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#3961 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Okay, finally playing on the new laptop. Getting all the bits and bobs and buttons to where they were before caused me actual physical pain. I hate new things. I want my old things.
Sigh. Anyway, due to all the frustration (which stretched well into this week) there’s not a lot of side story in this update… but for the attentive amongst the Coons faithful I’ve hidden a particularly ridiculous nugget in today’s update. ![]() +++ Raccoons (69-67) @ Indians (68-69) – September 6-8, 2049 The Indians were ninth in runs scored and second in runs allowed, and fourth in the division right now, while the Raccoons entered the series opener on Tuesday in a tie for second with the Titans. Not that I was really feeling the heat of battle here; it’s certainly different when you come off five straight pennants then five straight 90-loss seasons… The season series stood at 7-5 in favor of the Critters. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (11-9, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (2-3, 3.43 ERA) Victor Salcido (5-8, 3.94 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (6-6, 2.30 ERA) Victor Merino (10-11, 4.88 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (10-15, 3.52 ERA) All righties coming up here. Not coming up was regular Bill Quinteros, who was stowed away on the DL with a bum shoulder. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – 3B B. Anderson – CF D. Rivera – C DeFrank – SS Russ – 1B Santiago – LF Hare – P Palladino Palladino walked three of the first four Critters, but we only got a Pat Gurney sac fly for something actually worth counting in the first inning. Much the contrary, the Indians in their half of the first got three hits, two runs (on a Danny Rivera homer) and an injury, Hugo Acosta singling and being replaced with Brian Oliver for some ill or other. Ray DeFrank would make it 5-1 in the third with a 3-run homer off a rather unimpressive Bubba Wolinsky, who had walked Bobby Anderson and had given up a single to Rivera to get into another jam. The Indians got another three 2-out runners there, Andrew Russ (grumble grumble) hitting a single, Jordan Santiago drawing a walk, and Josh Hare slapping an RBI single to right, 6-1, before Palladino struck out. The Coons appeared very much beaten, but then the fifth started with straight hits off Palladino. Eddy Luna singled for Wolinsky, Matt Watt singled, too, and then Armando Herrera uncorked a rare 3-run homer to left-center. The 3-4-5 batters continued to hit singles to load the bases with nobody out, which is exactly the point where you know that you’re in trouble, but the Indians merrily kept exploding. Adame hit a sac fly, 6-5, and while Ed Crispin popped out, Ruben Gonzalez tied the game with an RBI single to center. Luna, batting for the second time, made it 7-6 Coons with another RBI single up the middle. Bill Quinn replaced Palladino at this point and got Watt to fly out to end the inning. The lead didn’t last long, being blown by Polibio O’Higgins and assorted assistants with two outs in the bottom 5th when DeFrank scampered home from third base when Gurney bobbled Waters’ feed on a grounder by Josh Hare – all even at seven. Alfredo Llamas gave the Raccoons the bags full with two outs in the top 7th after Portland had nobody on when Ruben Gonzalez drew a 2-out walk. Brian Nigro singled, and Watt walked to fill them up. Herrera kept raking up RBI’s with a 2-run single to right-center, 9-7, but Preble whiffed to end the inning. That lead did not last, either. Nate Norris put Santiago aboard in the bottom 7th, and Steve Richardson fooled around by walking Aaron Brayboy (clutches fists hard enough to cut his claws into his own palms), throwing a wild pitch, and giving up the tying runs on a double by Angel Mendez. Vinny Marin flew out to Nigro in right then… The eventual loss would then hang on Bob Ibold, who in his second outing of the season managed to issue four walks in two thirds of an inning, the last walk coming in the bottom 9th with the bases loaded and Alex de Castro pinch-hitting… 10-9 Indians. Watt 2-3, 2 BB; Herrera 2-5, HR, 5 RBI; Waters 2-4, BB; Gurney 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, RBI; Luna (PH) 2-2, RBI; Nigro (PH) 1-2; Game 2 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 2B B. Oliver – C DeFrank – CF Locke – 1B Brayboy – P E. Ortiz For the second day in a row, Danny Rivera hit a go-ahead homer, this time a solo piece in the bottom 1st. Salcido kept getting wobbled, filling the bags with DeFrank, Philip Locke, and Brayboy on two hits and a single in the bottom 2nd, giving up a sac fly to Ortiz to make it 3-0. Bottom 3rd, walk, error (by Salcido), double steal, RBI single (by Bobby Anderson), K, walk, somehow a 3-6-3 double play to keep the bags ******* loaded. If Wolinsky had been bad on Tuesday, Salcido was at least rated R on Wednesday… Salcido didn’t go past five, leaving down 4-1. Herrera had singled home Gonzalez in the top of the fifth, but Gonzalez had only reached by getting nicked by Ortiz. But the Coons closed in further again; I orginally snorted when Alex Adame hit a 2-out triple with nobody on base in the sixth, but then Ed Crispin unpacked a 410-footer to slash the Indians’ lead all the way to 4-3. The Coons tied the game in the same inning, somehow, with Ortiz walking the bags full out of the blue, then giving up a score-knotting single to Herrera. Preble, though, grounded out to Oliver, ending the inning. After a scoreless inning by Brett Lillis jr., the Coons arrived at Kevin Hitchcock in the bottom 7th. Russ and Rivera hit 1-out singles to the right side, but Russ, going to third base, hurt himself sliding into Ed Crispin, wobbling off with a sprained ankle. Alex de Castro replaced him, and I will admit I grinned. The baseball gods, of course, saw that, and immediately made Hitchcock throw a wild pitch that put the Arrowheads in front again, 5-4. Both teams then stranded pairs in the eighth, with the Coons getting a single from Crispin and Gonzalez nicked again, but being unable to drive either one home. We thus encountered John Steuer in the top 9th, needing to make up a run to extend the game with our 3-4-5 hitters. Preble struck out, Waters grounded out, and Gurney… struck out. 5-4 Indians. Herrera 2-5, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; And just like that, we’re in fourth place. Which I don’t get. We’re playing at least good enough for ninth place….. There would be no Tan Brink in the series; the Indians continued to skip it on to Bill Nichol (10-13, 3.11 ERA). Game 3 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Luna – C Gardner – P Merino IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B B. Oliver – 3B B. Anderson – CF D. Rivera – SS Russ – 1B de Castro – C Nunez – LF Locke – P Nichol Bobby Anderson robbed Danny Rivera of a chance to drive in the go-ahead run in each game of a 3-game set by singling home Angel Mendez from third base; Mendez had whacked a leadoff double off Merino. Can we get ANY pitching at all here?? … For a start, we could get an unearned tie, Oliver firing away Matt Waters’ grounder to begin the top 2nd, and Gurney shoving a ball into the rightfield corner for an RBI double in the top 2nd. Crispin and Gardner hit singles after that, bringing in Gurney for a 2-1 lead, but those two were then stranded after a bunt and Watt’s fly out to Locke. The Indians flipped the score back in the same inning, getting de Castro and Nick Nunez to the corners with a walk and a single to begin the bottom 2nd. Nunez would steal second (makes big black googly eyes) off our sleepy battery, and Angel Mendez rushed a 2-out, 2-run double to get Indy up 3-2… So we lacked skill, and we’d also lack luck. By the fifth, Merino hit a single to center, but was then doubled up by Watt, while the Indians got a walk to Anderson, an infield single for Rivera, then pulled off a double steal before Russ (hiss!) tacked on a run with a groundout, 4-2. De Castro flew out to right to end the inning. When Herrera and Waters reached base and pulled off a double steal of their own in the top 6th, Gurney struck out and Crispin flew out to center, and nobody scored. The offseason couldn’t come ******* soon enough at this point. And that was more or less the game. Gurney went six, while the pen gave up another run in the eighth. Lillis faced only Rivera, walked him, and Ibold couldn’t keep the runner on base. The Raccoons were held to five hits by Nichol over eight innings, and swept, too. 5-2 Indians. I tried to shove our rotation into a recycling bin at Indianapolis’ Adam Lambert International Airport, but an attendant kindly informed me that I had to take my toxic waste with me. Aw shucks. Raccoons (69-70) @ Loggers (46-94) – September 10-12, 2049 On to Loggerville then. We had 23 left to play, with these being the last three games with the Loggers, who we were leading 12-3 this year. There was nothing but misery on their roster, which produced the fewest runs in the league, and was giving up the second-most. It was grim. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (11-9, 3.63 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (9-15, 4.69 ERA) Dave Hils (12-6, 3.78 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (7-16, 4.59 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (11-9, 4.55 ERA) vs. John Morrill (9-12, 4.37 ERA) Left, right, right – maybe. They had been off on Thursday and had some liberties. The Raccoons meanwhile brought back Lonzo! Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 3B Waters – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – 1B Rogers – P Wheatley MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – C T. Sanchez – RF Lovell – 3B Kohr – P V. Padilla Victor Padilla nailed the first two Raccoons he faced on Friday, including our precious Lonzo (!), but Preble hit into a double play and the inning fizzled out without any punishment being doled out. On the other side of the box score, Jose Delgado tripled into the right-center gap on Wheats’ first pitch, and Brent Allen singled him home. Zach Suggs hit an RBI double, which sugged. I was sad. Ricky Lopez doubled home Brent Allen in the third, making it 3-0 Loggers, while I contemplated abandoning the team and moving to Nunavut. By the fourth, Wheats was chewed up in a 6-0 game. He nailed Tony Sanchez to begin the bottom 4th, then walked Pat Lovell on four pitches. The rest of his misery he deserved, even though a Lonzo error (whines!) made two of the runs in the inning unearned. The Coons scored two in the fifth, as if it mattered, RBIs being grabbed by Herrera on a groundout and Waters with a 2-out triple. The Loggers countered with a Ricky Lopez homer off Danny Cancel in the bottom 5th, 7-2. Waters singled home Lonzo in the seventh, but Tony Sanchez shrugged and belted an O’Higgins offering over the fence in the bottom of the same frame. I was in agony. Gurney drove in a run as pinch-hitter in the ninth; it didn’t exactly make a big difference anymore… 8-4 Loggers. Herrera 2-3, BB, 2B; Waters 3-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Castner 2-3, BB, 2 2B; The worst thing is that it takes about $200 worth of beer to make the pain go away for a moment… Game 2 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – RF Nigro – C Gardner – P Hils MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – C Nagel – 3B Kohr – P Hollis Three scoreless innings into the game, Matt Waters left with an intercostal strain. Lonzo was moved to second base, because what better time to get some dibs there than with the team’s best player out and 22 meaningless games left to a meaningless season? Adame came in to play short in that sad fourth. Through five, the Coons had two base hits, one by Lonzo (yay!), and Hils had reached on an uncaught third strike for what it was worth (nothing much, really). Hils matched the pace of allowing precious little, allowing three hits in five innings, including a leadoff double by Hollis in the bottom 3rd that led nowhere. Top 6th, Adame in the #4 hole and Crispin drew walks and were on the corners with two outs – Adame had stolen a base, and Crispin tried to keep up, but was thrown out to end the inning. In turn, the Loggers shanked Hils for four hits, two stolen bases, and two runs in the bottom of the inning, starting it all with a drag bunt single by Jose Delgado, who was bunted to second, then stole third base. Zach Suggs singled him home, which sugged, was *caught* stealing, but Lopez and Chris Lowe singled, the latter plating the former, who had also stolen second. Top 7th, the Coons made two outs before Hils singled. Lonzo walked, and Herrera hit an RBI single. Mike Preble then flipped the score with a 3-run blast to right-center, his 24th of the year. Adame then singled, stole second, and was singled in by Gurney to right, 5-2. Hils went eight with that, handing the ball off to Moreno then, and three Loggers later the Raccoons had their first win since about Easter… 5-2 Coons. Hils 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (13-6) and 1-3; Matt Waters was off to the DL with an intercostal strain, but it looked like we might get him back before the end of the season according to Dr. Padilla. Whatever. Pain here, pain there, grey hair and pain are everywhere… It was all the pain for this week though, with Sunday’s game pre-empted by bad weather. In other news September 7 – The Aces beat the Condors, 3-0, on just three base hits – all solo homers. 1B/LF/RF Aubrey Austin (.255, 12 HR, 54 RBI) hits one, and 3B/SS Matthew Gross (.243, 2 HR, 10 RBI) swats two – the first two of his career. September 10 – WAS CL Leif Squires (4-8, 5.17 ERA, 28 SV) is diagnosed with a torn UCL and is headed for Tommy John surgery and likely to miss all of the 2050 season. September 10 – ATL LF/RF/1B Billy Hester (.242, 9 HR, 55 RBI) goes 5-for-5 and misses the cycle by a triple, driving in three runs in a 14-3 drubbing of the Aces. September 11 – SFB SP Craig Czyszczon (11-8, 3.33 ERA) is out for the year with a torn labrum and might miss the start of next season, too. FL Player of the Week: RIC RF/LF Chris Morris (.321, 17 HR, 61 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 1 HR, 5 RBI CL Player of the Week: VAN RF Jerry Outram (.300, 11 HR, 51 RBI), socking .550 (11-20) with 2 HR, 9 RBI Complaints and stuff Sunday’s rainout has been rescheduled for the 23rd, which is all fine by me. At least we don’t have to fly out to New York for three stupid games then. We can make a stupid 2-city trip for four games! I am sure playing Lonzo at second for a bit while Matt Waters is out is the smartest idea I’ve had in a while. Before we can get back to Milwaukee, we’ll play ten in the Northwest. A four-game set in Elk City is up first, then a homestand with the Aces and Knights. Fun Fact: Matt Waters’ injury means he will again not play in 150 games this season. He managed that only once, in his first full season in ’44, and currently is stuck at 127. Dr. Padilla thinks he’ll be available in the last week, so maybe make that 130-133 or so, but I’d rather have him for 150… Also, a winning team. I hope it won’t take a decade to rebuild this ***********.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3962 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Raccoons (70-71) @ Canadiens (88-54) – September 13-16, 2049
Couple of things were on the line here, besides my general sanity, having to sit around the general madhouse of the office in Portland while the Coons were off to play their last four games in West Siberia; first our all-time above-.500 record against the Elks would be gone if we got swept; it would be .500 for the winter then. Also, the damn Elks would mathematically eliminate us with a split in this series, which would surely gnaw on me, and could potentially even clinch the division altogether while the Raccoons were in town. None of these prospects were delightful, nor was the basic concept of the hapless Remainder-Coons going up against a team in the top 3 in both runs scored and runs allowed. They had a +127 run differential. The Raccoons had finally worked themselves under .500 in that category, too, at -3. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (11-9, 4.55 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (12-10, 2.64 ERA) Victor Salcido (5-8, 4.08 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (15-6, 3.25 ERA) Victor Merino (10-12, 4.92 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (14-7, 3.71 ERA) Jason Wheatley (11-10, 3.74 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (11-9, 3.65 ERA) Two left, two right, probably four in the snout. Game 1 POR: 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – C Gonzalez – RF Avila – 3B Crispin – P Wolinsky VAN: LF Escobido – SS Mullen – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – C Julio Diaz – CF Burkhart – 1B Higareda – 2B DeMarco – P McMichael The Elks went up 1-0 in the first with singles by Dan Mullen and Jesus Burgos, the latter driving in the former, with Jerry Outram, the previous week’s Player of the Week, reaching on a Gurney error in between. Portland made that up in the top 2nd, where Adame drew a 1-out walk and scored on Eduardo Avila’s double, but Lonzo and Herrera were left on base after hitting singles in the third inning. By the fourth, we had the bases loaded with one out and Adame, Ruben Gonzalez, and Ed Crispin (intentionally walked) on for … well, Bubba. A K dropped Wolinsky to .077 for the year and made it three on and two outs for Lonzo, who was batting .400 in 70 at-bats, but was also rung up by McMichael. And somehow it remained the Coons who kept pushing in this Monday game. Preble and Gurney went to the corners with base hits in the fifth, setting up Adame for a sac fly to Angel Escobido and thus a 2-1 lead. Despite the shoddy beginning, Bubba held up that skinny lead through seven innings, scattering a total of four base hits to the damn Elks. The Raccoons were still fighting McMichael in the eighth, with Ruben Gonzalez getting nicked and singled to third base by Avila, all with two outs. Wade Gardner batted for Crispin, but flew out to Escobido for no gains. Bubba was not back for the bottom 8th, which saw Preston Porter take the baseball against the top of the order (and in the #8 hole). He retired Escobido and Dan Mullen easily before Lynn took over against Jerry Outram, who popped out to Lonzo to end the inning. The Coons found no insurance in the ninth, with Tim Rogers hitting a leadoff single against Sam Gibson, only to get forced out on a Lonzo grounder. Lonzo stole second, his 10th bag, but was stranded there by Herrera and Preble. Lynn returned for the bottom 9th, only to serve up a leadoff double to Jesus Burgos, putting the tying run on second base. Nelson Moreno only came on once Sterling Henderson pinch-hit for the left-handed Julio Diaz. Henderson whiffed, then lefty Rick Price pinch-hit for Tim Burkhart, but popped out to short. Nate Oden was another lefty pinch-hitter then, also a rookie that had yet to fatally annoy me. He struck out, delaying that fatal annoyance to perhaps tomorrow. 2-1 Critters! Preble 2-5, 2B; Avila 3-4, 2B, RBI; Rogers 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (12-9); Game 2 POR: 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – RF Avila – C Gardner – 3B Rogers – P Salcido VAN: 1B Scannell – CF Tomasello – SS R. Price – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – LF Burkhart – C Oden – 2B DeMarco – P de Anda For two innings, Salcido didn’t look half-bad against a lineup crammed with lefty batters, but then there was an hour-long rain delay and he was ghastly on the other side. Steve Scannell walked with one out in the third, stole second, and reached third on an error by Gurney on Tyler Tomasello’s grounder. In full counts, Salcido walked both Price and Outram, pushing home the game’s first run, then gave up another run on Burgos’ sac fly. Burkhart struck out in another full count, stranding three. The Coons went on to lose Alex Adame in an on-base collision at first, when him and Scannell collided as Adame tried to leg out an infield roller – which he did! …but he also left the game with a painful knee contusion, to be replaced by Eddy Luna. Salcido dropped but five minutes later with a bum shoulder, and while Dr. Padilla was doing all the extra laps in Elk City, I was taking bigger sips of Capt’n Coma, all the while there was bickering between Maud and Slappy – NOT on the couch for a Coons game…! – over in the other room, probably because of Autumn again. The keen observer (though sometimes with blurred vision) that I was, I noticed how Autumn, sat on the far end of the trusty brown couch was painting her toe nails again and kept blinking her fake eyelashes at Cristiano Carmona, who remained stoically uninterested. That was it, I resolved – I had to replace the entire front office with people that didn’t feel anything from the waist down! …or get rid of Autumn. Maud, can you call Nick for me? Meanwhile, in the game on TV, Steve Richardson gave up solo homers to Tomasello and Burkhart in the fifth inning, deepening the gap to 4-0, which also turned out to be the final score. The Raccoons remained hapless against de Anda, who pitched into the ninth, to get knocked out with one out to go after Preble and Brooks chopped singles through the gaps on the infield, but Sam Gibson axed Brian Nigro to end the game. A further three Raccoons relievers followed after Richardson, giving up no further runs. 4-0 Canadiens. Adame 1-2; Luna 1-1; Brooks (PH) 1-1; Both Alex Adame (knee contusion) and Victor Salcido (shoulder subluxation) figured to miss one week with their respective woes. Neither went to the DL – no roster crunch in September – although we sent for Andrew Clarke, our main injury insurance in AAA, who would make at least one start for Salcido now. Game 3 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – RF Nigro – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – P Merino VAN: LF Escobido – SS Mullen – 1B S. Henderson – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – CF Burkhart – 3B Higareda – 2B DeMarco – P Godinez The Coons got a quick start with Lonzo, who singled, stole second, and was singled home by Mike Preble for his 90th RBI right in the first inning…! Unfortunately, that seemed to be it for offense, while the Elks were soon taking big swings at Merino, resulting in a 3-run bottom 3rd. Nick DeMarco opened with a single before Gurney fumbled Godinez’ bunt for an error. Godinez was out on a fielder’s choice when Escobido grounded up the middle, but Mullen tied the game with a single. Merino walked Henderson, and then conceded two runs on an Outram single. The inning fizzled out after that, but the Elks got a new one right after that. The 7-8-9 batters all reached base, with Godinez chopping an RBI single already, 4-1. Escobido added another RBI single, and Mullen knocked out Merino with a 2-run single. Brett Lillis jr. walked the bases full after that, but somehow rung up Diaz and got a groundout from Burkhart to strand the bases loaded. As if it ******* mattered in a 7-1 game. Crispin drove in a pair in the sixth, cashing a Preble single and a Gurney double to knock out Godinez, but that still left the Coons a slam short and we had Danny Cancel pitching now, so it wasn’t like we were banking on getting back into it. Cancel didn’t get scored upon, but a Julio Diaz homer and two runs fell out of Bob Ibold in a shoddy bottom 7th. The Coons pulled those two runs back with a Preble homer, then base knocks by Nigro and Gonzalez off Tim Abraham in the eighth, but then were *still* a slam short, and also remained that way in the ninth. 