[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-59) @ Bayhawks (46-52) – July 28-30, 2031

The Coons were 1-2 against the Baybirds this season, but who weren’t they 1-2 against, or worse? San Francisco ranked second from the bottom in runs scored, but was conceding the fifth-fewest runs. It was obviously not a winning mix, but they sure had a decent team’s pitching in place, which was more than what could be said about the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (4-3, 4.80 ERA) vs. Guillermo Regalado (8-8, 4.16 ERA)
Ed Hague (5-8, 4.16 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (11-6, 2.99 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-9, 5.53 ERA) vs. Ben Lipsky (6-7, 2.88 ERA)

All right-handed opposition here.

The Raccoons began the week by sending Sean Catella and his 3-for-32 slump to St. Petersburg, activating Mark Roberts after a rehab start where he had allowed one run in eight innings, which we deemed good enough. And you never know what other roster moves there were to make with the trade deadline looming on Thursday.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – CF Magallanes – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 1B Howden – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – C Leal – P Roberts
SFB: 2B J. Cruz – 1B Caraballo – RF Suhay – 3B D. Myers – LF Hawthorne – C Hearn – SS M. Martin – CF Chaplin – P Regalado

Magallanes continued to show some talent to get on base (but we had seen that before, and had also seen it go away entirely last year), drawing a walk in the first inning and scoring on a Jamieson double to give the Critters the early 1-0 lead. And while Roberts started well early on at the moist, unpleasant place from where he had once come from, that first impression soon turned south. Bottom 3rd, Mike Martin drew a leadoff walk, then moved to third on Mike Chaplin’s single. Chaplin stole second, and Roberts couldn’t remove Regalado, who grounded to short to tie the game. The trailing runner held on the play, which didn’t matter when Rich Hereford misplayed a Tomas Caraballo fly with two outs, and gifted the Baybirds an RBI double to put them ahead. Ben Suhay singled to left, the runner was sent from second, but thrown out by Matt Jamieson to end the inning. The following inning the bases were teeming right away yet again. Dave Myers led off with a screaming single o left, and George Hawthorne by contrast reached on a soft roller on the infield that duped the defense. This time San Fran was denied though; Roberts got two soft flies that kept runners pinned, then had Stalker handle Chaplin’s grounder to end the inning. Not that it made the misery end – Regalado belted a leadoff double up the line in the fifth. That runner also was stranded, courtesy to Magallanes on that, handling deep flies by Caraballo and Suhay for outs…

The Critters were largely silent and had only four hits through six innings. This did not immediately and markedly change in the seventh, despite a leadoff single of the softest sort lobbed by Armando Leal. Roberts bunted the tying run to second, and Regalado filled them bags with eight balls and decidedly fewer strikes thrown to Ramos and Magallanes, bringing up Jamieson with one out. Jamieson struck out, and Hereford’s fly to center was no challenge at all for Chaplin. Roberts in turn put two on in the bottom 7th and was removed with two outs and right-handed batter Tristan Levinson pinch-hitting for Tomas Caraballo. Victor Anaya got a casual fly to Jamieson to end the inning. He also did the eighth, and left the Coons still with only one run to make up against former Critter Dan McLin and his 4.15 ERA and equal numbers of walks and strikeouts. So of course the Critters started by having Vanatti and Ramos go down on strikes. Magallanes walked once again, then was stranded when Jamieson popped out. 2-1 Bayhawks. Magallanes 1-2, 3 BB; Leal 2-4; Roberts 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (4-4);

Listless losses, listless losses….

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – CF Magallanes – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 1B Howden – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – C Rocha – P Hague
SFB: 2B J. Cruz – 1B Caraballo – RF Suhay – C J. Wood – 3B D. Myers – CF Chaplin – LF Hawthorne – SS Pulido – P G. Rendon

There was again a 1-0 score after the first inning, but this time Jimmy Wood doubled in Jose Cruz and his leadoff single. The annoying Ben Suhay added a run to that tally in the third, singling home Gilberto Rendon himself after a leadoff single by the pitcher. No Raccoons pitcher had yet hit a leadoff single in the game, or any Raccoon had hit anything, or any brown-clad player had been on base any which way; Rendon was perfect the first through and whiffed a modest five. That string stopped with Ramos in the fourth though. The Excitement hit a leadoff single to center, and before long the bags were full… on errors. Magallanes reached on a Caraballo misplay, and an errant throw by Rendon put Hereford on base, presenting Jarod Howden, the dumb pig, with three on and one out. The dumb pig would have ended the inning with a quick and easy grounder to Caraballo, who might have turned a 3-6-3 if Hereford hadn’t taken out Jose Pulido with everything he had, allowing Ramos to score with the Coons’ first run. Tim Stalker grounded out to Pulido, leaving me to sigh in despair and plotting my route to the nearest waterfront.

