Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by alexsimon99

I'm really liking this season so far!

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

This team could be the greatest Raccoon team of all time. We shall see.

Originally Posted by Questdog

Wow! That might have been the most exciting sweep of the Mooseheads, ever! Of course, I would rather have seen 3 straight 14 to 0 games, but that was exciting!

+++

Raccoons (38-18) @ Titans (22-35) – June 7-10, 2038

The Raccoons were in Boston for four, having already swept Boston for four in a set in Portland earlier in the year. The Titans had collapsed; after years of winning and piles of trophies, they had become so engorged that their guts had burst and now the entire ballpark was a gooey mess. It was something I warned the Raccoons about daily, while they were stuffing their white cheeks with the contents of their generously filled food bowls. Boston was second from the bottom in runs scored, at the very bottom in runs allowed, and looked very much ripe for the taking.

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (5-3, 2.95 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (5-3, 3.33 ERA)
Gene Tennis (0-0) vs. Eric McKee (0-1, 2.35 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (4-1, 3.82 ERA) vs. Andy Bressner (1-8, 3.49 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (4-3, 3.74 ERA) vs. Leonhart Becker (2-1, 6.39 ERA)

The Raccoons continued to dance around any lefty they could, dodging Tony Chavez (5-3, 3.51 ERA), while coincidentally also not fielding Bernie Chavez in this series. We still got one, which was the rookie in the fourth game, 25-year-old left-hander and 2029 international free agent Leonhart Becker from Germany. He had then signed for $232k with the Aces. He would make his 19th major league appearance, but only his second start.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Myers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes
BOS: SS Gil – 3B Corder – LF W. Vega – CF Calais – RF J. Wallace – 2B Sibley – C Raydon – 1B Vadillo – P Willett

For four innings, the only Raccoon with a base hit was Bryce Sparkes, which ironically was his first base hit of the season. Himself he scattered four hits and a walk in the early going, with the Titans stranding a runner on third base twice against him, but nobody scored. Just when I was ready to sigh and turn towards booze, the Raccoons reeled off three straight singles by the 6-7-8 batters that loaded the bases with one out and Sparkes back at the plate. He was ready to strike out on three pitches, except that the third pitch by Willett hit him in he bum and a run was pushed across home plate. Bryce Sparkes and years of excessive bacon intake – pushing home the first run! Berto looped a single over Ross Sibley for another run, while Dave Myers struck out. Manny Fernandez ran a full count before knocking a ball up the middle for two runs, and Greenway whiffed to end the inning.

Then the offense went to bed again. Sparkes almost made it through seven, but just over 100 pitches walked Ricardo Vadillo with two outs in the seventh, then saw Myers mishandle PH Andy Sears’ grounder for his 10th error at short. David Fernandez replaced Sparkes with Antonio Gil batting – Gil hit .188 with a .321 OBP, and neither went up as he hit an excessively high shallow pop that Maldonado waited for while gnawing on an apple core before finally making the play. Top 8th, the Raccoons had Myers (double) and Greenway (walk) on base with Matt Bosse pitching. The runners went as Maldonado dropped a bunt for a suicide squeeze that worked out, with everybody safe around a befuddled Bosse, who then walked Morales, and Sibley made it a 6-0 game when he fumbled Vickers’ grounder that should have been an inning-ending double play. Stedham hit into a force at home, and Ledford was nailed with a fastball to force in another run with two outs. Berto dropped a 2-run single to complete a 5-run outburst that put the game away. 9-0 Raccoons! Ramos 2-5, 3 RBI; Stedham 2-4; Sparkes 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (6-3) and 1-2, RBI;

Squee!

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Myers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – 1B Stedham – C Kilmer – 2B Williams – P Tennis
BOS: SS Gil – 2B Sibley – RF Calais – CF M. Avila – LF W. Vega – C Dear – 3B Adkins – 1B Sears – P McKee

McKee, a 33-year-old righty with regularly irregular service for 156 appearances and 39 starts across 11 seasons, walked Berto, allowed a single to Myers, and then a 2-run triple to Manny Fernandez to fall behind early. Maldonado got the third run home with a groundout, and then Gene Tennis (4.74 ERA in St. Pete) went out and walked FOUR Titans to give them a free run. Somehow the second inning was worse – he couldn’t get a bunt down, reducing the top half of the second to rubble, then walked MCKEE before allowing RBI hits to Sibley and Sean Calais to tie the game. He also nailed Moises Avila. He got through that inning, then was yanked after leadoff hits by Matt Dear and Travis Adkins in the bottom 3rd, and those singles had not been peaceful either. Dennis Citriniti entered, and the game exploded from that point on after an initial out made by Andy Sears. McKee’s grounder was thrown away by Citriniti, moving the go-ahead run across. From there the Titans went Antonio Gil double, Sibley single, Calais single, fielder’s choice on Avila, a walk drawn by Willie Vega, and a 2-run single by Matt Dear. Citriniti was yanked at 9-3. Ben Feist came in and threw a wild pitch before getting Travis Adkins to pop out.

The game was dead; while Maldonado hit a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on two productive outs, Feist gave up an unearned run, sponsored by Alberto Ramos’ 10th error, in the bottom of the inning. The Raccoons had to use Yeom Soung for two innings, which blew his 0.00 ERA after a mere 28 innings when Andy Sears singled, advanced on a bunt, and scored on Gil’s single in the bottom 6th. The Raccoons scored two meaningless runs in the top 8th, but the Raccoons also had to pitch Jermaine Campbell in the bottom 8th of the blowout… and yet… somehow… brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, and against none other than Dusty Kulp. The wannabe rally started with two outs and a pinch-hit double by Steve Nickas, which was no surprise given the level of snakebite that Kulp was suffering from. Ledford reached, Berto reached, and when Mike Hugh came on in relief, he walked Dave Myers to force in a run. That made it 11-7 and Manny Fernandez batted with three on and two outs and shot a single to right to score two, which brought up none other than rainmaker Troy Greenway, who also found space on the right side for an RBI single, cutting the gap to one run. And then Maldonado grounded out to Sibley. 11-10 Titans. Ramos 2-4, BB; Myers 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-5, 3B, 5 RBI; Kilmer 2-3, RBI; Nickas (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Shucks.

Needless to say, Gene Tennis was unceremoniously excised as soon as the third inning was over. No shower for you. Just go away. He was waived and designated for assignment.

The Raccoons called up the next-best rested reliever to stretch the pen, which turned out to be Francisco Pena, who had posted a 6.41 ERA with last year’s Coons, and had a 3.04 ERA with more walks than innings pitched in AAA now, which was one of those things that made no sense.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Myers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger
BOS: CF M. Avila – SS Gil – RF Calais – LF W. Vega – C Dear – 1B J. Wallace – 3B Corder – 2B Sibley – P Bressner

Not that excising Gene Tennis stopped the sucking. Avila hit a double off Ottinger to begin the bottom 1st, then was caught stealing. That didn’t stop Ottinger, who walked two and gave up RBI singles with two outs to both Dear and Jimmy Wallace. Ottinger was violently ****. He walked Sibley and Avila in the bottom 2nd, and was kindly informed that he would not come out of the game without throwing 100 pitches or breaking at least one major bone (his own or an opponents’ was up to him). At-bat, he hit a RBI single in the third inning with Vickers (double) and Stedham (Sibley error) on the corners and nobody out, cutting the deficit in half before Bressner lost Berto in a full count. Three on, no outs, the Coons had a fat chance, then struck out, popped out, and grounded out.

Booze. GM needs booze.

That was before Willie Vega’s leadoff double in the bottom 3rd. Ottinger walked three in the inning, for seven on the day, including forcing home a run, and another two runs scored on a 2-out single into shallow center by Moises Avila, 5-1. Willie Vega drew a walk in the fourth, but didn’t score. That walk tied the franchise record for walks by a starting pitcher – Jared Ottinger was very much scraping the bottom of the barrel. Despite this, the Raccoons somehow remained in the game; Berto, Myers, and Greenway loaded the bases with one out in the fifth; Maldonado’s grounder scored one, Morales’ double scored two, but Vickers then grounded out to keep the tying run on base in a 5-4 game. Ottinger was dragged through the bottom 5th, then hit singles on back-to-back pitches with Stedham against Bressner, who was under a similar “you ain’t comin’ out, pal” order than Ottinger. The Critters had them on the corners now with nobody out, and Berto tied the game with a single through the right side, aided by Jimmy Wallace’s much-documented lack of defensive skills. Myers was doubled up and Manny grounded out, keeping it tied at five, though. Gil and Calais hitting back-to-back doubles ended Ottinger in the bottom 6th, down 6-5, and brought in Pena, who balked, walked, and gave up a run on Wallace’s RBI single to right, 7-5.

Can we have just one normal ballgame, ever?

The tying runs were on in the top 7th with Greenway and Maldonado opening with singles. Morales flew out, Vickers hit into a fielder’s choice, and that was that. The Raccoons wasted an Ed Hooge double in the eighth, and were still two behind against Hugh in the ninth inning. And Hugh’s ERA was up to seven, but I had no confidence, even with 3-4-5 up. Strikeout, groundout, groundout. 7-5 Titans. Greenway 2-5; Vickers 2-4, 2B; Stedham 2-4; Hooge (PH) 1-1, 2B;

******* **** ***!!

Pena was optioned to the Alley Cats again after 39 pitches, most of them bad. Still needing innings eaten, the Raccoons called up a debutee, 24-year-old right-hander and 2034 third-rounder Chris Womble, who had a 2.45 ERA in 17 games and 22 innings in AAA. He was walking only four per nine innings!

Game 4
POR: 3B Myers – 1B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Ledford – C Kilmer – 2B Williams – SS Nickas – P Sabre
BOS: CF M. Avila – SS Gil – RF Calais – LF W. Vega – C Dear – 1B J. Wallace – 3B Corder – 2B Sibley – P Becker

Asking Sabre for a neat start was not something that was guarantee to give you presents these days, but there was a limit to how many scraps we could call up from AAA, and I was dizzy as soon as Avila doubled and Gil walked in the bottom 1st, but the next three Titans made outs and nobody scored. Meanwhile Becker casually retired nine in a row to begin the game... A Gil double and a Calais single gave the Titans a 1-0 lead in the bottom 3rd, while the Raccoons just … didn’t show up. Leonhart Becker retired a total of 13 Raccoons from the start of the game, then walked Brad Ledford with one out in the fifth. In a minute, Kilmer and Williams rapped back-to-back singles, Ledford scored, and we were tied. Then Nickas hit into a double play, killing the inning.

The Coons got a free runner to begin the sixth when Sabre’s uniform was slightly tugged by a breaking pitch. Myers singled, putting two on again. Out of the blue, Rich Vickers ripped a homer to left, and the Coons had a 4-1 lead! While that was that, Sabre was chewed up in the bottom of the inning. Vega doubled, and long counts by Dear (out) and Wallace (not so) ended his day on 117 pitches for only 5.1 innings, which was a pretty **** ratio. Soung got a fielder’s choice grounder from Adam Corder, Ross Sibley flew out, and the inning ended. Prieto got the seventh, walked Josh Green, walked Avila, and WHY? WHY WHY WHY?? … Antonio Gil hit a hideous deep fly that Maldonado caught on the warning track, somehow, and Calais hit an equally deep fly, relatively speaking, to leftfield. Manny caught that, but Green scored, 4-2. David Fernandez came on and became the daily blowout. Vega single. Dear RBI double. Wallace RBI single, tied game, and then a wild pitch to move the Titans ahead. The Raccoons responded with Vickers and Fernandez hitting singles in the eighth before Maldonado first hit into a fielder’s choice, then was picked off by Austin Raydon to end the inning. Womble made his debut with one out in the bottom 8th, struck out Avila and Gil, and it meant nothing, because the team was going to lose. They faced Sean Bastone, needed one run to tie, and Ledford led’em forth with a single to left. Greenway hit for Kilmer because why wait for the double play? He flew to deep left, but into an out. Williams dropped a single, moving Ledford to second, with Berto batting for Womble in the #8 hole. He lined to left – and into the mitten of Vega. Stedham was the last hope in the #9 hole, hit a terrible floater to center, and it dinked in. With two outs, Ledford went right away and scored, tying the game, and then Myers popped out… Citriniti, who had had all four paws in a meltdown already in this ballpark, came into the ninth because we could not possibly use Campbell in a tied game on the road and nobody else was available anymore. He got three in a row after getting ******* nobody on Tuesday. Extras dawned with Citriniti still pitching, and he would continue to pitch into the 11th, waiting for a lead that never came, until Raul Sanchez plated Avila with a walkoff triple in the bottom of the 11th. 6-5 Titans. Vickers 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 1-1, 2B; Williams 2-5, RBI;

Raccoons (39-21) vs. Warriors (35-24) – June 11-13, 2038

Back home, where I arrived in the ballpark on Friday in an acute state of crisis and looking like I had come the entire way from Boston in the wheelhouse of a Casual Traveler bus, we had to play the Warriors, who were second in the FL West and hadn’t lost a series to the Raccoons since 2020, most recently taking two of three in ’36. Both teams had lost three in a row, but for the Critters it would actually be terminal. Sioux Falls was first in offense in the Federal League, and second in runs allowed, with a whopping +106 run differential, in other words, ballgame.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (4-4, 4.68 ERA) vs. Jose Medina (5-4, 3.19 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (6-3, 2.70 ERA) vs. Tony Galligher (4-4, 2.80 ERA)
TBD vs. Jimmy Souders (5-3, 4.26 ERA)

After not seeing southpaws for weeks at a time, we’d get three in a row with Medina and Galligher following up on Becker. And no, we did not have a starter lined up for Sunday, and I didn’t know where to get one. – Stop asking me, Maud. – I don’t know. – No, Maud, I don’t know. – Well, if you wanna know, fine, you can pitch on Sunday. You can’t do any worse than those *****! – (hisses back!)

Game 1
SFW: RF O. Mendoza – 3B Rozenboom – 2B M. Colon – C McCullar – LF M. Hernandez – SS Villegas – 1B P. Cisneros – CF Strand – P J. Medina
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Myers – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – LF Hooge – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – 2B Williams – P Chavez

Both teams stranded two in the first inning, with the Warriors dropping 2-out singles by Mario Colon and Ethan McCullar while the Raccoons had Berto and Myers on base and couldn’t do anything with them. Berto struck out five in the first three innings, which looked deceptively good, so a blowout was coming without a shred of a doubt, an the Raccoons had Berto on again to lead off the bottom 3rd, he stole second, and then was ignored yet again, on a grounder, a liner, and a whiff.

Alex Villegas went deep to left-center to put the Warriors up 1-0 in the fourth, but Jeff Kilmer matched the feat and location in the bottom of the inning, but actually also plated Rich Vickers to take a 2-1 lead. This was Kilmer’s second come-from-behind, go-ahead homer in a week. Unlike the last one, this one didn’t win the game, and it wasn’t particularly close. Top 5th, Roger Strand and Oscar Mendoza were on base for a game-tying RBI single by Nick Rozenboom. Hooge’s throw home advanced the runners to scoring position, and they scored on a Ramos error and a Colon single before with two outs Melvin Hernandez reached on an uncaught third strike. Villegas popped out, but the Raccoons were now down 4-2, and everything was ending, including the world itself. Slappy did his part to try and cheer me up, but I could not be cheered up with either more booze, or sweets, or the … “magazine” he had kept under a couch cushion for the last few decades. – The October 1997 issue? Slappy, that’s old.

Bernie Chavez struck out eight in six innings, but was also done after 105 pitches and a massive meltdown, like everybody suffered these days. Mario Colon homered off Ben Feist to make it 5-2, and Womble had the eighth, but gave up two runs with a Pedro Cisneros walk and an Oscar Mendoza single; wedged in between was a 2-base throwing error by Alberto Ramos who became increasingly unbearable. Both runs were unearned, but the two runs that scored on Hernandez’ homer off Womble in the ninth were earned. 9-2 Warriors. Ramos 2-5; M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1;

Four runs were unearned, all on Berto’s errors. Not like they wouldn’t have lost without them…

4-game losing streak. Pitching staff in disarray. There wasn’t even ONE guy in there anymore to rely on. They were all ****. None of them could be hoped for to pitch eight innings.

We still had no starter for Sunday.

Everything was just piles of crap. And the Loggers were just two games back.

Roster move: Womble had pitched two days in a row and was thus used up and returned to AAA. Steve Nickas (.167) was also sent back to St. Pete with Cosmo Trevino coming off the DL, but offense was not what we needed.

