loggers in the eighth, so that part worked; in the intermission, Harenberg hit a leadoff single in the ninth, was run for with Baldwin, but the utility guy never got off first base until three outs were made, and so Boles remained left to his own devices in the bottom of the ninth. Cambra grounded out in 1-3 fashion. PH Wayne Morris whiffed. Wheeler rolled out to short. 5-4 Coons. Mora 2-5; Nunley 2-5; Harenberg 2-5, 2B, RBI; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (2-1);

With only three relievers available for the nightcap, the Raccoons made the roster move they had intended. Sean Rigg (0-1, 5.85 ERA) was sent back to the Alley Cats, and we activated career pain in the bum Nick Derks. The 29-year-old righty had pitched to a 12.38 ERA with the Coons in 2029, and a 4.26 with the Alley Cats this year, but it was not to be a permanent arrangement anyway…

Game 2
POR: LF Allan – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 3B Hereford – SS Stalker – 2B Baldwin – RF Gomez – C Tovias – P Menendez
MIL: CF Creech – 3B V. Diaz – SS W. Morris – LF Cambra – 1B Arroyo – RF Wheeler – C Canody – 2B Holder – P Long

Menendez was crisp… at least until there were two outs. Morris and Cambra hit 2-out singles in the bottom 1st, and an interspersed wild pitch allowed the Loggers to take a 1-0 lead, and the Loggers also hit 2-out knocks in the second and third innings, but without getting anybody across then. The Coons however were entirely frigid, amounting to one hit the first time through, and it took until the fifth for an actual chance to develop when Gomez and Tovias drew 1-out walks. Menendez bunted badly, though, getting Rafael forced out at third base, and Allan struck out on an 0-2 curve that was aimed at his hindpaws. While Menendez pitched well enough to win, the offense was not up to snuff at all. It took them until the *seventh* inning to get a second base hit, then a 1-out single by Baldwin into right-center. Rafael Gomez looped a ball over Morris for another single, and maybe we’d actually reach third base for the first time, if Elias Tovias, batting a flat .200 in more ways than one, could stop being full of **** and deliver something, anything. He flew out to left, I had trouble breathing, and yet our paws were forced; while Menendez might have had another inning or even two in him, we had to send a batter with two on and two outs. Alberto Ramos picked a stick, took a rip at the first offering he got from Josh Long, and vomited a 95mph heater over the fence in right-center, and plenty deep, too – score-flipping, pinch-hit, 2-out, 3-run homer by Alberto Ramos!!

After Allan and Mora landed 2-out hits, Harenberg grounded out, which was in his nature, and the Critters had to make do with what they could cobble together with their pen, which now consisted of Derks (cough!), Garavito, Surginer, and Brotman. The latter came out first and got through the bottom of the order with only one man put on base, and then Gabe Creech grounded out to short to leave Holder on base – and all this as rain came back. Surginer got the two right-handers Diaz and Morris in the eighth, and then the Coons made the same move as they had in the first game and went to the lefty for matchups, Garavito having to get four outs for the save here. He entered in a double switch that removed Stalker, with Hereford sliding over to short and Nunley entering at third base. One pitch ended the eighth when Cambra grounded out to Baldwin. That was his only pitch for more than an hour – rain delay! There was no risk of him being exhausted, having barely actually pitched, so he came back for the bottom of the ninth. Arroyo flew out to right, but Wheeler walked (he was a right-handed batter). Young pinch-hit and flew out, but another pinch-hitter, Aaron Sessoms, singled to left. Jason Rauser pinch-hit for the pitcher, which was at least another lefty to oppose Garavito, and again – only Nick Derks was left in the pen, and why go through that motion when you can lose it with Garavito, too? Rauser spiked a bouncer to short, where the Coons had – for reasons mysterious – removed the three-time Gold Glover for an occasional shortstop, but Hereford handled the ball for the final out, ending the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Allan 2-5; Ramos (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Menendez 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (7-4);

Albertoooooooooo!!! I love this boy!!

