Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-1) vs. Condors (2-5) – April 13-15, 2020

The Condors hadn’t grabbed the best of starts, surrendering 40 runs – the most in the league – while scoring the second-fewest with just 20 runs from seven games. Accordingly, they were already three games behind in the CL South, and had hardly anywhere to go but up. The Raccoons had won the season series for three years in a row, with a 5-4 outcome in 2019.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Jose Menendez (0-1, 5.14 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (1-0, 7.50 ERA) vs. Kyle Eilrich (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-0, 1.17 ERA) vs. Andrew Gudeman (0-1, 6.00 ERA)

While the Raccoons’ rotation was undefeated, the Condors’ rotation was winless after the first week of the season. Eilrich would be our third left-hander to contend with by the seventh game of the season.

Game 1
TIJ: 2B D. Ortega – C R. Hernandez – RF Munn – LF Eichelkraut – 1B T. Ramos – SS Read – CF Rawlings – 3B Abraham – P Menendez
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Prince – P Toner

Jonny Toner gave himself a lead in the second inning. While the bottom of the order had been a bit of a wasteland in the first week of the season, DeWald and Prince hit 1-out singles in the inning, and DeWald went to third on Prince’s liner to center. He drew a throw from Josh Rawlings that was never going to get him, and the only thing Rawlings achieved was to allow Prince to reach second base as well. Toner hit a sac fly, while Menendez threw a wild pitch to allow Cookie Carmona to plate Prince with a soft single to left for an early 2-0 lead. While Nunley hit a double in the third, and moved up on Mendoza’s fly to center, only to be thrown out at home by Danny Munn after he caught DeWeese’s 1-out fly to right to end the inning with a 9-2 double play, Toner allowed only one base runner the first time through the order, and that came when he brushed Menendez with a pitch in the third. The fourth saw a 2-out double by Jimmy Oatmeal, who came into the series batting .179 with three homers. Tony Ramos singled past Yoshi Nomura into right to score the runner, and Howard Read also singled before Rawlings popped out to strand a pair in a 2-1 game.

Bottom 4th, Toner got into another situation where he batted with one out and runners on second and third, although Margolis and Prince only arrived there on a wild pitch after initially hitting soft singles. Jonny hit a pitch into center with authority, Rawlings didn’t get it and the RBI single extended the lead to two runs again. With runners in scoring position, Cookie managed to hit a ball hard to the shortstop, and Howard Read turned an unlikely double play to end the inning. Toner’s pitching day also didn’t continue exactly hiccup-free. He allowed a double to Menendez(!) in the fifth, and in the sixth Danny Munn hit a leadoff triple past DeWald, bringing up the tying run in Jimmy Oatmeal, a certified, if selective, slugger. But Toner whiffed him, Ramos grounded out to Nunley, and Read rolled one over to Mendoza to end the inning without that leadoff triple turning into a run, and the Coons remained 3-1 ahead. That was Toner’s last inning. A consistently dark sky started leaking in the bottom of the sixth and forced a delay of almost an hour.

Mindbogglingly, the Condors sent Menendez back out after the delay, where he was quickly greeted with three base hits and got yanked after all. After DeWeese, Margolis, and DeWald had gotten the knocks off him, Prince and Cookie singled off Fernando Hernandez jr., and the five hits netted the Critters two runs before Yoshi popped out to third and Nunley flew out to center. The 5-1 lead was far from safe, though. In the seventh, Seung-mo Chun threw eight pitches, good enough for two walks, before leaving with a complaint regarding his shoulder. Joel Davis had to pick it up from there after blowing the Thunder game on Sunday. He walked Devon Stephenson before surrendering two runs on sac flies to Domingo Ortega and Raúl Hernandez, before Munn grounded out to Nomura to end the damn inning. Jason Kaiser would pitch flawlessly after that, including retiring left-hander Josh Rawlings to start the ninth, before Chris Mathis took over. Needing only two outs for a save, Mathis faced three batters, and retired none. All three singled, one run was in, the tying run was on second, the go-ahead run on first, and still only one out. Jeff Boynton replaced him to face Hernandez, whiffed him, and Munn was left-handed, but goddamnit, things are rolling now – Boynton struck out Munn to end the game. 5-4 Critters. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Mendoza 2-4; Margolis 2-4; Prince 3-4, 2B, RBI; Toner 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-0) and 1-1, 2 RBI;

Three wannabe closers, and Boynton gets the save, not belonging to the group at all. Strong!

Seung-mo Chun had a mild shoulder issue, Mena sensed it to be more of a mental constriction than anything else, and proclaimed he’d be fine by the end of the week. So, again no DL trip to start with, and instead a corpse on the roster. Good stuff.

For the middle game against the left-hander Eilrich we packed the roster with as many right-handers as possible. Cookie and Yoshi got their day off during the week right here. The only left-handers in the lineup were Dumbo Mendoza and Matt Nunley.

Game 2
TIJ: CF Berntson – C R. Hernandez – LF Eichelkraut – 1B T. Ramos – SS Read – RF Rawlings – 2B A. Rojas – 3B Dawson – P Eilrich
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Prince – LF Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 1B Petracek – C Olivares – SS Riley – P Abe

Abe allowed singles to three of the first four batters (excluding J. Oatmeal), a double to Howard Read up the rightfield line, and then balked, for three runs total in the first inning, and the Condors continued to put people on base in the next two innings, but hit into hard-luck outs both times, including Rawlings grounding into a double play to end the third inning with two men on. The Raccoons had no hits the first time through the order, but still loaded the bases in the bottom of the third with nobody out. Dan Riley walked, Abe’s bunt was thrown to second by Ramos, but too late, both runners safe. Then Bareford walked. Then the choking began. Prince struck out, Mendoza grounded to Eilrich, who forced out Riley at home, and it wasn’t until with two down that the Raccoons got onto the board. Eddie Jackson singled through the left side, scoring two, and after a wild pitch moved up the two remaining runners into scoring position, Nunley singled up the middle to score those two for a 4-3 lead. Eilrich walked Petracek, but got Olivares to pop out to shallow right to end the inning.

That lead had no chance with Abe continuing to get whacked. After a leadoff single in the fourth, Jon Berntson doubled to left to tie the game, then scored the go-ahead run on Hernandez’ single. Abe was hit for in the bottom of the inning, and Adam Cowen – so far unused – made his season debut in long relief in the fifth. He started with a walk to Tony Ramos, Read singled, and Rawlings thankfully hit into a double play. Adrian Rojas ended the inning with a fly to Jackson. The Raccoons would have the bases loaded in the bottom 5th; Prince and Mendoza started with singles, Jackson hit into a double play, but Eilrich walked the next two to have six walks on the day, but Olivares flew out gingerly to Rawlings in shallow right. Cowen would draw the seventh walk in the next inning, but Bareford hit into an inning-ending double play, keeping the Coons behind, 5-4. Eilrich was good for one more walk with one out in the seventh to Mendoza before getting yanked. Jackson singled off lefty Johnny Watson, and Nunley loaded the bases with a single to right. That brought up the bottom of the order, which had zero base hits in 12 at-bats this season. Petracek didn’t get a hit, but his pathetic grounder to short was slow enough to take away the double play. One run scored as only Petracek was out, the game was tied, but Olivares also grounded out to short, wasting two runners in scoring position again.

The failures got harder by the eighth, the top of which saw Mathis stumble through a scoreless inning, somehow. In the bottom of the inning, ****ing Dan Riley led off with a single to center, then ran to second base, where Berntson threw him out. Next, Cookie batted for Mathis, poked a 3-0 pitch to second base and was thrown out by Devon Stephenson. Bareford grounded out to short. Between Boynton and Thrasher, the Coons’ pen had a scoreless ninth, never mind the runners in scoring position, and they really HAD to walk off now, because the pen was already empty. Lefty Mike Peterson would face the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 9th, which at least included some power. Power struck out, and the game went to the 10th, where Stephenson homered off Thrasher for the Condors to take a 6-5 lead. After that, Alfonso Gonzales singled, and Jon Berntson grounded to short, but Riley made a bad throw to Prince, and then grabbed his side. He had to leave the game with an injury. No proper infielders were left (Yoshi had already pinch-hit earlier); Prince and Petracek slid over, Mendoza came in to first, and DeWeese entered in left (with Cookie also already gone). The tying run would be on immediately in the bottom 10th, as Nunley singled to left on an 0-2 pitch by Jayden Reed. Petracek struck out. Olivares sent a ball to right, fairly deep, Rawlings took a bad route and missed it, and the Coons had a double, and the tying and winning runs in scoring position with one out for - … DeWeese. He hit the first pitch high to center, no challenge for Berntson, but at least the tying run came home. However, DeWald failed batting for Thrasher, and the game continued.

We had one inning left in Jason Kaiser, who was in his third straight game, then it would be Danny Margolis, the last guy on the bench. Kaiser also retired Rawlings to start the 12th, and maybe we could coax him throu- nope, walked Craig Abraham. Margolis came in with a man on base, hooray, and to make a long and sad story a bit shorter, Margolis was completely unable to throw a strike and the Condors scored three runs and that was - … wait. Alex Lindsey retired Jackson and Nunley to start the bottom 12th, but then Petracek singled. Olivares singled. DeWeese doubled. The tying runs were in scoring position for … Margolis. Hey, at least a batter is pitching, eh, pitcher is batting, eh… Ball, strike, strike, ball, then a knock to left center. Oatmeal hustling into the gap, but he didn’t get it! Margolis sunk a double in the gap and the game was tied!! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!! The Condors tried their luck with a new pitcher, sending lefty Tim Dunkin after the top of the order. Andy Bareford grounded to Stephenson to make an 0-5 day even sadder, except that Stephenson bounced the throw and it got away from Ramos. Bareford was safe, Margolis at third for Prince, and the ****er struck out.

The game went on! Somehow. By now, the word should have been out that Margolis couldn’t pitch AT ALL, and he walked Read to start the inning, but the Condors kept poking and kept poking. Margolis walked two in the inning, and three rockets they hit off him were caught somewhere in the nether regions of the field. The Condors didn’t score. Can we PLEASE walk off now!? No. Berntson drew a leadoff walk off Margolis in the 14th, stole second, and got around on two groundouts, giving the Condors another lead. Bottom 14th, Petracek led off with a single, Olivares walked. DeWeese struck out (…!), and Margolis snipped a single to center. Dunkin now had the bags full with one out, and the raging .133 batter Andy Bareford was up again. Andy, I don’t like saying it, but if you **** this up, you will be turned into a pair of gloves. He grounded to short, Read went home to get the tying run forced out, but then Prince wrestled a 2-out walk from Dunkin and the game was tied AGAIN!! Dumbo Mendoza up, with Fernando Hernandez jr. the new pitcher. And again, a ball, a strike, a strike, a ball, then, finally, the ball was put in play. Mendoza drilled it hard to right, deep for sure, but was it high enough? Rawlings was racing for the fence and leaping (and slamming into it), but to no avail – that baby was … GONE!!!!! WAAAAAAAAALK-OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFF SLAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!!! 14-10 Furballs!!! Mendoza 2-7, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Nunley 3-6, BB, 2 RBI; Petracek 2-4, 3 BB, RBI; Olivares 2-6, BB, 2B; DeWeese 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Cowen 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Margolis 2.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 K, W (1-0) and 2-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

After a five-hour game that was mostly bonkers and ended in a walkoff slam after the Coons had faced defeat for the third time coming into the inning, all hell broke loose in the park. Several fans broke their seats out of their place and took them home as trophies and someone also ripped the oversized Raccoons cap off the mascot costume, greatly disturbing Chad.

The police were here.

Somehow, we lived through it.

Dan Riley did not live through it – he was diagnosed with a torn labrum and was done for the season. He was sent to the DL and we called up a pitcher from AAA since our bullpen was not in a happy state going into the last game of the series. Will West got the callup.

Game 3
TIJ: CF Berntson – C R. Hernandez – RF Munn – LF Eichelkraut – 1B T. Ramos – SS Read – 2B D. Ortega – 3B Dawson – P Gudeman
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Prince – P Santos

To get started, we had little help to expect from the bullpen, and there was rain in the forecast. Play ball!

The Coons took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Cookie doubling, Nunley singling, Mendoza doubling. Santos allowed no runners and struck out three the first time through the Condors’ lineup. The perfect game would be broken up by a bad throw to first by Yoshi Nomura that allowed Howard Read to reach base with two outs in the fifth, but Santos followed that up with a K to Ortega to keep the Condors out of scoring position. The Condors had already committed a gross error themselves, Munn dropping a DeWeese fly to put runners in scoring position with two outs in the bottom 3rd, but Margolis grounded out to keep them stranded. However, we did score tack-on runs in the fifth on a Nunley sac fly, and in the sixth on a Prince bomb to right center, 4-0. And the first Condor to hit a ball really hard off Santos in this game would be ex-Coon Raúl Hernandez, who drove a 2-1 pitch to the warning track in leftfield to open the seventh inning, but was caught by DeWeese. The no-hitter ended with the next batter as Danny Munn found the gap in right center for a double, but Oatmeal struck out and Ramos flew out to Cookie near the warning track to end the game. Put the pen on yellow alert – I have seen Santos crack open often enough to know it when he’s due. Santos retired nobody from there, with Read singling and Ortega tripling in the eighth inning. Will West replaced Santos in the 4-1 game, and he came oh so close to stranding the runner, K’ing Ryan Dawson and getting a pop over to short from Gonzales, but Berntson doubled up the leftfield line, 4-2. Hernandez flew out to Cookie, though. We tried hard to manufacture a run in the bottom 8th. Petracek ran for Margolis after a leadoff single, but was stranded even as I emptied the bench to overcome lefty Mike Peterson. Thrasher got the ninth with three left-handers in the first four batters due. The fourth batter, Read, never got a turn, as Thrasher retired the side in order. 4-2 Coons. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Nunley 2-3, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (2-0) and 2-3;

Raccoons (7-1) vs. Indians (3-6) – April 16-19, 2020

The Indians also had not gotten a very good start. After a 3-3 week to open procedures they had gotten swept by the Aces during the week, with consecutive shutouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were eighth in runs scored, but 11th in runs allowed, with 5.55 runs conceded per game. Well, that would hold up just as much as the Raccoons scoring 6.6 runs per game. The Indians had won the season series in 2019, 11-7, over the Raccoons.

Projected matchups:
Cole Pierson (1-0, 3.12 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (0-0, 6.00 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (1-0, 3.46 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (2-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (0-2, 6.23 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (1-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Manny Ortega (0-1, 3.38 ERA)

Left, right, left, right. It could have been worse; they actually have three southpaws in the rotation after losing Jared D’Attilo, but we would only see two, missing Tom Shumway (0-1, 2.57 ERA).

Will West would stick around for the opener, while Matt Nunley and Hugo Mendoza would get their days off during this series, but we’d split them. Mendoza was off on Thursday, while Nunley would sit on Saturday against Broun. In a reverse-2019, Nunley was batting .400 right now with a 10-game hitting streak.

Game 1
IND: C Jolley – 1B Roncero – LF D. Carter – RF D. Young – CF Genge – 2B Kym – SS Correia – 3B P. Cruz – P Lamb
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 1B Petracek – SS Prince – C Olivares – CF Bareford – P Pierson

Cole Pierson tried hard to get struck by lightning; after retiring the first two batters in the second inning, he conceded a single to Josh Correia, then walked three straight batters to force in a run – yes, that included the pitcher – and allowed two more on Silvestro Roncero’s single to right. While Pierson continued to be highly unpleasant to watch, allowing more hits and hitting leadoff man Dave Carter in the fifth, the Raccoons struggled to get on base in the worst way. They didn’t reach scoring position until the fifth inning, with singles by Cookie and Jackson sending them to the corners with two outs, but Nunley grounded out easily to Jong-beom Kym. Pierson actually lasted longer than Lamb, who was out of the game for no given reason after five shutout innings, but Pierson’s six nightmare innings didn’t exactly make him a hero, even though the Coon were still in nominal striking distance, down 3-0.

3-0 became 4-0 in the seventh against Will West, who allowed three singles and a run to score, but the Coons would soon give the Indians something to worry about when Adam Cowen struck their catcher Jayden Jolley in the hand in the eighth inning. Jolley had to leave the game, bringing in the backup Nolan Mancuso, and after Roncero’s single and Carter drawing a walk the bases were loaded. Jason Kaiser replaced Cowen to take over three on, one out, and on the second pitch got a double play grounder from Danny Young to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Jackson doubled and Nunley singled off Helio Maggessi. With new pitcher Zach Weaver, another righty, coming in to replace him, Mendoza batted for Petracek and lined a single to left for the first Raccoons run of the game, with the tying run coming up. Prince drew a walk in a full count, but Olivares flew out to right, and DeWald, batting for Bareford and facing the left-hander Allen Reed because of that, struck out. The tying runs remained stranded, but the tying run came up once more in the bottom 9th against closer Jarrod Morrison. Cookie’s 1-out walk and Nomura’s single up the middle were enough for that, and Jackson’s 5-4-3 grounder was enough to end the game. 4-1 Indians. Carmona 2-4, BB; Jackson 2-4, BB, 2B; Mendoza (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Seung-mo Chun was able to pitch again by Friday, and Will West (4.50 ERA) was sent back to St. Petersburg. The Coons called up 28-year old INF Guillermo Aponte from AAA to fill the roster spot.

Aponte was a switch-hitter, whose only career major league experience stemmed from a stint with the 2017 Loggers, batting .222 in just under 200 at-bats. He was an offensive disaster, but right now we needed someone to hold the infield together and nothing less, because McKnight wasn’t going to come off the DL until Wednesday. Aponte had signed a minor league contract with a $260k major league option before the season. This might well be the first time we ever used one of those for something.

Game 2
IND: 1B Roncero – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF D. Young – 2B Kym – C Mancuso – SS Eason – 3B P. Cruz – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Aponte – P Guerrero

Jayden Jolley was nursing a ballooned finger that had swollen to twice its size with a bad bruise and was not in a position to play in the Friday game. Backup Mancuso put the first run of the game on the board with a solo shot in the second inning, so the Indians didn’t miss Jolley that hard right now. And what did they need expensive batters for? They had pitchers. As Guerrero continued to fork up, he allowed 2-out singles to Bobby Eason and Pedro Cruz, then was taken WELL deep by Dan Lambert with a 3-run shot for a 4-0 deficit. We had another bonkers game on our hands – officially – when Guerrero hit a 2-out, 2-run single to center off Lambert in the bottom of the inning, scoring Margolis and DeWald from scoring position. Lambert then threw a wild pitch, hit Cookie, but somehow got away with it.

Guerrero was a bit too volatile for our taste, however. He loaded the bases in the third inning again, this time on a single by Lowell Genge and then two walks issued to Kym and Mancuso. Eason struck out to end the inning, but the week had had enough weird-ass games already, thank you. After a leadoff walk issued to Pedro Cruz that did not lead to a run in the fourth, things cooled off markedly in the game, and the middle innings were entirely scoreless, and the Raccoons continued to be remarkably toothless against the Indians. Guerrero made it through seven innings, but remained on the hook, because the Coons had nothing against Lambert, but the Indians got another run in the eighth. Chris Mathis was sabotaged by Nomura and Nunley, both of whom made an error to put runners on the corners before Mathis allowed a 2-out pinch-hit RBI double to Dave Carter.

Maybe Lambert would tire in the eighth? Mendoza’s leadoff jack sure instilled new hope in a team that now trailed 5-3 and got DeWeese on with a single. That knocked out Lambert, who struck out Margolis before Tony Lino took over. The right-hander allowed a single to DeWald, putting the tying runs on base. Both runners took off with Jackson batting for Aponte and successfully executed the double steal, with Mancuso’s throw to third base off the line and of no help to the Indians’ cause. Jackson only managed a run-scoring groundout, and Petracek struck out batting for Mathis, leaving the Coons short by a run that remained standing at third base. After Chun’s leadoff walk to Raul Matias in the ninth inning, Matias was caught stealing by Margolis. The bottom 9th saw Cookie with a leadoff single against Morrison, and now everybody was waiting for him to take off. The Coons tried the hit-and-run, but Yoshi missed badly and Cookie was thrown out – after which Yoshi walked. Speed was gone from the base paths now, and Nunley’s grounder to short didn’t help at all. Matias turned the 6-4-3 to end the game. 5-4 Indians. Mendoza 2-4, HR, RBI; DeWald 2-4;

Like I said – they won’t score six runs every game…

Game 3
IND: C Jolley – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF D. Young – SS Matias – 1B Roncero – 2B Correia – 3B P. Cruz – P Broun
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Petracek – SS Prince – CF Bareford – P Toner

While Toner lost Jolley and his heavily bandaged finger to a leadoff walk at the start of the game, but then didn’t allow another Indian to reach base for a substantial amount of time, the Raccoons found new ways to be ineffective with the bats. After Jackson flew out to center to strand Cookie and Yoshi in the third inning, the fourth saw Mendoza and Margolis open with singles. After that, the Raccoons hit into consecutive force outs at *third* base, Petracek and Prince both grounding to Pedro Cruz, who both times also fired to first base. He didn’t get Petracek for the double play, but he did get Prince. Bareford hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, but after Toner’s bunt was stranded by poor outs by Cookie and Yoshi. The Coons had six hits in the game so far, and had as much to show for it as the Indians for being no-hit by Toner.

The closest the Arrowheads came to a runner after the Jolley walk in those five innings was when Roncero was called out on a bang-bang play at first base. The Indians cautiously protested – to no avail. Toner walked Cruz to start the sixth inning, and after Broun’s bunt the Indians were decidedly less crap than the Raccoons half an inning earlier. Jolley and Danny Morales both hit doubles through Petracek and up the leftfield line, both scoring a run for a 2-0 Indians lead. The tying runs would reach base to start the bottom of the seventh inning; Petracek legged out an infield single, Prince walked, and now we somehow had to survive Bareford’s at-bat and we might be fine. Bareford, the ****ing arse, hit into a double play *before* Toner hit an RBI single, completely screwing his pitcher. Cookie legged out an infield single against the tardy Roncero, but when Nomura drove a ball to left, Genge caught it near the track, ending the Raccoons’ bid again. Toner made it through eight, and the bottom of that inning saw a Mendoza single with one out, and a Petracek double with two outs. Maggessi was pitching, and there was nothing left but to roll the dice with runners in scoring position. Nunley batted for Prince (DeWeese had already batted to start the inning, replacing Jackson, and DeWald was DeWald) – 12-game hitting streak be damned. Hey, it’s on HIM to extend it now. He grounded out to first. The tying run got on base again in the bottom 9th, against Manny Ortega, but only with two outs and only with a walk by Cookie. Nomura lined out to Cruz to end the game. 2-1 Indians. Carmona 2-4, BB; Mendoza 3-4; Petracek 2-3, BB, 2B; Toner 8.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L (2-1) and 1-2, RBI;

The Indians had TWO ****ING HITS. The Raccoons had ELEVEN. The Indians left NOBODY on base. The Raccoons left ELEVEN.

And that was after their three ****ING DOUBLE PLAYS.

Zach Weaver (0-0, 5.79 ERA), who had pitched in relief on Thursday, was named Sunday’s starter instead of Manny Ortega (0-1, 3.00 ERA, 1 SV), who had saved their win on Saturday.

Game 4
IND: C Jolley – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF D. Young – SS Matias – 1B Roncero – 2B Eason – 3B P. Cruz – P Weaver
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Aponte – P Abe

The Raccoons took an actual LEAD in this game, scoring a run in the bottom of the first when Cookie singled, stole second, moved up on Yoshi’s single, and again when Nunley grounded into a double play to slap a big inning square in the face. The Coons would have runners on the corners and one out again in the bottom 2nd, then after a double to right by Margolis and DeWald reaching on an error by Weaver, who picked up DeWald’s pathetic grounder three times before he finally had it in his hand. Then, it was too late. Aponte’s strikeout and Abe’s roller to Eason made the point moot – the Coons didn’t score. They DID get an unearned run in the third inning, though. Yoshi reached on a gross throwing error for two bases by Cruz, moved up on Nunley’s fly to deep center that Morales wouldn’t let past him, and then scored when Mendoza dipped a single into shallow right with two outs.

Abe, who had come in allowing a run per inning, allowed none through five innings, but whiffed eight. He did allow a few hard hit balls, but the Indians had only two singles off him, with DeWald making a couple nice plays, and DeWeese caught a ball on the track, too. So, things looked good, but Abe was still shaky. Better score some runs! Cookie opened the bottom 5th with a walk, and Yoshi hit an infield single. That’s how big innings always start! But the Raccoons got out of the inning in five pitches, two pathetic grounders, and three outs made on them… Nunley was again the double play goat. Top 6th, Jolley led off with a single, and Morales walked in a full count. That’s how big innings always start… Abe struck out Genge after a talk with the pitching coach, then got a grounder to Nomura from Danny Young – and Yoshi butchered it. Now, with the bags full, a big inning was CERTAIN. Matias hit a ball deep to left, DeWeese back, back, back – he caught it. Jolley scored on the sac fly (which was unearned), and then Abe struck out Roncero, his 10th victim in the game.

That was his last batter; Jackson hit for Abe in the bottom 6th with two outs and two on, the result of DeWald reaching on another capital throwing error by Cruz, and Aponte being walked onto the open base intentionally. Jackson grounded out to short, and the Raccoons insisted on letting the Indians get away with their pitfall defense. The lead was a flimsy 2-1, and not for a lack of chances. Pedro Cruz came mighty close to a game-tying homer to left off Chris Mathis in the seventh, but DeWeese made the catch against the wall. Bottom of the inning, the Coons got Cookie and Nunley onto the corners with singles against Weaver, who continued to face the middle of the order. Mendoza struck out (…), but DeWeese came through with a 2-out single to center, scoring at least one run before Maggessi replaced Weaver and got Margolis to roll out harmlessly. After Boynton got two outs in the eighth, Thrasher came into the game in a double switch (DeWeese be gone!) for the 3-through-6 batters again, and would try his paws at a 4-out save against these three lefties and Matias. Well, Lowell Genge tripled and Danny Young hit an RBI single to put a crimp into THAT plan. Thrasher hit Dave Carter, hitting for Matias, and somehow got the third out, but the ninth inning was now Joel Davis’ against his old team. Bobby Eason popped out, Pedro Cruz rolled out to Yoshi, and then .100 batter Jong-beom Kym appeared to pinch-hit and that was the danger zone. It’s always those guys that wreck you! He struck out. 3-2 Blighters. Carmona 2-4, BB; Nomura 2-4; Abe 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (2-0);

In other news

April 14 – NAS 3B/2B Tony Fuentes (.333, 0 HR, 4 RBI) will reportedly miss two weeks with a strained achilles tendon. No info his given on how the injury occurred, but rumor has it that he suffered it while longboarding.
April 14 – ATL INF Jamie Wilson (.217, 0 HR, 2 RBI) will miss two weeks with a knee contusion.
April 15 – Despite only out-hitting the Scorpions 15-14, the Capitals cream them 16-7 partly on the strength of four home runs.
April 15 – The Wolves trade 1B Tony Avalos (.238, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to the Pacifics for SS Mike Getchell (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 8 AB) and a third-rate prospect.
April 16 – The Warriors out-hit the Gold Sox, 15-9, but lose the game in 13 innings, 7-6. The Gold Sox walk off on an error by backup infielder 2B/3B Dennis Lees (.750, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 4 AB).

Complaints and stuff

Tuesday was the wickedest game I have ever seen, and I saw a few in my life. Whenever the box score lists Danny Margolis with the W, you know things went to ****.

The bullpen has had a few issues so far, and mostly it was the three setup relievers / rotating closers to have problems. Offensively, the Raccoons have the fourth-most runs despite the stinking performance against the Indians for a long 4-day weekend, but the lack of extra-base hits is baffling. They are in the top 4 in *all* major and not-so-major offensive metrics, except for XBH, in which they are tenth. They are fourth even in homers. But tenth in XBH.

Also, despite playing carrousel at shortstop (we are on our fourth? fifth? shortstop?), defense overall is splendid, although some guys are suffering from a tremendous BABIP. Foremost to mention is Abe, of course, with a raging .419 BABIP. But it’s a wicked game – he’s undefeated.

Anybody remember Stanton Taylor? You really don’t have to, he was a career Blue Sock, pitching from 1999 through 2012. He won nothing, ever. He led the Federal League with a .266 BABIP in ’01 and then still only managed a 3.28 ERA. Ended up 136-146 with a 4.37 ERA and 1,617 K. The last one is the important one. Taylor is currently #100 in the ABL career strikeout table, and Jonny Toner is now just 100 K away from #100.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (8-4) vs. Titans (6-6) – April 20-22, 2020

The Raccoons would conclude their first long homestand of the season with a 3-game set against the Titans, who were trying to shake off the misery of the last … near-decade. Boston had not finished in the first division in the North since 2013, had finished last four times, and had come up with 100 losses twice. Out of the gate, they were eighth in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed, with a scary bullpen ERA over five, and offensive stats that were really crummy throughout the board. The Raccoons had taken the season series each of the last three years, beating them only narrowly, 10-8, in 2019.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (2-0, 1.84 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (2-0, 2.45 ERA)
Cole Pierson (1-1, 3.68 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (1-1, 3.86 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (0-1, 2.84 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (1-0, 2.63 ERA)

Another southpaw in this series, Rick Ling – who was in a deal to the Raccoons briefly during the offseason – going for the Titans on Tuesday.

Game 1
BOS: CF Reichardt – RF Hodgers – LF Almanza – 2B Downing – 1B J. Duran – 3B Ruggeri – C R. Anderson – SS M. Rivera – P J. Fuentes
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Prince – P Santos

The Coons had them on the corners after a Nomura double and Nunley single in the first inning before Jose Fuentes regained control by picking Nunley off first and whiffing Mendoza. Santos hadn’t walked anybody in his first 16.2 innings of the year, but then walked Jose Duran and D.J. Ruggeri consecutively to start the second inning. Ryan Anderson sharply hit to Nunley for a double play, but Mike Rivera beat Santos on a 2-2 pitch with a double to left, chasing home the first run. Bottom 2nd, Margolis singled and with two outs and in a full count, Tim Prince walked. Santos hit a weak grounder to the right side that got through between Duran and Josh Downing, scoring Margolis from second base to re-tie the game, and when Cookie flew to center, Adam Reichardt dropped that ball for a run-scoring error. Yoshi lined out to Rivera, stranding a pair in scoring position in what was now a 2-1 Coons game. The third inning saw the onset of rain and – after a 2-run homer by Mendoza to get to 4-1 – a 23-minute rain delay to interrupt proceedings.

Santos was utter garbage after the rain delay and got clobbered in the fourth as the Titans hit hard balls to all fields, landed four base hits including three doubles, and tied the score on a 2-run double by none other than the opposing pitcher. The Raccoons regained the lead in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single by Cookie, a stolen base, and a Nunley single to center, but Santos conceded a leadoff double to Chris Almanza in the fifth inning and was yanked instantly. Seung-mo Chun took over and managed to strand the runner with some luck, f.e. Downing lining out to a leaping Prince for the first out. The other two outs came on grounders. But in this game, no two things could go well in a row. Chun walked Anderson and Rivera at the start of the sixth inning, and Jason Kaiser couldn’t keep the lead safe, also thanks to pinch-hitter Mike Cesta bunting after Kaiser entered to counter his left-handed batting. Reichardt tied the game with a sac fly to center. Talking about no two things in a row… Nomura hit another double with two outs in the sixth, and while Nunley also drove a ball to left quite nicely, Almanza robbed him with a sliding catch to end the inning. However, when Jose Duran tripled with two outs in the seventh against Chris Mathis, Ruggeri’s liner to right of course went past Cookie for an RBI double, giving Boston a 6-5 lead. Back-to-back leadoff doubles by Mendoza and DeWeese tied the score again in the bottom 7th, but the bottom of the Coons’ order couldn’t get DeWeese home from second base with nobody out and the aid of artificial lighting. The game remained even at six into the bottom 9th with Thrasher and then Boynton pitching flawlessly for Portland. Mediocre right-hander Brett Dill was in the game for the Titans in the bottom of the ninth, and Nunley singled off him to right to get going. Nunley was slow, but we had Petracek available, so he pinch-ran for him, but never got to steal a base while Mendoza struck out, DeWeese struck out, Margolis singled, and DeWald…. struck out.

Cookie and Nunley hit 2-out singles in the bottom 10th, but Petracek’s drive to center was caught by Reichardt. With Adam Cowen in the game by the 11th, we were out of relievers once again, but at least he kept the Titans off the bags. Bottom 11th, Mendoza with the leadoff single to right. DeWeese – against the left-hander Nestor Munoz, but we were out of bench players safe for Olivares – lined out to Victor Hodgers in right, but Margolis snuck a ball into center for a single. DeWald struck out, which sent Cowen to bat, because we couldn’t risk removing him. He popped out, and the game went on. The Titans had Hodgers (leadoff walk) and Downing (single) on base with one out in the 12th, after which the Titans hit two hard liners to right that Cookie both somehow stole from the skies, the latter, Ruggeri’s, well in the gap in right center. After Guillermo Aponte, batting ninth for a while by then and hitless for the Critters, drew an accidental leadoff walk in the bottom 12th, we asked Cookie to bunt. That worked, but the Titans bypassed Yoshi with an intentional walk to bring up Petracek, who grounded to short, then at least had the decency to fly up the line to break up the double play and retain runners on the corners with two outs for Mendoza to also ground to short to end that inning. DeWeese hit a leadoff single in the 13th, then they stopped for good to tease the fans, most of whom looked frustrated anyway. Cowen was blasted for four hits and three runs in the 15th inning, his fifth on duty, nobody was surprised, and the team lost in blatant fashion once more, sending three miserable groundballs to Josh Downing in the bottom 15th. 9-6 Titans. Nomura 3-7, BB, 2 2B; Nunley 4-5, RBI; Margolis 3-7;

…

Game 2
BOS: CF Reichardt – SS Ritner – LF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – RF Hodgers – 1B J. Duran – 3B Ruggeri – P Ling
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – CF Bareford – P Pierson

The Coons loaded the bases in both the first inning (with one out) and the second inning (with two outs). They never scored, finding pathetic outs all the time against Ling, and runs didn’t go onto the board until the third inning, when Ruggeri reached with a dying blooper for a leadoff single, Margolis misplayed Ling’s bunt to put two on, and Chris Almanza sent a goddamn blast to dead center for a 3-run homer. Pierson did little to help out a bullpen that had pitched 11 innings the previous day thanks to Santos’ ineptness, hit Duran in the fourth and had two more guys on in the fifth to racket up his pitch count, while the Raccoons always seemed to have a runner on first and never really got anywhere from there in the middle innings against Ling. Through five innings, both teams had six hits, but the Titans had all three runs. Prince hit a leadoff single to center in the bottom 6th, and Andy Bareford, batting all of .111, rolled a grounder between Downing and Duran for another single, sending Prince to third. DeWald batted for Pierson and no, there was no real alternative. He singled to right with somewhat vaguely resembling authority, and the Coons were finally on the board, 3-1, and the tying runs on the corners. Ling was reeling now, allowed another RBI single to Carmona, but Yoshi’s grounder to Downing got Cookie forced out at second base. The tying and go-ahead runs were on the corners for Eddie Jackson, who was robbed off extra bases at the fence by Victor Hodgers and held to a sac fly. Nevermind: Mendoza blasted the first pitch by Ling over the fence in left, getting Pierson into the lead after all in what was now a 5-3 game. Coons weren’t done. Margolis doubled through Ruggeri, Nunley singled to right, Prince walked against Ling, who had to be wandering whether relief would ever arrive, and then Bareford grounded to short, which should have been inning over, but Joe Ritner botched the pickup and everybody was safe as another run scored. DeWald grounded out to end the inning. Two scoreless innings by Seung-mo Chun seemed to put the Raccoons on the safe side with this 6-3 game, but of course Joel Davis had to make things dramatic in the ninth inning, surrendering singles to Duran and Ruggeri, and then a 2-run double to PH Jose Avila before retaining control with a K to Reichardt. Ritner grounded out to short, sparing the Raccoons more extra innings. 6-5 Critters. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Nomura 4-5; Prince 2-3, BB; DeWald (PH) 1-2, RBI; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Hitless Guillermo Aponte (0-for-8) was sent to AAA after this game, with Ronnie McKnight coming off the disabled list with the knee sound after he had been struck right into the kneecap in his very first plate appearance of the year.

Game 3
BOS: CF Reichardt – RF Hodgers – LF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – 3B Ruggeri – 1B J. Avila – SS Ritner – P Klein
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – CF DeWald – P Guerrero

Ronnie’s first actual at-bat of the season turned out to be an inning-ending double play grounder to the second baseman – how we missed him! The contest remained scoreless through five innings. Guerrero whiffed six and allowed only two base hits in 62 pitches so far, but the Raccoons were outdoing another in messing up, regularly getting a guy on, only to hit into a force play somewhere. When Hodgers hit a 2-out double in the sixth inning it was the most serious Titans threat in recent memory, but Almanza easily flew out to DeWald in shallow center to nullify the extra-base knock. In the bottom of the inning and with one out, Mendoza reached on an uncaught third strike, which was usually the nudge that set even tardy teams in motion and Mendoza even stole second base, but Nunley was unlucky in lining out to Ritner and DeWeese casually rolled one over to the second baseman Downing.

Guerrero hadn’t walked anybody in six innings, but after Robinson flew out to start the seventh, Guerrero walked the next three batters. Luckily, Downing was caught stealing by Olivares in between, and Boynton got Ritner on an easy fly to right to end the inning after replacing Guerrero, who had suddenly turned into something resembling spinach by frightening amounts. Mathis came close to allowing a homer to Reichardt in the eighth – DeWeese picked that off the fence – and in the ninth Almanza slugged a leadoff double to center off Joel Davis, who then escaped being turned into sausage by striking out two and not letting Almanza off second base. Still no score, Chris Klein (6 H, 1 BB, 4 K) still pitching on 103 pitches in the bottom 9th, facing Nunley and whomever we were in the mood to send up after that. Nunley, DeWeese, and Olivares failed to leave the infield in any way, and we were in extras AGAIN, but the Coons couldn’t even overcome Desi Bowles. Hodgers was to blame, primarily. Bowles put Cookie and Yoshi on with two outs… AFTER Jackson had already flown out to deep, deep right. McKnight also drove a ball to deep right with two outs – and Hodgers was there again, ending the tenth inning. As the Coons went through their entire bullpen once more, Bowles remained in the game by the 12th, offering a leadoff walk to Ezequiel Olivares. DeWald bunted him over, but Jackson and Cookie both grounded out to the left side. Bottom 13th, 1-out walk to McKnight issued by Willie Alonzo. Mendoza was no help; Nunley singled to right, moving McKnight to third base with two down. Prince batted for Ron Thrasher, who had thrown two scoreless, aaaaand grounded out to second. GODDAMNIT, ****ING ASS HATS!!!

Chun had already thrown three innings and the two previous games combined, but he was also the last reliever in the pen (Cowen was definitely not in shape for pitching today) and the last bulwark before we had to bring Jonny Toner, with Danny Margolis already used and gone after pinch-hitting a few scant hours ago. Chun somehow got through the top of the 14th on just a handful of pitches against what remained of the top of the order, but the Coons had the bottom of the order up in the bottom of the inning. Olivares rolled out, DeWald rolled out. Jackson singled, Cookie singled. Yoshi grounded up the middle, and ****ing Mike Rivera got it off and made the play to end the inning. Infinite agony broke out when Tim Robinson romped a leadoff homer off Chun in the 15th inning. Chun got through the inning, so Toner was safe to use on Friday. Unless the charade would continue with ONE run in the bottom of the inning. It’s not like we haven’t already played a weird-ass game this season. Bottom 15th, McKnight with a leadoff single off Alonzo. Nah, don’t worry. You can always count on three pathetic outs to be made by this lineup. 1-0 Titans. Nomura 2-6, BB; McKnight 2-6, BB; Olivares 2-5, BB; Guerrero 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K; Davis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

We had 11 hits – 11 singles. They had five hits, but for 10 total bases.

That is not only the second 15-inning loss in THIS SERIES, it is also the second 1-run loss in which the team vastly out-hit the opposition this year.

This was not the only 15-inning game that day. The Elks beat the Indians in 15 in Indy, 5-3.

Raccoons (9-6) @ Aces (11-4) – April 24-26, 2020

The Aces had no issue scoring; they led the Continental League in counters thrown onto the board with 95, or 6.33 per game. Their pitching was sufficiently usable, with the fifth-fewest runs allowed, and a top 5 rotation, although the pen had struggled a bit. They had SP Nehemiah Jones (1-0, 4.24 ERA) on the DL with a sore shoulder, so maybe we can get outta the desert without another shutout thrown at us…

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (2-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Clark Johnson (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (2-0, 5.63 ERA) vs. John Key (2-0, 1.35 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Alex Silva (1-1, 6.61 ERA)

The Aces had an entirely right-handed rotation, and we would miss the biggest name in there, Juan Valdevez (1-1, 3.96 ERA), who had lost on Thursday, our off day.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Toner
LVA: C D. Rice – 1B Flack – SS Burke – RF M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – LF D. Brown – CF Hubbard – 2B Arrieta – P C. Johnson

The Raccoons scored a surprise-assault run in the first inning after a proven scheme, Cookie walking, stealing, coming home after a Yoshi single and McKnight’s groundout. DeWeese came close to his first dinger of the season in the second inning, but had to settle for a leadoff triple after hitting the ball off the top of the fence near the right foul pole. Bareford grounded out to third, deepening further an already tremendous hole he was standing in, but Toner plated the run with a grounder up the middle that Brent Burke could only play to first base, 2-0 in the second. The Aces had a guy on in each of the first three innings, but never got them across, and in the third inning it was Clark Johnson to single against Toner. Jonny had none of that and mercilessly picked him off to end the inning, then hit a 2-out single to right in the fourth inning that sent Margolis to third base. Unfortunately, Cookie’s liner to left hung up long enough for Dan Brown to make the catch.

Through four innings, things had been fairly tight, but the middle of the order simply broke Johnson into pieces in the fifth inning. McKnight hit a 1-out single ahead of another blast for two runs by Mendoza, and then the game repeated itself when Nunley singled and Margolis blasted a ball out of right center for another two runs. Suddenly it was 6-0 and Johnson was already gone. Ken Chilcott, a lefty, replaced him. Nobody replaced Toner for the moment; rather, Toner drove in another run in the seventh, plating Margolis with a 2-out single to center. Margolis had tripled to start the inning, was a double shy of the cycle, and would get another turn in the ninth inning for sure. The score was then 8-0 after the Coons had already tacked on a run in the sixth, Mendoza getting the RBI with a groundout. In the fifth and seventh innings, the Aces would get their first two batters on, but then both times hit into a double plays. Toner fielded Jimmy Hubbard’s grounder in the fifth and turned it for two, and McKnight did the old-fashioned 6-4-3 in the seventh on Izzy Alvarez. Toner both times logged the third out, playing Rich Arrieta’s grounder in the fifth while whiffing Dan Brown in the seventh.

Margolis’ final time at-bat actually came in the eighth thanks to a 2-out single by Mendoza and Nunley’s RBI double (9-0) to right. He faced G.G. Williams, but hit the ball on the ground and up the middle. Danny had to settle for a single, and DeWeese grounded out to end the inning. Arrieta hit a 1-out single in the bottom 8th, but Toner started another double play on Saverio Piepoli’s grounder to get out of that mess, and would enter the ninth inning on 99 pitches, facing the top of the order. Pitch #100 drilled Danny Rice, and then he walked Adam Flack, signalizing it was high time for bed. Chris Mathis replaced him, beat Burke in a full count for a strikeout, and then got soft outs from Matt Hamilton and Alvarez. 9-0 Coons! Carmona 2-5, BB; Nomura 2-6; McKnight 2-6, RBI; Mendoza 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Nunley 3-5, 2B, RBI; Margolis 4-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-1) and 2-5, 2 RBI;

The Coons had 20 hits in this game and actually won it!

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe
LVA: CF Curro – 1B Flack – SS Burke – RF M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – LF D. Brown – C D. Rice – 2B Arrieta – P Key

Roles seemed to reverse in the middle game, with John Key being perfect the first time through the order, and Tadasu Abe continuing to get beaten around from side to side right from the start. The Aces had a run only two batters into the game after Corey Curro doubled up the rightfield line and scored on Flack’s single to center. Through the end of three innings, they got only one more hit, but they still kept hitting Abe hard, as the Japanese right-hander couldn’t fool anybody. The Coons showed up on base in force in the fourth, with Yoshi singling up the middle and Key walking the bags full with two outs, but Margolis’ fly to left couldn’t beat Brown, who batted with Hamilton (single) and Alvarez (double) in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the fourth, but couldn’t get his grounder past McKnight. Only one run scored as the Aces increased their lead to 2-0 before Rice flew out to DeWald in shallow center.