Game 2
SFW: RF O. Mendoza – 3B Rozenboom – 2B M. Colon – C McCullar – LF M. Hernandez – SS Villegas – 1B P. Cisneros – CF Strand – P Galligher
POR: 3B Myers – 2B Trevino – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Vickers – C Morales – SS Williams – P Sparkes

Sparkes allowed one hit in the first two innings, then four hits in the third inning, cascading into three runs, because it always did. Pedro Cisneros led off with a double, and Rozenboom, Colon, and McCullar hit straight 2-out RBI knocks to put the Raccoons into another hole they wouldn’t recover from. The first time through they didn’t reach base on anything other than a Villegas error, and didn’t get a hit until Myers singled with two outs in the bottom 3rd. Cosmo singled to center, but Greenway grounded out. Maldonado hit a leadoff double in the fourth and was stranded on three ****** outs. Rozenboom hit a 2-out double in the fifth, then scored on Colon’s homer, which also put the game away, basically. Elijah Williams hit a leadoff double in the bottom 5th, and was stranded as well. I refused an offer of a bowl of vanilla pudding that Maud brought, because the hole in my soul was too big to be stuffed with any sort of food.

It took the dismal Raccoons, well on the way to five losses in a row, till the sixth inning to create a run, then with the 5-6-7 runners all reaching base with one out. Tony Morales singled home Manny Fernandez, cutting the gap to 5-1. Williams singled to left to load the bags. Ledford hit for Sparkes and singled to right, keeping the line moving in a 5-2 game, and then Myers grounded to short… but barely legged out the return throw, getting a run on the board with a fielder’s choice. Cosmo’s RBI single made it 5-4. And then Greenway hit a drive to right and had it caught. NOOOO!! … There was no justice in the world. None. Only holes in souls.

Maldonado, Vickers, and Morales all hit singles in the bottom 7th, but nobody scored. Maldonado was caught stealing before the others materialized on base, and Williams popped out to strand two. Nobody reached in the bottom 8th, and the Raccoons had to use Campbell in a non-save situation (what is a save situation?) in the top 9th to retire the bottom of the order. Then the 3-4-5 were up again in the bottom 9th, still down by one run, and with right-hander Chris Henry pitching. He had a 4.13 ERA. After Greenway grounded out, he walked Maldonado. And after he walked Maldonado, he struck out Fernandez. Hooge hit for Vickers, flew out to center, and everything was ****. 5-4 Warriors. Trevino 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, 2B; Vickers 2-4; Morales 2-4, RBI; Williams 2-4, 2B; Ledford (PH) 1-1, RBI;

And that with a 13-7 advantage in base hits.

Better start planning the fire sale…

But I can’t get up from the couch. It’s all too much … weight… and … heavy … and hard… (weakly motions with hands while melting deeper into the couch cushions)

For Sunday, the Raccoons had a new debutee. 22-year-old scouting discovery Jose de Leon came up in the ultimate despair move from HAM LAKE. He had a 1.12 ERA in six starts there, with 10.1 K/9, and (cough) a .218 BABIP.

But the Raccoons were counting on the Warriors not having a scouting report on an AA ham-and-egger in the other league and thus taking them by surprise.

Game 3
SFW: RF O. Mendoza – 3B Rozenboom – 2B M. Colon – C McCullar – LF M. Hernandez – SS Villegas – 1B P. Cisneros – CF Strand – P Souders
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Hooge – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P de Leon

The move was a complete surprise. Slappy told me that the scoreboard operators had not even been supplied with a photo of de Leon in a Raccoons uniform. He was on there wearing a blue Panthers hat. I didn’t look for myself because I didn’t dare to. I buried my face in the cushions and resolved to keep it there, forever if necessary.

The first inning was a 1-2-3. The second inning kind of was, too, at least where walks were concerned. De Leon walked three, including McCullar and Hernandez to get going. Cisneros hit an RBI single, Souders hit a sac fly with the bases loaded, and the Raccoons were 2-0 down. All the more reason to keep the face buried in the cushions.

Bottom 3rd, de Leon singled with Stedham on base and nobody out. Berto also singled, filling them up, creating a dreadful three on, no outs situation. Cosmo lined out, which was no help, but Hoogey dropped a single to left to score Stedham. Greenway struck out for a stunner, having run out of clutch, but Maldonado found a way through between Villegas and Colon for a score-flipping 2-out, 2-run single. Manny added an RBI single before the inning fizzled out, with Portland up 4-2. I still didn’t look because I knew how it would end. Badly, as always.

De Leon did his best to scramble. He walked Cisneros in the fourth, but got a cozy fly to left from Roger Strand to end the inning, and nobody reached on him in the fifth. He walked Colon to begin the sixth, but got a 6-4-3 from McCullar, and then made it through seven innings before being pinch-hit for leading off the bottom of that inning. The Warriors never got a base hit besides that Cisneros single in the second inning off the debutee! The Raccoons got Cosmo on with two outs in the bottom 7th, but Hooge flew out. Prieto then got the ball for the eighth, only to allow a leadoff single to Steve Kea in the #9 hole. Mendoza struck out, but Rozenboom singled. More righty bats up. What do? Feist? Campbell? Analysis paralysis, and these cushions were too damn cozy to begin with. Also soaking lots of tears. And then Prieto turned Colon’s comebacker into a 1-6-3 double play, ending the eighth. Campbell was in for the ninth. McCullar popped out. Hernandez grounded out. Ron Miller jr. struck out. 4-2 Raccoons. Ramos 2-4; Hooge 2-4, RBI; de Leon 7.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-2;

In other news

June 8 – Washington’s OF/1B Scott Martin (.314, 10 HR, 31 RBI) has microfracture surgery on his knee and will miss the rest of the season. Martin was the April FL Batter of the Month.
June 10 – The Cyclones trade backup catcher C Jorge Santa Cruz (.337, 3 HR, 20 RBI) to the Blue Sox for two prospects including #67 prospect, right-hander Carson Jarvinen.
June 12 – SAC CF Mark Vermillion (.338, 4 HR, 25 RBI) was out for a month with a strained hamstring.
June 12 – ATL 2B Jesus Matos (.257, 3 HR, 28 RBI) was likely out for the month with a sprained ankle, suffered playing soccer with his five-year-old boy.
June 13 – Season over for VAN 2B/SS Edgar Serrano (.313, 0 HR, 6 RBI), who had broken his elbow.

FL Player of the Week: LAP INF Jose Cruz (.360, 5 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .552 (16-29) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 3B/2B/RF Jared Paul (.310, 2 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(mumbles into cushions) Can I look? Slappy? – Can I look now? Is it over? – Slappy? – Hello?

(looks up, everything is dark) I must have fallen asleep. First time in three days.

Usual Boston series, huh?

And that de Leon experiment… something tells me that this won’t work a second time. More creative ideas are needed to fix this pitching staff. Thankfully we have a bit of money on the side to make expensive trades, but we don’t have any meaningful prospects left besides Nelson Moreno, who struggled in Ham Lake and was reassigned to Aumsville. We also don’t need a fifth starter next week so de Leon should be replaced with some other player, or an ice machine, or a talking badger, whatever can get the team back into a groove.

And with team I mean pitching staff. It’s gross!

Fun Fact: Eight Raccoons pitchers dared to issue eight walks in a start.

Juan Berrios (1980)*, Ramon Ocasio (1981), Logan Evans (1981), Nick Brown (2002), Chris Brown (2015), “Tragic” Travis Garrett (2024), Darren Brown (2034), and Jared Ottinger (2038).

Few of them made the Hall of Fame. Some of them didn’t survive it.

+++

*That was the game that sparked the longest hiatus in the history of the thread. 19 walks by four pitchers.

Juan Berrios 2 IP, 8 BB
Gary Simmons 4 IP, 6 BB
Tony Lopez 1 IP, 4 BB
Ben Jenkins 2 IP, 1 BB

Revolting.

[Questdog]

The real Jose de Leon was one of my favorite pitchers ever. He had some ludicrously bad W-L records, but his stats never looked as bad as the record and sometimes he was pretty awesome, but lost anyway.

[Westheim]

Time jump warning – the draft takes place on Tuesday and in the middle of a series this year (which I hate like … broccoli). I played the first two games of the week, then went to a for us largely meaningless draft since we don’t pick in the pretty spots. The week’s worth of games will not be completed today, so I’ll throw this one up instead.

Yes, raccoons throw up from time to time. We have a very sensitive palate indeed.

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2038 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons arrived prepared rather haphazardly for this draft. We had signed away our first round pick, had no compensation picks, and weren’t due to join the fun until well into the proceedings. In fact, I brought my cherished 1993 Raccoons Yearbook for entertainment while I had our scout guy take care of the draft progress. There was no hotlist this year – we would not get a pick from it anyway.

As the first couple of dozen picks breezed by I was still drying tears from the ongoing fatal penury of the team and that we had no pitching, no defense and no will to live. Or maybe that last one was only me.

It was unlikely that we’d find a fifth starter in this draft.

OF Tylor Cecil was the first overall pick, selected by the Dallas Stars. Besides defense, all the tools seemed to be there for the 19-year-old lefty batter from La Joya, Texas, wherever the sludge that was. The Thunder took left-hander Bill Dickinson second overall, followed by slugging catcher Oliver Welch being taken by the Loggers. The Cyclones made it back-to-back offense-first, defense-later catchers with the selection of Dan Rollin, and the Warriors took SS/2B Dustin Fruman, a young Alberto Ramos type of middle infielder at #5.

After that it got dull for a while. During the supplemental round I made a few phone calls with my therapist, a booze store around the corner, and Maud in Portland. Maud asked what she was supposed to do about it all. I recommended drinking until it stopped hurting, because that was what worked so well for me.

The Raccoons would have a second-round pick, but of course only at the end (almost) of the round. Our scout guy had prepared notes, because that was his job, but ran out of cue cards the faster the nearer our pick came.

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2038 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 2 (#59) – SP Jake White, 21, from Corsicana, TX – southpaw with a mix of five pitches and a 92mph fastball, but if he’s as smart as his grades proclaim why doesn’t he understand that he can’t throw the damn baseball right down the middle?
Round 3 (#83) – OF Matt Sowden, 18, from Coldwater, MI – average-plus defensive outfielder with speed and a decent eye. Contact could be better…
Round 4 (#107) – SP Kyle Owens, 20, from Chapel Hill, NC – left-hander with a broad array of pitches, none of which are thoroughly impressive. Control is an issue, and his stamina is on the lower end.
Round 5 (#131) – OF/3B/SS Phil Haley, 19, from Des Moines, IA – small-ball bat with no power, but he should be able to walk a lot to supplement a singles bat. Unfortunately lacks speed and while he has good range for many positions, his paws are a bit clumsy…
Round 6 (#155) – OF/SS Alejandro Gonzalez, 18, from San Juan, Puerto Rico – well, our scout guy was really high on this kid, but BNN hated him. While his defense and speed were good without a doubt, everybody agreed that he had no power and made bad hacks, but scout guy opined that he’d hit enough and draw tons of walks to become a leadoff batter. That he dropped to the sixth round makes me think that BNN might be on to something…
Round 7 (#179) – SP Joseph Abraham, 19, from Kitchener, Canada – decent fastball and slider paired with not much of a third pitch (dismal changeup) and horrendous control; since he was a right-hander, his future wasn’t too bright
Round 8 (#203) – C Dan Witters, 19, from Houston, TX – his deal was aiming for the fences at the expense of striking out. While snail-paced, which was normal for most catchers, he was at least adept behind the plate.
Round 9 (#227) – RF/LF Ben Bandy, 18, from Apache Junction, AZ – playing a power position while not having any power was a bold move to begin with, and then he played that power position badly to boot. Singles bat, not an excess of speed, and the miffy defense; not much to see here.
Round 10 (#251) – MR Sam Bowman, 20, from Tarboro, NC – 91mph fastball and a decent slider on this right-hander
Round 11 (#275) – CL Travis Herr, 20, from San Bernardino, CA – left-hander (duh!), low stamina, meager control, and he’s named Travis. I think we’ll rename him “Mister Herr”* and have some fun that way.
Round 12 (#299) – 1B David Mendoza, 21, from Albuquerque, NM – popular with teammates for his tricks, like running milk through his nose; combines a first baseman’s shape with a defensive-minded shortstop’s bat.
Round 13 (#323) – SP Jim Stone, 18, from Olympia, WA – fastball of 86mph, half-decent slider, mucky changeup on this right-hander. Since he exerts no energy on velocity, he can lob the meatballs all day long.

+++

Of course everybody was assigned to Aumsville.

We had already canned a few players in the prior weeks (as indicated at one point), but removed a few more that had hung around the low minors for long enough without developing into anything but hairier nuisances. This included a pair of 25-year-old outfielders, former fifth-round picks in Ham Lake, Daniel Turner (2035) and Travis Campbell (2033), who were told to pack their ****. 2033 Nick Brown Memorial Pick Kaleb Dick had hung around Aumsville for a long time, but would never make it anyway and was also released along with last year’s last-rounder Ray Clark.

That was only non-trivial players like scouting discoveries that somehow washed to Aumsville at age 20 and are usually dreadful.

+++

*”Herr” means “Mister” in German.

[Questdog]

Round 11 (#275) – CL Travis Herr, 20, from San Bernardino, CA – left-hander (duh!), low stamina, meager control, and he’s named Travis. I think we’ll rename him “Mister Herr”* and have some fun that way.

That is a Good One! It's a shame he will probably never make it to Portland to meet owner Valdes, who could address him as "Senor Mister Herr".

[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-23) @ Buffaloes (27-35) – June 14-16, 2038

The reeling Raccoons travelled to Topeka for a 3-game set with the crummy Buffos, who sat last in the FL East. They were not scoring at all, sitting last in runs in the FL with 3.7 per game. Their pitching was average, but that was no help with that kind of offense. These teams had met last year, with Portland taking two of three games.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (4-2, 4.42 ERA) vs. Jose Lerma (2-6, 4.01 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (4-3, 3.59 ERA) vs. Justin Osterloh (4-1, 3.15 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (4-5, 4.54 ERA) vs. Josh D‘Agostino (2-5, 7.04 ERA)

Left, right, right. And then we’d see what a 3.7 R/G offense could do against the bottomless Raccoons’ pitching staff.

The Raccoons made their umpteenth pitching move in a week and sent Jose De Leon (1-0, 2.57 ERA) to AAA in exchange for Travis Sims, who had pitched to a 10.80 ERA early in the year, but had a 2.88 ERA in St. Petersburg and could eat some innings.

Game 1
POR: 3B Myers – 2B Trevino – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – LF Hooge – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – SS Williams – P Ottinger
TOP: RF M. Reyna – 3B Miles – LF Esperanza – 2B F. Marquez – 1B S. Ayala – C Alvardo – SS Mancini – CF Angeletti – P Lerma

Ottie’s was the only start I’d see in person in this series, with the draft on Tuesday in New York, and then the teams played a day game on Wednesday I was not going to arrive for in time. Well, Ottie – you’re the ONLY ONE I can get mad at closely enough to strangle you! How about *performing*!?

Miguel Reyna’s triple and Ruben Esperanza’s RBI double in the bottom 1st took all my hopes away rather instantly, but straight 1-out hits by Vickers, Kilmer, and Williams tied the game in the second. Ottie with runners on first and second and one out was not going to bunt but grounded out to Mike Miles to the same effect. Myers grounded out to end the inning. Miles hurt himself on a lunging grab of Cosmo’s liner to begin the third inning and was replaced by old foe Keith Spataro. That didn’t help the Raccoons one bit, and especially not Ottinger, who loaded the bags with Reyna, Spataro, and Marquez on two singles and a walk in the bottom 3rd, then had Sal Ayala at 0-2 with two outs, and was taken deep on a hanger. And another game in the bin! Hooray!

Ruben Esperanza singled home the unretireable Reyna in the bottom 5th to knock out Ottinger after another ****** 6-run outing. Garavito would get out of the inning, but the game was well and truly lost, especially with the Raccoons’ offense not producing anything after the early disappointments, except, well, more disappointments. Travis Sims pitched the last two innings, allowed a run, and nobody cared. 7-1 Buffaloes. Trevino 2-4, 2B; Vickers 2-3, BB, 2B;

Good, Ottie, good! Now I have SOMETHING TO BE MAD ABOUT ALL THE WAY TO ******* NEW YORK!!

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – SS Myers – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
TOP: RF M. Reyna – 3B S. Dawson – LF Esperanza – 2B F. Marquez – 1B S. Ayala – C Alvardo – SS Mancini – CF Angeletti – P Osterloh

2033 second-rounder Shane Dawson made his major league debut in lieu of the injured Mike Miles, grounding out to short in his first major league at-bat against Raffaello Sabre, who retired the Buffos in order for two innings, then forced out Stedham with a terrible bunt in the top 3rd; Stedham had walked, the first Critter to reach base in the game, and nothing came of the inning. The Raccoons did get their first two hits in the fourth, a pair of 2-out singles by Greenway and Fernandez that led nowhere but a cozy Myers fly out to Esperanza. Sabre had retired the opposition in order the first time through, but gave up doubles to Reyna and Dawson (…) in the fourth inning, with two productive outs scoring Dawson as well, allowing him to tick off all kinds of firsts but a homer, but watching from afar on a monitor at League HQ before the start of the draft I had no doubts Sabre would serve up one his third time through.