Nick Derks would hang around for another day or two, although I wouldn’t be mad if Rico would toss a shutout on Tuesday to keep him out of the game…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Baldwin – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Gomez – 3B Nunley – LF Jamieson – C Tovias – P Gutierrez
MIL: 3B V. Diaz – RF Cambra – SS W. Morris – C J. Young – CF Creech – 1B Arroyo – LF Holder – 2B Sessoms – P Colmenarez

Hereford and Nunley singles and a walk to Jamieson loaded them up for Elias Tovias and his .197 bat in the second inning. This time he struck out, as did Rico, and another offensive chance was wasted away. The same amount of offense – two singles and a walk – helped the Loggers to score a run in the bottom of the third, Vinny Diaz getting the RBI single off Rico. On to the fourth, where the middle of the order was stirring again. Hereford led off with a single, Gomez coaxed a free pass in a full count, and then came Nunley and pushd a single through the right side. Hereford was waved around and scored, barely, and the trailing runners advanced on Cambra’s throw, giving the Coons a 1-1 tie with runners in scoring position and nobody out. The Loggers decided it was a wee bit too early to go all bonkers and walk Jamieson intentionally to get to Tovias and instead got burned with an RBI single by the sloooowly defrosting outfielder. With Coons on the corners, Tovias popped out (…!), while Rico flew out to center. Nunley was sent and scored on the sac fly, and Gabe Creech hurt himself on a terrible throw and was replaced with Chris Koch by necessity. Koch couldn’t reach Ramos’ liner then, with the ball finding the right-center gap for a 2-out RBI triple. Baldwin grounded out to Morris, keeping it at 4-1.

A few years back, you would have reclined and enjoyed Rico finishing this one, but he had been through one injury too many at this point, and it just didn’t gel for him. Bottom 5th, he allowed a leadoff single to Holder, walked Sessoms – and that was exactly how the third had begun… - and after Colmenarez bunted them over again, Diaz hit a fly to center that Baldwin held to a sacrifice rather than extra bases. Cambra bounced out to Gomez, and Rico emerged with a 4-2 lead, but that bottom of the order was wearing him out. The middle of the order chimed in come the sixth; Morris got a leadoff double through Nunley, then scored on two productive outs as the Coons’ lead was melting away while they could not re-engage the offense. Baldwin hit a 1-out double in the seventh but was stranded; in either inning before and after, Nunley hit a single and was twice doubled off by Jamieson. Plus, the advanced state of decomposition our bullpen was in tricked us into sending Rico back out for the eighth in a 4-3 game, then facing the top of the order for the fourth time. It could hardly go well… and didn’t. Wayne Morris tied the game with a 2-out jack, and now we were *really* in the ****. The ninth saw Ramos reach on an error and get caught stealing, while Billy Brotman put Taylor Canody on with a leadoff single, but stranded him at third base, bringing us the joy of extra innings, where Stalker hit a leadoff single in the 10th… and was caught stealing.

Top 11th, an unretired Matt Nunley singled to right to begin the inning against Hose. Harenberg batted for Jamieson, who was one double play away from being left to his own smarts in Wisconsin once the team departed 24 hours later, dropped a ****ty roller near the third base line, but it had just the perfect length to deny the Loggers any play at all. Tovias got a bunt down to advance the runners, but Pizzo struck out when he batted for Brotman. Ramos rolled out to first to strand the runners. The agony… Surginer allowed two hits and whiffed three in the bottom 11th to further extend the game, but the Coons got ready to bring on Nick Derks for the 12th rather than further bleach the good parts of their pen in a game in which their offense was … “special” again (outhitting Milwaukee 13-8 at this point). Stalker hit a double in the 12th that led nowhere, and on came Derks. Better a horrible end than horror without end – but he even extended the game with only a 2-out single by Diaz against him in the bottom 12th, but he was also aided by the fact that the Loggers had also spent their entire bench and Hose batted and whiffed for himself in the #9 hole. Derks had entered in the #5 hole, with Mora batting ninth AND we still had Magallanes left over. Magallanes never saw action in the game, for it ended in the 13th on a 2-out homer by Taylor Canody off the miserable Nick Derks. 5-4 Loggers. Stalker 2-5, BB, 2B; Hereford 2-6; Nunley 4-5, BB, RBI; Brotman 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – LF Allan – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – 2B Stalker – CF Mora – C Pizzo – P Shumway
MIL: 3B V. Diaz – RF Cambra – SS W. Morris – C J. Young – CF Creech – 1B Arroyo – LF Wheeler – 2B Sessoms – P Hodge

Portland scored an early run when Mora tripled home Hereford in the second, but then they immediately succumbed to another choke job. Pizzo walked with one out, but Shumway and Ramos both struck out. And I am usually not that mad at pitchers, but Shumway was now 0-for-24 on the season, managed to strike out three times in the first five innings to get all the way to 0-26, and MAYBE HE SHOULD THINK ABOUT WHY HE DOES NOT HAVE ANY WINS!!