The tying runs were on the corners in the sixth inning, and nobody out. Key had allowed a double up the leftfield line to Cookie, and Yoshi had then gone in the other direction for a single. McKnight at least got the team onto the board with a sac fly to center that took Curro so deep that Yoshi briefly twitched as he tagged first base, but then he remembered that he had been slower than a quadriplegic sloth ever since being born and relaxed. Mendoza promptly hit into a double play to end the inning. An inning later, Margolis was on first with two outs when DeWald dropped a blooper into shallow left for another single, ending both starting pitcher’s days in one stroke. The Aces sent left-hander Alex Morin in relief, and the Coons sent Eddie Jackson to bat for Abe with the tying run at second. Jackson flew out to Brown on the second pitch, and that was that. Two were on again in the eighth inning, but Dumbo Mendoza found it necessary to hit into his second double play of the game, this one also ending the inning. Kaiser held the Aces in place, the Coons still only had to make up a single run in the ninth, and Nunley snipped a leadoff single to center against right-hander Enrique Guzman and his 6.23 ERA. Margolis was told to bunt, did so very poorly to get Nunley forced at second, DeWeese took a dump at home plate for a strikeout, and if you then have to send Tim Prince to bat for a morbidly inept DeWald, you really don’t deserve a comeback in the fifth attempt. Guzman threw a wild pitch, walked Prince, and Olivares batted for Kaiser. He had no RBI on the season, and he flew out to Corey Curro. 2-1 Aces. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Nomura 2-4; Kaiser 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Coons stranded nine, all in the last six innings. The Aces stranded ONE batter. We out-hit them 8-5. I see a pattern developing.

The Aces would change up their rotation and send Jason Clements (3-0, 0.74 ERA) into the rubber game just to make sure the Raccoons would choke.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Abe
LVA: CF Curro – 1B Flack – SS Burke – RF M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – C D. Rice – LF Piepoli – 2B Arrieta – P Clements

Clements had walked 11 in 24.1 innings this season, so maybe there was a way for this not to turn into another series loss (which would be the third straight for Portland). The Coons hit two singles before Clements walked McKnight to fill the bases with nobody retired in the game. Mendoza fired a hard liner to left, but Piepoli made a running catch to spoil the bid for early success. The Critters would get two runs after all in the inning, none on a base hit or even walk. Danny Rice was charged with a passed ball, and then Nunley hit a sac fly to Hamilton in rightfield. Clements continued to struggle brutally. The second saw DeWeese on with a leadoff single before Cookie and Yoshi loaded the bases with a pair of 2-out walks. McKnight drove a ball to right, and Hamilton didn’t get that one. McKnight found the gap for a double and plated two, but Yoshi Nomura (which translates to ‘the rock does not move’ in Japanese) had to hold up at third base. It was all good, though. Mendoza came through with a 2-run single to left, running the score to 6-0. Now all we needed was for Santos to completely forget about the rotten CLCS from last year and we’d have a series win, an even week, and maybe even a share of first place.

Except that the Aces hit three singles off him right in the bottom of the second. One run was in and runners on the corners with one out. Clements remained in the game to bat, struck out, and then Curro drove a ball to right center. Cookie hustled into the gap and made the running catch to spare Santos any number of runs. And Santos continued to be brittle around the edges. Flack led off the third with a single, but Burke hit to McKnight for a two-for-one. Hamilton doubled with two outs, scored on Alvarez’ single to center, and Rice rolled another one to McKnight, and the Aces were back in slam range at least, 6-2.

Thank goodness Mendoza didn’t remember anymore that he was supposed to suck in the coonskin cap. Yoshi was on base in the fourth inning after a single, and Mendoza cranked a 2-piece a bit inside the right foul pole to restore the 6-run gap. Clements hung around to walk Matt Nunley before being replaced by Steve Rob, who got Olivares to ground out to end the inning. McKnight would turn Santos another double play in the fifth inning, and the Coons would themselves kill their offense with double plays in the sixth (Mendoza) and seventh (Olivares). Bottom 7th, Petracek had replaced Nunley at third base after pinch-hitting for Bareford (things were a bit complicated at this point), but mishandled the first play he was in the game for, putting on Piepoli in the bottom 7th with nobody out, just as we tried to nurse Santos through seven. The run never moved off first base as the Aces made poor contact three times, but Santos was hit for in the bottom of the inning anyway. Adam Cowen was sent into what was still an 8-2 game, but all he did was create work for Ron Thrasher, who replaced him with two outs after a double by Flack and a walk drawn by Hamilton. Thrasher allowed a drive to center to Danny Rice, but DeWald was on that. The Critters added a run on a pinch-hit RBI single by Jackson in the ninth, the pen held up, and the series was in the Coons’ bag. 9-2 Critters. Nomura 2-3, 2 BB; Mendoza 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Nunley 1-2, BB, RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-0) and 1-3;

In other news

April 21 – No less than three games end in 11-run routs. The Miners beat the Buffaloes, 12-1, the Bayhawks trounce the Thunder, 16-2, and the Blue Sox wash away the Rebels, 14-3. San Francisco’s Raul Claros (.296, 2 HR, 8 RBI) lands four base hits, including two extra-base hits and drives in two.
April 21 – RIC C Jamal White (.273, 3 HR, 15 RBI) might be out until early June with a broken thumb.
April 21 – DEN SS/2B Piet Oosterom (.179, 0 HR, 4 RBI) also has his thumb broken, being struck by a wayward pitch. He will be out for at least a month.
April 23 – SFB OF Dave Garcia (.471, 4 HR, 17 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak in the works after a 3-hit day in a 5-1 win over Oklahoma City.
April 24 – The Titans end the hitting streak of SFB OF Dave Garcia (.444, 4 HR, 17 RBI) and hand the Bayhawks a 2-1 defeat, but a new 20-game hitting streak is born by SFW 1B Mike Rucker (.368, 5 HR, 21 RBI), who has two hits, including a first-inning home run in the Warriors’ 6-3 win over the Rebels to reach the 20-game mark.
April 25 – The Crusaders lose CL Brett Lillis (1-1, 6.00 ERA, 3 SV) to a partially torn labrum. The 31-year old lefty could miss up to three months.

Complaints and stuff

Oh where to start? Not one, but TWO 15-inning defeats in the same series to a team that finished in last place the year before? That is always a good conversation starter!

Then there is our entirely dead centerfield platoon. Seriously guys, what is this? What – what is this? (points at video material) KEVIN, WHY ARE YOU EATING A SANDWICH DURING THE ****ING AT-BAT???

Bright sides: Cookie has an 11-game hitting streak as this week ends. Yoshi has an 11-game hitting streak as well. We are leading the league in batting average, we are top 3 in homers, we are on base all the time, but it doesn’t translate into runs. We are barely above the league average in actual runs scored.

No, bright sides. Mendoza hit his head and is suddenly a Star again with the bat. He leads the league by a mile with his 29 RBI, and the nine home runs tie for the ABL lead with new New Yorker “Dingus” Morales, our personal best gamble of the last decade.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-7) @ Falcons (11-8) – April 27-29, 2020

Third in the South and 1.5 games off the leading Aces, the Falcons ranked third in runs scored in the league with average pitching (6th in runs allowed). In their case the mix comprised a struggling rotation with an ERA of just over 4.50 and a strong bullpen that helped keeping **** together. Charlotte was still missing primary catcher Ryan Holliman, who was on the DL, but could come off any day now. Holliman was regularly good for a .270 clip and 20 dingers, and had batted .353 with two home runs in the first eight games of the season.

The Raccoons had won the season series for two straight years, with a 7-2 record attained in 2019.

Projected matchups:
Cole Pierson (2-1, 3.92 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (3-0, 4.05 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (0-1, 1.86 ERA) vs. Alex Vallejo (2-1, 4.03 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (3-1, 1.93 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (0-2, 2.66 ERA)

All their starting pitchers were right-handed. Ortega was undefeated so far this season, but in his 15-year career had led the league in losses twice, including last year with the Wolves.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – C Margolis – SS Petracek – CF DeWald – P Pierson
CHA: SS Good – 3B Mathews – 1B Fowlkes – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – CF Haines – C Magee – 2B B. Reyes – P J. Ortega

Both teams got a man on in each of their first three batting innings, but performance was consistently poor as soon as a runner was on base. The Raccoons scattered three hits in the first two innings, but got onto the board in the third thanks to a 1-out triple by Cookie into the far right corner. Yoshi grounded out to Bob Reyes, but that was good enough to bring Cookie home with the first run of the game. The Falcons had no hits early on despite putting men on base; Pierson walked two, and Nunley made an error to create some traffic. While Pierson maintained a no-hitter with six soft outs in the fourth and fifth innings, the Raccoons had a scoring opportunity in the top of the sixth. Cookie opened with a single to right and Yoshi hit one such single to left. Nunley struck out, and Mendoza legged out a roller in the infield for the third single of the inning, loading the sacks for Eddie Jackson with one out. Jackson had a few bad hacks in that at-bat, but at 2-2 hit a soft line to center for an RBI single. Margolis scored another run with a grounder to third that ex-Coon Joey Mathews could only take to first base, and Petracek’s RBI single ran the score to 4-0 before DeWald flew out softly to Ryan Feldmann to end the inning, leaving runners on the corners. Mathews went on to break up Pierson’s no-hitter with a 2-out double to right center in the bottom of the inning, but Nunley made a nice play on Pat Fowlkes’ grounder to end the inning, and the Falcons didn’t get onto the board until the eighth, then down 5-0. Bob Reyes hit a 1-out double, PH Ralph Myers flicked a single to left, and Reyes scored handily from second base. Pierson faced Matt Good at the top of the order – the left-hander led the CL in stolen bases with nine – and got him to hit into a fielder’s choice, but then left the game with a pitch count just over 100 and right-handers approaching. Joel Davis came into the game, fanned Mathews, and in the top of the ninth the Coons saw another one of their former team mates (although only a team mate for a select few of them) in Brendan Teasdale. Nunley mercilessly homered to center off Brenda, because some things never change. The run was not needed in the final tally (though who are we to spit an extra run in the eye?), with Joel Davis logging the final four outs on just nine pitches. 6-1 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, 3B; Nomura 2-4, BB, RBI; Nunley 2-5, HR, RBI; Mendoza 4-5, 2B, RBI; Petracek 2-3, BB, RBI; Pierson 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (3-1);

Both Cookie and Yoshi extended their hitting streaks to 12 games with multi-hit outings, while the Coons grabbed sole possession of first place in the North thanks to the competition being mostly idle on this Monday.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Guerrero
CHA: CF Good – 3B Mathews – 1B Fowlkes – LF Feldmann – RF Benson – 2B Tanaka – C Vanderzee – SS J. Estrada – P Vallejo

Again, no score in the first three innings. Vallejo was quite good at missing bats, striking out five along the way, but he also had some gross misses, like hitting Mendoza to start the fourth inning, then balking him over. Nunley’s grounder moved Mendoza to third, and Margolis’ fly to center scored him for the first run of the game. Both our guys at the top of the lineup had their hitting streaks in danger, not getting a ball to fall in the first two times through the order, and things didn’t get better in the sixth. Cookie reached on an error for the second time in the game, but Nomura hit into a double play before the Coons rapped off three straight 2-out singles, Nunley driving in McKnight to make it 2-0. Margolis sent a floater to left that Feldmann tried to catch, but couldn’t make it, and because he didn’t pull up early, he then overran the bouncer. Margolis got a single and an RBI as Mendoza scored, 3-0, before DeWeese struck out. Cookie got a 2-out single in the sixth, stole second, but Yoshi grounded out.

Guerrero was nursing a 3-hit shutout through five innings, but wasn’t as K-happy as Vallejo was. The Falcons hurler had claimed eight victims in six innings, and then led off the bottom 6th with a single to right, crisply hit and no doubt about it. Joey Mathews also found a single with one out, sending runners to the corners before Guerrero reached back and whiffed both Fowlkes and Feldmann to keep the Falcons shut out. The lead got to 4-0 in the seventh. Margolis tacked on yet another run with a 2-out RBI single, again scoring Mendoza and then again DeWeese made the third out with a harmless pop to the shortstop. Guerrero was knocked from the game by a hard 2-out double to the fence in rightfield off Matt Vanderzee’s bat in the bottom 7th, but his ledger remained clean, with Jason Kaiser retiring Juan Estrada to get out of the inning. Yoshi got another turn at-bat in the eighth, with the bases loaded after reliever Bill Dean had walked Bareford (tough task!) and had allowed singles to Jackson and Cookie. Yoshi ended his hitting streak in style, rolling to Ryozo Tanaka for a run-scoring double play, 4-6-3. Despite being up 5-0, the Coons stuttered some in the bottom 8th, for which they needed three pitchers, although the Falcons got on base in the first place on a throwing error by Ronnie McKnight, who allowed Matt Good onto second base with one out on an errant delivery, which also knocked out Kaiser. Chun replaced him, walked Mathews and allowed the (unearned) run to score on Feldmann’s 2-out single. Thrasher came in and struck out Travis Benson to kill off the Falcons’ charge with the tying run in the on-deck circle, and also pitched a scoreless ninth for the save. 5-1 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5; Mendoza 2-3, BB; Nunley 2-5, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 3 RBI; Jackson 1-1; Guerrero 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-1); Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (4);

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Toner
CHA: CF Good – RF Benson – C Holliman – LF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Mathews – 2B Tanaka – SS J. Estrada – P Durr

To the shock of all of us, the Falcons, having lied down motionlessly for the most part of two games, were right into Jonny Toner’s innards from the go sign in this game. He lost Matt Good to a leadoff walk in the first and things deteriorated rapidly from there. The returning Holliman singled, he threw a wild pitch, and Feldmann plated two with a single to left center, then scored himself on Fowlkes’ single to right. Three runs on the board in no time at all! Toner’s pitching didn’t get any better in the bottom 2nd, although the Falcons didn’t score mainly because after leadoff man Estrada singled he right away was caught stealing by Margolis (5-for-7 now). The Druid intercepted Toner on the dugout steps and declared that the spirits had told him that he was hiding something. Toner nodded, the two vanished in the tunnel to the clubhouse, and Adam Cowen got ready to pitch in long relief.

Not that Denzel Durr was no mess. He threw wild pitches in the second and third innings, both times allowing the Raccoons to score a run to get back to 3-2. Thankfully for them, Cowen sucked colossally and was torn up for three runs right in the third inning. Mathews hit an RBI double, and with the bags full and two outs after an intentional walk to Estrada, Durr flicked a 2-run single to left. That 4-run deficit got molten down to one run by the fifth inning again. Durr just couldn’t pitch a clean inning, loaded the bases in the fourth and allowed two runs on Cookie’s 2-out single to right, and in the fifth Mendoza led off with a double to right and scored on a Margolis sac fly. Both teams now had the chance to turn a muddy game into an ‘at least we won’ affair, but the Coons didn’t get on against Durr in the sixth, while Chris Mathis put runners on the corners and owed Cookie a drink for a wonderful flying grab to retire Fowlkes on his line drive to end the inning. It was still the Falcons to score the next run, off Jeff Boynton, in the bottom of the seventh. Boynton retired the first two before drilling Estrada, then surrendered hard singles to Myers and Good to concede the run. Finally, Benson struck out.

In the eighth, Margolis’ 1-out single to right gave the Coons their first runner since the fifth inning. The Falcons replaced Mitch Onley with William Raven, righty for righty, to face DeWeese, who dumped under .200 with a double play grounder out of the inning. The Falcons added a further insurance run in the bottom 8th off Chun, who loaded the bases on a bloop hit and two walks and conceded a sac fly to Tanaka, which was doubly unfortunate given Yoshi Nomura’s 2-out, 2-run homer in the ninth inning off Ian Ward, that again left the Raccoons a damn run short. McKnight then singled, but Mendoza grounded to short. Estrada’s throw bounced in front of Fowlkes, then eluded him, and as the ball caromed into the Falcons dugout and caused mild havoc, the Raccoons had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for Matt Nunley, who grounded a 1-0 pitch to the left side. Estrada knocked it down, fell down, stood up again, rushed a throw to first, off Fowlkes’ glove, ANOTHER ERROR, and the game was tied! Ward, sobbing, was replaced by Blake Parr, who got Margolis to fly out to left. It was the last Raccoons at-bat in the game. Joel Davis lost Erik Pearcy to a leadoff walk in the bottom 9th. Pearcy was bunted to second by Matt Good, and then Travis Benson fired a howitzer shot over the rightfield fence to end proceedings in Charlotte for the month. 10-8 Falcons. Margolis 2-3, BB, RBI;

Back home in Portland, I found that the suicide hotlines were overloaded with concerned Raccoons fans calling after Jonny Toner had left the game after only two innings. I know that because I was on hold for 45 minutes.

In the end, the stinking loss aside, things turned out to be not quite as black as initially assumed. Jonny Toner had a mild ankle sprain, and was listed as day-to-day. He would not go to the DL, but we were not sure yet whether he could make his next start on time. With Thursday off, he would get the ball on Tuesday. Maybe we need to shift things around a bit.

Also, with our loss, the Titans led the division by themselves.

Raccoons (13-8) vs. Loggers (11-10) – May 1-3, 2020

The Loggers had lost both of their games to the Coons at the start of the season, but had since recovered to join the rather dense top of the division, currently three games behind the leading Titans(!?) and two games behind the Critter Brigade. They were sixth in runs scores and seventh in runs allowed, so if anything they hadn’t yet hinted at greatness being in the making again this year, and their run differential was actually negative at -6.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (2-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Julio San Pedro (1-0, 5.65 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-0, 3.16 ERA) vs. Chris Sinkhorn (2-2, 3.58 ERA)
Cole Pierson (3-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (2-1, 3.89 ERA)

Left-hander on Saturday, although I wouldn’t have minded facing their other southpaw instead, Luis Guerrero (1-2, 7.91 ERA). The Loggers had no injuries to worry about right now, and Chris LeMoine sat on a strong six home runs, but was batting only .232 right now.

Game 1
MIL: C Denny – SS Burns – 1B Gore – RF LeMoine – CF Coleman – 3B Velez – 2B Farias – LF Tesch – P San Pedro
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe

The Loggers stole bases in the first (Brad Gore) and second (Ian Coleman) off Margolis, and the latter one developed into having Coleman on third with two outs and Brad Tesch at the plate. He was batting only .190 and Abe would surely - … nope, single to right, the run was in and the Loggers were up 1-0. The struggles of Tadasu Abe were most mysterious at this point, striking out 11 per nine innings and tickling an ERA around five. The damage wasn’t permanent yet, with the Coons matching the single run in the bottom 2nd with 1-out singles by Nunley and Margolis, with DeWeese still not getting a proper whack at anything, but at least having the decency to stay out of the double play and make only one out on his run-scoring grounder to Gore at first base. Portland moved ahead in the third when Cookie and Yoshi hit doubles past either side of Brad Tesch for a 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth, Abe allowed a deep drive to center by LeMoine that DeWald took care of, then was almost impaled by a chunk of Ian Coleman’s shattered bat, but somehow it all worked out to a 1-2-3 inning and no DL or cemetery assignment for him. In the middle innings overall the game became more of a pitching duel with nary a runner on base. Abe was doing it with strikeouts, while San Pedro was doing it with poor contact and some luck, whiffing only McKnight in six innings. The bottom 7th then was led off by Nunley with a hard jack to right, moving the score to 3-1 and waking up a few patrons that had snoozed away in the tame previous innings when his ball rammed loudly off the facing of the upper deck. San Pedro got only one more batter, whiffing Margolis, before yielding to right-hander Ivan Morales, who K’ed DeWeese, but then allowed a double to right to DeWald with two down. Abe still had some juice in him; he batted! The first pitch was chipped into play on the right side, Emilio Farias, the long-time Thunder lunged but missed it, and the RBI single chased home DeWald, 4-1. Unfortunately, after Cookie grounded out Abe never retired another batter, getting yanked after Farias and Tesch had occupied the corners with two singles, soft singles, but singles they were. Joel Davis replaced him, facing left-handed pinch-hitter Javier Gonzalez, a 35-year old never-has-been who homered to center on the first pitch, and this game was tied. Davis got Mike Denny, but Burns singled, which dropped the hammer on Davis. Ron Thrasher replaced him and got out of the damn inning and also through the ninth, in the bottom of which Nunley drew a leadoff walk from Justin Carlin. Bareford ran for Nunley and managed to steal second base, for which there was no need. While Margolis was down 0-2 at this point, he laid off a pitch in the dirt, and Carlin came up again with the 1-2, right into the sweet zone. Margolis – who looked nothing like himself – got ALL of it and catapulted it over the leftfield fence – IT’S A WALKOFF!!! 6-4 Furballs! Nunley 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Margolis 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Abe 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-3, RBI; Thrasher 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Danny Margolis, huh?

I will not go into the multitude of arguments for why this is a massive fluke and he will soon enter a 2-for-37 spill. They are all valid, let’s just leave it at that.

Game 2
MIL: 2B Stewart – C Denny – 1B Gore – RF LeMoine – CF Coleman – 3B Velez – SS Farias – LF Tesch – P Sinkhorn
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Prince – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 1B Petracek – CF Bareford – P Santos

While we sprinkled in an extra off days for our everyday players here and there right now, the Loggers’ Chris Sinkhorn had walks as his big topic, having issued 23 of the buggers in 27.2 innings coming in. I told the boys to be patient, but they never listened anyway.

The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, the never-ceasing-to-excite Margolis hitting a double and scoring on McKnight’s single. Sinkhorn walked the bases full after that, but Santos struck out for the second out of the inning, and Cookie flew out to center on a 2-2 pitch. Bottom 3rd, more walks from Sinkhorn, who walked Nunley and Margolis before allowing a 2-out single to McKnight. The bases were loaded again, Petracek hit an RBI single to left center, and Bareford put the first pitch into play, singling to center for two runs to score. Santos K’ed again, but the Coons were now up 4-0, and Santos had been perfect the first time through the order, but managed to blow that into the wind right away, drilling Tyler Stewart with his first pitch of the fourth inning. LeMoine singled with two outs, but Coleman popped out, leaving runners in scoring position after Santos had thrown a wild 0-2 pitch. Santos made it through five with a 2-hitter and seven strikeouts, while the Coons were through with Sinkhorn in the bottom of the inning. He walked Margolis, his fifth free pass in the game, and McKnight homered to right center for his first of the season and a 6-0 lead. Sinkhorn tooted his horn and sunk, bringing in Ivan Morales. The right-hander allowed four singles to the first four batters he faced, including Santos, who had an RBI to his single, as had Cookie, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games after starting the game 0-for-3. Prince struck out, bringing up Nunley, who also had a hitting streak budding at 11 games, and who also had yet to find success in the game, but grounded out to Gore to end the inning.

While Jackson hit a solo home run in the sixth, and Santos made it through seven on a 2-hitter, just like Abe the day before didn’t log an out in the eighth, but put two men on with a Farias single and a walk to Tesch. Chun replaced him, Javier Gonzalez was pinch-hitting again, but this time wasn’t going to hurt the Coons. He flew out to left rather easily, and Chun never let Farias reach third base, striking out Stewart before Mike Denny popped out. Cowen pitched the ninth and preserved the shutout. 9-0 Raccoons. McKnight 4-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Petracek 2-3, BB, RBI; Bareford 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (4-0) and 1-4, RBI;

Nunley went 0-for-4 and ended his hitting streak.

Game 3
MIL: 2B Stewart – CF Coleman – RF Gore – LF LeMoine – C Denny – 3B Velez – SS Burns – 1B Quebell – P Prevost
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Olivares – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Pierson

Yoshi never batted in the game, leaving with an unspecified injury right in the top of the first inning. Prince replaced him and took part in a 1-2-3 retirement in the bottom 1st, but the Coons got Mendoza on with a leadoff double in the second. Olivares and Bareford both came up with RBI singles for two runs in the inning. Pierson got taken deep by Kyle Burns leading off the third inning, and in the fourth the bases were loaded after singles by LeMoine and Denny and Pierson smacking Alberto Velez in the thigh. There was only one out and Burns was up again. He was not a double play candidate anyway due to sufficient speed, but also hit the ball to center. Bareford came in to catch it, but still couldn’t prevent LeMoine from scoring the tying run. Adrian Quebell, hitting sporadically from his spot on the far end of the Loggers bench and batting 4-for-13 coming in, grounded out to first in this key RISP spot. WHO WOULDA THOUGHT??

The team more or less collapsed on all fronts in these middle innings and again undid a possible sweep. While Cookie and Nunley both lined over Stewart for base knocks in the fifth and Cookie came around to score, Pierson and Olivares already broke down in the fifth, putting Prevost on base leading off and moving him to scoring position with a passed ball. Somehow, the Loggers didn’t eat Pierson right there and then, but the middle of the order tore him apart in the sixth. LeMoine led off with a walk, and Mike Denny immediately homered to flip the score the Loggers’ way, 4-3. Burns hit a single, Quebell hit a ****ing triple, 5-3. DeWald pinch-hit and dumped a single into shallow right in the bottom 7th. Brad Gore grossly misplayed the ball for an error and an extra base that eventually led to a run on Prince’s 2-out single, but just before Quebell had snagged a hissing liner off Cookie’s bat that really could have turned things around if it had gotten to the corner. With the RBI from Prince, the Coons still trailed 5-4 when Nunley grounded out. Prevost was removed after a single by McKnight with one out in the bottom 8th, and the Loggers went to Justin Carlin, who had lost Friday’s contest, but now got a double play grounder from Olivares, and in the ninth it was Quebell who homered off Jason Kaiser to suck life out of the Coons for good. 6-4 Loggers. Nunley 2-4, RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1; DeWald (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 27 – The Rebels lead the Stars 7-0 in the middle of the eighth inning and somehow wind up losing, getting splattered for five runs in the eighth and three runs in the ninth. DAL INF Raul Maldonado (.376, 0 HR, 10 RBI) walks off his team with a 2-run triple.
April 28 – SFW 1B Mike Rucker (.350, 5 HR, 22 RBI) has his hitting streak end at 22 games with an 0-for-3 day in the Warriors’ 4-2 loss to the Blue Sox. Rucker’s was the last active hitting streak that had begun the previous season.
April 28 – The Aces will be without 2B/SS Bill Hebberd (.328, 1 HR, 7 RBI) for about a month. The 25-year old has suffered a strained hip muscle.
April 28 – ATL INF Tony Jimenez (.266, 1 HR, 6 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning for the only run in the Knights’ 1-0 win over the Indians.
April 30 – A groin tear puts NYC LF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.329, 9 HR, 19 RBI) on the DL for the next six weeks.
April 30 – The Indians trade RF Dave Carter (.188, 0 HR, 1 RBI) and wads of cash to the Warriors for 1B Mike Rucker (.357, 5 HR, 22 RBI) and interesting, but unranked prospect CL Rafael Urbano.
April 30 – NAS 1B Steve Butler (.384, 5 HR, 15 RBI) knocks two hits in the Blue Sox’ 12-4 win over the Warriors to extend his own hitting streak to 20 games. Butler has hit in every one of his games since Opening Day.
May 1 – TIJ LF Jimmy Eichelkraut (.185, 6 HR, 20 RBI) goes 2-for-5 in the Condors’ game in San Francisco. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Eichelkraut bombs Mike Stank for a come-from-behind grand slam to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead that the Condors’ pen promptly blows in the bottom of the inning. The Condors score four more off Mike Homa in the tenth inning and eventually prevail to win 10-6.
May 2 – The hitting streak of NAS 1B Steve Butler (.362, 5 HR, 16 RBI) ends after 21 games in a 4-3 win over the Blue Sox. Butler gets three at-bats, but no hits.

Complaints and stuff

Batting .387 with 9 HR and 30 RBI, Dumbo Mendoza was the CL’s Hitter of the Month for April. Has it been a while since we won one of these? Over in the FL, newly minted Capital Shane Walter (.377, 0 HR, 7 RBI) won Player of the *Week* honors for the last seven days, batting .583 (14-for-24) with 3 RBI.

Ezequiel Olivares got his first career RBI, and not a minute too soon. He is 29 years and 104 days old. Do days matter in this circumstance?

Did you know that Bill Hebberd’s name isn’t actually William? I saw this in the official league injury report that is mailed daily to the GM’s of all teams, and they list the actual given names for players. His name is actually Wilbur McKinley Hebberd IV - … yeah, I’d go with Bill, too.

Also, it’s May and Jonny Toner leads none of the team’s triple crown categories. That IS odd.

We have to look into a centerfielder because ours are killing us. And I sure would have hoped for DeWeese to get a hot start and then to find a dumb team buying into a 60 AB sample of .310 and four homers. Nothing of that remotely happened, and the only good news is that by the end of the month the remaining damage payments will drop under the $9M mark.

Are we first in runs scored? How did that happen!?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (15-9) vs. Canadiens (10-14) – May 4-6, 2020

The Elks hadn’t started the season like they had hoped, hovering close to the bottom in the North. They were already six games off the pace, and offense was a major issue for them. While their pitching was right about average in the Continental League, their offense very much was not, and they had scored just 3.6 runs per game, second-worst in the league. Last year’s season series went the Coons’ way, 11-7.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (1-1, 1.38 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (0-4, 6.51 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (3-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Ron Funderburk (1-2, 4.71 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (2-1, 4.66 ERA) vs. TBD

The Elks have only right-handed starters right now. Their starter for Wednesday is unclear so far. Bryant Roberts (1-1, 5.47 ERA) would have his turn there, but he is currently suspended for his involvement in a tussle on the weekend, and the Raccoons would not see him in the series. It could be Matt Rosenthal (2-1, 2.70 ERA) on short rest, or find a spot starter.

The Raccoons meanwhile started the series waiting for a diagnosis on Yoshi Nomura, who had left Sunday’s game in the first inning.

Game 1
VAN: LF A. Torres – 2B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C Padilla – 1B T. Delgado – 3B Roundtree – SS Otis – P Hughes
POR: RF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – 2B Prince – CF DeWald – P Guerrero

The Elks had only eight home runs as a team (thus, less than Dumbo Mendoza), but Jose Gutierrez got them one right in the first inning, bombing Bobby Guerrero to right center with a solo shot. The Coons’ answer was swift. Cookie walked, stole second, and scored on McKnight’s single to left. Then, the Miraculous Margolis struck again, wonking a 2-run homer over the leftfield fence with ease as the bottom 1st gave the Coons a 3-spot. The lead would grow in the third inning, with Mendoza moving ahead 10-9 in his home run battle with the Elks, knocking a 2-piece to right that also collected Nunley, who had reached with a 1-out single.

That put Guerrero ahead 5-1, but he started the fourth with a leadoff walk to Mario Rocha. Ezra Branch struck out, but the Elks would get a singled from Dave Padilla, an RBI double from Tony Delgado, and then the Coons were lucky that DeWeese got in quickly to snag a line drive by Steve Roundtree that kept the runners in scoring position. Matt Otis was walked intentionally before Hughes grounded out to short to strand a full set of runners. Leadoff walks were a bit of an issue for Guerrero, who would issue three of the buggers in this sstart, the last of which came in the fifth inning to Alex Torres, but that runner never progressed past second base, and the Elks would not get another run off Guerrero overall through his seven innings of work. Bareford hit for him to start the bottom 7th. Guerrero’s day was over before Cookie could extend his 17-game hitting streak, but he singled to right following Bareford’s groundout to Roundtree. Nunley grounded out and moved up the runner, but the Raccoons became alive with two outs. McKnight singled Cookie in, then scored on Mendoza’s triple to the base of the wall in centerfield. Margolis singled to score him, three more runs on the board, all off left-hander Pat Goldstein. The Elks were laid to rest at this point. Cowen and Boynton would finish the game out of the Raccoons’ bullpen and would not allow the Elks even a sniff at a comeback. 8-2 Coons. Nunley 2-4, 2B; McKnight 2-4, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-3, BB, HR, 3B, 3 RBI; Margolis 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, W (2-1);

Jonny Toner would be able to make his scheduled start on Tuesday. No news on Yoshi from the Druid, and actually I haven’t seen the Druid. Maud says he’s gone to the library in search of a papyrus tome from the Middle Kingdom on skin rashes.

I don’t want to know.

Game 2
VAN: LF A. Torres – 2B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C Padilla – 1B T. Delgado – 3B Grooms – SS Otis – P Funderburk
POR: RF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – 2B Prince – CF DeWald – P Toner

In “I’m almost sure all will be fine” territory, Jonny Toner walked three batters in the first inning and only made it out unscathed for a nifty double play that Matt Nunley turned for him. Toner would strike out three after the three walks before reaching the top of the order again, including Padilla to end the first inning with Torres on third, but he would not get a clean inning. Margolis had a throwing error in the second, and the Elks had two singles off him in the third. His pitch count was skyrocketing, and that was probably telling only half the truth. However, the Coons scored first, getting a run home in the bottom 3rd after a Nunley single, McKnight double, and Mendoza’s sac fly to center that Rocha just barely got the glove on before it could get over him and to the track for two. Tony Delgado’s leadoff jack in the fourth inning made the Coons’ lead null and void, tying the score at one.

Bottom 4th, the Coons loaded the bases. DeWeese hit a leadoff single, but was forced on a grounder to Jose Gutierrez by Tim Prince. DeWald walked in a full count, and Toner swung away with two on and one out. He singled through the right side, presenting Cookie – who had already singled in the first inning – with a full menu of runners. Cookie lifted the ball out to Rocha in center, Prince got home on the sac fly, but that was all. Nunley grounded out, leaving the score at 2-1. Toner had another dreadful fifth, getting the pitch count up to over 90 with another two base runners, but held on to the lead, while the Coons crowded Funderburk with another three runners in the bottom of the inning. McKnight, Mendoza, and DeWeese all singled with one out, bringing up Prince. Again, the Coons got a sac fly, and no more. Prince’s fly to right took Branch back two steps, just enough for McKnight to score, 3-1, and then DeWald continued his dreadful season with a soft and easy fly to Rocha.

Toner made it through six before Bareford hit for him to start the bottom of the sixth inning. Bareford sent a quick bouncer through Tony Delgado and up the rightfield line for a leadoff triple, then scored on Cookie’s noticeably softer single to center, 4-1, and that also gave the team runs in four consecutive innings. Could they exceed a ‘1’ on the scoreboard now? Yes, although Cookie was caught stealing before Nunley hit the gap in right center for a double, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on McKnight’s single to left. Pat Goldstein emerged again and got an inning-ending double play grounder from Mendoza to the shortstop Matt Otis. Top 7th, Alex Torres homered off Seung-mo Chun to get the Elks back to 5-2, but the Coons pulled the run right back when DeWeese hit his first homer of the year (…) in the bottom of the inning, a real rocket off Cory Dew. A 6-2 lead didn’t mean no save opportunity, however. The daring Critters put Cowen into the game in the ninth and it didn’t work. He allowed two hits while getting only one out, but Joel Davis saved the day, getting a pop from Gutierrez and a grounder form Rocha. 6-2 Coons. Carmona 2-3, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B; McKnight 3-4, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 3-4, HR, RBI; Bareford (PH) 1-1, 3B;

The Druid came to me with a diagnosis on Wednesday morning, announcing that he had diagnosed Yoshi with a sore elbow. He was listed as day-to-day. He recommended sitting him on Wednesday, we had Thursday off, and Friday we’ll see.

Matt Rosenthal got the call for the Wednesday game. He had not started regularly since 2016 in AAA, but so far had not suffered in his five games this season, all starts.

Game 3
VAN: LF A. Torres – 2B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C Padilla – 1B T. Delgado – 3B Folk – SS Otis – P Rosenthal
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – RF Jackson – 2B Petracek – CF Bareford – P Abe

A 2-run homer by Mendoza put the Coons up in the bottom of the first inning, but everybody was watching the struggling Abe anxiously; Torres had almost homered on the very first pitch of the game. Cookie caught that ball at the fence, and Abe was actually perfect the first time through the order, although even Rosenthal hit a rocket off him to deep right that Eddie Jackson had to make a jumping grab on. The Coons got an extra run in the bottom 4th, which saw McKnight and Mendoza go to the corners on leadoff base hits before Margolis hit to short for a 6-4-3 that scored the runner from third, 3-0. THEN they loaded the bases, with Jackson singling to left, Petracek laying off four balls, and Bareford also working a walk over five pitches. Unfortunately that brought up Abe, a career .154 batter that hadn’t eclipsed .100 since 2017. He grounded out feebly to Gutierrez on the first pitch by Rosenthal. The score remained 3-0 there, but jumped to 4-0 in the fifth. Cookie led off with a single, giving him a 20-game hitting streak now, stole second, and came home on Mendoza’s 2-out RBI double.

Abe sat down 16 straight Elks to start the game, including a pair of strikeouts in full counts in the fifth inning, but eventually ran out of his share of luck and Otis singled with one out in the sixth inning. Rosenthal bunted, but Torres grounded out to first base to strand the runner in scoring position. Ezra Branch had a 2-out single up the middle in the seventh, but was also left on when Padilla rolled over to Petracek. The bottom of the inning saw Cookie hit his annual homer, a leadoff jack off Rosenthal that knocked the swingman from the game. Cory Dew replaced Rosenthal in a 5-0 game, allowed a triple to McKnight and another homer to Mendoza, 7-0. Abe got stuck in the eighth inning, leaving Boynton with two on and two outs. Boynton walked Torres to fill the bags, and when Gutierrez grounded to short, McKnight’s throw to first was poor and bounced off Mendoza’s glove. One run scored before Rocha struck out to strand three. Joel Davis and his ERA over six had a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to seal a very satisfying sweep. 7-1 Raccoons! Carmona 2-5, HR, RBI; McKnight 2-4, 3B, 2B; Mendoza 4-4, 2 HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Jackson 3-4, 2B; Abe 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-1);

I am not kidding when I say ‘Cookie’s annual home run’. His average for home runs since 2017 is 1.0 … not that I mind in that case.

While we swept the Elks, we were denied first place in the North. The Titans swept the Crusaders (!!) … correction, they won three of the first four in that set. The Crusaders beat them on Thursday, our off day, so we moved to within half a game, but we now have to play one of the best teams by record in baseball.

Raccoons (18-9) @ Buffaloes (19-9) – May 8-10, 2020

The Buffaloes were one of three teams who were ten games over .500 on Friday morning, sharing that distinction with the Capitals, with whom they were in a virtual tie in the FL East, and the Titans, which led the Critters by half a game. They ranked third in runs scored, but third *from the bottom* in runs allowed in the Federal League, so the boards underneath them were creaking and the sharks were already swimming in circles underneath. Their run differential was a meager +12. The question was more when they would collapse, rather than if. The Coons won the series between the teams last year, two out of three, but had been swept in the two meetings before that.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (4-0, 2.48 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (4-1, 1.88 ERA)
Cole Pierson (3-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. Jerry Moran (1-3, 5.58 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-1, 1.64 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (3-1, 4.50 ERA)

Those would be three more right-handers to dissect. The Coons liked the first three they saw this week, and Molina aside these don’t look much tougher. Molina, 27, also never did better than a 3.37 ERA in a qualifying season, and his walk rate had been cut in half so far this year, and that is before we get to his .259 BABIP.

The Buffaloes had just lost LF/RF Bill Adams (.301, 5 HR, 19 RBI) to an oblique strain, which took a piece out of their middle of the order.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – 2B Prince – CF DeWald – P Santos
TOP: LF Madrid – 3B W. White – 2B Owen – CF Sanborn – C J. Vargas – RF Traylor – 1B Pimentel – SS Ingraham – P Molina

The Raccoons didn’t make a big impression early in the game on Molina, and the Buffaloes would take a 1-0 lead in the second, with a leadoff walk to Todd Sanborn coming around to bite Santos. Jose Vargas singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out, so conceding only the one run on a Dave Pimentel single was probably still a stroke of luck given that Santos wasn’t exactly blasting the Buffaloes away. In the top of the third, Prince drew a leadoff walk and DeWald singled to the right side. Santos’ bunt moved them to scoring position, so a base knock by Cookie would swipe several issues in one swing. His soft line to first was snagged by Pimentel, and Nunley grounded to short, but Zach Ingraham – the old Bayhawks foe – had to go up the middle and couldn’t get a throw off in time. Prince scored with the tying run, but McKnight popped out to leave runners on the corners. Another defensive shortcoming by Ingraham would give the Coons the lead, however, an inning later. Mendoza was on with a single and DeWeese had been drilled. Prince grounded to short with one out, Ingraham’s throw to first was wild, and Mendoza scored while the runners moved into scoring position. In an interesting move, the Buffaloes walked DeWald intentionally with ONE out despite him batting .185 to get to Santos, a career .178 batter, but twice that much early on in this season. Molina snuffed him out on strikes, and then Cookie’s soft fly to right center was caught, stranding three. Another run did get on the board the following inning, however, when Mendoza bombed Molina with two outs and nobody on for his 13th dinger of the year. The Critters then loaded the bases on singles and a walk, but DeWald grounded out to Pimentel to strand another three-pack.

Santos had been wobbly in the first few innings, but the Buffaloes had nary a chance in the middle innings and were tallying only three base hits through six frames. Top 7th, more Coons on base. Mendoza led off with a single to center, and then Margolis pawed out an infield single. DeWeese sent a drive up the rightfield line that went past Zack Traylor for an RBI double, 4-1, runners in scoring position with no outs. Prince was walked intentionally before Molina whiffed DeWald with the bases loaded, but then got beat by Santos with a single to center that scored one run. That brought up Cookie, who was dry in four at-bats, and would see Molina again. Molina went to work on him, had him on two strikes, and then surrendered a soft fly to left that dinked into the grass just in front of Willie Madrid. Two runs scored, the streak lived on, now at 21 games, and the score rose to 7-1. Jose Lerma replaced Molina and got a double play from Matt Nunley to end the inning. With a 6-run lead, could we get a rare complete game from Santos? It was certainly dicey, as he entered the ninth inning on 95 pitches and would face the entirely left-handed array of the 2-3-4 batters. He walked Wade White, then was removed swiftly. Kaiser came in and the Buffaloes never got another man on base as Kaiser sawed off Chris Owen, Todd Sanborn, and Jose Vargas in order. 7-1 Raccoons! Nunley 2-4, BB, RBI; Mendoza 4-5, HR, RBI; Margolis 3-5; DeWeese 2-3, 2B, RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Santos 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-0) and 1-4, RBI;

The Raccoons took over the North with this win, since the Titans lost to the Wolves. The Wolves are a miserable 6-23 now, and I sure hope that they can win a few more this weekend.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Pierson
TOP: LF Madrid – SS Ingraham – 2B Hernandes – C J. Vargas – CF Sanborn – RF Traylor – 3B W. White – 1B Pimentel – P Moran

Pierson allowed a single to Willie Madrid, hit Marco Hernandes, and managed to allow no runs thanks to Bareford defusing two absolute rockets to deep center in that first inning. DeWeese caught a soft fly to left by Sanborn to end the inning with runners on the corners. The Buffaloes didn’t score in the first three, but neither did the Coons, who were a bit slow out of the gate again. Moran tried his best to help out and issued a pair of walks to star the fourth inning, putting Nomura and Nunley on base in front of Mendoza, whose bat had actual teeth, but hit only a slow grounder to the mound. Moran tried to turn two, threw wildly to second and into centerfield and the bases were now loaded without any base hit by the Critters whatsoever in the inning. They would not get one, either; McKnight and Margolis brought in a pair of runs on a pair of sacrifice flies, but that was it. The Buffaloes rapped three singles off Pierson in the bottom of the inning to come right back, scoring one run for a 2-1 score through four.

The Coons had only one hit through five innings, and it wasn’t Cookie’s, but got two more hits in the sixth. Mendoza hit a 2-out double, and then McKnight sent a bomb to right center and well outta here, 4-1 for the Critters! Pierson, though, didn’t radiate security exactly. He had allowed five hits through five innings and had struck out none, and to start the sixth he offered his first walk of the game to Hernandes. Vargas singled, and the Buffaloes got a run back again on a fielder’s choice and then Traylor’s sac fly to pretty damn deep rightfield. Cookie made a good catch on the warning track, and Wade White flew out to DeWeese to keep the score at 4-2.