Bob Mancini singled in the bottom 5th, stole second, and scored on J.P. Angeletti’s single to extend the Buffos’ lead to 3-0, while the Portland Turds were just that. Turds. Sabre walked Esperanza and Felix Marquez in the bottom 6th. A grounder by Ayala moved them into scoring position, and a 1-2 floater hit by David Alvardo with two outs dinked into shallow center to score both runners. Osterloh was still pitching a 2-hitter; he walked Greenway to begin the seventh, and Manny Fernandez singled. Dave Myers chopped a ball into a double play, and while Tony Morales hit an RBI single, what was the point of it all? It as time for the draft. I left the monitor, certain that I wouldn’t miss anything of value. Turns out, I didn’t. 7-1 Buffaloes. M. Fernandez 3-4;

Scout man, who gave up two runs? – Fernandez? – Ah who gives a ****.

There was no need to hurry for the first flight on Wednesday morning. I had breakfast for as long as the hotel would put up with me, then flew home to Portland around noon. The game in Topeka began while I was in the air, and I couldn’t help but check the scores on the complimentary data pad with sly-fi connection in business class, but I couldn’t log into my ABL.tv account for some reason and thus had only text play-by-play, which would probably be bad enough…

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – SS Myers – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Chavez
TOP: RF M. Reyna – 3B S. Dawson – LF Esperanza – 2B F. Marquez – 1B S. Ayala – C Alvardo – SS Mancini – CF Angeletti – P D’Agostino

The Raccoons scored first, with Berto getting credit for a walk, a stolen base, and moving further around on Cosmo’s single and then Maldonado’s sac fly, but that was all they’d do in the first inning. Before long the play-by-play coldly announced a home run having been hit by Alvardo, tying the game in the bottom 2nd, but, eh, that’s what you got from Bernie Chavez these days…

While I gobbled up the biggest steak the airline would surrender to me with a bowl of mashed potatoes, the Raccoons were indicated to have loaded the bases with Stedham, Bernie, and Berto as well as two outs in the fourth, and Bernie was now 2-for-2 and had as many hits as strikeouts in the game. Trevino hit a “4-3” and that was that. Two strikeouts wasn’t much in three innings, but I had no idea how Bernie *looked* while doing so. In any case he allowed only three hits through five innings while holding the game tied.

I then dozed off, owing to the huge meal that had also meant that the last six rows in the peasants’ class had not gotten anything to eat, and dreamed of a time when the Raccoons had won games, which had been as recently as two weeks ago. One of them hit a home run, and I could see a pitcher mowing down batter after batter, and those batters didn’t have brown hats on. When I woke up from my nap it was the bottom of the seventh on the pad, Bernie was still pitching and had a 3-1 lead, courtesy of … how do you go back here to the previous - … Steward? – Steward! – How does it go back to…? – Oh, there is a back button. – Yes, yes, thank you. You’re precious. … Ah, Tony Morales had gone yard for two in the sixth! Maybe it hadn’t been a dream! Maybe we’d finally win! Bernie had also cranked up his game and struck out two in the bottom 7th for seven in total in the game. He then made the last out in the top 8th (there was nobody on), and returned for the bottom 8th, a distant land that no Raccoons starting pitcher had been to in recent memory. Bob Mancini struck out, but when J.P. Angeletti walked, the Raccoons sent Yeom Soung for damage control against Andy Montes, who grounded out, advancing the runner. The next play with Miguel Reyna batting was confusing, reading out “single, out(s)”, and the inning ended without a run scoring. I assumed Angeletti had been thrown out at home plate, or, less likely, been consumed by direwolves somewhere else on the basepaths. In any cast, the Raccoons were up 3-1 through eight. Russell Maratta nailed Berto and allowed a single to Maldonado in the ninth, but nothing came of that with both Greenway and Fernandez whiffing. Thus it was Jermaine Campbell in the bottom 9th. As the captain announced that we’d start descending towards Portland in 20 minutes, Campbell did away with the Buffos without fuzz. Pop, grounder, pop, and the team salvaged at least one game in Kansas. 3-1 Raccoons. Ramos 1-1, 3 BB; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Morales 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Chavez 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (5-5) and 2-4;

The win spared the Raccoons the shame of dropping behind the Loggers on Wednesday, who had moved to within half a game. For the weekend, though………

Raccoons (41-25) vs. Loggers (40-25) – June 18-20, 2038

The teams were somewhat similar in that their offense was quite a bit better than their pitching. The Loggers were 2nd and 7th, respectively, in the CL, while the Raccoons ranked 3rd and 5th in turn. We were ahead in run differential, +41 to +29. They were ahead in the season series, 3-1, and whoever won this set would take first place into next week. Which was where most of my panic came from.

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (6-4, 3.03 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (6-3, 4.05 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (4-3, 4.85 ERA) vs. Cody Chamberlin (3-4, 5.71 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (4-4, 3.89 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (7-3, 3.08 ERA)

Stockwell was their southpaw, and we’d get him right away. Both teams had been off on Thursday.

Game 1
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 1B Conner – 3B Paul – 2B V. Acosta – P Stockwell
POR: 3B Myers – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Ledford – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – SS Williams – P Sparkes

Stockwell came out a mess and was immediately knocked around. He walked Myers and Trevino as well as Brad Ledford, then with the bases loaded after a Maldonado single. Vickers hit a sac fly, Kilmer hit a bomb to left, and the Raccoons went up 5-0. Sparkes had a guy on base in the first two innings, but twice got a double play, and didn’t concede a run until the fifth inning, when Justin Nelson led off with a double and scored on Josh Conner’s single. That restored a 5-run deficit for Milwaukee, erasing the run Vickers had driven in two innings prior, singling home Maldonado.

Sparkes was strong through six, but started to become unglued in the seventh, which was not all that terrible, but his three outs in that inning were logged by both Myers and Cosmo shagging liners, and Kilmer throwing out a base stealer in Jared Paul. Sparkes struck out Victor Acosta to begin the eighth, then was removed with lefty pinch-hitter Joseph Ronan coming out, but back-to-back 7.1 IP, 1 ER games by Raccoons starters brought about a vague feeling of normalcy. Then Dave Myers hurt himself on a defensive play, and things began to crumble again. Berto replaced him in the eighth inning, and did not have enough time anymore to spark a Loggers rally by defensive ineptitude. David Fernandez and Travis Sims collected the last five outs for Portland. 6-1 Raccoons. Vickers 2-3, 2 RBI; Kilmer 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Sparkes 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (7-4);

Alright, boys, keep doing it this way! That’s perfect. – (Dave Myers is dragged by, moaning, in a litter) – Almost perfect.

A strained hammy would put Myers on the DL until the All Star Game or a bit after that, and the Raccoons had to scramble for a guy for the left side of the infield now, but the obvious options in AAA, Steve Nickas and Jon Caskey, were in bitter slumps. So we’d pull Maldonado in to play short for a bit, which opened a spot for Ed Hooge in the outfield. We called up depth signing Scott Daiker, almost 27, who had never been in the Bigs before. He hit .247/.392/.333 in AAA, and was doing so from the right side.

Game 2
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 1B Conner – 3B Paul – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger

Strong starting pitching did not extend to a third game, with Ottinger serving up a bomb to Tony Romero first pitch, then right away a double to Danny Valenzuela. Both teams then scored an unearned run; Cosmo singled, stole second, and reached third on Felipe Gomez’ throwing error in the bottom 1st, scoring on a Maldonado grounder, and then Maldonado made a throwing error that allowed Conner to score in the top 2nd, an inning in which Ottinger walked two to begin it. Ottie kept hitting, though, flipping a single with Jesse Stedham on first base and nobody out in the bottom 3rd. Stedham reached third base, but didn’t score. Berto flew out to Valenzuela, and he held. Trevino flew out to Valenzuela and he went – and was thrown out at the plate.

Danny Valenzuela and Ted Del Vecchio hit singles to occupy the corners with one out in the fifth. Ottinger wasn’t fooling anybody and Justin Nelson hit a deep fly to left that Manny caught, but had no shot at the plate with, allowing Milwaukee to tack on a run, 3-1, and while Gomez made a calm third out, they got another one in the sixth when Victor Acosta doubled home Conner. Ottinger was yanked for Ben Feist, but the Raccoons were stuck on three base hits and didn’t look like winners against Sal Chavez. Berto opened the bottom 6th with a double past Tony Romero, which was surely a nice start, and after a Cosmo single and a Maldonado double past Valenzuela, the Coons were back at 4-2 and had the tying runs in scoring position – and nobody out. Time to get Greenway back to slugging! Since landing 53 RBI in 54 games, he had landed only 4 RBI in … too many games. Make it seven – full count, homer to right, score-flipper!!!

Feist pitched around a Nelson single in the seventh to protect the 5-4 lead, and Prieto issued a leadoff walk to Conner the following inning, which was pretty dismal, but nothing that Soung couldn’t deal with. Worse, Jermaine Campbell offered a leadoff walk to Tony Romero in the ninth, the Coons had not tacked on, and Romero had 22 steals on the year, AND was the tying run. Stedham then mishandled Valenzuela’s bunt, Del Vecchio walked, and the bags were loaded with nobody out. I covered my little black eyes, then realized I had no paws left to cover my fuzzy ears with. Campbell battled down Nelson for a K, I heard on the TV, and then was 2-1 before Gomez put the ball in play. The crowd noise rose immediately and I took the paws off my eyes – grounder to short, Maldonado, to Vickers, to Stedham – BALLGAME!! 5-4 Critters. Ramos 2-4, 2B; Trevino 2-4; Greenway 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Stedham 0-1, 2 BB;

(stares with eyes wide open)

Game 3
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 1B Conner – 3B Paul – 2B V. Acosta – P Chamberlin
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sabre

The Loggers had one hit the first time through, the Coons had two, and nobody got particularly far with theirs, and the next two innings brought only a Greenway walk. Not that the pitchers were dominant, Sabre had three strikeouts and Chamberlin had just one; but there was an abundance of weak contact. Loud noise was however made by Jared Paul with a leadoff double in the sixth. Manny Fernandez’ sliding catch on Victor Acosta’s blooper helped, Chamberlin struck out, and Tony Romero flew out to right, stranding the runner on second base. Maldonado singled in the bottom 6th, but only with two outs, and Greenway’s fly to right-center was caught.

Valenzuela hit a leadoff single over Trevino to begin the seventh, then stole second base. Nelson struck out after Del Vecchio’s bouncer was played well by Maldonado, and the runner was still at second base, but Felipe Gomez ripped another double up the leftfield line and that broke the ice. Conner singled, knocking out Sabre with runners on the corners in a 1-0 game. Feist walked the bags full against Paul, but Soung roung up the pinch-hitting Ronan, stranding three and keeping it a 1-0 game. The Raccoons had to come up with something now against Chamberlin, “something” turning out to be, hopefully, a triple into the rightfield corner leading off the bottom 7th. Ed Hooge got the sac fly to tie the game, only for the Raccoons’ pen to blow out in the eighth. Soung allowed a single to Romero, who stole second, then scored on Matt Cooper’s single. When Citriniti came in, he allowed two screaming RBI doubles. That dug a 3-run hole, and the Raccoons erased none of it in the eighth inning. The ninth saw them oppose Alex Banderas, who was not exactly sporting a great K/BB (1.5), but had an ERA only marginally higher anyway. He’d see lefty bats forever, though, so maybe… Greenway flew out, but Manny singled. Ed Hooge took a rip and hit a blast to center, axing the gap to one run! Morales grounded out. Stedham grounded out, and it was all for naught. 4-3 Loggers. M. Fernandez 2-4, 3B; Hooge 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Sabre 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

June 15 – Vancouver SP Corey Booth (7-2, 3.19 ERA) is out for the season with a broken elbow.
June 16 – SAL SP Eric Peck (8-3, 2.52 ERA) sees 26 Thunder and sets all of them down again – and then INF Al Martell (.241, 3 HR, 20 RBI breaks up the perfect game with a double. Peck, who whiffs seven, has to settle for a 1-hitter against the Thunder in a 3-0 win.
June 16 – The Crusaders amount to only a Devin Phillips (.239, 4 HR, 20 RBI) single in a 1-0 loss to the Cyclones’ Ben Lipsky (6-2, 4.34 ERA) and four relievers in an endless game with two lengthy rain delays.
June 17 – The Thunder acquire RF/1B/LF John Marz (.280, 7 HR, 19 RBI) from the Aces for RF/LF Lorenzo Celaya (.265, 0 HR, 5 RBI) and a prospect.
June 19 – Warriors 3B/2B Nick Rozenboom (.312, 7 HR, 47 RBI) has three hits and 5 RBI in a 16-1 rout of the Warriors over the Stars. The score is actually decent through eight innings, but the Stars’ bullpen is obliterated for 11 runs in the ninth.

FL Player of the Week: SAL 1B/LF/RF Jose Rivera (.354, 16 HR, 46 RBI), hitting .417 (10-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 1B Johnny Lopez (.279, 8 HR, 26 RBI), hitting .455 (10-22) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Josh Weeks (5-5, 6.29 ERA) pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Knights this week. I wonder whether the Pacifics can waive him back to us.

Is the horror over? The last few games saw decent starting pitching, with three of four guys being at least alright, with Ottie the exception (he was still terrible).

We’d have the Crusaders in for three starting on Monday, which would be Bernie’s call, and then we needed a spot starter for Tuesday. If Monday is somewhat alright, we could toss in Travis Sims, who had 347 professional appearances in his career, only one of them a start above A ball. His career ERA in the majors was 4.15, half of this year’s ERA. He had made 58 relief appearances over three seasons.

The other option was Steve Fidler, which was … well… *an option*.

After that it would be a 3-city road trip eastwards, starting in Atlanta, with no further off days until the All Star Game. This year’s four-and-four would be against the Indians.

Fun Fact: Troy Greenway has more home runs than the next FOUR Raccoons combined.

One of the more bizarre stats for a team in June. Greenway had 18. Jeff Kilmer was second (!) with five. And then there was an array of guys with four, including Morales, Stedham, Vickers, and Hooge, any three of which piled on top of Kilmer would still not stack up to Greenway’s 18.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (43-26) vs. Crusaders (29-40) – June 21-23, 2038

The Crusaders were in a spot of bother, having lost TEN games in a row (and 14 of 15). They were still sixth in runs scored, but only ninth in runs allowed, and with the very worst rotation in the CL. The Raccoons were hoping to expand on their 4-2 lead in the season series. Two of the losses in the 10-game losing streak had been by one run, and three by at least nine runs.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (5-5, 4.24 ERA) vs. Matt Brost (3-8, 5.03 ERA)
TBD vs. Jamal Barrow (1-3, 4.99 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (7-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. Joe Feltman (6-6, 3.74 ERA)

All right-handers, with the caveat that due to a double header last week their Tuesday starter (either Barrow or Feltman) would have to go on three days’ rest. Which was still better than the Raccoons, who as of Monday morning didn’t know who to assign the start to.

Game 1
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – C D. Phillips – 2B Duenez – 1B K. Henderson – LF Hawthorne – RF Carr – SS Stalker – P Brost
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Chavez

Bernie struck out three Crusaders in the first two innings before chipping in an RBI double with two outs in the bottom 2nd, which came with Manny and Morales aboard, and after Troy Greenway had already continued his quest to make every pitcher in the league cry with a leadoff jack in the same inning. Berto then singled home Morales, 3-0, but ended the inning by being caught stealing with Cosmo at the plate. The Crusaders countered with Ryan Carr an Tim Stalker singles to begin the top 3rd, but Brost chunked a ball into a double play and Bernie escaped the inning unharmed. The Crusaders hit another two singles and got a sac fly from Carr the following inning, though.

Mario Duenez, once a Coons farmhand, bungled an Ed Hooge liner for an error in the bottom 4th with Manny Fernandez already on base, thus giving the Critters two on with nobody out. Tony Morales’ drive to left was snatched by George Hawthorne at the fence, but there was no catching the rocket that Jesse Stedham hit in the #8 hole, which went well over the fence in dead centerfield, extending the lead to 6-1. That was enough of a lead to comfortably watch Bernie put a runner on base early in each of the next three innings while never getting burned – although Mauricio Garavito would replace him with two outs in the top 7th to retire the left-handed Rich Salek. Greg Ortiz would hit a leadoff single off Citriniti in the eighth, but that was the last runner for New York against the rollercoaster righty in the eighth, or David Fernandez in the ninth. Manny Fernandez hit a solo homer off southpaw Casey Pinter in the bottom 8th, and the Raccoons loaded the bases including an infield single in the ABL debut of Scott Daiker, pinch-hitting for Citriniti, but Cosmo posted a rare 0-for-5 in grounding out to end the inning. 7-1 Raccoons. Ramos 2-4, BB, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Stedham 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Daiker (PH) 1-1; Chavez 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (6-5) and 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Then the burning question for Tuesday was – pitch Travis Sims in a spot start, or send him to AAA to get Steve Fidler (2-1, 3.54 ERA) up? Since we needed a fifth starter going forwards and could not cheat our way through the 17 games without an off day before All Star Game looming after Thursday, we made the latter move.