However – the Shumster batting three times meant that at least the Coons were stirring, and they indeed stashed six runs on Hodge in the first five innings. Harenberg made it first 3-0 with a 2-run jack in the third, then 4-0 in the fifth when he drove in Ryan Allan for the second time, then with a single. That last one was with nobody out and with a Nunley double in between. Nunley scored on a Hereford groundout, and the Raccoons would get more base hits from Mora and finally Pizzo to get their sixth run across. At that point they had ten hits and the Loggers had none, and this somehow felt familiar? Nope, Creech actually hit a single in the fifth, and so did Wheeler with one out. Sessoms hit into a fielder’s choice, but Lockert singled home their first run with a liner into shallow left, plating Creech, who played with a sore shoulder. Cambra would fly out to Mora in centerfield to end the inning, and the Loggers never got so close again versus Shumway, who was squeezed for eight innings on 113 pitches and would not allow another run and only two more base hits, one of which, Creech again, was immediately caught in a rundown after doubling to left. Portland tacked on a run in the ninth, which began with a Ramos double to light up an 0-for-4 so far, and a 2-out single by Harenberg to score him. Feeling cocky, the Critters turned to Nick Derks to finish the game on his way back to where he had come from, and somehow he survived two real rockets to retire the 3-4-5 batters in order. 7-1 Coons! Allan 2-4, BB, 2B; Harenberg 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Mora 3-4, 3B, RBI; Shumway 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-6);

At this point, the Loggers were probably sick of us. We were also in a 3-way tie for third place (or fifth place, depending on your stance on half glasses of water) in the North on Wednesday night, yet only two games out of the first-place Elks. Even the Crusaders had crawled back in, five games out in last place.

Raccoons (37-35) @ Thunder (36-36) – June 21-23, 2030

Contrast with the Thunder, who were trailing by double digits in June despite sitting second in the South. They were fourth in runs scored, but also allowed the fourth-most runs and had only a +2 run differential (Coons: +43). Their pen was especially turpid, but they also couldn’t play D. There was NO speed on that team (only 8 steals all season), but they did lead the league in homers. Good thing we were playing in a more generous park than our own given that Roberts would make an appearance in this set…

Projected matchups:
Dave Martinez (8-3, 3.25 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (9-3, 3.27 ERA)
Mark Roberts (7-3, 4.37 ERA) vs. Peter Gill (4-4, 4.61 ERA)
Jose Menendez (7-4, 3.10 ERA) vs. Jeff Dykstra (6-7, 3.78 ERA)

Those are possibles, not necessarily probables for the Thunder, who contested two double headers recently and had been forced to jumble things. “Graveyard” Gill would be a lefty.

The Raccoons put Nick Derks on waivers on Thursday and brought up another Nick to replace him, 2026 fifth-rounder and right-hander Nick Bates. The 24-year-old had struck out 16 per nine innings in Ham Lake to start the season, and while he had a 5.79 ERA in AAA since then, that came entangled with a BABIP north of .370, and I heard that his slider was gold and wanted to see it in person. He was not a long guy, though, so Fleischer would slide back into the abuse slot in the pen.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Allan – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – 2B Stalker – CF Mora – C Pizzo – P Martinez
OCT: SS Myers – RF Sagredo – 3B D. Garcia – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF Rosa – 2B Serrato – CF Colston – P L. Hernandez

The Critters scored a run in the first, which began with a Ramos single, but did not continue as scripted. Allan grounded to short to force Alberto, but singles by Nunley and Hereford still manage to drive in SOMEBODY. Stalker struck out to strand a pair. Contrast with the Thunder, who got clean singles from Dave Myers and Luis Sagredo to begin their day, and then Dave Garcia smashed a 3-piece out of centerfield for his 14th homer of the season. Top 2nd, Abel Mora opened with a double, but left the game with an oblique tweak. Magallanes replaced him and was stranded thanks to a Pizzo strikeout, a Ramos strikeout, and an Allan pop, DESPITE a Dave Martinez single… Martinez was probably not going to be around much longer. The Thunder had his number, Myers hit a double in the bottom 2nd, was balked to third, then plated by Garcia with a single, and Martinez wasn’t fooling anybody. It was of course all Nick Valdes’ fault for rubbing the Odilon idols the wrong way round!