We had to worry about Cookie’s streak again. Cookie was 0-for-3, came to bat with two outs in the seventh with Pierson on second after a double, and popped out harmlessly. Moran continued in the eighth, but got wrecked for good, with Yoshi hitting a leadoff double. Mendoza was walked intentionally, which brought up McKnight, who had a homer and three runs driven in already in this game, and doubled his output with a rousing jack to deep right, and again well outta here. Pierson made it through eight innings, and the 3-run assault in the eighth assured Cookie of another plate appearance in the ninth inning. The inning started with Bareford leading off against right-hander Sean Carlsen, a full count, and eventually a walk for Bareford, who then stole second base and scored on a single to right by Petracek, batting for Pierson. Here came Cookie, the count ran full to him as well, but in the full count he knocked a fast grounder to the right side and through between Hernandes and Pimentel – it’s a single! The streak lives on! Yoshi and McKnight would come up with RBI’s before the inning was over, getting the Coons into double digits. In the bottom of the ninth, Adam Cowen worked around a leadoff double by Pimentel to end the game. 10-2 Furballs! Nomura 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-3, 2 HR, 7 RBI; Petracek (PH) 1-1, RBI; Pierson 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, W (4-2) and 1-3, 2B;

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF DeWald – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – P Guerrero
TOP: LF Madrid – 3B W. White – 2B Owen – C J. Vargas – RF Traylor – 1B Pimentel – CF Harp – SS Lawson – P Marron

The Raccoons took a 2-0 lead in the second in their bid to sweep an entire week. Mendoza reached base on an infield single to start the frame, and DeWald split Traylor and Mason Harp for a double into the gap. With two in scoring position, DeWeese whiffed for the second out, but Olivares lobbed a single to shallow right to plate both runners and to triple his RBI output from one to three. The Buffaloes had two singles in the bottom 2nd off Guerrero, but David Lawson hit into a double play to Yoshi to end the inning, but they would load the bases in the bottom 4th – and with nobody out. Owen and Traylor hit singles around a walk drawn by Vargas, and Guerrero was in a heap of trouble with two left-handed batters next. The hole only got deeper; Pimentel worked a 4-pitch walk to shove home a run. Harp struck out, but Lawson lined to left center to plate two runs and give the Buffaloes a 3-2 lead. Guerrero struck out Marron and got Madrid to ground out, but the damage was done.

The Raccoons made up the deficit quickly, however. Olivares walked in the fifth, with one out, and then was bunted over to second base. Cookie was still looking for a base knock, but got one with a slow grounder past Marron that Owen couldn’t play in time hustling in, giving Cookie an infield single. Olivares went to third on the grounder, then scored on Yoshi Nomura’s single to left, even at three now. Nunley flew out to Harp in center to end the inning. Guerrero didn’t get out of the sixth inning, offering a leadoff walk to Traylor that knocked him out of the game. Kaiser came on, but couldn’t keep the run on base, conceding a new lead to the Buffaloes on a 2-out double by David Lawson, 4-3. The Raccoons’ pen collapsed in the bottom of the seventh, with Mathis and Thrasher each conceding two hard singles, which gave the Buffaloes another two runs, and our 5-game winning streak was about over. Another run scored off Chun in the eighth, although an error by Nunley in the inning made that run unearned, yet that still didn’t change that Chun in general couldn’t make a ball out of a paper bag. DeWeese hit a triple in the ninth off Justin Boggio, but that was all the Coons did in the inning. 7-3 Buffaloes. Nomura 2-4, RBI; Mendoza 2-3, BB; Olivares 1-2, BB, 2 RBI;

In other news

May 4 – NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.340, 4 HR, 14 RBI) looks like he will miss time until the middle of June trying to rehab a small tear in his labrum.
May 4 – BOS LF/CF Adrian Reichardt (.152, 2 HR, 11 RBI) suffers a knee sprain on a defensive play and is out for at least a month.
May 5 – Another CL player goes down as ATL 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.287, 2 HR, 6 RBI) will miss at least a month with a fracture in his hand.
May 6 – The Blue Sox score five runs in the bottom of the ninth for a massive come-from-behind walkoff win over the Capitals, 6-5. A walk, a 2-run homer by OF Tom Schorsch (.295, 6 HR, 19 RBI), and then four singles undo the Capitals and give the Sox the win.
May 8 – RIC SP Mike Brugh (3-1, 2.27 ERA) is lost for the year with a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
May 8 – The Stars lose SP Andy Hackney (2-1, 4.81 ERA) to a torn rotator cuff; the 31-year old lefty is also out for the season.
May 9 – CIN CF Nando Maiello (.282, 0 HR, 10 RBI) will miss a month with a torn thumb ligament.
May 9 – On the second day of interleague games, four Federal League teams score walkoff wins over their Continental League opposition. The Warriors walk off, 5-4, against the Condors. The Cyclones walk off, 7-6, on the Loggers after blowing their lead in the top of the ninth, and the Blue Sox come from behind after the Crusaders took a lead in the top of the ninth and beat them with a 5-4 walkoff. The Wolves end their 12-inning game with the Titans with a 7-6 walkoff.
May 10 – The Crusaders lose OF/1B Ricky Loya (.211, 2 HR, 13 RBI) for the season. The 26-year old has broken his kneecap.

Complaints and stuff

A certain Senor Mendoza was the CL Player of the Week, swatting the opposition for a *.636* average (14-for-22) with 4 HR and 10 RBI. Whichever sort of unsweetened tea he is drinking before bed – I want some. Then there was McKnight, who had that big 7 RBI game on Saturday, but he only had three more RBI the rest of the week and batted “only” 9-for-24, although I take a .375 clip any day of the week.

Anybody remember Andy Hackney? He is a former Nick Brown Memorial Pick – taken in the 11th round of the 2009 draft by the Critters. He was involved in the ill-fated deal with the Stars in 2013 that sent him, Michael Palmer, Craig Bowen (end of first stint) and Colin Baldwin to the Stars for Graham Wasserman. Hackney debuted in ’14, but never really became a regular and got odd swingman jobs with the Stars. Over the years he has been in 131 games (52 starts) with a 20-23 record and 4.51 ERA, also four saves.

At least we later used Graham Wasserman as something other than a bottle opener. We flipped him for Ronnie McKnight in December of 2014. Given that Wasserman is only 42-40 and bouncing from team to team almost aimlessly, we sure got the better end of that trade. Wasserman also made two starts for the Raccoons, but totalled only 6.1 innings while conceding ten runs.

Cookie has a 23-game hitting streak now, although he only extended it barely in each of the three games in Topeka, including infield singles. I hope he can refire the stick next week, because the Coons have hit a rough patch with the Warriors, Titans, Crusaders, and Bayhawks all lurking in the next three weeks.

Jonny’s W on Tuesday marked the 3,600th regular season victory for the Critters.

We had a trade proposal from the Aces this week, offering Danny Rice and a pitching prospect for Tadasu Abe. Yeah, well, no, we don’t need a catcher no longer. Thanks for stopping by, come again. Thanks. Don’t hit your butt on the way out.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-10) vs. Warriors (20-11) – May 11-13, 2020

The leaders of the CL North and FL West would clash in Portland in this midweek series, and both teams were also leading their respective league in runs scored at this point. While the Coons were second in runs conceded in the Continental League, the Warriors were only seventh in the Federal League, with their rotation struggling to an ERA of exactly 4.00 five weeks into the season. We met the Warriors last year and swept them back then.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (4-1, 2.50 ERA) vs. Blaine Barnard (3-1, 2.75 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (3-1, 3.68 ERA) vs. Scott Vigil (2-2, 4.30 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-0, 2.21 ERA) vs. Jose Acosta (0-4, 6.68 ERA)

We are getting a bit lucky with the way their rotation shakes out here. We see their only two right-handers, Barnard to start the series and Acosta at the end of it, and only one of their three southpaws. Not in this series f.e. is Sam McMullen (3-0, 3.52 ERA).

Game 1
SFW: CF I. Flores – 3B St. George – LF Wadley – 1B Gross – C Luckert – SS Price – RF Leighton – 2B Pelles – P Barnard
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Toner

Cookie extended his hitting streak to 24 games on the first attempt in the Monday affair, knocking a double to left to start the first inning. Nunley plated him with a double to right, the Coons loaded them up on Mendoza’s single to center and a walk drawn by McKnight, but Margolis hit into a double play to end the inning with only the one run in. Well, at least Toner was on the mound and … had four full counts in the second inning, one to every batter he faced. Granted this resulted in a grounder to second by Gil Gross, strikeouts to Jerrod Luckert and Randy Leighton, and only Zach Price drew a walk, but pitch economy worked differently. Toner was hit by a pitch from Blaine Barnard in the bottom of the second, inciting quite some anger in the home crowd. Barnard was admittedly struggling with basically everything, having walked DeWeese to start the inning and loading the bags with a walk to Cookie and one out, but again the next Critter hit into a double play, Nomura bouncing one sharply to Stephen St. George for a 5-4-3 inning-ender.

Toner took 59 pitches to clear three innings, which entailed walking a pair in the third, and things didn’t look too good overall for him, at least until he got to bat in the bottom 3rd. Margolis had already plated a run, knocking back-to-back 2-out doubles with McKnight to get the score to 2-0, and the bases had been loaded with another walk to DeWeese, a balk, an intentional walk to DeWald for reasons mysterious, and then Toner dipped a 2-1 pitch into left center to chase home a pair, 4-0. Toner got more efficient in the middle innings, while Barnard, who walked five and struck out one in a murky start, was removed after just four frames and hit for in the top of the fifth. Bottom 5th, Margolis led off with a leadoff jack off Ray Taylor, and the Raccoons also put DeWeese on with a double, who then scored on Jonny Toner’s double to left, meaning Ray Taylor had just surrendered three extra base hits to a pitcher, a career backup catcher on speed, and a luxurious has-been with a consistently and dramatically dropping batting average.

Technically, Toner carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but with a pitch count that was prohibitive even under go-for-broke circumstances. Doubles by Ivan Flores and Gil Gross rendered the point moot and the Warriors got a run home. Toner struck out Price to end the inning with Gross on second and Jeff Wadley, who had been plunked, on third base, leaving with a somehow decent line despite lasting only six innings in a 6-1 game. The pen had to cover three innings, and Seung-mo Chun didn’t make things easy from the start, walking two in the seventh inning. Mathis cleaned up behind him, striking out St. George. In the eighth, Gross walked against Boynton, and was on second with two outs as Zach Price singled to right. Gross tried to score but was thrown out by Cookie, also ending the inning. The Warriors threatened again in the ninth, putting Leighton and Ruben Pelles on to start the inning with consecutive infield singles against Boynton, who got a fly to center from pinch-hitter Brett O’Dell before yielding to Kaiser, who got switch-hitter Ivan Flores to pop out, but allowed a run on St. George’s single to left. Wadley flew out to center to end the game before things got get really hairy. 6-2 Coons. Mendoza 2-4, BB; McKnight 2-4, BB, 2B; Margolis 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Toner 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (5-1) and 2-2, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 2
SFW: CF I. Flores – RF Bednarski – LF Wadley – 1B Gross – C Luckert – SS Price – 3B St. George – 2B D. Case – P Vigil
POR: LF Carmona – C Margolis – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – 3B Petracek – 2B Prince – P Abe

Abe was out of wonk as well to start his game, offering two walks in the first inning, including one to start the game to Flores. Behind that was ex-Coon Mike Bednarski, batting .305 with four homers, but he had never hurt as much as a fly in this ballpark – pitch the ****er right down the middle! And he squarely hit into a double play. Abe walked the bases full in the second inning, which was extremely alarming given that he had walked only six batters in 36.2 innings while still sucking all the way since the start of the season. Now he had five walks in the game in 1.1 innings, and the opposing pitcher lifted a liner to left, but Cookie was in the way. Price went for home from third and Cookie nailed his second runner at home plate in the series, again ending the inning. Flores drew another leadoff walk in the third, Abe threw a wild pitch, Wadley singled, and somehow the Warriors still wouldn’t score as Gross hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Bednarski, the sucker, had struck out. The Coons were up 1-0 after doubles by McKnight and Bareford in the second – and Cookie had already extended his hitting streak to 25 games with a single in the first inning – but they also had to get the pen up because something was definitely out of sync with Abe. Margolis homered again in the bottom 3rd, 2-0, while the Warriors made another out on the base paths right to start the fourth inning. Luckert singled to right, thought he had two, but Eddie Jackson said no and threw him out. Bottom 4th, McKnight walked, Bareford homered to center (!), Petracek walked, and Prince’s double play grounder to short was thrown away by Price. Abe bunted the runners to scoring position, Cookie was walked intentionally, but the memo on Margolis hadn’t reached the Federal League. He singled to right with authority, chasing home the fifth run for the Coons. Jackson singled to center, 6-0, and then Mendoza narrowly missed a slam with a ball driven to the fence in left center and had to settle for a 2-run double. Vigil was knocked out (and these Coons fear southpaws no longer!), with his other runners scoring on McKnight’s single to center off Jim Fortman and another error by Price on Bareford’s grounder. That made it eight in the inning and ten in the game. Petracek popped out, Prince reached on an infield single with two outs, and Fortman lost Abe in a full count, the walk forcing home the ninth run of the inning. Cookie lined out to Dan Case to finally end the inning, with the Coons up 11-0.

11-0 became 13-0 in the fifth, Bareford driving in another two runs with a 2-out single up the middle. Abe continued to pitch better in the middle innings, and when the Warriors had the bases full in the sixth inning it was actually only a Luckert single that had to be charged to Abe, while the other runners reached on a pair of errors by Tim Prince. Leighton hit for the pitcher with two outs and lined out to Petracek to keep the Warriors off the board. Abe would make it through seven innings despite the completely horrendous first innings, and despite walking Wadley in the seventh for his seventh free pass, but Wadley managed to get himself caught stealing by Olivares, who had replaced Margolis in the blowout just before the seventh inning began, and Cookie was also gone, replaced by DeWeese, who would bring home the last run of the game, a run-scoring double play grounder in the bottom of the eighth inning. 14-0 Furballs!! Margolis 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Olivares 1-1, 2B; Jackson 3-6, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Bareford 4-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Prince 2-5, 2B; Nunley 1-1; Abe 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 6 K, W (4-1) and 1-2, BB, RBI; Cowen 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

We are scoring six runs per game after 32 contests this year. I still don’t think that this rate is ultimately sustainable, but keep it comin’, boys, keep it comin’!

Cookie is the first Raccoon other than Neil Reece to reach the realm of a hitting streak of at least 25 games. Reece had hitting streaks of 25 games in ’92, 27 games in ’94, and 32 games in ’91. The latter is still tied for 10th all time in the ABL. Cookie is however merely halfway to Claudio Rojas’ record mark of 47 games of straight hitting, done in 1983 for the Bayhawks.

Game 3
SFW: CF I. Flores – RF Bednarski – LF Wadley – 1B Gross – C Luckert – SS Price – 3B St. George – 2B Pelles – P Acosta
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Santos

The Warriors had the bases loaded with nobody out in the first inning after a single to right by Flores, Bednarski reaching on an error by Yoshi (the only way for him to legally reach base in Raccoons Ballpark), and Wadley was hit by Santos, who was still undefeated, though this was probably going to change now. All runners scored despite Gross popping out to first base, thanks to singles by Luckert (plating one) and Price (plating two). Against the awful Acosta, the Coons were of course hitless the first time through the order. Cookie walked in the first, but was caught stealing. Bareford walked in the third, stole second base, and then came home on Cookie’s streak-extending triple to left center, which also got the Coons onto the board for the first time, now down 3-1. It wasn’t that Acosta was dominating. He struck out nobody in those three innings, and wouldn’t strike out a position player for a damn while. But the Coons lifted numerous fly balls right at Jeff Wadley, which was not conducive of offense in meaningful numbers. The Coons got their second run in the fifth inning, despite Santos bunting badly enough to get Bareford forced out after he had gotten hit by Acosta to start the inning. Santos was on second when Yoshi lifted a soft fly to right with two outs. Bednarski tried to catch it, couldn’t, overran the ball, and Santos came home on the single and error. Gil Gross pulled the run right back with a leadoff jack off Santos in the sixth.

But the Coons still couldn’t throw water at Acosta, who continued to wiggle through innings, and then opened the seventh with an extra-base hit to center. Bareford had to go back on the ball and the lumbering Acosta sniffed a triple, but was mistaken. Bareford’s throw from the track and a perfect relay by McKnight nailed him at third base, and the Warriors wouldn’t score in the inning. The tying runs were on in the bottom 7th. Bareford singled, advanced on an errant pickoff attempt, but would have gotten second base anyway when Acosta drilled pinch-hitter Eddie Jackson. Two on, one out for Cookie, who had not had a multi-hit game in a week, and had already landed his daily single. A-hah! Not today! Cookie singled to center, loading the bases, and now we just needed Yoshi to come through in some big way. Unfortunately, he bounced a ball right to Acosta, who used it to force out Bareford at home. The other runners were all safe, and Matt Nunley took it upon himself to tie the game with two outs in the inning, hitting a hard single to rightfield to chase home Jackson and Carmona. The Warriors – probably delusional, but judge yourself – thought that Acosta would surely handle Mendoza, who admittedly nursed an oh-fer in the game, but Mendoza singled to right center, Yoshi scored, and the Coons had a 5-4 lead. Right-hander Ken Gautney appeared and got McKnight to ground out, ending the inning. The lead was in grave danger right away in the eighth with a leadoff single putting Wadley on, the only batter that Jason Kaiser faced. Joel Davis got two outs from Gross and Luckert, but the tying run was in scoring position for Price now. Thrasher came in to face the left-handed batter, but the Warriors flicked him for O’Dell, a right-hander, but he grounded out to short on a 1-2 pitch. Now, Thrasher had entered the game in a double switch, batting fourth with Mendoza gone and replaced by Petracek, which soon became important. Gautney opened the bottom 8th with walks to Margolis and DeWeese. Keen on at least one insurance run, Bareford was told to bunt, doing so badly enough to get Margolis killed off at third base. That brought up Petracek, although we would much rather have a qualified bat in the spot now with runners on first and second and one out. Petracek chipped a ball to shallow center, it dinked in, and DeWeese scored on the RBI single. Oh, well, whatever works! Cookie and Yoshi didn’t, both making poor outs. Thrasher struggled in the ninth, putting Pelles on with a walk and Flores with a single. With the tying runs on base, he faced Bednarski. Oh well, game over. The Warriors fans on hand were chanting and chanting for Bednarski in a count that ran full, but they didn’t know the book on Bednarski, either. He never gets a clutch hit in Portland. NEVER. And he struck out. 6-4 Furballs! Carmona 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2 RBI; Petracek 1-1, RBI;

Raccoons (23-10) @ Titans (23-11) – May 15-17, 2020

The Titans had swept the Rebels during the week, keeping their half-game distance to the Raccoons. They were seventh in runs scored, which was normally not a sign of a team confidently playing .676 ball over any stretch of time, but they had the least runs allowed overall in the league, conceding a mere 108 counters, which was less than 3.2 per game. Their rotation was second in ERA, their pen was the best outright, and they had a 2-1 edge over the Raccoons already. Winner of the weekend series takes the division lead on Sunday!

Projected matchups:
Cole Pierson (4-2, 3.32 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (2-2, 4.08 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-2, 2.37 ERA) vs. Ozzie Pereira (5-1, 2.02 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (5-1, 2.36 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (3-0, 3.20 ERA)

Southpaw to start the series, but remember – we’re not scared of them anymore.

The Titans were down two outfielders, with Adrian Reichardt already on the DL, and Victor Hodgers being hurt but not yet diagnosed.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – C Margolis – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – 1B Petracek – SS Prince – P Pierson
BOS: CF Cesta – SS Ruggeri – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 3B Downing – 1B J. Duran – LF J. Avila – 2B M. Rivera – P Ling

Pierson gave himself a lead in the second inning, lifting a sac fly to center with Bareford and Petracek in scoring position and both having singled to start the inning. Cookie hit an infield single to put runners on the corners, Yoshi was plunked, but with the bases full Margolis struck out to end the inning. Ling needed strikeouts; he had entered the game with only 14 K against 19 walks in 41.1 innings. The Titans struck back with three consecutive singles to all fields by Josh Downing, Jose Duran, and Jose Avila in the bottom 2nd, handily tying the score again before Mike Rivera flew out to Cookie in shallow left and Ling rolled out to Petracek to strand runners on the corners. The Coons would take the lead again in the third, Prince driving home Bareford with a 2-out single to center, with the run involving a fair share of inept pitching with a walk and a hit batter to Ling’s ledger. But the Coons failed to properly exploit him, and Pierson also failed at pitching most of the time. By the middle innings, he was almost exclusively behind in the count, and in the bottom of the fifth the Titans loaded the bases with one out. Rivera and Mike Cesta had hit singles, and D.J. Ruggeri walked in a full count. Pierson hadn’t been ahead of anybody for a while, and now faced the heart of the order. And then the first pitch to Chris Almanza went through Margolis’ legs for a passed ball, scoring the tying run automatically. Almanza singled, giving the Titans a 3-2 lead, before Tim Robinson hit into a double play we could have used five minutes earlier.

The tying run got on in the sixth, but only with two outs on a Cookie single, and Yoshi couldn’t hit anything that Ling threw him. Margolis however came up with a leadoff walk in the seventh. It was a bit too early to go bonkers and run for him with DeWald, especially since Jackson had a little pop and might do this in one swing. Or maybe he would hit into a double play, and that one neatly guarded Ling to the other side of the inning. Bareford drew a walk off Desi Bowles to start the eighth, but by then was not the tying run anymore; PH Jonathan Blake had taken Jason Kaiser deep in the bottom of the seventh and the score was now 4-2. Mendoza batted for Petracek and struck out, but Prince doubled to left center, putting the tying runs in scoring position with one out, but the best idea we had now was to pinch-hit with DeWeese for Joel Davis. The Titans sent a new pitcher, but it was another right-hander, the boringly named Brett Dill. DeWeese grounded out to Rivera, scoring only one run, and Cookie went also to Rivera, but that ended the inning and scored nobody, leaving the Coons a run short. Boynton had a scoreless eighth, sending the Coons up against left-hander Nestor Munoz in the ninth. Munoz was walking a batter every other inning, but when Yoshi reached a full count he struck out to open the ninth inning. Margolis jumped on the first pitch and drove a ball to deep center, Cesta was beat, and the tying run was on second with a double by the catcher nobody had seen batting higher than maybe seventh for the entire season. Jackson grounded out to Josh Downing, leaving things to Nunley, who had yet to reach base in the game, lined to first, but also right into Duran’s glove. 4-3 Titans. Carmona 2-5; Bareford 1-2, 2 BB;

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Guerrero
BOS: CF Cesta – SS Ruggeri – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 3B Downing – 1B J. Duran – LF Amador – 2B M. Rivera – P Pereira

The first two innings were mostly meek contact, but Bareford cracked a solo shot to leftfield in the third to open the scoring. Bobby Guerrero struggled with control and was soon overwhelmed in the bottom of the inning, allowing a single to Cesta, who stole second base. Almanza hit a 2-out single, sending runners to the corners, then also tried to steal. Margolis’ throw was wild, Cesta scored, and Almanza came home from third base on Tim Robinson’s single to shallow left, which put the Titans into the lead, 2-1, and a terrible Guerrero allowed doubles to start the fourth to Duran, and then one with two outs to the pitcher, Ozzie Pereira. While the latter was barely fair up the leftfield line, this could not serve as an excuse, and the Coons were now 3-1 down and in real danger to lose the division lead for good through the weekend. Guerrero was comprehensively knocked out in the fifth then, surrendering back-to-back bombs to left center to Robinson and Downing. Not unmentioned shall go that Downing would have been out and the inning over on a previous pitch that Nunley dropped in foul ground for the Critters’ third error of the game. Guerrero left on a 5-1 hook, three runs unearned.

Jackson opened the sixth with a double to center after which Cookie legged out a roller for a single – extending his streak to 28 games and giving Yoshi men on the corners with nobody out in a 4-run hole. His sac fly to center didn’t exactly help the team’s cause, and Nunley’s foul pop did neither, but Mendoza belching his 14th homer of the year to the back rows of the rightfield stands sure did! This one cut the gap to 5-4 and with some good relief - … oh wait, wasn’t the Titans’ pen the best in the league? And so far, Pereira wasn’t out of the game, either. While Chun collected four outs from four pitches for the Coons (which does never hint at great pitching no matter how much it sounds like it), Pereira continued in the seventh and retired both centerfielders before arriving at Jackson again, who had replaced DeWeese in the game and justified the earlier switch by powering a drive to left center and OUTTA HERE!! This one tied the game at five, and the Coons had new life.

Not for long. Mathis allowed a leadoff double to Cesta in the bottom 7th, then did nothing to keep the runner on base. Cesta scored on consecutive groundouts, and Mathis put Downing on to star the bottom 8th, too. With one out, Thrasher came in, but soon faced a right-handed pinch-hitter in Ryan Anderson rather than the anticipated left-hander Roberto Amador. He lost Anderson to a walk, and when Rivera grounded to Nomura, the Coons couldn’t turn the double play. Runners on the corners remained, before Jonathan Blake unpacked another terrorizing pinch-hitting appearance, drilling a single through the right side of the infield to give the Titans a spare run. The Coons carted up the bottom of the order in the ninth inning, trailing by two, Petracek grounded out, Bareford flew out to Almanza in shallow right, and Jackson’s fly to left did little to challenge Jose Avila. 7-5 Titans. Carmona 2-4; Jackson 2-3, HR, RBI;

Well, we sure as heck need a W from Jonny Toner now to stay even close, and what the **** is going on with the Titans in general??

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – P Toner
BOS: LF J. Avila – SS Ruggeri – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 3B Downing – 1B J. Duran – CF Cesta – 2B M. Rivera – P J. Fuentes

Avila had been on the final out on Saturday and was on the first out on Sunday, catching Cookie’s scorched liner to left before tumbling end over end in the gap, taking away what should have been a 29-game hitting streak and a leadoff double or triple. The first runner actually on base in the game didn’t come until the third inning when Olivares singled through on the left side, but nothing would come of that. Cookie walked with two outs, but Yoshi struck out in a full count. Toner remained perfect the first time through, whiffing five, but Cookie had already made a catch on the warning track, too. The Titans were still looking for a runner through four, and although Fuentes by the top of the fifth matched Jonny in strikeouts (six apiece), he also had to contend with runners on the corners after issuing a 1-out walk to DeWeese, who reached third base on Olivares’ single to right. That brought up slugger Jonny Toner, batting .600 with 9 RBI and a better OPS than Tiger Mendoza. Jonny ran a 3-1 count before popping out foul, bringing up Cookie with two down, and he lined a pitch to right. That one was in the grass in front of Almanza, streak extended to next week and the first run of the game on the board on an RBI single! Toner’s perfect game bid was broken up with two outs in the bottom of the inning, walking Jose Duran, and then Yoshi, who had left two on when he flew out easily to left in the top of the inning, mishandled Cesta’s grounder for an error and the second Titans runner. Rivera grounded out to Toner, however, and the Titans remained shut out.

The Coons forced the issue offensively in the sixth. Mendoza and Bareford both singled and stole second base in the inning, with Mendoza scoring on the latter’s single while Bareford was left on when DeWeese grounded out, but the score blossomed further in the seventh, despite Fuentes retiring the first two batters, Olivares and Toner, on grounders. Cookie then knocked him out with a 2-out triple into the rightfield corner, Yoshi walked against reliever Alan Farrell which was perfectly fine given that he had hit a tough luck stretch, and then Nunley split the outfielders with a right centerfield gapper on Farrell’s 3-2 pitch. Both runners scored, 4-0 for Jonny, who struck out pairs in the sixth and seventh while allowing nobody on base. He was up 5-0 by the bottom of the eighth, Olivares singling home McKnight in the top of the inning, but the focus was very much on the Titans now, who started to bat in the eighth with Duran, so perfectly executed the heart of the order wouldn’t even come up anymore. Duran flew softly to left for DeWeese before Cesta hit a liner in the same direction, and DeWeese was on top of that as well. Rivera grounded out to short, three outs remaining. A Yoshi single in the top 9th served as mild distraction, before Jonny came back out in the bottom of the ninth. Even the home crowd was standing as he faced unknown Gil Cornejo, pinch-hitter in the #9 slot … and walked him. That still didn’t break up the no-hitter! … but Jose Avila’s homer sure did. A bomb outta rightfield on pitch #104, it ended Toner’s bid for his second no-no, and also his stay in the game. Joel Davis was ready to come in. At least he held on to the W, allowing only a 2-out single to Downing while handing Almanza a golden sombrero on the way through. 5-2 Critters. Carmona 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Olivares 3-4, RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (6-1);

In other news

May 12 – Loggers lefty Chris Sinkhorn (4-3, 3.31 ERA) shuts out the Stars on just three hits in a 9-0 Milwaukee win.
May 12 – Only three hits are tallied by the Knights as they get routed, 10-0, by the Wolves in Atlanta. SAL OF/1B Abel Mora (.343, 2 HR, 14 RBI) has three hits, including two home runs, and drives in a handful.
May 13 – Payback: the Knights roll over the Wolves in a 15-3 massacre. LF Marty Reyes (.219, 3 HR, 14 RBI) leads his team with 4 RBI on two hits, including a double.
May 15 – The Thunder get trampled by the Bayhawks in a 16-5 blowout. SFB OF Willie Ramos (.294, 1 HR, 7 RBI) contributes a pinch-hit grand slam.
May 16 – ATL LF Marty Reyes (.219, 3 HR, 14 RBI) could miss up to three months with a torn rotator cuff.
May 17 – MIL SP Chris Sinkhorn (5-3, 2.79 ERA) goes onto the record with consecutive shutouts, holding the Crusaders to six hits in a 6-0 shutout.

Complaints and stuff

Isn’t it typically Jonny Toner that he allows only three runners that are his fault and somehow two of them score? No matter how they score – they find a way to score. This one was extra bitter, given that he would only have been the third pitcher with multiple no-hitters, and the first to throw back-to-back no-hitters. His domination of the Thunder in April 2019 is still the most recent occurrence of a team remaining hitless.

As mentioned before, Cookie broke into Neil Reece’s trifecta of longest Raccoons hitting streaks, but is still behind Reece’s personal best of 32 games. Cookie reached 29 on Sunday, and it is rather big, because while there have been a total of 18 longer hitting streaks in league history, only five guys have had a longer hitting streak in the 21st century. The 21st century leader is Milwaukee’s Bartolo Hernandez with a 38-game hitting streak in 2003. Only one hitting streak has been longer than Cookie’s in the last decade, Javy Rodriguez doing the honors for 31 games for the 2015 Bayhawks.

And what is wrong in New York? They have … a million little injuries. This is not even exaggerated. They currently have seven players on the DL, although Hector Garcia should come off before we hit the ground there on Tuesday. Their lineup has been decimated the most, but they are still tied for third in runs scored. Their pitching has only lost Brett Lillis to injury, but they have just not been up to beef at all. Outside of “Ant” Mendez, their starters are all horrible, even “Midnight” Martin. The pen is a PG-13 *at best*. And with all the injuries, holding the lineup together is mostly on Max Erickson, who is batting .346 with five homers, but is totally alone. Batting third, Adam Young. You CAN’T win like that.

As an aside, Cookie reached 1,400 career hits with his triple in the Sunday game, and of course all of those have been for the Raccoons. Where does he rank in base knocks in franchise history?

PORTLAND RACCOONS CAREER HITS LEADERS (bold = currently on the team)

1st – Neil Reece – 1,983
2nd – Daniel Hall – 1,886
3rd – Tetsu Osanai – 1,548
t-4th – Adrian Quebell – 1,400
t-4th – Ricardo Carmona – 1,400
6th – Mark Dawson – 1,313
7th – Ieyoshi Nomura – 1,291
8th – Daniel Sharp – 1,267
9th – Conceicao Guerin – 1,185
10th – Ben O’Morrissey – 1,180

Matt Nunley is 14th with 975 base hits, and Ronnie McKnight is 22nd with 713. No other current Raccoon is anywhere near worth mentioning.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (24-12) @ Crusaders (18-19) – May 19-21, 2020

As mentioned before the Crusaders had most of their desired lineup on the disabled list and were currently severely hamstrung. Their rotation was a mild disaster, and they were only eighth in runs allowed, compared to sixth in runs scored in the Continental League. They were 6 1/2 games out in the North and had to hope for a second half push with a healthier roster. This was the first series between the two teams in 2020. The Raccoons had taken the 2019 head-to-head contest, narrowly, at 10-8.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (4-1, 3.09 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (3-3, 4.40 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (5-0, 1.93 ERA)
Cole Pierson (4-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (2-3, 4.93 ERA)

These will be all right-handers. “Midnight” Martin’s strikeouts were already down last year and it hasn’t gotten any better this year as he strikes out less than six per nine innings, while the walks are up. The main problem for him however might be that he is on pace to allow around 40 home runs, having conceded seven already. His average per season from 2014 through 2019 was 12 homers allowed. The fact that he is 36 years old by now could be a factor…

While knocking the New Yorkers will certainly be important, we are also continuing to watch Cookie Carmona and his 29-game hitting streak.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe
NYC: CF Jo. Wilson – 3B Fitzgerald – 1B A. Young – RF Erickson – LF Skinner – C Parks – SS Putnam – 2B Muhammad – P Benjamin

Cookie’s liner to right center to lead off the game immediately got him into 30-game hitting streak territory. He would come around to score after stealing second and reaching third on Yoshi Nomura’s single to right, although Nunley hit into a double play to score him. Mendoza homered right after that, giving Abe an early 2-0 spot. 25-year old Mike Fitzgerald would pull a run right back off Abe, homering to dead center in the bottom 1st. Fitzgerald came close to another RBI in the bottom 3rd, having Chris Muhammad on third base with two outs, but his liner was caught on the fly by a soaring Matt Nunley. Then the score was 3-1, with the Coons having scored another run in the second inning thanks to singles by DeWeese and DeWald and a timely wild pitch by Brian Benjamin. Soon enough the Raccoons would start to leave runners littered all over the place. Yoshi was twice guilty of stranding a pair, in the fourth and sixth, with a fly to left first and with a grounder to third later. Through six, the Raccoons were out-hitting the Crusaders 10-4, but were still clinging on to a 3-1 lead. Nunley started the seventh with grounding out, but Mendoza soon hit a double to right and then scored on McKnight’s single up the middle, 4-1. McKnight got caught stealing, so there was no follow-on here, and while Tadasu Abe had more or less flown through the last few innings in cruise control, with all the missed chances we were more or less just waiting for nasty things to happen. A 1-out single by Muhammad in the bottom 8th that dropped into shallow left was the beginning of the end for Abe, and the end came quickly on Carlos Martinez’ pinch-hit 2-run bomb to right. With the lead reduced to 4-3, Kaiser replaced him, but allowed a double to right to John Wilson. Now things started to be really in the ****. Mathis replaced Kaiser, Fitzgerald grounded out, but the tying run moved to third with two outs. Ron Thrasher was in for a 4-out save in a dire spot and got a very predictable K from Adam Young. The Coons were close to an insurance run in the ninth with Yoshi and Nunley on the corners with one out, but Dumbo Mendoza bounced a ball right back to right-hander Hwa-pyung Choe, who started the double play to escape the mess. No cushion for Thrasher, who struck out PH Cory Roland to start the bottom 9th, but then had to labor around Brian Skinner’s single to left. Jalen Parks struck out, and Josh Putnam grounded sharply to first base, but Mendoza was on his watch and made the play at first himself with ease. 4-3 Raccoons. Carmona 3-5; Mendoza 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-3, BB, RBI; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (6);

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – P Santos
NYC: CF Jo. Wilson – 3B Fitzgerald – 1B A. Young – RF Erickson – LF Skinner – C Parks – SS Putnam – 2B Muhammad – P A. Mendez

For Cookie, 31 flashed up immediately when he took “Ant” Mendez’ 2-2 pitch up the middle and through between Muhammad and Putnam, but the Coons wouldn’t get him past second base in that opening inning. After that early single, the Raccoons didn’t do much of anything against Mendez, while Santos ran into trouble before he got through the replacement level lineup even once. Chris Muhammad had HIS first career home run in the third inning, a solo shot to left center, and in the fourth inning a McKnight error put Fitzgerald on base to start the frame, and Santos added to the mess with a walk to Jimmy Erickson before Brian Skinner hit a 2-run triple to right center. The replacement terrors kept raging against Santos, with Muhammad hitting a leadoff double in the bottom 5th, only to get stranded when both Wilson and Fitzgerald popped out over the infield.

In a 3-0 deficit, the Raccoons had gotten their second single of the game in the fifth inning, Bareford looping a ball into shallow center, but only got a real chance in the sixth inning. Santos led off with a soft line over Muhammad and into right for a single, and then Cookie floated a single to shallow left. The tying run came up, no outs, but Yoshi’s grounder up the middle was intercepted by Muhammad and played for an out at first. Nunley walked onto the open base, which on paper made for an excellent chance for Hugo Mendoza, although Mendez had him on two strikes almost immediately. Mendez was looking for his sixth whiff of the game, but Mendoza dug out a pitch at the knees and over the middle of the plate and yanked it to left center with authority; in fact, too much authority for this ballpark – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Santos wouldn’t hold on to that 4-3 lead, however. Jalen Parks homered off him to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh, just before it suddenly started to rain. There had been no rain in the forecast, and the clouds seemingly appeared from one minute to the next, then immediately dumped all their water onto the ballpark. A rain delay in excess of half an hour ensued, after which Santos did not return. Jason Kaiser was in the game instead, facing PH Brent Woods, and got him to end the inning. Top 8th, Cookie and Yoshi led off with singles and went to the corners against ex-Coon Ray Kelley, who would go on to fool nobody in this inning. Nunley singled to right center to give the Coons the lead, 5-4, and while Mendoza and McKnight hit the ball quite nicely, an outfielder was in the way both times. Bareford was up with two outs and runners still on first and second, but John Wilson couldn’t connect with his drive to deep center that landed on the warning track for a pleasing 2-run triple. Jackson batted for DeWeese against the left-hander Brian Doumas, sent a roller to short, and Putnam had the wet ball glitch from his hand as he was to throw it to first base. Bareford scored on the hard-luck error, 8-4. More runs were always good, because John Wilson continued to tell Jason Kaiser to get out of his sight, hitting a double in the bottom 8th to knock Kaiser from the game for the second time in as many contests. The run scored off Joel Davis, who got Fitzgerald on a fly to Jackson in right and Adam Young on a groundout, but Wilson continued to jog around to come home, yet in the ninth the Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in an 8-5 game after a single by Tim Prince, Cookie’s double to right, and Yoshi being walked intentionally. The Coons were going to get only one run after Nunley popped out to shallow center and Mendoza grounded out to third base. Fitzgerald had no shot at home, Prince scored, but Mendoza was out on first. With runners in scoring position, McKnight grounded to second, but a throwing error undid the Crusaders, as Brent Woods’ throw skipped through Adam Young and allowed the runners to come home. Adam Cowen finished the game without problems in the bottom 9th, sitting down the Crusaders 1-2-3. 11-5 Critters! Carmona 4-5, 2B; Bareford 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI; Prince (PH) 1-1;

Cookiiiiee.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – C Margolis – CF DeWald – P Pierson
NYC: CF Jo. Wilson – SS Fitzgerald – 1B C. Martinez – LF Skinner – RF Erickson – C Roland – 3B Schmit – 2B Muhammad – P J. Martin

For the first time in the series, Cookie didn’t manage to extend his hitting streak right away, grounding out to second. The Coons put two men on in the first with a Yoshi single and Mendoza doubling off the fence, but didn’t score when Jackson flew out easily. While Cookie Carmona would hit a triple in the third inning and score on Yoshi’s single dumped into shallow center, by then the Raccoons were already in a hole with Cole Pierson doing everything he could to lose this game. He fumbled Wilson’s grounder in the first inning before being taken deep for two by Martinez, and in the third basically wouldn’t get anybody out. “Midnight” Martin opened with a long double to left, and after that Wilson singled, and Pierson walked Fitzgerald to fill the bases and Martinez to get the Crusaders’ third run in. Skinner soon plated two with a single up the leftfield line, Erickson popped out, but Roland singled to load them up again. The bullpen continued to stir just before Andy Schmit rolled into a double play to McKnight, but the Coons were now down 5-1.

Singles by Jackson and Margolis and a DeWald reaching on a clumsy error by Martinez loaded the bases in the fourth inning for the Coons. Pierson was kept in the game and struck out, two down. Cookie hit a liner to right center as he was pretty much invincible right now, netting an RBI single and getting the Coons back to 5-2, but with the tying runs aboard, Yoshi popped out to Fitzgerald. The tying run would come to the plate again in the sixth, again in form of Pierson after Margolis and DeWald had singled, yet this time he was batted for with one out. R.J. DeWeese expertly hit into a double play to Muhammad to throw that chance away. It was the last time the Coons got this close to “Midnight” Martin, who was removed after a 1-out walk to Eddie Jackson in the eighth. McKnight singled off Ray Kelley, and the tying run came up in Margolis. Looking for directions, Kelley lost him to a walk to stuff the bags, and Tom Nelson replaced him, an awkward choice with the bases loaded given that he had more walks than innings pitched and an ERA over 10 at this point. He faced only one batter and yielded a sharp RBI single to right to Kevin DeWald. New guy in, Kanichiro Miura, facing PH Andy Bareford, and Cookie grounded out to end the inning, stranding a full set of runners. Choe pitched the ninth, struck out Yoshi to begin things, but Nunley dropped a single in front of the inwards rushing Erickson. That brought up a guy as tying run that was 16 homers heavy at this point, but now flew out all too easily to Skinner in left. Jackson singled, putting the tying runs on the corners, but McKnight grounded out to the unexpected terror Muhammad to end the game. 5-3 Crusaders. Carmona 2-5, 3B, RBI; Nomura 2-5, RBI; Jackson 2-4; Margolis 2-3, BB; DeWald 2-4, RBI; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Cookie has now tied Neil Reece’s franchise mark from 1991 for the longest hitting streak at 32 games, tying for 10th all time. He could get as high as tying for sixth by the end of the week if he can keep things moving. There already hasn’t been a hitting streak longer than his current one for 16 years.

Raccoons (26-13) vs. Knights (21-18) – May 22-24, 2020

The Knights were second in the South, 4 1/2 games behind Bayhawks. They had the worst batting average in the Continental League (so directly opposite from the Raccoons) and were only eighth in runs scored. Their pitching was actually better than their offense, which was a marked turnaround from the last decade or so where they had always enjoyed lots of runs, albeit on both sides of the scoreboard. They were fifth in runs allowed with a modest +13 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (2-2, 2.53 ERA) vs. Danny Martin (0-5, 5.12 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-1, 2.34 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (3-4, 3.19 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (5-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Dave Priest (2-0, 2.70 ERA)

The opener would have been the turn of Shaun Yoder (1-3, 2.45 ERA), but the Knights skipped the right-hander and will send southpaws at the Coons in the first two games of the set, or at least so it seems. Dave Priest would be one of their three right-handers.

The Knights had two key batters on the DL, missing grizzled veteran Antonio Esquivel and outfielder Marty Reyes, who had started the season pretty badly with a .219 clip and was now out until the fall.

Game 1
ATL: 3B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 1B Herlihy – 2B Hibbard – CF DeFabio – RF Lyle – P D. Martin
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 2B Prince – P Guerrero

In the very definition of a mixed bag, Bobby Guerrero allowed two walks and a single in the first inning, and escaped a well-deserved bases-loaded situation when Trent Herlihy grounded into a double play to Tim Prince. He also got around another leadoff walk to Devin Hibbard in the second inning. In the bottom 2nd, the Coons had their moments. Nunley and McKnight were on the corners with singles, while Prince batted with one out and fouled a pop near third base. Jamie Wilson was under that ball for long enough to make himself a sandwich and eat it in no rush at all, and still managed to drop the pop. With Prince’s life renewed, McKnight fell asleep and was picked off first base, and when Prince grounded sharply up the middle, Hibbard made a wonderful play to nip him at first base in bang-bang fashion. Ruben Luna hit a shot to center for a solo homer in the top 3rd, and the Coons did endlessly nibble on Danny Martin’s legs in the bottom of the inning to score one run from having the bases loaded with one out when Jackson grounded to third and Wilson forewent the risky play at home and took out Jackson at first with ease. Nunley grounded out to strand a pair in scoring position.