Game 2
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – C D. Phillips – 2B Duenez – RF Salto – 1B K. Henderson – LF Hawthorne – SS Stalker – P Barrow
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – P Fidler

Fidler hadn’t exactly endeared himself the first time around, and continued to put runners on base with glee. The Crusaders had three singles the first time through and some well-hit balls that didn’t fall in on top of that. Salek gave them a 1-0 lead with a jack in the third, but the Raccoons took it back when Cosmo singled home Stedham in the bottom 3rd. And while Fidler stranded longtime Raccoon Tim Stalker after a 1-out triple in the top of the fourth, seven hits had already piled up on his ledger … An inning later, Ortiz singled, Mario Duenez walked, and somehow Fidler dragged his body through the fifth inning with a big helping of Ed Hooge and Manny Fernandez on D, and that would be it for Fidler in his return, spending over 100 pitches in just five innings. He was sent to the showers in a tie, then even got in line for a win when Ed Hooge homered to right to begin the bottom of the frame. Barrow then loaded them up with one out; Stedham doubled, Ledford singled, and Berto walked, bringing up Cosmo, who was now 2-for-2 after a rotten Monday outing and remained as such with a sac fly. Maldonado grounded out.

The Critters needed 12 outs though, and it took Ben Feist and David Fernandez to get even three without blowing the lead in the sixth. Feist allowed a single to Hawthorne, Fernandez walked Salek with two outs, and then somehow got Ortiz to stop fouling off pitches and whiff instead. However, Prieto came up big, collecting six outs on three strikeouts while never letting a runner into scoring position…! No further offense materialized for Portland through eight, so Jermaine Campbell inherited the 3-1 lead and we expected to arrive in time for our dinner reservations. Strikeout against Salek, a grounder to Berto from Ortiz, and then a running catch by Manny in the gap against Devin Phillips indeed ended the game…! 3-1 Critters. Trevino 2-3, 2 RBI; Stedham 1-2, BB, 2B; Ledford (PH) 1-1; Prieto 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – 2B Duenez – RF Salto – 1B K. Henderson – LF Hawthorne – C Duryea – SS O. Freeman – P Feltman
POR: 3B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – 2B Vickers – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes

Sparkes retired the first five before, up 1-0 after Manny had singled home Maldonado and his 1-out double in the bottom 1st, allowing a hit to Hawthorne, a walk to Michael Duryea, a nice welt to Omar Freeman, and finally getting Feltman to ground out. The bases were loaded with nobody out in the third. Salek walked, Ortiz doubled, and Duenez walked. Miraculously, Sparkes emerged still up 1-0, thanks to Graciano Salto’s comebacker for a force out at home, a pop by Kumanosuke Henderson, and a grounder to short by Hawthorne, but to be honest, me, Honeypaws, and our bowl of candy could do with a bit less drama here …!

It was still 1-0 through five, with Sparkes dodging bullets in form of Michael Duryea’s leadoff double in the fourth, and a leadoff walk to Ortiz in the fifth. The latter was doubled up by Duenez, and Salto was retired on a sparkling defensive showcase by Maldonado. Henderson finally broke his streak of luck with a homer in the sixth, and the game was tied, with Portland on two base hits and at times striking out four times in a row against the otherwise unremarkable Feltman. When the Raccoons amounted to a threat in the bottom 6th, they still did it without a *base* hit. Starting the inning, Trevino walked, Maldonado was nailed, and Manny walked. Three on, no outs for Greenway, who hit a shot to left-center, and that was just GONE. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

Sparkes didn’t retire another batter, being lifted after Ortiz singled to open the seventh. Ben Feist got a double play grounder, than allowed a run on two base hits to Salto and Henderson anyway. Portland grabbed the run back with a leadoff double by Alberto Ramos, hitting for Feist in the #9 hole in the bottom 7th, then two productive outs, Maldonado bringing the run in with a fly to plenty-deep right, 6-2. Citriniti and Soung would collect the last six outs after that, completing an ultimately easy sweep on a team lying unconscious on a conveyor belt transporting them to an industrial-size wood chipper. 6-2 Raccoons! Maldonado 1-2, BB, 2B; Greenway 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Ramos (PH) 1-1, 2B; Sparkes 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, W (8-4);

Good, boys! Good!

Now rest up and then we’ll see an actual team on the weekend.

Raccoons (46-26) @ Knights (35-36) – June 25-27, 2038

Here was the team allowing the fewest runs in the Continental League, and yet somehow they found their way under .500, but … what? They were fifth in runs scored? … How…? They had a +22 run differential and were probably due for a breakout. The Raccoons had swept them the first time around this year and maybe we’d just get lucky with them, and maybe they’d level this one out…

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (4-3, 4.84 ERA) vs. Bryce Neal (4-6, 2.69 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (4-4, 3.69 ERA) vs. TBD
Bernie Chavez (6-5, 4.02 ERA) vs. Terry Garrigan (9-3, 2.61 ERA)

Saturday would have been Chris Lulay (2-5, 4.95 ERA), but the left-hander was suspended for throwing at a guy’s head. Who knows what they come up with for that game… We’d get one southpaw in Bryce Neal at least. We also caught them with a few players on the DL, including CL Robbie Peel and infielder Vincent Zesati, former Raccoons farmhand. Jesus Matos and Pablo Sanchez were also on the DL, but might be activated every day now.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P Ottinger
ATL: CF Kilgallen – C Horner – LF Inoa – 1B Monge – 3B Maneke – RF Abel – 2B Dichio – SS K. Thomson – P Neal

Bryce Neal entered with 60 K in 93.2 innings, then struck out six Raccoons the first time through, which was a bit of an issue for my blood pressure, but, well, #1 pitching in the league, eh? The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the bottom 3rd on Matt Kilgallen’s double and Luis Inoa’s homer to right, but to be fair had already had Ottie on the ropes in both of the first two innings, starting with two hits in the first and a walk in the second, and contact off Ottinger was regularly loud once again. Christian Abel’s homer made it 3-0 in the fourth, and the Raccoons found no way into Bryce Neal, striking out eight times in six innings against only two base hits. In every way, this was one of those “54 you lose anyway” games. Our guy didn’t have it; theirs was spot-on. Ottinger was done after six absolutely messy innings, while the Raccoons only got their third base hit with a Greenway single in the seventh. David Fernandez gave up another run in the eighth, and the Raccoons didn’t reach the scoreboard until with two outs in the ninth inning, when Brad Ledford hit a pinch-hit RBI double off garbage man Alfredo Flores, who entered with a 14.00 ERA that actually went down despite allowing a run in two thirds of an inning. 4-1 Knights. Ledford (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1;

Well, these games happen… Saturday would bring Terry Garrigan on short rest. He had thrown 114 pitches on Tuesday, so my whiskers twitched because I smelled an opening.

Or was it lasagna? – (sniff) (sniff) – Who is making lasagna here…? (wanders off)

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
ATL: CF Kilgallen – C Horner – LF Inoa – 1B Monge – 3B Maneke – RF Abel – 2B Dichio – SS K. Thomson – P Garrigan

It was too much asked of Garrigan, their ace. He retired the first three Critters on eight pitches, leading me to snort and grumble, but in the second inning put Greenway (single) and Hooge (walk) on base, then with two outs served up a liner into the corner to Jesse Stedham for two runs. Sabre made the final out there, but Berto reached and Cosmo homered in the third, making it four runs in three at-bats for the Raccoons. Maldonado singled, stole second, and then made to third when Abel tumbled catching a Greenway drive in the gap. Abel hurt some sort of limb or joint and was carted off with the four-wheeler, to be replaced by .200 batter Mike Edwards. Manny scored Maldo with a sac fly, 5-0, and Hooge singled, but was caught stealing.

Now it was all about waiting for the inevitable Sabre implosion, which seemed to come immediately in the bottom 3rd. Dominique Dichio and Keith Thomson hit sharp singles, but Garrigan’s bunt was bad and the latter runner was out at second base. Matt Kilgallen popped out *right* at the netting behind home plate in a lucky break for Portland, and Cosmo handled Adam Horner’s grounder to strand a pair before the Knights could score.

The game then trundled along until Kilgallen’s leadoff triple in the sixth, that led to a quick run on a sac fly, but at least the bags were empty again. Sabre with a little help from his friends made it through seven and still had some room before hitting 100 tosses. Before we could go there, the Raccoons after an hour of silence loaded the bags with no outs against righty Mike Burris in the eighth. Fernandez singled, stole second, and then saw two walks issued to Ed Hooge and Tony Morales to fill ‘em up. Stedham hit a poor roller into a force at home, and the Raccoons did not hit for Sabre, either, because they were up by four and maybe they’d get lucky with their pitcher. He struck out, Berto flew out to right, and – Edwards dropped the ball. The ump ruled no catch while the Raccoons scrambled and scored two runs on the terrible error that put the game away. Sabre made it to the ninth inning, which in itself was a major success. There, Horner lined out to Daiker in left, and Greenway risked arms, legs, and neck in a catch of Inoa’s screaming drive at the fence in right. Danny Monge hit a sorry comebacker to end the game. 7-1 Raccoons! Greenway 2-4, BB; Hooge 1-2, 2 BB; Stedham 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Sabre 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-4);

I did not expect this finely pitched game by Sabre, who had rough spots early but got better later on. Maybe that was his problem so far – he never got the later parts of the game…

We would get southpaw Danny Orozco (4-8, 3.26 ERA) on Sunday; he would also pitch on short rest after going out for over 100 pitches last time.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – CF M. Fernandez – 3B Maldonado – RF Greenway – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P Chavez
ATL: CF Kilgallen – C Horner – LF Inoa – 2B Matos – 1B Monge – RF P. Sanchez – SS K. Thomson – 3B Dichio – P Orozco

Kilgallen, Inoa, and Monge all slapped singles off Bernie for a first-inning run, and Keith Thomson drew a leadoff walk in the second before being thrown out at home by Greenway on Kilgallen’s 2-out single in the bottom 2nd. The Raccoons would tie the game in the third on straight 2-out singles by Maldonado, Greenway, and Vickers, with Maldonado scoring from second on the latter play and Greenway grossly misjudging old man Pablo Sanchez’ defensive capabilities and getting hammered out at third base. 44 years old – will he ever let up??

Bernie issued another leadoff walk to Horner in the bottom 3rd, but made up for it by snatching Monge’s liner before it could take his head off, which I was willing to chalk up as a success. The swipe also ended the inning, and the game continued to be tied at one into the sixth. Cosmo was on to begin the fifth, but was caught stealing, which gave first dips in the sixth to Greenway, who singled up the middle. Vickers was retired on a booming liner to left that went right at Inoa, but Orozco then walked Kilmer and Daiker, the first free passes issued by him in this start. That brought up all .227 of Elijah Williams with three on and one out, with Bernie behind him. In another positive surprise, Williams snuck a roller through between Dichio and Thomson for a 2-run single, breaking the tie, before Bernie struck out and Trevino popped out. Inoa then hit a leadoff single off Bernie in the bottom 6th, but was held on when Jesus Matos struck out, and then Monge hit a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play. But Bernie continued to put the leadoff man on base which was equal parts dumb and annoying. In the seventh it was a walk to immortal Pablo Sanchez. Thomson singled, and two groundouts scored a run before Kilgallen struck out, leaving Thomson at third base in a 3-2 game.

Ed Hooge singled in Daiker’s spot against right-hander Rich Ray in the eighth, but that was all the Raccoons cobbled together there. Stedham also batted for Bernie, making the final out in the inning, then took over for Vickers at first base (Hooge took centerfield). Soung retired two in the bottom 8th before Matos grinded out full-count walk, and when Prieto came in he walked Monge. David Fernandez came in right away for Sanchez, got a cozy fly to Greenway, and the inning ended. The Raccoons had nothing in the top 9th, then saw Campbell blow the game in the bottom of the inning. PH Antonio Guerrero doubled to left to begin the inning, then scored on Elijah Bean’s single with one out, which brought Bean’s batting average all the way up to .171. Kilgallen struck out, Mike Dahl popped out, and the game went to extras. Portland was limited to a Berto single in the 10th, but Citriniti kept the game tied in the bottom of the inning. The bottom 11th saw Guerrero on with a single and a Hooge error in center, overrunning the ball, and nobody out. Dichio’s grounder and Bean’s K kept him at second until Kilgallen walked and – handbrake! The Knights were out of bench bats! Reliever Carlos Jimenez batted for himself after pitching two innings, and struck out – but not until after Citriniti threw a wild pitch at 1-0 to move the runners into scoring position …!

Jimenez resumed pitching in the 12th, with Manny and Greenway reaching the corners with a pair of singles and one out and Citriniti coming up in the #5 spot. But unlike Atlanta, the Raccoons had two batters left – Morales and Ledford. The latter got the call because he was harder to double up, hit a fly to center that Guerrero caught, but Manny scampered home and the tie was broken. Kilmer grounded out, and then the save opportunity against the meat of the order and a left-hander, a switch-hitter, and a right-hander went to … Mauricio Garavito. Well, there were only him and Feist left, and Feist had more miles on this week’s odometer. Inoa slapped a single to right on 2-2, but Matos put his 2-2 into play on the left side and right at Elijah Williams, 6-4-3, two outs and nobody on again! Monge then promptly doubled to left-center. Sanchez was a lefty batter though, and if he reached and the game was not yet tied, the Raccoons *would* use Feist for the following batters. Feist didn’t get involved – Sanchez grounded out to second base. 4-3 Critters! Trevino 2-6; Maldonado 2-6; Greenway 3-5, BB; Ramos (PH) 1-1; Hooge (PH) 1-2; Williams 3-5, 2 RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; Citriniti 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-1);

In other news

June 22 – DAL INF Jon Ramos (.316, 0 HR, 27 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak for his ninth-inning single in a 6-0 loss to the Wolves, a game in which SAL SP Eric Peck (9-3, 2.33 ERA) goes the distance and 3-hits the Stars.
June 23 – Fortunes reversed, the Stars beat the Wolves, 6-5, but INF Jon Ramos (.315, 0 HR, 27 RBI) is left empty-handed and has his hitting streak end.
June 24 – Warriors OF Justin Simmons (.364, 1 HR, 21 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after two hits in an 11-7 win over the Gold Sox.
June 25 – In the week of 20-game hitting streaks, Nashville’s Billy Bouldin (.325, 3 HR, 27 RBI) joins the party with a second-inning RBI double in a 7-2 win over the Pacifics.
June 26 – Despite crosswind, the Bayhawks and Crusaders engage in a 21-11 slugfest, although both teams hit only one home run each. The Bayhawks have five players with three or more base hits. Of those, Robbie Sailas (.285, 6 HR, 27 RBI) and Edgardo Balderrama (.341, 3 HR, 27 RBI) also drive in a game-high four runs each. New York’s Rich Salek (.251, 4 HR, 15 RBI) also drives in four on two base hits, including a bases-clearing triple.
June 27 – BOS OF/2B Moises Avila (.212, 3 HR, 17 RBI) would miss a month with a strained oblique.
June 27 – Things go from bad to worse for Dallas’ Jon Ramos (.315, 0 HR, 27 RBI), who will miss six weeks with a torn quad.

FL Player of the Week: SAC C/1B Hector Alvarez (.331, 2 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .526 (10-19) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B Dan Schneller (.293, 9 HR, 24 RBI), batting .444 (12-27) with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

At least not our Ramos! (blinks)

Starting last Sunday with their narrow win over the Critters, the Loggers have won seven in a row, explaining why we went 5-1 this week and had our lead reduced. They swept the Indians and Aces this week, and weren’t shy about it, out-drumming opponents 45-15. For comparison, the Raccoons’ total runs this week were a more modest 28-12.

The bullpen isn’t as badly shot as it looks, and we’ll be up against the Thunder next, so that might help as well…

I am still on the lookout for trade options, but it’s not going to be easy to get a good starter without shedding our few hot prospects. A Troy Greenway-sized acquisition for the rotation is not in the books. Well, it would be in the *books* as far as finances were concerned. Steve from Accounting informed me that we were not spending some $3.2M of our budget, which cried out for a stupid trade on an overpaid veteran clubhouse cancer.

Was R.J. DeWeese still playing baseball?

Fun Fact: Sunday saw the 720th career appearance for Mauricio Garavito and his 15th save.

He’s had at least one for four straight years, but never more than four in a season, which was all the way back in his first full season with the Bayhawks in ’26. That was a long time ago! Garavito is 36, and his contract is up once more after this year. His walks are up – we’ll eye this one carefully before extending him. He had to face many righties when our staff was in turmoil, and also because we had three southpaws in the pen this year, so that played into things a bit. He was still a nightmare on left-handed batters, holding them to a .196 average and .547 OPS.