9-5 Canadiens. Preble 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Cancel 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; So there it was. Mathematical elimination. What is it, Maud? – Nick is here? Good! Game 4 POR: LF Watt – 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Luna – C Gardner – P Wheatley VAN: 1B Scannell – LF Escobido – SS R. Price – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – CF Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P Herman The good news was that the damn Elks could not clinch the division in our faces – the Indians had held well enough to get the non-race to at least Friday. Good for them! – Yes, Nick, we’re mathematically eliminated. – Yes, that means we’ll not be in the playoffs this year. – No no no Nick, Nick, Nick… stay here, watch the game with me, and Slappy, and Cristiano, and you know our very talented intern, Autumn? – Yes, Nick, very talented. She’s *the best*. The damn Elks had two singles, two stolen bases (Steve Scannell and Rick Price), and a run in the bottom 1st to take the lead yet again. The Coons didn’t reach base at all the first time through, while Wheats leaked a leadoff single to Burgos in the second, then a leadoff walk to Escobido in the third. Escobido stole second and reached third on Wade Gardner’s throwing error, then came home on Rick Price’s groundout, 2-0. – Yes, Nick, they’re awful, I totally agree. – You know who’s wonderful? *Autumn*! The Coons finally got Lonzo on base with a single in the fourth inning. Herrera singled him to third base, then was picked off first himself, but Mike Preble got Portland on the board with a 2-out RBI single up the middle, but was left on base. Gurney would try to single home Herrera in the sixth with two outs and the tying run on second base, but Tomasello threw him out at the plate and the Coons remained behind, while the damn Elks chewed up Wheats in only six innings with 109 pitches on his ledger to make it even that far. Crispin reached second base as the tying run in the seventh, but was stranded by Gardner, Nigro, and Watt. – Yes, Nick, they are hardly watchable. But Autumn is *very* watchable! Instead, Porter gave up a single to the ******* opposing pitcher in the bottom 7th, and Julian Ponce gave up an RBI double with two outs to PH Dan Mullen, 3-1. Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the eighth, then was driven in when Preble doubled off the wall in rightfield, but of course that still left Wheatley on the hook. The Elks went to Tim Abraham here, who rung up Gurney for the second out. Avila pinch-hit for Crispin then, only to draw right-hander Sam Heisler… and struck out. – Oh, she’s awesome, Nick. She can take pictures, and she can paint her nails, and she can … uh… look decoratively. – Yes, a great representative. – Yes, also brand ambassador. It was Gibson in a 3-2 game in the ninth, with the Raccoons bringing up the bottom of the order. Luna led off with a single, then reached second base when Gardner grounded out. Ruben Gonzalez batted for the pitcher, singled to left, and Luna was sent for home plate to – … be thrown out by Escobido. I howled in horror. Watt popped out to end the game. 3-2 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-4; Herrera 2-4; Preble 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; (dries tears) Oh no, Nick, I can’t possibly leave Autumn to you, what would we even do without her? – An executive order to make her your new assistant, Nick? – Well, I guess we will have to live with that. Yes, Autumn, you’ll get to travel the world with our beloved owner now. I think she said something here, but squealed so high only dogs could hear it. Anyway, Nick departed with Autumn, and when I went home to be sad at home for the rest of the day, Cristiano gave me a high five on the way out, and Maud wordlessly hugged me. The players were shocked to find her gone when they returned home, but I cleverly blamed it all on Nick Valdes, who was filling their paychecks, and then we had a big order of donuts on Friday to keep everybody placated. Raccoons (71-74) vs. Aces (53-93) – September 17-19, 2049 The Aces were second from the bottom in both runs scored and runs allowed, with an unhealthy -185 run differential, which sounded a lot like they’d win this series. They *were* up 4-2 in the season series. Projected matchups: Dave Hils (13-6, 3.71 ERA) vs. Pablo Paez (9-12, 3.88 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (12-9, 4.41 ERA) vs. Sadaharu Okuda (11-14, 4.48 ERA) Andrew Clarke (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Marty Madera (4-18, 5.39 ERA) Right, familiar left, right. – Yes, Cristiano, I am in can-it-just-be-over mode now. Only so much more – the Aces had just lost their best hitter, C Kevin Weese (.315, 8 HR, 79 RBI) to a torn meniscus. Well, there was the terror of 25 homers worth of Sam Witherspoon, but beyond that, they were frighteningly weak. I say that now, and then we’re pounded for 27 runs over the weekend again, aren’t we? Game 1 LVA: LF F. Rojas – 2B Huber – CF Cramer – RF Austin – SS Landstrom – 3B M. Gross – 1B Blair – C Elias – P Paez POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Luna – C Brooks – 2B Castner – P Hils Herrera single, Preble double, Gurney sac fly, 1-0 in the bottom 1st. A leadoff double by Aubrey Austin in the top 2nd threatened that lead for sure. Josh Landstrom’s groundout advanced the runner, but Hils cleverly nailed Matthew Gross, then got a double play from Dave Blair to strand the tying run at third base. And that was already all there was really worth talking about in the first five innings. Hils had a 3-hitter through five, while the Coons then got a 1-out double from Herrera in the bottom 6th for their best scoring chance in a while. The Aces wanted no piece of Preble, who was walked intentionally. Gurney hit into a fielder’s choice, and Crispin drove a ball to deep left… but couldn’t beat Felix Rojas on the warning track, and runners were stranded on the corners. Landstrom and PH Chris Tyler then hit two soft singles to begin the seventh. Sam Witherspoon batted for Blair, but hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Debutee Juan Elias batted with the tying run on third and two gone, and instantly made it onto my dislike list with a floater that dropped for a shy RBI single in shallow right. Hils continued into the eighth, but put Brent Cramer and Aubrey Austin on base with two outs. Lynn came on to face Landstrom, but the Aces brought a righty pinch-hitter, Miguel Colon. Lynn got a K anyway, ending the inning. While the Coons continued to be inept, Nelson Moreno navigated around a Witherspoon double in the ninth to keep the game tied. Jayden Woods would face the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 9th then, Gurney singled, reached second on a wild pitch… and was stranded. Top 10th, Brett Lillis jr. struck out three… while also giving up a leadoff jack to PH Jonathan Harris, a double to Austin, and an RBI single to Rafael Ramos (who?). Bottom 10th, righty David Williams put the tying runs on with pinch-hit singles by Nigro (leading off) and Gonzalez (with one out). Watt walked in a full count, loading the bases for Herrera, who ran another full count, grounded up the middle, and was thrown out at first base by a zooming Rafael Ramos (who??). Preble was NOT walked with the winning runs in scoring position, first base open, and two outs, but rather dished a deep drive to right-center… which was caught by Cramer. 3-2 Aces. Herrera 3-5, 2B, RBI; Nigro (PH) 1-1; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1; Hils 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Boy. We suck. (sigh) … 16 more games. That’s another 144 innings of suck, not including gruesome encores like Lillis’. Game 2 LVA: SS M. Villalobos – 1B C. Tyler – 2B Huber – RF Austin – CF J. Harris – 3B M. Gross – LF D. Encarnacion – C F. Gomez – P Okuda POR: LF Watt – 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Avila – SS Luna – 3B Rogers – P Wolinsky Mario Villalobos lasted one inning before leaving for Rafael Ramos after he injured himself snatching a Lonzo liner, which served him right and might teach him a lesson. Okuda meanwhile was warmly welcomed back by the (thin) home crowd, but the fans also enjoyed the Coons hanging him two runs in the bottom 2nd. Avila and Luna went to the corners, and a run scored on Tim Rogers’ groundout. Bubba socked an RBI double to make it 2-0, but was left on when Matt Watt floated out. Ruben Gonzalez added a 2-run homer in the bottom 3rd, driving home Herrera to make it 4-0. The Aces had only one hit through five, but Ramos (seriously, who?) and Dustin Huber both chopped singles to right in the sixth, but were also stranded on the corners when Austin struck out. Harris doubled to left to begin the seventh, but was also never moved off second base as the next three batters all made poor outs against Bubba, but the shutout fell by the wayside in the eighth inning after all when Bubba was taken deep to left by Rafael Ramos. No, really; who?? Bubba finished the inning, and Moreno finished the game in the ninth without any more fuss. 4-1 Coons. Herrera 3-3, 2B; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (13-9) and 2-3, 2B, RBI; Game 3 LVA: LF F. Rojas – 2B Huber – CF Cramer – 1B Witherspoon – RF Austin – 3B M. Gross – SS R. Ramos – C Elias – P Madera POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Luna – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – P Clarke Second career start for Andrew Clarke, and the first in which he casually no-hit the Aces through five innings. There was A LOT of poor contact from either team, and the Raccoons had all of two base hits through four innings, including a Clarke single. Gonzalez singled and Castner got nicked in the bottom 5th, but the runners were eventually stranded in scoring position on an easy fly out by Watt. Madera, Felix Rojas, and Dustin Huber went down in order in the sixth inning to extend the no-hitter, but so did Clarke, who was taken out of the game by Dr. Padilla after six no-no innings. Oh no. The Coons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom 6th when starting with Herrera they whacked three leadoff hits off Madera. Gurney drove in a run, and Crispin added a sac fly. The no-hitter ended in the seventh, though. Ponce nicked Witherspoon, while Porter gave up an infield single to Austin. Boo! Chris Tyler singled to load the bases, while Danny Encarnacion hit a comebacker that Porter took home to force out Witherspoon. Elias grounded out to strand the bags full. The Coons scored again, though; Nigro walked with one out in the bottom 7th, followed by a Watt double, Herrera RBI single, and Gurney RBI single. Crispin drew another walk to fill them up for Luna, who flew out to Rojas in left to also strand the bases loaded. Rojas then homered off Bob Ibold in the eighth, cutting the 4-0 lead in half with Miguel Colon also on base. Lillis replaced him, got out of the inning and two outs in the ninth as well, but then walked Juan Elias and was replaced for Norris against Harris. A loud wallbanger RBI double by Harris and a Rojas single tied the score at four as I sunk deeper into the cushions. The inning only ended when Rojas was caught stealing. Bottom 9th, the Coons went to the corners with no outs against Woods when Watt and Herrera hit a pair of singles. But the Coons had removed Preble in a double switch earlier… but they still had a Lonzo on the bench! Come on, Lonzo, walk them off! Lonzo struck out. While Gurney ended the game with a single to left, I was still dismayed that I was denied going bonzo over Lonzo… 5-4 Coons. Watt 2-5, 2B; Herrera 3-5, RBI; Gurney 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Crispin 1-2, BB, RBI; Clarke 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K and 1-2; (shakes fist at the baseball gods) In other news September 13 – BOS SP Kyle Turay (17-7, 2.91 ERA) 2-hits the Crusaders in a 5-0 shutout. Turay walks one and whiffs seven batters. September 15 – RIC OF Victor Vazquez (.282, 9 HR, 42 RBI) figures to miss nine months with a ruptured disc. September 17 – The Canadiens clinch the CL North with a win over the Thunder that takes a while (5:23) to complete. The game is tied at nine through 14 innings before the Canadiens break out for five runs in the top of the 15th to win 14-9. September 18 – DAL SP Ruben Guzman (15-11, 3.59 ERA) strikes out 13 batters in a 5-hit shutout against the Cyclones. The Stars win 11-0. FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF/1B Dario Martinez (.277, 33 HR, 117 RBI), hitting .464 (13-28) with 4 HR, 12 RBI CL Player of the Week: TIJ 1B/OF Gil Cabrera (.337, 8 HR, 81 RBI), batting .500 (13-26) with 1 HR, 6 RBI Complaints and stuff (sigh) Yes, I would also like to see Lonzo play more often, but we also have to watch out for his total at-bats if we want him to go for ROTY next year. So he’ll not play more than about 2/3 of the remaining games, even if with all the injuries that means more of John ******* Castner and the likes. I would also want Lonzo walkoffs, but … eh. No news on Clarke so far, who pitched the six no-hit innings on Sunday, which the pen somehow followed up with seven hits and four runs in three innings. Bums. Next week: three with the Knights, then the makeup game in Milwaukee on the way to New York. We will close out the year with a homestand hosting the Titans and Indians. Fun Fact: The Stars might for the third time in six years win 98+ games and yet miss the playoffs. That was in 2044 and 2046. They also came second in ’45 with 93 wins, but won the division both of the last two seasons, with 100 wins each time. They amounted to a championship last year, I hear.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3963 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Raccoons (73-75) vs. Knights (70-79) – September 20-22, 2049
I had Maud inquire at League HQ, and apparently these last two weeks had to be played out for real, no exceptions, even though the games were sooo meaningless. (sigh!) Well then. The Knights were fourth in runs scored, bottoms in runs allowed and bleeding so many runs that even our soggy offense might get going for once, and even more games out of first place in their division than we were. We were also up 4-2 on them. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (10-13, 5.10 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (12-14, 4.47 ERA) Jason Wheatley (11-11, 3.72 ERA) vs. Kyle DuPlessis (2-1, 3.25 ERA) Dave Hils (13-6, 3.61 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (1-4, 6.94 ERA) Didn’t look like a lefty was coming up here, nor any of the regular starters Brian Buttress, Steve Huffman, or Adam Capone, who were all stashed away on the DL, along with catcher Tyler Cass (.349, 6 HR, 90 RBI), the latter giving his teammate Anton Venegas (.360, 3 HR, 60 RBI) a free lane towards the batting title. Bryan Lenderink returned from the DL in time for this series. Game 1 ATL: 2B S. Turner – RF van der Zanden – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – 3B Hertenstein – LF Hester – C Whitley – 1B Swift – P Koga POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – 2B Rogers – P Merino Merino had another first-inning meltdown, misfielding a potential inning-ender by Jon Alade to instead put him and Arnout van der Zanden (shows pointy teeth) on the corners, only to – of course – allow a 2-out, 2-run double to center to Daniel Hertenstein (hiss!). It didn’t get any better after that, with Merino beaten to death on the scoreboard by the Knights in the third inning. With one run across already, T.J. Swift hit a 2-out, 3-run homer to center, and then Merino put ANOTHER THREE RUNNERS on base, including the ******* opposing pitcher. After van der Zanden’s RBI double to center he was yanked. Polibio O’Higgins got a fly to center from Venegas to end the inning with a 7-0 score, then got raped just as badly in the fourth. Jon Alade singled, Hertenstein doubled, and Billy Hester raked a 2-run triple. While Koga was still no-hitting the useless pelts in the brown shirts at this point, a Swift sac fly swiftly made it 10-0. Straight hits by the Coons’ 4-5-6 batters to open the bottom 5th eventually led to two runs, and Lonzo hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 6th, the first of his career, but I was beyond ecstasy about even that by then. All I saw was a roster with almost 20 pitchers on it – all of them useless. How to fix THAT? Gonzalez doubled home Gurney in the bottom 6th as well, 10-4, and that remained the score until the ninth inning while the Lillis, Cancel et. al. Brigade pitched five innings of shutout relief that were entirely ******* useless to both man- and coonkind. The Raccoons emptied their bench against the stunningly resilient Koga in the bottom 9th, with Matt Watt drawing a leadoff walk. With two outs, John Castner hit a pinch-hit single from the #9 hole, bringing Lonzo back to the plate. To some celebration, he snuck a single up the middle to bring in Watt for his 10th career RBI, while a Herrera single loaded the bases and FINALLY knocked out Koga. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, righty David Hardaway replaced him against Preble, who flew out to Alade. 10-5 Knights. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1; Alex Adame was as good as new on Tuesday, Dr. Padilla announced. Game 2 ATL: 3B S. Turner – 2B J. Lopez – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – RF Hester – C Whitley – LF Worden – 1B Swift – P J. Byrd POR: CF Watt – 2B Lavorano – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Adame – RF Avila – C Gardner – P Wheatley Gurney’s sac fly with Watt and Preble on the corners in the bottom 1st gave Wheats a 1-0 lead, and Wheats tried to make a run for it with just that, allowing two hits against three strikeouts in the first five innings, and certainly no run, nor a runner at third base, then extended his lead himself with an RBI single in the bottom 5th. He drove in Eduardo Avila, who had virtually disappeared in the depths of the roster, but in this game reached in his first two plate appearances, stole second base both times, and now was actually converted into the 2-0 run by Wheats, who himself came around to score after further 2-out singles by Lonzo and Preble, the latter scratching out his 94th RBI as he extended the lead to 3-0. Top 6th, Wheatley walked Venegas and nailed Alade with two outs, but rung up Billy Hester to dispel what looked like a problem building up. Instead he found Crispin (leadoff double) and Gardner (intentional walk) on base with two outs in the bottom of the inning, and shoved another RBI single through between Venegas and Sam Turner, 4-0. The Knights went 1-2-3 in the seventh, but Wheats also reached 92 pitches in the course of that inning. He struck out Hertenstein and Turner in the eighth, while Jon Lopez grounded out. The 3-4-5 were thus up in the ninth, with Wheats on 106 pitches already. Venegas promptly blooped in a single on the first pitch, and then Alade grounded out a walk, and that ended Wheats’ shutout bid. Mike Lynn rung up Hester, but walked Dan Whitley, then was replaced with Moreno, with PH Chris Kirkwood representing the tying run. He popped out, but then van der Zanden – a lefty – pinch-hit. This sounded like a sure-as-heck grand slam. Nah, Moreno walked in a run instead! Sean Green (who?) pinch-hit in the #9 hole and singled in a pair, and as I despaired, Sam Turner struck out swinging anyway. 4-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Preble 2-4, RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (12-11) and 2-4, 2 RBI; Wheeeeeats! ……and lots of assorted agony… Game 3 ATL: 3B S. Turner – 2B J. Lopez – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – C Whitley – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 1B Swift – P DuPlessis POR: CF Watt – 2B Lavorano – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Adame – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – P Hils Neither team managed to send more than one batter over the minimum to the plate in the first three innings, but the Raccoons broke through in the bottom 4th, getting hits from their first four batters. Lonzo doubled, Preble singled, Gurney drove an RBI double down the rightfield line, and Ed Crispin had a soft RBI single. Adame’s double play grounder brought in Gurney, if nothing else, for a 3-0 lead. The inning after, Hils, Watt, and Lonzo loaded the bases with one out, but Preble whiffed and Gurney grounded out to Jon Lopez. The Knights got on the board in the sixth on… pretty much nothing. Hils drilled Sam Turner to begin the inning, Lopez bunted him to second, Turner stole third, and then came home on Venegas’ groundout. Top 7th, Chris Kirkwood led off with… getting drilled as well. This time though Matt Worden struck out and Kirkwood was thrown out at second by Matt Watt when he tried to tag and advance on T.J. Swift’s fly to center for a curious 8-6 double play. Lonzo doubled home Brian Nigro in the bottom 7th instead, 4-1, and with two outs Preble walked and Gurney hit an RBI single to center. Crispin grounded out to Swift to end the inning. Billy Hester took Julian Ponce deep in the eighth to restore the 3-run gap, which was then blown in the ninth inning by Preston Porter. Jon Alade welcomed him with a homer, 5-3, and Dan Whitley and van der Zanden reached base real soon, too. Worden popped out, but Swift rammed a ball off the wall for a game-tying double. Bob Ibold replaced Porter, and another four runs scored as he walked Hertenstein, gave up a 2-run double to Sam Green, another walk, another 2-run double…. Bottom 9th, Matt Simmons came in with a 4-run lead, put Lonzo and Preble on the corners, and disappeared without getting an out. Hardaway took over, got two outs, then conceded runs on RBI singles to Adame, Gonzalez, and Nigro, narrowing the score to 9-8. At this point John Castner ran for Gonzalez at second base, while Eddy Luna batted for Ibold… and flew out to Alade on the first pitch. 