While Guerrero continued to tumble from trouble to trouble like another walk to Jamie Wilson in the fifth inning that ended up stirring up the dust in scoring position but didn’t actually cross home plate, and Guerrero also was guilty of a terrible bunt killing the lead runner Margolis on third base in the fourth inning, Cookie also fell to 0-for-3 against Martin with two groundouts and then a fly to Gil Rockwell to end the fourth inning with two men stranded. The Critters actually did stop failing for a second in the fifth, with Mendoza singling and Nunley clanging a ball off the right foul pole for a go-ahead, 2-run homer, 3-1 after five. Guerrero almost broke that lead instantly, and conceded a run in the sixth on singles by Rockwell and Hibbard before he also walked Jeremy DeFabio with two outs. Kaiser came in and retired Jonathan Lyle to end the inning and salvage a 3-2 lead. Bottom 6th, DeWeese reached on an infield single with two outs as he dropped a roller somewhere in between everybody and nobody managed to play it. That brought up Cookie against reliever Luis Calderon as neither pitcher completed six in this one. Cookie sent a screaming liner to left – but right at Rockwell, and now he was not even assured another plate appearance in the game.

Top 7th, Joel Davis about splintered the 3-2 lead right away. He walked leadoff man Jeffrey Walrath before Jamie Wilson doubled into the gap. Tony Jimenez struck out, after which Ruben Luna was walked intentionally to bring up the right-handed Rockwell instead, who grounded sharply to McKnight, which was PERFECT, and Ronnie turned a PERFECT double play to preserve the lead after all. Mathis almost allowed a homer to Trent Herlihy in the eighth. It would have been Herlihy’s fifth of the season, but he was hitting under .190 while raking, so his raking was not worthwhile in the bigger picture. The bigger picture also said no plate appearance for Cookie in the eighth inning, as the Coons got only one man on between the seventh and eighth, so if Ron Thrasher preserved the 3-2 lead, it would at the same time end Cookie’s hitting streak. I didn’t quite know how I felt about the leadoff single that Juan Medina snuck into rightfield, and then Thrasher walked Wilson with one out. Jimenez struck out, bringing up Luna, who had enough power to turn this game around, and had eight homers on the season. But he was a left-hander! Yet Thrasher failed to throw a strike, walking the bases loaded on four pitches, and then had to face Rockwell, who had 11 homers, didn’t get one here, but he didn’t even need one here. A single to left on an 0-2 pitch was well enough, and two runs scored as Thrasher thoroughly blew this game to ****. Cookie GOT another at-bat, and grounded out to short against Harry Merwin in the bottom 9th. Merwin pitched a 1-2-3 ninth on THREE pitches. 4-3 Knights. Bareford 2-5, 2B; Mendoza 2-4; Nunley 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese (PH) 1-1;

Maud hid the bleach. Clever girl. I had everything I needed to overcome the pains. Ice cubes, a thin slice of lemon, a neat cocktail glass, but Maud hid the bleach and forced me into a night of crying instead.

Game 2
ATL: 3B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 1B Herlihy – 2B Hibbard – CF Walrath – RF Lyle – P L. Flores
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Nomura – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – C Margolis – 3B Petracek – LF DeWeese – P Toner

Toner hadn’t been TONER all season yet, and things seemed to continue with that last little bit of ‘HNNGH!’ missing consistently, like him getting to two strikes against four Knights in the opening inning, but two of them, Wilson and Luna would single to center anyway. Mind, the Knights didn’t score, and a Mendoza solo shot gave the Coons a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st, but Toner’s pitches per inning was excessive again and he needed 50 pitches for three scoreless innings, and another 19 in the fourth. Lots of full counts among them, walks to Jamie Wilson in the third and Herlihy in the fourth, but the Knights couldn’t build pressure, eventually falling on strikes often enough. Through five they had two singles, two walks, and eight strikeouts against them, but the Raccoons also had no base hits other than Mendoza’s 17th dinger, and in fact didn’t get another base runner until Margolis drew a walk in the bottom 5th. Petracek swiftly grounded into a double play to take care of that little bugger.

Toner kept going from inning to inning with no further support whatsoever until the Knights from one second to the other took him apart in the seventh. Herlihy grounded out to start the inning, but then Devin Hibbard slugged a homer to left center to tie the score. Walrath beat Bareford in center for a triple, and then Jonathan Lyle homered to right. Three batters, 11 bases to all fields, and a 3-1 deficit. Flores singled against Toner, who was then wrapped up and put in storage. Boynton retired Wilson and Jimenez. The Coons got the tying run to the plate right away in the bottom 7th when Flores dinked Nomura with a pitch, so hooray, progress! While the rest of the inning was so-so, at least Toner wouldn’t be struck with the loss. Mendoza grounded to third to get Yoshi forced out right away, but Jackson sent a liner over Wilson that hit on the chalk up the leftfield line and escaped into the corner for an RBI triple. McKnight promptly popped out for the second out, and Margolis inconclusively walked. Petracek had not really shown anything remotely resembling offensive prowess, but singled to left to tie the game before DeWeese struck out. The Coons offense wouldn’t do anything meaningful until Jackson came up again in the bottom 9th and lined another extra-base hit to left, this time a 1-out double that made him the winning run. Boynton, Davis, and Mathis had held the Knights in place, and now the Coons sought inroads against Arturo Lopez. In vain – McKnight grounded out to short, and Margolis whiffed in a full count. Mathis held the Knights down for another inning in the 10th, and Petracek surprised in the bottom of the inning with another big knock in consecutive at-bats. His single off Lopez to start the inning got the winning run on base again, and then he took off to take second. He made it all the way to third thanks to a throwing error by Ruben Luna. Third base, no outs, but – uh – DeWeese batting. Nah, it was fine. DeWeese found the gap in right center, no Knight was close, and Petracek strolled home casually as the Critters walked off to stave off a looming 3-game losing streak. 4-3 Critters. Jackson 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Petracek 2-4, RBI; Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

Once again, a disproportionate amount of runners for Toner come around to score. I don’t know what is wrong with him, or why the Raccoons won’t score for him.

We would get Shaun Yoder after all in the Sunday game. The Knights just sent their southpaws ahead.

Game 3
ATL: 3B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 1B Herlihy – 2B Hibbard – CF Walrath – RF Lyle – P Yoder
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomury – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe

The Coons would suffer an early setback in their quest for this rubber game and a winning week, with Jamie Wilson leading off the game with a bloop single of the very sorry kind into shallow rightfield, with Abe lingering on until Gil Rockwell peppered his 12th homer of the year to straightaway center. Abe would consistently put the leadoff man on base, with Hibbard reaching on a leadoff double in the second, and Wilson drawing a walk in the third. The latter was followed by Tony Jimenez’ dinger to left, putting the Knights 4-0 in front before the Raccoons ever reached base against Yoder, who struck out four in a perfect first run through the Coons’ order and would end up retiring the first 13 batters in a row before walking both McKnight and Margolis in the bottom of the fifth. DeWeese and DeWald were no DeThreat, and both flew out to DeCenterfield.

The first base knock for the Critters didn’t come until the sixth inning, Cookie singling sharply to right with one out. He stole second base, but after Yoshi popped out and Nunley’s fly to center again didn’t cost Walrath too much sweat, the Raccoons had pretty much lost their bid for another winning week. Abe had been a little less horrendous in the middle innings, but was knocked form the seventh after consecutive 2-out singles by Yoder (…) and Wilson. Boynton replaced him and managed to incinerate the scoreboard for good, with both Jimenez and Luna hitting hissing 3-1 line drives, first to left, then to right, for two additional 2-out singles, both worth one RBI. The Raccoons – cursed, it seemed – hit three hard drives off Yoder in the bottom 7th, but Mendoza and McKnight had theirs end up with Walrath again, while Margolis’ was somehow caught by Lyle right at the line. Yoder spilled a pinch-hit single to Prince in the eighth, and his shutout was in actual danger in the bottom 9th with Yoshi hitting a double to the track in right center. Nunley’s soft pop to shallow center was snared by Walrath near his knees. That was enough to remove Yoder from the game. Joey Hopkins replaced him and kept the runner on base, getting poor contact twice from Mendoza and McKnight. 6-0 Knights. Prince (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 18 – LAP CL Angel Casas (0-2, 2.87 ERA, 10 SV) joins an elite club with his 600th career save in a 4-2 win over the Gold Sox. Casas, who is an 8-time All Star and was the 2007 Reliever of the Year, has spent most of his career and most of his saves with the Raccoons, for whom he pitched from his 2004 debut until 2015. Overall he is 46-45 with a 2.08 ERA and has struck out 1,176 batters.
May 20 – The Indians whip the Titans in Boston, 14-2. LF/RF Lowell Genge (.265, 3 HR, 17 RBI) contributes a grand slam in a 7-run seventh inning.
May 21 – A fractured rib will put SFB SS/2B Raul Claros (.294, 5 HR, 30 RBI) out of action for at least three weeks.
May 22 – On the day the Knights kill off Portland’s Ricardo Carmona’s 32-game hitting streak, CIN 1B/3B Eddie Moreno (.362, 7 HR, 37 RBI) knocks a first-inning single in a 7-6 win over the Wolves to bring his own hitting streak to 20 games.
May 22 – The Falcons blow a 4-run lead in the ninth inning against the Crusaders, who score five to walk off with an 8-7 victory.
May 23 – LAP RF Marc Thompson (.284, 3 HR, 14 RBI) smokes four hits in the Pacifics’ 15-4 mauling of the Rebels in Richmond. Included in the 4-hit day is one of each kind, with a single in the first, a 3-run homer in the fourth, an RBI double in the fifth, and a triple in the sixth. It is the 65th cycle in ABL history, and the third for the Pacifics, who had not had a cycle in almost a quarter century. Ethan Gittens (1978) and Lance Branch (1997) had previously covered all the bases for Los Angeles.
May 23 – The hitting streak for Eddie Moreno (.353, 7 HR, 37 RBI) is already over. The 27-year old Cyclone goes empty in five at-bats in Cincy’s 5-4 defeat to the Wolves, and his hitting streak ends at 20 games.

Complaints and stuff

For the first time this year the Raccoons conceded more runs (26) than they scored (25) this week. This ship be sinking! And we could probably use the offense next week, facing the Bayhawks down near their watery place starting on Tuesday. The Condors are up on the weekend.

The Loggers picked up long-ago-Coon Jason Seeley (.266, 2 HR, 14 RBI) in a deal with the Blue Sox this week, parting with two prospects that wouldn’t tear you off your chair exactly. Seeley still covers the corners well and generally hit better in the FL East than with the Coons, although that is not newsworthy. He had a few nice seasons with Cincy including a 2017 campaign where he went .274 with 17 HR and 79 RBI. Overall for his career, which started in Portland in ’11 and dragged on there until ’15, he has hit .261 with 65 HR and 347 RBI. He is however vastly overpaid and how exactly the Loggers think that his $1.6M salary is a good fit for them is a mystery for me.

We haven’t talked much about the AAA roster since the wicked first weeks of the season, but thankfully we don’t need any offense right now, as the AAA Alley Cats pretty much can’t score. Bullpen help should also be hard to get from there… In the rotation Travis Garrett is 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA and 65 K in 63 IP against 28 walks. That does sound promising, and we will keep an eye on him.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-15) @ Bayhawks (29-16) – May 26-28, 2020

In a midweek clash of division leaders, the Raccoons, with the second-most runs scored and the least runs allowed in the Continental League, would face the Hawks by the Bay, who led the league in scoring, and ranked third in runs allowed. A tight series was to be expected, or maybe some blowouts. It’s baseball, who knows these things? We hadn’t met another yet in 2020, and 2019 had been rough on the Coons when it came to playing San Fran, who took seven of the nine games, only a year after the Raccoons creamed them 8-1 in 2018.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (6-0, 2.67 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (5-1, 2.45 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (5-3, 3.63 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-1, 2.56 ERA) vs. Graham Wasserman (2-4, 3.18 ERA)

The Coons elect to skip the scuffling Cole Pierson with the off day on Monday, pushing Pierson’s next start all the way to Saturday against the Condors. While the Coons skipped their left-handers, the Bayhawks would send one of their pair; Joao Joo was opening the set against the still undefeated Hector Santos on Tuesday.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 2B Prince – P Santos
SFB: LF R. Allen – 1B French – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – RF Sarabia – 2B G. Gonzalez – 3B Messer – SS R. Vasquez – P Joo

The home run well that never stopped sprouting gurgled right in the first inning, collecting Bareford, who had singled, with his 18th shot of the season, this one escaping just narrowly over the top of the rightfield fence, but it counted all the same for two runs. The Baybirds had a chance to come back right away, with Roger Allen authoritatively singling to left to start their half of the first, and Dylan Alexander somehow managed to leg out an infield single(!) to put runners on the corners – Margolis was tardy on playing that – but Santos escaped when he got fabulous Dave Garcia (.375, 8 HR, 34 RBI) to pop up and played Victor Sarabia’s grounder himself for the third out. This was also the first game that we really got to see Brendan French, a 34-year old no-name that had held odd reserve assignments over the years and was batting .184 with two home runs after 19 games (and .226 for his career of only 325 PA). He hit a drive to deep left in the third, but it came down on the warning track and into Cookie’s glove to end that inning with no harm done to Santos yet. What the Bayhawks were looking for in French was a bit of a mystery…

After the early 2-0 tally in the first, Joao Joo didn’t allow much to the Coons besides the odd single, and didn’t allow multiple runners to be on base in an inning until the sixth when Nunley and Margolis rolled back-to-back singles up the middle and past Gerardo Gonzalez and Robby Vasquez. McKnight struck out, and Prince lined out to Vasquez to end the inning, still in a 2-0 game, although Santos came closer and closer to obliteration. The bottom 6th saw another leadoff single by Allen, and French drove another ball to deep left, but Cookie was on that, too. D-Alex singled to right, putting Allen at second, and then Garcia fired a drive to deep left. Cookie spoiled that, too, and Bareford kept pace with Sarabia’s long drive to deep center. The Bayhawks could just as well have had three doubles and Santos would have been carried off unconscious and with a nosebleed, but the 2-0 stood through six. The Coons got Bareford and Mendoza to the corners with two outs in the seventh, but Eddie Jackson grounded out to Vasquez. That grounder was hit sharply, but right at the guy. Joo pitched seven solid inning, Santos pitched eight of the shutout variety. The top 9th saw Micah McIntyre concede a 1-out walk to pinch-hitting R.J. DeWeese. Cookie flew out to left to end up 0-for-5 in the game, but Bareford singled to right center and sent DeWeese to third with two outs. The Baybirds were really really not keen on conceding another run now. Left-hander Mike Stank replaced McIntyre to face Mendoza, who hit the first pitch up the middle, Vasquez cut it off behind second base, scrambled up, but Mendoza was already pounding first base with his stompers, and the Coons had tacked on a run with the RBI infield single. Jackson grounded out. Mathis was in for the ninth, but only allowed a double to Garcia before being replaced by Thrasher (which would have been the plan anyway with the next two being left-handed batters). Sarabia flew out to DeWeese in left (Cookie had been sent to the cocktail bar early), Gonzalez struck out, and then right-hander Clay Messer singled up the middle. The Bayhawks sent Garcia, but Bareford unleashed a thunderous bolt to home plate, where a quick swipe by Margolis knocked out Garcia by a fraction of a second and ended the game. 3-0 Coons! Bareford 2-4, BB; Mendoza 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Margolis 2-4; Santos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (7-0);

The Bayhawks made a change and sent Wasserman into the middle game against Guerrero. This was still regular rest for him; due to their off day on Monday, Joo had pitched on extra rest like Santos.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Guerrero
SFB: LF R. Allen – 3B Messer – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – RF Sarabia – 2B G. Gonzalez – 1B A. Martinez – SS Vasquez – P Wasserman

This game started a bit like the first one, except that Wasserman was knocked earlier and harder. Yoshi hit the 2-run homer to right following Cookie’s leadoff single, and after that Mendoza and McKnight would hit singles with one out after Nunley’s drive to left had been caught by Allen. And Wasserman just couldn’t get anybody out; Margolis doubled to left, Mendoza scored, and while Bareford fouled out, the Baybirds elected to pitch to .197 hero R.J. DeWeese with runners on second and third and two outs and promptly got scorched by a hard 2-run single to right. Guerrero struck out as the Coons batted through the order in the first and took a 5-0 lead. That smattering of runs seemed plenty at first, but the Bayhawks soon hit two hard singles off Guerrero to start their half of the first inning, Allen to left and Clay Messer to right, except that they also made the first out at third base on the latter single, Cookie nailing down Roger Allen trying to go first-to-third, which helped Guerrero a great deal in pitching a scoreless first, and was still unscored upon after three, while Wasserman never stepped into the batter’s box, with Willie Ramos grounding out to Ronnie McKnight in his spot in the bottom 3rd. Wasserman had conceded another homer in the top of the inning, a solo shot to DeWeese, and the Coons were up 6-0.

Mendoza homered off Barry MacDonald in the fourth, 7-0, while the Bayhawks continued to pull stupid stunts. In the bottom of the fourth, D-Alex singled to right – extending a hitting streak to 16 games – but was then thrown out at third base by Bareford on Garcia’s single up the middle. It was the second time the Birds had been thrown out at third base in this game, and this one cost them an infinite numbers of runs as Guerrero completely lost it right after that scene, issued three straight 2-out walks and was only narrowly making it through the inning when Vasquez grounded out to Mendoza, stranding three in what was now a 7-1 game. Margolis’ leadoff triple in the fifth helped restore the 7-run lead, with Bareford bringing him in on a groundout, but Guerrero had gone to **** between batters in the fourth. He allowed a hard leadoff single to relief pitcher(!) Edgar Bermudez in the bottom 5th, and Allen was only barely retired by Bareford on a deep fly to center. Messer hit an RBI single, Alexander flew out, but Garcia hit an RBI double, and Guerrero was no longer tenable, even if he was only two outs away from qualifying for the W. There was reason to worry that there was a W to claim by the time he had the next two outs... Kaiser replaced him and conceded another run on a wild pitch, but at least got out of the inning in an 8-4 game through five.

Everything is brittle – offense to the rescue! They didn’t disappoint, rounding up Bermudez without him getting another out in the sixth. Cookie singled, Yoshi Nomura homered for the second time in the game, 10-4. Nunley doubled off new pitcher Mike Homa and scored on back-to-back deep fly outs by Mendoza and McKnight. The Baybirds in turn made the *third* out at third base in this game in the bottom of the sixth, Robby Vasquez getting caught stealing, and the following inning Sarabia was caught stealing second by Margolis. The score was 12-4 by then, with Yoshi singling home a run with two outs in the top 7th. It could have been an all-out success if it hadn’t been for Guerrero’s meltdown in the fourth and fifth, and then another vicious meltdown by the bullpen in the ninth. Adam Cowen and Joel Davis combined for three hits and three walks conceded in the inning, allowing the Bayhawks to score three more runs before Clay Messer flew out to Bareford to finally end the game. 12-7 Coons! Nomura 4-6, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Mendoza 4-5, HR, RBI; Olivares (PH) 1-1; Margolis 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – CF DeWald – P Toner
SFB: LF R. Allen – 1B French – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – RF Sarabia – 2B G. Gonzalez – 3B Messer – SS R. Vasquez – P Boyer

Jonny Toner threw two innings and struck out three before leaving the scoreless game with back spasms, which was not the kind of sentence one wanted to read in a Jonny Toner start. Chris Mathis replaced him, because he was the most kind of long man we had that hadn’t pitched on Wednesday. Before he got to wind up, the Coons took a 2-0 lead that could have been more if Cookie hadn’t been caught stealing before Yoshi and Nunley came up on base with two outs and Mendoza found the gap for a 2-run double. McKnight also flew into the gap in right center, but Sarabia got to his ball and ended the inning. The score remained the same through five. While Mathis had a rocky start to the unexpected long relief assignment (with Cowen pretty much unavailable after getting shredded in his 1.2 innings the day before), walking Vasquez and getting him to third on a wild pitch, Roger Allen grounded out to end that third inning, and the Bayhawks didn’t get on base in the next innings. Mathis pitched four brilliant innings in what then was still a combined no-hitter for the Raccoons, although the ABL had no big fancy for these things and probably wouldn’t even put it on their front page.

Offensively, the Raccoons broke Boyer and reliever Edwin Silva in the sixth inning, plating four runs on a 2-run homer by DeWeese off the former, and then a ground-rule double with two outs that Yoshi bounced on the centerfield track and over the fence there against the latter. On to the seventh, where D-Alex not only broke up the combined no-hitter with a double off Joel Davis, but also extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Davis walked Garcia, and the alarm bells rung in reminding the nauseous ninth from the previous game, and the wild pitch that moved the runners to scoring position wasn’t helping much, but Gerardo Gonzalez struck out in a full count and the inning ended. The D-Alex double remained the only base hit for the Bayhawks in the game; Davis in the eighth and Chun in the ninth sat the Birds down 1-2-3 and the Raccoons sealed a very impressive sweep over the CL South leaders. 6-0 Critters! Nomura 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Toner 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Mathis 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1); Davis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Looks like Jonny Toner might miss a start with the back issue. The Druid claims he doesn’t need to be sent to the DL and we can get this fixed in no time.

I am certainly curious!

Raccoons (30-15) vs. Condors (15-32) – May 29-31, 2020

The Condors were in shambles, to make things a bit shorter. They were ninth in runs scored, which of course was far from great, but they were also screaming last in runs allowed, with just over five runs falling out of them per game. Their rotation was the worst in the league, and their pen was not quite that bad, but still had an ERA over four. The Coons had already swept them in a 3-game set in April.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (5-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Jose Menendez (3-6, 5.37 ERA)
Cole Pierson (4-4, 3.88 ERA) vs. Aaron Walsh (2-3, 4.84 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-0, 2.32 ERA) vs. Alex Lindsey (2-4, 5.51 ERA)

The Condors only have right-handed starting pitchers.

One of their better batters, Matt Jamieson, is still on the DL, and will remain there for another good while, but has recently migrated from a full arm cast to a futuristic brace contraption for his badly broken elbow. Yeah, no baseball activities soon for this poor guy, who nevertheless traveled with his team from Mexico. In terms of outfielders, Jimmy Oatmeal was third in the CL and ABL in home runs with 11, but was batting only .238.

Game 1
TIJ: SS Stephenson – C R. Hernandez – RF Munn – LF Eichelkraut – 1B T. Ramos – 3B J. Pena – CF Boggs – 2B D. Ortega – P Menendez
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe

Menendez looked better than Abe in the early innings; while both allowed two hits in the first three frames and nobody scored, the Condors made consistent sound contact off Abe and just couldn’t get the balls past the outfielders for juicy doubles. The Coons had Cookie on with a leadoff single, Yoshi hit into a double play right away, and when DeWeese hit a leadoff single in the third, Abe bunted into a force play to keep the team tugged away. And even when Yoshi drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 4th and Nunley singled, Menendez got out of the tight spot by striking out a reaching Mendoza and getting another double play grounder from McKnight to Domingo Ortega. The home team’s performance against Menendez remained extremely pathetic like in the sixth inning, when the best the top of the order could come up with was a soft grounder to the shortstop Devon Stephenson by Nomura, framed by two pops over the heart of the infield. At least Abe didn’t allow hard drives through the middle innings anymore and the Condors were in no place to score, either. Bottom 7th, Mendoza led off with a walk, and McKnight grounded sharply to Stephenson, who couldn’t quite grab the nasty bounce at first, which took away the double play. Mendoza reached second, while McKnight was out. Runners were on the corners after Margolis singled past Adrian Rojas on the hot corner, but they were on the corners only for the DeWeak Brothers. Oh well, at least R.J. DeWeak had a homer already this week! And he did come through! It was a soft single that dipped into shallow center, but it scored the first run of the game nonetheless! DeWald flew out to center for the second out, and desperate for offense Jackson hit for Abe, but his fly to right wouldn’t beat Danny Munn. Menendez remained in the game after Boynton struck out two in a perfect eighth against the bottom of the order in the top of the eighth, and Menendez would have been through easily after Cookie AND Yoshi popped up over the infield, but Nunley’s grounder was bungled by Ortega, bringing up Mendoza but it just wasn’t meant to be. He also grounded to Ortega, and this time the keystone personnel held up and the inning ended. Thrasher got the assignment in the ninth with a tender 1-0 lead to defend, and a strikeout to Stephenson and two grounders by Raúl Hernandez and PH Alfonso Gonzales did the trick. 1-0 Raccoons. DeWeese 2-3, RBI; Abe 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-2);

Six hits, all singles, and only two walks with two double plays hit into WILL make for a slow game. At least Abe was on top of his game and the pen was perfect with what little personnel was available after they had to collect a whopping 12.2 innings the last two days.

This is also – if you haven’t counted – the third shutout in four games this week!

Game 2
TIJ: RF Abraham – 3B J. Pena – CF Berntson – LF Eichelkraut – 1B T. Ramos – SS Stephenson – C Gonzales – 2B D. Ortega – P Walsh
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – 3B Petracek – P Pierson

Pierson went to 3-ball counts to each of the first three batters in the game, walking Craig Abraham before Juan Pena hit into a double play just in time before Jon Berntson’s shot to left put the Condors up 1-0. It was the first time this week that the Coons trailed at any point of any game. Pierson remained abysmal, conceding a triple to Stephenson in the second inning before hitting Gonzales in the butt. Ortega singled up the middle, 2-0, and after Walsh’s bunt, Craig Abraham’s fly to fairly deep left was nicely intercepted by DeWeese to strand two in scoring position. The Coons had another slow start to this game, but did come up with a scratch run in the bottom of the second inning. Mendoza reached on an infield single and gained a base on Margolis’ groundout. With two outs, DeWeese dipped a ball just in front of the incoming Berntson to allow Mendoza to race home.

Nothing like that was going to help Pierson much, who was alternating between ill control and 3-ball counts and allowing really hard contact. Stephenson hit a solo homer in the fourth inning, running the score to 3-1, and the Coons were probably still well off with that. While the Critters were held to three hits in five innings by Walsh, Pierson got a note of how much we trusted him when he loaded the bases in the sixth inning with a 2-out walk to Ortega, and then we didn’t let him face the pitcher. Boynton came in, did horrible things to Aaron Walsh, and the Critters still had a nominal chance in this 3-1 contest in which so far they had been almost completely blacked out. But the bottom 6th saw three sad groundouts from the 2-3-4 department, so it was probably best to say comeback thoughts goodbye. Boynton and Kaiser would concede a run on three singles in the top of the eighth, putting the Coons down by three, and they didn’t get another base hit until with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, when Cookie singled to left. Yoshi then hit a double up the leftfield line, and suddenly the tying run was at the plate. McKnight singled to center to score one run, but Mendoza grounded out to Ortega to end the inning, still down by two. Jayden Reed struck out the side in the bottom 9th, annihilating Margolis, DeWald, and DeWeese in order. 4-2 Condors.

Hm. When we landed in Portland on Thursday night there was some early summer storm with lightning and all that fancy ****, and I didn’t pay attention to it at first, but maybe lightning took out our offense? Well, it was nice while it lasted…

At least Santos has yet to lose a game!

And he would carry that moniker into next week, given that the second early summer storm swept Coon City on Sunday and there was no way to play a ballgame in those conditions. The game was a wipeout and postponed to September, to be made up in a double header in our last series of the year with the Condors.

In other news

May 28 – DAL INF Raul Maldonado (.389, 1 HR, 33 RBI) chains a hitting streak to 20 games with a 13th inning double in the Stars’ 11-9 win over the Buffaloes that actually takes 16 innings to complete. TOP LF/1B Willie Madrid (.313, 3 HR, 27 RBI) goes 5-for-9, all singles, in the game, but never plates a runner and scores only once.
May 29 – BOS LF/RF Chris Almanza (.259, 5 HR, 18 RBI) goes down to an oblique strain and will miss up to a month.
May 31 – A herniated disc will cost MIL OF/1B Chris LeMoine (.279, 6 HR, 35 RBI) about a month on the disabled list.

Complaints and stuff

Hugo “Tiger”(?) Mendoza was Batter of the Month in the Continental League, banging out hits at a .369 pace with 10 homers and 28 RBI strewn in. He already won the title in April.

Now, there ARE good news to be had from this somewhat tainted sweep (expectations rising?) over the Bayhawks in that Jonny Toner’s back was only slightly tweaked and the Druid was confident he could realign Jonny’s spine in a week or less on a homemade stretching rack of his. Basically the subject to be treated is fixed to a split board with their ankles and wrists locked in shackles and then an automatic winch is used to slowly spread the board with the shackles affixed to the corners apart over the course of three days just until the point where the subject feels a sharp sting in the abdomen.

The Druid claims it is totally safe.

Anyway, we now won’t need a spot starter for Tuesday. Normally, despite another two off days coming up on the 4th and 8th, it wouldn’t have been enough for Toner to go anywhere near his turn in the rotation. I generally don’t like sending guys on short rest, and especially not two in a row. Adam Cowen might have made a spot start, which would have been easier than finding a way to squeeze somebody onto the roster from AAA.

But the rainout on Sunday relaxes that situation. Santos will go on extra rest against the Aces on Monday, and after that we have Guerrero on extra rest and Abe on normal rest. Our weekend series with the Loggers is framed by the off days, and we hope that Jonny will pitch one of the games in Milwaukee.

That aside, Pierson’s pathetic performance on Saturday netted him the 3,400th regular season loss for this franchise, and he well deserved it. Pierson has lost his last three decisions, and hasn’t finished the sixth inning in any of those games, conceding ten runs in 15.2 frames for a 5.74 ERA. Given how he finished the 2019 season (something like 0-8? I am too scared to look!), this is already alarming. Also alarming: I already confirmed that he still has an option left.

[Westheim]

2020 DRAFT POOL

There is … well, there are some slight issues here. You well know that our new head scout is the Ridler, and he has yet to give one clear answer to any question he’s been asked ever since applying for the position. Back then I put down his flowery resume to overboarding creativity rather than actual flowers for a brain. Or maybe it’s LSD. It’s always the people you least expect it from. It can’t be glue. Chad is on glue, and Chad is too dumb to write his own name. – That is not a letter in any alphabet, Chad. Try again. – No, try again. – No, don’t eat the pillow.

So far I have no clue about how many players we have actually shortlisted. I only have a pile of papers and every single one of them reads like a either a ****ing grocery list or naughty Persian poetry. But I did force him to at least list his ten-or-so favorite prospects in no particular order for our hotlist …! SUCCESS. I am back on track with that guy!

SP Dustin Wingo (13/13/13) – BNN #4
SP George Griffin (12/15/12) – BNN #10
SP David Saccoccio (11/12/11) – BNN #8

CL Mike Willis (13/14/10)

C Alex Mares (10/10/13)

1B Matt Barber (10/10/13)
INF Cy Burrier (12/6/15)

CF Ben Adams (10/14/14) – BNN #6
RF/LF/3B Zachary Ryder (10/12/7)*
LF/RF Justin Gerace (9/12/12)

*HS player – yes, it’s only one.

Whether we have any of the top 3 by BNN listed at all is a mystery to me right now. (helplessly browses through the pile of paper)

Getting any of these guys is unlikely, since the Raccoons forewent picking in the first round by signing Yoshi Nomura. We do have however three supplemental round picks, meaning we will pick three times just inside the top 50 after all, although not better than at #38.

Maud! … Maud! – The headache is back. – No, don’t send the Druid again. Send Slappy with a pipe wrench or something.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-16) vs. Aces (28-21) – June 1-3, 2020

How come we face the CL South leaders yet again? Has sweeping the Bayhawks earlier something to do with it? Maybe! The Aces had a 6-game winning streak going, which was also something to nicely move a team along. They were however not really standing out in individual numbers. They were sixth in runs scored and runs allowed in the Continental League with a meager +12 run differential. Now, it was early still in the season, but that was normally not something to ride to the playoffs on. They were not great in any major category, and in fact their bullpen and their defense were near the bottom of the Continental League. The Coons so far held a 2-1 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-0, 2.32 ERA) vs. Nehemiah Jones (3-3, 3.42 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (2-2, 3.08 ERA) vs. Clark Johnson (3-2, 3.65 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (6-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. Jason Clements (6-4, 2.88 ERA)

The Raccoons hadn’t scored on Nem Jones since I DON’T ****ING REMEMBER ANYMORE. All their starters were right-handers, and Santos opposing Jones did not evoke ANY POSITIVE MEMORIES.

The Aces had a bundle of players on the DL, all batters, including starters Dan Brown and Bill Hebberd.

Game 1
LVA: CF A. Martinez – SS Navarro – LF M. Hamilton – 2B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – 1B Duling – 3B Arrieta – P N. Jones
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Santos

Supplanting bad memories was probably not going to work, with Santos getting lit on fire right from the start. Armando Martinez hit a hard single to center on the first pitch of the game, stole second base, then paced home leisurely when Jose Navarro absolutely bombed a 2-2 pitch for a huge 2-run homer. It was the replacement Navarro’s first long ball of the season. The Coons scored a run in the bottom of the inning that would be unearned thanks to an errant pickoff throw by Jones that sent Cookie, who had singled, from first to second, from where he scored on Matt Nunley’s single to left center, but for the Raccoons the at-bats of Nem Jones would quickly become nightmares of their own. Jones reached on an error by Mendoza to start the third inning, Martinez swiftly doubled, and then the Aces somehow couldn’t get much use of runners on second and third and no outs. One run scored on Navarro’s groundout, and two men popped out. The following inning, Rich Arrieta was on second after a 2-out double up the rightfield line, and then Jones drove a ball into the gap in right center, but couldn’t beat Cookie, who snagged the ball just before it could get past him and into the deeper regions of the park for extra bases and the fourth run of the visiting team. Instead, McKnight homered in the bottom of the inning, getting the score close again, with the Coons down 3-2 after four.

It did look like it might get worse for Santos any second now, with the Aces making another two deep outs in the fifth inning, but instead it got worse for Jones, who blew his lead in the bottom 5th. Cookie led off with a liner to left for a single, stole second base, and made it home without a problem on a double by Yoshi Nomura, who moved to third on Nunley’s groundout, then tried to score the go-ahead run when Mendoza flew out to Matt Hamilton in leftfield, but Hamilton cut down Nomura at home to end the inning. Santos would not allow another run while somehow making it alive through seven and defended his undefeated record in 2020, but also didn’t get the eighth W he had desired, because Nem Jones was clinging on to life just as dearly in the 3-3 game after seven. Joel Davis had a scoreless eighth for the Critters, allowing only a 2-out single to Izzy Alvarez, before Yoshi singled to lead off the bottom 8th. Since he was the go-ahead run again, Petracek ran for him, but Nunley hit into a double play before anything good could possibly happen. Thrasher got through the ninth. He entered the inning expecting to see the all-left-handed 6-7-8 bunch, but instead got to face three right-handed pinch-hitters, and allowed two drives to deep center. Bareford caught both, and the Coons would try to walk off against right-hander John Key. A walk to Margolis and back-to-back singles by McKnight and Bareford loaded the bases for … R.J. DeWeese. At least that was a right-hander, and we will still get a pinch-hitter up afterwards! No, we didn’t. Key couldn’t throw a single good pitch, DeWeese was not that blind, and drew ball four to indeed *walk* off the Coons. 4-3 Furballs! Carmona 2-4; Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; McKnight 3-4, HR, RBI; Bareford 2-4; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

Game 2
LVA: CF A. Martinez – SS Navarro – LF M. Hamilton – 2B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – 1B Duling – 3B Burke – P C. Johnson
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – CF DeWald – C Olivares – P Guerrero

The Coons struck first on the strength of a pair of doubles by Yoshi and Mendoza in the bottom of the first inning. Yoshi went up the rightfield line, barely fair, while Mendoza found the gap in left center between Hamilton and Martinez. Bobby Guerrero struck out an uncharacteristic five batters the first time through the order, spilling only a hit to Danny Rice along the way. Would there be a reward for him in the bottom 3rd? Cookie drew a leadoff walk and went to third on Yoshi’s single to right. Nunley’s 1-2 was a soft looper and looked like it would get into leftfield, but Navarro made a lunging grab hustling backwards, which sent Cookie scrambling back to third base. The Wannabe Tiger walked to load the bases with one out for Eddie Jackson, who had grounded out to short his first time up, ending the first inning, but this time at least had a productive out (and only one!) by flying out to Hamilton in left. Cookie was no Yoshi and dashed home, scoring easily, 2-0, before McKnight grounded out to Alvarez to strand a pair.

Guerrero had been ace the first time through, then was close to having last rites read to him the second time through. The Aces got three singles and a walk in the fourth, and the Raccoons were lucky that Navarro, after singling, was immediately caught stealing by Ezequiel Olivares. Hamilton then hit an infield single, Alvarez almost hit into a double play, but Yoshi’s pivot was not quick enough and the Aces got away with a run after all. The next two innings were calm, but Saverio Piepoli hit a leadoff single in the seventh inning, then moved around on groundouts, standing on third base with two outs and Jimmy Hubbard pinch-hitting. He was a left-hander, and the Coons hadn’t scored, so Piepoli was the tying run. Jason Kaiser replaced Guerrero, struck out Hubbard, and the 2-1 lead made it through seven. When Olivares drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning, Kaiser remained in the game for a bunt, but snapped the ball back to Johnson, who turned a double play. Cookie got on with a walk, stole second again, but was left on when Yoshi lined out to center.

The Aces were about to break through the Coons’ pitching staff again in the eighth inning. Mathis was in, but walked Mike Cook (long ago one piece in the “Dingus” Morales trade that yielded Cookie to us) to start the frame and allowed a single to Navarro. Two on, one out, Thrasher came in, got Hamilton to ground out, but then the runners were in scoring position for Alvarez, and my confidence in Davis was a bit lacking. So Thrasher faced the right-hander, who ripped an 0-1 pitch to left, Cookie hustling in, sliding – GOT IT!! Inning over! Bottom 8th, Nunley grounded out against John Key before Mendoza singled to right. DeWeese walked in Jackson’s place, and McKnight filled the bags with a single, giving the bases loaded with one out to … DeWald. Margolis batted for him, wiggled the stick while licking his lips in the box, hacked and missed, hacked and missed, hacked and looped a ball to left center and IN! Mendoza across, DeWeese across, 4-1! Olivares and Prince then made outs, stranding two, before Jeff Boynton took the ball for the ninth inning. The tying run was at the plate immediately – Piepoli and Rice hit singles to center. Corey Curro grounded to McKnight, but the only out was on second, and Rich Arrieta grounded out to first, which scored Piepoli and moved Curro to second. Tony Perez pinch-hit, 0-for-2 on the season, the count ran full, and after a battle that lasted nine pitches, Perez swung and missed and the game was in the books. 4-2 Critters! Nomura 2-4, 2B; Mendoza 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Guerrero 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-2) and 1-2;

That is four games in a row with at most four runs scored by the offense. Must I be worried?

Game 3
LVA: CF A. Martinez – 1B Duling – 2B I. Alvarez – RF M. Hamilton – SS Navarro – C T. Perez – LF Piepoli – 3B Burke – P Clements
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Abe

This time, the Aces got the first run, drilling two extra base hits into the rightfield corner in the second inning off Abe. Hamilton’s leadoff double in the second was followed by a Piepoli triple, with Abe getting Burke to end the inning. The Coons had an immediate answer however after going silently in the first inning. Mendoza hit a single and took second base by force, his third steal of the year that also took away the double play that Margolis might have bounced into. Instead, Mendoza went to third and scored on McKnight’s single to left, and then Andy Bareford tripled to right center to give the home team the lead, 2-1. DeWeese, with the runner on third and one out, struck out uselessly, and Abe couldn’t help himself but pop out easily to leave Bareford on. Abe would have Martinez on base in the third, Martinez stole second and reached third on a wild pitch, but was then stranded, while Cookie, who singled to start the bottom of the inning, would not be stranded. Yoshi Nomura rammed his fifth homer of the season outta rightfield, putting the Coons 4-1 ahead.

The Raccoons would not be stopped at four runs this time, although the next runner to score, Nunley, reached on an error by Navarro. After that, Mendoza singled, and Margolis hit a lucky blooper to right that bounced into foul ground and away from Hamilton for an RBI double. After that, Clements alternated walks and whiffs; McKnight walked, Bareford whiffed, DeWeese walked (and pushed in a run with a walk for the second time in the series), and Abe struck out. That was only the second out in a looong inning, and it got longer still, with Cookie rolling a single past Navarro to plate a pair, 8-1, which was also the signal for Clements to be removed and beaten senseless by the bullpen. Stephen Quirion replaced him with an ERA over five, but got Yoshi to fly out to center to end the inning during which the Coons scored half a dozen and sent up 11 batters. The Coons weren’t stopping yet. They scored a run on three singles off Quirion in the fourth, and in the sixth everything fell apart for the Aces, with a gross error by Piepoli, another three base hits and a wicked wild pitch that scored one of the three runs in the inning by Quirion, who was relieved soon after. G.G. Williams and Pedro Alvarado would restore order for the Aces, while Abe silently and almost unnoticed pitched into the ninth inning, facing the 2-3-4 batters while starting with 101 pitches. Mike Duling reached on an error by Nomura, and then Alvarez grounded to McKnight, and McKnight missed it! Two errors to start the inning …!! I must - … I must fain– … 12-2 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, 2 RBI; Mendoza 3-5; Margolis 2-4, 2B, RBI; McKnight 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Bareford 3-4, 3B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Abe 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (7-2);

Maud told me that Abe struck out Matt Hamilton to regain control and finished the game in style, but I didn’t regain consciousness until after everybody else had left, including players and most personnel.

Raccoons (34-16) @ Loggers (31-22) – June 5-7, 2020

The Loggers had been 1 1/2 back at the start of the week, but had been swept by the Falcons. They had been shut out on Wednesday. They had scored nine on Monday and still lost, bleeding a dozen. They were thus now 4 1/2 back, and they were still in second place in the North. If we could take the series against them, we might have a bit of breathing room as spring turned to summer. The Loggers ranked fourth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, with a +15 run differential that was also not exactly great by June. The Coons were so far 4-1 against them in 2020.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (6-1, 2.47 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (4-5, 4.07 ERA)
Cole Pierson (4-5, 3.97 ERA) vs. Julio San Pedro (4-1, 4.56 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-0, 2.35 ERA) vs. Luis Guerrero (1-5, 7.20 ERA)

We expect a left-hander only on Sunday, but the Loggers also had Thursday off, and they could skip San Pedro to also move their second southpaw into the series, Chris Sinkhorn (7-4, 2.87 ERA). It might not be a bad strategy!

Like the Aces, the Loggers also had four men on the DL, and they were all batters. The biggest blow without a doubt was the injury to Chris LeMoine, who led the team with 35 RBI and was a consistent .280 batter with plenty of punch, having hit 114 dingers in the last four years. Brad Tesch was the only other regular on the DL, but reserves Emilio Farias and Javier Gonzalez were also out with injuries, with only Farias close to returning among the group.

The Loggers also have some dead meat in the lineup, which includes not only Adrian Quebell (.203, 2 HR, 6 RBI), but also Mike Denny, who signed a 3-yr, $4.1M contract with them and was currently failing with a .163 clip and 5 HR and 15 RBI.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Toner
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – RF Gore – C Denny – 3B Velez – LF Seeley – 1B Quebell – P McCaskill

Toner was ready in time to make the start (although the high-pitched screams from the Druid’s (mis?)treatment had resonated throughout Raccoons Ballpark for several days earlier in the week), but started iffy, losing Tyler Stewart in a 3-1 count, whiffing Kyle Burns in a full count, and allowing a hard single to Ian Coleman at 2-0. After that, Brad Gore and the wildly adrift Denny struck out to strand the pair. While Denny looked like a 4-year old lost at the mall, DeWeese showed signs of life. After McKnight and Bareford got on with singles in the second, DeWeese blasted a shot to right that was outta here right away, no question about it. The 3-run homer was the first tally in the game, but those three runs were nothing against the beating that Toner took in the bottom of the inning, which started again with one of those ****ing leadoff walks, and then the Loggers started rapping off singles. Jason Seeley singled, McCaskill singled, Tyler Stewart singled, and Kyle Burns even tripled to the fence. Things kept going, some hits were soft, but more were hit hard, and soon enough Toner was trailing 4-3 with runners on the corners and was about to get yanked. Brad Gore batted with one out, flew out softly to DeWeese in shallow left, Denny drew a full count walk (…), and Velez was going to be the last batter for Toner unless he removed him. Velez struck out, but the raging damage had been done, not only with four runs, but also six hits and three walks in those two innings, which had taken Toner 65 pitches.