No further Critter reached base until Magallanes drew a 1-out walk in the sixth. Jamieson found deep center for a double, which did put the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position for Hereford. I would have put him on intentionally; the Baybirds didn’t, and he singled to shallow right-center to plate both runners and to flip the score! Singles by Howden and Nunley moved Hereford around to score, too, staking Hague to a 4-2 edge. Said stake got burned in the seventh; Hawthorne led off with a jack, and then Hague put Jose Pulido on base with a double. The Raccoons moved on to Mauricio Garavito, who got out PH Joseph McClenon, but then allowed the game-tying single to center against Jose Cruz.

The game would spill to extra innings eventually. The Coons had Tim Stalker on to begin the ninth against McLin, but Nunley hit into a double play. Top 10th, Armando Leal poked a leadoff single from the #9 hole (Wilson Rodriguez had pinch-hit for Daniel Rocha in the ninth, but had whiffed), and Ramos then rapped a single to right. Magallanes flew out, but left-hander Steve Russell loaded them up with a full-count walk against Jamieson, producing Rich Hereford with three on and one out. He shoved the first pitch through the left side for an RBI single before Russell K’ed Howden, the dumb pig, and got Stalker to pop out foul. Chris Wise had no cushion thus, and allowed an infield single to Cruz on the first pitch. But Tristan Levinson struck out, and then Ben Suhay grounded to Ramos, six, four, three. 5-4 Coons. Ramos 2-5; Hereford 2-5, 3 RBI; Leal 1-1;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – RF Rodriguez – LF Jamieson – 2B Hereford – 1B Howden – CF Vanatti – 3B Nunley – C Leal – P Gutierrez
SFB: 2B J. Cruz – C J. Wood – RF Suhay – 3B D. Myers – LF Hawthorne – SS Pulido – 1B Levinson – CF Chaplin – P Lipsky

Ramos opened with a single, but was caught stealing, and then the Coons pieced a run together with a Rodriguez walk and singles from Jamieson and Hereford. They could have had more, but Howden and Vanatti made the last two outs. Gutierrez gave the lead right back anyway, allowing a single to Wood, a double to the this time quite resilient Suhay, and finally a run-scoring groundout to Myers. Hawthorne popped out to Howden. The Raccoons took a new lead on a Nunley jack to right in the second inning, and Gutierrez blew that, too, and effortlessly. Jose Pulido hit a gapper for a leadoff triple in the bottom 2nd, then scored on a horrendous wild pitch. Even worse, Lipsky singed with two outs, Cruz reached base, too, and Jimym Wood hit a single to right that would have loaded the bases or would have scored any runner other than Lipsky, whom the Baybirds sent, and who was thrown out at home plate by Wilson Rodriguez to end the inning. Third inning, third try, and this time for three – Rich Hereford hit a 3-run homer to right, and then apparently lectured Rico Gutierrez that if he blew that one, too, Hereford would hit HIM with a bat as long as it would take to get him over the fence, a noble undertaking I would gladly lend a paw to. The signs were not in Rico Gutierrez’ favor – Ben Suhay hit a leadoff jack, and rather effortlessly, in the bottom 3rd, cutting the lead to 5-3.