9-8 Knights. Lavorano 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Preble 2-4; Gurney 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Adame 3-5, RBI; Gonzalez 3-5, RBI; Nigro 3-5, RBI; Hils 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-1; Dave, I know, I know. Next time the pitching coach or manager tries to take the ball from you, hit him in the snout and just throw 135 pitches. – Yes, Dave, Dave, listen. I have a huge sack on order from the fibernet, and we’ll use that to drown the bullpen in the Willamette. Yes, the whole ******* lot of them. At this point Bob Ibold had a 14.40 ERA and was walking 10.8 per nine innings. Yes, there was a .412 BABIP, but *10.8 BB/9*! Also two homers in five innings. Also, 19 base hits and no W for the brown team. And despair. Raccoons (74-77) @ Loggers (50-102) – September 23, 2049 This was a single makeup game played at noon on our way to New York. The Loggers were safely tucked away in last place, and we had long ago secured the season series at 13-4. We sent Bubba Wolinsky (13-9, 4.25 ERA) against right-hander John Morrill (9-14, 4.55 ERA). POR: 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – SS Luna – 1B Gurney – RF Nigro – LF Avila – 3B Rogers – C Brooks – P Wolinsky MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF Lamotta – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lovell – RF McIntyre – 3B Kohr – C Nagel – P Morrill Zach Suggs hit a solo jack in the bottom 1st, his 13th of the year, 15 of which had come against the Coons, which sugged. Avila’s groundout cashed in Nigro and his 1-out triple in the top 2nd to even the score, 1-1, at least until David Nagel doubled home Pat Lovell with two outs in the bottom of the same inning. Another 2-out run scored in the bottom 4th on a passed ball charged to Brooks, the useless pelt… although Jason Kohr would have hit a single to score the runner Ricky Lopez anyway afterwards. Yey. 3-1. Somehow, after seven innings of 3-hit futility, the Raccoons got the tying runs into scoring position with nobody out in the eighth inning. Tim Rogers singled, Justin Brooks doubled, and the valiant but so far futile Wolinsky was hit for with Preble, who was making precious little progress in his bid for 100 RBI, a mark he had reached but once with the 2040 Scorpions. He flew out to Will McIntyre here, but at least got a sac fly for his 95th RBI. Herrera then doubled home Brooks with the tying run with two outs, evening the score at three. Luna’s following groundout left Bubba with a no-decision. Polibio O’Higgins somehow kept the game tied amidst a leadoff walk to Craig Sayre, a wild pitch, and a 2-out walk to Suggs in the bottom 8th. Hitchcock extended the game to extras with a scoreless ninth, only for Nate Norris to get blipped to ******* death with singles by Jack Barrington, Chris Lowe, and Zach Suggs, which, yes, SUGGED. 4-3 Loggers. Brooks 3-4, 2B; Raccoons (74-78) @ Crusaders (68-85) – September 24-26, 2049 While the Raccoons were still trying to stave off a winning record (I like to tell myself at least), the Crusaders had already notched that. They were sixth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, with a -49 run differential (Coons: -14). Jim White, Chris Robinson, and a few others were on the DL for them. We were up 8-7 in the season series, which thus was still up for grabs. Projected matchups: Victor Salcido (5-9, 4.04 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (10-16, 4.75 ERA) Andrew Clarke (0-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (2-4, 3.14 ERA) Victor Merino (10-14, 5.29 ERA) vs. Ryan Fentress (5-7, 4.42 ERA) Only right-handers here, either. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Luna – RF Preble – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – SS Adame – 2B Castner – P Salcido NYC: 1B Haertling – 3B Haney – C O. Ramirez – SS Gates – LF Garris – CF Ceballos – RF Foss – 2B O. Sanchez – P S. Chavez The Coons stuck Chavez a 4-spot in the opening inning, built with a Crispin sac fly and a Gonzalez 3-piece after the 2-3-4 batters initially reached base in order. Salcido reached 100 K and a sub-4 ERA in the second inning, then hit a double and was singled home by Matt Watt in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 5-0. On the mound Salcido looked like he had it all under control until he didn’t, when Josh Garris took him deep for a 2-piece in the bottom 6th. He was then lifted after a pair of walks to Aaron Foss and Jon Werre in the bottom 7th. The runners were in scoring position with two outs when Lynn came in to face PH Angel Lara, gave up an RBI single, so there went Salcido’s sub-4 ERA again, and then somehow got Preble to catch a drive by Omar Ramirez to end the damn inning. Lynn had a scoreless eighth, and Moreno had a scoreless ninth after all the agony of a leadoff walk to Foss and a Randy Anton single. Dave Hernandez hit into a fielder’s choice, Ed Haertling popped out, and David MacLeod bounced out to Luna to end the game with runners stuck on the corners. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB, RBI; Herrera 2-4, BB, 2B; Crispin 0-1, 2 BB, RBI; Salcido 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (6-9) and 1-3, 2B; Game 2 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – SS Adame – 2B Castner – P Clarke NYC: 1B Haertling – 3B Haney – C O. Ramirez – SS Gates – LF Garris – CF Ceballos – RF Foss – 2B Nash – P Sopena Crispin drove in the first run again, and in the top of the first inning, too, this time with a 2-out single while Herrera and Gurney were on the corners. It was the only run in the inning, and the lead stood up for 2.2 innings with Clarke pitching and walking a batter per inning. He eluded twice, but in the bottom 3rd gave up back-to-back 2-out homers to Omar Ramirez and Prince Gates to fall 3-1 behind. Clarke answered in his own way – coming to bat with two outs in the top 4th and Ruben Gonzalez on second base, he based a home run of his own to left-center, tying the score at three…! The joy – like all joys – was short-lived and perished in the bottom of the same inning. Mario Ceballos and Aaron Foss opened with singles, the latter of which was mishandled by Preble for a run-scoring error. A full count to Randolph Nash ended with a walk, and Edwin Sopena’s bunt was taken for an out at least. Ed Haertling reached on an error by Castner, and then Clarke walked in a run against Mark Haney, then was yanked, down 5-3 with the bags full and one out, while having issued five free passes already. Ponce got the Coons out of the inning without allowing another run, handling a comebacker from Ramirez for an out at the plate, and got a pop to short from Gates. Preble opened the fifth with a jack to right, 5-4, and Sopena walked Gurney before giving up a hit to Crispin through the right side. Gurney went for third, the ball went lost in translation, and both runners ended up in scoring position with nobody out. Gonzalez whiffed, Adame legged out an infield grounder, but the runners remained pinned by Haney’s conscious play, but John Castner, that bum, flipped the score with a 2-run single up the leftfield line. Sopena was gone for Kyle Conner, Ponce bunted on the runners for the second out, Watt walked, and then Conner plated a run with a wild pitch. Herrera grounded out, ending a full run through the order for a very confused 4-spot and a 7-5 lead. A Gurney error put a runner on base in the bottom 5th, that Ibold then conceded on a Nash single with two outs, 7-6, but Preble hit his second leadoff jack in a row off Matt Fries, 8-6 to begin the top 6th, and Ruben Gonzalez added a solo homer of his own before the inning was out. Bob Ibold then effortlessly filled the base with two sharp singles, a walk, and nobody out in the bottom 6th. Gates popped out, then the ball went to Richardson, who had nothing ******* better to do than to give up a grand slam – a mere 438 feet – to Josh Garris. Score flipped, again. Fries loaded them up with one out in the seventh, Nigro, Watt, and Herrera all getting on. Had Preble one more in his quiver? Wait – first Fries tied the game with a bouncer that got away from Omar Ramirez for a “passed ball”, tying the ******* score at a ******* ten apiece. Preble ended up walking to restock the bags, and the Crusaders took out Fries to kick him down some staircase or other. Sean Yates replaced him, gave up a sac fly to Gurney, so, uh, the Coons were now up again? …and then a single to Crispin with two outs. Herrera scored, the ball got away from Foss, prompting Preble to go to third, and here was the throw – WAY over Mark Haney, and Preble went for home and scored…! Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning; a crisp 13-10 contest at the stretch. After a scoreless bottom 7th from Lillis and his black devil magic, the Coons got another run off Yates with an Adame single, a stolen base, and a pinch-hit RBI single from Wade Gardner. Lenderink then added a scoreless bottom 8th!? But Nate Norris wouldn’t be Nate Norris (at least the sucky 2049 version) if he didn’t make it a save situation in the bottom of the ninth, allowing singles to Foss and David MacLeod. Moreno came out, Haertling grounded out, ballgame. 14-10 Critters. Preble 2-3, 3 BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Crispin 3-6, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, HR, RBI; Adame 3-5; Nigro (PH) 1-1; Gardner (PH) 1-1, RBI; Slow day at the eggball stadium? Meanwhile, Matt Waters rejoined the team for hopefully all of the last eight games this year. Game 3 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – RF Nigro – C Brooks – P Merino NYC: LF Haertling – 3B Haney – SS Gates – C O. Ramirez – RF Garris – 1B Tinoco – CF Foss – 2B Nash – P Fentress Washed-up Merino was washed for three runs (one earned) in the bottom 2nd. Yes, Lonzo made an error, but Merino also gave up two sharp hits and walked a guy to give himself the bags full with one out once Lonzo made the error. Nash drove in two with a the second hit then, and Fentress added a third run with a groundout. The Coons didn’t have a hit through three, but Preble singled home Lonzo, who had forced out Watt with a grounder and had stolen second base, for the team’s first knock and marker on the board – and his 98th RBI for the year. It remained 3-1 through five although Merino, the baseball gods sure knew, tried to give up more runs with stunts like a 4-pitch walk to Fentress in the bottom 5th. The sixth though began with Watt getting nicked and Lonzo dashing down the line for an infield single on a roller between the battery members to put on the tying runs with nobody out. The runners took off at once with Preble batting, Ramirez threw the ball past Haney, a run scored, and the tying run went to third base for Preble, who crunched a game-tying single through between Gold Glovers Nash and Gates. Gurney and Nigro would also melt on base against Fentress, and then Brooks dropped in a 2-out, 2-run single to give the Coons a 5-3 lead. Merino hit another single to refill the bases, and Fentress was yanked after walking in a run against Watt. Neal Hamann got Lonzo to ground out then, ending the inning. Hamann was torn up by the meat of the order in the seventh, however, putting on Preble (double) and Waters (walk) before getting taken deep by Gurney for a 3-run homer. Merino went eight innings after all, throwing 103 pitches, with the Crusaders folding in the latter half of his outing. Richardson chipped in a 1-2-3 ninth. 9-3 Coons. Preble 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nigro 2-4; Merino 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11-14) and 1-4; In other news September 21 – CHA SP Ray Thune (7-8, 4.74 ERA) spins a 1-hitter against the Canadiens, who are held to a single by INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.284, 12 HR, 68 RBI). FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.378, 23 HR, 104 RBI), mashing .480 (12-25) with 2 HR, 4 RBI CL Player of the Week: BOS 1B/2B Jeff Wheeler (.325, 8 HR, 76 RBI), hitting .524 (11-21) with 1 HR, 6 RBI Complaints and stuff I thought we could trade Nelson Moreno and Mike Lynn for prospects or at least useful bits this winter and then piece the ninth together between Preston Porter and Bob Ibold or something for the next year or two until an actual candidate would emerge in the minors, but their combined 7-spot in the ninth on Wednesday taught me otherwise. I must drown them. All of them. Indeed, the whole ******* lot of them. Titans, Indians, then we’re done and can start cleaning house. …all while mostly sitting Lonzo, the most interesting thing on the roster now, so he can go for ROTY in ’50. Lonzo, Crispin, Waters, Maldo as the new infield? Yeah, Crispin is not hitting a whole lot, but he is an above-average defender and won’t turn 23 until November, he still has room to grow. I have NO idea what the outfield will look like next year. Herrera could even be tradable, and the rest will probably disappear via free agency. And yes, the pen needs to be wholesale dissolved in acid. Fun Fact: Armando Herrera singled once in five attempts on Thursday, reaching 2,500 base hits for his career. The nature of the season, which nobody can await to end, and the rushed nature of our arrival and departure around a hastily rescheduled game in Milwaukee also meant that there were no extended congratulations on the field, which already had 179 losses assembled at this time, and the Coons had missed both breakfast on the plane and lunch at the ballpark and were just starving their way to another sad-sack loss. Herrera, 35 these days, is in his 14th season with Oregon teams, and the fifth with the Coons. He’s signed through next year. The 2042 FL batting champ has four rings and nine Gold Gloves among other accolades, and at that point sat at a .313/.366/.402 clip with 36 HR and 791 RBI, plus 228 SB. He looks like he has a few more years of baseball in him, so 3,000 hits are not impossible.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3964 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Final week, finally.
Raccoons (77-78) vs. Titans (77-78) – September 27-30, 2049 The Titans and Critters were still fighting for third place, not that I fancied that battle much. I’d like to not fritter away the season series here, which stood at 8-6 for the Critters, which was already at least one notch down from five straight years of winning either 13 or 14 games from Boston. Also from five straight pennants. The Titans were tenth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (12-11, 3.66 ERA) vs. David Barnes (1-5, 3.44 ERA) Dave Hils (13-6, 3.53 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (18-8, 3.08 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (13-9, 4.24 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (11-12, 3.51 ERA) Victor Salcido (6-9, 4.04 ERA) vs. Tony Ruiz (4-16, 5.97 ERA) Left and right, right and left, and hopefully without suffering any gruesome injuries that would impact whatever personnel we’d have by April of ’50. Game 1 BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – RF L. Estrada – SS A. Silva – P D. Barnes POR: 3B Luna – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – C Gonzalez – RF Avila – P Wheatley Jason Monson took Wheats deep on the very first pitch of the week, but Matt Waters hit a 2-piece in the bottom 1st to flip that score right away. It was 3-1 by the second; Eduardo Avila walked, then advanced on a misfielded bunt and a wild pitch, and scored on Eddy Luna’s groundout. While Wheats allowed only one more hit through five innings against Boston, he also walked two and nailed Chris Jimenez at one point, but on the other paw the Titans hit into double plays in three consecutive innings from the second through the fourth to politely abstain from littering on our basepaths. The Coons had Luna on base with a double in the bottom 5th, but when he tried to score on a Herrera single to left, he was thrown out by Tony Lopez. Wheats got through seven without allowing another run, but with a lopsided line by the end of it, allowing four hits and walks each, and whiffing only a pair in a game that didn’t see him at his best, but the rest of the team kept him together. Lynn and Moreno would not stay behind in keeping **** tight, and both had 1-2-3 innings on the way to a .500-reaching W. 3-1 Raccoons. Luna 2-4, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4; Gurney 2-3; Gardner (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (13-11); Game 2 BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – RF L. Estrada – SS A. Silva – P Turay POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – SS Adame – RF Nigro – C Gardner – P Hils Monson got on to begin the game again, this time with a single, and scored for another 1-0 Boston lead, this time by means of a wild pitch with two outs. (sigh!) That 1-0 lead stood up through five, with that many base hits total between the two teams. The Titans had three, and Alex Adame had the other two, but had been stranded at third base twice. It took the Coons the same thing it had taken them the day before to flip the score – a 2-run homer by Matt Waters, and they had to wait for it until the sixth inning. Matt Watt drew a leadoff walk, was forced out by Gurney, but Waters swatted a 2-out offering over the fence in centerfield for his 22nd this year – the battle with Preble was all but lost, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take out some anger over an injury-riddled season on the Titans. Hils went seven, Preston Porter had a 1-2-3 eighth, but Nelson Moreno was unavailable in the ninth after being out three times in four days, and the Coons sent out Julian Ponce to get a fly to center from Nate Massey, then made another change to Kevin Hitchcock for the righty batters in the meat of the order. After he retired absolutely ******* nobody and surrendered the lead on a Jeff Wheeler single, Tony Lopez’ double, and Ryan Youngquist singling both of them in, plus a dumb walk to Chris Jimenez, he got yanked for Lillis, who got out of the dismal inning, now with Boston up by one. Matt Waters hit a leadoff single in the bottom 9th, but that was as far as the Coons got against Jim Cushing, who put the game away. 3-2 Titans. Waters 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Adame 2-4; Hils 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Game 3 BOS: CF Monson – SS A. Silva – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – 3B J. Rodriguez – RF L. Estrada – P Serio POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – 1B Brooks – P Wolinsky Jason Monson was moving up my hate list rapidly with another first-pitch jack in the Wednesday game, his second of the damn series. It was not that he was a slugger – he had five homers all year in over 230 at-bats! Maybe it was Bubba’s fault, though? He loaded the bases with the next three batters, walking two along with a single, but then retired three in a row without allowing a run; strikeouts to Jimenez and Jose Rodriguez, while Youngquist lined out to Waters. But Jeff Wheeler hit a solo homer in the third, which continued with Tony Lopez singling his way on and scoring on a Youngquist double, and nothing was really working out for Wolinsky in this start… or the rest of the team, which was hitless until Crispin found a single in the bottom 4th. Bubba went six and a third in his final start of the year, but remained 3-0 behind. Lenderink got the final two outs in that inning, while the Raccoons got Crispin and Nigro to the corners with soft singles in the bottom 7th. Justin Brooks flew out to Leo Estrada in right, Crispin went for home, and was thrown out at the plate – that kinda game. The charred remains of Bob Ibold got a scoreless inning with two strikeouts against an Alejandro Silva single in the eighth, while the Coons scored in the bottom of that inning. Adame singled in Ibold’s place, stole a base, Watt singled, and Lonzo hit a sac fly to center. That was all off ex-Coon Adam Bates, who was then yanked for Jordan Ramos, who ran a full count against Preble, but then walked him. With the tying runs on, Waters whiffed and Crispin flew out to center. O’Higgins struck out the side in the ninth, but all the offense in the bottom 9th was a Nigro single. 3-1 Titans. Crispin 2-3; Nigro 2-4; Adame (PH) 1-2; No Tony Ruiz on Thursday, but still a southpaw in Victor Scott (4-2, 3.95 ERA). Game 4 BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – RF L. Estrada – SS A. Silva – P V. Scott POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Avila – C Gardner – 3B Rogers – P Salcido Five batters and as many outs into the game, Victor Salcido had that old ERA under four again, which would be a nice point to finish the year at. While Salcido did not allow a hit through four innings, he issued four walks, and gave up an unearned run in the top 4th, in which he offered free passes to both Massey and Wheeler, then had Avila drop a Youngquist fly for two free bases. He hung a K on Jimenez afterwards, then got a cozy groundout from Estrada to strand the remaining runners in scoring position. That made it 1-0 Boston, as they scored first in all four games of the series. Silva hit a single up the middle to begin the top 5th, Salcido nicked Massey with two outs, but Wheeler flew out to center to end the inning. Lonzo tied the game in the bottom 5th with a 2-out RBI single, bringing in Gardner from second with a liner to left-center before Herrera grounded out to strand both Lonzo and Rogers; given that Lonzo had under ten at-bats left without blowing through the rookie limit threshold, we were grateful for every nice turn at the dish. The sixth inning was Salcido’s last; he walked two more and allowed another single to Silva, but struck out Scott to strand the bases loaded, but that was it on 102 pitches. Sub-4 ERA achieved, but it sure hadn’t been pretty with SIX free passes in total. He ended up with a no-decision, Portland going in order in the bottom 6th of the 1-1 game. Hitchcock and O’Higgins put up scoreless innings, but the Coons left Gardner and Rogers on base in the bottom 7th before Herrera drew a leadoff walk off Jordan Ramos to begin the bottom 8th. He stole second, reached third when Youngquist’s throw got away, and the Titans walked Preble – still looking for that 100th RBI – intentionally. Waters drilled a deep fly, but Estrada made a fancy catch in deep right-center, but it was good enough for a sac fly, 2-1. After the inning died quickly with Gurney whiffing and Nigro popping out, Nelson Moreno blew the lead in the ninth. Silva singled yet again, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Monson’s single, that pesky bugger. The game went to extras after the bottom 9th’s offense exhausted itself in a John Castner single, with Norris taking the ball and retiring the 3-4-5 in order in the top 10th, then added another scoreless inning around a Jimenez single in the 11th when the Coons failed to walk off. Bob Ibold offered a clean 12th, the bottom of which saw lefty Victor Acevedo retire Crispin in the #8 spot, then walk Watt pinch-hitting for Ibold. Watt stole second, reached third on another throw that got away, and the Titans elected to walk Lonzo intentionally, only for Lonzo to also take second without invitation. Another intentional walk to Herrera resulted, loading the bags for Preble with one out – never gonna get a better chance for his 100th RBI than this one! And he got it, walking off the team with a fly to left – Tony Lopez made the catch, but had no shot at Watt, and the series ended up split. 