Knowing myself, I'd say he's walking outta my office with a 4-yr, $8M deal by the All Star Game.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (48-27) @ Thunder (31-44) – June 28-30, 2038

The month would end with a set against the Thunder, whom the Raccoons had swept in the first meeting this year. They were miserable, ranking bottoms in the CL in runs scored, and that wouldn’t get better after 1B Danny Cruz (.221, 15 HR, 35 RBI) had broken his foot on the weekend and was going to be out until early August. Their pitching and defense was sorta average, with the fifth-most runs allowed. The main problem was of course scoring 3.6 runs per game, which gave them a -70 run differential (Critters: +62).

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (8-4, 2.81 ERA) vs. Carlos de la Cruz (3-6, 6.52 ERA)
Steve Fidler (3-1, 3.20 ERA) vs. Brian Frain (4-8, 3.69 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (4-4, 4.82 ERA) vs. Paul Peters (5-7, 4.32 ERA)

Those were all right-handed.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes
OCT: LF E. Moore – RF C. Anderson – C Urfer – 1B Marz – 2B Martell – CF Shamhart – 3B A. Rojas – SS Agosto – P de la Cruz

De la Cruz, who had made 21 appearances for Portland between ’33 and ’36 before being exchanged with Jose Agosto for Jeff Kilmer, allowed singles to Berto and Cosmo in the first inning, and a run on Maldo’s groundout, but then got through Greenway and Manny to exit the inning. The Thunder responded by knocking Sparkes around for four hits and two runs in the bottom 1st. Craig Anderson singled to left, stole second, and came home when Rick Urfer doubled over Manny’s head. Al Martell’s and Nate Shamhart’s singles gave them the lead before Alfredo Rojas struck out.

The score then remained just that, 2-1, for the next few innings as both teams struggled to get on base. Berto was on base every time he came up in the early going, which saw him score in the first, be stranded at first base in the third, and then single in the fifth with one out, and just going for it – he stole second base, his 14th bag of the year, then came around when Cosmo singled. Craig Anderson’s throw was late, but allowed Cosmo to reach scoring position, so we were fine with that. Maldonado and Greenway both popped out to strand him, which we were not so fine with. Portland did claim the lead the following inning, when Manny Fernandez walloped a fastball over the fence in right, 3-2, and after Ed Hooge was denied extra bases by Shamhart in centerfield, Tony Morales romped a ball over the wall near the right foul pole, 4-2. This, still, saw Troy Greenway with as many homers (20) as the next four guys combined – but now he had to get a move on or be dismantled …! (And sometimes I don’t know whether to love or cry with antics like this)

Berto continued to be unretired, knocking out de la Cruz with a leadoff single in the seventh, but then was caught stealing on the watch of right-hander Alan Fleming, then produced a bobble error on Agosto in the bottom of the inning with Rojas already on base and nobody out. That gave the Thunder the tying runs and killed Sparkes when the Thunder sent Tomas Caraballo to pinch-hit. A not-so-well-aged left-handed veteran batting .222 still merited bringing in a lefty; we had three of them, the slightest provocation was enough to launch one out of the pen. Garavito threw one pitch for a comebacker, turned it for a 1-6-3, then threw two more pitches to get Ethan Moore on a pop to short – perfect! Portland loaded them up in the eighth against Fleming, who walked Greenway and Hooge, then allowed a 1-out single to Morales. Now Stedham hit a comebacker, but the Thunder took the out at home plate, which allowed us to send Brad Ledford to hit for Garavito. Fleming’s 2-2 fastball was brashly obliterated to right – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

And that was pretty much the game. The Raccoons had done enough, they judged, and even Berto was retired after the Ledford slam. Ben Feist collected the last six outs without trouble. 8-2 Raccoons. Ramos 3-4, BB; Trevino 2-5, RBI; Morales 3-4, RBI; Ledford (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Feist 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – RF Ledford – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – P Fidler
OCT: LF E. Moore – RF C. Anderson – 1B Marz – 2B Martell – CF Shamhart – 3B A. Rojas – C Adames – SS Kalinowski – P Frain

Fidler retired six straight before reaching base to lead off the top 3rd on a Shamhart error. He advanced only to second base on two outs, but then scored on Maldonado’s single to right. Maldo stole second, then scored on another single by Manny, and while we contemplated to just go on like that, Fernandez was thrown out by Jesus Adames as he tried to snack second. Adames also became the first Thunder to reach with a single, but was doubled up, 5-4-3, by Josh Kalinowski. Berto started a double play, seriously? Oklahoma tied the game in the fourth inning, though, where Fidler retired hardly anybody. He loaded the bases with two outs, including two walks, then allowed a 2-run single to Rojas. Adames walked to re-stack the stash, but Josh Kalinowski grounded out to Maldonado to keep the game tied, at least until Jesse Stedham untied it with a leadoff jack in the fifth, and that broke Greenway’s spell on dominating the next FOUR Raccoons on power alone. He was now down to just having as many or more homers as the next three bats in line. (shakes head)

The Raccoons loaded the bases in the sixth with singles by Hooge and Ledford, then an intentional walk to Stedham. We didn’t bat for Fidler, who struck out, stranding three, but at least kept the Thunder out of scoring position in the bottom half of the inning; well, it was a team effort. Al Martell reached with a single, but was caught stealing by Kilmer to end the inning. Portland stranded Berto and Manny on the corners in the seventh when Hooge grounded out, then saw Rojas single to begin the bottom 7th. Adames flew out, after which Caraballo pinch-hit for Kalinowski, and there was no hesitation – Yeom Soung came in this time in a double switch, removing Manny for Greenway since the #9 hole was up four batters into the eighth inning and we wanted Soung for more than two outs, possibly. He struck out Caraballo – but gave up a game-tying double to Adrian Ringel with two outs. Adrian WHO??

The Raccoons stranded Stedham and Greenway on the corners in the eighth, when Berto popped out to short, and I saw an L forming in our scorebook. Prieto allowed an infield single to Rick Urfer and a double to John Marz in the bottom 8th, retired nobody, then left for David Fernandez, who gave up an 0-2 single to Shamhart to give Oklahoma the lead. Marz scored on a sac fly, Adames singled, and Caraballo blasted a 3-run homer to put the game away. Fernandez, off the rolls here, didn’t even get out of the inning; Citriniti had to come and get him. There was no rally, or even an attempt at it in the ninth inning. 8-3 Thunder. M. Fernandez 3-4, RBI; Stedham 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Greenway 1-1;

The Loggers lost today, ending an 8-game winning streak, which continued to keep the Raccoons in first place by half a game, a margin that hadn’t moved in almost a week now.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger
OCT: LF E. Moore – RF C. Anderson – C Urfer – 1B Marz – 2B Martell – 3B A. Rojas – CF Ringel – SS Agosto – P Peters

A walk to Berto, a Maldonado single, and a sac fly by Greenway put together a run in the first, and then we hoped that Ottinger would get a start together for once. He had a 1-2-3 first, then batted with Morales on second and two outs in the top 2nd, grounded out – but actually Agosto threw away the baseball for two bases, the run scored, and Ottie set up his tent at second base briefly before scoring on Berto’s single. Berto then stole second base, scored on Cosmo’s double, and it was 4-0 before Maldonado flew out to Ringel (who?), the last three runs obviously unearned. That was also where the beauty ended in this game. Right away, the Thunder dismembered Ottinger in the bottom 2nd. Marz singled, Rojas doubled, and Ringel (who?) hit an RBI single. With two outs, Peters (!), Moore, and Anderson all reached base, narrowing the lead to 4-3 with three on and two outs for Rick Urfer, who struck out in a full count. Once again - a completely ****** pitching display from Jared Ottinger, and we were slowly but surely despairing of it.

And then Ottinger allowed just one single to Ringel (who?) the next three innings. Was he bad or just the most snake-bitten kid-designate by the baseball gods? I had no ******* clue anymore. All I saw was the Raccoons scattering four singles in four innings in the most inefficient way possible, before Al Martell hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th. The Raccoons kept Ottie in to see where this was going, and he retired the next three in a row to get out of the inning, then another three in a row in the seventh. He was just a mystery… The Raccoons were still up 4-3 through seven, but I’d like an insurance run. I got two when Jesse Stedham collected Morales with a 2-out bomb to right in the eighth; Nate Ward was the victim, after being with Portland last year. Ledford hit for Ottie and struck out, after which the ball went to Prieto, who put Martell on with two outs by fumbling a bouncer, but then got Rojas to exit the bottom 8th, and Cosmo tacked on an extra run with a homer off Gary Martin in the ninth.

The Raccoons then gave the ball to Jermaine Campbell, who looked like he needed work even in a 7-3 game. Before an out was made, the bases were loaded, Ringel and Agosto and Adames all reaching. Ethan Moore hit into a force at home, Anderson struck out, and then … a wild pitch. Urfer walked, Marz doubled in two, and now the tying run was 90 feet away and the winning run just behind. Dazed and confused, the Raccoons removed Campbell for Soung against Martell, with the Thunder countering with Kalinowski pinch-hitting. Soung still axed him on three pitches. 7-6 Critters. Trevino 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Morales 2-4; Ottinger 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (5-4) and 1-3;

Blimey.

The Thunder had 11 hits, nine of them bunched into those two innings that were no bueno. I guess we’ll chalk it up a lucky W and see to getting outta town…

Raccoons (50-28) @ Titans (34-45) – July 1-4, 2038

The Titans had somewhat recovered from their abysmal first six weeks or so, but were still fifth in the division and at 16 1/2 games out had ample time to wonder about when they’d be back in the mix. They were sixth in runs scored, but were conceding the second-most runs in the CL, with a -68 run differential. They were bottoms in homers, bullpen ERA, and a few other secondary stats. We were up 5-3 against them this year. Of course playing in Boston was always guaranteed to bring out the horrors, so the Raccoons, up half a game on the Loggers still, better be prepared for anything.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (5-4, 3.43 ERA) vs. Andy Bressner (2-11, 4.30 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-5, 3.91 ERA) vs. Tony Chavez (8-3, 3.43 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (9-4, 2.82 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (9-4, 2.92 ERA)
Steve Fidler (3-1, 3.41 ERA) vs. Leonhart Becker (3-3, 6.31 ERA)

Right, left, right, left from Boston (and a Chavez shootout!), allowing the Raccoons to dole out rest days as they saw fit. The Titans also were without Moises Avila and Andy Sears in terms of batters, and Mario Gonzalez was also still missing from that battered rotation.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – SS Williams – P Sabre
BOS: 2B Sibley – 3B Corder – LF W. Vega – CF Calais – RF J. Wallace – C Dear – SS M. Sears – 1B Vadillo – P Bressner

A pitching duel broke out almost immediately, although neither guy did it with strikeouts. Through five innings, Sabre whiffed only ONE batter, and that had him with the upside on Bressner, who struck out *nobody*! And yet, teams amounted to a total of four hits through five innings, all singles, three on the Critters’ side, but we hadn’t done anything with it. Our best chance was in the third, with Berto and Cosmo on base and two outs, but Manny couldn’t find a hole for the ball to drop in. Greenway hit a single in the sixth that led just about as far as all the other token attempts, and Sabre, who had spun a complete-game 4-hitter (not a shutout though) in his last outing, had another 1-2-3 inning. Stedham singled in the seventh, then was caught stealing as we started to get more hellbent or desperate, whichever way you wanted to look at it. Then a Berto error broke up Sabre’s attempts, putting Sean Calais on second base with nobody out in the bottom 7th after a dismal throw that was nowhere near Stedham. Sabre folded at once, getting torn up by Jimmy Wallace and Matt Dear with RBI doubles, and another run scored on Ricardo Vadillo’s sac fly after Micah Sears singled. Sabre was yanked, down 3-0, the Raccoons never twitched, Ben Feist was socked another two runs, Wallace getting the RBI’s (and batting .328 with 2 HR and 35 RBI now) and it was a typical sad-sack loss in Boston. 5-0 Titans. Stedham 2-2, BB;

It also cost the Raccoons’ their lead in the North. Milwaukee won, and took it all away.

Game 2
POR: 2B Trevino – 1B Vickers – 3B Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – CF Hooge – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P B. Chavez
BOS: SS Gil – 3B Corder – LF W. Vega – CF Calais – RF J. Wallace – C Dear – 2B Sibley – 1B Vadillo – P T. Chavez

The Raccoons stopped not scoring in Boston in the first inning despite Rich Vickers doubling up Trevino in his first lineup assignment of the week. Maldonado singled, Antonio Gil’s throwing error put Greenway aboard, and Jeff Kilmer cranked a 3-run homer to right for a lead for Bernie, all runs unearned of course. Then Bernie went walk, single, walk, putting three on with nobody out in the bottom 1st and I was ready to eat my brown hat. Calais popped out, but Jimmy Wallace continued to shred his former team with a 2-run single. Bernie walked Matt Dear, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Ross Sibley, also a former Raccoon (but briefly), and all those runs were earned. They also plunged me into deep depression and I just retreated to the nearest bar in the ballpark and ordered whatever even the flies wouldn’t touch.

While I was anxiously staring at a glass with a thick green liquid with what looked like a dead (hopefully) grasshopper in it, and that was bubbling and foaming angrily from the very bottom of it all, the Titans knocked out Chavez with Wallace and Sibley singles in the bottom 3rd, and the Raccoons sent out Garavito for – maybe, although, did it really matter… – damage control and if possible length. He allowed another run on a Vadillo single, burying the Raccoons down 6-3, then 9-3 after another four hits and three runs off Garavito in the bottom 4th. With the game in the bin, the Raccoons sent in Citriniti for as long as he’d be able to take it, which turned out to be the last four innings needed to finish pitching duties in this game, which was either actual relief or just the cherry on top of the misery. While the Raccoons never even faked a rally, I swear I can see the center of the universe at the bottom of the shimmering liquid in this glass, and somehow you can drink from it as often as you want and it never empties, either. (eagerly sips more) It tasted like the rainbow, too. 9-3 Titans. Trevino 2-3, BB; Kilmer 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Citriniti 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Barkeep, I need the recipe for this one! – Barkeep? – Where did he go??

Today’s scapegoat and scheduled for 25 lashings tomorrow morning: Rich Vickers, hitting into no less than THREE double plays with Trevino on board each time. Did THAT lose us the game? No. Did THAT aggravate me more than the complete pitching blowout? No. But an example has to be made.

No, Rich, of course you can’t keep the pants on for the lashings! Are you crazy??

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – C Morales – 1B Stedham – 2B Williams – P Sparkes
BOS: SS Gil – 3B Corder – LF W. Vega – CF Calais – RF J. Wallace – 2B Sibley – C Raydon – 1B Vadillo – P Willett

Manny singled in the first and was stranded, with Ledford and Morales taking the corners with singles to begin the second. Stedham whiffed, but Elijah Williams dropped a single for the first run in the game, but that was all the Critters got. At least Sparkes was solid out of the gate. He allowed leadoff singles in the third (to Austin Raydon) and fourth (to Gil), but both were doubled up by the next batter. Willie Vega then singled to left, but Calais popped out in foul territory. Ricardo Vadillo’s leadoff single in the sixth was not followed by a double play, because Willett bunted the tying run into scoring position. Gil popped out, and Adam Corder went down on strikes, keeping the Critters up 1-0 through six.

Those Critters had found only two singles since Williams’ RBI knock in the second inning, so I saw disaster on the horizon, which I usually saw with great reliability. Stedham walked to begin the seventh, but now Williams hit into a double play, and it was all horrible. I could smell a budding 4-run rally all the way up in the bar, where my favorite barkeep and drink were nowhere to be seen. Vega singled to begin the bottom 7th, of course. Calais flew out to Greenway, but Wallace was determined to become Player of the Week standing on our broken backs, and singled to left, keeping Vega on third base for the time being. Ross Sibley hit a fly to left, Ledford caught it, Vega was sent – and thrown out to end the inning!! Portland had their 1-2-3 sat down in order in the eighth, while Sparkes walked Vadillo with one out. PH Josh Green flew out to Ledford, which brought up Gil, who was batting .214 but reaching at a .341 clip, and a lefty bat on top of that. Sparkes was at 89 pitches and LOOKED good… The pitching coach took his pulse, Sparkes felt great, got to keep the baseball – and struck out Gil! Mike Hugh sawed off the Coons in the ninth, and now what? Sparkes was at 93 pitches, it was a 1-0 game, the 2-3-4 were up, and Jermaine Campbell had been lit up last time out AND had pitched for Boston forever – almost everybody in that lineup knew his every twitch and wrinkle. (dreadful pause) Well, Bryce, knock yourself out. Corder hit a soft liner that Williams caught, Vega grounded out at 0-2, and Calais, hitting .275 with a lone homer, rolled the first pitch to Berto, throw to first, ballgame! 1-0 Blighters!! Maldonado 2-4; Sparkes 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (10-4);

Third career shutout for Sparkes to stop the slow bleed, and his first since Charlotte and the 2034 season.