But after teams had scored in every half-inning of the first three frames, neither team scored at all in the next three, and Gutierrez crawled through six with the 5-3 edge before Tim Stalker hit for him in the top 7th and doubled home Armando Leal in a display of back-to-back leadoff doubles against righty Jesus Blanco, who loaded them up with an intentional walk to Ramos, then a single pushed through Levinson off the bat of Rodriguez. Three on, no outs for the middle of the order – but not for long. Matt Jamieson blew the doors off the barn – or fisherman’s hut – with a bases-clearing double over the head of Chaplin, and the Coons had extended their lead to 9-3! Of course Jamieson was then left on; Hereford grounded out to second, Howden, the dumb pig, grounded out to first, and Vanatti simply struck out. The Coons went to the pen and Nick Bates in particular. Bates got five outs, then put the 5-6-7 batters on via single, walk, single, with Levinson driving in Hawthorne. Boles replaced Bates and mowed down Mike Chaplin to end the inning. Juan Barzaga would finish the game with ten pitches issued in the ninth inning. 9-4 Coons. Rodriguez 2-4, BB; Jamieson 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI; Hereford 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Raccoons (42-60) @ Falcons (42-60) – August 1-3, 2031

Getting on base was hard for the Falcons, who had a team OBP of just .319, which was not compatible with a productive offense. Unfortunately their pitching was mellow as well, so they were in the second division, and comfortably so, in both runs scored and runs allowed with a -59 run differential (Coons: -36). We did however trail in the season series, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Dave Martinez (3-9, 5.84 ERA) vs. Brian Bowsman (3-11, 5.25 ERA)
Jason Gurney (6-6, 3.23 ERA) vs. Mark Matthews (2-2, 4.60 ERA)
Mark Roberts (4-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Jim Tierney (6-8, 4.03 ERA)

No southpaw in sight. The Raccoons would only get right-handed pitchers this week.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Rodriguez – LF Hereford – 1B Howden – CF Vanatti – 3B Nunley – C Leal – P Martinez
CHA: 2B D. Ruiz – C M. Cooper – LF Salto – 3B G. Ortiz – RF M. Mendoza – CF N. Nelson – 1B Amundson – SS Eisenberg – P Bowsman

Dave Martinez had lost eight straight decisions. He had not won a game since tossing eight innings of 1-run ball against the Crusaders on May 22.

Rich Hereford hadn’t been traded at the deadline any more than any other Coon, despite being in reach of the .300 plateau, which he promptly reached with a leadoff single in the second inning. Howden and Vanatti all reached to fill the bags with no outs, and Matt Nunley zinged an RBI single to right for the first run of the game. Further runs scored on Leal’s sac fly, and after a Martinez bunt, on Ramos’ RBI single. The inning ended when Ramos was caught stealing by Matt Cooper. With the 3-spot, Martinez allowed a leadoff double to Mario Mendoza in the bottom 2nd, but pitched around that. Graciano Salto, however, conquered him for his 14th dinger of the season in the third, a solo shot to left that was no-doubt-outta-here. The Falcons got singles from Nate Nelson and Erik Amundson in the bottom 4th, but then Frank Eisenberg, batting .190 on the season, chucked it into an inning-ending double play.

But it got diceyer by the inning. Getting a double play from Eisenberg offered the advantage of having Bowsman lead off the bottom 5th, so of course Bowsman singled cleanly to left. Danny Ruiz flew out to left. Matt Cooper flew out to plenty deep right. Salto, finally, was robbed in the gap by Vanatti, keeping Martinez’ head attached to the neck for the time being. Mendoza was caught on the track by Hereford in the sixth, and then thankfully Martinez’ pitch count was near 100 and we could get rid of him without him drawing a snoot. Also, because Leal had killed two on and one out with a double play grounder the previous inning, Martinez’ spot was up to begin the top 7th. Magallanes batted for him, but was merely the first poker going down in a 1-2-3 inning for Bowsman. The Coons would bring Anaya in the seventh, and the rookie retired the bottom of the order. Ohl did the eighth on two grounders and a strikeout, and Wise came in for the ninth. The Coons had not been near adding a run in the previous innings. Wise got two grounders, then surrendered a drive to left to Nate Nelson. That, too, however, was caught by Hereford on the track. 3-1 Critters. Howden 1-2, 2 BB; Nunley 2-4, RBI; Martinez 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-9);

3-game winning streak …!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Jamieson – 3B Hereford – 1B Howden – RF Rodriguez – CF Vanatti – C Rocha – P Gurney
CHA: 2B D. Ruiz – 1B J. Elliott – LF Salto – 3B G. Ortiz – CF N. Nelson – RF Trahan – C Carmichael – SS Eisenberg – P Matthews