3-2 Raccoons. Rogers 2-2, BB; Castner (PH) 1-1; Norris 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Raccoons (79-80) vs. Indians (84-75) – October 1-3, 2049 The Indians were second again, and I was not totally sure they were happy about it. The Coons were still tied for third with the Titans, although to be honest, I wouldn’t mind the better pick. The Indians were ninth in runs scored and first in runs allowed, the season series was 8-7 in their favor, while the Raccoons were in line for an unprotected #13/14 pick (tied with the Titans, remember), one game behind the protected #12 pick held by Sacramento. Projected matchups: Andrew Clarke (0-0, 3.77 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (7-7, 3.01 ERA) Victor Merino (11-14, 5.10 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (14-13, 2.86 ERA) Jason Wheatley (13-11, 3.58 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (15-9, 2.80 ERA) Only righties left to face here. Game 1 IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B Brayboy – 2B de Castro – P Brink POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – RF Nigro – C Gardner – P Clarke Adame and Waters hit first-inning single, the latter driving in the former, before Pat Gurney mashed a 2-piece over the ball in right, much to the acknowledgement of a sparse and unenthusiastic crowd. Three singles whacked off Clarke in the top 3rd scored a run for Indy, Angel Mendez bringing in Aaron Brayboy to my great annoyance, but at least a leadoff double by Danny Rivera in the fourth led nowhere. It was still 3-1 in the sixth of a quickly progressing game – Clarke issuing neither walks nor strikeouts at all through five – when the Indians got leadoff singles from Andrew Russ (grrr!) and Bill Quinteros, but then Rivera chopped into a 6-4-3 double play. Clarke hung a K on Bobby Anderson to end the inning. That was all for Clarke, whose day was ended by an hour-long rain delay in the bottom 6th; October in the Pacific Northwest! (shrugs!) … The Coons went through Hitchcock, Lillis, Porter, and Lynn to get through eight innings, and only then got back on the board with a solo homer by Gurney, his second in the game, in the bottom 8th. Lynn finished the game after that, logging a 4-out save. 4-1 Coons. Waters 2-4, RBI; Gurney 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1; Clarke 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0); First W for Clarke, but the Scorpions lost, so we could now at best tie for a protected pick. Game 2 IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 2B de Castro – 1B Nunez – P Nichol POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – SS Adame – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Merino A Watt walk and singles by Herrera, Preble (who got his 101st RBI) and Gurney were good for only one run in the bottom 1st; Herrera was thrown out at the plate by Angel Mendez when he tried to score on the Gurney single. Danny Rivera then hit a leadoff single, stole second, and easily scored on Anderson’s single to tie the game in the top 2nd. Bill Nichol surrendered a leadoff triple to Ed Crispin in the bottom 2nd, but then struck out the side in order to keep the go-ahead run stranded, which was about the point where I doubted I’d make it to the end of the season alive. Instead Angel Mendez reached on an Adame error in the top 3rd, was singled home by ******** Andrew Russ, and then Quinteros went yard against the hapless Merino, making it 4-1 Indians in a hurry. The Coons had the tying run at the plate in the bottom 3rd; Herrera hit a leadoff single and Preble reached on an error by Alex de Castro, bringing up Waters, who singled to right. Herrera went home, and was thrown out by Mendez AGAIN. All the Coons got in the inning was a Gurney sac fly. They had to wait for another Gurney appearance for their next run, another homer to right-center that cut the score to 4-3 in the sixth. Adame then reached, and Crispin hit another belter for a 2-run homer to flip the score to 5-4 Coons. The lead didn’t last long. Lonzo pinch-hit for Merino, whose season was thus over, while O’Higgins took the ball for the seventh. He struck out de Castro, struck out Nick Nunez, had PH Jordan Santiago at 1-2, then gave up an infield single. Philip Locke batted for Mendez, crunched a homer, and the score was flipped back to the Arrowheads. There was no counterattack in the bottom 7th, but Adame got on and stole a base before getting stranded at third as the tying run in the bottom 8th. Norris held the Indians within a run in the ninth, but it took the Coons two outs against John Steuer to get the tying run on base when Waters finally singled. Gurney grounded out, however, and that ended the ballgame. 6-5 Indians. Herrera 4-5; Waters 2-5; Gurney 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Adame 2-4; Crispin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; The Scorpions lost again, which meant that we could not get a protected pick regardless of the outcome of the finale. The finale! One more… just one more… …and not on Sunday, either. Persistent rain washed out any chance for a contest on Sunday, and since the lead insisted on all games being played so League HQ wouldn’t have to wire $3.50 to the TV companies missing out on 17+ ad breaks, we had to hang around til Monday. We were far from alone in playing on Monday. The Crusaders-Elks game was blizzarded out as well, and there was also a Thunder-Knights game to be made up in the CL, as well as a Cyclones-Wolves game in the FL (with 201 losses and two sixth-place teams on the field to begin that pathetic contest). In theory there could have been a tie-breaker game in the FL East, but the Rebels clinched the division on Sunday. Game 3 IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C DeFrank – 2B de Castro – P E. Ortiz POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Luna – RF Avila – C Gardner – P Wheatley The Titans had beaten the Loggers on Sunday to finish at an even .500, which the Coons would tie with a win over the Arrowheads. A defeat would settle us into fourth place with an 80-82 record. We would get a different Indians pitcher, though, with the ball going to Enrique Ortiz (14-15, 3.23 ERA). A Lonzo double, Herrera getting nicked, and a Preble single loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 1st, all runners scoring one by one on a Waters groundout, Gurney single, and Luna sac fly. Avila grounded out to end the first, up 3-0. Crispin then replaced Luna for injury reasons in the top 2nd, then made a throwing error the inning after that put Mendez aboard. Mendez stole his 35th base and ultimately scored on a Quinteros single, 3-1, unearned as it was. The Coons could not tack on anything soon, though, with Lonzo getting some attention with a single and his 16th stolen base in the bottom 5th, but was stranded. The Indians blew up Wheats in the sixth. Russ hit an infield single, the miserable ******, and then Rivera and Anderson both went yard to tie, then break the tie, 4-3 Indians. Rivera’s homer was important for accolades, as it was his 30th of the year and broke a tie with Sam Witherspoon for the CL crown. Wheats pitched another inning, before Nigro walked hitting for him with one gone in the bottom 7th. Lonzo was nicked, Herrera whiffed, but Preble got a grounder through up the middle, and Nigro scored to take Wheats off the hook. Waters grounded out to Brayboy, ending the effort. We’re not gonna play extras on after-season Monday, are we, boys? Boys? Boys? Russ, the ******* ********, hit an infield single off Ponce to begin the eighth, stole a base, and scored on productive outs by Quinteros and Rivera, 5-4. The Coons left Avila on with a single in the bottom 8th, then saw Bob Ibold getting beaten around the ballpark again in a gross ninth, with two tack-on runs for Indy. Nevertheless, a double by Watt and a Herrera single put the tying run in the box against John Steuer in the bottom 9th, and it was Preble with one out. Steuer got him to 1-2, then hung one, and Preble didn’t miss it, blasting it some 420 feet for a game-tying 3-run homer…! David Farris replaced Steuer, walked Waters, who was caught stealing, and with a K to Gurney we got extra innings after all. Mike Lynn had a 1-2-3 tenth inning, which at least gave us hope for a quick AND comforting end to the season, especially when Ed Crispin hit his second leadoff triple of the week in the bottom 10th against Farris. He had not scored the first time ‘round, but he did this time. Adame batted for Avila, flew out to center, and Quinteros didn’t get Crispin at home. 8-7 Furballs. Lavorano 2-4; Preble 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Gurney 2-5, RBI; Crispin 2-4, 3B; Watt (PH) 1-1, 2B; In other news September 27 – A walkoff grand slam by SFB RF Joe Ritchey (.273, 18 HR, 56 RBI) grabs a 6-2 win over the Falcons for the Bayhawks. September 27 – SAC SP Mike McCaffrey (16-7, 3.13 ERA) is out with a ruptured disc and doesn’t look like he’ll be ready for next Opening Day. September 29 – DEN SP John Kennedy (18-9, 3.39 ERA) and MR Jason Posey (5-3, 3.11 ERA, 3 SV) put up a combined 3-hit shutout against the Pacifics to clinch the FL West with a 3-0 win. September 30 – The Bayhawks take the CL South with a 7-1 win over the Falcons. October 1 – VAN SP Terry Herman (14-10, 3.55 ERA) fires a 2-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over the Crusaders. October 2 – DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.343, 5 HR, 68 RBI) reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a 3-hit day in a 16-2 slaughter of the Pacifics. October 2 – The Titans beat the Loggers in 14 innings, 8-7, after blowing a 5-run lead in the ninth inning to get the game to extra innings in the first place. October 3 – An 8-2 win over the Miners and a Blue Sox loss clinch the FL East for the Rebels. October 3 – With a hitless appearance in a 12-7 win over the Pacifics, Dallas’ Omar Gonzalez (.342, 5 HR, 68 RBI) has no hitting streak to take with himself into the offseason anymore. FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 1B Steve Wyatt (.318, 20 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .347 with 8 HR, 19 RBI CL Hitter of the Month: ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.278, 10 HR, 72 RBI), poking .361 with 5 HR, 17 RBI FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC CL Josh Rella (6-2, 3.89 ERA, 43 SV), nailing the late innings with a 4-0 record, 3.86 ERA, 6 SV, and 16 K in 14 innings CL Pitcher of the Month: ATL CL David Hardaway (5-2, 1.95 ERA, 38 SV), shutting it down at 2-0, 1.29 ERA, 10 SV, and 11 K in 14 innings FL Rookie of the Month: CIN RF Chad Williams (.308, 5 HR, 24 RBI), batting .293 with 2 HR, 12 RBI CL Rookie of the Month: CHA LF/RF Danny Ceballos (.320, 4 HR, 32 RBI), slapping .394 with 1 HR, 11 RBI Complaints and stuff All that agony to tie the Titans at .500 in the middle of the division. What a waste of a year! Time to get rebuilding now. Around Lonzo and a ROTY plaque, if possible. Next: the playoffs (we’ll watch with snacks ready), then the offseason, and The Great Departure. Fun Fact: Pat Gurney, a free agent now, hit 51 home runs for the Raccoons in the regular season (and three in the playoffs) since coming over prior to the 2045 season. I always called him the best player in the league without a spot to actually play when he was blocked by all sorts of Maldos and Tooheys. Toohey was traded, Maldo crawled onto the DL, and Gurney actually reached qualifying threshold for the first time since splitting the ’44 season between the Aces and Thunder. Well, at least he got two rings out of it? Gurney batted .271/.313/.404 in the brown shirt, driving in 258 runs and also stealing 24 bases when not properly paid attention to. First base will be Maldo’s going forwards then, with some mileage left on that contract.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3965 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
|
2049 ABL PLAYOFFS
October baseball without the Raccoons?? What sacrilege… The 113-49 were the best team in baseball at least by their record, and also by almost any other metric. Besides leaving the 105-win Stars out to dry, the Gold Sox had put up a +270 run differential with the best pitching and the second-best offense in the league. Best defense, best bullpen, and nary a category in which they were not in the top 3 in the Federal League. Denver’s Ivan Villa (.316, 48 HR, 149 RBI) has missed the single-season home run record by Gil Rockwell by only one bomb, but had tied Tylor Cecil’s RBI record set just last year. Sandy Castillo (.346, 28 HR, 126 RBI) was another tremendous terror in that lineup, but those two combined already had more than half of the team’s home runs. There were two more .300 hitters in Ronnie Thompson and Sean Lassley (who hadn’t quite reached qualifying distance), while on the pitching side Gary Perrone (21-5, 2.74 ERA) was pretty much unassailable, with great support in near-indefatigable Jose Rodriguez (18-1, 3.42 ERA) and others. Brian Shan (9-4, 1.68 ERA, 43 SV) was the immovable object in the ninth inning. If a Denver team was ever gonna end the franchise’s 46-year title drought, then it had to be this one. Opposing them were the bottom seed, 86-76 Rebels, who had only notched the playoffs on the final day of the season. They were fourth in runs scored and third in runs surrendered, but had only a +33 run differential. Their bullpen had a 4.35 ERA, and their defense was ranked in the bottom third in the FL. Lance Harrison (.344, 20 HR, 103 RBI) and Joe Besaw (.350, 11 HR, 54 RBI) chewed up pitching, Chris Morris had hit 17 homers, too, but they were also without Victor Vazquez and Ramon Sifuentes, two important lineup pieces that would miss the postseason on the DL. Pitching-wise, Kellen Lanning (16-8, 3.14 ERA) and Omar Lara (19-10, 2.99 ERA) were a strong 1-2, but the rest of the staff couldn’t hold up. Josh Rella also saved 43 games, but with a 3.89 ERA, and the rest of the pen lacked anything that could instill confidence. Over in the CL, the 101-61 Canadiens had home field advantage in the CLCS after breaking the Raccoons’ 5-year reign in the division. They were third in both runs scored and runs allowed in the CL with a +158 run differential. They were third in a lot of categories, but second in homers and stolen bases, and fifth in defense, respectively. Angel Escobido (.265, 20 HR, 77 RBI) and Sterling Henderson (.301, 19 HR, 92 RBI) led the power department, and most of the lineup consisted of .280 hitters. In the rotation, Bill McMichael (14-12, 2.40 ERA) had ace status and also no luck whatsoever. Sam Gibson (3-2, 2.04 ERA, 47 SV) was a sturdy shutdown closer that was hard to overcome. However – how hard would it be to overcome an oblique strain that had felled Canadiens legend Jerry Outram (.294, 12 HR, 59 RBI) just before the playoffs? Outram wasn’t what he had been, but still posted an .877 OPS. He would miss at least the CLCS, and Israel Jaramillo and Jesus Burgos were also beset by nagging injuries. The 98-64 Bayhawks had emerged from a tight battle in the CL South, posting the second-most runs scored and fourth-fewest runs allowed. They had no speed, and ranked fourth in homers. Their bullpen was sixth in ERA, behind the rotation (fourth), and the defense was also rated only average. Kevin Nolte (14-12, 3.60 ERA) had regressed from last seasons Pitcher of the Year campaign, but rookie Milt Cantrell (9-0, 2.92 ERA) had yet to take a loss. Ken Crum (.318, 27 HR, 114 RBI) won the team triple crown for hitters, with further .300 hitters in Mike Roberts (.315, 10 HR, 71 RBI) and Sean Suggs (.300, 15 HR, 69 RBI) to complement the lineup. Notable injuries were pitchers Craig Czyszczon and Lazaro Ochoa, as well as utility Ted Del Vecchio. In terms of playoff appearances, this postseason featured only teams outside the all-time top 10; the Bayhawks and Canadiens both made their 12th appearances, and the Gold Sox and Rebels their 8th each, although all four teams had multiple championships in the bank; the Rebs and Canadiens had three apiece, and the Bayhawks and Gold Sox both held a pair. The Sox’ most recent championship was in 2003. They had made the playoffs each year from 2044 through 2046, but had come up empty each time. The Rebels had won the 2045 title, with only one other playoff appearance for them in the last 30 years. The Canadiens had been in the playoffs five times in the six years from 2038 through 2043, with a ring in ’38. The Bayhawks had won it all in ’43, and were the only team to make a repeat appearance from last season. Their title run in 2043 was also the only time they met with the Canadiens in the CLCS, obviously winning the encounter. The Rebels and Gold Sox had also met only once before in the FLCS, with the Rebels emerging victorious on their way to the 2045 title. The Gold Sox had beaten the Canadiens in the 1985 World Series, and the Rebels had beaten the Bayhawks in the 2017 World Series, for the only potential rematches there. The pundits agreed that the Gold Sox should wipe the Rebels with ease, while the Canadiens were giving a slight edge over the Bayhawks. Then again it wouldn’t be beyond the Gold Sox to bottle it against a lesser-ranked FL East team. 2045, anyone? +++ LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RIC @ DEN … 0-1 … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) Rain knocks out Kellen Lanning and Gary Perrone in the fifth inning, by which time the golden run has already scored on a Ronnie Thompson sac fly. The Sox have only two base hits against Lanning, Garrett Guistino, and Javy Santana. RIC @ DEN … 3-2 … (series tied 1-1) … RIC Joe Besaw 2-3, RBI; RIC Ken Mills 2-4, HR, RBI; DEN Ronnie Thompson 3-5, 2B, RBI; SFB @ VAN … 3-4 (10) … (Canadiens lead 1-0) … SFB Sean Suggs 3-5, 2B; SFB Sergio Quiroz 2-5, 2 RBI; VAN Julio Diaz 3-4, 2 2B; VAN Adrian Higareda (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Higareda hits a walkoff homer off Jeremy Mayhall in the CLCS opener, while the Bayhawks’ Sean Suggs leaves the game with an injury. He’d be diagnosed with a partially torn labrum on the off day after Game 2, rendering him out for the year. SFB @ VAN … 8-4 … (series tied 1-1) … SFB David Alvardo 3-5, RBI; SFB Sebastian Copeland 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; VAN Julio Diaz 2-4, RBI; VAN Rick Price 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; DEN @ RIC … 3-6 … (Rebels lead 2-1) … DEN Ronnie Thompson 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; RIC Chris Morris 3-5, RBI; RIC Mark Cahill 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; RIC Joe Frazier 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; DEN @ RIC … 7-2 … (series tied 2-2) … DEN Ivan Villa 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; VAN @ SFB … 3-2 … (Canadiens lead 2-1) … VAN Rick Price 2-5, 2B, RBI; SFB Mike Roberts 4-5, 2B, RBI; Both Vancouver starter Bill McMichael and San Fran reliever Sebastien Parham leave the game with injuries. DEN @ RIC … 1-9 … (Rebels lead 3-2) … DEN Sandy Castillo 4-4; RIC Felix Vazquez 3-4, BB, 3 RBI; RIC Joe Besaw 3-5, HR, 5 RBI; VAN @ SFB … 1-4 … (series tied 2-2) … SFB Mike Roberts 3-4, 2B, RBI; SFB Kevin Nolte 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (1-0); VAN @ SFB … 9-0 … (Canadiens lead 3-2) … VAN Ismael Jaramillo 3-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; VAN Rick Price 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; VAN Jesus Burgos 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; VAN Tim Burkhart 2-5, 2B, RBI; VAN Bob Montana 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; VAN Mario de Anda 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0); Four triples, four doubles, seven singles, and eight shutout innings by de Anda bury the Bayhawks in the pivotal Game 5. RIC @ DEN … 2-3 … (series tied 3-3) … RIC Bryce Toohey 2-3, BB; RIC @ DEN … 0-6 … (Gold Sox win 4-3) … DEN Justin Bator 2-4, HR, RBI; DEN John Kennedy 8.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (1-1); SFB @ VAN … 3-6 … (Canadiens win 4-2) … SFB Sebastian Copeland 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; SFB Sergio Quiroz 3-4; VAN Tim Burkhart 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; +++ It was the 1985 rematch after all then! Both teams had conceded basically the identical number of runs in the regular season, but the Gold Sox had scored more than a hundred runs more than the Canadiens. Both teams carted up two left- and two right-handed starters, and a balanced lineup, but the Gold Sox had a few switch-hitters available, which the Canadiens were lacking. The Gold Sox had also lost Tim Turner, outfielder, during the FLCS, while the Canadiens had gotten healthy, even regaining Jerry Outram for the middle of that order. On the one hand, 113 wins is a lot – noblesse obligé – but then there was the Gold Sox always, absolutely always, stuttering in October, almost falling to the 86-win Rebels this time. But, over 100 more runs scored… Gold Sox in six? +++ 2049 WORLD SERIES VAN @ DEN … 3-4 … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) … DEN Ivan Villa 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; VAN @ DEN … 2-6 … (Gold Sox lead 2-0) … VAN Jerry Outram 2-3, RBI; DEN Ivan Villa 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; DEN @ VAN … 9-6 … (Gold Sox lead 3-0) … DEN Fernando Alba 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; DEN Kevin Morris (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; DEN Sean Lassley 2-5, 2 RBI; DEN Justin Johns 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; VAN Ismael Jaramillo 2-5, RBI; VAN Julio Diaz 3-5, 2B, RBI; Both starters are brutalized, with six runs on Vancouver’s Mario Godinez, and five on John Kennedy, who somehow lasts five innings and gets his second W of the postseason. DEN @ VAN … 4-2 … (Gold Sox win 4-0) … DEN Roberto Sanchez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Jose Rodriguez (2-0, 2.70 ERA) goes into the seventh inning before three relievers piece the back end together, while Roberto Sanchez, who batted only .231 with 12 homers in the regular season launched a key 3-piece off Mario de Anda (1-1, 2.51 ERA) in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie and eventually clinch the title in sweep fashion. +++ 2049 WORLD CHAMPIONS
Denver Gold Sox (3rd title)
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3966 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
|
I breathed a sigh of relief when the Gold Sox finished sweeping the damn Elks, keeping them at safe distance in terms of championships. The Raccoons remained up, seven to three. I’d prefer twenty-zip, but you can’s strip them of titles now, the League HQ told me.