The Coons had the bases loaded in the third when they brought up Magallanes with one out, which didn’t look like good fortunes were ahead. Magallanes struck out, Pizzo struck out. That was 6 K for Hernandez, and although it was only the third inning, I was already considering the game a write-off. Magallanes was back at the plate as the tying run in the fifth finding Hereford (walk) and Stalker (single) on the corners with two down, and harmlessly flew out to Carlos Rosa. Neither pitcher saw daylight in the sixth; Hernandez was pinch-hit for with Tom Schorsch in the bottom 5th, singled to set up runners on the corners with two outs, and that also knocked out Martinez after an 11-hit, 2-walk shelling. Kevin Surginer replaced him, threw one pitch in the game on which Dave Myers lined out to left, and that left Martinez with a mild four runs allowed in a ****ty outing. After an inning from Brotman, Nick Bates was assigned the 4-1 deficit for his major league debut in the bottom 7th, facing the Thunder beginning with Mike Burgess. The catcher whiffed, which was as far as this one would go in terms of a good start. Bates shoveled the bags full with a hit and two walks, rung up PH Russ Greenwald in the #9 hole, but then Myers found the gap and emptied the sacks with a 2-out double. What a debut! A star was born! Would his career ever end? Who knew! This game, however, definitely ended, although it took way longer than welcome… 7-1 Thunder. Hereford 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Stalker 2-4;

Abel Mora was thought to be hampered by the bad oblique until early next week and was listed as day-to-day. He was available, but was not in the starting lineup against the lefty Gill anyway.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – CF Baldwin – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – RF Gomez – C Tovias – P Roberts
OCT: CF Colston – C Burgess – 1B D. Cruz – 3B D. Garcia – SS Serrato – RF Sagredo – 2B Myers – LF Rosa – P Gill

Gill struggled with control, having walked 38 in just over 70 innings this season, but the Coons came out rather impatient and made quick outs. They were retired in order the first time through, and on only 25 pitches. Roberts on the other hand was unscored upon against two hits in the first two innings, but then allowed a single to Gill to begin the bottom 3rd, and **** hit the fan from there. He balked the runner over, walked Eric Colston anyway, and just when Burgess hit into a double play, Ramos completely ****ed up the pickup on a Danny Cruz grounder and allowed Gill to score from third. Better yet, Roberts next fell onto a Garcia roller, presumably to try and breed it, and allowed another run on an Alex Serrato liner for an RBI single before Luis Sagredo struck out to keep it 2-0 on two hits and two errors. The Thunder would eventually make it 3-0 on a Serrato homer in the sixth, but the real question was where the offense had gone yet again.

Gill retired the first 11 Coons in a row before Stalker reached on a throwing error by Serrato in the fourth. They did not get a base hit until Rafael Gomez singled in the fifth, and they did not reach SECOND BASE until the seventh inning when Hereford and Harenberg hit back-to-back 1-out singles to center, and at that point they still had not waited Gill out long enough to draw a walk, but Matt Jamieson was now the tying run at the plate. He finally waited out Gill, immediately walked on five pitches, and now it was Gomez with the bases full. The Thunder stuck to Gill, the Coons stuck to sucking, and Gomez lined out softly to Myers. The Coons had to bat for .194 Elias Tovias and sent Nunley, who struck out, stranding a full set. Dave Garcia would hit a jack off Bates in the bottom 8th, extending the lead to 4-0, and the Coons looked entirely beaten, but at least got to the Thunder’s closer in the ninth when Hereford hit a homer off Dusty Kulp after Gill was removed after eight frames of 3-hit ball. Franklin Alvarado allowed a walk to Harenberg, who got forced by Jamieson, and Gomez popped out. Ryan Allan hit for the pitcher in the #8 hole and doubled down the rightfield line, which put two in scoring position for Pizzo with two outs. And Pizzo grounded out to Myers to get it over with… 4-1 Thunder. Hereford 2-4, HR, RBI; Allan (PH) 1-1, 2B; Roberts 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, L (7-4);

Oh boy.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Allan – 3B Nunley – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – LF Jamieson – C Pizzo – 2B Baldwin – P Menendez
OCT: SS Myers – RF Sagredo – 3B D. Garcia – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF Rosa – 2B Serrato – CF Colston – P Dykstra

Hereford whiffed to strand Allan and Harenberg on the corners in the first inning, but at least the Thunder also could not come through with two men on base early on. Danny Cruz found two on and hit into an inning-ending double play in the first, and while Dykstra hit a bloop to shallow center with Serrato and Colston in scoring position in the bottom 2nd, Allan raced in and made the sliding catch to keep the Thunder from getting two early runs. Cruz came up again with runners on the corners and one out in the third, and AGAIN hit into a double play. The first one was 6-4-3, this one 4-6-3 to spice it up. The real question was why the **** Menendez was putting them on base in the first place so frequently… On the other side, Hereofrd and Pizzo walked in the fourth, but Baldwin grounded out harmlessly to end the inning. 74 at-bats and only two RBI …