Game 4
POR: 2B Trevino – CF M. Fernandez – 3B Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Vickers – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P Fidler
BOS: SS Gil – 3B Corder – LF W. Vega – CF Calais – RF J. Wallace – C Dear – 2B Sibley – 1B Vadillo – P L. Becker

Kilmer, Daiker, and Williams accumulated on base with one out in the top 2nd, but Fidler struck out and Cosmo popped out to strand them all. They got more chances soon, with Manny drawing a leadoff walk in the second, while Maldonado reached on an error by Gil. Greenway had a fly to right caught by Wallace, but Kilmer slapped a ball through Corder for an RBI double and the first run in the game. Vickers unhelpfully hit a bouncer at Corder that kept the runners pinned and made the second out, but Scott Daiker, batting .091 at this point and 0-for-10 after his single in his very first ABL at-bat, ripped a ball up the leftfield line for a 2-run double! Williams was walked half-***edly, and then Fidler floated a 2-2 pitch to left-center that stunningly fell in for extra bases between Vega and Calais for a 2-run double …!! Cosmo grounded to Gil, who made ANOTHER error, but Becker then got Fernandez to ground out. This ended a 5-spot, with only one run earned on Becker’s ledger.

Sibley slapped home Calais with a 2-out single in the fourth, but Fidler mostly looked solid in this start, and apart from the meltdown he had only parts to do with, Becker was also decent, holding out until the sixth inning, where Kilmer knocked him out with a 2-out RBI double, scoring Troy Greenway. In between the 5-spot and that run, the Raccoons had only had Scott Daiker on base. Fidler got through six, but that would be all on accounts of 108 pitches thrown to get there; he got a bit long in the tooth and in terms of the length of at-bats towards the end, but held the Titans to four hits and a run and had a solid chance for the W here with the Coons up 6-1. The Raccoons went on to get four outs from David Fernandez – one of them with the other Fernandez bouncing off an outfield wall to make the catch – and two more from Feist, who was only getting a runner on base when Maldonado fumbled a ball in transfer. The Raccoons didn’t tack on anything late, not getting past first base, but they didn’t have to; Yeom Soung retired the Titans in order in the ninth to secure a split. 6-1 Raccoons. Kilmer 2-3, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ramos (PH) 1-1; Daiker 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Williams 2-4, BB; Fidler 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (4-1) and 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

June 28 – Denver SP Manny Holguin (2-6, 5.55 ERA) shuts out the Rebels on three hits, taking a 4-0 victory.
June 29 – Both the hitting streaks of SFW Justin Simmons (.357, 1 HR, 26 RBI) and NAS Billy Bouldin (.319, 3 HR, 31 RBI) end at 24 and 23 games, respectively. Bouldin goes hitless in a 3-0 over the Wolves. Simmons has it even worse, going 0-for-3 in defeat, a 12-1 rout at the hands of the Capitals, for whom OF Ken Gibbs (.261, 4 HR, 28 RBI) drives in five runs in the game.
July 2 – The Indians pick up LF Abel Madsen (.273, 3 HR, 12 RBI) from the Stars for MR David Lindstrom (2-2, 3.54 ERA) and interesting but unranked prospect Jose Rivas, a shortstop.
July 2 - OCT CL Marcus Goode (4-8, 5.77 ERA, 17 SV) concedes a 10th-inning walkoff win to the Falcons, 5-4, by throwing a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to Fabien Ugolino (.238, 1 HR, 12 RBI).
July 3 – The Thunder trade 1B Tomas Caraballo (.229, 2 HR, 5 RBI) to the Warriors for two prospects.
July 4 – CHA SP Keith Black (8-5, 3.96 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 2-0 shutout.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 3B/SS Guillermo Obando (.268, 2 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ LF/RF Justin Williams (.308, 11 HR, 54 RBI), batting .355 (11-31) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann (.243, 11 HR, 34 RBI), batting .347 with 6 HR, 14 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.418, 13 HR, 62 RBI), batting .468 with 5 HR, 23 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAL SP Eric Peck (9-3, 2.51 ERA), hurling 4-0, 2.05 ERA, 30 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS SP Rich Willett (9-4, 2.92 ERA), tossing 5-1, 1.74 ERA, 39 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL 1B/LF/RF Jose Rivera (.339, 17 HR, 48 RBI), swatting .347 for 8 HR, 20 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL INF Victor Acosta (.247, 5 HR, 25 RBI), poking .284 with 2 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Our scout guy is rating Berto a 5 defensively at third base at this point. He obviously started at zip because he had never played the position in his life. He has by now cost the team a full win on defense according to Cristiano, but at least the pace of the rot seems to have slowed down some.

Berto also extended his lead in career steals over Cosmo this week (for 3rd all-time), 586-580. Cosmo didn’t get a base napped, went 0-for-2, but they are both in the 70s for their success rate and I like that. Trevino is 18-for-24, Berto is 16-for-21. The one that concerns me is Maldonado, who is 12-for-27, which is … not optimal. Cristiano and me watched some video and he thinks we have his tell figured out. Cristiano pointed out that whenever Maldo steals a base, he shouts “Alright!” first and claps his hands three times. I wonder whether we can make him stop doing that.

The Wolves swept all the FL monthly awards, which was not something you saw every day.

It was July International Free Agent time, and that immediately gave me a headache. Alejandro Ramos was an 18-year-old Dominican first baseman available for signing, who had played independent ball on the island for a bit and had acquired the nickname “Dr. Jackyll”. He was said to have MASSIVE power potential, if he met the ball at all, which was not guaranteed. Apparently nobody ever had hit a ball into the ocean out of Santa Banana Field, until Ramos had come along. He was said to ask for seven figures, which was an unheard-of amount of money for a teenage international free agent. He could become the best investment ever for that money, or the worst bust batting .189 with six homers in AA for five years. We were scrambling to get every scrap of video of him to see whether he was actually worth the asking price. We HAD the money – the thing was whether we wanted to touch that package with a 20-foot pole.

Fun Fact: Pablo Sanchez, the 44-year-old persistent wonder, was still leading the ABL in career stolen bases with 719.

He had not taken a base this year though and was now out with an oblique tweak. Second place was 38-year-old Guillermo Obando (this week’s FL Player of the Week) with 627, who had taken nine sacks this year. So both Berto and Cosmo were gaining steadily, albeit slowly on those two. Since they were 32 and soon-to-be-31, respectively, they looked like sure bets to eventually pass both of them…. Barring the odd shattered leg short-circuiting a career.

The next-closest active player and 8th all-time was Alex Torres (445), but he was reduced to bit player duties with the Buffos. Oscar Mendoza (434) was 9th with the Warriors and had taken 21 so far this year. He was 31 years old.

Still 10th with 428 bags? Cookie Carmona. Chance Bossert of the Blue Sox had a shot at passing him by early 2039 though.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (52-30) vs. Indians (37-45) – July 5-8, 2038

Last week before the All Star Game, and we had arrived at our four-and-four, this year with the fourth-place Indians, who were 16 1/2 games out and planning a fishing trip for October right now. They were in the bottom three in runs scored *and* runs allowed, which was always kinda crap. Their run differential was -82. There was not much to love about that roster. Rotation and pen were both 11th by ERA, the defense was way worse than even the Critters’, and they were just as a whole rather unlovable. We were up 3-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 4.75 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (6-8, 3.56 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (5-5, 3.39 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (5-5, 3.52 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-6, 4.38 ERA) vs. Joe Dishon (2-11, 6.48 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (10-4, 2.60 ERA) vs. Mike Hurley (3-5, 5.57 ERA)

We’d start with the two left-handers here, then two of their right-handers.

Game 1
IND: C E. Thompson – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – LF D.J. Mendez – SS D. Serrato – 2B Santillan – P J. Robinson
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Vickers – LF Daiker – P Ottinger

Only three guys in that Indians lineup were hitting heavier than .238, so now we only had to make Ottie hold up, and the new rulebook issued in 2036 had ruled out witchcraft as treatment, so we were kinda out of ideas. Add in him and Kilmer not being on the same page, and probably not even in the same book or library. After a leadoff walk to Doug Levis in the second, they were charged with a wild pitch *and* a passed ball, Ottie also walked D.J. Mendez, and Dave Serrato dropped a soft single to put the Indians up 1-0 before Jose Santillan hit into a 6-4-3 that made everybody’s life a lot better. A walking, talking mess, Ottie issued two more free passes in the third inning, and another one in the fourth, for five total, while also whiffing five and giving up only that one base hit to Serrato that had brought the run in. His teammates were also no help, dead or alive, and amounted to only two base hits through four innings. Both were doubles, neither had led anywhere. The fifth began with a Joe Robinson single, and Ottinger never retired another batter, walking Elliott Thompson, allowing a single to Dan Hutson, and walking in a run against Jeremy Leftwich. That was the axe – Ben Feist replaced him in a lost game, and allowed all his runners to score on a Levis single, a walk to John Baron (whom not even Ottinger had walked…), and then a Mendez sac fly. The 4-run inning ruined the Raccoons’ hopes. The home team got an unearned run in the bottom 5th on Stedham walking in the #9 hole, Berto reaching on Hutson’s throwing error, and then Cosmo wouldn’t do better than a sac fly. Greenway grounded out to second, ending the inning. Bottom 7th, Vickers and Daiker hit singles to get the inning underway. Tony Morales grounded out, Berto hit a sac fly to center, and Cosmo hit a 2-out RBI single, 5-3. Greenway also reached base with a single up the middle, but with the tying runs on the corners, Maldonado whiffed; but the team kept tickling. Three different Indians relievers secured two strikeouts in the bottom 8th before allowing a Vickers double and an RBI single to Scott Daiker, who advanced to second on the throw, then scored on Tony Morales’ sharp single to center that, if Serrato had caught it, would have taken his arm clean off. The Coons could not get more than the tie in the inning, then saw Yeom Soung give up a go-ahead homer to Hutson in the ninth. The middle of the order would be up in the bottom 9th against righty Tim Thweatt. Two struck out, Manny Fernandez grounded out to first base, and that was that. 6-5 Indians. Trevino 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Vickers 2-4, 2B; Daiker 2-3, BB, RBI; Citriniti 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Jared Ottinger (5-4, 5.01 ERA) and his seven walks in this game getting punted to the minors is a real possibility now…

Game 2
IND: C E. Thompson – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – LF D.J. Mendez – SS D. Serrato – 2B Santillan – P Terwilliger
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Vickers – RF Ledford – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P Sabre

Hutson got homers in consecutive innings, a day apart, with a solo effort against Sabre in the first, but the Coons put them on the corners with nobody out in the bottom of the inning and tied the game on Manny’s groundout, then took the lead when Jeff Kilmer dinked in a single. Kilmer was also doubled off when after Vickers’ single Brad Ledford lined out to Santillan, an event not at all anticipated by Kilmer, who was 60 feet away from second base when the second-sacker casually tagged the bag. While the next two innings were uneventful, the Indians had Santillan up with two outs in the fourth and D.J. Mendez on third base. The intentional walk beckoned, but Sabre had walked Terwilliger (…) the first time through and I felt an itch. Santillan was pitched to, lined the 1-2 pitch to leftfield … but Daiker was there and made the catch, stranding the tying run on third base. Daiker hit the middle of three straight singles with one out in the bottom of the inning, with Elijah Williams driving in Ledford for a 3-1 score, but after Sabre’s bunt Cosmo couldn’t get the ball to drop in and the Raccoons stranded two in scoring position.

Sabre walked four in six innings and reached over 110 pitches, but at least held on to the 3-1 lead for as long as he lasted. The Raccoons proceeded by getting basic decent relief, with Garavito in the seventh and Prieto in the eighth each putting a guy on base but also stranding said guy. They also stranded runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, then with Manny Fernandez flying out harmlessly. Jermaine Campbell in the ninth struck out Dave Serrato and Jose Santillan… then served up a homer to pinch-hitting Brent Rempfer. Fortunately, that was not the end; Elliott Thompson grounding out to Vickers at second base was the end, 4-3, ballgame. 3-2 Raccoons. Ledford 2-4; Williams 3-3, 2B, RBI; Sabre 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, W (6-5);

Game 3
IND: C E. Thompson – SS D. Serrato – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – LF D.J. Mendez – 3B B. Moore – 2B Santillan – P Dishon
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – 1B Stedham – C Morales – CF Hooge – P Chavez

Another game, another first-inning homer for Indianapolis, this time Elliott Thompson right away, and only his second of the season. Jose Santillan matched the feat with a solo homer in the second inning, then with two outs, after Bernie Chavez had struck out four of the six batters in between. I see, I see one o’ *those* games… Portland didn’t get a base hit until Bernie singled in the bottom 3rd, then loaded the bases with a Cosmo single and Manny walking with two outs. Greenway struck out to strand all of them. The Coons followed up that with two outs on the basepaths in the fourth inning; Maldonado was caught stealing, while Tony Morales went first-to-third on Hoogey’s 2-out single and was out by a country mile against the arm of Jeremy Leftwich.

The Arrowheads tacked on two in the fifth, getting Bill Moore (walk) and Santillan (double) into scoring position with nobody out. Thompson and Serrato went on to hit RBI singles, 4-0. Portland finally reacted in the bottom of the inning. Cosmo hit a 2-out double, Manny walked, and then Troy Greenway rekindled the fire with a 3-run homer! It was his 21st of the season. Maldonado then bashed a gap triple, Stedham walked, and Morales… grounded out.

Bernie pitched seven innings, whiffed eight, and was still 4-3 behind when he came out after 104 pitches, although Trevino hit a single off J.D. Hamm to get the bottom 7th underway. He then stole second base, the first Raccoon to pull one off against Thompson, saw Manny robbed in the gap by Mendez, and Greenway retired by John Baron racing in real fast to catch a dinker. There was no catching Maldonado’s single up the middle, though, and that one scored Cosmo to tie the score at four. That state didn’t last long, with Ben Feist putting Leftwich on base just before Doug Levis stuffed a triple into the rightfield corner in the top 8th. Hooge and Vickers hit singles in the bottom 8th, but Cesar Castillo whiffed Berto and got a pop from Cosmo to end the inning. Citriniti retired 7-8-9 in order in the top 9th, bringing up the meat of the order against Thweatt again, and somehow I had flashbacks to Monday. The Raccoons were gone on three groundouts this time… 5-4 Indians. Trevino 3-5, 2B; Maldonado 3-5, 3B, RBI; Vickers (PH) 1-1;

…and if I had any ideas beyond yelling at them louder, I’d spring into action, alas…

Game 4
IND: C E. Thompson – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – LF D.J. Mendez – SS D. Serrato – 2B Santillan – P Hurley
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – 1B Stedham – C Morales – CF Hooge – P Sparkes

No score early, with the Raccoons getting Stedham and Hooge into scoring position with two outs in the bottom 2nd… but then came Sparkes, and while he reached 100 K with a whiff of John Baron in the top 2nd, he was also batting negative 56 points and whiffed himself in that spot. That the Indians left their 7-8 batters in scoring position in the third inning was little consolation given that the Raccoons couldn’t score themselves and no matter how hard you shook any of them, there wasn’t any stardust or glitter falling out of them anymore… The game was scoreless after five, both offenses doing their worst.

Sparkes struck out three (for nine total) in the sixth, while the Raccoons hit three singles with Berto, Manny, and Greenway. They unfortunately also had Berto caught stealing before the others got going, and didn’t score because of it. Sparkes struck out another three and mixed in two walks to give me a dose of anxiety that required opening another bottle of drain cleanse to cope. The breakthrough came, FINALLY, in the bottom of that seventh inning. Hurley offered a leadoff walk to Jesse Stedham, who held still long enough to allow Tony Morales to hit a jack to right for the first two runs of the contest. Hooge singled, got doubled up by Sparkes (……), Berto singled, and Cosmo flew out to left. Santillan hit a leadoff double to right-center in the eighth, then moved up on Rempfer’s groundout. The Raccoons brought Soung against Thompson, getting a liner to Trevino, then Prieto for Hutson, who hit a fly to ******* deep left, but Manny made the catch within bum-scratching distance of the wall, ending the inning. Campbell’s ninth was more relaxed; Leftwich, Levis, and Baron struck out in order. 2-0 Critters. Ramos 3-4; M. Fernandez 2-4; Stedham 0-1, 2 BB; Morales 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Hooge 2-3, 2B; Sparkes 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K, W (11-4);

Not a good split… the Loggers split as well with the damn Elks, and speaking of damn Elks…

Raccoons (54-32) vs. Canadiens (48-36) – July 9-11, 2038

At least we’d have the All Star break to try and get the stench out of our place… We were up 5-3 in the season series, whatever that meant, probably only that the chance for getting swept was higher… The damn Elks had the most runs scored in the CL, and were fourth in runs allowed. They still had a vastly better run differential at +96 compared to the Raccoons’ +60, indicating that a major winning streak was coming.