Thus the time to start cleaning house was here. The Raccoons had lots of free agents to be, one of which would be Nelson Moreno, who voided his player option for 2050 to hook up with a contender instead. Moreno had been in the organization for 14 years since signing out of Venezuela for all of $20k. He had made another $7,005,000 in salaries since then. Originally earning the sobriquet of “failed starter”, Moreno really turned it around in the bullpen, becoming a vicious eighth-inning roadblock by ’43, and then a closer in his own right the last two seasons. He’d leave Portland with a 51-50 record, 3.67 ERA (way bloated by his failed starter times), and 97 saves in 464 games (86 starts). Shambolically, he would not even be worth compensation. Only Pat Gurney was a qualifying free agent, and then only a type B. Not even Preble?? Seriously, Maud, we have to call League HQ! That wasn’t the only thing that riled me up, though. Nick Valdes let us know that he was not exactly thrilled with our performance in the 2049 season and that he was only planning to pay for winners, not .500 ball. He thus slashed the budget from a third-place $61M in 2049 all the way down to $53M in 2050. Well, all the losing, and then there was the fact that he had to allocate more funds to shower Autumn in jewelry. (hits fist on the desk) That bimbo! Taking away my slugger signing money!! Not that we had harbored many hopes for major signings this year. I knew Nick by now, and then there was also the rebuilding progress being in its very beginning stages. The budget slash dropped us from 3rd to 7th in the league. Top 5: Gold Sox ($68M), Stars ($64M), Miners ($63M), Bayhawks ($62M), Thunder ($58M); The bottom of the league was brought up by the Indians ($37M), Aces and Falcons ($34M each), Wolves ($31M), and Loggers ($26M). The remaining CL North terms sat in 6th (VAN, $57M), 14th (BOS, $44M), and in a tie for 15th (NYC, $43M). The average budget for a team in the league rose to $47M, up $700k from last season. The median team budget or 2047 was $44.75M, up $1M from last season. +++ So! I talked to Steve from Accounting, and while we’re gonna shed quite some salary through free agents alone (more in a second), the slashed $8M were gonna hurt one way or another. No more lobsters and truffles around here. And no third breakfast. (takes food bowl away from a bickering Maldonado) Steve also told me some grim truths I could have done without. The 2049 Coons had spent $58.2M of a $61M budget, but with revenues of only $56.1M for a net loss of $2.1M. For comparison, we had posted a profit of $15.9M on $67.3M revenue, $51.4M expenses, and a $56M budget the year before when we still made it to Game 7. The main problem here was Nick Valdes, who had merrily cashed out his personal allowance again, leaving us not only with a $53M budget, but – partly also thanks to our seven-figure revenue sharing contribution to keep teams like the Loggers alive – also saw us starting the new accounting year with a starting balance of $1.7M. – Why’s that in red ink, Steve? – What do you mean, we have negative cash?? (blows) Which does get us to the free agency and salary arbitration board, where we had 13 total players, and we would not be all that clingy this year. First, none of our five free agents were gonna be resigned. We thanked Pat Gurney, Mike Preble, Nelson Moreno, and Nate Norris for their cooperation in getting some rings in here, plus Eduardo Avila for no particular reason if I’m honest, and they could all find the best of luck somewhere else. Then there were the eight arbitration cases, which included some obvious keeps like Bubba Wolinsky and Matt Watt, and quite a few headaches. F.e., since we’re on mediocre corner outfielders anyway, what exactly are we gonna need Brian Nigro and Gene Pellicano for? The other players slated for arbitration were Eddy Luna (useful without a doubt), Wade Gardner (a.k.a. soggy right-handed catcher #3), and formerly great right-handed relievers Preston Porter and Bob Ibold. 28-year-old Porter’s K/9 collapsed this year from 7.3 to 4.8 while his ERA roughly doubled. The BABIP went up slightly, but was still under .300, and he walked even fewer batters than before. He was just getting whacked, although it was hard to pinpoint the actual reason for it. Since Pat Degenhardt still rated him highly, we’d try and shrug it off in the “oh well, middle relief, huh?” category and try to give him a new 1-year deal. Then there was Ibold, also 28, with an injury history that could fill an entire medical compendium. A first-rounder in 2039 (by the Wolves, in case you wondered), he had major injuries to his: elbow in 2040, shoulder in 2044, shoulder in 2047, and elbow in 2048. His entire right arm was nothing but scars and blue and red spots. Dr. Padilla kept sharpening his curvy knives. Ibold pitched to a 3.71 ERA (against a .340 BABIP) in ’48 before blowing out the elbow in the World Series. He remained on the shelf until August, then had a decent rehab stint in AAA, with a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings, but notably had almost no strikeouts (2.8/9). He also walked only 2.3/9. Upon recall to the big leagues in September, he was burned alive more than once. He had a 14.04 ERA, 2.76 WHIP, and admittedly a .433 BABIP. He struck out and walked both 8.6/9. It had been the grimmest ******** I had seen in a while. Dr. Padilla thought he was toast, Pat Degenhardt thought he was toast, Cristiano Carmona thought he was toast, even Chad thought he was toast … but … (looks at the stats again) … *how many* strikeouts? Cutting expenses was right at the top of the to-do list for the Raccoons, which was an entirely new vibe around here. In addition to the five free agents, the Raccoons also immediately non-tendered Gardner, Pellicano, and Nigro – the latter having posted a .652 OPS despite nary seeing a southpaw all year long, and put left-hander Oscar Alcala and first baseman Evan Van Hoy on waivers to get them off the 40-man roster just to save those minimum salaries. The only reason why Roberto Medina and Matt Glodowski didn’t get the same treatment was that with all the other departures we’d be left with precisely TWO outfielders on the 40-man roster (Watt, Herrera) after salary arbitration if we canned them too. Two outfielders here, two outfielders there, at least we had the rotation and the infield currently sorted out, although trading the odd bit here and there for something else wouldn’t hurt. I wouldn’t mind entirely to trade Dave Hils’ contract. If necessary, along with Dave Hils. Boy, Slappy. We went from princes to paupers real quick. – Slappy, why are you littering your chewing gum papers here? – What do you mean you haven’t been paid any salary so far this month?? Maud, call Nick, we need more dosh! I don’t know what to do anymore without $15M in the bank!!
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3967 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
|
By the end of October, the Raccoons had signed new 1-year deals with Preston Porter ($600k), Bubba Wolinsky ($455k), and Matt Watt ($650k), thus avoiding arbitration with all of them. Bob Ibold ($560k) and Eddy Luna ($890k) followed in November. None of them sought a longer contract, which means they were all smelling the rotting flesh on the roster.
+++ October 31 – The Falcons acquire MR Carlos Castillo (10-7, 4.63 ERA, 4 SV) and a prospect for 3B/SS Bobby Thibault (.254, 16 HR, 167 RBI9, who is headed to Nashville. November 6 – The Stars (with a huge free agent group) acquire 36-yr old SP Matt Sealock (181-112, 3.36 ERA) from the Warriors for five prospects, including #63 SP Ivan Ornelas. November 12 – The Canadiens bring in veteran right-hander MR Tim Scott (43-50, 4.38 ERA, 14 SV) from the Cyclones, parting with OF/2B Ismael Jaramillo (.308, 3 HR, 99 RBI). +++ By November, generational talent Tylor Cecil was a free agent. The 3-time Player of the Year had only one ring, but was a .314/.373/.510 hitter with 1,756 knocks, 183 homers, and 1,062 RBI. He was also only 30 years old! AND the Raccoons needed outfield- (is slapped in the head with a rolled up newspaper by Steve from Accounting) (sobs) Cecil could absolutely shatter the record for an annual salary in the league. Jesus Burgos and Mike McCaffrey had new deals worth $5.8M per season right now, and Hils and Maldo still tied for fifth in the league with their $5.5M compensation per year. Cecil was asking for $8M per year to even bother to look at a proposal. The Raccoons would struggle to afford him for even three months. So that wasn’t gonna happen, nor was any other high-profile acquisition like ex-Arrowhead Danny Rivera, the reigning CL homer king. The question then was where to start with the rebuilding, which required taking stock again. We still had a full, competent rotation, (cough) Merino (cough), which sure allowed for some trading leverage since competing was not in the cards in 2050. We also had a myriad of relievers on hand, some of them even useful, even recently. There remained three catchers on the 40-man with Ruben Gonzalez, Justin Brooks, and Jeff Raczka. Gonzalez was signed through ’52 but had been next to useless in ’49 and wasn’t gonna find a taker, even for $1.4M per year. As discussed, there were only two outfielders left on the extended roster (which was not THAT extended) in Watt and Herrera, and I tried floating Herrera to other teams early in the offseason, and he generated zero interest, probably because there are certain prejudices against centerfielders that would be 36 come Opening Day. 2050 was the last year on his contract, and it wasn’t like I could sweeten up his $4.7M salary with a cash injection in a deal since the Raccoons had zero cash to inject. We’d have to ask for cash in trades just to get closer to no cash… The starting infield looked pretty set with Maldo, Waters, Lonzo, and Crispin around the diamond, which was one none-too-well aging veteran, a way-underpriced slugger and plus defender up the middle, and two youngsters on the minimum on the left side. Alex Adame was mostly redundant in this plan, but I also found out that he was perhaps our best trade chip next to Wheats and Waters and could bring back either a proven veteran for a hole (like the corner outfield spots) or perhaps even juicy prospects. Since we were dead sold on Lonzo, trading Adame while he had value moved well up the list of offseason priorities, never mind that he also made $1.9M a year. Eddy Luna was a super utility that could fit in many spots, unfortunately though not in a platoon with Ed Crispin, since both were lefty hitters. Crispin had actually posted reverse splits in his half-season in the majors, but with a ridiculous and unrepeatable BABIP against southpaws, so here was a problem for the future… The first free agent the Raccoons made an offer to was then a Japanese international free agent, 26-year-old OF Mikio Suzuki, a lefty hitter, wide roaming defender, good sprinter, but with deficits in the power department and with the throwing arm. He also didn’t mix well with Watt (who couldn’t hit left-handed pitchers at all), but could sub that certain 36-year-old centerfielder against right-handers for sure. So that was one area I was working on, the other was sorting out the bullpen. Post-free agency, there were 16 pitchers left on the extended / bloated roster, including the five starting pitchers we had carried for the last four months, Wheats, Hils, Bubba, and the two never victorious Victors. The remaining eleven included Andrew Clarke, who might yet slip into the rotation upon a trade, the established personnel of Lynn, Ponce, Porter, Hitchcock, and the smoldering ruins of the manor of Sir Bob of Ibold. Plus five sorta-rookies (not all had had rookie status even in ’49, and none would have in ’50) of O’Higgins, Lillis, Cancel, Richardson, and Lenderink, who had all been various amounts of gruesome in their time up. The only useful pieces in there might be O’Higgins and Lillis jr., but that was already stretching it by giving O’Higgins the benefit of the doubt for his 6.20 ERA with a .344 BABIP behind that, and banking on Lillis figuring out any sort of command any time soon (6.4 BB/9). They could all probably work that out much better in AAA, but that meant we were at least two relievers short, too, despite having almost a dozen tumbling around in total. Did I mention this wasn’t gonna be easy? +++ 2049 ABL AWARDS Players of the Year: DEN INF Ivan Villa (.316, 48 HR, 149 RBI) and SFB OF/1B Ken Crum (.318, 27 HR, 114 RBI) Pitchers of the Year: DEN SP Gary Perrone (21-5, 2.74 ERA) and TIJ Kevin Daley (20-7, 2.22 ERA) Rookies of the Year: SAC C Henry Howie (.255, 18 HR, 64 RBI) and ATL/TIJ SP Larry Colwell (13-5, 3.03 ERA) Relievers of the Year: DEN CL Brian Shan (9-4, 1.68 ERA, 43 SV) and ATL CL David Hardaway (5-2, 1.92 ERA, 39 SV) Platinum Sticks (FL): P DAL Mike LeMasters – C TOP Brett Banks – 1B DAL Dario Martinez – 2B DEN Ivan Villa – 3B DAL Felix Marquez – SS PIT Ed Soberanes – LF SFW Mario Villa – CF DEN Sandy Castillo – RF LAP Matt Diskin Platinum Sticks (CL): P ATL Esteban Duran – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B LVA Sam Witherspoon – 2B OCT Jonathan Ban – 3B IND Bobby Anderson – SS ATL Anton Venegas – LF SFB Ken Crum – CF ATL Jon Alade – RF OCT Juan Benavides Gold Gloves (FL): P SAL Zach Boyer – C NAS Jose Cantu – 1B SAC Steve Wyatt – 2B DEN Ivan Villa – 3B SFW Jose Rivas – SS DAL Leo Villacorta – LF DAL Omar Gonzalez – CF PIT Jayden Ward – RF SAL Celio Umbreiro Gold Gloves (CL): P LVA Sadaharu Okuda – C TIJ Jon Mittleider – 1B NYC Ed Haertling – 2B CHA Erik Stevens – 3B CHA Randy Wilken – SS IND Andrew Russ – LF MIL Jose Delgado – CF LVA Jonathan Harris – RF TIJ Brian Blackburn No Portland awards. Then again, I struggle to name a player deserving one.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3968 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
|
There were two players on the roster with genuine value that the Raccoons were also ready to part with at this junction – Alex Adame and Dave Hils. Adame, because we were all on the Lonzo hype train, and Lonzo could do about all the things Adame could and for a fraction of the cost, and Hils because that contract might become painful later on after all and this looked like a good opportunity to shed it.
There were a few suitors for either or both of them, principally the Gold Sox, Thunder, and Capitals. The Hils salary itself was a bit of a problem, even for a team like the Gold Sox recently flush in money. When combined with the agile Adame, their combined salaries amounted to $7.4M, which wasn’t an easy fit for most rosters, especially given that the Raccoons had A) a lust for prospects, and B) no cash to sweeten a deal. There was a deal on the table for Adame to Oklahoma for Mike Harmon, straight up, but Harmon was hardly a prospect and even more expensive than Adame. He was an almost 28-year-old corner outfielder that had been traded twice in the preceding 16 months and was playing a power position while hitting about 13 homers a year. His salary was $2.48M and would go up to $3.4M for each of the next three seasons. The Thunder were too cash strapped to trade for Hils, at least to a degree where a trade would stop making sense; it would require the Raccoons to take on no fewer than three dead contracts (including that of ex-Coon Rico Sanchez) for a ridiculous $3.59M in ’50. The Gold Sox didn’t have much in terms of prospects that interested me, except for 24-year-old future closer Willie Cruz and 21-year-old Bill Ramires, both of which had already been on the Sox roster without doing too great. Ramires was a high-upside switch-hitting power bat with a decent throwing arm even though his first 45 PA in the Bigs had been no bueno (.233/.227/.279). The right-hander Cruz had a devastating curve that would play under any circumstances. But the only dead contract really there that would make a difference in a trade was that of 35-year-old Panamian C/1B Fernando Alba, who *had* hit for a .795 OPS in ’49, but don’t let that position identifier fool you, he was basically unplayable at either of those positions. To make it worse, he had attitude, insisted on being the starter (at whatever position we’d want), and it was a whole can o’ worms. He was due $3.8M in 2050. With the Capitals I had my eyes on #15 prospect SP Kennedy Adkins, which was a rather impossible ambition, and they had the smallest budget room of all. There was a rotten contract there with Chris Strohm, who was still hitting, but also a defensive liability, and that even in the middle infield area, where we had all our future hopes. His contract came to $3.6M … twice through ’51. Apart from that? The Stars were awash in dosh, but didn’t have the right prospect(s) for me, while the damn Elks had two lovely prospects in catcher Luis Miranda and closer Ruben Mendez, but no dead contracts to speak of to offset the contracts we sought to transfer. I tried to fool GM Paul Murphy into a stupid deal by telling him over the phone that, *fine!*, I’d take Jerry Outram off his hooves, but he didn’t fall for it. The Thunder were the most workable team here. They couldn’t take Hils/Adame in tandem, but we reached a point where the Raccoons would send them Adame and Mike Lynn along with a token non-prospect instead, and receive Harmon, right-handed reliever Danny Landeta (probably another Nate Norris disaster waiting to happen), and an interesting outfield prospect, but not the one I actually wanted – guaranteeing that nobody would be happy. Then the plan would be to somehow grab Willie Cruz from the Gold Sox with Hils and whatever was left. Getting Mike Lynn out was not the worst idea given his salary and him being peeved at not getting the closer job back in ’49 when he had posted better numbers than Nelson Moreno. Lynn was simply a me-first kinda guy, which is alright as long as he led the CL in saves as he did in 2047, but a problem when you were using him in the eighth inning. This was probably also the right moment to casually add that we had a few players on the roster that we wouldn’t mind trading for a better future (for us, foremost), but that got no enthusiasm on the shop board, including Victor Merino and Julian Ponce. +++ November 18 – The Titans deal SP Dave Serio (19-22, 4.30 ERA) and cash to the Indians for a prospect. November 23 – After two years in Richmond, 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.281, 141 HR, 777 RBI) returns to the Bayhawks on a 3-yr, $6.84M deal. November 24 – The freshly-anointed champions from Denver acquire catcher Blake Mickle (.252, 6 HR, 31 RBI) from the Warriors for a prospect. November 29 – The Crusaders ink former division rival OF Danny Rivera (.275, 205 HR, 848 RBI) away from the Indians with a 7-yr, $32.88M offer. Rivera, 30, who is precisely halfway to 1,500 career hits, spent nine years with the Indians. November 30 – The Raccoons ink Japanese free agent OF Mikio Suzuki, a 26-year-old left-handed batter, to a $500k contract. November 30 – The Wolves sign ex-RIC CL Josh Rella (31-29, 3.29 ERA, 262 SV) to a 3-yr, $4.86M contract. December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 14 players are selected overall. The Raccoons are not affected. December 2 – The Bayhawks sign up ex-DEN SP Israel Mendoza (156-152, 3.90 ERA) to a 2-yr, $6.08M contract. +++ Yeah, we’re all waiting for the big splash…! These former Raccoons signed new contracts: Jeff Wilson joined the Gold Sox for $700k; the Cyclones gave Wade Gardner $1.18M over two years; Brian Nigro got $1.12M over two years from the Buffaloes; Chris Robinson got a $464k engagement with the Capitals;
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3969 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Any Winter Meetings goodness to be had this year?