Bottom 4th, Menendez plunked Carlos Rosa, but got another double play grounder from Serrato. Garcia, the darndest fine player that spent half his career on the DL and was still active, popped out to Ramos to strand a pair in the fifth. But at some point one of these two meh teams had to score a run… and it was actually the Coons. Harenberg missed a homer, or a hit, when he flew out to the warning track to begin the top of the sixth, but Hereford then took Dykstra deep to the other side to make it 1-0 Coons, and that already matched their tally in the first two games of the set… They would score ANOTHER run in THE SAME INNING; Jamieson reached, then came around on Baldwin’s 2-out triple, and now Baldwin – the exact reason for who’s presence on the roster was a fun riddle to pose to anyone – had a third RBI, hooray!

In a perfect world, Menendez, who struck out to end the top 6th, would have pitched a clean shutdown inning, but what the **** was perfect here after all? Cruz led off with a double, was run for by Alfredo Rojas once Burgess walked, and a walk to Serrato filled the bases. Colston hit a sac fly to get the Thunder halfway back, and when Tom Schorsch pinch-hit for Dykstra, the Coons sent Garavito, who got a grounder to first to end the inning. On to the seventh, Ramos landed his second single of the game, a sign of life in an otherwise dry week (but for that game-winning homer on Monday). He stole second in a bid for an insurance run, his first sack of the week, and then Dusty Kulp was taken deep again, this time by Nunley and to straightaway centerfield. That massive 2-run shot made it 4-1 Critters, but they blew the lead in the same inning. Garavito walked Sagredo, Fleischer allowed a single to Rojas and nailed Burgess, and then Billy Brotman surrendered a 2-out slam to Carlos Rosa, which flipped the score. The devastation was … devastating. We went on to pitch Boles with a 5-4 deficit in the bottom 8th because he REALLY needed work and the rest of the scums had blown a lead that he could have been used to protect. Jason Stone hit a leadoff single in the #9 hole, but was doubled up by Myers, and Boles completed the inning. Alvarado retired the Coons’ 1-2-3 in 1-2-3 fashion in the ninth. 5-4 Thunder. Ramos 2-5; Jamieson 2-4;

In other news

June 17 – Regrettably, the Indians place SS/2B Mario Pizano (.246, 3 HR, 28 RBI) on the DL. The 25-year-old has torn several ankle ligaments and won’t come back before September.
June 18 – WAS SP Colt Willes (3-2, 3.14 ERA) not only spins a 6-hit shutout against the Blue Sox, but also drives in three runs on two base hits in the Capitals’ 11-0 rout.
June 18 – The hitting streak of TOP RF/LF Pablo Sanchez (.370, 2 HR, 30 RBI) ends in a 4-1 loss to the Cyclones. Sanchez goes 0-for-4, with the streak thus ended at 23 games.
June 19 – NYC OF/1B Drew Olszewski (.281, 1 HR, 19 RBI) has a 25-game hitting streak thanks to a sixth-inning single in a 5-3 Crusaders win over the Canadiens.
June 20 – CIN CL Vince Devereaux (0-4, 2.53 ERA, 15 SV) will be out for a full year with a torn labrum.
June 21 – Hitting streak no more for New York’s Drew Olszewski (.276, 1 HR, 19 RBI), who was held very dry in five at-bats by the Bayhawks, who also beat the Crusaders, 2-1.
June 22 – SAC INF Tim Stackhouse (.257, 9 HR, 43 RBI) is out for a month with shoulder tendinitis.
June 23 – Young Blue Sox 3B Chance Bossert (.353, 1 HR, 9 RBI) will miss six weeks with a broken hand.

Complaints and stuff

Josh Boles was in great discomfort after making that entirely useless appearance on Sunday, and will have to be evaluated by the Druid. Nothing good can potentially come of this.

With that and Alberto Ramos in a dire slump now, the Raccoons are clearly forsaken. We will also play the two first-place teams in the CL next week. Time to silently break tent in the middle of the night and move to the woods, where nobody can see our shame…

Alberto hit that game-winning 3-run dinger on Monday, and then immediately vanished in the gutter. Given that our entire offense relies on him getting on base and somehow finding his way around, that is … well, that is terrible. And Boles? Well, how do you replace a 0.68 ERA?