Toner retired another five in a row before Coleman and Gore lined back-to-back 2-out doubles in the bottom of the fourth inning. Toner threw a wild pitch, walked Denny on four pitches total, and that was enough. We could not bear seeing any more of this; 3.2 innings, eight hits, four walks, and the baseball gods know how many runs once the Loggers would be done with Jason Kaiser. Thankfully, Alberto Velez popped out to Yoshi on two pitches, ending the inning with a manageable 5-3 deficit for the Coons. The Raccoons had the tying runs on base with two outs in the fifth, but Margolis’ drive to left was caught on the track by another ex-Coon in Seeley, and the Loggers soon moved further away from the Raccoons. Chun lost Burns to a walk in the bottom 6th, with an RBI triple by Coleman right on the heels. Gore hit an infield single and was caught stealing before Denny popped out, but the deficit was now three runs. Top 7th, a single by Cookie and an error by Quebell brought up Mendoza as the tying run, but he grounded to Stewart, who elected the play on Nunley on second base. That left runners on the corners for Margolis with two outs for the second time, and for the second time he flew to deep left – but this time it went past Seeley for a 2-run double! McKnight choked on a pitch inside, popped up and the inning ended with the tying run in scoring position…

Thrasher pitched in the bottom 7th, with Velez on with a leadoff single. Seeley and Quebell made outs, and with with two down and Velez on second, the fourth ex-Coon hitter reared his ugly head, a 34-year old Ricardo Martinez appearing in the box as pinch-hitter for McCaskill. Joel Davis replaced Thrasher and blazed Martinez, who had been 4-for-12 this season before getting frozen on a breaking ball here. Prince and Cookie hit 2-out singles in the eighth off Ivan Morales, but Yoshi flew out to Seeley to waste another opportunity. It was their last; left-hander Quinn MacCarthy murdered the 3-4-5 batters quickly in the ninth inning. 6-5 Loggers. Carmona 3-5; Bareford 2-4; Kaiser 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Well, that one sucked, badly. That one really hurts.

That one HURTS.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Pierson
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – RF Gore – CF Coleman – 3B Velez – LF Cooper – C Wool – 1B Quebell – P L. Guerrero

No San Pedro, as left-handers would oppose another in this series, but we weren’t quite sure whether that was an arrangement that would last any meaningful amount of time, since Pierson got under the wheels of the bus right away. The first four Loggers all hit vicious line drives, resulting in a Stewart doubled, Burns single, Gore RBI single, and Coleman lined out to Mendoza, the unlucky sod. Nevertheless, the runners pulled off a double steal, one run scored on a passed ball, the other on a sac fly by Velez, and then Andrew Cooper still singled to right to threaten to continue the inning before Josh Wool’s fly was caught by Cookie in leftfield. That didn’t end the massacre; it only suspended it. Bottom 2nd, leadoff single by Quebell (and sharply so), and although Guerrero’s bunt was bad and forced out the runner, a single by Stewart and a walk drawn by Burns loaded the bases. Ron Richards batted next, the fifth ex-Coon among the Loggers batters, as he had replaced Gore due to injury in the top of the second inning. Richards blooped a single to right to score two runs, 5-0, Coleman popped up, but Pierson walked Velez to load the bases and threatened to walk Cooper with two down and the bags packed until Cooper flew out to Cookie on 3-1. Pierson faced only one more batter, allowing a leadoff single to Wool in the bottom 3rd before getting yanked and kicked down the stairs of the tunnel to the clubhouse.

In between, the Raccoons had placed runners in scoring position in every one of their half innings, and had scored nobody. In the third, they had loaded the bases with one out, and then Jackson hit into a double play. Cowen replaced ChrOnic LosEr Pierson, but conceded two runs right in the third inning; Wool scored on a single by Stewart after Guerrero’s bunt, Stewart stole second base, and then scored on Burns’ single. It just kept going, 7-0 after three, and the Coons put runners in scoring position for more innings. In the fourth, McKnight doubled and was left out to die. In the fifth, Cowen(!) singled, moved up on a groundout by Cookie, and was left out to die. In the sixth, Jackson opened with a single, and Margolis doubled past Cooper into left, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. McKnight flew out to center, with Coleman coming in, Jackson went and was mowed down at home plate, and Margolis was stranded on third base when Prince grounded out. In the seventh, Yoshi walked while pinch-hitting and Cookie added a 1-out single. Bareford grounded to Burns, who forced out Cookie, but runners remained on the corners with two outs. Mendoza walked in a full count, and a melting Guerrero walked Jackson on four pitches to FINALLY GIVE THE COONS A RUN. They got another one when Ron Bartlatt replaced Guerrero and threw a wild pitch, but that was it, Margolis’ 3-2 drive to left being caught by Cooper. This was not even enough to instill hope in the hopelessly hopeful, and Joel Davis coughed up a run right away in the bottom of the inning. Nope, the Raccoons lost that one HARD. 8-3 Loggers. Mendoza 3-4, BB, 2B; McKnight 2-4, 2 2B;

Funny thing: Adrian Quebell is hitting 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

YOU DON’T SAY.

San Pedro would appear after all on Sunday, and we would need Santos to hold this one tight, because getting swept by the Loggers was not exactly how I imagined following up extending our lead in the North to almost a handful of games.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Santos
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – RF Seeley – C Denny – 3B Velez – LF Cooper – 1B Quebell – P San Pedro

While Cookie grounded out to Burns to start the Sunday game, San Pedro soon had the bases loaded with one out, hitting McKnight while allowing hard singles to Yoshi and Mendoza. Margolis and Nunley struck out to continue the misery. The Coons wouldn’t be close to sniffing a run for a while, and while Santos allowed only one runner the first time through the order, whiffing three, the Loggers put pressure on him in the fourth inning with an Ian Coleman double, after which Santos lost Seeley (batting .285 with two homers) to a walk right away. Denny whiffed for the second out, dropping his average under .160, and Velez grounded out to Nunley, who was cold at the plate right now, but still an asset in the field. The following inning the Loggers had the leadoff man Cooper on with a walk, but Santos whiffed Quebell, got the free out from San Pedro, and then good support again from Bareford, who caught Stewart’s liner to center. The leadoff men kept getting on … for Milwaukee. Burns legged out an infield single to start the sixth, and while he was forced out on Coleman’s grounder, Seeley singled hard to center. Denny was just completely lost now, struck out pathetically, and Velez grounded out in front of home plate, Margolis zinging to first base to end that inning. Were the Raccoons even taking their turns at-bat? The scoreboard did claim so, but I’d be damned if I could remember any plate appearance by them in at least an hour.

A leadoff single by Margolis in the seventh had to be declared the point that would incinerate the team and light them on fire to score a few for Santos in a game that was still scoreless. Or maybe Nunley would hit right into a double play. Yeah, that would be more fitting. Santos gave his all for seven innings, keeping the Loggers shut out and maintaining undefeated status. After a poor out by DeWeese against Justin Carlin to start the eighth inning, Jackson batted for Santos with one out and worked a walk to become the go-ahead run, except that he never moved off first base as Cookie popped out and Yoshi rolled out to Quebell. Boynton and Kaiser pieced together the bottom 8th, keeping the Loggers down, and the top 9th saw another 1-out base-runner, this time Mendoza hitting a single off MacCarthy. Then Margolis hit into a double play. Why. For ****’s sake. Why.

The game went to extras when Kaiser pitched the ninth in scoreless fashion and also retired the batting MacCarthy to start the bottom 10th, still in a scoreless drag. Mathis replaced him and got a grounder to short from Stewart before whiffing Burns. There was briefly some form of commotion in the 11th after a 2-out double by Yoshi off ex-Coons farmhand Salvadaro Soure (which is an odd introduction for a successful closer with 494 career saves), but McKnight’s pathetic roller was not harder than breakfast for Alberto Velez. Denny hit a 2-out single off Mathis in the bottom 11th, but besides lighting up fireworks for their primary catcher being above .160 again, nothing happened for the Loggers, either. Denny didn’t have a golden sombrero either, despite trying very hard, but when Thrasher struck out the side in the bottom 12th, Cooper arrived at that unhappy place. Still not arriving at a conclusion: the game.

Top 13th, Bareford led off with a soft single to left. Olivares had just come in with Thrasher in a double switch and grounded to the pitcher, Soure still, who forced out Bareford at second. Petracek singled to right center, putting two on for an 0-for-5 Cookie who was well due a knock, but popped out to Coleman in shallow center. Shambles! It’s all in shambles! And then – Yoshi! A drive to left! PAST COOPER! PAST COLEMAN! PAST ALL THE ****ERS INTO THE GAP!! Both runners scored, despite the plenty hours weighing on even the legs of the replacements. McKnight fouled out on a 3-1 pitch, sending the 2-0 game to the bottom of the 13th, where we struck with Thrasher despite the 1-2 batters being right-handed, but of the relievers we had left, none were well rested after a long series for the pen. Thrasher it was, we decreed! Stewart grounded out. Burns was blazed. Good, now we get left-handed bats! Coleman struck out – RON THRASHER WITH THE WIN! 2-0 Blighters! Nomura 4-6, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-5; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K; Kaiser 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Mathis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (3-1);

In other news

June 1 – Denver’s RF Tom Reese (.253, 4 HR, 24 RBI) opens June with a bang, hitting a walkoff grand slam to beat the Miners, 10-6.
June 2 – DAL INF Raul Maldonado (.392, 1 HR, 33 RBI) runs his hitting streak to 25 games with a 2-for-4 day against the Blue Sox. The Stars lose 3-2, but the pair of singles keeps Maldonado’s hitting string alive.
June 3 – Another hitting streak to take note of, as LAP RF Mario Diaz (.325, 3 HR, 16 RBI) has connected in 20 straight games with one hit in the Pacifics’ 9-2 win over the Cyclones.
June 3 – New York’s SP Dave Butler (5-2, 4.06 ERA) strikes out ten in a 3-hit shutout, 5-0, over the Condors.
June 3 – The Bayhawks acquire MR Jim Cushing (0-5, 5.11 ERA, 8 SV) from the Wolves, who receive a prospect.
June 4 – Worried expressions around San Francisco, with SFB OF Dave Garcia (.359, 9 HR, 37 RBI) having gone down with a concussion. They hope to have him back by the end of the month.
June 4 – The Thunder send INF Eric Paull (.289, 3 HR, 17 RBI) to the Warriors in exchange for three prospects.
June 5 – Another hitting streak! WAS C Matt Wittner (.310, 4 HR, 33 RBI) has connected in 20 straight games with an RBI double in the Capitals 5-3 loss to the Miners.
June 6 – DAL INF Raul Maldonado (.412, 1 HR, 36 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 28 games in style, rapping out five hits in a 9-8 win of the Stars over the Gold Sox.

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders and Indians played an even longer game on Sunday, taking 14 innings before the Crusaders secured a 6-5 walkoff win, but at least that team saw some scoring and not just endless processions of inept batters killed off by routinely excellent pitching. That Yoshi deal is already worth it. Without him, that game would have gone 30 innings until one team would have chained together an error, a balk, and a wild pitch to lose, somehow.

Pierson, as you might guess, is REALLY going on my tits. If things go according to me, he can suck out the rest of his $450k deal in AAA for all I care. The thing is, Travis Garrett stunk it up last year, why should he be better this time? The walk numbers are still not anywhere near pretty.

We have another week before the draft, and we will start a long string of games on the road now, starting Tuesday in Indy. We will also face Nashville, Denver, New York, and Boston in the upcoming 16-game string.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-18) @ Indians (27-30) – June 9-11, 2020

Ten games out in the North, the Indians were looking to make up ground against the Raccoons, who had won only one of four games so far this season from the Indians. Indy was eighth in runs scored, but tied for fourth in runs conceded, with all the hopes on the pitching staff now. They also had actually scored more runs than they had allowed, so they might not be a sub-.500 team after all.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (3-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (5-2, 3.40 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-2, 3.05 ERA) vs. Zach Weaver (2-5, 4.56 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-2, 3.05 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (4-3, 2.54 ERA)

We may only see Lamb from among their three southpaws, but they also had an off day and enjoy shuffle potential.

The Indians were without their primary catcher Jayden Jolley (.236, 4 HR, 22 RBI), who had broken a finger over the weekend and was out until the All Star Game. He joined four other players on the DL, including Danny Morales and Jared D’Attilo.

Matt Nunley started the week in a 3-for-28 rut and had already been moved out of the #3 slot at the end of last week.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Guerrero
IND: CF Faulk – SS Matias – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – 2B Kym – 3B P. Cruz – C Mancuso – P Lambert

What exactly was the Indians’ dark magic against the Raccoons, who were usually struggling to win a meaningful amount of games against the Arrowheads year after year? Well, what the **** do I know? I only know it struck right in the first inning, as the Indians raped a harmless Bobby Guerrero for five hits, including three doubles, and scored four runs. A.J. Faulk and Mike Rucker had been the first to find the gaps, and a walk to Cesar Martinez was a neat help the Indians didn’t quite need. Lowell Genge and Jong-beom Kym both hit singles, Kym’s scoring the second run, and Pedro Cruz plated two with a double. This game ticked a lot of boxes early, including a rain delay scarcely longer than ten minutes, and both teams scoring two runs in the third inning. The Coons got their runs on a DeWald single, defensive ineptness, a wild pitch, and a lucky single by Ronnie McKnight before Dumbo Mendoza hit squarely to short to leave the bases loaded. In the bottom of the inning the bases were loaded for Nolan Mancuso, who hit an 0-2 pitch to shallow center to plate the Indians’ next two runs. Guerrero didn’t go much further than that. The offense was selectively terrible, with Matt Nunley hitting into not one, but two double plays, and the middle innings were entirely uneventful for either side, with Lambert holding the opposition to the minimum threat level, and the Indians not getting much done against Seung-mo Chun, either. The top 7th saw back-to-back doubles to start the inning, DeWald and Bareford both going to right for their extra base hits. Cookie grounded out to short, but Yoshi, McKnight, and Mendoza hit three straight singles to chase home Bareford and load the bases in what was now a 6-4 game. Lambert remained in the game to face Margolis, who got ahead in the count and singled hard up the middle in a 2-1 count. Yoshi scored, and – oh ****, Nunley’s next! Run, Ronnie, run! A.J. Faulk’s throw was good, but a wee bit late, and McKnight slid across with the tying run just barely safe.

Even at six, with runners on first and second and one out, Eddie Jackson didn’t hit for DeWeese, but already hit for Nunley as the Indians sent lefty reliever Allen Reed into the game. The two ran an 8-pitch at-bat before Reed lost Jackson to a walk, loading the bases. Ezequiel Olivares now hit for DeWeese, another full count ensued, and then Reed threw in the dirt to push home the go-ahead run with no place to put Olivares at. That was the last run in the Coons’ 5-spot. Faulk caught DeWald’s soft pop in shallow center – no chance for the hemiplegic Margolis to come home – and Bareford struck out. The 7-6 lead almost was blown right away in the bottom of the inning, with Jeff Boynton conceding singles to Rucker and Martinez, who went to the corners with one out. Ron Thrasher replaced him to face Genge, but the Indians sent right-hander Bobby Eason instead, who fell behind 0-2 before grounding to short. McKnight to Yoshi to Mendoza, inning over! The eighth consisted of Joel Davis conceding drives to the warning track that somehow were all caught, and we went to Mathis for the ninth, which started with replacement player Ryan Georges batting ninth. Georges had no hits on the season, but a walk, and Mathis handed him another one, also making him the tying run. GOOD JOB. Faulk doubled on the very next pitch, so now the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position, and why exactly does Mathis not have any saves this year…? Raul Matias grounded back to Mathis for the first out, the runners had to hold. That brought up the left-handed Rucker, who was real danger and walked intentionally. The wicked plan was to get a double play from Martinez and win that way. It is only then a stupid idea if it doesn’t work. The count ran full, this was gonna hurt … except that Martinez grounded to short, and it was McKnight to Yoshi to Mendoza all over again. 7-6 Raccoons!! McKnight 3-5, RBI; Margolis 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Olivares (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; DeWald 2-4, 2B; Prince (PH) 1-1; Bareford (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Chun 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1);

BOY, WHAT A ****ED UP GAME!! We really didn’t deserve it, but the Loggers opened the week with consecutive losses and thus gave us a lead of exactly a handful by Tuesday night.

No Weaver on Wednesday, with Kyle Lamb taking the start. Time to give Nunley a day off.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 2B Nomura – SS Prince – 3B Petracek – P Abe
IND: CF Faulk – SS Matias – 1B M. Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – 2B Kym – 3B P. Cruz – C Mancuso – P Lamb

Singles by Yoshi and Tim Prince, followed by a walk to Petracek loaded the bases with one out in the second inning, with the decidedly non-hitting Abe coming up. The only run the Raccoons got in the inning came on Lamb’s wild pitch to start the at-bat with Abe, who then lined out quite hard to Pedro Cruz. Cookie flew out to Lowell Genge in left to end the inning. Lamb kept being beleaguered, having Bareford and Jackson in scoring position in the third inning with nobody out. Mendoza lined out to Raul Matias, who tumbled backwards after making the catch, which was really all that kept Jackson from being doubled off. You would expect more reading skills in terms of ball flight patterns from a grizzled veteran like him…! After that bad break, Margolis hit an RBI single up the middle, Yoshi walked to fill the bags, and then Prince hit a 3-2 pitch to right for an RBI single, 3-0. Petracek ran another full count, but this time put the ball in play, grounding into a double play to Cruz, ending the inning. The Indians pulled a run back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Nolan Mancuso double to start the frame, and then a wild pitch by Abe that moved him to third *after* Lamb had struck out bunting, allowing Faulk to plate Mancuso with a sac fly to Jackson.

Lamb would allow ten hits in five innings, but the Raccoons were terrible at converting chances and also hit into three double plays in total, preventing them from getting further than the three runs they had. Meanwhile, the Indians only got three hits off Abe in five innings, but would score another run in the fifth. That one was unearned; Cruz reached on a throwing error by Brian Petracek, and Bobby Eason batted for Lamb with two down and doubled to left to score Cruz. Abe retired Matias on a grounder to start the sixth… and then nobody else for the rest of the horrendous inning. Rucker walked, and the bases filled up with singles by Martinez and Genge. Abe lost Kym in a full count to force in the tying run, and Pedro Cruz knocked him from the game with a single to center that scored two, 5-3 now for the home team. Boynton replaced Abe, clumsily walked Mancuso, but then got a double play grounder from Ryan Georges to escape the tremendous mess, albeit behind. The Raccoons would only have one more base runner in the remaining three innings as they were completely shut down by the Indians bullpen. The guys in there pitched four no-hit innings, and only Yoshi worked a walk in the eighth inning, then was quickly double-played away by Prince, who at least ended the nightmare with a leaping grab on Silvestro Roncero in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and Adam Cowen not getting anywhere with his ‘pitching’. 5-3 Indians. Carmona 2-5; Margolis 2-4, RBI; Nomura 2-2, 2 BB; Prince 2-4, RBI;

Our ten hits off Lamb were all singles, and our three stolen bases (including one by Jackson, his first in three years) did not amount to anything, either. We probably didn’t deserve to lose this one, but we didn’t deserve the win the one on Tuesday, so we will just call it a wash and try to nibble away the rubber game, playing the wild card Toner in that one.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Toner
IND: CF Faulk – SS Matias – 1B Rucker – RF C. Martinez – LF Genge – 2B Kym – 3B P. Cruz – C Mancuso – P Weaver

The Coons had two men on in the opening inning and left Yoshi’s and McKnight’s singles unused when Mendoza struck out and Margolis grounded over and out to Cruz at the hot corner. In the second, they got another two runners in Nunley (struck in the arm) and DeWeese (walked). DeWald grounded to second base, but Matias was taken out by certified arse DeWeese to break up the double play in deathmatch fashion. It didn’t help, because the Raccoons still wouldn’t score, with Toner grounding out and Cookie Carmona whiffing. Mendoza hit into a double play in the third to erase Yoshi’s leadoff single… Before Cookie was caught stealing in the fifth, Toner grounded out to strand two in the fourth, but at least he was forgiven, since he kept the Indians shut out, whiffing eight in five innings while scattering four hits, the most dangerous of which had been Cruz’ leadoff double in the bottom 5th, but Cruz never got to even third base.

On to the sixth, where Mendoza singled to left to get the team started once more. Margolis flew into the gap, Martinez lunged but missed it and Mendoza and Margolis reached scoring position on the double that was cut off near the track by A.J. Faulk. And again, merry hitting ended there. Nunley’s groundout to short at least produced ANY kind of run, and the first in the game, but after DeWeese was intentionally walked, DeWald was snuffed out mercilessly by the reeling Weaver. Toner singled to right with two outs this time, but Margolis was never going to score from second base against Martinez’ murder arm, leaving the bases loaded for Cookie, who was in his own funk and had a hard time making the ball go past the infielders. He grounded a 2-2 pitch to the right side, Rucker lunged and missed it, and it was into shallow rightfield! Margolis scored, DeWeese scored with blind disregard for anybody’s personal safety, raising his spikes at least two feet above the ground as he slid across – while Mancuso never made an attempt to tag him, for no ball reached him; Kym had cut off the throw. Toner scored on Yoshi’s single up the rightfield line that Martinez managed to cut off, and McKnight’s strikeout ended a 4-run inning.

Toner survived a Matias double to lead off the sixth and ended up with seven shutout innings, whiffing eleven. The Indians started to hit the ball well in the seventh, and he was also already over 100 pitches, so there was no point in pushing him any further, plus he could be hit for in the eighth. While nothing happened there, Matt Nunley would get a much-needed RBI single for confidence-rebuilding reasons in the ninth inning, and with two down, and off a left-hander, Killian Savoie, too! The Coons had used Chun in the bottom 8th, but he put Matias and Rucker on base with little in terms of gains. Joel Davis replaced him, got a first-pitch double play to end the inning from Martinez, then also finished the ninth as the Coons claimed the series. 5-0 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, 2 RBI; Nomura 3-5, RBI; McKnight 2-5; Mendoza 3-5; DeWeese 1-2, 2 BB; Toner 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W (7-2) and 1-3; Davis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (5);

Joel Davis needed only 13 pitches for those five outs, which is an average that Jonny Toner might try one of these days.

Raccoons (37-19) vs. Blue Sox (28-31) – June 12-14, 2020

The Blue Sox were third in the FL East while posting a lot of middling numbers. Seventh in both runs scored and runs allowed in the FL was only the beginning for them, but their rotation was sixth in ERA, their pen was eighth. Fifth in homers, eighth in defense … there were very few things they either excelled or were very bad at. They were 11th in stolen bases in the Federal League with only 13 sacks taken, or exactly as many as Cookie had at this point.

It was tradition for the series winner to alternate between these teams whenever they met (or at least throughout the 2010s). None of the last six series had ended in sweeps, and the Blue Sox had taken two of three from the Coons last year, so the Raccoons would win two of three this year.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. Matt McCabe (2-3, 3.40 ERA)
Cole Pierson (4-6, 4.72 ERA) vs. Alex Contreras (1-1, 3.76 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-2, 3.55 ERA) vs. Mike Lake (3-5, 3.09 ERA)

All their starters were right-handed. They had a few injuries, including outfielder Ruben Cervantes, who had batted .320 before hitting the DL with a broken foot in late May and would be on crutches for at least another week.

Probably it will be Pierson to blow his start. This is a bit of a last-ditch opportunity for him. If he doesn’t please me on Saturday, I am willing to take a look at Travis Garrett.

Note that Hugo Mendoza has ONE RBI in the last 11 games. I fear the very worst.

Game 1
NAS: CF R. Romero – LF Beckwith – RF Schorsch – SS Muller – 3B M. Green – C Leal – 1B R. Mendez – 2B B. Torres – P McCabe
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Santos

Santos struck out three in the opening inning, but not without allowing a double to Myles Beckwith, walking Tom Schorsch, and conceding a run on John Muller’s single to left. Santos struck out five but also allowed five hits in the first three innings, and somehow escaped further damage, while the Raccoons hit into double plays in the first (Mendoza) and second (Bareford) to keep up with their terrible success on groundballs this week. When the Blue Sox donated them a chance in the third, with McCabe throwing a bean to Santos that resulted in a single, and Tom Schorsch blatantly dropping Yoshi’s fly to right for a 2-base error, McKnight grounded out harmlessly to Bobby Torres to end the inning. The offensive struggles only ended with Santos; DeWeese had doubled with one out in the fifth inning, finding the gap between Beckwith and Ricardo Romero. Santos swung away and looped a ball near the leftfield line where Beckwith had no chance to make a catch – not even remotely. Santos came up with an RBI double to take himself off the hook, and then the hits started to fall in. Cookie singled to right, Nomura singled to left and through Mike Green to plate Santos with the go-ahead run. McKnight grounded to Torres, who only got Yoshi at second base, putting men on the corners for Mendoza, who had the single RBI in 11 games. Even an RBI single would be great now! But, oh, why bother with these miniscules and non-goals when you had a guy who could win you the world with a single rip? Mendoza got a good pitch to hit at 2-1, right on hip level, and BLASTED a shot out of centerfield, right over the 418’ mark to explode the score to 5-1!

Santos would be denied a shutdown inning … or even to finish the sixth. After a leadoff single by John Muller, McKnight butchered Mike Green’s grounder for an error. While Armando Leal hit to Yoshi for a double play, Muller remained at third and scored when Rich Mendez bombed Santos for two unearned runs. Torres singled to knock Santos from the 5-3 game. With lefty pinch-hitter Steve Butler appearing in the box, we went to Jason Kaiser, who struck out Butler to get out of the damn inning. Kaiser got the Coons through the seventh, too, in the bottom of which the Critters got a run, somehow. DeWald and Cookie had led off with singles to go to the corners. After Cookie was caught stealing, the Sox walked Nomura, but McKnight still got a run home with a groundout. The extra cushion turned out not to be direly needed. The Blue Sox only got one more runner, Mike Green walking against Mathis in the eighth. In the ninth, Davis retired the Sox in order, although that only tells half of the inning, as Bobby Torres, Winston Jones, and Ricardo Romero all sent deep drives to left, but DeWeese caught up with all of them. 6-3 Furballs. Carmona 2-4; Nomura 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; DeWald (PH) 1-1; Kaiser 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Mendoza went deep for the 20th time this season, and despite not having hit one in two weeks, he still held the lead in the Continental League, with ATL Gil Rockwell being second with 17 dingers. Tijuana’s own Jimmy Oatmeal was in third with 14.

Game 2
NAS: 3B M. Green – SS Muller – 1B S. Butler – RF W. Jones – CF Schorsch – LF Beckwith – 2B R. Mendez – C Leal – P Contreras
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – P Pierson

Despite a clean first inning, extra rest had not done any wonders to Cole Pierson, who punched his ticket to St. Petersburg by the second inning. A leadoff walk to Winston Jones was bad enough; Schorsch singled, and while Beckwith hit into a double play, Jones had gone to third earlier and now scored the first run of the game. Okay, big deal, it’s only a run. Soon enough, it was three runs. Mendez singled, Leal tripled, and then even the ****ing pitcher hit an RBI single off Pierson. AND with two outs. Pierson didn’t finish the inning, walking Green before surrendering run-scoring extra-base drives to Muller and Butler. Down 6-0, Cowen took over and closed Pierson’s diabolic line with a K to Jones. Contreras was perfect the first time through the order, which pretty much ended the game and delayed our attempts to take the series win that the universe owed us to Sunday.

Well… maybe not. McKnight got the Coons first hit in the game with a 2-out single in the bottom of the fourth. Mendoza walked, and soon enough the Raccoons had two runs on the board, although an errant pickoff throw by Contreras played a certain role in that. DeWeese’ leadoff jack in the fifth got the team halfway, 6-3. Not much else happened in the middle innings apart from that, with the Coons’ pen doing some good work out there to keep the Blue Sox close. Kaiser was pitching in the seventh and walked Jones with two down. Schorsch sent a drive to deep right, but Cookie made a running catch in the gap to get the fans excited and hopeful. Momentum carried Cookie most of the way to centerfield, but that was already more momentum than the rest of the team had combined in them. No Coon reached in the seventh, and no Coon reached in the eighth. In the ninth, the cocky Blue Sox first left runners on the corners against a wobbling Seung-mo Chun, then sent right-hander Jimmy Lee and his 8.28 ERA into the save situation. He also had 19 walks to his 15 strikeouts in 25 innings. What kind of invitation was that, and can we appear smart casual and with some fat stains on the shirt already? Nobody appeared smart, not even casual. The Raccoons’ Mendoza, Bareford, and Jackson hit three hard balls to the outfield, and all three were caught by either Schorsch or leftfield replacement Ricardo Romero. 6-3 Blue Sox. Cowen 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Mathis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Chun 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Nothing to complain about, really. When you only have four hits – bunched into two innings – you can’t expect to win anything.

Pierson was gone after falling to 4-7 with a 5.46 ERA. He was no longer possible to drag through games. Pierson made his situation even worse by refusing to be demoted, so was placed on waivers and designated for assignment. Travis Garrett (5-3, 4.19 ERA in AAA…) was called up as replacement and would start on Monday, eventually giving everybody (and himself) an extra off day.

Game 3
NAS: CF R. Romero – LF Beckwith – 1B S. Butler – RF Schorsch – SS Muller – 3B M. Green – C Leal – 2B B. Torres – P Lake
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – RF Jackson – CF DeWald – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero

While the Raccoons would not get a hit the first time through the order for the second day in a row, the Blue Sox had plenty of runners to stand around watching Guerrero do whatever it was he did. A Green single and Leal double put runners in scoring position in the second, with Bobby Torres’ groundout the only loot that frame. One inning later, Guerrero filled the bags by completely failing to remove any left-handed batter, walking Beckwith and Butler before Schorsch singled. John Muller plated a run on a sac fly before Green struck out to end the inning. While the Coons hit a few balls well, Yoshi to right f.e. and Jackson to center, the second time through the order, they were still not getting into the H column. An error lit up for them, McKnight losing a ball in transfer in the sixth inning, but that was all. Ricardo Romero’s 2-out triple knocked out Guerrero in the seventh, but Thrasher got Beckwith to pop up on a single pitch to end that inning.

The score was still 2-0 for the Blue Sox, and the Raccoons did not have much time left to make it up. The unassuming Mike Lake’s no-hitter went up in smoke right at the start of the seventh inning, with Yoshi singling to center on a 1-2 pitch. McKnight’s soft roller found a hole between Torres and Butler to escape for a single, and now Mendoza was already the go-ahead run. Swing, Hugo, swing! Swing and win! He swung and grounded out to Butler, as did Margolis, which kept the runners in scoring position. Eddie Jackson sent a 2-1 pitch to deep center, and Romero was making another mad dash for it, but would not get this one. Jackson’s double tied the game, and DeWald grounded out to leave things to Thrasher and friends. There would not be much Thrasher in the first place, with PH Winston Jones singling to left. Schorsch struck out, after which Boynton took over and drilled John Muller with an 0-2 pitch. Green and Leal would both send drives to center. Bareford had entered in a double switch with Boynton and defused both rockets, starving runners on the corners eventually, but things got hardly better for him in the ninth. Bobby Torres’ leadoff double spelled trouble, and while Boynton struck out the next two batters, Beckwith found shallow center for a single, and Torres dashed home to put the Coons into the impossible situation where they would lose the game, 3-2, and the series. This was impossible. Series wins always alternate with the Blue Sox and it’s the Coons’ turn! Yoshi led off with a single to left against Jimmy Lee(!), and McKnight also lifted a single over Muller’s head. The winning run was already on with nobody out, and with any other batter than Mendoza you might be tempted to bunt. But this was Mendoza. He could snuff out Jimmy ****ing Lee with one swing. But he didn’t, and rolled over to Green, whose only play was at first, so at least we got the bunt effect of the runners advancing. Danny Margolis hit a HARD liner – right into Torres’ glove, which Torres then had to take off to see whether any bones were shattered and spiking out of the mangled hand. Nope, good to go, but – what about the law of alternate series wins? Had the universe forgotten us? Eddie Jackson was in the box, author of the Coons’ prior two runs. He knocked a 1-1 pitch to the left side of the second base bag, Muller missed it! It’s into center! Yoshi home! McKnight turning third base, Romero nowhere near the ball, McKnight in to score – IT’S A WALKOFF!!!!!!! 4-3 Blighters!! Nomura 2-4; McKnight 2-4; Jackson 2-3, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Guerrero 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

(rams fists skywards) EDDIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Those three guys were ALL our baserunners. Nobody else with a brown cap reached base the entire game.

I am so moved. The universe has NOT forgotten us. (wipes a tiny tear)

In other news

June 8 – DAL INF Raul Maldonado (.411, 1 HR, 36 RBI) becomes the second player of the season to run a hitting streak to 30 games with a first inning single in the Stars’ 8-2 loss to the Pacifics. Portland’s Ricardo Carmona had previously hit in 32 straight games. Despite the Pacifics being victorious in the contest, their outfielder Mario Diaz (.329, 4 HR, 22 RBI) was not, ending his 24-game hitting streak with an 0-for-4 day.
June 8 – The Crusaders upend the Canadiens in Vancouver in a 17-4 blowout, including an 8-spot in the fourth inning. NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.356, 5 HR, 19 RBI) has four hits, including a home run, and drives in five runs.
June 9 – All the good hitting streaks are over: Dallas’ Raul Maldonado (.405, 1 HR, 36 RBI) ends his 30-game hitting streak as he is shut out by the Pacifics, who beat the Stars again, 5-4; in Washington, WAS C Matt Wittner (.301, 5 HR, 36 RBI) is hitless against the Rebels in the Capitals’ 3-0 win, ending a 23-game hitting streak.
June 9 – The Cyclones crush the Miners in a 16-4 rout. CIN 3B/1B Eddie Moreno (.344, 10 HR, 47 RBI) has three hits, including a homer, walks twice, and drives in three.

June 10 – The Crusaders dump SP Michael Foreman (2-7, 4.74 ERA) on the Buffaloes, picking up C Jose Vargas (.270, 3 HR, 26 RBI) and a third-rate prospect instead.
June 10 – The Rebels are 3-hit in a 9-0 shutout tossed by Capitals lefty Eric Williams (5-4, 2.88 ERA).
June 10 – The Buffaloes beat the Blue Sox, 11-10, in a wicked game. After Topeka took a 6-0 lead, both teams scored five in the sixth inning. The Blue Sox rally late, but too late, with two in the seventh and three in the eighth not enough to overcome the 6-run deficit. TOP LF/1B Willie Madrid (.300, 3 HR, 30 RBI) has four hits and drives in two from the top of the Buffaloes’ lineup.
June 11 – Cyclones and Miners split a double header, totaling 36 runs between them. The Cyclones ride a 10-run seventh inning to win the day game, 15-10, but the Miners come from behind in the nightcap to win 6-5.

June 12 – Charlotte’s Alex Vallejo (6-3, 2.45 ERA) 3-hits the Buffaloes in a 3-0 win.
June 13 – In a week of 3-hit shutouts, BOS SP Chris Klein (4-5, 2.97 ERA) hangs one on the Pacifics in a 9-0 Titans win.
June 13 – Cyclones and Indians play 13 innings, with CIN 1B/3B Eddie Moreno (.336, 11 HR, 53 RBI) lifting his team with a grand slam in the top of the 13th. The Cyclones win, 7-3.
June 14 – NYC 1B Carlos Martinez (.327, 4 HR, 22 RBI) smashes a 10th-inning, walkoff grand slam to beat the Scorpions, 7-3.
June 14 – The Gold Sox trade LF/2B Matt Saunders (.245, 2 HR, 22 RBI) to the Cyclones for veteran LF Jimmy Roberts (.244, 1 HR, 9 RBI). The Cyclones also receive a prospect.

Complaints and stuff

Jonny pitched five shutouts in his rookie season, but the last few years his pitch economy has really gone to the pigs and he hardly ever reaches the ninth or even the eighth inning now. While he had to leave two of his 12 starts this year early due to minor ailments, in the other ten he still only retired a batter in the eighth inning three times. His IP/GS is 5.75 not only because of those two starts where something tweaked him…

This is some tall kind of whining. He is still striking out 11 per nine innings (and was second in the ABL in total strikeouts right after his start on Thursday) and is easily having an ERA in the 2’s. Every team would murder to have him. And I am HAPPY that WE have him. But he used to be that wee bit better.

Travis Garrett went 1-1 with a 4.83 ERA in six starts in 2019. While this does sound semi-okay, the 24 walks in 31.2 innings weren’t, and he walked a man every other inning in AAA still this year, so I have no hope in any improvement on that front.

Just rest assured, that veteran suction cup Damani Knight is still in the system and can be called up to ruin every fifth game in place of Garrett if things go too bad. Cleverpedia describes suction as the flow of a fluid into a partial vacuum, and what else could describe Damani better? My remaining energy drains away whenever he creates a vacuum over the field with a hanging breaking ball that soon enough caroms wildly off vertical surfaces everywhere.

[Westheim]

2020 AMATEUR DRAFT

Monday brought the draft in New York and the assorted hopes and dreams that would all burst like bubbles in short time.

Since I had no clue what we were even up to thanks to the carefully encrypted scouting reports delivered by the Riddler. Years and years from now, when Nick Ridler will long have moved on from Portland, and I would probably still trying to grasp another championship trophy in vain, we would find out whether his rhymes had any substance at all.

For now, the Raccoons had their 69-man shortlist, their 10-man hotlist, which will appear again below, but what they did not have was a pick in the first round proper. They did however have three supplemental round picks, all inside the top 50, and would have five picks in the top 100. Maybe they would even have a pick somewhere around #293.

SP Dustin Wingo (13/13/13) – BNN #4
SP George Griffin (12/15/12) – BNN #10
SP David Saccoccio (11/12/11) – BNN #8

CL Mike Willis (13/14/10)

C Alex Mares (10/10/13)

1B Matt Barber (10/10/13)
INF Cy Burrier (12/6/15)

CF Ben Adams (10/14/14) – BNN #6
RF/LF/3B Zachary Ryder (10/12/7)*
LF/RF Justin Gerace (9/12/12)

*HS player – yes, it’s only one.

No, I was not seriously expecting to get anybody off the hotlist, but right now I was taking Yoshi Nomura’s 4-year deal (which had cost us that first-rounder) over any other prospect that was going to go bust anyway. I had enough experience with that.

The first overall pick turned out to be Ben Adams, the outfielder being taken by the Salem Wolves, and I had to make a note to inquire why they seemed to have the #1 pick at least every other year. The next picks were pitchers off the hotlist, George Griffin to the Condors, and Dustin Wingo to the Titans. The Miners selected SP Howard Haws at #4, and the top 5 were completed by C Mike Pizzo going to the Thunder. After the first round proper was exhausted, the hotlist was almost that as well; only the catcher Alex Mares and outfielder Justin Gerace remained.

Mares didn’t for much longer, being taken by the Thunder at #27, the third pick in the supplemental round. Gerace remained until our first pick, and in absence of any other smart ideas, he was made our top pick in the 2020 draft.

2020 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Supp. Round (#38) – LF/RF Justin Gerace, 21, from Highlands Ranch, CO – a free swinger with high power potential, who generally has trouble reading balls, at the plate and in the field; while his speed is considerable and should be enough to make pitchers nervous, his defense is questionable since he can’t make the most out of it in terms of range, occasionally running in the wrong direction entirely
Supp. Round (#45) – C/1B Jake Burrows, 22, from Whiteland, IN – pretty smart catcher who calls a good game; good contact potential, but not much in terms of power, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to whack dingers
Supp. Round (#47) – SP Jason Butler, 19, from Fayetteville, AR – right-hander with four pitches, but his 90mph often comes too straight to do him any good; slider and changeup work pretty well, and he might want to try to use those and nibble on the corners more
Round 2 (#69) – 3B Mike Grigsby, 18, from Brooklyn, NY – good power and contact potential, and he is a batter first and foremost as opposed to f.e. Matt Nunley; Grigsby does not have much range and is sometimes clumsy with his paws
Round 3 (#93) – OF Joe Wells, 20, from Red Chute, LA – versatile defensive outfielder with great range although he has not much speed overall; decent power potential
Round 4 (#117) – INF/LF Adam Jakubowski, 21, from Jacksonville, FL – extremely good defensive infielder with dubious hitting qualities
Round 5 (#141) – CL Josh Hill, 21, from Houston, TX – right-hander with a changeup and a 93mph heater, but also with some worrying control issues
Round 6 (#165) – CL Brandon Bailey, 20, from Willemstad, Curacao – another right-hander with a changeup, but this one throws only 89; he does, however, just as well not find the strike zone
Round 7 (#189) – RF Steve Blackard, 19, from Clinton, MA – corner outfielder with no power potential whatsoever; more of a contact batter, but also not much in terms of defense
Round 8 (#213) – INF/RF Brad Gillaspy, 22, from Jacksonville, FL – another versatile infielder from Jacksonville, Gillaspy’s primarly a defensive middle infielder with good baserunning instincts; not much of a batter, however, just like Jakubowski
Round 9 (#237) – MR Matt Wilson, 20, from Savage-Guilford, MD – left-handed reliever with a 89mph fastball and a cutter; also the usual control issues
Round 10 (#261) – 3B/LF Ben Hodder, 18, from Brookville, OH – good power potential, although you could also call him a mad hacker that from time to time gets lucky
Round 11 (#285) – SP Danny Russell, 18, from Sweet Home, OR – Nick Brown Memorial Pick, and a left-hander of course; never mind that outside a nicely bending curveball he has absolutely nothing going for him
Round 12 (#309) – OF Chris Moore, 18, from Patterson, LA – decent defense, decent speed, not so decent contact, and an allergy to taking ball four
Round 13 (#333) – SP Eddie Shipley, 19, from Elgin, IL – right-hander with a slowball, a blunter, and a future in Accounting.

All new draft picks were assigned to the single-A level.

Of course there was also the usual housecleaning in connection with the 15 new draftees. Among those released were a number of former draft picks: A LF Cameron Allison (2018, 8th round), A C Joe Dale (2019, 11th round), AA INF Jason Lamphier (2017, 7th round), A MR Kris Mattingly (2018, 13th round), A MR Dave Motter (2017, 13th round), A 1B John O’Quinn (2018, 3rd round)

O’Quinn was one of those blatantly terrible picks. He hit .372 in his first professional season in ’18, but only played in 15 games because of injuries. He played in 119 games in ’19, but batted .214 with four homers and sucked throughout. He had already been put on the long end of the bench earlier in the season and there was no point in further dragging him along, especially with the Aumsville Beagles being 38-19 (yet 5 1/2 games out in their division).

[Westheim]

The Raccoons were reduced by a player on Monday as Cole Pierson was claimed off waivers by the Buffaloes. Pierson had refused his minor league assignment earlier and had then been waived and designated for assignment. We thank the Buffaloes for taking this particular 5.46 ERA pitcher off our paws.

Raccoons (39-20) @ Gold Sox (35-27) – June 15-17, 2020

The Gold Sox had the best pitching in the Federal League, having conceded the fewest runs so far this season, 243 in total, and just under four per game. This did not really compare favorably to the Raccoons, who led their own league in runs allowed, but had given up only 203 counters so far. The problem for the Gold Sox was a notoriously terrible offense that was hardly scoring more than their pitcher surrendered in runs. They were second-worst in runs scored.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (0-0) vs. Tom Weise (7-4, 3.48 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-3, 3.30 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (6-5, 3.65 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (7-2, 2.74 ERA) vs. Frank Kelly (5-6, 4.64 ERA)

No southpaw in this series. In fact, their only left-handed pitcher is a former ex-Coon like Bartels (grrmbl!), reliever Manobu Sugano, who was pitching to a 3.38 ERA.

Somehow, we are playing the Gold Sox for the ninth straight year. It’s probably never going to end, so it’s best to accept things as they are right now. We were swept by them last year, so at least the only way things can go is up.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Garrett
DEN: SS Oosterom – 1B Gilbert – CF Reese – RF Candela – C Walston – 2B Bean – LF Crum – 3B Z. Brown – P Weise

Cookie Carmona had three singles in the first five innings, and the rest of the Raccoons totaled for exactly one more, that being a Mendoza base knock in the fourth inning that amounted to as much as anything Cookie did, although in all fairness, Cookie’s third single, in the fifth, came with DeWeese on second after a walk and Garrett on first after formerly frequent opponent Tom Wiese dingled his bunt, and one out. Cookie dropped it into left, DeWeese tried to score, but Johnny Crum told him to get outta here and threw him out with a thunderbolt fired to home plate. Yoshi then lined out to Zach Brown to end the inning. By that point, Garrett was three runs behind and had pitched only one clean inning, starting his 2020 campaign with five straight balls, the last of which was a wild pitch that gave Piet Oosterom the extra base he needed to safely score on Julio Candela’s single to center in the first. The Gold Sox also got a run amidst loads of traffic in the second, and Pat Walston simply bombed Garrett with a leadoff jack in the fourth inning.