+++ December 5 – The Raccoons trade SP Dave Hils (130-113, 3.63 ERA), SP Andrew Clarke (1-0, 3.10 ERA), and C/1B Justin Brooks (.252, 7 HR, 51 RBI) to the freshly-crowned Gold Sox for three prospects: #11 AAA RF/LF Oscar Rivera, CL Willie Cruz (0-0, 3.77 ERA), and AAA CL Eloy Sencion. December 5 – The Buffaloes get former Stars starter Noe Candeloro (93-103, 4.07 ERA, 1 SV) on a 2-yr, $3.2M contract. December 6 – In another 6-player trade with the Thunder, the Raccoons acquire more young talent. For the price of CL Mike Lynn (35-31, 2.64 ERA, 136 SV), SS/3B Alex Adame (.286, 36 HR, 472 RBI), and A INF Chris Sowards, the Raccoons pick up MR Danny Landeta (17-8, 3.79 ERA, 8 SV), #144 prospect AA OF Prospero Tenazes, AA INF Adam Peltier, and $750k in cash. December 6 – Sioux Falls sends right-hander MR Jared Bramel (6-5, 5.06 ERA, 14 SV) to the Rebels for a prospect. December 8 – Topeka adds SP Josh Swindell (18-24, 4.52 ERA) in a trade with the Falcons, who receive two prospects. December 8 – The Condors trade SP Mike Zeigler (30-31, 4.17 ERA) to the Warriors for LF Dwayne Eaton (.217, 7 HR, 43 RBI) and #67 prospect SS/3B Stephen Medlock. December 9 – Pittsburgh sends LF/RF Pat Stipp (.240, 31 HR, 226 RBI) to the Blue Sox in exchange for SP Ryan Person (121-111, 3.63 ERA, 2 SV), a prospect, and over $2M in cash. December 9 – 28-year-old 3B/RF/1B Adrian Higareda (.255, 18 HR, 90 RBI) is sent from Vancouver to Washington in exchange for MR Jaiden Garriques (10-14, 4.58 ERA, 2 SV) and a prospect. +++ Well, that was a loud noise. Sounds like we just crashed to the very bottom of BNN’s offseason WAR gains board. The Agitator of course right away lamented that the haul of ranked prospects was not good enough for having traded all the potential joy of the 2050 season away in two scoops. I disagree, and not even respectfully. Here’s the thought process (and I am sure it will end just as well as any other thought process I’ve had over the last 70 years, all three of them): The Raccoons were not going to go anywhere in 2050. The Raccoons want to go SOMEWHERE by, say, 2052 or so, again. Thus, everything that’s not nailed down and won’t be of use after 2052 can and should go. That means Maldo and Herrera stay (nobody wants them), and that means Wheats and Waters stay (because we have them on good terms for many years). Then you build around that corpse of a roster. Hils would have stayed but the Sox were really into him, so it was all about finding a deal that would give us some prospects back without taking on that shudderworthy Alba contract. #18 prospect Bill Ramires wasn’t in the cards without throwing in a valuable prospect of their own (Lonzo was somehow very popular now) but we got the #11 prospect in Rivera, who has strong power potential, but is not much of a defender. But Cruz is a bright young right-handed closer candidate (sadly past rookie limitations), and Sencion is a left-hander with a nasty slider that isn’t ranked but really should be. I’d say with both Moreno and Lynn gone by now, Cruz might well BE the closer. That left Adame to go to the Thunder – not that I had anything against him, but I was on Team Lonzo now. He got wrapped up with Lynn for a ranked prospect in Tenazes, but the main price appears to be Peltier, a potential super utility with great leadership skills that was definitely on the rise from having been a mere seventh-rounder in 2047. We had taken Sowards in the second round the year before, but he was still in single-A (with one brief appearance in AA where he hit .160), so if the Thunder wanted to work with that, I’d feel happily obliged. Landeta was a run-of-the-mill righty (as if we needed one), but the Thunder would pay three quarters of his salary. So we took on neither the Thunder’s Mike Harmon, nor the Gold Sox’ Armando Luis Herrera, although both were dangled right in front of our pokey black noses. Neither of them were bad players, but they were both on quite the luxurious contracts, and besides, having Armando Herrera and Armando Luis Herrera play right next to each other would be just too confusing for me. I’m old and need clarity, and everything to be printed in font size 24 at the very least. In turn, our extended roster was just 26 players (15 pitchers and 11 position players), but we had also shed (ignoring minimum contracts) $10.5M in commitments for the coming 2050 season, and $26.1M in total, while taking on a fraction of Danny Landeta’s $1M contract and the rest was just young talent. We had no fifth starter, no second catcher, and not even a hunch about the starting rightfielder next to Watt and Herrera. Maldo would probably be *an* option to play rightfield at this point, so we could alternatively also look for a first baseman, but then again, permanent arrangements were dicey here, since Maldo’s last bit of defense might go away soon, but his contract very much would not. One thing was true though – the roster had rejuvenated in a hurry. 12 months earlier it had contained a majority of players at age 30+. We were now down to just five players age 30 or older: Ponce (36), Maldo (35), Herrera (35), Landeta (33), and Watt (30). Only Wheats and Ibold were slated to hit 30 next year (and John Castner, too, but … it’s John ******* Castner, it’s not like he’s gonna be on the roster without major injury ravages). All this salary dumping also meant that we now had money to blow on free agents if we so chose, but here the thing was again that I didn’t want a great player *now*, I wanted a great player that would still be great in two or three years, and the free agent class available now was a bit tricky in that. Well, unless you wanted to blow your first-round pick on Tylor Cecil, along with probably $50M over six or seven years. Hmmm…!
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3970 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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There was not a lot going on in Portland for the rest of December; the Raccoons were not going after Tylor Cecil actually, and we were mostly out of trade bait apart from the aforementioned untradeables that I would take down to the bottom of the ocean with me.
Of course there was the odd signing here and there, but trades were probably over. And I offered a lot of things, although the limits were kind of arbitrary. I shopped Merino, but not Wolinsky. I shopped every “mature” reliever on the roster, but not the young ones. The third-string infielders weren’t gonna have any suitors anyway. And that was more or less all that was left. And why not Cecil? It wasn’t like we were drowning in outfield prospects (or even outfielders as of the middle of December). But $8M a year was ridiculous and we weren’t going to engage in that, and from all the silence surrounding him at this point it looked like we weren’t necessarily alone in that assessment. There was however some AAA talent in the outfield. Well, first there were a couple of 40-man roster dwellers that had to be named for completeness’ sake in Roberto Medina and Matt Glodowski, and Brian Shedd, who had appeared in all of two Coons games in the last four years was technically also still there. But the main attractions were 22-year-old Aussie lefty hitter Alan Puckeridge, who put together a .722 OPS in his first full AAA season in ’49, batting .252 with 14 homers and stealing 12 bags, and our new addition in #11 prospect Oscar Rivera. Add Curtis Scholl to that, and now the problem was finding out who was most underdone. Medina and Glodowski would surely do as placeholders to start the season until we could find out whether either Rivera or Puckeridge (or both) were ready for primetime. On the infield there was Rich Seymour, who was already on the 40-man roster, plus Mitch Sivertson and Dave Blackshire, so maybe our AAA team would be less atrocious to watch than in the last few years, although the pitching was rather dire there. There were no hopeful starting pitchers there, nor helpful ones, and our platinum prospect, Rafael de la Cruz, had been through a trying season in Ham Lake, going 6-9 with a 4.58 ERA. 97 walks in 149 innings. But he was still a teenager and would remain one until July, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have time. We expected him to reach AAA at some point this season. +++ December 19 – The Gold Sox add former Raccoon LF/RF Mike Preble (.306, 223 HR, 905 RBI) for a 2-yr, $8.16M commitment. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick for compensation. December 22 – Portland signs up 28-yr old C Juan Jimenez (.257, 22 HR, 152 RBI), a defensive specialist that spent the last two years with the Rebels, for $750k. December 22 – San Francisco adds ex-CIN SP Carson Jarvinen (90-80, 3.52 ERA) for 2-yr, $7.68M. December 24 – 32-year-old ex-DAL SP Mike LeMasters (147-93, 3.65 ERA) joins the Buffaloes on a 5-yr, $26M contract. January 7 – Ex-VAN INF/RF Rick Price (.278, 49 HR, 382 RBI) hooks up with the Gold Sox on a 6-yr, $22.68M deal. January 9 – Erstwhile Capitals INF Ricky Espinoza (.281, 144 HR, 552 RBI) puts the ink under a 7-yr, $23.8M offer from the Scorpions. January 9 – Veteran experience is added for $4.72M over two years with the Capitals signing former Thunder 1B Bill Jenkins (.273, 224 HR, 1,028 RBI). January 11 – The Gold Sox sign former Raccoons CL Nelson Moreno (51-50, 3.67 ERA, 97 SV) to a $4.08M deal for 2050. January 11 – The Buffaloes acquire SP Zach Boyer (19-24, 4.24 ERA) from the Wolves for two prospects. +++ For other Critters with new jobs there’s really only Arturo Carreno, getting a 2-yr, $1.08M contract from the Wolves. +++ 2050 HALL OF FAME VOTING The Hall of Fame gained a new player in 2050 in former Blue Sox standout Jim “Mastodon” Allen, who was elected on the second ballot with 81.2% of the votes. Allen spent 15 years in the majors, 13 of those with the Blue Sox, and batted .312 with 172 HR and 1,166 RBI, also stealing 136 bases in his younger years. He is the rare player that has won every major award (for hitters anyway), taking home two rings, a Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, three Gold Gloves, four Platinum Sticks, and went to the All Star Game seven times. He also took both MVP awards in the 2039 playoffs, marking the second of the two championships he won with the Blue Sox (the other coming in 2037). He also won a batting title in ’33, and led the FL in RBI in that season and again in ’36, but never hit more than 18 homers in a season and so didn’t come close to a triple crown. Interesting tidbit: Jim Allen is now alphabetically the first player in the Hall of Fame, displacing Ron Alston. On the far end? Danny Zarate. Full voting results: NAS 3B Jim Allen – 2nd – 81.2 – INDUCTED POR SS Alberto Ramos – 2nd – 74.3 ??? CL Josh Boles – 1st – 37.2 BOS LF Willie Vega – 2nd – 13.4 LAP CF Justin Fowler – 5th – 13.0 TIJ SP Jeff Little – 8th – 11.1 TOP SP David Elliott – 4th – 10.0 ??? CL Ray Andrews – 2nd – 6.9 ??? SP Andy Bressner – 3rd – 6.5 TIJ SP Juan Garcia – 1st – 6.1 VAN CF Tony Coca – 3rd – 4.6 – DROPPED NAS 1B Chance Bossert – 2nd – 3.4 – DROPPED TOP SS Alex Majano – 2nd – 3.4 – DROPPED PIT 3B Omar Lastrade – 1st – 2.7 – DROPPED SFW LF Melvin Hernandez – 1st – 0.8 – DROPPED BOS MR Tim Zimmerman – 1st – 0.4 – DROPPED
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3971 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Maine
Posts: 748
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Is it bad that I think of Matt Watt's name as rhyming? (Watt with Matt.)
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#3972 | |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Quote:
"What is your given name, Sir?" "What?" "What is your *given name*, Sir?" "Felix!" "And what is your *family name*?" "What?" "Your family name!" "What!?" "FAMILY NAME!" "WHAT!?" ...and that after a couple more tries, the official just put that down so he could get on with the other 500 tattered arrivals. Hence, it's pronounced like that. - "What?" - Yes. That aside, with Matt Watt and Matt Waters on the roster, I am desperately looking for a Matt Watson etc. to complement them.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3973 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Should the Raccoons sign a left-handed hitting outfielder for cheap? That was my main concern in January. Candidates would be the usual over-30-year-olds like Nick Crocker, or even ex-Coons like Nelson Mercado. We only had three lefty batters on the roster at that point (Luna, Crispin, Suzuki), plus two switch-hitters (Watt, Waters). Alan Puckeridge was a left-handed batter, but all he other filler candidates in AAA were right-handed, except for the switch-hitting Roberto Medina, although in his case switch-hitting meant that he didn’t hit a lick from either side of the plate with his big league career slash of .233/.270/.326 across 137 plate appearances.
Ultimately I decided against that, as well as a lefty first baseman. Who needs roster fillers when they have Evan Van Hoy in AAA? But 2050 would be a lull year, probably with 90 losses no matter what we do, until we get some more reinforcements from below. All those 1-year additions last year were utterly tragic, and this year we’d go with just the tragic that was already assembled. That also meant largely ignoring that pile of roughly $11M of unused budget space that was lying around in the other room and had to be regularly checked for diving ducks. It’s a hard job, isn’t it? +++ January 15 – The Canadiens ink former Thunder SP Danny Orozco (130-134, 3.90 ERA). The 39-year-old warrants a 2-yr, $8.32M contract. January 15 – Quirky infielder Andrew Russ (.286, 11 HR, 343 RBI) signs a 6-yr, $18.96M contract with the Crusaders after spending the last nine years as part of the division rival Indians. January 19 – The Knights pick up ex-NYC/RIC LF Joe Besaw (.306, 133 HR, 782 RBI). The 33-year-old signs for 4-yr, $14.96M. January 22 – The loaded Gold Sox get even more loaded with the addition of former division rival OF Tylor Cecil (.314, 183 HR, 1,062 RBI). The 31-year-old former Dallas Star signs for 6-yr, $33.08M. January 27 – LF/RF Billy Hester (.263, 122 HR, 634 RBI), so far a career Knight, joins the Blue Sox on their 3-yr, $8.4M offer. January 29 – San Francisco signs ex-RIC 1B Mark Cahill (.279, 178 HR, 830 RBI); the 34-year-old lefty hitter will make $2.92M over two years. February 1 – The Rebels pick up former Dallas SP Justin Roberts (99-94, 3.75 ERA) on a 2-yr, $9.76M offer. February 4 – The Raccoons announce the signing of ex-OCT SP Elijah Powell (44-40, 4.58 ERA) on a $1.6M contract for 2050. February 15 – The Canadiens sign up former POR/RIC RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.263, 179 HR, 681 RBI) with a 2-yr, $3.68M contract. +++ Powell, 30, is a decent righty going at an affordable rate for a team that temporarily has no ambitions to pursue. He’s a groundballer, doesn’t give up too many bombs, and will hopefully fill the hole in the rotation without causing me too much agony. What else? Nate Norris went to the Thunder for $910k; aaaand – scene.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3974 | |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Maine
Posts: 748
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Quote:
![]() ...... Just noticed Tylor Cecil signed for less than $6M per. Dang.
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#3975 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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You are much more reserved in your judgment than the revered old Portland Agitator, that's for sure!
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3976 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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Nothing much happened anymore the rest of the offseason; the Raccoons purged a few minor leaguers in May, the highest pick amongst whom was Jerry Sterenberg, an outfielder taken in the second round in 2045, who had made Ham Lake his home for most of the last five years without ever hitting a damn thing. Other departures included eight-rounder and fellow outfielder Dustin Nudel, 2047 ninth-rounder 1B Mitch Lapp, and the odd nameless scouting discovery here or there.
+++ February 22 – The Falcons get a new pitcher for 2-yr, $6.24M in former Warriors SP Juan Arrocha (51-78, 4.76 ERA). April 2 – The Knights sign former Raccoon 1B/RF Pat Gurney (.276, 112 HR, 546 RBI) to a $432k contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick as compensation. +++ Former Furballs finding future fodder funding: Eduardo Avila got $442k from the Scorpions; Angelo Zurita settled for $396k from the Wolves; Nelson Mercado got $446k from the Blue Sox; …and with that, the 2050 season is almost upon us. Who’s excited? (eerie silence) Anybody? (Chad bursts through the door in the big-headed, perpetually happy Coons mascot outfit and shows off his newest offseason dance move additions) Good! I was briefly concerned there…!
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3977 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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2050 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2049 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):
SP Jason Wheatley, 29, B:R, T:R (13-11, 3.59 ERA | 94-60, 3.33 ERA) – 2045 Pitcher of the Year! Wheats roared from #5 starter in April of 2045 to the highest honor the CL had to dole out to pitchers (at least regularly), doing it with a perfectly balanced approach, keeping things on the ground and walks to a minimum (2.1 BB/9 last season). He has five pitches, some very good, and sort of broke the old Opening Day Curse in 2047; he got bombed for a career-high 17 homers last year, but at least recovered from a dip in strikeouts in 2048 and also pitched a career-high in innings and whiffs. Hasn’t won more than 13 games in three years and this probably won’t be the year either… SP Bubba Wolinsky, 27, B:L, T:L (13-10, 4.24 ERA | 39-19, 3.62 ERA) – former #12 pick finally put a full season together without going down to injury or having to come back from it. Immediately led the league in homers surrendered, so even at age 27 there are still kinks to iron out… But when he’s actually on the mound and pitching, the results are often rather easy to approve of. Efficiently mixes five pitches, with the forkball his best offering. SP Victor Salcido, 24, B:R, T:R (6-9, 3.86 ERA | 8-11, 3.77 ERA) – cost almost half a million to sign as international free agent in 2044, and last year found an opening in the rotation and stuck in it. Still rough around the edges, especially in terms of control, but there are a lot of upsides here with four quality pitches. We are very much looking forward to him putting it altogether sooner rather than later. SP Elijah Powell *, 30, B:R, T:R (8-8, 4.18 ERA | 44-40, 4.58 ERA) – groundballer signed as free agent with five different pitches, none of them overwhelming, but at least he keeps hitters guessing for a little while… SP Victor Merino, 29, B:L, T:L (11-14, 5.08 ERA | 70-49, 3.53 ERA) – lefty groundballer, and very much more of a control pitcher, not only lacking the big stuff for high strikeout totals, but at this point he has a hard time striking out *anybody* with just 3.3 K/9 last season, and had barely more strikeouts than walks issued. Thankfully signed for another four years with those sorts of problems… MR Bob Ibold, 29, B:L, T:R (1-1, 14.04 ERA | 22-9, 4.13 ERA, 6 SV) – used to be a very competent right-hander, but he’s been through major elbow and shoulder woes by now and after missing most of 2049 with injury, he only made it onto the roster as a September call-up, then got absolutely romped in ten outings, most of them very abortive. MR Brett Lillis jr., 24, B:L, T:L (1-2, 4.42 ERA | 1-2, 4.42 ERA) – his father was a fairly pleasant presence on some Coons rosters that never progressed past the CLCS, but the offspring had quite the hard time of it in odd bits of major league playing time in ’49, which even included a spot start (in which he didn’t fare THAT badly). 95mph cutter, scooping curve, and a hard time trying to keep it all under wraps with 6.4 BB/9. MR Kevin Hitchcock, 27, B:R, T:R (1-3, 4.80 ERA, 1 SV | 3-7, 3.84 ERA, 1 SV) – the German right-hander saw a brief cup of coffee with the 2046 Raccoons, then became an injury replacement for Bob Ibold in 2047, holding the spot down well enough. He mostly slid onto the roster due to another Ibold injury in 2049, but had a trying year with several blowups. On a roster with many scuffling right-handed relievers, he is nothing special at this point. MR Danny Landeta *, 33, B:R, T:R (3-3, 5.12 ERA, 2 SV | 17-8, 3.79 ERA, 8 SV) – the Raccoons never sought out Danny Landeta, but wound up with him to balance the Thunder’s books in one of our trades for prospects. I wouldn’t have been mad to not get this middle-of-the-road righty reliever with major injury history and a recent trend to get blown up, which is a bit of a pattern on this roster… throws 91 and a slider. MR Julian Ponce, 37, B:R, T:L (5-2, 2.73 ERA | 110-88, 3.49 ERA, 126 SV) – cutter, curveball, and a groundball tendency should fit him in really well with the rest of what we have. Used to be a starter before transitioning into the bullpen with the Wolves in ’44. Actually led the CL in innings pitched as a 2040 Crusader. Did silent and steady relief work in ’49, to the point where you sometimes forgot that he was on the roster at all despite appearing 69 times. SU Preston Porter, 28, B:R, T:R (3-4, 4.96 ERA | 18-12, 2.95 ERA, 7 SV) – keeps it on the ground and has a very nice curve; also exceptional control – he walked *three* batters in 28.2 innings in the majors in ’44, and while that number went up to a more reasonable 2.0/9 or so ever since, he doesn’t unnecessarily create a traffic jam on the basepaths, which we much appreciate. That being said, like most everybody else he appears to have been completely cursed in 2049 and got rampaged over more than once. CL Willie Cruz *, 24, B:R, T:R (0-0, 3.77 ERA | 0-0, 3.77 ERA) – in a novel development, the Raccoons designate a pitcher with no saves, nor even a decision in the majors, to be their new closer. Cruz showed flashes of brilliance in just nine games with the Gold Sox before being shipped in, and we bank on his plus-plus curve and the 96mph cutter decimating the opposition should we ever get a lead to him in the ninth inning. C/1B Ruben Gonzalez, 28, B:R, T:R (.220, 9 HR, 40 RBI | .245, 42 HR, 189 RBI) – pretty good defense and a fine throwing arm, but apart from that he managed to shave nearly 200 points off his 2047 OPS in just two years – thankfully after signing a long-ish-term extension through 2052…… C Juan Jimenez *, 28, B:R, T:R (.223, 10 HR, 55 RBI | .257, 22 HR, 152 RBI) – free agent addition after being non-tendered by the Rebels; Jimenez is mostly a defensive catcher, although his performance last year wasn’t far behind Gonzalez’ at all… RF/1B/LF Jesus Maldonado, 36, B:R, T:R (.267, 6 HR, 44 RBI | .294, 199 HR, 1,013 RBI) – three years left on this contract, and it probably won’t be pretty; missed half the season with injuries in ’49, and when he played, the power wasn’t there, with the worst OPS since his age 23 season in 2037 when he oddly was World Series MVP in a losing effort. One of the three-ring Coons (who are becoming fewer on the roster), Maldo holds the biggest contract ever doled out by the team ($38.5M over 7 years, or roughly half the annual GDP of his home country of Venezuela). SS/2B Matt Waters, 29, B:S, T:R (.261, 22 HR, 95 RBI | .260, 121 HR, 465 RBI) – Home Run King! …in 2048. Returned to his career mean after a .910 OPS season in ’48, but has no challengers for cleanup duties on this roster. Obscene power aside, he’s a good defensive shortstop that can also totally steal 20 (and probably 30) bases in a season, but was moved to second base with the arrival of Alex Adame (since gone), and that is actually the position where he could end up winning a Gold Glove, too; also signed a long-term deal on his own volition during ’47, and which probably cost him eight figures with what he hit in ’48 (again, .910 OPS anyone?). SS/3B Lorenzo Lavorano, 22, B:R, T:R (.341, 1 HR, 13 RBI | .341, 1 HR, 13 RBI) – the main attraction, boys! Lonzo had a thunderous debut in 2049 and stole 16 bases in just 36 games, and could be tons and tons of fun if he continues to represent Alberto Ramos – the young, juicy, blistering one, not the old, fat one with lard stains on his uniform shirt. 