Projected matchups:
Steve Fidler (4-1, 3.11 ERA) vs. Alexander Lewis (4-6, 3.42 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 5.01 ERA) vs. Raymond Pearce (3-1, 3.91 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-5, 3.28 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (9-3, 3.90 ERA)

One more left-hander before the break, which would be Lewis. There was some injury damage to the Elks’ lineup, with Edgar Serrano and John Hansen on the DL, and Ryan Phillips having a sore ankle that needed nursing.

Game 1
VAN: LF A. Perez – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – RF R. Phillips – C Clemente – SS Cabral – 2B LeJeune – 3B Schneider – P A. Lewis
POR: 2B Trevino – 3B Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – CF M. Fernandez – 1B Vickers – LF Daiker – SS Williams – P Fidler

The damn Elks had somebody on in every inning against Fidler, and twice got a leadoff runner due to a throwing error by a Raccoon, both times for two bases. This included Alex Perez to begin the game, with Kilmer throwing that ball past Vickers, but Perez was caught stealing third base then, and then the limping Phillips in the fourth, with Williams throwing that ball away. That run was the first to actually score in the game, on a 2-out single by dismal Jesse LeJeune. Perez walked in the fifth, stole second then was again caught stealing third base as the hyperactive young boy that he was… but on the other paw the Raccoons had yet to show up in their own ballpark… We had pairs of runners on base with two outs in the fourth and fifth innings, but both times the next batter – Vickers and Maldonado, respectively – flew out easily.

Fidler never allowed an earned run and only two hits across seven innings, while his own team was pretty successfully undermining his efforts, but in the bottom 7th – with Fidler just out of the game – Williams singled to left and Ledford drew a 1-out walk in the #9 spot. Again there were two runners aboard, but for once with fewer than two outs. At this point everybody expected a double play grounder and rightfully so, but instead Cosmo hit the worst looper that hit *on* the chalk about 50 feet up the rightfield line behind first base. Williams read the play well and scored on a single, tying the game. And then ******* Jesus Maldonado hit into that double play…

Greenway led off the eighth with a single, then was doubled up by Kilmer. At least Feist, Fernandez, and Prieto combined for scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth innings, while the damn Elks clung to Lewis in the bottom 9th. Williams flew out, Berto grounded out, Cosmo struck out – extras. Campbell had a scoreless 10th, while Tim Zimmerman nailed Maldonado to begin the Critters’ half of the inning. Not learning from that, he also struck Troy Greenway in the elbow, and the Raccoons’ slugger had to come out of the game in discomfort. Ed Hooge ran for him, but was in the game for only a minute before Kilmer ended it with a single between Brian Schneider and LeJeune, up the middle. 2-1 Blighters. Trevino 2-5, RBI; Kilmer 2-5, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-4; Fidler 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

The bad news: Dr. Chung said that Greenway’s elbow was bruised badly and he needed to sit down.

The good news: He’d only need a week’s rest and half of that would be filled with the All Star break.

But boy, does Jerry Outram have one coming for his ******* bean!!

Game 2
VAN: LF A. Perez – 2B Morrow – CF Outram – RF R. Phillips – SS Cabral – 1B J. Elder – C Alba – 3B Schneider – P Pearce
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Ledford – 1B Stedham – C Morales – CF Hooge – P Ottinger

Recent antics would not be accepted anymore, and Ottie knew it. I made that abundantly clear while slapping his second food bowl away and against the wall where it shattered into pieces, splattering the spaghetti carbonara all over the place so that it looked like a massacre.

Coincidentally, it was also Ottie’s bobblehead day, and the park was packed with screaming kids bobbling their Otties. I sat on the brown couch with Slappy and Cristiano, all bobbling our Otties, and couldn’t help but feel doom. Manny Fernandez drove in two runs (Berto, Maldo) with a single in the bottom 1st, so that was treacherous start. Although, early on the worst day was clearly being had by Brad Ledford, who hit into a double play to end the bottom 1st, then overran Ramon Cabral’s single in the second inning for an error, but the damn Elks stayed off the board early on, even after Brian Schneider’s leadoff triple in the third. Pearce lined out softly to Maldonado, Perez popped out, and Eric Morrow whiffed. The Raccoons then had Berto reach on an infield single in the bottom 3rd, advance on a balk, and when Cosmo singled to right, Phillips threw him out at home plate…

Through four and two thirds, Ottie looked almost like a major league pitcher. Then Brian Schneider singled to center. Ottinger hung one to Pearce, who singled to left, and there it was. Doom. And it would devour all of us. The pitching coach also sensed that something was amiss in the noodle sauce and went out to check Ottie’s pulse. He had thrown only 56 pitches and had walked nobody so far, so from that point he was clearly better, but I couldn’t help it. I knew he’d be torn up and we’d lose. Perez hit an infield roller and legged out a single at a 1-1 count, loading the bases for Morrow, who hit a 1-2 fly to shallow center, where – … Ed Hooge made the catch, inning over. Never mind me being rolled into a ball on the couch between Slappy and Cristiano and sucking the latter’s thumb because my own were already wet and gooey.

Portland had three on in the fifth as well, but with nobody out. Morales walked in a full count, and Hooge and Ottie both hit singles. Berto slapped the very next pitch to center for an RBI single, 3-0, but Cosmo popped out, and Maldonado’s sac fly brought in the final run of the inning, 4-0 – not the knockout I had hoped for. Ottinger then walked Outram to begin the sixth, which got us to yellow alert again. Phillips’ grounder forced out the lead runner, and Cabral’s fly to left was dropped by Manny, putting two aboard. The pen was already up, and when Jay Elder drew a walk, the Raccoons instantly made the move and went to Mauricio Garavito, who gave up a 2-run double to Fernando Alba before walking Schneider, and only retired Pearce. Ben Feist retired nobody, blowing the game with a 2-run double to Perez before walking Morrow. 4-4, Outram up. Yeom Soung became the fourth pitcher able to participate in the meltdown, had Outram at 1-2, then gave up a bases-clearing double through Ramos and up the line. ******* ****!! I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE NAILED HIM!!

The team was defeated. Phillips popped out, but a 7-run sixth did enough damage to ruin everything. I may also have bitten Cristiano in the thumb when that ball went through our unfortunately defensively completely inept third baseman.

And an inning later, the game was tied. Berto reached, Cosmo tripled, then scored on a sac fly by Maldonado. Fernandez, Ledford, and Stedham all reached, with Manny scoring on a throwing error by Alex Perez to tie the game with two outs in the bottom 7th, seven-all. The next pitch was slapped by Tony Morales off Natanael Abrao and over the head of Jerry Outram to take a 9-7 lead. Hooge walked, and Vickers ended the inning like he had begun it, making an out. Up 9-7, what now? Prieto had been out three times in four days, and Campbell two days in a row. With the 8-9-1 up and mostly right-handed, the Raccoons went to Citriniti in the eighth, which began with Schneider reaching on Ramos’ 15th error of the season. Johnny Lopez struck out, Perez hit into a 6-4-3 double play. I was seeking comfort from Honeypaws, with Cristiano refusing to be touched by me again. Portland got Cosmo and Maldonado on base in the bottom 8th, Cosmo even stole a base, but no ball fell in after that, and the Raccoons had to keep piecing it together. Not shy about pitching Campbell three days in a row, but he’d face at least two left-handed bats here, the Raccoons stuck to Citriniti for Morrow while readying up David Fernandez. Citriniti got his man, while Fernandez immediately got into trouble. Outram doubled, then advanced on a balk, but that wasn’t the tying run, so whatever. Fernandez struck out Phillips, then walked Cabral. Pat Pohl, .200 with one homer, pinch-hit… and struck out. 9-7 Furballs…!! Ramos 2-4, BB, RBI; Trevino 3-5, 3B, RBI; Maldonado 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Stedham 2-4, 2B, RBI; Morales 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Soung got the win, but Ottinger was also a winner, winning not being sent down this time through.

One more til the break.

Game 3
VAN: LF A. Perez – 1B J. Lopez – CF Outram – RF R. Phillips – C Clemente – SS Cabral – 2B LeJeune – 3B Schneider – P Sealock
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Ledford – 1B Stedham – C Morales – CF Hooge – P Sabre

Sabre had two solid innings before starting to become unglued. He walked a pair, including the opposing pitcher, in the third inning, then was undone for a run with two outs in the fourth inning, Ramon Cabral singling and scoring the game’s maiden run after the Raccoons had left three on in the bottom 1st and a runner at third base in the bottom 2nd. Even Tony Morales’ leadoff double in the fourth led nowhere for Portland. (starts to look for another thumb, but Slappy’s were firmly clawing his bottle)

Sabre allowed only three hits through seven innings, but that was enough to trail 1-0, and the Raccoons reached neither in the seventh nor eighth inning to take him off the hook. Garavito and Feist pitches scoreless relief to complete regulation before Zimmerman, aka The Greenway Chopper, came out for the bottom 9th. He’d be countered by an array of lefty hitters, so there was faint hope. Ledford grounded out. Stedham walked, bringing up the winning run in Morales, who singled through the right side, but Phillips was on the ball right away and held Stedham at second. Ed Hooge slapped a ball into the maws of disgusting Jesse LeJeune, four to six to three. 1-0 Canadiens. Trevino 2-4; Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Morales 2-4, 2B; Sabre 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, L (6-6);

Like they say, hope is for those that have no reason to be confident…

In other news

July 5 – The Knights lose SP Danny Orozco (4-8, 3.27 ERA) for the season. The 27-year-old is diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 5 – CHA LF/RF Dave Trahan (.285, 6 HR, 28 RBI) is out for the season with a badly broken ankle.
July 5 – The Wolves pick up Topeka’s closer Russell Maratta (2-5, 1.85 ERA, 13 SV) for two prospects.
July 5 – Miners RF/LF Tom Dunlap (.303, 2 HR, 11 RBI), who is a backup outfielder, gets a start and bangs out five hits, driving in two, in a 15-1 rout of the Buffaloes. C Kurt Wall (.275, 8 HR, 47 RBI) has four hits and as many RBI in the game.
July 6 – Nashville’s LF/RF Sean Ashley (.290, 11 HR, 34 RBI) will miss six weeks with a broken wrist.
July 6 – Cincy sends 1B Chris Delagrange (.249, 10 HR, 45 RBI) to the Buffaloes for OF/1B Rai Higashi (.221, 3 HR, 14 RBI), a prospect, and cash.
July 7 – The Warriors score five in the 13th inning to break a tie with the Pacifics, who respond with only one run, conceding the game 8-4.
July 8 – The Bayhawks acquire RF Vinny Chavira (.246, 9 HR, 30 RBI) from the Pacifics for two prospects, including #61 SP Mike LeMasters.
July 8 – Knights and Thunder play scoreless ball for 11 innings before Atlanta breaks through with four runs in the top of the 12th for a 4-0 win.
July 9 – The Indians get 2B/SS Jim McKenzie (.273, 2 HR, 15 RBI) from Sacramento, parting with two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/1B/RF Melvin Hernandez (.351, 13 HR, 64 RBI), hitting .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS OF Willie Vega (.247, 9 HR, 46 RBI), hitting .455 (10-22) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Anybody know where the good team did go? The one that was fun to watch and won games comfortably?

The Raccoons had five All Stars to offer this year, three of them pitchers. Bryce Sparkes was included along with Jermaine Campbell and Yeom Soung. On the batting side, Cosmo Trevino was an obvious inclusion, while Troy Greenway also won a nomination, but would have to sit out with the bum elbow.

Only the 31-year-old Sparkes was a first-time All Star. The other four had seen it and been there. Greenway and Soung were All Stars the third time (the latter winning a nomination in every season he was in the league so far), and Cosmo and Campbell were nominated for the fourth time.

And no, I still don’t know how the Loggers were doing it.

Bryce Sparkes was in the thick of a triple crown chase. He led the league in strikeouts, tied for the lead in wins, and was second in ERA, .05 behind Vegas’ Chris Crowell, who was doing his very best for a last-place team that didn’t deserve him.

Alejandro Ramos signed for $840k with the Blue Sox. The Raccoons never made an offer to the Dominican maybe-slugger. We signed some fringe talent for $94k split between three players, but the more interesting guy was still entertaining offers, 16-year-old Venezuelan lefty Jose Arias. Groundballer with a good pitch mix and a 90mph fastball, which at that age wasn’t to be sneezed at.

Fun Fact: Jerry Outram had his .400 average ruined on the weekend.

He went 2-for-12 in the three games. Both hits were doubles. Never mind the bases-clearing one that took Berto’s pants with it to the leftfield corner. He is now batting merely .397/.477/.612 anymore.

Sucker.

[Westheim]

There was silence here for a few days, I think, but … uh … I bought Crusader Kings III.

(looks around)

What day is it?

+++

All Star Game

The Continental League defeats the Federal League in a rather unexciting game, 4-3. No player has more than one hit, or more than one RBI, or scores more than once.

As far as the Raccoons are concerned, Cosmo Trevino has a pinch-hit RBI single, while Bryce Sparkes and Yeom Soung pitch scoreless innings in relief. Jermaine Campbell is roughed up for two runs on three hits in his inning.

Raccoons (56-33) @ Indians (41-48) – July 15-18, 2038

The first task past the All Star Game was to do better against the struggling Indians, better than the 5-3 season series tally would indicate, and especially better than the lackluster split attained the prior week. They were ninth in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed now.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (6-6, 4.43 ERA) vs. Joe Dishon (2-11, 6.37 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-6, 3.16 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (5-6, 3.45 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (11-4, 2.44 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (7-8, 3.28 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 4.84 ERA) vs. Mike Hurley (3-6, 5.31 ERA)

Leading off with your worst starter? Bold move, Arrowheads! Bold move!

At least that was what they announced for Thursday – but no game took place due to inclement weather. We instead got a double header scheduled for Friday, and by then Terwilliger, the puzzling southpaw, got the first assignment. The Raccoons stuck with Bernie Chavez, though.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Vickers – C Kilmer – RF Daiker – SS Williams – P Chavez
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – 2B McKenzie – SS Santillan – P Terwilliger

For something new, Scott Daiker drove in the first run of the game with a Vickers-plating single with two outs in the second inning, and Bernie Chavez ran with that, retiring the first 13 batters he faced before John Baron’s single to left in the bottom 5th. Elliott Thompson and Jim McKenzie were retired without great panic, though, but the Raccoons offense had yet to generate something other than the Daiker dinker in shallow left. As usual, Terwilliger was a tough customer, and when the Raccoons did get two on in the sixth, that was only with two outs, and Kilmer and Daiker were stranded on Elijah Williams’ easy fly to Jeremy Leftwich, who then was the third of three Indians to slap 2-out singles off Bernie in the bottom 6th, tying the game in the process…

Both starters pitched into the eighth; Terwilliger got stuck and was relieved before it was over, but didn’t concede another run, while Bernie got through eight, but the game was still tied and to give him a deserved W, the Raccoons would have to overcome Tim Thweatt … and with the bottom of the order. They didn’t – although singles by Ed Hooge and Alberto Ramos put runners on the corners before Trevino grounded out to McKenzie to end the inning. Antonio Prieto retired Indy in order in the bottom 9th to send the game to extras, where Thweatt retired the Raccoons in order now, but Prieto gave up a single to McKenzie with two outs, walked Jose Santillan, and gave up the game-ender through the left side to Sean Ebner. 2-1 Indians. Ramos 2-5, 2B; Kilmer 2-4, 2B; Hooge (PH) 1-1; Chavez 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Ledford – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – 2B McKenzie – C Ebner – SS Santillan – P Dishon

The Raccoons scored first again, with Berto reaching base with a walk and stealing second base, which turned out not required once Manny Fernandez hit a homer with two outs. Ledford singled and scored on Ed Hooge’s double to make it 3-0 before the wall went to Sabre, and immediately the struggles began. He walked Ryan Cassell, allowed singles to Hutson and Doug Levis, and only surrendered one run because of Leftwich’s intervening double play. Ebner and Santillan reached scoring position in the second before being stranded for Dishon’s strikeout and Cassell’s fly being snatched by Fernandez, and two more runners reached base with two outs in the bottom 3rd. It was one of those games where no lead would be big enough to feel comfy as long as a mirror held under the starting pitcher’s pointy black nose would, for reasons entirely mysterious, still fog.

Rain also did its thing; it began in the second inning and by the fourth briefly put the tarp on the field, which wasn’t going to help Sabre one bit. Ebner and Santillan hit leadoff singles in the bottom 4th, and one run scored on Dishon’s bunt and Cassell’s sac fly. Dan Hutson struck out, keeping it 3-2. It also very much seemed like the Raccoons’ offense had only been painted onto the sidewalk with chalk and had now been washed off, because they sure did nothing in the middle innings. Sabre staggered through six like a guy with a knife in his back, exiting another jam with a Ramos-started double play grounder, which was barely short of a miracle.