The bases would be loaded on straight 1-out singles, most of the soft variety, in the top of the sixth by Mendoza, Margolis, and Nunley. Bareford had the tying runs aboard and would better damn do something before the automatic outs would come to the plate. The good news: the Critters would tie the game; the bad news: they did it largely without hitting anything… Bareford ran a full count before chipping a soft pop to shallow center that fell between Oosterom and Tom Reese, who was pretty old and had pretty bad range for a centerfielder. One run scored, with Margolis wisely held at third base. Weise thanked the Coons for that, but then Walston conceded Margolis’ run when the 1-1 to DeWeese escaped through his legs and to the backstop for a passed ball. DeWeese was now walked intentionally and Garrett popped out on the first pitch, two down. Cookie tried to get another hit, instead got hit, but with the bases loaded the game was tied nevertheless with Matt Nunley being forced across home plate. Yoshi grounded out to old foe Ray ****ing Gilbert, ending the inning. All the effort was for nought, with Julio Candela belching a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning that put the Coons right back in trailing mode. The Gold Sox would put two on with infield singles, Garrett got yanked, there were tears (mostly mine), but somehow the Coons managed to escape with Seung-mo Chun on the mound and pinch-hitter Justin Bellows rolling out to him to end the inning with runners in scoring position… The Coons didn’t amount to much against the pen in the seventh and eighth innings, and continued to trail by a run in the ninth, with Chun and Thrasher holding the fort for them. The ninth saw Pat Selby (4-0, 2.20 ERA, 13 SV), a right-hander, trying to get the save against the top of the order. At least there was potential in the situation! Potential soon turned into a chance, with Cookie’s fourth single on the way, this one also to leftfield. Yoshi ran a 3-1 count and a walk would have been totally neat, but he chopped the ball high over to second base. Tim Bean ran after it, couldn’t QUITE get to it, and Yoshi had a bloop single in the shallow outfield. Cookie had been far off first base and used the chance to dash for third, no throw even coming there. So close to the comeback, boys, now - … now McKnight struck out, Mendoza struck out, and then Eddie Jackson batted for Thrasher in Margolis’ deserted slot. Jackson was 2-for-19 as a pinch-hitter, which was entirely terrible, and a round number was so much better. He lined out to Oosterom to end the game. 4-3 Gold Sox. Carmona 4-4, RBI; Mendoza 2-5; Bareford 2-4, RBI;

Cookie had four singles and never scored.

As far as Garrett was concerned, he took the loss, and four runs in 5.2 innings weren’t exactly great. Of the six leadoff batters he faced, one walked, one singled, and two homered. Better than Pierson, however.

There was no game on Tuesday then on accounts of rain over Denver. The middle game was postponed to Wednesday, when we would play a double-header, which was a splendid chance to get Toner ahead of Abe into the #1 slot of the rotation again, just … you know … for optical reasons. The Gold Sox also switched their starters, so the matchups remained the same.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Toner
DEN: SS Oosterom – 1B Gilbert – CF Reese – LF J. Roberts – RF Candela – C Walston – 2B Bean – 3B Z. Brown – P Kelly

The Coons loaded the bases in the first inning with Yoshi walking on four pitches as well as soft singles by McKnight and Mendoza, but then Margolis fouled out and Nunley lined out to Ray ****ing Gilbert, leaving all three runners on. After that joyful experience, we merrily watched Jonny Toner implode wholly and completely. He walked Oosterom, he walked Reese. Jimmy Roberts bombed a shot outta leftfield, and the carrousel kept spinning, with a Candela single to left, a walk drawn by Walston, and what the **** was even going on? Tim Bean struck out, but Zachary Brown found the gap for an RBI double. The Sox scored four – although they really never scored, ever… - on Toner in the first inning, with Kelly striking out. Toner was out of the game before the second inning was over, walking another three batters for six total in the game. Candela already hit an RBI double during the inning, and when Jeff Boynton replaced Toner with two out and the bases loaded, he threw four pitches out of the strike zone to Bean to force in another run. Six in total would stand against Toner before Brown finally grounded out to end the misery. Exactly what you would hope for from your ace in the first game of a double-header, great job, great job, Toner, really, NOW GET OUT OF MY EYES!!!

The job that Boynton did would be no less of a disservice to the team than the one performed by Toner, with three runs coming out of Boynton over the next few innings. He got only seven outs in a dire spot, while the rest of the game would be pitched by Adam Cowen, who bled three more runs over four innings, which at least finished this cluster****, during which the rest of the Raccoons showed some token offense that was nowhere near sufficient to make up for Toner’s, Boynton’s, and Cowen’s gross incompetence. They scored a run in the second after a DeWeese triple, Toner hitting the sac fly, two in the fifth, which included an RBI double by Mendoza, and two more in the seventh on McKnight’s home run. Nobody cared a whole lot. 12-5 Gold Sox. Carmona 2-5; Nomura 2-4, BB, 2B; McKnight 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 1-2, 3B;

Game 3
POR: 2B Prince – SS McKnight – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Abe
DEN: SS Oosterom – 1B Gilbert – CF Reese – LF J. Roberts – RF Candela – 2B Bean – C Little – 3B Z. Brown – P Bartels

Three innings in, both teams had three hits and no runs, and both had stranded a runner on third amidst a pair already. In the Coons case, it was Kevin DeWald having Olivares and DeWeese in scoring position with two outs and lining an 0-2 pitch to left center, only for Jimmy Roberts to magically appear there to snare it and rob him of a 2-run double. DeWeese would get payback on the Sox for that later, grabbing a howling drive to deep left by Tim Bean for the second out in the bottom 4th that would have readily scored Candela from second base with the game’s first run if not contained. The Sox had nobody on with two outs the next inning before Abe walked Oosterom, who was just on base all the time through some dark sorcery, and then the permanent ****head Gilbert singled. The 0-2 appeared to have Reese for good to end the inning, but Olivares lost it, and the umpire was ill-inclined to see the corner pitch as a strike if not even the catcher could make use of it. The runners moved up, Reese got to 2-2, but then flew out to deep center, where DeWald did the grisly work.

In a scoreless game, the Gold Sox were much closer to breaking through Abe finally than the Raccoons were to ever doing anything until Mendoza opened the seventh with a double to the fence in rightfield. This prime chance died in a hurry on three sorry groundouts by the next three batters, none even close to posing a threat to the infield. Abe had to deal with PH Justin Bellows’ single in the bottom 7th, got around that, but it was his final inning. He was hit for in the eighth with Cookie, which did not spark offense either, and when Joel Davis appeared in the bottom 8th, the Gold Sox had runners on the corners before they made an out thanks to Gilbert’s double into the right-center gap and a soft single by Reese. Thrasher replaced Davis as Pat Walston hit for Jimmy Roberts. Strikeout to Walston! Strikeout to Candela! Strikeout to Bean! And yet – to no avail! The Raccoons had Jackson and Mendoza on with singles in the top of the ninth, but Nunley and Nomura hit into more ****ty groundouts, and Chris Mathis was overwhelmed with three singles by Morgan Little (so far batting a tough .148), Gary Rice, and Piet Oosterom to end the game in regulation. 1-0 Gold Sox. Mendoza 2-4, 2B; Abe 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K;

(hopeless, haunted expression)

Raccoons (39-23) vs. Crusaders (32-33) – June 18-21, 2020

…which was exactly the right time to play the Crusaders, 8 1/2 games out, for four to allow them back into the race. Because we are kind like that! Some might call it stupid. – The Crusaders ranked second in runs scored in the Continental League, one run behind the nominally still leading Raccoons, although I damn sure hadn’t seen much offense recently (3.8 R/G since June 5) and generally wasn’t trusting any numbers I hadn’t made up myself anymore. New York was second from the bottom in runs allowed, with a rotation AND a bullpen that for the most part was simply in trouble. They were also last in defense, which was probably not helping those pitchers, either. The Coons led the season series, 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (8-0, 2.09 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (0-4, 5.82 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-2, 3.47 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (5-2, 4.13 ERA)
Travis Garrett (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (7-4, 3.44 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (7-3, 3.44 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (7-2, 2.62 ERA)

No worries about sending Toner on short rest. He didn’t throw that many pitches, and it only seemed like his start lasted several days, when in fact it lasted not only two ****ing innings.

Butler is the Crusaders’ only left-hander, although right now handedness doesn’t matter much, the Raccoons aren’t hurting anybody but their general manager and their own chances at another futile stab in the CLCS.

Game 1
NYC: CF Jo. Wilson – 1B A. Young – 2B S. Valdez – C J. Vargas – RF Erickson – SS H. Garcia – LF Woods – 3B Morrison – P Choe
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Santos

A Yoshi single and McKnight double in the first were not enough for a run, with the redumboed Mendoza and Margolis both popping out over the infield in hopeless fashion. Santos was erratic, needed 60 pitches for three innings, and was generally no help, while Choe made it through the order once on just *22* pitches. He ran into trouble however by the third inning, with Cookie and Yoshi mashing back-to-back 1-out doubles to plate a run, and that was actually, and sadly, the Raccoons first lead this entire ****ing week. No support came from the middle of the order, though, with McKnight flying out to center and Mendoza very helpfully striking out, and Mendoza would strike out once more to end the fifth inning, also with a man on base. Santos was on 81 pitches entering the sixth after some more efficient fourth and fifth innings, although the first long drives started to appear already, and the 1-0 lead was inherently flimsy. Santos had to duke it out with John Wilson in the top of the sixth inning in a full count, further raising his pitch count, and he was close to 100 after the inning, which made the decision to hit for him in the bottom 6th with Nunley (single) and DeWeese (intentional walk) on base and two outs so much easier. Prince batted in lieu of the consistently not pinching Jackson, but couldn’t even get a pitch past the mound in a pathetic 1-3 groundout. More pathetic baseball followed in due order. Jason Kaiser took over in the seventh inning, but allowed swift singles to Sergio Valdez and Jose Vargas before walking pinch-hitter Carlos Martinez on straight balls. Hector Garcia hit a sac fly, and with runners on first and second the home plate umpire called a balk on MARGOLIS for setting up outside the catcher’s box. With the extra base, the Crusaders scored the go-ahead run on Brent Woods’ grounder to Nomura, and because that was not enough, Margolis would shamble Seung-mo Chun’s K to Choe at the start of the eighth inning, allowing the ****ING PITCHER to reach on an uncaught third strike. Of course that run also came around to score without much problems, thanks to four balls thrown to John Wilson, a well-placed groundout by ****ing Adam Young, and a sac fly by Sergio Valdez. The Raccoons weren’t even in the picture in terms of a comeback, despite only being two runs out. Choe pitched eight innings, and ex-Coon Ray Kelley sat the imbecile home team down in order in the ninth. 3-1 Crusaders. Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-4, 2B; Santos 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
NYC: CF Jo. Wilson – 1B A. Young – 2B S. Valdez – C J. Vargas – RF Erickson – LF Skinner – SS H. Garcia – 3B Morrison – P D. Butler
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – C Margolis – 2B Nomura – SS Prince – 3B Nunley – 1B Petracek – P Guerrero

The Crusaders plated four runs on four hits in the second inning, with a leadoff jack by Jose Vargas and a 3-run shot by Pat Morrison being most likely enough to do a routinely harmless Guerrero and the rest of the routinely harmless team in completely. Guerrero was in fact horrendous, needed 74 pitches through three innings, and that was with another two runs being waved across by him in the third. The Crusaders were just endlessly on base, and the Raccoons were mentally already on the way home. Hector Garcia drove in the third-inning runs with a 2-out single, and Guerrero received the death penalty in the fourth, when ****ING ADAM YOUNG hit a solo home run off him to finally end his day. Down 7-0, the Raccoons didn’t get a hit until Jackson rolled a single up the middle in the bottom 4th, and didn’t get a run until Nunley homered to right in the fifth. Oh wow, lipstick on a pig! Petracek reached on a walk and was bunted over by the frequently employed Cowen. Cookie singled, runners on the corners, and when Bareford grounded to short, Garcia blew the double play, or any play, Petracek scoring on the error. The Coons were insisting to not exploit the Garcia error, however. Jackson popped out, and Margolis grounded to short, but Garcia’s throw to first was bad and escaped Young, that error loading the bases with two down for Yoshi, as even the tying run appeared in the on-deck circle at that point – briefly. Yoshi popped out on a 3-1 pitch, which was deserving of no ice cream for at least a month, and the same for Cowen, who immediately returned the hard-won runs in the sixth inning with a leadoff jack by Garcia (WHOM ELSE!!) and another run coming across with Morrison singling, advancing on a wild pitch, and so on, and so on. Down 9-2, things didn’t matter exactly. The Crusaders made two throwing errors in the bottom 6th, giving them FIVE errors on the day, but the Coons only scored one run and remained behind by six, and they would remain behind by six, with the score barely wobbling between homers by Max Erickson (off Chris Mathis) and Andy Bareford. 10-4 Crusaders. Nunley 2-5, HR, RBI;

You sucker bunch couldn’t move past a team that MADE SIX ****ING ERRORS??? WHAT IS THE **** WRONG WITH YOU LOT????

Game 3
NYC: SS Casillas – 1B A. Young – C J. Vargas – RF Erickson – LF Skinner – CF Jo. Wilson – 2B H. Garcia – 3B Morrison – P Benjamin
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – CF DeWald – P Garrett

Cookie came, saw, conquered in the sense of singling, stealing, scoring on Yoshi’s one-base knock to center in the first inning. Hooray, a lead! A ****ing lead! McKnight put on a damper instantly with a grounder to Garcia at the keystone that ended up counting for two, and the inning did not yield any other offensive heroics. Yoshi was then in the crosshairs in the third inning. Garrett had been perfect the first two innings and had struck out four(!), but Yoshi threw away Garcia’s grounder to put the tying run on second base without great need for that. Nunley however contained Pat Morrison’s grounder to third base and threw Morrison out while holding the runner on second base, and Benjamin and Tony Casillas would both fly out to Cookie without great danger. The Critters would grow their lead to TWO FULL RUNS in the bottom 3rd, with Garrett hitting a 1-out single himself before moving over on Cookie’s groundout. Yoshi singled to left center and Brian Skinner’s route to the ball was convoluted enough to send Garrett, who scored easily.

The Crusaders wouldn’t get a hit until the fifth inning, in which Morrison singled with two outs, but Garrett handily retired Benjamin to get out of that spot. He needed 70 pitches through five, and since I didn’t trust his command despite one walk against six strikeouts in the game, the entire team needed some more offense. None came forth, and Garrett only generated soft and harmless contact until he didn’t. John Wilson lined to left with two outs in the seventh for a single, which was no real danger yet, but Garrett’s 2-2 pitch to Hector Garcia completely escaped and struck the veteran in the ribs. The tying runs on, Pat Morrison was already a gamble to have him face Garrett, but then again our bullpen had been ravaged and blunted and bled the entire week and I had no trust in anybody in particular to not just walk the bases full and keep walking purple caps until they were in the lead. Morrison faced Garrett, grounded to third, Nunley was on top of that right away and the inning ended. With that Garrett would face Brian Benjamin to start the eighth and whiffed him, and got Casillas to ground out to Nunley. Ron Thrasher then replaced him as he had reached 106 pitches in the two admittedly long at-bats, and the plan was to have Thrasher finish business altogether against a middle of the order that held three left-handers between #2 and #6, plus a switch-hitter (Vargas). Skinner was the only righty. Those two took Thrasher apart once Young had grounded out to end the eighth. In the ninth, Vargas singled, Skinner homered, tied game. Wilson worked a walk, and Garcia doubled through Nunley, plating the speedy Wilson, Crusaders in the lead, 3-2. Mathis replaced Thrasher, who was booed mercilessly as he trudged off the field, and pinch-hitters Jalen Parks and Luis Reya grounded out to end the top of the ninth. The Raccoons faced Kelley in the ninth, whose ERA, by the way, was around EIGHT. He would face endless left-handed bats, with Yoshi leading off and driving a fly to deep left, but into an out to Skinner on the warning track. McKnight singled, and never before had we needed Dumbo Mendoza this much to just rip one. He grounded out to third, and Nunled whiffed to end the game. 3-2 Crusaders. Nomura 2-4, 2 RBI; Garrett 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K and 1-2;

That is an 0-6 week. And the best news is that another game is coming up.

Game 4
NYC: SS Casillas – 1B A. Young – C J. Vargas – RF Erickson – LF Skinner – CF Jo. Wilson – 2B H. Garcia – 3B Morrison – P A. Mendez
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – P Toner

DeWeese’s 2-out single in the bottom 2nd eluded Casillas and allowed Danny Margolis to score from third base, meaning the Raccoons led CONSECUTIVE games – ooooh, the rage! What wild times we were living in! 1-0 after two innings, although most of that came with an asterisk, since the runs came on limited defense (the Crusaders were last after all in fielding) and Toner had so far put four men on base, including “Ant” Mendez with a determined 2-out single in the second, but had stranded all of them with inning-ending strikeouts to Skinner and Casillas, respectively. Nothing happened in the third, but in the fourth, Toner lost – again – the strike zone, and pretty much completely so. Wilson walked with one out, was caught stealing, but Garcia walked just as well, and Pat Morrison with two down found the gap in right center for a game-leveling double. Three walks in four innings after six walks in 1.2 innings the previous start – to call this alarming would be an understatement of the wildest kind.

Bottom 4th, maybe happier times? Mendoza was hit by a pitch, which for him was a valid way to reach base now, and Margolis walked. Bareford grounded to short, but Casillas only got Margolis at second, with runners remaining on the corners for the struggling Nunley, who was ALSO tattooed by Mendez to fill the bases. The consistently horrendous and horrendously consistent DeWeese batted in that spot and with one out, struck out in a hurry, and when Toner lined to right on the first pitch, Erickson made a sliding catch coming in to retire the side.

The Crusaders got blitzed in the next three innings by Toner, who reached a dozen strikeouts while not allowing another baserunner, but also completely exhausted his (responsible, not counting no-hitters, which this very much wasn’t) pitch count by getting up to 110. Eddie Jackson hit for him after DeWeese was again completely undressed by Mendez to start the bottom 7th, Jackson even singled to get to .143 as a pinch-hitter, but the Raccoons ended the inning on easy outs on the infield anyway, and Toner was left with a no-decision. Mendez would enter the eighth in a 1-1 game, but only put McKnight on with a single before left-hander Brian Doumas replaced him. Mendoza singled to right off him, but Margolis hit into a double play to short and Bareford grounded out to third to spit that chance into the face just as well. Boynton took care of the Crusaders in the ninth, keeping the game tied and giving the team the chance for a walkoff and at least one ****ing win in this rotten week. Against Doumas they wouldn’t reach base until Ezequiel Olivares hit for Boynton with two outs and singled to left. Cookie dropped to 0-for-5 with a flyout to left, and the game went to extras. Hooray. In the top 10th, Joel Davis was hit by a truck and dragged all the way to Idaho in its wheelhouse. Pinch-hit singles by Brent Woods and Sergio Valdez with no outs, then a 2-out, 2-run single by Vargas and a double by Erickson. Kaiser had to bail him out before those two runs could score as well, whiffing Luis Reya. Ray Kelley (3-6, 7.96 ERA, 4 SV) was in to completely shatter the morale in the bottom of the 10th, but walked Yoshi and then served a hanger to McKnight that was truly never seen again. The lightning homer to right tied the score at three and reset pretty much everything. Mendoza singled to center. Margolis was ordered to bunt, did so, Vargas pounced and fired to second – and late. Both runners were safe. Winning run on second, no outs for Bareford, who grounded into a force at second base, but Mendoza moved up. Nunley for the win – a fly to center, Wilson on it, but it was deep … Mendoza coming home, no throw, safe, win. 4-3 Blighters. McKnight 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4; Margolis 2-4; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Olivares (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 12 K;

In other news

June 19 – NAS CL Jimmy Lee (4-5, 8.13 ERA, 13 SV) is out for the season with a partial tear in his UCL.
June 19 – 2B Jong-beom Kym (.258, 4 HR, 25 RBI) puts the Indians over the hump against the Titans in the 13th inning, driving a walkoff grand slam for a 7-3 Indy win.
June 20 – The Indians lose LF/RF Lowell Genge (.278, 5 HR, 31 RBI) for the season with a broken kneecap.
June 20 – RIC SP Ian Van Meter (5-5, 3.80 ERA) will miss two weeks with back soreness.
June 21 – The Indians lose another outfielder, with RF/LF Cesar Martinez (.263, 4 HR, 24 RBI) being hit in the knee by a pitch and going to miss at least a week.

Complaints and stuff

While the team foolishly danced around on home plate on Sunday after beating the Crusaders in ten, I simply put the gun back into the top drawer, and without losing a word to anybody in the office grabbed my sweater and went home.

There is no philosophy to a 1-6 week. They sucked. They sucked hard.

That is sometimes all that is to it.

[kingtut313]

I've been away from the OOTP forums for awhile but I'm so happy that this thread is still going.

I need to catch up on all the cooning I've missed!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by kingtut313

I've been away from the OOTP forums for awhile but I'm so happy that this thread is still going.

I need to catch up on all the cooning I've missed!

Welcome back to the Show, and given that you last regularly posted on the day of the Ron Alston trade, you missed a BUNCH.

[Westheim]

On Monday, the generally accepted mantra around the place was that it could only get better from here.

Raccoons (40-26) @ Titans (38-31) – June 22-24, 2020

The Coons’ recent spill had brought the Titans back into the frame in terms of the division lead, as they were only 3 1/2 games out now and in third place. A 3-game set wasn’t enough to get them into the lead, but we had to be somewhat on our hind legs given that the Titans had already won four of six games from the Raccoons in 2020. They were tenth in runs scored and had the worst batting average, and were relying exclusively on their pitching, which conceded the second-fewest runs. Their rotation was even the best in the Continental League with a 3.35 ERA, although the Raccoons’ 3.41 mark (2nd) had probably suffered from Cole Pierson disproportionately, and he was no longer with the team.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (7-3, 3.03 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (4-4, 3.45 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-0, 1.95 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (3-4, 3.65 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-3, 4.15 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (4-5, 2.99 ERA)

Jose, Jose – the first one was a left-hander. We would not get their other southpaw, Rick Ling (4-5, 3.86 ERA). This was also the last series before the Raccoons had a needed day off after having played (after this series would be concluded) 16 games in as many days, though not on 16 consecutive days because of the rainout in Denver last week.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Abe
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B Ruggeri – RF Almanza – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – 1B Cornejo – C R. Anderson – SS Kane – P J. Diaz

The week started exactly like the entire previous week had gone, with a colossally ****ed up inning early on to suck all life out of the team before they would trudge to another defeat by six or ten runs. The Coons were hitless through two and Abe had allowed singles to Gil Cornejo and Ryan Anderson in the bottom of the second when Mike Kane’s looper to shallow center was dropped by Andy Bareford, loading the bases for Boston. Diaz then zinged a 1-2 pitch through Dumbo Mendoza and up the rightfield line for a 2-run double, and the next two runs scored on Adrian Reichardt’s single past Ronnie McKnight into left center. That 4-run second inning would be followed by a 2-run fourth, which was also decisively supported by Jose Diaz, who singled to right before Reichardt doubled off the fence in left. The runs scored on D.J. Ruggeri’s sac fly and Abe balking home the centerfielder, and that was the last anybody saw of Abe in the game. The bullpen didn’t fare any better, with Adam Cowen scorched for three hits and two runs on Kane’s 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the fifth. While Chun and Davis would not allow any more runs from there to the finish line, there wasn’t even pep in the game, for Mendoza had lined over Josh Downing in the fourth inning, the ball falling into rightfield for the Coons’ first hit of the game. It was ultimately the last baserunner allowed by Jose Diaz, who retired the final 17 batters of the game in flawless fashion to finish with a 1-hit shutout. 8-0 Titans. Chun 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

More of that, please. More of that.

I am talking to the bartender by the way, and he says I have enough. I have enough, but only of this horrendous baseball they are playing. Not of the booze. More booze please, I need to kill the part of the brain where dreams are generated.

Adam Cowen (4.50 ERA and getting worse quickly) was waived and designated for assignment after the game. We promoted 22-year old swingman Jose Castaneda (1-2, 2.91 ERA) from AAA. Castaneda’s main problem was ill control, but whose pitcher’s main problem in the organization wasn’t ill control right now…?

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos
BOS: CF Reichardt – 1B J. Duran – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – 3B Ruggeri – SS Kane – P J. Fuentes

Santos had won six of his first seven starts, but only two of his last six, and it had not been his fault, with that ERA going down almost every game. While the Raccoons broke into the H column early with a first-inning single by McKnight, the very next baserunner for the Critters would be Santos, and their offensive hopelessness continued unabated. The game was scoreless through four, with Santos only in trouble in the fourth in which he walked a pair, Tim Robinson and Jose Avila, before Ruggeri struck out to end the inning. Fuentes was never really in trouble in those four innings… In fact, the hardest-hit ball off Fuentes in the first five innings was Santos’ second at-bat, in which he drove a ball almost to the warning track and forced Chris Almanza to make a *running* catch – what novelty!

Bottom 5th, Kane led off with a triple over Mendoza and into the rightfield corner, and while Santos struck out Fuentes, he couldn’t get Reichardt, who hit the 0-1 to left. DeWeese made the catch, but was too deep to seriously challenge Kane, who scored the first run of the game on the sac fly, irreversibly dooming Santos for his first loss of the season, because that team had nothing in them right now in terms of comebacks. Fuentes walked two in the sixth inning, Yoshi and Mendoza, but McKnight had already flown out poorly and Margolis and Nunley failed to make any sort of contact altogether, flailing out in tandem. On to the seventh, where Fuentes lost another two guys to walks, and it was the DeWhiff faction near the bottom of the order, in order words the first Coons to come up. Santos bunted them over well, placing the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for Cookie, who was 0-for-7 in the series with 4 K and definitely soul-searching. He popped out to Ruggeri… Fuentes walked Nomura, which ended his day, as McKnight had to face left-hander Nestor Munoz. He hit the first pitch, just barely, and pathetically bounced out to the pitcher. Santos, unsalvageably forsaken, folded and allowed another run with two outs in the seventh, as Kane singled, Cornejo pinch-walked, and Reichardt found the gap to drive home Kane for an add-on run the Titans would not need. Matt Nunley hit a 2-out single in the eighth – bless him! – that was not quite enough to make up a 2-0 deficit, and Jeff Boynton was bombed by Almanza and then tickled to death by the bottom of the order in the bottom of the inning, allowing another two runs.

And then came the ninth. Down 4-0, the Raccoons got a leadoff single from Kevin DeWald off Brett Dill, who also walked Eddie Jackson. Desi Bowles replaced him, and walked the heretofore hopeless Cookie. The bases were now loaded with nobody out. Bowles was outta whack, walked Yoshi on four pitches to push in a run the Coons didn’t deserve, and another run scored on McKnight’s groundout. Bowles lost Mendoza to the fourth walk of the inning, refilling the bases for Margolis, 0-for-4 with a million strikeouts. Bareford hit for him, smacked a ball hard – right at the shortstop, Kane registering the lineout. Two down now, with Nunley grounding between Ruggeri and Kane. The latter cut the ball off, threw to first late, and the third run was across. DeWeese was a terrible batter to come up in this spot, but showed basic smarts and held still against a wickedly wild Bowles, who still couldn’t find the zone and walked DeWeese, tying the game, and exited while being booed and heckled. Prince batted for DeWald against the new pitcher, Alan Farrell, but grounded out to Ruggeri, ending the inning. Mathis held the Titans short in the bottom 9th, sending the game to extras, and the Coons got another walk from Farrell to leadoff man Ezequiel Olivares. Cookie singled, Yoshi grounded out to advance the runners, and then Downing missed McKnight’s roller up the middle that scored two. McKnight would be left on base after an intentional walk to Mendoza, with Bareford fouling out and Nunley’s drive to center spoiled by Reichardt. Mathis remained in the game for the bottom 10th, which featured the right-handed meat of the order. Almanza and Robinson made quick outs, but Downing reached with a 2-out infield single with a terrible roller near the third base line that was too far in even for Nunley. Mike Rivera hit for Farrell, and he was a persistent thorn in our sides for a decade. He had only seven career homers though, so even if left-handed, Mathis was still okay to face him. Rivera grounded to Yoshi on the first pitch, and this game was over on the 4-3 putout. 6-4 Raccoons. McKnight 2-6, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-6, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K and 1-2; Mathis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-2);

Still no L for Santos. He didn’t deserve one. The team deserved one though, but did they deserve it more than Desi Bowles? In any case, Farrell got the loss…

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – LF DeWeese – P Guerrero
BOS: CF Reichardt – 1B J. Duran – RF Almanza – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – 3B Ruggeri – SS Kane – P Klein

The rubber game started with the Coons hitting three hard liners to get going in the first, although only McKnight’s fell in for a single and that was all they got when Mendoza struck out. By contrast, the Titans were up 4-0 after five batters, three singles dropping in for a run before Josh Downing crashed a harmless Guerrero fastball for a 3-run homer to left center. Guerrero’s game hung in the tethers throughout, with him getting raked mercilessly by the Titans’ lineup, which by the way was in the bottom three in the Continental League, just in case you forgot somehow. The defense was all that held him in the game for as long as he did, with key double plays turned in the second and fourth innings, and amazing catches by Cookie in the third and Bareford in the fifth sparing extra-base hits and run(s). Through five, the Titans thus still were held to four runs, but the Coons were still hit to three scattered singles, displaying complete incompetence throughout the lineup for the umpteenth consecutive game. Their first actual scoring opportunity came in the sixth inning when Cookie led off with an infield single and Yoshi found the gap in left center for a double. The middle of the order completely ****ed up as usual, with McKnight grounding out to first, Mendoza grounding out to short (which scored a run at least) and Bareford striking out swinging. That run was pulled right back by the Titans, with Tim Robinson ramming a leadoff jack over the leftfield fence in the bottom 6th, and Guerrero was gone.

Downing would hit a double off Guerrero’s replacement, Mathis, right away when play resumed. He moved up on Jose Avila’s groundout after a swift replacement of Mathis with Kaiser, but the cocky arse hat was then put out at home when he tried to steal that. DeWeese would hit a home run off Klein in the seventh that was of course a solo shot, and while Cookie opened the eighth with a single to left to at least get the tying run into sight in a 5-2 game, Yoshi hit to short for a double play. Chun with two outs left a man on base in the bottom 8th, with Thrasher just having to retire Avila, who regrettably tripled into the rightfield corner. Switch-hitter D.J. Ruggeri almost tore an even bigger hole with a drive to center, but that one ended up with Bareford to end the inning. Chris Klein was still in the game by the ninth inning and became the second Titan in the series to finish what he started, retiring the 4-5-6 batters in order to come up with a complete game 7-hitter, whiffing seven. 6-2 Titans. Carmona 2-4;

If you counted, you noticed that the Titans held 4-0 leads in all games in this series…

Thursday was off, except for the Crusaders trying to trade 37-year old Carlos Martinez to us for Guillermo Aponte (who had that extremely brief appearance in April) and AA 1B Ruben Santiago. Truth be told, Santiago is batting like arse, but Martinez can only play first base and then I would have to move Mendoza to right and Cookie to center, and centerfield tries to murder Cookie or at least render him a quadriplegic, so this was a bad idea to begin with.

Nope on that deal!

Raccoons (41-28) @ Thunder (36-36) – June 26-28, 2020

The Thunder were almost relevant again, sitting 4 1/2 games out in the South near the midpoint of the season. They were ninth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, with a noticeable -23 run differential, though, so they were a .500 team just barely. Their rotation was the third-worst in the Continental League, but the Coons were comatose and nothing of this was meaning much. The Coons were still up 2-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Jesse Bowsher (3-2, 3.96 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (7-3, 3.24 ERA) vs. Evan Greenfield (4-7, 3.55 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Bryan Hanson (8-4, 3.11 ERA)

Those were their three better starters, so no luck here. Hanson was also one of their two left-handers.

They had one of their corners outfielders in D.J. Fullerton on the DL, allowing Matt Pruitt, 36 years old, to play from time to time. It wasn’t pretty. He was batting .217 with one home run.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – CF DeWald – P Garrett
OCT: SS R. Avila – 3B Marshall – C Schoeppen – RF T. Brown – 2B Becker – 1B Gershkovich – LF M. Pruitt – CF Jo. Stevenson – P Bowsher

The Raccoons SCORED FIRST in this game, plating two in the first inning as Bowsher first allowed singles to Cookie, McKnight, and Mendoza – the latter scoring the first run – and then walked both Nunley to fill them up and Margolis to push one in. DeWald struck out in a full count to leave three on. The joy was short-lived as joy always is, with Garrett being out of whack completely, walking two and throwing a wild pitch in the first inning and conceding the runs on Tom Brown’s groundout and Jeff Becker’s single to center. After Garrett somehow staved off Matt Pruitt’s leadoff double in the bottom 2nd, Margolis would give his team a 2-out lead for the second time in two attempts, coming up with Mendoza and Jackson on second and first, singling to center, and chasing home Mendoza. DeWald actually singled to load them up, but now Garrett struck out to leave them loaded and the score at 3-2. The Thunder hit three balls to deep right in the bottom 3rd, Jackson caught them all, but how many he would have caught without a 17mph wind blowing in from that side would forever remain shrouded in mystery.

No you had to hit it to the other side. Mendoza did in the fourth, smashing a 2-run homer to left to cash in Yoshi, who had doubled, with two outs. It was his 21st shot of the season, breaking a tie with Gil Rockwell for the league lead, his first since June 12 and only his third in the last MONTH. But even up 5-2 Garrett was in constant danger of being blasted from the game. Pruitt hit a shot to right that would have been out without the wind, but ended with Jackson, in the fourth. Then came the fifth, which Garrett in fact didn’t survive. Josh Stevenson led off with a drag bunt for a single. Bowsher bunted, with Ricky Avila walking onto the open base. Bobby Marshall then nailed a fastball for a 3-run home run to center, tying the score, and Garrett still couldn’t get anybody out, with Tom Brown and Jeff Becker hitting singles before a 2-out triple into the corner by Mike Gershkovich put the Thunder in front. Boynton got Pruitt to ground out, but the Coons were down 7-5 after the 5-run blitz. By the seventh, Jose Castaneda ****ed up in his major league debut. Marshall hit a leadoff single to center, before Castaneda walked Schoeppen. Brown hit into a double play, but Castaneda just kept handing out free bases by walking Becker. Joel Davis replaced him, Gershkovich grounded out to second, and the Thunder remained reasonably close. The Coons had the tying runs on the corners after a pair of walks in the eighth inning, but left-hander Jeff Kearney came in to face Mendoza and whiffed him, and the Coons also stranded the tying runs in the ninth against closer John Watson, who had 38 K in 33.1 IP and a 1.30 ERA to strike fear into batters’ hearts. Jackson still hit a leadoff single, but was forced on Nunley’s grounder. DeWeese had a pinch-hit single with two down, but Bareford harmlessly popped out to shallow right. 7-5 Thunder. McKnight 2-4, BB; Mendoza 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Jackson 2-5; DeWeese (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Toner
OCT: SS R. Avila – 3B Marshall – C Schoeppen – RF T. Brown – 2B Becker – 1B Gershkovich – LF M. Pruitt – CF Jo. Stevenson – P Greenfield

With the mere info that Toner struck out none of the first 11 batters, you can already draw conclusions as to how this game went. The Raccoons had Cookie and McKnight on the corners with one out in the first, but managed to score neither. Cookie would score in the third after a leadoff single and circled around on Yoshi’s double to the base of the leftfield wall, but by then the Raccoons were already in arrears. With runners on the corners after a pair of singles, Toner had faced Josh Stevenson in the bottom 2nd and hadn’t managed to whiff him neither, with Stevenson lining up the rightfield line for a 2-out, 2-run double. Toner got better the second time through, struck out Schoeppen in the third inning and whiffed the bottom of the order, 7-8-9, in the fifth inning for five total within seven batters. That still didn’t give him a lead.

DeWeese had struck out twice with Bareford on base, leaving Toner to make the final out of an inning in the game, but Greenfield foolishly hit him with a 1-2 pitch leading off the seventh. Toner bunted him over, but Cookie flew out to left and DeWeese had to hold on second base. Yoshi walked, but McKnight was erased by Greenfield to keep the Raccoons 2-1 behind. Toner struck out the side again in the seventh. In the top 8th, Margolis yanked a ball to deep left, high and deep enough, but foul by less than a foot. That would have been the tied game, but Margolis had to go back to the box and eventually singled with one out. That removed Greenfield, but Ryan Corkum upon replacing him snuffed out Nunley and Bareford, keeping Toner on the short end. Toner fanned two more in completing eight innings, giving him 10 K in the game, but here was John Watson again, trying to save a 1-run game this time. DeWeese struck out, Jackson struck out, Cookie hit a ball for about 35 feet and was thrown out at first base by as much. 2-1 Thunder. Carmona 2-5; Toner 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, L (7-4);

After losing 10 of their last 12 games, the Raccoons also lost the lead in the CL North. The Loggers moved through with a 6-3 win over the Knights.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – CF Bareford – SS Prince – 3B Petracek – P Abe
OCT: SS R. Avila – 3B Marshall – C Schoeppen – RF T. Brown – 2B Becker – 1B Gershkovich – LF McWherter – CF Jo. Stevenson – P Hanson

Abe was perfect the first time through the Thunder lineup, whiffing three, but the Coons only got Bareford on thanks to an error by Becker, and while Bareford stole second base, Prince was victimized by Hanson. The left-hander conceded a pair of 2-out singles to Cookie and Yoshi in the third, but Jackson rolled out harmlessly to short, and in the fourth Margolis was left on second base after a single and a wild pitch. They continued like that in the fifth, with Petracek getting nailed, Yoshi walking, and Jackson stranding another pair with a lazy flyout to left.

Abe was still perfect through five, and Mendoza led off the sixth with an infield single. Maybe, this could be a spark. One of these days I will learn, I guess. Margolis hit into a 5-4-3 double play, after which Bareford singled to center. He reached third base on Casimiro Schoeppen’s error on his stolen base attempt, but Prince continued to not be worth the oxygen he was breathing and struck out, completely overwhelmed by the marginal Hanson. The same marginal Hanson broke up the perfect game and no-hitter after Abe had turned down 17 straight Thunder, singling to left center with two outs in the bottom 6th. Ricky Avila singled right behind him and I had good reason to expect another seventeen straight base hits out of the Thunder at this point, but Bobby Marshall flew out to center, keeping the scoreboard empty.

Abe held on to a 2-hit shutout through eight innings, but still could not get into the lead. Jeff Kearney was in the game in the ninth, walked the completely useless Prince before Petracek got hit for the second time in the game. McKnight batted for Abe, but after running a full count, bounced a pitch back to the pitcher. Kearney bobbled it once, which cost him the double play, and only Petracek was out at second base. Cookie had runners on the corners, but grounded out to first on the first pitch he saw from Kearney. OH COME ON, YOU ****S!!

Joel Davis retired the 1-2-3 in that fashion in the bottom 9th, sending a pathetic game to extra innings, presumably to torture the crowd even more, as they had not yet suffered enough. Kearney remained in the game, struck out Yoshi to start the 10th, but then walked Jackson in a full count. Mendoza singled to right, Jackson to second. Margolis singled to center, Jackson running. RUN, YOU ****, RUN! RUN FASTER!!! Stevenson’s throw was not very good and late, and Jackson slid across home plate with the first run of the game. Kearney lost Bareford on four pitches to fill the bases, but the Thunder left him in the game as Joel Davis approached in the #7 spot. To counter, we sent the only right-hander available, Olivares. The Thunder still didn’t budge. Rumor had it that the bullpen door was jammed shut, but what do we care!? Kearney fell apart wholly and completely, walking Olivares and Petracek to force in additional runs. When the Thunder finally got a pitcher in there, Chris Rountree allowed an RBI single to McKnight before securing flyouts from Cookie and Yoshi. Four runs were across at that point. Mathis took over the bottom 10th and retired the Thunder in order. 4-0 Blighters. Mendoza 2-4, BB; Margolis 2-5, RBI; McKnight 1-2, RBI; Abe 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K;

In other news

June 22 – PIT SP Pedro Hernandez (4-5, 3.30 ERA) will be out until the All Star Game. The 28-year old right-hander is suffering from an oblique strain. The news considerably dampen the joy over the Miners’ 14-3 rout of the Buffaloes.
June 23 – While the Thunder strangle the Bayhawks in a 19-2 crushing, Oklahoma’s Ricky Avila (.264, 0 HR, 15 RBI) has five base hits, including a double and two triples, and plates one run.
June 24 – The Knights announce a 7-yr, $24.72M extension with C Ruben Luna (.296, 12 HR, 45 RBI), which will keep him in town through his age 35 season.
June 24 – 21-year old rookie SAC INF Trey Rock (.265, 0 HR, 19 RBI) will miss a month with an intercostal strain.
June 25 – The Gold Sox acquire MR Helio Maggessi (1-1, 6.19 ERA, 1 SV) from the Indians, who receive three prospects, all more of the longshot variety.
June 26 – CIN LF/RF Yasuhiro Kuramoto (.301, 9 HR, 34 RBI) has his rookie season after coming over from Japan interrupted. The 25-year old left-hander will be out until August with a broken finger.
June 27 – Warriors and Capitals play to the 10th inning tied at two before the Warriors break out for six runs to squash the Capitals, 8-2.
June 28 – ATL SP Drew King (2-1, 3.62 ERA) announces his retirement after complications and re-injuring his torn flexor tendon. King, 29, went 24-23 with a 4.29 ERA in four seasons with the Knights.

Complaints and stuff

I wonder who we can trade at the deadline. By then none of the suckers should bat better than .245, or have an ERA better than 4.90, so things should get interesting.

Another week from the depths of horror. They scored 18 runs, but only eight off starting pitchers, and twice had 4-run innings against completely disintegrating bullpens, both leading to their only wins. With semi-decent relief on the Titans and Thunder, the Coons would have been swept for the week.

They still lost the CL North lead, mind.

Before he rolled that single in the ninth on Tuesday, DeWald was on the way to St. Petersburg. Batting .181 before the inning began and terrible in anything but defense, it was time to shake things up and bring up a new face. Then he started the rally and then I couldn’t can him. I am soft that way. Soft guys always lose.

Adam Cowen went unclaimed and arrived safely in St. Petersburg.

Jonny Toner whiffed ten in his start and still lost, but let’s not mind that right now. He reached 1,604 K with the outing, and he’s creeping ever closer to the career top 100, with 100th place now held by Raúl Chavez with 1,627 K.

Gee, who kicked out Stanton Martin, you might ask. I can tell you. It’s a career 116-80 pitcher with a 3.03 ERA and now 1,658 strikeouts that never gets talked nicely about because he pitches in the shadow of an even better, more dominating pitcher that steals just all the spotlight.

It’s Hector Santos.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-30) @ Knights (40-34) – June 29-July 1, 2020

The reeling Raccoons were already plenty bad, having lost 10 of their last 13 games, but the Knights were that tad bit worse coming into the series, having dropped eight games in a row. They were however 2-1 over the Raccoons in 2020, so they had at least that going for them. Offensively, the Knights were relying on power, mashing the fourth-most runs while having a batting average near the bottom of the league. Their bullpen was in the top 3, with a decent rotation in front of it, and together they were allowing the third-fewest runs in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (8-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Luis Calderon (1-3, 3.76 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-4, 4.46 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (6-7, 3.92 ERA)
Travis Garrett (0-2, 5.50 ERA) vs. Dave Priest (4-2, 4.12 ERA)

Flores would be a southpaw on Tuesday, the only one in their rotation.

Gil Rockwell was even for the ABL lead in home runs with Dumbo Mendoza, both sitting at 21 as the series began.

We were also in the string of games before the All Star Game, with this being games 4 through 6 of 17 consecutive contests.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P Calderon

Offense was slow to start the game, but by the third inning both teams managed to reach third base, although they would leave their runners there. Cookie had doubled and advanced as Yoshi Nomura grounded out for the second red dot on the board, but McKnight’s drive to right was just barely grabbed by Jonathan Lyle before it could become an RBI double near the base of the wall. McKnight then committed a throwing error in the bottom 3rd to put Calderon on second base with one out, Santos through a wild pitch after Jamie Wilson popped out, but Tony Jimenez struck out in a full count. Lyle also robbed Matt Nunley of extra bases in the fourth inning, and was also in the center of attention in the fifth. The Coons had Kevin DeWald on second base with two outs as Cookie singled to right. DeWald was sent to score, Lyle fired a rocket to home plate, and DeWald barely snuck past Ruben Luna – safe – but was still out of the game, having tweaked his calf on his mad dash home. Bareford replaced him. Cookie was left on second base when Yoshi grounded out.