3B Ed Crispin, 23, B:L, T:R (.256, 5 HR, 31 RBI | .256, 5 HR, 31 RBI) – once upon a time one of the returns from the Rebels in the deal that sent Josh Rella away, Crispin’s good defender at the hot corner, with a middle of the road bat that might see him hit 12-15 homers in a full season, but probably not with much more than that batting average he had in his debut season across 199 at-bats. Does have surprising speed, though. RF/1B/3B/SS/LF/CF Eddy Luna, 29, B:L, T:R (.260, 4 HR, 22 RBI | .263, 16 HR, 164 RBI) – super utility with a keen eye and positive speed on the bases, of which he can also steal double digits. If one of them batted righty, would make a great platoon with Crispin, but it’s not to be. 1B/LF/RF Evan Van Hoy, 28, B:L, T:L (played in minors | .304, 0 HR, 2 RBI) – defensive first baseman that can’t hit much at any level and has a total of 24 at-bats to his name in the majors. How he made it onto the Opening Day roster is mesmerizing. LF/CF/RF Matt Watt, 31, B:S, T:R (.259, 1 HR, 33 RBI | .255, 9 HR, 202 RBI) – highly effective in the leadoff spot with a .412 OBP in ’49 (and .391 for his career), but sometimes also goes dark for weeks on end and stinks against southpaws. When he actually swings the stick, it’s mostly for singles, and he doesn’t have that great a deal of speed to actually fabricate thievery “doubles”. Does offer defensive options, too. CF Armando Herrera, 36, B:R, T:R (.293, 3 HR, 42 RBI | .313, 36 HR, 791 RBI) – the Raccoons’ eye-wateringly expensive star acquisition from the 2044-45 offseason won eight Gold Gloves in nine seasons with the Wolves, and while he kept that string going in 2045, he didn’t win the award after that; up there in age now and in the last year of that big free agent contract, Herrera continues to be a steady presence in a defensively demanding position, and while he still holds down centerfield quite well, let’s just say we’re not exactly heartbroken that his age 36 season will be the last one with the Coons. CF/RF/LF Mikio Suzuki *, 26, B:L, T:L (no stats) – there’s no Mike (Preble) anymore, let’s get a Mikio and see whether people will notice, or something like that? Signed out of Japan for not a lot of dosh, Suzuki is a versatile defender and potential base stealer, while probably having mostly a singles bat. He will probably at least spell Herrera for regular off days against right-handers. LF/RF Roberto Medina, 28, B:S, T:R (.267, 0 HR, 0 RBI | .233, 2 HR, 14 RBI) – switch-hitting filler material that would be a tremendous on-base terror with high-end speed, if he ever got on base to begin with. Has mostly lived in St. Pete since 2044. RF/LF Matt Glodowski, 30, B:R, T:R (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI | .275, 2 HR, 10 RBI) – more filler material, this one with a strong outfield arm and *some* power… let’s just say he has four professional seasons with double-digit homers, but even in St. Pete has regularly been hitting like .236… On disabled list: Nobody. Otherwise unavailable: Nobody. Other roster movement: MR Polibio O’Higgins, 23, B:R, T:R (0-2, 6.20 ERA | 0-2, 6.20 ERA) – optioned to AAA; clearly underdone righty that cost a screaming $570k out of Venezuela and by now appears to be unable to throw anything but the 97mph heater with anything resembling reliability. MR Steve Richardson, 25, B:L, T:L (1-2, 7.11 ERA | 2-2, 6.95 ERA) – optioned to AAA; pretty slider, but even more meatballs down the middle for 6 homers allowed in just 22 career innings across 26 outings, so his ABL experience is mostly about getting waffled. 1B/2B/3B Tim Rogers, 26, B:R, T:R (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .250, 0 HR, 2 RBI) – optioned to AAA; decently defending infield utility and singles slapper with little to no speed. 2B John Castner, 29, B:R, T:R (.281, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .223, 0 HR, 21 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; another decen defender (but only at the keystone) and singles slapper with no speed worth talking about, this one getting cup of coffees since ’45. Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived, reassigned, or turned into duck food during the offseason. OPENING DAY LINEUP: Yeah. It’s not… it used to be a lot better. I mean, the top of the order is still solid, with a high-OBP guy in Watt leading off against right-handers, and Lonzo also has the potential to reach nearly a .400 OBP with just a bit of patience (he had none in his debut). Herrera can still flick them, and Waters remains a force. The Crispins and Glodowskis and Medinas is where it starts to look like a fraud a bit… Vs. RHP: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Crispin – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P (Vs. LHP: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – LF Medina – P) Eddy Luna is a super utility and could be a roving sub against righty pitchers, or supersede Crispin entirely at the hot corner if the sophomore struggles. But we will have a keen eye on the waiver wire and it’s not that outlandish to expect the Raccoons to snatch a fourth outfielder that way during Opening Week. OFF SEASON CHANGES: Five years, five pennants, three rings! What a dynasty! Yeah, it’s over now. We went 81-81 last year after the last-ditch duct tape efforts on the roster yielded no rewards and some players were just complete failures (and a few were released by June). The Raccoons did not make a major effort this offseason to be a contender, and it would have been uncalled for, although I won’t claim I’m not miffed on missing out on Tylor Cecil the way we eventually did miss out on Tylor Cecil… Overall we scored a rare red lantern in the offseason WAR gains table run by BNN. Top 5: Gold Sox (+18.7), Buffaloes (+10.4), Bayhawks (+10.0), Knights (+7.8), Crusaders (+6.9) Bottom 5: Rebels (-5.5), Wolves (-6.1), Blue Sox (-7.3), Warriors (-10.1), Raccoons (-11.5) There was a lot of ho-hum across the CL North, with the Crusaders the only team to add WAR. The rest all dropped WAR; the four teams not listed above came 11th (VAN, -1.1), 14th (MIL, -2.6), 17th (IND, -4.1), and 19th (BOS, -4.7). PREDICTION TIME: I kinda saw the trouble coming, although not at the rate at which it actually hit us last year. And now? Well, it’s gonna be rough. The rotation might be the best part of the team at this point, but mostly we’re waiting for prospects like Ricky de la Cruz and Alan Puckeridge to show up to bolster the numbers, but they’re not expected to contribute much before 2051. We will struggle offensively especially and I think 90 losses are coming. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: The Coons’ farm remained sixth overall this year, despite actively trying to trade for prospects, but our second-highest prospect from last year (#42 Victor Salcido) of course exceeded rookie limits at the same time and was of course no longer considered. We also traded #164 Andrew Clarke to the Gold Sox. And this did not include two of the remaining five ranked prospects dropping out of the top 200, including *Lonzo*, who was the #152 last year. The other was #199 Adam Samples. 2rd (+1) – AA SP Rafael de la Cruz, 19 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons 37th (new) – A SP Duarte Damasceno, 18 – 2049 international free agent signed by Raccoons 39th (new) – AAA RF/LF Oscar Rivera, 24 – 2042 scouting discovery by Gold Sox, acquired in trade with Willie Cruz, Eloy Sencion for Dave Hils, Andrew Clarke, Justin Brooks 63rd (new) – AA C/1B Tyler Philipps, 23 – 2047 fifth-round pick by Raccoons 112th (-65) – AAA 3B/2B Dave Blackshire, 22 – 2048 first-round pick by Raccoons 153rd (-108) – AAA 1B/LF/RF Alan Puckeridge, 22 – 2044 international free agent signed by Raccoons 161st (new) – A CL Reynaldo Bravo, 18 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons 195th (new) – AAA OF Curtis Scholl, 23 – 2047 supplemental-round pick by Raccoons The franchise top 10 are completed by AA C Jose Garza (2043 scouting discovery) and, well, Lonzo (also a 2043 scouting discovery). Finally, the top 10 overall prospects this year are: 1st (+4) – ATL AAA C Pedro Almaguer, 21 2nd (+1) – POR AA SP Rafael de la Cruz, 19 3rd (+73) – TOP AA C Matt McLaren, 22 4th (+24) – TOP AA SP Bill Hernandez, 20 5th (+33) – PIT AA OF Josh Abercrombie, 23 6th (+3) – VAN AAA CL Anton Jesus, 21 7th (+41) – CHA A 3B/1B Rich Fish, 21 8th (new) – DEN A SP Josh Gowin, 19 9th (new) – MIL AAA OF/1B Phil Steinbacher, 21 10th (new) – NAS AA OF/1B Edwin Flores, 19 Phil Steinbacher was the #1 pick in the 2049 draft, and Josh Gowin was taken in the same round, but with the #22 pick. Edwin Flores was a scouting discovery for the Blue Sox in 2047, but so far had never been ranked, nor had played a professional game, and now was plunked right into double-A. That left seven top 10 prospects from last year that were no longer showered with those honors this year, some of them by becoming major leaguers, though not all of them were instantly successful. Exhibit A for this was the #1 prospect from 2047 and 2049, Condors LF Tim Duncan, who batted .222 with one homer before being sent back to AAA, where his struggles continued, and he’s not on the Opening Day roster this time either. MIL OF Dave de Lemos was the #8 prospect last season and appeared in 92 games for the Loggers, batting .226 with one homer, but the Loggers being the Loggers, he remains firmly entrenched on that roster. #2 prospect Blake Sparks made seven starts with the Wolves to exceed rookie limits, posting a 3-3 mark with 3.65 ERA. The 22-year-old was in the Wolves rotation to begin the season. Over in Charlotte, last year’s #4 Danny Ceballos shot all the way from single-A to the majors last year, where he batted .319 with 5 HR and 34 RBI to get himself duly noticed. That left a trio of single-A pitchers from last season; the Rebels’ Vinny Santiago moved to AA, but back and shoulder woes limited him in the second half and he dropped from #6 to #33 in the ranking. The Scorpions had the other two, with #10 Willie Santiago also moving to AA, but also moving to the closer slot and sagging to #20. The other, Ernesto Rios, rose all the way to AAA, but dipped to #12 in the prospect charts. Next: first pitch.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3978 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Maine
Posts: 748
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"Dampf" Nudel is gone? And I had such high hopes.
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Introducing Your Hawaii Islanders! |
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#3979 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,287
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We all had; and I even had a whole stack of – (plonks pile of scribbled notes on the desk) – more or less dirty puns that all have to go to the waste bin now…!
+++ Raccoons (0-0) vs. Indians (0-0) – April 4-6, 2050 And so it began, another 162-game season, and this one would feel very much like holding the pokey black nose against a buzzing angle grinder. Oh well. We had gone 9-9 against the Indians last year, which would almost qualify as success this year, although Andrew Russ, the terrible annoyance, had changed teams and was now on the Crusaders, so that was that. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Enrique Ortiz (0-0) Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Bill Nichol (0-0) Victor Salcido (0-0) vs. Tan Brink (0-0) Three right-handed pitchers to begin the season against. Let’s try out what our soggy lineup can do against them… Game 1 IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Hare – CF R. White – P E. Ortiz POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Crispin – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley Angel Mendez doubled to right on the first pitch of the season, and while Bill Quinteros singled him home to give the Indians an early lead, at least Wheats didn’t get blown out like in last year’s season opener… yet. The Coons took a 2-1 lead in the bottom 1st with a walk to Matt Watt, a Lonzo RBI triple (giggles giddily) and Armando Herrera’s groundout. The lead didn’t last, mainly because while Andrew Russ had changed CL North foes, Angel Mendez hadn’t, and was only marginally less of a rectal pain. In the third inning, he legged out an infield single, stole two bases, and scored on Alex de Castro’s sac fly, and an inning later the Arrowheads were up 3-2 again with two more hits by Hugo Acosta and Ray DeFrank to begin the inning, and a sac fly for Josh Hare. Wheatley remained on the hook until he left after six busy innings, principally because the Raccoons besides the earlier Lonzo triple managed a total of one further base hit through six, a Mikio Suzuki single the second time through that went absolutely ******* nowhere. A sort of chance developed in the bottom 8th when Ortiz struck out Watt, but then walked Lonzo and drilled Herrera. Matt Waters hit into a fielder’s choice for the second time in the game, but Lonzo went to third base, then scored on Maldo’s 2-out single to right-center to tie the game and hand Wheats a no-decision. Jason Palladino walked Ed Crispin to fill the bases, and then couldn’t find the zone at all against Suzuki, issuing ball four to shove home run four and give the Raccoons an entirely undeserved 4-3 lead. Ruben Gonzalez preceded to single home a pair before even the less well-informed fans noticed something was off when Evan Van Hoy pinch-hit for Kevin Hitchcock and grounded out to second. Van Hoy? Really? Is this really the Raccoons?? With a 3-run lead entering the ninth, the Raccoons broke out Willie Cruz to attempt his first career save. Ray DeFrank and Josh Hare flew out to Watt, and Rusty White rolled out to Lonzo. 6-3 Raccoons! Suzuki 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Game 2 IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B Brayboy – SS de Castro – CF R. White – P Nichol POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Luna – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky If you had Matt Watt in the pot for the first swat of the year, his leadoff jack in the bottom 1st made you a winner, and maybe Bubba, too, but only if he could hold on to the skinny 1-0 lead. Well, he couldn’t, despite retiring the first 11 Indians in order, because after that feat, he immediately broke and surrendered four straight hits with two outs in the fourth to Quinteros, Anderson, DeFrank, and the ******* scourge of the Earth, Aaron *********** Brayboy. Three of them were singles, but Bobby Anderson hit a right-center gapper for a triple, and a total of two runs scored to flip the score, because the Raccoons had in the meantime largely dabbled in getting caught stealing; Eddy Luna was thrown out in the second, and Lonzo in the third. Bottom 4th, Luna walked, and Suzuki dropped in a single, both with one out. Gonzalez grounded to Anderson, who threw the ball well over Brayboy’s ugly head, and the 2-base throwing error awarded home to Eddy Luna and tied the game. Even better, Bubba batted with a pair in scoring position and dropped a duck snort single into shallow center on an 0-2 pitch, giving himself a 3-2 lead. Watt walked, Lonzo whiffed, and Herrera flew out to Quinteros to strand a full set then, but Bobby Anderson would drive home Quinteros in the sixth to tie the game again, thus partially making up for his earlier missed throw. Bubba wound up pitching eight innings on 98 pitches, but couldn’t get back into the lead, and was then replaced with Preston Porter for the ninth. He retired leadoff man Bobby Anderson, then got plonked to death with straight singles by DeFrank, Brayboy, de Castro, Philip Locke, and Manny Poindexter for a total of three runs before getting yanked and shopped around. Danny Landeta, the Thunder throw-in we didn’t want in the first place, then struck out Mendez, walked Hugo Acosta, and gave up a grand slam to Quinteros. 10-3 Indians. Luna 1-2, BB; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-3, RBI; (opens the first bottle of Capt’n Coma) Interlude: waiver claim The Raccoons optioned Matt Glodowski back to AAA without the righty-hitting outfielder appearing in a game after they were awarded the contract of OF/3B Ricky Lamotta from the Loggers. A career .264/.314/.373 hitter, the 25-year-old Venezuelan was a right-handed batter as well, but with a more complete defensive skill set and also much younger. He had seen multiple cups of coffee with the Loggers since ’46, but had never gotten more than 50 PA in a season. Raccoons (0-0) vs. Indians (0-0) – April 4-6, 2050 Game 3 IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Hare – CF R. White – P Brink POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Crispin – RF Suzuki – C Jimenez – P Salcido Angel Mendez singled, the next two batters walked, and Bobby Anderson peppered a grand slam in skinnily occupied leftfield stands, all in the first inning. Waters doubled home Herrera in the bottom 1st, and in the bottom 2nd Suzuki singled his way on base with one out, but was forced out when Juan Jimenez grounded to short, and maybe also permanently maimed in a collision with de Castro that saw him leave the game appearing dazed and confused and asking for a bowl of rice soup for his grandmother. Lamotta tried out that new brown #12 shirt he had been given just before game time. Salcido ached through five innings, giving up one more run to the top of the order in the third before being lifted in a 5-1 game. Eddy Luna batted for him in the bottom 5th and struck out in another 1-2-3 for Tan Brink. Bob Ibold offered a scoreless sixth, in the bottom of which the Coons clipped Brink for two runs. Lonzo and Herrera got on base, pulled off a double steal, and then scored on a groundout by Maldo and a Crispin single, respectively. Now, that looked like a close game to the untrained eye, but the Raccoons didn’t reach base in the seventh, then got Lonzo on with an infield single in the eighth, but also left him on with three poor outs. Hitchcock, Landeta, and Ponce at least kept the Indians at two runs’ distance until the bottom 9th, when John Steuer took the ball for Indy against the 6-7-8 batters; Crispin struck out, Lamotta popped out, but Jimenez singled. That brought up… Van Hoy, batting ninth after an earlier double switch, and the only remaining batter on the bench was Roberto Medina. Fine, Van Hoy to make the final out. (proceeds to lift bottle of booze to his snout) First pitch, a double swatted to right! The tying runs were in scoring position for Matt Watt, and Matt Watt… grounded out to Quinteros. 5-3 Indians. Lavorano 3-4; Suzuki 1-1; Jimenez 2-4, 2B; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Thursday was already a day off, and the Coons would use it to put Mikio Suzuki on the DL with torn thumb ligaments. Hel-lo, Matt Glodowski. Long time no see. … Raccoons (1-2) vs. Condors (1-3) – April 8-10, 2050 The Condors started off 0-3 against the Falcons before winning a 12-7 mess on Thursday on the way in. They had the third-most runs scored and second-most runs allowed, although that was also a factor of starting with a 4-game set. They had swiped six bags, which was tops in the CL. We had won the season series five years running, 5-4 in ’49, but I had a hunch… Projected matchups: Elijah Powell (0-0) vs. Sam Geren (0-0) Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Kevin Daley (0-1, 13.50 ERA) Jason Wheatley (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Matt Weber (0-1, 1.13 ERA) No southpaw on the horizon yet! Game 1 TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – LF G. Cabrera – C Mittleider – 1B Mancini – CF Blackburn – RF Tortora – 3B A. Lopez – P Geren POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Luna – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Powell The first time through, Eddy Luna and Alex Lopez exchanged 2-run homers for a 2-2 tie through three innings, although the Coons had six hits to the Condors’ two. Powell walked Gil Cabrera to begin the fourth, only to immediately get a double play from Jon Mittleider, while then not getting a bunt down with Ruben Gonzalez on first base and one out in the bottom 4th. At 0-2 he swung away and singled instead, which worked for me, and Geren’s walk to Matt Watt loaded the bases for Lonzo, who was batting .429 at this point. He added 38 points and a run with a single to shallow left, which also gave Powell a 3-2 lead. Herrera hit an RBI single through between Chris Navarro and Alex Lopez, and Waters hit into a fielder’s choice for a .143 start to the season, but that still got another run home. Maldo ended Geren’s day with an RBI single, extending the lead to 6-2. Left-hander Pedro Quinonez then got out of the inning. While Powell gave up a run in the sixth, the Coons got two more in the same inning on a 2-run homer to right-center smashed by Maldo, 8-3. Because this was just too comfortable a lead, the Raccoons’ Brett Lillis jr. and Bob Ibold then conspired for some shenanigans in the seventh. Lillis put Cullen Tortora on base with a single, then walked Lopez. Ibold replaced him, walked PH Chris O’Keefe to make it three on, nobody out, then gave up a sac fly and an RBI single to Miguel Martinez, 8-5. Gil Cabrera hit a fly to center that Herrera caught, with Chris O’Keefe tagging to go second to third, but he stumbled halfway down there and ended up being tagged out by Ed Crispin to end the inning. Crispin made an error in the eighth, but Preston Porter somehow got around that and kept the Condors away from scoring. Willie Cruz had a 1-2-3 ninth to put the game away, though. 8-5 Furballs. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Herrera 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 4-5, HR, 3 RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Heyyy, back to .500 …! Game 2 TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – CF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – LF Mancini – C Mittleider – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – P Daley POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Maldonado – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – P Merino Maldo made his second outfield start in five seasons on Saturday, which didn’t go very well almost right out of the gate. Merino was whacked for four hits, some loud, in the second inning, giving up three runs, one each on a Brian Blackburn double and two productive groundouts for Shintaro Watanabe and the pitcher Daley. It got worse; Gil Cabrera hit a leadoff triple in the third and scored not on a Yamamoto pop, but on Bob Mancini’s groundout. Lonzo singled home Merino in the bottom 3rd, 4-1, but Merino had only reached base with a bad bunt to get Evan Van Hoy (…!) forced out at second base. Mancini ended a lingering Merino’s day with a soul-crushing 2-out, 2-run homer in the top 5th. The game felt over at that time, the Raccoons down 6-1, although it was far from that… mainly because of an hour-long rain delay in the bottom of the sixth. Play resumed though, with the Raccoons steadily shaking relievers from the pen, none of whom gave up a run, although the Raccoons offense also failed to score again, right up to the point where they were down to their last out against right-hander Leonardo Ramos. Herrera and Luna had erred on base in the 6-1 deficit. Glodowski had actually gotten into a game after two double switches in this affair, but popped out, yet with two outs, Ruben Gonzalez singled home Herrera to get the Critters within slam range. A Robert Medina strikeout ended the game anyway. 