Screaming line drive hits by Nate Nelson, Dave Trahan, and Frank Eisenberg plated two runs off Gurney in the bottom of the second. The Falcons hit two more liners for base hits in the bottom 3rd, but had Greg Ortiz end the inning with a double play bouncer right into Ramos’ mitten. The Coons made up the difference in the fourth after not getting a base hit the first time through. Stalker walked to begin the fourth, Jamieson doubled, and then the Coons got – for once – productive groundouts to get in the runners from scoring position, getting even at two. But the line drives kept hissing past either of Gurney’s ears. Nate Nelson hit a liner for a single to begin the bottom 4th, stole second, but was stranded at third base. In the fifth, John Elliott sunk a liner in the gap in left-center for a 2-out double. The count ran full on Salto before the leftfielder hit a liner (what else?) over the head of Ramos and into shallow left-center for an RBI single, giving the Falcons a 3-2 lead. Ortiz then flew out to deep left.

Top 6th, Ramos drew the leadoff walk, and again Jamieson came up with a double, but since Dave Trahan came near the ball, Ramos had to hold in front of second base and couldn’t score. The tying runs were in scoring position again, however, this time with one out for Hereford. Rich came through – a single shot into shallow center, uncatchable for anybody, gave Jamieson a good start and drove in both runners to flip the score, with the Critters now leading the game 4-3 on three hits. Yeah, whatever the **** works, I guess. While Howden flew out, Rodriguez (single) and Vanatti (walk) reached base, prompting a pinch-hitter to appear in Rocha’s stead. This could blow the game wide open after all. Matt Nunley fell 1-2 behind Matthews, then cracked a ball over the mound and the second base bag into centerfield, the second 2-run single of the inning. Gurney ended the inning with a groundout. But Gurney logged only one more out; after Nelson struck out, Trahan hit a groundball single, and Jason Carmichael hit a liner for another single. That was ten hits off Gurney in 5.1 innings and time for the pen to get involved. Jonathan Fleischer came in, walked Frank Eisenberg to load the bases, then walked PH Mario Mendoza to push in a run. Good job! You ass!! Rodriguez would make a shallow catch on Danny Ruiz and a deep catch on Elliott to end the inning with three men on base in a 6-4 game…

Anaya and Boles each put a man on in the seventh, which somehow didn’t directly bleed into a collapse, either, although at that point the Falcons were out-hitting the Raccoons by a decent margin, 12-5. For a change, PH Amundson walked against Ohl in the bottom 8th, but then was doubled up by Ruiz’ bouncer to Ramos. The Raccoons failed to cobble together an insurance run; and Chris Wise was thus left to his own devices in the ninth. Elliott flew out to right. Salto grounded out to short. Greg Ortiz hit a line drive single with two outs. Nate Nelson saw three pitches, and all three were strikes, the final one a bad flail over a ball in the dirt. 6-4 Critters. Jamieson 2-3, BB, 2 2B; Rodriguez 2-4; Nunley (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI;

We made a roster move before the Sunday game. Juan Barzaga (1.1 IP, 0 R) was placed on waivers for the 69th time in his career (at least!), and we brought up Ryan Allan, who had batted .176 with the Coons earlier in the year, .196 with the Alley Cats, but at this point we longed for a lukewarm body to fill out the bench while we were still missing important personnel in Wallace, Tovias, and … well, Baldwin, but only as far as lukewarm bench bodies were concerned.

There was a change in the pitching assignment for Charlotte: they sent right-hander Aaron Lewis (5-10, 4.68 ERA) into the fray in place of Tierney.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Magallanes – LF Jamieson – RF Hereford – 1B Howden – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – C Leal – P Roberts
CHA: 2B D. Ruiz – 1B J. Elliott – LF Salto – 3B G. Ortiz – CF N. Nelson – C M. Cooper – RF Trahan – SS Eisenberg – P A. Lewis