Santos was still undefeated, had gotten four no-decisions in his last five starts, and now had to defend a fragile 1-0 lead. Through five, he allowed only two hits to the Knights, but Jamie Wilson opened the bottom 6th with a double to left center. Jimenez popped out, but Luna got hit by a pitch, and then Gil Rockwell singled to right to chase home Wilson. Cookie’s throw was kinda late, the runners advanced. Tied game, and something bothered Santos … and he left the game. That made for two injured players in a 1-1 game, with runners in scoring position and one out. Chris Mathis replaced Santos, and his first pitch netted the Knights a 3-1 lead on Antonio Esquivel’s single to left. Santos was heading for his first loss – besides a trainer’s appointment – with the Coons putting their first two guys on in the seventh as Nunley and DeWeese singled, only for Bareford to rumble into a double play. The Coons’ top of the order did nothing in the eighth, while the Knights tagged Joel Davis with an additional run in the bottom of that inning. Mendoza singled off Harry Merwin to open the ninth before Margolis livened up an 0-3, 3 K day with a pop out to short. Nunley flew to left, but Rockwell dropped the ball, bringing up DeWeese as tying run. It was a mad dream, but it was all we had. DeWeese flew to deep right, but that dream died with Lyle like all other flyballs in the game. Bareford was the final out, but dinked a single into shallow center, scoring Mendoza, 4-2. Olivares batted for Davis, and lined a pitch up the middle and into center! Nunley in, 4-3, runners on the corners for Cookie, who never got much to hit, but wasn’t fooled by Merwin, either. He walked, loading them up for Yoshi, who chipped the 0-1 to shallow center, Rockwell coming in – too late! The ball was in! Bareford scored, Olivares scored – score flipped! New reliever Danny Martin retired McKnight to end the inning, and Thrasher held the Knights down in the bottom 9th, securing an odd comeback. 5-4 Raccoons!! Carmona 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Nomura 2-5, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4; Nunley 2-4; Bareford 1-2, RBI; Olivares (PH) 1-1, RBI;

All four runs scored with two outs in an improbable comeback.

Kevin DeWald was day-to-day for Tuesday, which was against the lefty and thus a Bareford start anyway. Santos was not diagnosed as of now.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – C Olivares – 2B Prince – 3B Petracek – P Guerrero
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P L. Flores

The Knights’ 9-game losing streak was going to end in the Tuesday game. They batted around in the first inning, rolling over the clueless Guerrero for five runs. Guerrero retired the first two before loading the bases with two outs, falling to a bases-clearing double by Jeffrey Walrath, an RBI double by Jeremy DeFabio, a single by Jonathan Lyle, and then a wild pitch to brought home DeFabio. Another run flew onto the board in the second, with Wilson singling, advancing on another wild pitch, and coming home on Rockwell’s HARD single to left. Guerrero had one of those games, bunting into a force when he came up to bat in the third inning, and misfielded a Walrath grounder into an infield single (generous call there), although Walrath would be caught stealing by Olivares. Guerrero was yanked after three-plus, issuing a pair of leadoff walks to Flores (sic!) and Wilson in the bottom 4th. Castaneda replaced him, retired absolutely nobody as Jimenez singled, Luna walked to force in a run, and Rockwell and Esquivel both hit RBI singles. Chun replaced that chronic loser, struck out Walrath, but allowed a 2-run single to DeFabio before the Knights made two outs on the base paths, Esquivel being tagged out at third, and DeFabio being then caught stealing.

The Coons’ futile rally started with a Cookie RBI single in the fifth, and mostly ended there. Flores struck out the side in the sixth and they never gave much of a squeal after that. At least the bullpen held up, with Chun, Boynton, Kaiser, and Thrasher holding the Knights at bay for the rest of the game. They didn’t reach scoring position past the fifth inning. This was a rout nonetheless. 11-1 Knights. Carmona 2-4, RBI; Petracek 2-4; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Boynton 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We got some pretty bad news after the game: Hector Santos was done for the season with a torn rotator cuff, tearing a hole right into the part of the pitching staff that hadn’t been horrible.

The Raccoons were pretty much done at this point just as June turned into July.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Garrett
ATL: 2B Jam. Wilson – SS T. Jimenez – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 3B Esquivel – CF Walrath – 1B DeFabio – RF Lyle – P Priest

Pretty much the best recipe for the kind of hangover the Raccoons had after that pitch-black final day of June was to load the bases on straight singles with nobody out in the first inning against Dave Priest. The Critters trumped the Knights’ opening-frame 5-spot from Tuesday with a 6-spot in this inning, although Mendoza’s grounder looked like two and only barely scored a run when Esquivel got to it. Margolis however lined up the leftfield foul mark for a 2-run double past Gil Rockwell and after Nunley grounded out to short it was R.J. DeWeese with a blast to right center to get the team to 5-0. Back-to-back 2-out doubles by DeWald and Garrett added the last run of the inning. Garrett then had a bottom of the first inning that was chewy to say the least, with a full count walk to Jamie Wilson and a single by Jimenez putting two on right away. But the Knights failed to make decisive contact, Garrett escaped and soon began to rack up a few strikeouts. The Raccoons had the bases loaded in the second inning when Nunley hit into a double play that left Priest off the hook. Priest made it to the fifth inning eventually, where a 2-out RBI single by DeWeese scored Mendoza, 7-0, and finally knocked him from the game. A leadoff single by DeFabio in the bottom 5th was only the Knights’ second hit in the game, and he didn’t get past second base. Garrett would end up with six shutout innings, but hadn’t been very efficient and was done after 102 pitches. Hidden beneath two base hits and three walks issued there were also two batsmen that Garrett drilled. As soon as Garrett was removed from the game, the Knights awoke and poured four hits and two runs on Boynton and Kaiser in the seventh inning, and the well overworked bullpen would keep crumbling. While the offense had largely gone home after the first inning, the bullpen never arrived at all. Castaneda was in again, trying to end a game with a 5-run lead, somehow, but it just wasn’t working. Ruben Luna hit a 2-run homer in the ninth to get the Knights back within three, and although the runs were unearned (Nunley had dropped a foul pop by Devin Hibbard, who ended up reaching base), Castaneda’s major league stint was over. Joel Davis secured the W when he got Rockwell to ground out to McKnight. 7-4 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5; Nomura 3-5; McKnight 2-4, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Garrett 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (1-2) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

That was Garrett’s first major league win in his fourth attempt this season. He already got a W in six starts in 2019, and overall is 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA in ten starts.

Castaneda (16.20 ERA) and his four walks and five runs allowed in 1.2 innings were banished back to St. Petersburg. Will West was brought back in his place.

Raccoons (44-31) @ Indians (39-39) – July 2-5, 2020

The Indians held a 4-3 edge on the Raccoons in 2020 and had a 4-game winning streak going, so we were warned. They were eighth in runs scored and third in runs allowed with a +19 run differential that hinted at some hidden ambitions and untapped potential in terms of a winning record.

They did, however, have a flurry of injuries, including Jayden Jolley, Lowell Genge, Danny Morales, Jong-beom Kym, and even their backup catcher to Jolley, Nolan Mancuso. Jared D’Attilo was the only pitcher they had on the DL, but their lineup was badly decimated.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (7-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (4-6, 3.31 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-4, 3.12 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (9-4, 2.70 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-0) vs. Tom Shumway (6-5, 3.51 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-5, 5.18 ERA) vs. Zach Weaver (5-6, 4.13 ERA)

Bad news here, as the Indians have three left-handed starting pitchers, and we will face ALL of them, and ALL of them to start the series. Only Weaver on Sunday is going to be a right-hander, and never before did I long to see Dan Lambert (7-5, 3.98 ERA) this hard. We needed strong performances from Toner and Abe to start the set, else things were going to go really pear-shaped. The Raccoons entered this series half a game behind the Loggers in the division.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – 2B Prince – P Toner
IND: RF Faulk – CF D. Young – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – 3B Georges – C I. Gutierrez – P Lamb

Lamb conceded a run in the second, which saw Margolis and McKnight both hit singles to left to start the inning. Nunley and Prince both came up with deep fly balls that didn’t get past A.J. Faulk and Danny Young, respectively, but were deep enough to advance Margolis every time, and thus scoring him on Prince’s sac fly. Toner hit a 2-out single after that, but Cookie grounded out to strand runners on the corners, while on the mound Toner retired the first eight including five strikeouts before Lamb reached with a bloop single in the third. Faulk grounded out to end the inning. Toner struck out the side in the fourth, then came to the plate in the top 5th with Prince on base after a leadoff walk. Jonny failed to bunt, but with two strikes on him hit another line drive for another single, moving Prince to second. Cookie flew out to Cesar Martinez, but Bareford singled, loading the bases for the middle of the order. Lamb threw only two pitches, enough for Jackson to pop out to first and Mendoza to ground out to second, nobody scoring in the inning. Of course, things had to go bust at some point. Toner issued a leadoff walk in a full count to Raul Matias in the bottom 5th, and Bobby Eason hit a double past Jackson to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs. Toner dug himself a trench on the mound, determined to get out of here – AND HE DID. He struck out Ryan Georges; Israel Gutierrez popped out on the first pitch; and Kyle Lamb was simply mutilated as Toner grabbed his 10th K of the game! But there was no beauty to the Raccoons’ game right now. Toner walked two including the leadoff man AGAIN in the sixth, and Faulk would come around on a 2-out RBI single by Matias to center. Eason flew out to Cookie to end the sixth.

So with the lead blown and in a 1-1 contest, what would the Critters do? Cookie was in a 3-1 count leading off the seventh, was going to ground out to Eason, except that Eason spiked the throw and undressed poor Mike Rucker, with Cookie safe on the error. Right-hander Lou Cannon replaced Lamb, and off him Bareford hit one up the leftfield line for a double, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Of course nothing came of it. The ****ed up offense would load the bases with an intentional walk to Mendoza after Jackson had already grounded out pathetically, and then Margolis hit into a double play, 6-4-3. Toner labored through the seventh, the sparkle of the first four innings being completely gone by now, and was dead shot and done after 111 pitches, just barely stalling the go-ahead run on third base. That runner, Juan Gonzales, had walked as pinch-hitter, giving Toner four walks in the game. For his efforts, he got the W. The Raccoons loaded the bases against Allen Reed in the eighth, starting with a Nunley single, although Nunley was erased on Prince hitting into a fielder’s choice, Yoshi dipping a pinch-hit single into shallow left, and Cookie walking. Bareford fell to 1-2 before rolling a grounder to right – and through between Eason and Rucker! The go-ahead run scored in Prince, and then Jackson singled to center to score two more. Killian Savoie replaced Reed and caught Mendoza’s comebacker to end the inning, before Chris Mathis started the bottom 8th with a 3-0 count to Martinez, who then foolishly poked and grounded out to McKnight. Mathis made it through the inning, and the Raccoons tagged on a run in the ninth, one catcher (Olivares) plating the other (Margolis) with a sac fly; the primary had doubled to get the inning underway. Will West was in for the ninth, allowed two singles, but struck out two, including Jeremie Ventura to end the game without another pitcher having to be bothered. 5-1 Critters. Bareford 3-5, 2B, RBI; Jackson 2-5, 2 RBI; Margolis 2-5, 2B; Nunley 2-4; Prince 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Nomura (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 11 K, W (8-4) and 2-3;

The Loggers fell to Boston’s Jose Diaz (6-4, 3.10 ERA) in a 7-1 defeat for them, so the lead in the North changed hands on this Thursday.

Game 2
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – 1B Petracek – LF DeWeese – P Abe
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – RF Faulk – 2B Ventura – C Tanner – P Broun

Three singles by Gonzales, Martinez, and Rucker escaped through various holes in the infield and put Abe 1-0 behind right in the first inning, and Abe would be guilty of a terrible bunt that forced out DeWeese in the third inning and cost the Raccoons a run. They would end up loading the bases on a Bareford walk and Yoshi’s single, but Abe as the lead runner had no chance of scoring on a single to left, while we would have sent DeWeese with reckless abandon. Jackson grounded out to Pedro Cruz, stranding three runners. The following inning the Raccoons had Margolis and Prince on with one out, both having hit singles. With the 7-8-9 batters we had coming up, there was basically no hope, unless a ball eluded C.J. Tanner and made it to the backstop. The passed ball on Broun’s first pitch to Petracek moved both runners to scoring position, but Petracek still struck out. DeWeese was walked intentionally just to be sure, and Abe struck out, leaving the bases loaded AGAIN. While Abe was tip-toeing his way through the Indians’ lineup with no great stuff and some decent help from the defense, f.e. Margolis erasing Matias when the shortstop tried to steal second after a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, the offense was still meh. Jackson rolled a single to left in the fifth inning, but that was with two down already. Margolis ran a 3-0 count against Broun and then thought to himself why shouldn’t he, and ripped. He met a fastball and killed it outright, flipping the score with a long 2-run homer to left center.

The Indians continued to employ selectively the intentional walk to great effect. Prince hit a double to lead off the sixth inning. The Indians walked PETRACEK to get to DeWeese, who complied and grounded to Jeremie Ventura for a 4-6-3 double play. Abe dutifully struck out, then was torn to shreds in the 4-run bottom of the inning. Cruz doubled off the wall, Martinez singled, and Rucker hit a 3-piece, but Matias also singled his way on base and would score on Ventura’s single. Down 5-2, the Raccoons loaded the bases AGAIN in the seventh inning. After Bareford made a poor out, Yoshi doubled to right, Jackson walked, and Margolis singled. One out for Nunley, who bounced a ball straight to Ventura for a 4-6-3 double play. Top 8th, Petracek stumbled onto base. Facing right-handed reliever Shane Baker, just into the game, Cookie hit for Abe with two outs and singled hard to center to bring up the tying run, with Mendoza batting for Bareford, and left-hander Killian Savoie coming in to face him after already retiring him in the series opener, and he got him again, this time on a fly to left. Jarrod Morrison would try to close the game in the ninth and had a 1.73 ERA among his credentials. Yoshi led off with a single, and then Jackson rammed a ball high to left and outta here. And if they had been a little less ****ty in the previous umpteen chances, that could have been the tying or go-ahead or whatever, but now the home run only got the Raccoons to within a run. Nobody out yet, though, so still plenty of time to make up another run. Two groundouts to short later, Prince singled with two outs to become the tying run on base. McKnight hit for Petracek, but grounded out to Ventura. 5-4 Indians. Nomura 3-5, 2B; Jackson 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Margolis 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Prince 2-4, BB, 2B; Carmona (PH) 1-1;

And we lost the division lead again to the Loggers with this shameful loss. And why play DeWeese against the left-hander? Easy: if we sit him for three straight days, he will bite the minimum salary players, so we had to work him into there somehow.

I know it didn’t work.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – CF Bareford – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – P Knight
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – RF Georges – C Tanner – P Shumway

Cookie singled, stole, scored in the first, with Mendoza driving him in with a double to the corner in rightfield for his 70th RBI of the year, but the run was pretty much worthless, since the Raccoons became unhinged and collapsed into a heap of rubble pretty much from the get-go, with a Gonzales double to center leading things off for the Arrowheads before McKnight unleashed a catastrophic throw for a 2-base error on Cruz’ grounder. Game tied, Knight threw a wild pitch, and the run scored on Cesar Martinez’ loud sac fly. The Fourth of July fireworks were off early, and it pretty much had to do with Knight alone, whose career ERA coming in was a flat five. The defense made a few outstanding plays, and the Raccoons even took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning as Jackson homered to tie the game, and Yoshi doubled and advanced on productive outs to get ahead, but Martinez’ leadoff jack, which was a real no-doubter, in the bottom 4th leveled the score at three without much discussion. There would be discussion about Knight’s fifth inning, however. The leadoff walk to the .159 batter Tanner was one thing. The completely and mind-bogglingly stupid play on Tom Shumway’s bunt however, in which Knight tried to get Tanner out at second, was doomed from the start and only served to put two on with nobody out. Then Juan Gonzales homered, deep, deep, three times deep to right and the Indians were 6-3 ahead. Cruz would single to center with authority, which ended Knight’s day and brought in Joel Davis, who made it through the fifth alright, but allowed a solo bomb to Ryan Georges in the sixth, and he was not the last Coon to get bombed. Matias homered off Boynton in the eighth, also a solo shot. The Raccoons hardly hit a ball out of the infield in the last five innings. 8-3 Indians. Carmona 2-4; Nomura 2-3, 2B;

No lead change today, and in fact there would not be one on Sunday either with the Loggers taking their third game against the Titans and putting the Coons 1 1/2 out.

Game 4
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Guerrero
IND: CF J. Gonzales – 3B P. Cruz – LF C. Martinez – 1B M. Rucker – SS Matias – 2B Eason – RF Faulk – C Tanner – P Weaver

Guerrero had been nothing but a horror show ever since the middle of May, winning only one of his last ten starts, and he had been especially gruesome in his last five starts, going 0-3 with an ERA over ELEVEN. The Coons were counting on him to at least secure a series split with Indy, which was a bit like counting on the odd-smelling milk to not banish you to the privy with explosive diarrhea.

Starting with two strikeouts and a perfect first, Guerrero quickly returned to resembling a cucumber nailed to a spring that was lobbing baseballs in the general direction of the nearest warm body. The Indians hit three singles in the bottom 2nd, with Tanner’s 2-out roller up the middle chasing home Rucker with the first run of the game. Cruz, Martinez, and Rucker were on the bases with one out in the bottom 3rd, after which four straight balls nowhere near the zone to Matias forced in the second run. Bobby Eason fouled out, Faulk flew out to Cookie, and in a perfect world, or even one that was at least occasionally just, the Raccoons would punish them for not slicing Guerrero open neck-to-scrotum right here and there. So far, the Coons did not have a base hit, but got one before making an out in the fourth. Yoshi led off with a walk, and then McKnight singled to left. The tying runs were on for Dumbo Mendoza, who hit a ball for about six feet, with Tanner starting a casual 2-6-3 double play. Margolis flew out to right, nobody scored, as usual. To make up for the road team’s persistent offensive ineptness, rookie Zach Weaver hit his first career home run off Guerrero in the bottom of the inning, bringing the score to 3-0.

Funnily enough – if there was ANYTHING even REMOTELY funny about this team anymore – Guerrero would outlast Weaver in the game. Weaver allowed a single to McKnight in the sixth, then served a snoozer to Mendoza that even Dumbo couldn’t hit into a double play with. A 390-footer later, the score was 3-2, and Weaver didn’t retire anybody else. Margolis singled, Nunley walked, Allen Reed replaced him, which also meant that Jackson batted for DeWeese to face the southpaw. Jackson rammed a ball to deep left, over Martinez’ head and to the base of the fence for an RBI double. That one tied the score, and the Coons plundered their bench. Bareford batted for DeWald, but was walked intentionally, and then Prince batted for Guerrero, who suddenly stood a chance for his first W since May if Prince could get at least one man home. Or, you know, if Reed did something stupid, like throwing a ball completely past Tanner and Nunley scoring on the wild pitch, 4-3. Prince struck out eventually, and Guerrero didn’t get the W either, because the Indians would get straight 1-out singles off Seung-mo Chun in the bottom 6th, Gonzales, Cruz, and Martinez doing the honors; in the seventh they stranded the go-ahead run on third base, where A.J. Faulk arrived after singling off Joel Davis, and making it to third when Margolis threw away the ball on Faulk’s attempted steal of second base. Tanner struck out, Ventura popped out to Yoshi. This was not Margolis’ last terrible throwing error in the game. He made another one in the bottom of the ninth, that one putting PH Silvestro Roncero on second with one out and Mathis pitching. Mathis guided the game to extra innings, retiring Faulk on a groundout and Tanner on strikes.

The Coons had landed only five base hits in regulation, and it didn’t get any better in extra innings. Petracek hit a single pinch-hitting in the 11th, but that was literally all they did, with Cookie flying out to get to a particularly aggravating 0-for-6. With Petracek’s PH appearance, neither team had any bench left. Bottom 11th, this came into play, with Will West pitching for Portland, and Cesar Martinez hitting a leadoff single, but being caught stealing quickly. Rucker flew out, but Matias singled … but the Indians had the pitcher in the #6 slot, and Shane Baker struck out. Mendoza walked in the 12th, Margolis hit into a double play. Cookie took Pedro Cruz’ fly to left with two on and two out to further extend the capital misery. Baker allowed singles to Nunley and Jackson as the 13th inning began. Bareford flew out to right, after which we shrugged and sent Jonny Toner to bat for Will West. Toner hit the first pitch slowly up the third base line, Cruz couldn’t make the play in time, and the infield single loaded the bases for the aforementioned 0-for-6 leadoff man, who rolled a grounder in the vicinity of Jeremie Ventura at the keystone, but Ventura missed it, and the RBI single broke the 4-4 tie. Manny Ortega replaced Baker to try and limit the damage, but allowed a 2-run double to left to Nomura, who so far had also been left dry. The Indians’ pen collapsed. McKnight struck out for the second out, but Mendoza plated two with a single to left center, then scored on Margolis’ single to center. The inning ended on Nunley’s grounder, and Boynton opened the bottom 13th with a walk and a balk, but the Indians wouldn’t score, stranding Martinez on third base when their pitcher struck out for the second time to end an inning, and this time the game. 10-4 Blighters. Mendoza 2-5, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Jackson (PH) 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Petracek (PH) 1-1; Toner (PH) 1-1; Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; West 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

We were out-hit 17-13 in this game, so by no means was this win deserved…

In other news

June 30 – A 9-run second inning fuels the Indians in their 16-3 crushing of the Bayhawks. IND C C.J. Tanner (.162, 1 HR, 9 RBI) drives in five runs in the #8 hole.
July 1 – The Capitals crumple the Stars in a 15-3 rout. WAS OF/1B Terry Kopp (.316, 9 HR, 49 RBI) has four hits with a homer and two doubles and drives in four.
July 2 – The Titans send RF/LF Victor Hodgers (.277, 4 HR, 17 RBI) to the Cyclones for two prospects.
July 5 – MIL SP Luis Guerrero (3-6, 4.75 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
July 5 – The Knights will be without INF Jamie Wilson (.241, 4 HR, 32 RBI) for at least a month. The 32-year old has broken a rib.

Complaints and stuff

We are pretty much completely arsed. That is the short version of what is going on.

As June ended, the Raccoons – once far ahead in runs scored – had dropped to fourth in the CL in counters already, and I feel like their freefall hasn’t stopped yet although they are t-2nd in runs scored right at this point thanks to 6-spots on Wednesday and Sunday, one in the first, one in the very, very last inning.

Also, with Santos gone, our pitching is quite definitely a mess now. Damani Knight is in the rotation *in addition to* Bobby Guerrero and Travis Garrett being routinely set ablaze. And it’s not like Toner has been impeccable this year, or Abe (shivers), or the bullpen.

Four weeks ago, they looked like a lock for the division. Now they look like some of them will be sold before the month is over. Or maybe a few more guys get injured, that would be fun and games, too…

One more week to the All Star break, and we will have four with the damn Elks next week, which I am not in the mood for.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-33) vs. Canadiens (32-49) – July 6-9, 2020

The wretched Elks had their own problems, playing some truly miserable baseball that included scoring almost nothing and giving up plenty of runs. They in fact ranked in last in both runs scored and runs conceded in the Continental League with a -102 run differential at the halfway point. Pouncing on them would be oh so sweet, and the Raccoons had yet to lose a game to the Elks in 2020, having swept them over three games in the first meeting between the teams.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-2, 4.13 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (0-0, 4.01 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (8-4, 3.01 ERA) vs. Bryant Roberts (2-7, 4.45 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-5, 3.34 ERA) vs. Matt Rosenthal (4-6, 4.46 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Ron Funderburk (6-7, 3.93 ERA)

Their starters were all right-handed; while the Elks were miserable in almost any category you desired to look at, they had one thing going for them, ranking second in stolen bases in the CL with 49, although things were kind of dense in that category when you consider that the Coons had 40 stolen bases and ranked sixth. Employing Danny Margolis as often as possible in this series was certainly not a big mistake, though.

Game 1
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – C Delgado – 3B Roundtree – SS Otis – RF Kim – 2B Folk – P Riley
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Garrett

Trouble for Garrett would usually start only with two outs in this game, with the Elks pounding back-to-back 2-out doubles in the first inning by Mario Rocha and Tony Delgado to take an early 1-0 lead. In the third they would get Jose Gutierrez and Rocha on with 2-out singles before Delgado lined really hard right into McKnight’s glove to end the inning, and Brody Folk would chase home Matt Otis with a 2-out double off the leftfield wall in the fourth inning, making this a 2-0 game. The Raccoons’ offense hadn’t showed up at all; through five innings, they reached scoring position once under their own power, with singles by Nunley and Bareford in the second inning, an endeavor ended by DeWeese lifting a ball to Roca in center, and Mendoza in the fourth arrived at second base after an infield single and a wild pitch, but nobody reached third base for the home team in the first five innings. It was ****ty contact galore, with Riley striking out a mere pair of batters through five.

Cruel Garrett meanwhile made Raccoons fans hang in by not falling apart despite having ample chances to do so. In the sixth inning the Elks got Steve Roundtree on base with a 1-out single just past Nunley, and Garrett would lose Otis on a borderline 3-2 pitch where he didn’t get the call. Man-su Kim drove a pitch to right that Cookie snared at the edge of the warning track, and Garrett held on by snuffing out Folk to end the inning and leave runners on the corners, which included that one corner that still no Raccoon had touched in the game. As the top of the order went down limply in the bottom of the sixth, my utter despair only grew. If they couldn’t beat the Elks, who were close to ranking last in whatever category you could make up, including ‘appeal’ and ‘smell per nine innings’, what was there left to do? Garrett got stuck in the seventh, and of course only with two outs, as Gutierrez drew four balls and no strikes and Rocha singled past Mendoza. Mathis replaced Garrett and got Delgado to ground out to short, but the 2-0 deficit felt more like 9-0. Riley held on through eight innings, staving off 2-out singles by Cookie and Yoshi in the bottom of the eighth. McKnight fired a liner to left with the tying runs on base, but right at Alex Torres, ending the inning, and against Mike Tharp and his K/BB of *10* the Raccoons stood not even a chance in the ninth. 2-0 Canadiens.

Game 2
VAN: SS Otis – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Delgado – 3B Roundtree – LF Kim – 2B Folk – P B. Roberts
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF DeWald – P Toner

Yoshi double, McKnight walk, Mendoza single – the bases were loaded with one down in the bottom of the first, but Eddie Jackson, inserted as a desperate cry for offense, struck out and Margolis hobbled one over to Otis to waste the opportunity. Toner had walked Ezra Branch in the first inning, but then had struck out Rocha to get out. No such thing would happen in the second inning, which opened with a walk to Delgado before he struck Roundtree with an 0-2 pitch. After a flyout by Kim, Folk drew a walk to load the bases. Roberts lined to left, Cookie snared it, but Delgado scored on the sac fly, and then Matt Otis’ fly to center befuddled DeWald, who overran the ball and conceded a 2-run double that put this game to bed right away. While Otis’ undeserved double remained the Elks’ only run for a while, the entire team tried to chip in with stupidity to get Toner out of the game as quickly as possible, like Mendoza making a mind-boggling and utterly careless error on a boring grounder in the third inning. The Elks’ had to wait to the fifth for another hit, Gutierrez singling to center and reaching a 19-game hitting streak, but wouldn’t score on Toner, who was nevertheless almost at 100 pitches already, and was toast after six innings, issuing a leadoff walk to Delgado for good measure in his last frame. The harmless Raccoons couldn’t have been further from being any kind of threat, even when Roberts issued walks to Jackson and Margolis in the bottom of the sixth. Nunley simply hit into a double play to end that inning and to be done with it. And that was before a bullpen collapse in the seventh inning, with the 1-through-5 batters in the Elks’ order reaching collectively against a miserable cavalcade of Boynton, Kaiser, and Davis – all horrible, and all horribly overworked – before Roundtree shat on the parade with a double play grounder to McKnight to end the inning with only two runs across when twenty were entirely possible. Nothing was possible for the Raccoons, except finding more ways to be ****ty. Prince walked and Cookie singled in the bottom of the seventh, and Nomura managed to bounce merrily into a 5-3 double play. Will West coughed up a run at some point late in the game, but I couldn’t see anymore for all the tears of despair. 6-0 Canadiens. Mendoza 2-4;

Mandatory expunction and compulsory euthanasia for the entire roster is becoming an option now…

Kevin DeWald was sent to St. Petersburg after the game, replaced by 24-year old Dwayne Metts, our 2016 third-round pick. Metts had decent defense across all outfield positions and was a left-handed batter, so the awkward platoon with Andy Bareford would continue in some form. He was also really quick on the bases – if he ever got there. He had batted merely .252 with no power and plenty of strikeouts in AAA prior to being called up.

Game 3
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – C Delgado – 3B Roundtree – SS Otis – CF Kim – 2B Folk – P Rosenthal
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Metts – P Abe

Alex Torres tripled on the first pitch Abe threw and scored easily enough on Ezra Branch’s single, hanging the loss on the Raccoons right in the first inning again. While Nunley was the first Raccoon to reach base with a 2-out single in the bottom 2nd, and DeWeese doubled to right center, and Dwayne Metts walked in a full count in his first major league plate appearance, Abe sure as hell couldn’t even make the slightest bit of contact and struck out to strand a full set of runners. At least Abe was steady on the mound, if you were willing to ignore the hard leadoff base knock that Rosenthal hit off him right after the second inning ended, only for Rosenthal to suffer a rush of **** to the brains and being cornered up between second and third and eventually put out by Nunley, which probably spared Abe a run in the third inning. Torres hit a leadoff double in the fifth, stole third base, but was left stranded due to poor infield grounders by his team. Down 1-0 after two, the Coons would certainly rally and - … oh, just quit pretending! Rosenthal was perfect the second time through the order, and they were still trailing insurmountably, 1-0, after five.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cookie singled to left, stole second base, and still found a way to be stranded on third base after the Coons’ 2-3-4 had delivered three absolutely pathetic and embarrassing groundballs. Abe went to the eighth, unloved, walked Torres with one out, and while Gutierrez popped out (ending his hitting streak unless the Coons would find a way to extend the game or the Elks to hit all the way back around to him in the ninth), the left-hander Branch was up. Ron Thrasher came in, the Elks countered with right-handed batter Dave Padilla, but his sharp grounder was gobbled up by Yoshi to end the inning. Still 1-0 for the ****ing Elks. Dwayne Metts’ first career base hit was a leadoff single to rightfield off Rosenthal in the bottom of the eighth inning. Thrasher was used to bunt him to second base, and Cookie singled to center to move Metts to third. Yoshi knocked a liner into Otis’ glove for the second out, but McKnight lifted a ball up the rightfield line for a – where the **** did that ****ing Elk come from?? Moises Berrones had warped over to the line and took the ball, ending the inning and extending the Raccoons’ scoreless streak to a whopping 26 innings, which extended to 27 with Mike Tharp’s perfect ninth. 1-0 Canadiens. Carmona 2-4; Abe 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (7-6);

Elks had been 4-for-4 in stealing off Margolis in this set, so why not lose a game with Olivares behind the dish? Coming up now.

Also, I think I am done with life. I’ll wait for the Druid to be distracted and then smash in the glass of the cabinet with the big skull and crossed bones in his storage room.

Game 4
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – C Delgado – 3B Roundtree – SS Otis – CF Kim – 2B Folk – P Funderburk
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – C Olivares – LF DeWeese – P Knight

The homepage of the Agitator almost instantly brought up a news item with a red banner imprinted with *BREAKING NEWS* in thick letters and the title “COONS SCORE RUN”, right in the first inning, when Yoshi singled and then McKnight and Mendoza hit back-to-back bombs to right off Ron Funderburk for an early 3-0 lead, ending TWENTY-SEVEN INNINGS OF MISERY. For the moment at least, because with Damani Knight on the mound, no lead was ever big enough. Out of character, though, Knight managed to slip a few zeroes onto the board, although the defense did most of the grisly work, like in the third inning, in which Funderburk hid a hard single to center on a 3-1 pitch, Knight walked Alex Torres, and then was bailed out by McKnight who turned a wonderful and unexpected 6-4-3 on Jose Gutierrez. Singled by Mendoza (who was forced out by Bareford, who in turn stole second base), Olivares, and DeWeese produced a run in the bottom 4th, 4-0, before Knight struck out to leave two on.

That strikeout, while not completely unlikely, was exactly where the game turned sour. Knight came back for the fifth, walked Otis leading off, and Otis quickly swiped second base off Olivares. Knight actually struck out Man-su Kim, Olivares had the ball clank off his shin guard and roll almost all the way to the dugout steps, allowing Kim to reach on the uncaught third strike and putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Folk singled to right, one run in, Kim to third, Cookie threw there in vain, and Folk advanced to second. Funderburk got to 2-0 before ripping a single to right center, two were going to score unless Cookie tried to throw even harder, which he did, Folk was out at home plate, but Cookie had also basically ripped his arm from the socket and left the game in a mountain of pain, a feeling shared by most in attendance. As he was walked off the field, Metts replacing him, it was time to count the evil blessing. It was 4-2, Funderburk on first base and one out, and we didn’t quite know whether all this was Knight’s fault or not. The pitching coach tried to explain to him why exactly the dog-catcher’s van had just rolled up at the gate next to the bullpens. Knight then struck out Torres, Gutierrez flew out to Metts, and superficially order was restored for the moment.

The Coons stranded runners in scoring position, Metts in the fifth and Olivares in the sixth, and Knight nibbled around the bottom of the order in the seventh inning, which in itself was progress for sure. He would however depart with Otis on third base after a double and left-hander Moises Berrones pinch-hitting for Funderburk with two outs. Kaiser came out and collected Berrones on a soft fly to left to end the inning. The rest of the pen tried their darndest to blow the game in the eighth, though, with Gutierrez hitting a 1-out double off Joel Davis, Thrasher walking his only man, Branch, and it was on McKnight again to turn a sharp grounder by Delgado off Mathis into a double play. Mathis would work around an Otis single in the ninth to salvage a game from the set at last. 4-2 Blighters. Mendoza 2-3, HR, RBI; Olivares 2-3, RBI; Knight 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-1); Mathis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (2);

The Druid explained how Cookie’s recent lack of success at the plate had caused his soul to wander through his body and how that had thrown his body out of alignment on the throw. He diagnosed a sore back and strongly recommended to sit him for the Loggers series and rest him through the All Star break where he scheduled three days of ‘good talks’ as only medication.

Mena, I swear, if you don’t know what you’re doing……!

Raccoons (47-36) @ Loggers (50-36) – July 10-12, 2020

Cookie’s injury came at a very bad time with the Loggers on our plates before the All Star Game. Theoretically the Raccoons could reclaim the division lead with a sweep, but let’s be real for just a second here. The Coons had lost 16 of their last 24 games and were in no position to sweep anybody, although they held a 5-3 lead over the Loggers in the season series. They still didn’t look like much of a playoff team (although their chances were phenomenal right now), scoring the fifth-most runs and allowing the fourth-fewest. Those weren’t exactly overwhelming numbers! They also had a few injury issues, having lost starter Luis Guerrero for the season and missing Brad Gore from their lineup. Ex-Coon Jason Seeley was also on the DL and would not haunt us in this set.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (3-5, 5.19 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (7-3, 2.90 ERA)
Travis Garrett (1-3, 3.82 ERA) vs. Chris Sinkhorn (10-6, 2.41 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (8-5, 3.10 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (8-8, 3.85 ERA)

For that extra bit of resignation before the series even began, the Raccoons would face the Loggers’ 1-2 punch, including their only surviving southpaw, Sinkhorn, which was a great name for a pitcher if you think about it. He sinks one past you, and then the horn of doom would sound in person of that white-haired chubby guy clad in black behind home plate. His K/BB weren’t pretty though, not even 1.4, thanks to 68 walks issued in 127 innings.

Game 1
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – P Guerrero
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – 1B LeMoine – C Denny – RF Cooper – 3B Farias – LF J. Gonzalez – P Prevost

It took only to the second inning for the frequent punching bag Guerrero and the rest of the sodden crew to fall apart. Mike Denny led off with a single to left, Guerrero walked Andrew Cooper and allowed a single to Emilio Farias. With the bases full, Javier Gonzalez grounded to Nomura, whose throw to first eluded Mendoza for a 2-base, 2-run error. Guerrero couldn’t even erase Prevost, who hit a run-scoring groundout, and the Loggers plated three in total in the inning. Not that the Coons weren’t good for some drama; Yoshi singled and Mendoza walked in the fourth, and with one out Margolis sent a looper to shallow right. Tyler Stewart and Andrew Cooper almost took another out in a head-on-head collision, neither got the ball, and the bases were loaded on the single. Nunley flew a ball to center that was deep enough to score a run – except that Ian Coleman butchered the ball and it popped out of his glove, scoring two runs and putting the tying and go-ahead run in scoring position for Eddie Jackson, who flew out to right. Margolis went for home in a leisurely stroll that was supposed to be all the pace he had, and Cooper threw him out to end the inning before opening the bottom 4th with a single, stealing a base and eventually scoring on Gonzalez’ double play grounder that followed Farias’ single, putting the Loggers up 4-2 after four.

The Coons stranded runners on the corners in the sixth inning with Nunley grounding out to his significant other, Farias, and in one of those bitter twists we were seeing too many of, the Coons could only score after a 2-out double by ****ing Guerrero in the seventh, with Bareford singling him in. That still left the Raccoons behind, 4-3, and it wasn’t looking like it was going to get better. Farias singled to lead off the bottom 7th, with Guerrero hanging on until he drilled Tyler Stewart with two outs. Davis replaced him to face Kyle Burns and erased him with a strikeout to end the inning. The game was lost, however; while Prevost had been hit for in the bottom of the seventh, the Loggers would get perfect relief in the last two innings, with Justin Carlin, Ivan Morales, and Quinn MacCarthy nailing the Raccoons to the ground. 4-3 Loggers. Bareford 2-4, RBI; Nomura 2-4; Guerrero 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (3-6) and 1-3, 2B;

Game 2
POR: CF Bareford – 2B Nomura – C Margolis – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS Prince – 3B Petracek – LF Metts – P Garrett
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – CF Coleman – 1B LeMoine – C Denny – 3B Velez – RF Cooper – LF Tesch – P Sinkhorn

Bareford opened the game with a single, which was the last base knock for anybody until Jackson’s 2-out single in the fourth, and none of those hits amounted to anything. Garrett was perfect the first time through the Loggers’ lineup, which was either a sign of real progress to stardom or one of the baseball god’s exceedingly cruel tricks before the hammer (or in this case: the axes and chainsaws) would come down. It was maybe a bit of both. Garrett struck out six and allowed only two hits through five innings, but one of those hits was a first-pitch leadoff jack by Stewart in the fourth inning, which sent the Raccoons into their daily death spin in a 1-0 deficit. They were not getting anything done in terms of mounting offense against Sinkhorn who clipped away batter after batter, and when he gave the Coons a free runner, hitting Jackson in the seventh inning, Prince and Petracek turned pale and perished nonetheless. Garrett hung in, batted and struck out in the eighth inning, which gave as many whiffs to Sinkhorn and four outs to go in a 1-0 shuthout that by now nobody doubted he would complete. That was until Andy Bareford ninjaed a 1-1 fastball and deposited it over the leftfield fence to tie the score, out of the blue. It was only the sixth base hit in a pitching duel, split evenly between the teams. Sinkhorn walked Yoshi, but Margolis grounded out. Neither pitcher survived the bottom of the eighth. Javier Gonzalez hit for Sinkhorn and rolled one over to Yoshi for the second out, but that was the last out Garrett collected. PH Emilio Farias singled up the middle, and Petracek couldn’t do anything with a slow roller by Burns. Two on, two out, lefties ahead, Ron Thrasher came into the game, hung a K on Ian Coleman, and neither starting pitcher would get a decision with that.

MacCarthy and Thrasher were not scored upon in the ninth, sending the game and the Coons’ stretched bullpen to extra innings. MacCarthy continued to pitch in the tenth, putting Metts on base with an infield single to get the inning underway. McKnight hit for Thrasher, struck out, but Bareford singled to center and sent Metts to third base. There he remained, as Yoshi struck out and Margolis rolled out to short. The Loggers stranded pairs of runners in the 10th AND 11th against Chun, but Will West never retired anybody in the 12th inning. Cooper doubled, Tesch singled, and with Paul Hall pinch-hitting, Cooper raced home on a squeeze play that took apart the battery and the Loggers walked off. 2-1 Loggers. Bareford 3-5, HR, RBI; Garrett 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K;

Outside of Bareford’s three hits, the Raccoons had only two more. No wonder they keep losing and losing and losing.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Metts – LF DeWeese – P Toner
MIL: RF Cooper – 2B Farias – CF Coleman – 1B LeMoine – C Denny – 3B Velez – SS P. Hall – LF Tesch – P McCaskill

McCaskill walked two in the first inning, but nobody could be arsed to find a base hit in their lunch box. Toner entered the game four strikeouts away from tying for 100th in K’s all time, hung one on Cooper to start his outing, and struck out the side in the second, if you were willing to ignore him hitting Alberto Velez. Hall was #1,627 in Toner’s career, good enough to tie for 100th place. In between, the Coons had taken A LEAD, with Metts drawing a walk in the second and coming around on 2-out singles by Toner and Yoshi. While the Coons’ lineup was completely dead as usual, Toner was in a murderer’s mood, striking out nine in the first five innings while scattering only two hits, and while Farias hit a double in the bottom 6th that came with two outs and Ian Coleman was rung up as Toner’s 11th victim. McCaskill struck out only three through seven innings, including Toner in that seventh inning, and had dodged a bullet when the otherwise lame Coons had put Metts on with a leadoff single, although Metts was caught stealing by Denny before DeWeese even took his first futile hack. A leadoff double by LeMoine into the rightfield corner superficially put Toner in trouble in the bottom 7th, but he snuffed out Denny and Velez before Hall grounded out to short, still 1-0 in the game.

Top of the eighth, Coleman grossly misplayed a liner to center by Yoshi Nomura that became a leadoff triple. I would greatly appreciate somebody taking their paws out of their mouths for a second to score that runner! The Loggers certainly had some kind of plan, walking Jackson – a right-handed batter – intentionally to get to the left-handed batters with two men on base and nobody out. McKnight – in a terrible rut like everybody else – grounded up the middle, Farias cut off the ball, but had no play on either McKnight or Jackson, and Yoshi scored on the infield single. A wild 0-2 pitch to Mendoza advanced the runners to scoring position, and Mendoza got back into the at-bat, knocking a single to rightfield and scoring both runners, 4-0. Margolis hit into a double play, largely ending the inning, although Nunley would hit a 2-out single. Metts flew out to center. Toner now had a cushion as well as 13 K on just *85* pitches. A shutout was certainly possible now, with Gonzalez getting a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. Toner struck out Cooper and got a grounder from Farias to end that inning, and he would face the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 9th, coming in on 98 pitches. In another episode of “All goes well until it ****ing doesn’t”, Toner walked Coleman on four pitches, and LeMoine singled through Nunley’s various limbs to put two on. Margolis lost hold of a pitch to Denny, allowing the runners into scoring position on the passed ball, although Toner struck out his former catcher after that. Toner still had pulse and eagerness in considerable amounts, although the pen was stirring at a high pace. Velez was at 1-2 before he flew to left. Jackson had no trouble with the ball, but the Loggers brought a run home to blow apart the shutout bid. Hall struck out to end the inning, leaving Toner with a complete game effort. 4-1 Coons. Nomura 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Toner 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 16 K, W (9-5) and 1-3;

No other Continental League pitcher had ever struck out more than 16 batters in a game – of course Toner held the CL record with 18 K on Closing Day in 2016, still a tie for the ABL record – and still NOBODY in Oregon or elsewhere talked about the feat on Monday morning. See below.