6-2 Condors. Crispin 1-2; For Sunday, Matt Waters got an unusually early day off, on account of batting .105 (with a .167 BABIP). Game 3 TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – LF G. Cabrera – 1B Mancini – CF Blackburn – RF Tortora – C R. Cruz – 3B A. Lopez – P M. Weber POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – SS Luna – 1B Maldonado – 3B Crispin – C Jimenez – RF Medina – CF Lamotta – P Wheatley Mancini and Blackburn opened the top 2nd with singles, and while Tortora hit a comebacker to Wheats, the Coons couldn’t turn two, and thus Ricky Cruz’ groundout brought in the rubber game’s first run. The Condors got another pair of leadoff singles, a soft bloop and an infield single, by Gil Cabrera and Mancini in the fourth, and then Blackburn hit a 3-run homer to take all the oxygen away from me. The lopsided defense didn’t shine, but neither did Wheatley, who didn’t strike out any of the first 17 batters he faced before Weber dropped dead to end the fourth inning in a 4-0 game. The Raccoons didn’t even get a base hit until Jimenez hit a double in the bottom 5th, but he was left on base. Ricky Lamotta got on base as a Critter for the first time with a leadoff walk in the bottom 6th, but was stranded after getting bunted to second base. Wheatley finished seven innings, the last three being not quite as rotten as the first four, but the Raccoons at the stretch still had nothing more than the Jimenez double from the fifth. Matt Waters ended up playing after all once Ed Crispin left the game with a sore elbow in the eighth inning, and while he didn’t bat in the bottom 8th, maybe he at least inspired Jimenez to hit a solo homer to right to get the team on the board. Lillis gave that run right back in the ninth, giving up a walk and an RBI double to Chris Navarro. A pinch-hit single by Herrera in the bottom 9th was all that stopped that “defensive catcher” from being the only lifeline between the Coons and a no-hitter… 5-1 Condors. Herrera (PH) 1-1; Jimenez 2-3, HR, 2B, RBI; In other news April 5 – ATL SP Kodai Koga (1-0, 0.00 ERA) walks five Aces and strikes out as many, but allows no hits in a 1-0 win over Las Vegas, for the first ABL no-hitter since 2047! April 9 – WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (1-0, 2.12 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over the Scorpions, striking out eight batters. April 9 – Salem SP Blake Sparkes (2-0, 1.69 ERA) and CL Josh Rella (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Miners, who don’t get past a first-inning double of outfielder Jayden Ward (.333, 0 HR, 0 RBI). April 10 – ATL OF/1B Steve Royer (.370, 1 HR, 2 RBI) lands two singles in a 2-1 win over the Crusaders to connect all the dots for a 20-game hitting streak dating back to last season. The 24-year-old made the Opening Day roster for the first time this year. April 10 – OCT 3B/SS Angel Montes de Oca (.364, 1 HR, 2 RBI) goes yard for all the offense in a 1-0 win over the Indians. FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.583, 3 HR, 8 RBI) CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF/1B Will McIntyre (.550, 1 HR, 7 RBI) Complaints and stuff Yes, we’re claiming guys off waivers from the Loggers. The Loggers! I told you it was gonna be bad. Matt Waters hitting .105 is one thing, but the Raccoons grabbing some cheap Japanese import and have him start his career 3-for-7, then immediately shedding a thumb is the other. Also, there’s three replacement level outfielders on the roster hitting a combined 0-for-16 with a grand total of one walk, while Matt Watt’s .130/.259/.261 isn’t actually inspiring either. It’s gonna be a looong year. Next week: road trip to Oklahoma, Elk City. Fun Fact: Kodai Koga’s no-hitter on April 5 is not the earliest in a calendar year that a no-hitter has been pitched. The record is held by Indianapolis’ Dan George, no-hitting the Crusaders on April 3, 1996. Second place goes to Warriors starter Pat Okrasinski, no-hitting the Wolves on April 4, 2033.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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#3980 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Raccoons (2-4) @ Thunder (5-1) – April 11-13, 2050
First time out of the house this decade, and … (sniffs around) … I don’t really like it. It’s enough if people at home can see how inept we are. We don’t have to advertise that across multiple time zones… The Thunder had started the season rather well with five wins after an Opening Day loss, but were really only sixth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed so far. This season series had been a 2-7 disaster for the Raccoons two years in a row. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (0-0, 7.50 ERA) Victor Salcido (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (1-0, 2.57 ERA) Elijah Powell (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (1-0, 2.25 ERA) Marquez was the first southpaw of the season for us to face, also the only one in this set. Ed Crispin travelled along with a sore elbow that left him day-to-day and would probably see him only used lightly in this series, and not in defense at all if we could arrange it. Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – RF Glodowski – LF Medina – P Wolinsky OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – SS R. Cox – C Adames – RF Benavides – LF M. Allen – CF Harmon – P V. Marquez The Coons filled the bags in the first with two outs and no contributions of their own, whatsoever, getting the 3-4-5 batters on with a throwing error by the pitcher, a walk, and Gonzalez taking one to the bum. It got us two runs on Eddy Luna’s single, but Glodowski grounded out. The Thunder had their own 2-out rally in the bottom 1st, with Wolinsky walking David Worthington, Ryan Cox hitting a single, and Jesus Adames going well yard to right to flip the score to 3-2 home team. From there, Bubba would pick off Ryan Cox in the third inning, but managed to surrender more runs overall. In the fourth, his inability to field a Marquez grounder resulted in a 2-out single, moved Mike Harmon into scoring position, and Harmon came in when Angel Montes de Oca hit another single. In the sixth, Adames plainly took him deep again, this time in solo fashion and to left. That made it 5-3, erasing a run the Raccoons had scratched out in the top 6th when Luna had singled home Matt Waters, but overall we were on four hits and it was all sort of bitter and sad to watch. …until a sudden breakout in the seventh at least. Roberto Medina and Ricky Lamotta somehow got on base with two leadoff singles against Marquez, although Lonzo then lined out to Cox and Herrera flew out to Harmon for no great effect. But that brought up Maldo, who was old, not very agile anymore, and liked to sleep a lot between meals, but crammed a fastball into the rightfield corner anyway for a game-tying 2-out, 2-run triple…! Waters’ groundout also stranded him. The 5-5 tie was in some sort of danger when Bob Ibold pitched the bottom 7th, walked Jonathan Ban and Ryan Cox, and was 3-0 with two outs against 2-bomb Adames, when the catcher went stupid or greedy or both and grounded out to Waters to kill the inning. The Thunder had two singles off Ponce and Landeta in the eighth, but still couldn’t score when Lonzo handled Montes’ bouncer up the middle for the third out, while the Coons did nothing on offense against the Thunder pen. Bottom 9th, Preston Porter was tasked with getting the game into extras, but didn’t. Jesus Adames’ greed got the better of him. After a 2-out single by Cox, Adames blasted a 440-footer to center, giving him a 3-homer game as well as walkoff honors. 7-5 Thunder. Luna 3-4, 3 RBI; Lamotta (PH) 1-1; Game 2 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – P Salcido OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – LF Harmon – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – C Burnham – CF M. Allen – P Hendrix Tuesday, the Raccoons got straight singles to begin the game. Three of them loaded the bases for Matt Waters, batting .136/.240/.227 and in need of a little success. An RBI single looped over Jonathan Ban would do, and made it 1-0 Coons. Maldo took care of the rest, hitting a homer to left-center – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMM!!!! The Raccoons got another run in the first, Ricky Lamotta bringing home Eddy Luna with a groundout, so Salcido got handed a 6-0 lead and we would not accept any excuses. He would put three scoreless before leaking two walks and two hits along with two runs on a 2-out single by Luke Burnham in the bottom 4th, reducing the lead to 8-2; Watt had singled home a run in the third, and Luna had added a sac fly in the top 4th. Come the sixth, long man David Williams loaded the bases with nobody out on a Waters single and walks to Maldo and Luna. Lefty Tom Spencer inherited that sticky situation, gave up a run on Ruben Gonzalez’ groundout, but then struck out the next two… yet not without balking home Maldo in the process, 10-2. Salcido would go seven innings on four hits and four walks, and didn’t allow any more runs. Nate Norris allowed more runs, but he was a Thunder now; he walked Evan Van Hoy, batting for an 0-for-4 Lamotta, with two outs in the top 8th, then gave up a bomb to pinch-hitter Ed Crispin, whose elbow didn’t look THAT bad all of a sudden…! Norris got it even harder in the snout in the ninth, serving up doubles to Lonzo and Waters, then a homer to Eddy Luna for a total of five runs across five outs. Sounded roughly familiar. 15-2 Furballs! Watt 3-6, RBI; Lavorano 3-6, 2B; Herrera 3-5, BB; Waters 4-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Luna 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Salcido 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, W (1-1); Lillis jr. 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Maldo now with 11 RBI from the first eight games. That’ll play…! Game 3 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – RF Lamotta – P Powell OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – C Adames – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – LF Harmon – CF M. Allen – P Lehman By Wednesday, it looked like somebody had disabled the cheat codes. Lehman faced the minimum the first time through, allowing no runners while whiffing a pair, and the Thunder took a lead in the bottom 3rd on a solo homer by Adames, who mashed his fourth bomb in the set and fifth of the year, and hadn’t even featured in the middle game… Matt Watt hit a single in the fourth, but didn’t get off first base, while the Thunder went up 3-0 in the same inning with a walk to Jonathan Ban and with two outs then, RBI knocks for Mikes Harmon (double) and Allen (single). Maldo and Luna singles and a walk drawn by Juan Jimenez then put three Brownshirts on with nobody out in the fifth. Ricky Lamotta’s sac fly got the Coons on the board, but that was that for the inning as Powell popped out and Watt flew out to Allen. Powell allowed no more runs, but remained 3-1 behind through six, then was hit for by Crispin, who struck out in a 1-2-3 top of the seventh. Danny Landeta struck out three of his former teammates in the bottom 7th, but in between Adames of course had to hit at least a single. Top 8th, and trouble for Lehman, who put Matt Watt on with a single to right, then got a grounder to third from Lonzo, but Worthington dropped Montes’ throw, and the tying runs were on board with no outs. Pop, grounder, pop, though, went the middle of the order for Portland, and nobody scored. Mike Lynn then put the Coons to bed without too much fuss in the ninth. 3-1 Thunder. Watt 2-4; Maldonado 2-4; Should have saved some from Tuesday…! Raccoons (3-6) @ Canadiens (5-3) – April 14-17, 2050 The damn Elks had the scroogiest pitching in the league so far, giving up only 26 runs in eight games, but also had not scored a damn lot, with just 30 markers in the bank for them. Well, here came the Coons. Last year they had whacked us for 12 wins out of 18 games, and we were only two games over .500 anymore all-time. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (0-1, 11.57 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (1-0, 1.50 ERA) Jason Wheatley (0-1, 4.85 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (1-1, 1.17 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (0-0, 5.14 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (1-0, 2.57 ERA) Victor Salcido (1-1, 5.25 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (1-1, 4.97 ERA) Those ERA’s made me a bit dizzy even before the first game flickered across the screen back home in Portland. The Raccoons would see two southpaws in the middle of the set, with two righties on the bookends. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Maldonado – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – P Merino VAN: CF Escobido – RF Tomasello – 3B Burgos – LF Toohey – 1B S. Henderson – 2B DeMarco – C Oden – SS Mullen – P Godinez Both teams frittered away three hits aside the first time through; the Raccoons weren’t helped particularly by Armando Herrera’s 6-4-3 double play grounder after Watt and Lonzo had both reached to begin the top 1st, and nobody scored the first time through. The first run wasn’t scored until a real mess of a bottom 5th, when Jesus Burgos legged out a dead duck on the infield for a 2-out RBI single with the bags stacked. Bryce Toohey, until recently a Coons slugger, then grounded out easily to strand a full set. The run was unearned after a leadoff walk to Nate Oden, a Waters error on Dan Mullen’s grounder, a bad bunt by Godinez that erased the lead runner, and Tyler Tomasello getting whacked with a 1-2 pitch with two outs. Merino worked himself up across six innings without an unearned run against him, but was still trailing 1-0 in the seventh when Ed Crispin batted for him. He did so with Gonzalez on second and Van Hoy on first, somehow, and nobody out. Crispin grounded to Angel Quintana at second for a fielder’s choice that removed Van Hoy from the bases, which somehow looked less wrong. Matt Watt then hit into a 6-4-3 to wrap up the inning, which looked exactly like something the Coons would do… Bottom 7th, Hitchcok walked Angel Escobido to bring up PH Jerry Outram, batting .348 with a homer, in the #2 hole, but Julian Ponce struck him out to end the inning. Instead, Sterling Henderson took Bob Ibold deep to left for a solo homer in the eighth… The Coons didn’t get on base against Sam Gibson in the ninth, and remained shut out on seven hits, all singles. 2-0 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4; Merino 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, L (0-2); Game 2 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – RF Glodowski – LF Lamotta – P Wheatley VAN: CF Escobido – 3B Burgos – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 1B S. Henderson – 2B DeMarco – LF Tomasello – SS Mullen – P McMichael As if we needed more indicators that the season was gonna be a long one, the Raccoons had no hits through four innings against McMichael, and while Wheatley allowed only one hit through three innings, it all came crashing down and burying him in the bottom 4th. Jesus Burgos and Jerry Outram opened with singles, and Julio Diaz walked, all with nobody out. Henderson struck out, but Nick DeMarco and Tomasello both clipped RBI singles before Dan Mullen buried a gapper for a bases-clearing triple. 5-0, boys. Nice. (opens bottle of One-Eyed Jack’s) No, Capt’n Coma alone won’t get me through this year. Wheats lasted six innings en route to another loss, allowing only three hits outside that ******* fourth inning. Matt Waters then homered in the seventh, and the unlikely duo of Glodowski (double) and Lamotta (RBI single) pieced another run together, but that was a singular outburst of hits and the Coons had only two more base knocks the entire game outside the top 7th. They didn’t come close to a comeback. 5-2 Canadiens. Waters 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Glodowski 1-2, BB, 2B; Honeypaws, is it September yet? – Then why are all these bums getting playing time?? Game 3 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 3B Luna – RF Glodowski – C Jimenez – 1B Lamotta – P Wolinsky VAN: CF Escobido – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – LF Toohey – 1B S. Henderson – 2B DeMarco – RF Tomasello – SS Mullen – P de Anda Game 3 brought even less offense early on. The Raccoons had one hit the first time through (a Lamotta single, weirdly), and the Elks had three, but again nobody scored. Misery continued unabated in the fourth with a leadoff double for Herrera, who was then steadfastly stranded on second base. Instead, Wolinsky walked Toohey and Henderson in the bottom 4th, then gave up 2-out RBI singles to both Tomasello and Mullen for another deficit. The 4-5-6 hitters then had a bushel of leadoff singles in the bottom 6th to load the bags with Elks runners. Wolinsky was yanked after Tomasello hit a sac fly, after which Ibold got a double play grounder from Mullen to end the inning, down merely 3-0. Yay. And the offense didn’t pick up ANYTHING, while the bullpen continued to founder. Willie Cruz had not been used all week long, because there was no reason to use Willie Cruz, but was finally put into the bottom 8th. He walked two and nicked another batter, and gave up a run on Outram’s pinch-hit double play grounder. The Raccoons had no rally prepared for the ninth anyway, this time going down silently against Sam Heisler. 4-0 Canadiens. Watt 1-2, 2 BB; …by which point I was close to giving up on baseball and to retire to a cloister in southern France… Game 4 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Luna – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido VAN: SS Mullen – 3B Burgos – RF Outram – LF Toohey – C Julio Diaz – CF Burkhart – 1B Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P Herman Herrera tripled in the first, but with nobody on base, and then Waters lined out to short to also send Herrera back to the dugout unscored. Maldo suffered the same fate in the second after hitting a leadoff single and advancing on outs twice. Lonzo doubled with two outs in the third inning, but Herrera floated out to Tim Burkhart to keep the youngster forgotten about in scoring position, and the same thing happened to Luna after a single and stolen base in the fourth. It was really just about waiting for the inevitable death spiral to ensnare Salcido and hand us the sweep, wasn’t it? Tim Burkhart tripled home Julio Diaz, who had singled, and scored on Tomasello’s groundout to finally make it 2-0 for the damn Elks after Salcido had allowed only one hit, but two walks, the first time through their disgustingly pink lineup. When Ruben Gonzalez opened the fifth with a single to right, all that did was to set up Salcido for a double play to bunt into, which he promptly did. A Mullen error then put Watt on base, and Lonzo hit a single up the middle. A double steal and a throwing error by Diaz scored Watt, and a Herrera wallbanger over Outram’s head tied the game at two…! Waters however struck out, ending the fifth straight inning with a runner left in scoring position. Top 6th, Maldo whacked a leadoff double, advanced on Luna’s grounder, and then Crispin struck out. Jesus H. Christ! Also, Maldonado. The Elks didn’t pitch to Gonzalez, which forced Salcido out of the game for a pinch-hitter. Herman had Glodowski at 1-2 before Diaz lost a bouncer in the dirt. The ball got away and Maldo scampered home, giving the Coons their first lead since… when the **** do I know?? Glodowski ended up walking, Watt singled to load the bases, but Lonzo flew out to Toohey. That made it seven RISP stranded in six innings. There were four innings to piece together from the pen, though. Lillis got the sixth put together with some good D behind him, both Waters and Lonzo intercepting spicy grounders. It was almost a nice change when the Raccoons went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, which at least meant not stranding another runner at third base… We also got through Hitchcock, but Ponce finally blew the lead, serving up a homer to Bryce Toohey. (big sigh) Sam Gibson went on to hold the Raccoons at safe distance in the ninth inning, retiring Jimenez, Watt, and Lonzo in order, while we then went back to Willie Cruz to get the game to extras, which didn’t quite ******* work once Angel Escobido hit a walkoff homer to left. 4-3 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Herrera 2-4, 2B, RBI; Lamotta (PH) 1-1; In other news April 11 – IND SP Bill Nichol (2-0, 1.59 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 6-0 shutout. April 11 – The Loggers end the 20-game hitting streak of ATL OF/1B Steve Royer (.323, 1 HR, 2 RBI), who goes 0-for-4 in a 5-1 Knights loss. April 11 – The Crusaders achieve the unwelcome feat of putting up 16 base hits in a regulation game, and losing it, 4-2. All but one of the hits are singles. April 12 – LAP SS Jorge Gonzalez (.222, 0 HR, 2 RBI) will miss the entire season with a broken kneecap. April 17 – IND SP Bill Nichol (3-0, 1.04 ERA) spins a 5-hitter against the Titans in a 5-0 shutout. FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/RF Mike Preble (.431, 2 HR, 13 RBI), batting .452 (14-31) with 2 HR, 6 RBI CL Player of the Week: IND SP Bill Nichol (3-0, 1.04 ERA), pitching two shutouts with 15 K Complaints and stuff And now we’re already behind the Loggers. The Loggers…! I mean, the problem zones are well defined: the rotation, pen, offense, and defense are all pretty wonky. The rest of the team runs like clockwork. This long season will continue with a 2-week homestand hosting the Titans, Baybirds, Knights, and Indians now. Maybe we’ll even win a game or two of that dozen. Fun Fact: Monday’s homer barrage by Jesus Adames was the first against the Raccoons in 13 years. Greg Ortiz of the Crusaders did it on August 12, 2037. The Raccoons won the game regardless, 10-7. Ortiz, a third baseman, had a 16-year career all in the Continental League, and mostly with the Falcons and Crusaders, and is the most successful ABL player from El Salvador in history. Only five made the majors, ever, mind, including backup infielder Manuel Gutierrez, who was an infrequent semi-regular on the Raccoons from 2007 through 2012 after similar service for the Warriors since 2002, from whom we claimed him off waivers. While Gutierrez batted .248/.291/.332 with 12 HR and 96 RBI, Ortiz was mildly more successful, batting .265/.341/.385 with 144 HR and 787 RBI, but never won any sort of award. The third Salvadoran with a career length of more than a few cups of coffee? Catcher Jesus Reyes of the Miners and Loggers, a contemporary of Gutierrez in the 2000s. He hit .250/.299/.359 with 40 HR, 223 RBI.
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Portland Raccoons, 90 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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