Everything is terrible, in fact. EVERYTHING. Everything is terrible!

No, Maud, I don’t want a warm cocoa! – No, I also don’t want a cookie. That cookie has raisins in it. I hate raisins! – I want a winning team! – Well, maybe you are doing the grocery shopping wrong then!

If Rafael Gomez had any on-base presence at all, he probably also would have a few stolen bases by now, which would give us nine position players with sacks claimed. Given that most catchers are immobile, that is a huge share on any roster. Nine is also the most this configuration of Coons can get, since neither Harenberg nor Nunley have any sort of speed. Harenberg has three stolen bases in his career (none with Portland), and Nunley has eight, but all but one of those were more than a decade ago, and to be honest, I demand video proof that any of these actually ever happened.

But Matt Nunley has something else – 2,291 career hits. Given his going rate right now and that we have another seven-game week coming up, he could claim the franchise record as early as next weekend. So far it is held by Cookie Carmona with 2,299 hits. Nunley already has more extra-base hits than Cookie; both have roughly the same amount of doubles and triples combined (but Cookie had 110 triples and Nunley has 14), but Matt has 162 homers to Cookie’s 21.

Nunley, who will turn 40 in January, has taken over the franchise mark in total bases with 3,185 TB from Daniel Hall (3,142), but Dan The Man had over 700 extra-base hits compared to Matt’s 556.

For no reason at all I tell you that Shane Ivey is batting .260 in St. Pete and that the other two clowns down there, Daniel Rocha and Israel Galarza, are both gobbling around at the .215 mark. We do have an interesting catching prospect in Aumsville, where 2028 sixth-rounder Elliott Thompson is batting .254 with two homers this year after producing OPS values in the low .500s for the last two years. Scouts say his bat has very much improved and he is a candidate for promotion by September, and maybe even before that.

Also note that Kevin Harenberg is going to be a free agent, so how is our top first base prospect doing in St. Pete? Let’s see, Craig Hollenbeck is batting .280, with a .373 OBP … and in 67 games he has… ZERO home runs.

But I wanted to talk about starting pitchers! There are quite a few interesting young starters in the system and not all of them are lingering in Aumsville. Well, Darren Brown is there. He was the #20 pick in 2028, struggled in his age 19 season, but since then put up a 2.97 ERA in 29 starts last year and is at 2.92 this year in seven starts. Unfortunately, he has a strained rotator cuff right now. I am sure that will disentangle itself soon…

A bit closer to the music would be 20-year-old Ignacio del Rio in Ham Lake. He had a 1.38 ERA in seven starts in Aumsville before being promoted, and now sits at 2.47 in as many outings in Ham Lake, where he also whiffed 11.2 batters per nine. Now, small sample sizes, right? But his mix of 3 1/2 pitches, 93mph heater, changeup, splitter, and a crippled curve, really seems to be getting together. And what did he cost us? A stunningly cheap $18k in the 2026 IFA period.

Signed a year earlier and for nine times as much, we also had 21-year-old Raffaello Sabre in St. Pete again. He had pitched to a 3.41 ERA in Ham Lake last year, had made one ugly start with the Alley Cats right at the end of the season, then two more bad ones to begin this. After a demotion to Ham Lake, where he went 4-3 with a 2.97 ERA in 12 games (11 starts), Sabre has now returned to the Alley Cats and on Wednesday won his first AAA game with eight innings of 3-run ball over Lubbock. He is a groundballer with a 93mph sinker, a curve, and a changeup. Could use a bit more control.

But there are definitely some young starters on the horizon. Now the question is which river the Coons can dump their old ones in because Roberts, Shumway, and Gutierrez are under contract for another two, three, and five seasons, respectively.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons’ last losing season to date came in 2024, when they ended up 78-84, third in the North, and 13 games out.

That was the year we were convinced Omar Alfaro was a future star (he was not), Zach Graves would help us out of the gutter (he did not), and that Jarod Spencer might one day tally enough hits to challenge for the Hall of Fame (he would not).

But Spencer did bat .326 that season (though not in qualifying fashion). These days, he is unemployed. He is a career .297 batter, with a .318 OBP (for every time he was hit by pitch in his career, he drew less than THREE non-intentional walks), who at age 32 has no place in the game anymore.

It was also Dan Delgadillo’s rookie season. He went 9-9 with a 3.80 ERA. He is now allegedly 27 years old and stuck in the Indians pen with a 5.47 ERA over 26.1 innings this year…