In other news

July 6 – PIT 1B Jesus Ramirez (.379, 5 HR, 19 RBI) hits for the cycle in the Miners’ mental 15-12 win over the Rebels, driving in five runs with a 4-for-6 performance that sees him land every type of hit once. The 66th cycle in ABL history is the first ever for the Miners franchise, and the second consecutive witnessed at the Richmond Grounds, although none of them have been for the Rebels. LAP Marc Thompson cycled against the Rebels in their own house earlier this season.
July 7 – The Titans trade CL Nestor Munoz (4-7, 4.19 ERA, 15 SV) to the Cyclones for two prospects. It is the second such deal between the teams in less than a week.
July 7 – The Condors’ and Falcons’ game goes 15 innings before the Falcons secure a 2-1 win in walkoff fashion, using a leadoff double by Rob Howell (.100, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and a 2-out single by Pat Fowlkes (.329, 7 HR, 44 RBI) to win.
July 8 – The Pacifics swap 35-year old SP Ernest Green (1-1, 2.95 ERA), who got all of his 163 career wins with L.A., to the Stars for RF Chris Macias (.224, 1 HR, 8 RBI).
July 8 – NYC 1B Carlos Martinez (.272, 4 HR, 24 RBI) is dealt to the Miners for 3B Tom Thomas (.255, 7 HR, 22 RBI) and a second-rate prospect.
July 8 – Meanwhile, NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.302, 8 HR, 29 RBI) will miss two weeks with a mild oblique strain.
July 9 – The Scorpions beat the Gold Sox, 1-0 in ten innings, on a walkoff single by Pablo Sanchez (.377, 5 HR, 46 RBI).
July 11 – The Crusaders remain active on the trade market, converting 40-year-old 3B/2B Hector Garcia (.236, 1 HR, 12 RBI) into the Cyclones’ surplus outfielder Alex Duarte, who had yet to appear in the major leagues in 2020.
July 11 – In the 11th inning of a 5-5 game the Condors run out of pitching and concede another five runs to the Bayhawks, taking a 10-5 loss.
July 12 – On the day the Wolves ship RF Justin Quinn (.276, 6 HR, 44 RBI) to the Miners for SP Tim Dunn (6-9, 5.08 ERA) and a prospect, SP Carlos Barron (8-7, 3.42 ERA) gives Wolves fans something to cheer about anyway, spinning a NO-HITTER against the Warriors in a 4-0 Wolves victory. Barron issues three walks in the game, strikes out six, and yields no base knocks to enter the history books. It is the first ever no-hitter for the Wolves, and the 42nd in ABL history.
July 12 – The Thunder amount to only three hits while getting routed 12-0 by the Aces.

Complaints and stuff

Ah, I am glad you could make it. Sit down please (points at the children size table in the middle of the room) and have tea with us while we discuss our next moves. (on tiny chairs around the table decked out with pink plastic plates and cups sit Honeypaws, the stuffed toy raccoon, Chad in the mascot costume except for the head with a cross-eyed and very high expression, and Slappy, who has exchanged tea for a bottle of booze) Do you take one or two pieces of sugar? And do you take mil- NOT ON THAT CHAIR!! That chair is for Edgar! My imaginary friend!!

…

Who would have thought that a 9-18 spill attacks the mind that hard?

…

With Ramirez’ feat on Monday, only the Elks, Scorpions, and Capitals remain without ever having hit for the cycle. While the Elks have a no-hitter which we WILL NEVER TALK ABOUT AGAIN, the Scorpions and Capitals have it even worse; they have never seen a no-hitter for their team, either. Also, not only did Toner lose the shutout on the 26th out on Sunday and did not get #1 performance on the day with his 16 strikeouts, no, Carlos Barron also robbed him of the distinction of having pitched the most recent no-hitter. Pretty bad day for Toner!

Rumor around the league has it that the Titans were never calculating on actually competing and now sell high to put the next great team together. However, the four prospects netted from the Cyclones are consistently crummy. I wouldn’t deal Kevin DeWald for any of those, or all four of those.

The Raccoons will have – somehow – five All Stars in this year’s edition of the ultimately meaningless showcase. Jonny Toner, Hector Santos (in nomine, since injured), Chris Mathis, Yoshi Nomura, and Dumbo Mendoza have been selected. It is the seventh nomination for Toner, the sixth for Mendoza (third with the Coons), fifth for Yoshi (second as a Coon) and Santos, and the second for Mathis.

I can’t help but feel like only five weeks ago we would have filled the roster with about eight or nine guys.

But now let’s revel into the only thing we can revel in right now, Jonny Toner’s just-begun crusade up the strikeout leaderboards, we shall henceforth always present once he advances a position in good old Brownie tradition, including five spots above and three spots below each current Raccoon on the list:

93th – Carlos Guillén – 1,699
94th – Paul Kirkland – 1,698
95th – Ian Rutter – 1,693 – active
96th – Juan Garcia – 1,684
97th – Jesse Carver – 1,682
98th – Hector Santos – 1,664 – active, on DL
99th – Kevin Williams – 1,649
100th – Jonathan Toner – 1,639 - active

Side note: Nick Brown (3,166 K) is sitting in eighth place on the career strikeouts table while awaiting Hall of Fame induction, but will soon drop to ninth. LAP Brad Smith is already within 19 K of him and doesn’t look like stopping soon. His top 10 spot is secure for the foreseeable future, however, with only TWO active pitchers even within 1,000 strikeouts of his mark. CHA Juan Ortega (31st, 2,416 K) is 34 and has a case for sure, but NYC “Midnight” Martin (40th, 2,285 K) is already 36 and looks like a few parts have gone missing over the winter. Only 15 pitchers in the top 100 are active at all at this point.

[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Continental League won the All Star Game over the Federal League in Tijuana, beating them 4-2. All CL runs scored by the second inning, and the FL’s reluctant rally started way too late.

Jonny Toner (who pitched despite my protests) and Chris Mathis both had scoreless innings. Yoshi Nomura started at second base and had a single and an RBI, while Hugo Mendoza started in right and posted an 0-for-4.

No player in the game had more than one RBI, and the only player with two base hits was on the losing team, Cincy’s Eddie Moreno starting at third base and going 2-for-4. While LAP Brad Smith took the loss, Boston’s Chris Klein claimed the W, and the Knights’ Harry Merwin pitched the ninth for the save.

Raccoons (48-38) @ Canadiens (37-51) – July 16-19, 2020

The Elks still looked horrendous, but since the month had begun they had gone onto a 9-3 tear, stomping the Crusaders, Raccoons, and Titans in order. Playing another four against them was not exactly what was right up my mind right now, but I was not going to have a say. Our lead in the season series had been reduced to 4-3 after the most recent disaster series in Portland, and now we had to fight them on their own elk poo-covered field of terrors. They were still last in runs scored and runs allowed, yada-yada-yada.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-3, 3.29 ERA) vs. Kevin Clayton (6-8, 4.06 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-6, 3.20 ERA) vs. Ron Funderburk (6-8, 4.04 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (9-5, 2.84 ERA) vs. Matt Rosenthal (5-6, 4.13 ERA)
Damani Knight (1-1, 4.22 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (2-0, 2.72 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition is to be expected in this series, so it is extra-good news that Cookie Carmona seems to be over his back episode and can bat leadoff again. While Yoshi Nomura has a better OBP than Cookie, he has no speed whatsoever and is thus my preferred #2 batter.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Garrett
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C T. Delgado – 3B Calfee – SS Otis – 2B Folk – P Clayton

Cookie and Mendoza were on the bases with two outs in the first when Margolis fired a liner to left that went past Alex Torres for a double. Cookie scored, and you would have assumed for Mendoza to have a chance from first, but he never challenged and leisurely strolled into third base. That cost, as did Brody Folk leaping to grab Matt Nunley’s liner, which ended the inning. The ****ing Elks would get their four base hits in the bottom of the first inning; Jose Gutierrez singled to left, Mario Rocha singled to right, Ezra Branch hit an infield single, and then Tony Delgado whooped a slam over the leftfield fence. The middle of the order would continue to haunt Garrett throughout his (short) start, with Gutierrez and Branch hitting singles in the third that led to a run thanks to a wild pitch Garrett had thrown to Rocha, and Rocha hit a single in the fifth inning, after which Ezra Branch almost went deep outta leftfield, but DeWeese managed to scratch the ball off the fence. With Garrett done after five and the Coons down 5-1, hopes were non-existent. They had managed only two base runners in the previous four innings and Clayton was more or less cruising. It was only ever going to get worse. Will West was in the bottom 6th, allowed a hard double to Matt Otis and a home run to Brody Folk, and when he was removed from the game his **** had already been packed into boxes and there was a cab waiting to drive him to the airport. Clayton would pitch into the ninth inning, but became stuck after two long counts against pinch-hitting Dwayne Metts (who singled) and Bareford, who grounded into a fielder’s choice. Frank Yeager finished off the Coons, who only once after the first innings had more than one runner in an inning, which was in the seventh when DeWeese and Petracek hit back-to-back 1-out singles, but for no greater good. 7-1 Canadiens. Mendoza 2-4; Metts (PH) 1-1;

Will West was sent back to AAA not for his 5.19 ERA, because things like that can happen to a middle reliever with few innings pitched. Nah, it was more the 18 base hits he allowed in 8.2 innings, and getting torn up by a pair of absolutely pathetic middle infielders in this outing. We would now try our luck with a former starter and real long man that had molded in St. Petersburg for a while now, 31-year old Charlie Cogger. The veteran of eight AAA seasons and 13 professional campaigns would make his major league debut. A right-hander originally taken in the eighth round of the 2008 draft by the Falcons, Cogger has a fastball at 90mph, a mediocre curve, and a changeup nobody liked to see him throw, not even the hitters.

We had signed Cogger before the 2018 season on a minor league deal and he had stubbornly refused to go away since then.

The Elks originally hadn’t scheduled Bryant Roberts (3-7, 4.24 ERA) for this series, but now put him up for Friday. Oh well, does it matter who beats us?

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Metts – LF DeWeese – P Abe
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C T. Delgado – 3B Calfee – SS Otis – 2B Folk – P B. Roberts

Roberts pitched only one (perfect) inning before departing with an injury. And Abe only had to set aside one batter before he finally threw a strike. Torres, who reached on the 4-pitch walk, stole second base, his 23rd of the year, but was stranded on Gutierrez’ pop to Mendoza and two strikeouts. Long man Cory Dew followed on Roberts and kept the Coons to the minimum the first time through, while Abe was almost ready to drown in the bottom of the third inning, which Dew started with a clean single on the first pitch into leftfield. Gutierrez singled, Rocha walked, but Branch flew out to Cookie in shallow right and McKnight cut off Delgado’s grounder to keep them off the board after three. The fourth saw the Coons at least land a hit, a Yoshi single to right, but nothing else, and when they drew two walks in the fifth, Margolis and DeWeese were stranded when Abe came up with two outs and rolled over to Otis to end the inning. The right-hander Dew retired Cookie to start the sixth, but actually got him to swing over a horrendous 2-2 pitch in the dirt. He had lost his control and was done after 4.1 innings. Left-hander Pat Goldstein took over, and immediately the Raccoons found their sticks, which was odd to say the least. McKnight hit a 2-out double to center, and then Mendoza rammed a rocket outta right center to put the first markers on the board, 2-0 for the Critters. There was no room for joy, though. Branch counter-homered in the bottom 6th, a solo shot with one out, and Abe was never the same. Delgado doubled, John Calfee singled. Otis tied the game with a sac fly, Calfee stole second, then scored on Folk’s double to put the ****ing Elks ahead, 3-2. Abe departed after drilling pinch-hitter Man-su Kim. Chris Mathis replaced him and got a groundout from Torres, but as every so often, the damage was done and plenty of it.

For once, defeat was not final, and Abe would not get a decision. The Raccoons came back in the seventh against right-hander Shane Babineau, going against the pattern. Nunley led off with a leadoff single, but the next two batters made outs. Nunley only advanced to second with Delgado losing the 2-1 pitch to PH Eddie Jackson, who ended up walking in a full count, bringing up a struggling Cookie with two on and two out. Cookie also ran a full count before singling to left, and with two down Nunley got a great start and scored handily, with Jackson to third. Mario Rocha’s great play on Yoshi’s liner to center prevented worse things from happening for the ****ing Elks, who got runners on the corners against Jeff Boynton in the bottom 7th, but Nunley’s great play on Calfee’s 2-out grounder ended the inning. Things went progressively pear-shaped in the eighth; while Jason Kaiser retired the first two batters, Joel Davis retired nobody, with the Elks filling the bases on two singles and a walk, all with two down already. Ron Thrasher replaced him to face switch-hitter Mario Rocha, ran a full count, and walked him. He didn’t only walk Rocha – he also walked Branch and Delgado. All of Davis’ runs scored, and Seung-mo Chun had to come in to restore order belatedly. Calfee popped out to end the inning. Top 9th, the Raccoons faced left-hander Mike Tharp. Metts struck out before PH Andy Bareford and Ezequiel Olivares both hit soft singles, thus bringing up the tying run in a 6-3 deficit. Cookie grounded out to first, and Yoshi was retired by Torres near the line with a basket catch. 6-3 Canadiens. Bareford (PH) 1-1; Olivares 1-1;

****ing **** team…

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – P Toner
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C T. Delgado – 3B Calfee – SS Otis – 2B Folk – P Funderburk

The Coons started the game with three straight singles and a run off Funderburk before crappint out quickly. Mendoza struck out and while Funderburk lost Margolis to a walk, Nunley precisely found Brody Folk for a 4-6-3 double play. Two more were stranded when DeWeese and Carmona were in scoring position for Nomura in the second inning, but Rocha denied him a double with a fast dash back to the warning track to catch his deep fly ball, ending that inning. Margolis hit into a double play in the third inning, and Toner was no less of a mess than the lineup as a whole. While the Elks wouldn’t score off him in the first three innings, he used over 50 pitches, which included pitching in five consecutive full counts, and of those five batters he ended up walking three and whiffing two.

Maybe the Coons could find an opening in the fourth, which opened with a liner by Nunley into shallow left, and Torres tried to make the aggressive catch rather than play it safe. This backfired, the ball bounced into the grass, off Torres’ glove and Nunley ended up with a double as Torres had to scurry back a bit to collect the offending playing tool. Bareford singled, putting runners on the corners, then was doubled off when DeWeese lined out to Gutierrez. Toner struck out, Nunley was left on third base, and I was driven up the wall in my living room back home in Portland. The agony was real!

Runners were on the corners again with nobody out (AGAIN) in the fifth inning. Cookie and Yoshi had both hit singles off Funderburk, with the Coons now out-hitting the Elks 9-2, but it didn’t really show in the actual score. Funderburk would bleed more singles FINALLY, with Mendoza hitting an RBI single, Margolis hitting a sac fly, and Nunley also coming up with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. A Brody Folk single and Alex Torres’ 2-out double in the bottom of the inning gave the Elks their first run, though, and Toner was over 80 pitches already… Toner opened the sixth with a groundout, but Cookie and Yoshi again hit singles and went to the corners. McKnight had grounded out to Folk the previous inning and sent another grounder to Folk, who tried to get two this time. Yoshi had none of that, crashed into Matt Otis and knocked the shortstop flat on his back, on which he remained until he was stretchered off. Chris Grooms replaced him, with Cookie having scored as the double play was not turned; Otis held on to the ball until he was carted off the field. Funderburk was also gone, replaced by Babineau, and Toner was removed after six, pitching in three more full counts in the bottom 6th, but getting three outs in the field this time.

The pen that had been leaky as **** on Friday thus had to protect a 5-1 lead, which went splendidly right out of the gate, with Boynton walking Calfee and allowing a single to Grooms to start the bottom 7th. Folk grounded out, moving them to scoring position. Defense held this **** together, with Bareford racing in on a soft pop by Kim that he snared just in time and by then was almost on the infield dirt, which prevented Calfee from going, and Nunley snagged a hard bouncer by Torres and turned it into the third out. Misery wouldn’t lessen in the eighth, in which Mathis and Kaiser loaded the bases with one out. We were running out of arms and things were blowing up anyway, so Kaiser continued to pitch to the right-handers. Calfee was the tying run and lifted a screamer up the leftfield line, where DeWeese appeared out of nowhere to spoil him and to hold the Elks to a sac fly. Grooms popped out behind home plate. Thrasher appeared for the ninth despite no left-handers anywhere close with a stick in the hooves, but the only rested / available right-hander was Cogger, who had yet to pitch for the Coons, and not with a 3-run lead. Uh-uh! The Elks put Dave Padilla on base with a 1-out single, but that was as much as Thrasher would allow in this game, retiring Torres and Gutierrez after that. 5-2 Blighters. Carmona 3-4, BB; Nomura 3-5; Mendoza 2-5, RBI; Nunley 2-3, BB, 2B; Bareford 2-4, RBI;

Game 4
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – CF Metts – SS Prince – C Olivares – P Knight
VAN: LF A. Torres – 1B J. Gutierrez – CF Rocha – RF Branch – C T. Delgado – 3B Calfee – SS Otis – 2B Folk – P Rosenthal

Doubles by Yoshi and Nunley plated a run in the first, and the Coons got two more in the second on four singles off Rosenthal, including three to lead off the inning by Metts, Prince, and Olivares. Knight had a nice start to the game, walking a man in each of the first two innings, but he allowed no hits and struck out FIVE while at it, but when he bunted into a double play in the fourth inning, his pitching went out of the window at the same point. In the bottom of the fourth he walked Branch, and with two outs allowed an RBI double to Calfee. Otis, who played with a barking neck after the previous games’ knock, drew another walk, the fourth off Knight, and the inning ended on a nifty play by Nunley on Brody Folk’s grounder. The Elks got another run in the bottom 5th, Torres doubling, stealing third, and coming home on a clean and hard single to right by Gutierrez, whom Knight picked off first base to end the inning, but the lead was down to a skinny 3-2, and we still had not much in the bullpen that would help us. The lineup wasn’t helping either, with Rosenthal sitting them down in fair order ever since the Knight bunt gone awry. Bottom 6th, a 1-out walk to Delgado and another single by Calfee was enough for Knight, who was replaced with Boynton. Matt Otis loaded the bases with an infield single before Folk struck out and Rosenthal was NOT hit for – a bad move that cost the Elks three runners as Rosenthal grounded back to the mound and was thrown out by Boynton by about 50 feet.

The seventh inning then saw the debut of Charlie Cogger, because we just had not enough pitching left to piece three innings together. This was a game the Raccoons – who had not had a base runner in a while – could not win although they were still ahead, 3-2. Cogger blew the lead almost instantly. Torres led off with a bloop single, took second base at his own discretion against a sleepy Olivares, and scored on Rocha’s double to right. Cogger struck out Branch and Delgado, but the damage had long been done. Rosenthal in the eighth struck out Nomura, then got deep drives by Nunley and Mendoza nullified by great defense by Rocha and Branch, respectively. The Elks’ string of 16 straight batters retired ended in the ninth inning, with two outs, when Tim Prince worked a walk against Mike Tharp. Olivares landed a bloop single, forcing us to bat Margolis for Cogger, but Margolis grounded out to Grooms to end the effort. At least we were spared extra innings. Grooms would hit a leadoff single off Seung-mo Chun in the bottom 9th, Chun walked Gutierrez, and Grooms stole third base off the hopeless Olivares. Rocha’s single to right ended the game. 4-3 Canadiens. Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; Metts 2-4; Olivares 3-4, RBI;

In other news

July 13 – The Falcons deal 2B Bob Reyes (.301, 1 HR, 12 RBI) to the Indians for two prospects.
July 15 – SFW SP Jose Acosta (6-6, 3.85 ERA) will miss up to a year with a torn labrum.
July 16 – NYC CL Brett Lillis (1-1, 5.14 ERA, 4 SV) pitched in only nine games for the Crusaders due to injury and now has been shipped off to Charlotte for four Falcons prospects, none of which are ranked.
July 17 – WAS SS Tom McWhorter (.285, 14 HR, 55 RBI) is back to the DL with elbow soreness and is expected to miss a month.
July 18 – The Pacifics flip CL Angel Casas (0-2, 2.29 ERA, 25 SV) to the Miners for three prospects, including #79 SP Tom Grant.
July 18 – TIJ SP Jose Menendez (7-9, 3.56 ERA) figures to miss two months after being diagnosed with an elbow strain.

Complaints and stuff

10-21 for their last 31 games. I think we’re sellers. I have also heard murdering sounds from the clubhouse recently, so maybe I should check who’s to sell at all.

In those 31 horrendous games, the miserable crowd has scored more than five runs … THREE times. They allowed more than five runs … NINE times. Overall runs scored and runs allowed since June 15: 96-137 … That’s 3.1 and 4.4 per game, respectively. Obviously, the pitching hasn’t been good, but the offense has been ATROCIOUS.

Nothing I am not used to seeing, though.

The Raccoons didn’t end up signing any players in the International Free Agent bonanza for the first time since the ABL instituted those July signing periods. There were very few players in there that were interesting, the price tag for those was already above the budget space we still had left, and with the rest I didn’t bother. Since we were not sure yet whether we had reason to buy at the trade deadline and then every single dollar would be a blessing for sure, I wasn’t going to even use $10k on some 16-year old Dominican runaway with complicated family ties.

The Agitator ran the story of Cogger’s promotion on Friday, mentioning how when he got the news late Thursday night, Cogger called his father, 75-year old Vietnam veteran Charles Cogger Sr., and as he told him of his promotion both burst into tears. The older Cogger then reportedly walked over to the sideboard and put the framed picture of the youngest of his four sons upright again after it had laid facedown for the last six or seven years during which Charlie had refused to give up his dream and get a proper job in the steel mill his father had worked him for 27 years before retirement.

That was before Sunday, though, so maybe old Charles has thrown out the photo by now. Who knows these things!

[edtheguy]

The wheels on the bus go round and- ...hey, what happened to the wheels. WHERE ARE OUR WHEELS?

Whats that? You say they flew off the bus a month and a half ago? We have no more wheels... they are all gone... just like our hope?



I miss the wheels.

And the hope....

It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay....

I need more whiskey.

-Lifelong 'Coons Fan at local hangout July 2020

[Westheim]

Raccoons (49-41) vs. Titans (52-41) – July 21-23, 2020

When and how did the Titans move past us? That was actually an interesting question I had no real answer to. But, oh well, in the middle of a 10-21 spill, things would develop sometimes… The Titans were ninth in runs scored, but second in runs allowed, so there was no reason to hope for the abysmal hitting to go away anytime soon. They even had the best rotation in the league now, while our rotation had somewhat gone to arse almost completely. The Titans also held a convenient 6-3 lead in the season series as we began this 3-game set.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-4, 3.95 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (5-6, 3.77 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (7-6, 3.27 ERA) vs. Ozzie Pereira (8-5, 2.98 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (10-5, 2.77 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (5-6, 3.36 ERA)

The series starts with the left-handed Ling, who had yet to make a start past the All Star Game. Garrett would make his second start past the showcase already, since we skipped Bobby Guerrero on the off day on Monday.

Game 1
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B Ruggeri – 1B J. Duran – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – RF Cornejo – SS Kane – P Ling
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – P Garrett

Garrett continued to be no better than the human garbage he had replaced, drilling D.J. Ruggeri in the first before misfiring a Jose Duran grounder to put two on base. While he struck out Tim Robinson and Josh Downing after that, Jose Avila’s leadoff jack in the second put the Titans in front, and they would remain there for the rest of the game. Avila continued to put on the hurt, coming to the plate in the third inning with the bases full and one out and singling to left. Two runs scored as the ball bounced in and out of Cookie’s glove. Gil Cornejo struck out, Mike Kane popped out, but the Titans were ahead 3-0 and added another three runs with two outs in the fourth. Garrett drilled Adrian Reichardt, his second knocked batter in the game, and Reichardt had none of that, stealing second so fast that Margolis could barely blink. Duran singled him in with two down, and then Robinson hit a monster home run to dead center. Garrett was gone after four innings. Somewhere along the way, Tim Prince tripled and scored, but nobody was really concerned about that, especially with the Raccoons simply being terrible as a whole. Their next run didn’t come until the sixth inning and was unearned. Yoshi had doubled off Ling, who then threw away Mendoza’s 2-out grounder to allow Nomura to scamper home. The team remained behind by a slam, however, while plundering their bullpen in the first game after an off day, a routine exercise by now. Meanwhile, Ling would only strike out two in his start, but consistently farmed the Raccoons for embarrassingly pathetic contact and had no troubles sawing them off again and again, pitching a complete game 4-hitter on 107 pitches. 6-2 Titans. Nomura 2-4; Prince 1-2, BB, 3B; Mathis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

With that game, I threw in the towel on the season, and the team as a whole. There were very few cornerstones that were untouchable in trades now… Really, Toner and Cookie, and that was it. They were the only players under contract through 2023 that were not going to be 39 by then (Yoshi) or had been pissing me off for years (Mendoza). With the right prospect haul, Toner and Cookie could still anchor a competing team in 2023.

Game 2
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B Ruggeri – 1B J. Duran – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – RF Amador – SS Kane – P O. Pereira
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Metts – LF DeWeese – P Abe

Cookie hit a leadoff double in the first inning, which the rest of the team followed up with a whole lotta nuthin’, before Abe was taken apart in the second inning. Robinson led off with a single, and the bases were loaded after a double by Roberto Amador and an intentional walk to Kane. Two outs, Pereira singled hard to left to plate two runs, and after Reichardt walked to restock the dishes, Ruggeri also hit a 2-run single. After the Carmona double, the Raccoons wouldn’t have another base runner until the fifth inning, when Margolis dropped a leadoff single into rightfield. Nunley struck out, Metts popped out, DeWeese popped out. Granted, it hadn’t been much of a chance, but they hardly could have made even less of it. This one had all signs of a game already hopelessly lost. The Titans played clumsily on offense, making two outs on the base paths including Amador being caught stealing by Margolis with one out, leaving Pereira to strike out to end the top of the sixth. Abe somehow made it through seven innings, while the Raccoons had only two hits entering the bottom of the seventh. McKnight singled to right, bringing up Mendoza, who crashed a home run to left, a loud and unexpected wakeup call. The next time Pereira blinked, the game was tied. Margolis singled right after Mendoza, and then Nunley whacked a jack to right center. Metts would single but never got off first base afterwards despite getting on with still nobody out in the inning. The Coons got onto Brett Dill in the bottom of the eighth inning then. With two outs Mendoza singled, and Margolis worked a walk. Nunley came up again and was sick and tired of losing. He whacked ANOTHER homer to right center, this one breaking the 4-4 his swat in the previous inning had created. Thrasher sat down the Titans in the ninth to complete an unlikely stunner in comeback fashion. 7-4 Raccoons. Mendoza 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Margolis 2-3, BB; Nunley 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI;

I think the last six or seven times something like that happened I babbled about a spark and all that kind of crap. Nah, this won’t be the spark either, because there are tailspins you just don’t recover from.

Still no news on the trade front however.

Game 3
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B Ruggeri – 1B J. Duran – C T. Robinson – 2B Downing – LF J. Avila – RF Amador – SS Kane – P J. Fuentes
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Metts – LF DeWeese – P Toner

Toner struck out five the first time through the order, scattering three singles in those first two innings, although none of the singles were hit with authority. Toner added pairs of strikeouts in the next two innings while waiting for support. The Coons had a few scattered runners in the first two innings, but generally hit feebly. Cookie rolled a single through the right side to begin the third and advanced on the two following outs before being stranded when Mendoza grounded to Kane to end the inning. On to the fourth, Nunley was fresh off winning the game all by himself the previous night. He had made a groundout in the second inning, but singled to center with authority in the fourth, followed by Dwayne Metts getting his first career RBI – two, actually. Metts fired a homer just inside the right foul pole to give Toner a 2-0 lead, which Jonny himself upped to 3-0 before the inning was over, singling home R.J. DeWeese from second base as the Raccoons kept hitting away against Fuentes. The Titans had their first meaningful opportunity since the second inning in the sixth, with Ruggeri singling to lead off and Jose Duran drawing a walk, but Toner got both Robinson and Downing to flail helplessly, giving him a dozen on the day and a pitch count in the 70s. Bottom 6th, Fuentes loaded the bases with one out, which started with another hard Nunley single before Fuentes lost both Metts and DeWeese to walks. Toner came up, ran a full count, but then hit into a double play.

Avila struck out in a full count to start the seventh, Amador also whiffed, but Toner lost Kane to a walk. Kane went on the 1-2 to pinch-hitter Gil Cornejo, with Margolis throwing the runner out at second base. Mike Cesta hit a leadoff single in the eighth, but never moved off first base. Reichardt flew out to Cookie, and Toner rung up Ruggeri and Duran to reach 16 K, although his pitch count had blossomed now and he was over 100. There was another off day on Monday looming, so he would have an extra day of rest in any case. Toner’s case for a record-setting strikeout game went out the window at the start of the ninth, though. He walked Robinson to begin the inning, sending the bullpen stirring at pace. Downing flew out to center, meaning Toner would not eclipse his own CL record of 18 K. Whiffing Mike Rivera however meant he could tie that with one out to collect from Amador, but Toner wouldn’t get him. Margolis mishandled the 0-1 for a passed ball, allowing Robinson to second base, and Amador flew out to right easily before Toner could get him with a strikeout. It was an impressive shutout, though… 4-0 Raccoons! Carmona 1-2, 3 BB; Mendoza 2-4; Nunley 2-4; Metts 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese 1-2, BB, 2B; Toner 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 17 K, W (11-5) and 2-4, RBI;

Seventeen strikeouts! Jonny Toner passed Kevin Williams for 99th on the career strikeout table, tying him with a K to Roberto Amador and passing him by whiffing Jose Fuentes. Williams, who pitched to a 163-161 record with a 3.85 ERA in the 80s and 90s debuted with the Titans, so this was fitting.

Raccoons (51-42) vs. Falcons (43-49) – July 24-26, 2020

The Falcons had a crummy record, but were about as far behind in the South as the Raccoons in the North. Portland trailed by 5 1/2, the Falcons by a game more. They were seventh in offense, ninth in pitching, and it was hard to make out a way for them to make a push for the postseason, although patching their horrendous bullpen (5.41 ERA) was probably urgent even as a mere maintenance measure… The Coons were 2-1 against the Falcons this year.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (1-1, 3.94 ERA) vs. Victor Arevalo (6-6, 4.73 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (3-6, 4.92 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (6-9, 4.95 ERA)
Travis Garrett (1-5, 4.56 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (5-6, 4.61 ERA)

The Coons would cart up their entire shop of horrors as far as the rotation was concerned. Guerrero would pitch on two full weeks’ rest and that was hopefully enough to have washed all the suckage from his system. Guy had won but a single game in his last 12 attempts and had tripled his ERA in the process. The Falcons will counter our misery with their three worst starters, all right-handers, as we were dodging Alex Vallejo and Denzel Durr in this series, who both had ERA’s in the 2’s. Except … the Falcons had Thursday off rather than Monday, so they had a chance to get Vallejo into the set on regular rest.

Game 1
CHA: 2B Good – RF Benson – C Holliman – LF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Mathews – SS J. Estrada – CF Pearcy – P Arevalo
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – C Olivares – P Knight

Arevalo got whacked hard right out of the gate. Cookie hit a single, but Yoshi and Mendoza both hit RBI doubles, and McKnight an RBI single. Nunley had driven a ball to right but just inside the range of Travis Benson, and Bareford hit into a double play. Unfortunately, entrusting a 3-0 lead to Damani Knight was like tasking the fat kid with monitoring the chocolate cake’s well-being, and the Falcons were on him all the time. Knight did not run a pitcher’s count at all the first time through the order. Benson singled in the first, but the real danger came in the second, with ex-Coon Joey Mathews singling, stealing second, Juan Estrada coming up with a walk, and then they even pulled off a double steal, putting runners in scoring position with one out. Erik Pearcy lifted a ball to shallow left, but DeWeese hustled in just in time to prevent damage, and a wide-ranging play by McKnight retired Arevalo to end the inning. DeWeese’s leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd extended the lead to 4-0, but Knight soon enough got whooped. Matt Good’s leadoff double in the third was followed up with consecutive singles by Ryan Holliman, Ryan Feldmann, and Pat Fowlkes, chasing home two Falcons runs before Mathews hit into a double play. Pearcy in the fourth came too close to comfort to a homer to left, and the only good thing to say about DeWeese on most days was that he was on his ****ing paws in the field. He caught that drive right at the fence.

DeWeese did hit a sac fly in the bottom 4th, bringing home Bareford, which put the score at 5-2 and that run came in handy for Knight for sure, because with less than a 3-run lead he would have been gone in the top 5th after putting Benson and Holliman on the corners with one out. And even then, Bareford held him in the game, spoiling a long drive by Feldmann that could have been a 2-run double, but was only a sac fly. Fowlkes grounded out to short, helping Knight to make the minimum distance to qualify for a W in the 5-3 game. Arevalo allowed three singles in the bottom of the inning, with one run already across walked McKnight to fill the bags, and then escaped on Bareford’s double play grounder. Both pitchers made it through five innings, but neither struck out a batter!

The first K in the game belonged to Jason Kaiser, hung on pinch-hitter Ralph Myers in the top of the sixth. This came with Estrada and Pearcy in scoring position and one out, all The Dull Knight’s work… Good popped out to end the inning, with the 6-3 lead conserved. Knight had allowed ten base hits to Arevalo’s nine, but was on the long end of the score for now. And the game calmed down noticeably once the starters were removed. The Falcons would not get another base hit until the ninth, which was after Chun had pitched two perfect innings and Olivares had singled home McKnight with two outs in the eighth. That insurance run brought Charlie Cogger into his second major league game. He got Pearcy and Michael Wilkerson on grounders, but Matt Good homered to center. Thrasher was then called out of the pen and retired Benson to end the contest. 7-4 Coons! Carmona 1-2, 2 BB; Nomura 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mendoza 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; McKnight 3-3, BB, RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Chun 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Damani Knight (4.22 ERA, 1.55 WHIP) now has a winning record (2-1) for a team that never scores. I have seen wilder things, but he definitely beats the video of the unicycling dog with sunglasses Maud showed me the other day.

This is also the first time the Raccoons won three games in a row since they swept the Aces, June 1-3. And they haven’t scored more than five runs each in two out of three consecutive games since the week before even THAT.

Game 2
CHA: 2B Good – RF Benson – C Holliman – LF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Mathews – SS J. Estrada – CF Pearcy – P J. Ortega
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – CF Metts – SS Prince – LF DeWeese – P Guerrero

The Coons were merrily hitting into double plays right now, and added another one in the first inning of the middle game. Nunley found runners on the corners after a walk and steal by Cookie and a single by Yoshi, and smacked one hard at Matt Good for an easy pair. Cookie scored, but the 1-0 lead was incinerated in no time by Guerrero, who couldn’t get a strike past anybody until the Falcons had tied the game and had runners in scoring position afer a Fowlkes single, Mathews walk, and Estrada single with assorted defensive misjudgment by the rookie centerfield, who threw home when he had no chance to get anybody out there. There, the pitching coach went out to yell at Guerrero, which worked briefly as he struck out Pearcy and Ortega to get out of the jam still in a 1-1 tie. But three 3-ball counts loaded the bases before Guerrero retired anybody in the third inning, with two singles and a walk loading the plates for Pat Fowlkes, who was anything but a household name, but was batting .321 with seven dingers, and I saw something like that drawing up on the horizon. The pitching coach went out again, yelled more, Fowlkes struck out in a full count, but Guerrero shrugged that off and walked Mathews on four pitches to force in the go-ahead run. Another run scored on Estrada’s groundout. Pearcy was walked intentionally and Cookie had to swing the limbs to contain Ortega’s fly to right to end the inning.

Guerrero continued to pitch in arsonist’s fashion, almost surrendering a 2-piece to Feldmann in the fourth that would have been unearned thanks to a Nunley error, but something like that shouldn’t be your go-to excuse with an ERA now over five. Metts took Guerrero off the hook with his second 2-run shot of the week in the bottom 4th, knotting the score at three. Guerrero retired the side in order in the fifth, whiffing a pair, then was drilled by Ortega to start the bottom of the inning. Dragging himself to first base like a mortally wounded veteran was dragging himself to a shell hole to nobly die in, Guerrero had to go to the races soon. Cookie’s walk shoved him to second, and then Yoshi singled to left center. Feldmann and Pearcy got into each other’s way and Guerrero was eagerly waved around third base, arriving just ahead of a belated throw to give himself the lead, the only run in the inning, with Nunley (F7), Mendoza (K), and Margolis (F7) going down in quick succession. Guerrero got only one more out, Ortega bunting after Pearcy’s leadoff single in the sixth, before being replaced by Kaiser two got rid of Good and Benson at the top of the order.

An errant throw by Holliman gave the Coons a few insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Metts had singled to lead off the inning, then took off. A good throw would have had him, but Holliman was way up and into center. Metts scampered to third, still being credited with his first career sack, and scored on Prince’s single, 5-3. DeWeese lined out to center, and McKnight, hitting for Kaiser, forced out Prince with a weak roller, but after that Cookie singled and Yoshi walked. Nunley dumped a single into center for the second run of the inning, and it slowly dawned on the Falcons that maybe it was better to have another cautious look at that bullpen. William Raven took over for Ortega eventually, but Mendoza hit a 2-out, 2-run single anyway. Margolis would make the final out, but Metts scored another run in the seventh after another leadoff single. Cookie plated him with two down, singling to center and running the lead to six runs. The Coons’ pen was without blemish in this game. Joel Davis pitched a scoreless seventh after hitting the first batter he saw, and Charlie Cogger allowed a single to his first batter, although Estrada was mopped up on Pearcy’s double play, and then retired the next four in order, ending the game with a K to Ryan Holliman. 9-3 Raccoons! Carmona 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Nomura 2-3, BB, RBI; Mendoza 2-5, 2 RBI; Metts 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Prince 3-4, RBI; Cogger 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

With their first 4-game winning streak since the dawn of man (actually: May 26-29 vs. SFB, TIJ), the Raccoons reclaimed second place in the North from the Titans, but were still 4 1/2 behind the Loggers.

Game 3
CHA: 2B Good – RF Benson – C Holliman – LF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Mathews – SS J. Estrada – CF Pearcy – P F. Ramirez
POR: RF Carmona – LF Metts – 2B Nomura – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – P Garrett

Garrett went down in flames right in the first inning, and it was borderline bananas. Matt Good led off with a single on an 0-2 pitch that did nothing. He would steal second base while Benson made an out, his 17th swipe of the season. Holliman’s groundout moved Good to third, from where he scored on a wild pitch. Garrett then made an error to put Feldmann on base, who swiftly scored on Fowlkes’ triple off the centerfield fence. Joey Mathews, chuckling bemusedly, walked. More yelling on the mound as the pitching coach went out to tear up Garrett’s ****ing boy’s arse. Juan Estrada still hit a 1-2 pitch hard, but on the ground and to Nunley, who ended the inning with a routinely marvelous grab. Okay, lots of ineptitude from the rookie on the mound, but only two runs down. We might have to shoot the rookie, however. Metts was on his own after a first-inning single from the #2 hole, but after Nunley’s walk to open the second, Margolis went well yard to level the score. The Falcons loaded the bases after having nobody on with two outs in the third. Feldmann and Fowlkes singled, Mathews walked, and Bareford broke several land speed records when he broke in on Estrada’s loopy floater to shallow center, snagging it knee-high to end the inning.

The Critters took a 3-2 lead in the bottom 3rd thanks to a leadoff double by Cookie, who came in on Yoshi’s sac fly, but Garrett smothered it right away. Pearcy hit a leadoff single in the fourth, and while Ramirez struck out bunting, Good’s single moved him to third anyway, from where Travis Benson’s groundout scored him. Bottom 4th, Ramirez issued walks to Nunley and Margolis to open the inning. McKnight grounded out, with Bareford being walked intentionally. Garrett batted, which was a tough decision, but Ramirez gave the Coons the lead anyway with a wild pitch on his first attempt to Garrett, who ended up walking on four pitches. Cookie grounded out, but scored a run, before Metts flew out to center in a 5-3 game. The Falcons would only get one more runner against Garrett before he vacated after six innings of nightmare, but still ahead 5-3, but would then get Benson (single) and Feldmann (walk) on base against Chris Mathis. But that was nothing a K to Fowlkes and a pop by Mathews into foul ground next to Nunley couldn’t fix. After that, three of the next five batters were left-handers and we called on Thrasher, who retired the side in order in the eighth, including a pinch-hitting Rob Howell in the #9 hole, and struck out Good to start the ninth, but then lost Benson on balls. Jeff Boynton replaced him to face the Power Ryans, with Holliman coming up as the tying run. Feldmann never came up; Holliman grounded a 2-1 pitch to the mound, Boynton had ample time to throw to McKnight to get Benson forced out, and the bumbling Holliman was nowhere near first base on the throw to first, ending the game with a double play. 5-3 Critters. Margolis 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Prince (PH) 1-1; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Falcons out-hit us 8-4, but they left nine men on base compared to *two* for the Coons. Normally, it’s the other way round with these things.

In other news

July 20 – The Stars pick up 27-yr old SP Alex Contreras (4-3, 4.08 ERA) from the Blue Sox in exchange for a pitching prospect.
July 20 – VAN SP Bryant Roberts (3-7, 4.19 ERA) is out for the season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
July 21 – SFB SP Graham Wasserman (6-9, 4.04 ERA) loses a no-hitter to OCT 3B Bobby Marshall’s (.350, 3 HR, 34 RBI) leadoff single in the ninth inning. Immediately replaced by Bob King, the Bayhawks’ 1-0 lead is threatened by another single before the Thunder leave runners on the corners and the Bayhawks win, 1-0. Both teams had only two hits in the game.
July 22 – The Rebels break out big in the 12th inning, putting eight runs on the Blue Sox, who had no response and go down 10-2 in front of their home crowd. RIC SS/3B Justin Cramer (.286, 7 HR, 34 RBI) goes 4-for-6 with a double and drives in two.
July 23 – The Wolves plate a dozen in the fourth inning in a 16-1 mauling of the Gold Sox. No Wolf lands more than two base hits, but in addition to 12 hits they also draw 11 walks from a flayed Gold Sox pitching staff.
July 24 – The Miners’ SP Pedro Hernandez (5-5, 3.48 ERA) will miss his next two or three starts with a tired arm.
July 25 – The Rebels pick up the Pacifics’ INF Ross Irvin (.269, 2 HR, 34 RBI), parting with MR Pat Collins (3-1, 4.17 ERA) and interesting but unranked hitting prospect SS/3B Matt Tutterrow.
July 25 – In a game in which both teams combine for 29 hits and seven home runs, the Crusaders beat the Bayhawks 15-8 on the strength of consecutive 6-run innings in the fifth and sixth.
July 26 – Vancouver’s SP/MR Josh Riley (4-0, 2.02 ERA) sparkles in his fifth starting assignment of the season, throwing a 1-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over the Thunder. The Thunder don’t get into the H column until D.J. Fullerton’s leadoff double in the eighth inning.
July 26 – The Blue Sox romp the Warriors, 12-1, all their runs being scored in the first four innings.

Complaints and stuff

I speak many truths, but how about this one: going from Jonny Toner on Thursday to Damani Knight on Friday is like going from tasting the finest caviar to licking the pavement downtown. Both picked up W’s, but there is no way comparing the two games.

Jonny Toner is the first pitcher to throw a pair of 16+ K games in the same month. The previous record for this feat was held by Curtis Tobitt, who had 16 K games in August of 2012 and April of 2014, and for different teams, too.

Nope, nobody is taking on R.J. DeWeese, still. I also found out the hard way that somehow Ronnie McKnight had no trade value despite his obvious defensive aptitude, but apparently his month-long slump was deterring buyers. Well, everybody was in a month-long slump, nothing to do about that one!

McKnight would have been a primary trade candidate to bring back a good prospect, given that he was a free agent after the season and was certainly going to be prohibitively expensive. The 2021 budget forecast was grim, and we would have to find a new shortstop anyway.

Around Wednesday, I had a deal of Mendoza for prospects to Cincy, but they were not keen to give me that one prospect I wanted, and Mendoza will bring *some* yield at all times, so unless you give me what I want we have no deal… The prospect in question is right-hander Justus Heffner, and they are really stubborn about this…

Of course, Jonny Toner is worth his ****ing weight in gold, platinum, adamantite, or whatever you make your water taps from. Mere prospects can not compensate for his services.

Down in AAA, Kevin DeWald tore a groin muscle after batting .409 in 12 games, which is whatever you want to make of it. I will just continue to sob.

All that was in the middle of the week. Since then, the Critters have won five in a row, first such streak since May 4-9 against the Elks and Buffaloes, and that was actually their longest streak of the season. We were maybe one bad loss away from dealing Mendoza anyway before Matt Nunley double-whammied the Titans into their place on Wednesday, and now, quo vadis?

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUT LEADERS
93th – Ian Rutter – 1,700 – active
94th – Carlos Guillén – 1,699
95th – Paul Kirkland – 1,698
96th – Juan Garcia – 1,684
97th – Jesse Carver – 1,682
98th – Hector Santos – 1,664 – active, on DL
99th – Jonathan Toner – 1,662 - active
100th – Kevin Williams – 1,649