There was hardly anything going on through three innings. Mark Roberts didn’t allow a hit, while the Coons had a few, but squandered any and all of them. Things changed in the fourth, and none for the better. John Elliott fought back from 0-2 to hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Salto’s single, and then Ortiz hit a comebacker to Roberts, which Roberts… forked. He threw to second, except he did so badly that the ball eluded Stalker, and the run scored, while the Falcons continued to occupy first and second with nobody out. Nelson popped out, though, and Cooper bounced to Nunley, who spun a 5-4-3 inning-ender, keeping the damage to a single (unearned) run. The Coons appeared to have a good chance in the sixth, but after Magallanes and Jamieson hit infield singles, Rich Hereford popped out and Jarod Howden, the dumb pig, hit into a double play. John Elliott’s leadoff jack in the bottom 6th made it 2-0 Falcons, but that was all the Falcons got off Roberts through seven innings. Vanatti would then bat for him leading off the eighth inning, but made no discernible impact. Ramos, however, singled in front of Salto, and the Coons also got Jamieson on base with two outs when he got nailed by Aaron Lewis. Hereford skipped in an RBI single, but with runners on the corners, Howden, the dumb pig, struck out, leaving those runners on the corners. That was their last chance; Stalker, Nunley, and Allan went down in order against right-hander Tony Rivas in the ninth inning. 2-1 Falcons. Ramos 2-4; Roberts 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, L (4-5);

In other news

July 28 – The Loggers pick up SP Jacob Poirier (6-5, 3.46 ERA) and unranked and coveted outfield prospect Will Ojeda (not: Willie Ojeda, the Condors outfielder) for nothing more than C Francis Chavez, who had not appeared in the majors this season.
July 28 – The Falcons trade SP Nate Ziemke (5-12, 4.93 ERA) to the Capitals for #34 prospect SP Brad Mattson.
July 29 – NAS SP Pablo Correa (8-7, 2.67 ERA) has his foot broken on a pitch by DEN SP Robbie Blair (8-7, 4.58 ERA) and is bound to miss at least four weeks on the DL. Correa grabs the win in the game though, with the Blue Sox routing the Gold Sox, 9-2.
July 30 – The Knights send SP Andy Jimenes (5-9, 3.64 ERA) to the Thunder for two prospects, including #51 SP Terry Garrigan.
July 30 – ATL 2B/3B John Johnson (.276, 5 HR, 36 RBI) drives in six runs in a 15-7 demolishing of the Crusaders, while ATL 1B Kevin Harenberg (.310, 13 HR, 52 RBI) goes unretired on two hits and three walks while driving in four runs himself.
August 1 – DAL 1B/OF Aaron Botzet (.342, 15 HR, 79 RBI) drives in seven runs on four base hits in the Stars’ 14-8 shootout win over the Rebels.
August 3 – SFW SP Pat Okrasinski (11-8, 3.61 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals in an 8-0 shutout, and chalks up nine strikeouts, too.

Complaints and stuff

Would you look at that! It’s barely August and we already had our first 4-game winning streak of the season! Granted, we only beat horrendous teams and all we did was reduce our draft position, but at least it was not another all-sadness week, and remember that the winning streak came on the heels of dropping six in a row.

Nobody wanted a piece of any of our middling players, or even the better ones. No takers for Rich Hereford, at all! The hope now is to get at least a draft pick for him, that I can then blow on an extremely short-sighted sailor with a peg leg and bad manners, who ALSO throws like a girl …

The only player that netted any results when shopped was Ed Hague, surprisingly, but the offers were not worth getting into. Basically fifth outfielders that can’t play center and weren’t close to hitting their weight.

Two bottom-feeders we took in the 2030 draft got bumps to their stuff rating in the August 1 scouting update. This would be Matt Kissick and Mitch Hajduk, both taken in a round with double digits. Now, I am not saying that these two are suddenly valid prospects… or that it makes up for #5 pick Manny Fernandez batting in the low .200s … but at leas Manny has rallied out of the high .100s! He also has four homers and 14 extra base hits total in his 35 hits since being drafted. I am not going to shoot him yet, I think.

Speaking of bottom-feeders, I have a waiver claim in for a mediocre catcher on a surprisingly long and cheap deal that would rid us of Daniel Rocha’s sad presence. I will give Rocha one thing – he has a professional knife thrower’s arm and is erasing over 50% of runners trying to steal off the battery. And that is literally ALL that is to him. We will have to see whether we can get that player, who is not a difference maker, either, but … eh ….

The schedule for August will see us stop over in Oklahoma on the way home. We are going to have New York and Milwaukee in on that stint, and after a trip to Sioux Falls will get another home stand right away, then facing Pittsburgh, Boston, and the damn, dumb Elks. We are going to end the month in Vegas.

Fun Fact: Our last three losses have all been by a score of 2-1.

That is just … I am just throwing that in here…