The seventh began with a Cosmo double to right, with Maldonado whiffing. Manny was walked intentionally by Dishon, while Ledford was walked unintentionally by J.D. Hamm, loading the bags for Ed Hooge, who hit a lame fly for a sacrifice before Morales struck out, stranding two. Sabre struck out career AAA player Danny Briseno to begin the bottom 7th, then yielded with the top of the order coming up again. David Fernandez got two outs, then bunted into a force on Stedham in the next half-inning when we wanted him back for the eighth inning and leadoff batter Jeremy Leftwich. Not so much after the bad bunt – too bad the only oubliette I could have tossed him into was back home in Portland… At least he got his man, and Ben Feist got out of the inning against a Baron single. The lead only went bust against Campbell, who gave up a leadoff bomb to Ebner in the bottom 9th, then got shaken some more for an Abel Madsen double and Hutson’s RBI single. Extras, for the second time in a dismal day.

Nobody reached for Portland in the 10th, while three reached for Indy in the 10th, but none of them scored to break the 4-4 tie with Elliott Thompson flying out to right to end the inning. The 11th began with Jeff Kilmer walking for Garavito in the #9 hole, and Elijah Williams, who had replaced Ramos for defense in the top slot, getting nicked. Cosmo singled to load the bases, and all three runners scored in order on Maldonado’s single, Fernandez’ walk, and Vickers’ sac fly, the latter against right-hander Jake Jackson, who then ended the inning on another two outs from Hooge and Morales. This time Yeom Soung got the ball and gave up a homer to Leftwich before the Indians ran out of outs….. 7-5 Raccoons. Trevino 2-6, 2B; Maldonado 2-6, 2B, RBI; Ledford 2-3, BB; Stedham 3-5;

Nothing’s coming easy here anymore…

Maybe I should go on a pilgrimage or something…

Game 3
POR: 3B Trevino – 2B Vickers – CF M. Fernandez – 1B Maldonado – RF Ledford – C Kilmer – RF Daiker – SS Williams – P Sparkes
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – 2B McKenzie – SS Santillan – P J. Robinson

The Raccoons scratched for a Maldonado homer in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, then twice scored Cosmo Trevino who reached base, stole second, and then was painstakenly shoved forwards with only a modicum of loud noise. Vickers hit a really soft single in the third inning and Manny got a sac fly in, and scored him again in the fifth with a soft single himself. Sparkes allowed only one hit in the first four innings, but Thompson stuck a leadoff double into the corner to begin the fifth and came around to score.

Up 3-1 through five, the Raccoons had Cosmo on again with a leadoff single in the seventh but didn’t dare to run again on Thompson’s Gold Glove arm. Vickers singled to center to get Trevino to second base, and the team got him in on two fly balls to John Baron in center, Maldonado taking his second RBI of the game. With the 4-1 lead, Sparkes put Baron and Thompson on to begin the bottom of the inning, and I started to become dizzy again. McKenzie’s groundout moved up the runners, and Santillan struck out, but Brent Rempfer, all .305 and 16 homers of him, pinch-hit as the tying run. There was a mound conference, there were repeated assurances by Sparkes that he wouldn’t get rempfered – and then he struck him out indeed! Sparkes made it through eight, after which Jermaine Campbell descended again, this time with a 3-run lead. This time John Baron homered off him. Also, this time that was all the goddamn damage… 4-2 Coons. Trevino 3-4, BB; Vickers 2-4, BB; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Stedham (PH) 1-1; Sparkes 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (12-4);

By Sunday, both Troy Greenway and Dave Myers reported back for duty. The latter came off the DL and took the roster spot of Scott Daiker (.219, 0 HR, 4 RBI).

Game 4
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – 2B McKenzie – SS Santillan – P Hurley

Greenway was nailed in his first at-bat back in the lineup, but fortunately not in the bum elbow, just in the ribs… The Raccoons did not approve; Manny walked to fill the bags with two outs in the top 1st, and Tony Morales singled home a pair for early offense. Dave Myers popped out to end the inning, but the top of the order stirred again in the third inning, with Cosmo hitting a leadoff double and many and Morales dropping 2-out RBI hits. Myers grounded out to third base this time.

A 4-0 lead was hardly sufficient with how Ottinger had gone lately, but there were no reasons to complain about him the first time through the Indians order in this game, him allowing only one single. But, oh, the second time… By the fifth inning the Coons were up 5-0 thanks to a Stedham RBI knock with two outs in the top of that inning. Ottinger began with a Baron single in that inning, then walked Thompson. Hardly ideal, and it didn’t get better. Baron stole third base and dragged Thompson in his slipstream, and the Indians scored the runs on a sac fly and a Santillan single. Then PH Abel Madsen doubled. By now, the tying run was at the plate, and I was fully stressed out and trying to scheme for Ottinger to “disappear” in the forest… The next pitch was a sac fly by Ryan Cassell, but at least we were almost out of the – no. Hutson singled, Madsen scored, it was 5-4, and Ottinger was ******* yanked. Garavito gave up singles to Leftwich and Levis, with Hutson thrown out at home plate by Manny Fernandez on the latter one, ending the ******* dismal inning.

More agony was to come before it could get better, with Berto caught stealing in the sixth, but he redeemed himself in the seventh, driving in a run against Jackson with two outs. Stedham had walked and Ledford had been nicked ahead of his single. Jackson walked Cosmo and Maldonado to force in another run, giving him five walks total in a truly dismal appearance, and Cesar Castillo gave up a 2-out single to Greenway that went through the right side. One run scored on the single, and another on Leftwich’s errant throw that went entirely over all the infielders. Manny struck out, but the 4-spot gave the Raccoons another 5-run lead, and nine outs’ time to blow that one. Citriniti gave up one run in the bottom 7th, Hutson driving in Sean Ebner on two base hits. Feist retired the side in order in the eighth. David Fernandez got two outs in the ninth before walking Ebner and allowing a single to Cassell. Prieto replaced him against Hutson and became the first pitcher with a save opportunity to not give up a bomb in this series, grounding Hutson to Cosmo to end the game. 9-5 Raccoons. Ramos 3-6, 2B, RBI; Trevino 2-4, 2 BB, 2B; Greenway 2-5, 2 RBI; Morales 2-5, 3 RBI; Stedham 2-4, BB, RBI;

In other news

July 12 – 1B Jay Elder (.299, 2 HR, 18 RBI) goes back to the Titans, along with a prospect, in a deal that leaves the Canadiens with INF Ross Sibley (.272, 2 HR, 46 RBI).
July 12 – The Crusaders acquire SP Bill Quintero (2-13, 4.95 ERA) from the Aces, who get two prospects including #64 SP Ricardo Sanchez.
July 13 – Shoulder soreness could cost SFB SP Gilberto Rendon (3-6, 4.00 ERA) the rest of the season.
July 15 – Shoulder soreness also claims LAP SP Andy Jimenes (6-5, 3.84 ERA), who will be out until at least September.
July 16 – NYC OF George Hawthorne (.261, 5 HR, 25 RBI) lands two hits in a 5-4 defeat to his previous team, the Titans, to reach 2,000 career hits. Andy Bressner (6-11, 3.79 ERA) gives up the milestone hit, a single.
July 16 – PIT SP Roberto Pruneda (9-5, 2.48 ERA) allows three hits and whiffs ten Buffaloes in a 1-0 shutout.

FL Player of the Week: CIN RF/LF Juan Brito (.309, 13 HR, 43 RBI), batting .727 (8-11), 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.402, 15 HR, 68 RBI), hitting .450 (9-20), 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Back in first place, because the Loggers only split with the damn Elks. The deciding game was Sunday, where Milwaukee went under in an 11-0 rout.

There were things to like and things to not like in this series. I didn’t like Ottinger pitching, and the bullpen antics. The offense was alive, most of the time.

The road trip continues to New York and San Francisco next week. Nothing good has ever happened at the Bay.

Fun Fact: 17 years ago today, a juicy 27-year-old Pablo Sanchez hit for the cycle.

Back then he was with the Scorpions, with the Stars on the receiving end of the cycle and a 14-7 loss. Sanchez won his second of three Player of the Year awards in that season, hitting a fluffy .409 with 10 HR and 112 RBI. He is the only batter to ever hit .400 for a season. Previously the record was held by Jeremiah Carrell (he of the incredibly brittle constitution, and bobbleheads) with a pair of .394 campaigns in 1977 and 1979.

No Raccoon has a season in the top 50 of the single-season leaderboards, although it’s close. David Brewer batted two whiskers under .360 in his first year for the Critters, good for 51st all-time. Thus, Cosmo’s .362 clip as of now would be the highest batting average by a Raccoon ever, but he still needs another 158 PA to qualify.

+++

Of course I am just as hopeless in CK3 than in this or any other game. Did you expect something else?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-34) @ Crusaders (33-60) – July 20-22, 2038

The Crusaders were awful, 26 games out of first place, and pretty much every single one of their players had trample marks on their backs. They were third from the bottom in runs scored, and conceded the most runs with the worst rotation, going for a -130 run differential. Yes, that team had won 87 games last year, finishing only six games out. No, I had no actual explanations. They didn’t even have injuries; they just plain sucked. We were up in the season series, 7-2.

Projected matchups:
Steve Fidler (4-1, 2.62 ERA) vs. Joe Feltman (7-10, 4.63 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-6, 4.19 ERA) vs. Bill Quintero (2-13, 4.84 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-6, 3.14 ERA) vs. Julian Ponce (2-7, 4.72 ERA)

Ponce was the only left-hander in the mix, and also a former Raccoons international free agent signing, costing $23k in the July 2029 period. He had been the #7 prospect when he had been shipped to New York in a package for Gilberto Rendon in ’33. So far he was not living up to the hype. At age 25, the Crusaders didn’t know what to do with him and so he now had 114 games (11 starts) with an 8-15 record, 3.89 ERA, and 32 saves. He also had a .385 BABIP for the season, so maybe he was better than indicated after all…

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Fidler
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – RF Carr – LF Hawthorne – 2B Lira – SS Stalker – P Feltman

Fidler only got to take a start in this series because the Raccoons were rained out on Thursday and neither Bernie nor Sabre would be sent on short rest, having enough struggles as it was. He retired eight in a row before giving up a single to Feltman, of all people, then quickly a gapper in right-center to Rich Salek that became an RBI triple and the first run of the game. Greg Ortiz then lined out to Trevino. The Raccoons, who had placed Berto on first base with a leadoff walk in the first, only to have Trevino double-play him off, and not a lot since, erased the gap in the fourth, though. Cosmo reached and was double in by Manny Fernandez with two outs. Tony Morales singled up the middle, allowing Manny to score for a 2-1 lead, after which Dave Myers, ice cold off the DL, struck out. Both teams then were rather silent and/or inept afterwards. The Raccoons had Greenway on to lead off the sixth, and he stole second base, which was not an everyday occurrence (it was his first bag of the year), but that didn’t lead to a run, either, while Graciano Salto hit a long, long fly, that nevertheless found a glove in the bottom of the seventh, which Fidler completed, but on 91 pitches. Feltman retired the Critters’ 2-3-4 in the eighth, while the bottom of the order was up for Fidler in the bottom 8th. Tony Lira’s fly to right and two grounders put the Crusaders away for the inning. Both starters were done after eight then, with right-hander Tony Fuentes seeing the Critters in the ninth and retired Fernandez, Morales, and Ledford in order. Jermaine Campbell got the top three in the bottom 9th, with Rich Salek grounding out to Vickers at second base. Ortiz singled, then moved up on Devin Phillips’ grounder, bringing up Salto, who with 16 homers was by far the most dangerous batter in that lineup. The Raccoons played games – Salto was walked intentionally, pulling up Ryan Carr, a .280 hitter with two homers, instead. He hit a quick bouncer up the middle, Elijah Williams cut it off, but had no play – bases loaded for George Hawthorne. Six pitches later, Hawthorne swung over a 2-2 in the dirt, Morales contained it, and the Raccoons scratched out a W. 2-1 Raccoons. Morales 2-4, RBI; Fidler 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (5-1) and 1-3;

Well, that worked … okay, I guess, and now … What is it, Dr. Chung? – Who? – Kilmer? – What? – Isn’t he too young for …?

Alright, Dr. Chung informed me that Jeff Kilmer was out for a few days with *gout*, which boded well for the future of the 26-year-old catcher. The Raccoons couldn’t go with only one catcher, so somebody had to get chopped. And this was a problem – the Raccoons had only three hitters on the roster (other than Kilmer) that had an option and no right to refuse assignment; one was Morales, which was not helpful at all. The others were Maldonado, which was not helpful at all, and Ledford, which to be honest was the best bad move here, but we still balked.

In the end, lightning struck Steve Fidler. The poor sod had just pitched and was not available until Sunday anyway. By Sunday we’d figure out something else. He was sent back to AAA to bring up Erik Wheeler as new backup catcher. The 26-year-old had been signed as injury depth. His experience was three games and three at-bats (one hit) with the Elks in prior years. Matt Hartley was the other catcher in AAA, both were hitting .254, but Wheeler was the starting backstop there, and I went with that indicator…

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Chavez
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – RF Carr – LF Hawthorne – 2B Lira – SS O. Freeman – P Quintero

The Raccoons had another slow start; Manny singled in the second, and the only other batter to reach the first time through the order was Bernie Chavez, hitting a 1-out single in the third inning after sitting down six in a row himself. Berto singled to right after a wild pitch had already moved Bernie to second base. Cosmo hit an RBI single past Lira, and then the two speedsters pulled off a double steal. Maldonado grounded to short, Omar Freeman threw badly to first base, and Salto barely kept the ball in front of him, but didn’t get an out, while Berto scored, 2-0. Troy Greenway hit another single to right to make it 3-0, then was forced out on Manny’s grounder, but with two outs, Tony Morales hit *another* single to shallow right to score Maldonado. Myers struck out before it could get even uglier.

Bernie retired 14 batters in a row to begin this game, then had George Hawthorne break up the bid with a single. Lira grounded out, completing five innings, and with the Raccoons still up 4-0. The shutout went an inning later, with Omar Freeman hitting a leadoff single to left, then scoring on a Salek double up the rightfield line, narrowing the line to 4-1. In the seventh Manny Fernandez robbed both Salto and Hawthorne in the gap in left-center, and the bullpen casually began to stir. It still got in too late, after Bernie walked Tony Lira to begin the eighth, and also after Mario Duenez’ pinch-hit homer. Since the Coons had been absent on offense ever since the fourth inning, that narrowed the score to 4-3. David Fernandez came in, retired nobody when Salek singled off him, then was swiftly exchanged for Prieto, who got outs from Ortiz and Phillips to get out of the eighth. The Raccoons failed to wake up and were back at Jermaine Campbell in the bottom 9th. This time Salto led off and walking him intentionally would have been dumb. He grounded out; Vickers caught Ryan Carr’s liner, and Maldonado caught a rather harmless Hawthorne fly to end another squeaker. 4-3 Raccoons. Ramos 2-5; Trevino 2-4, RBI; Chavez 7.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (7-6) and 1-3;

Berto and Cosmo both took two bags in this game, with the latter reaching 24 and tying for second place with the Loggers’ Danny Valenzuela, whose teammate Tony Romero led the CL with 29. For a .360 hitting speed demon, Cosmo sure wasn’t getting his fair share, but then again word was probably out that the Raccoons were antsy runners.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – 1B Vickers – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – LF Ledford – 3B Myers – SS Williams – C Wheeler – P Sabre
NYC: CF Salek – 3B G. Ortiz – 1B Salto – RF Carr – LF Hawthorne – 2B Lira – C Duryea – SS Stalker – P Ponce

Elijah Williams’ first Raccoons homer came in the second, collected Dave Myers, and made the Raccoons hold a 2-0 lead in the second inning! There were only three further base hits for Portland until the completion of five innings, with Williams and Wheeler singling back-to-back with one out in the fifth, but Cosmo grounded out after Sabre bunted both into scoring position. The Crusaders didn’t reach scoring position until Lira doubled to right in the bottom 5th, but was stranded. The Raccoons had another back-to-back event in the sixth, then 2-out singles by Maldo and Ledford, but Myers grounded out to Ortiz.

Sabre held up until he didn’t, allowing singles to Carr and Hawthorne in the seventh. That was to lead off the inning, and a passed ball advanced them into scoring position. A grounder by Lira and a Duryea single tied the game before PH Mario Duenez hit into a double play in 1-6-3 fashion. And while the Raccoons couldn’t get anything off Ponce anymore, Rich Salek took Sabre deep in the bottom of the eighth, putting the Raccoons in a hole against Fuentes in the ninth. Maldonado, Ledford, and Ramos all grounded out to Lira. 3-2 Crusaders. Williams 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Sabre 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (6-7);

That was not how a title candidate plays…….

Raccoons (61-35) @ Bayhawks (46-50) – July 23-25, 2038

Down 2-1 in the season series, the Raccoons had to visit the Bay, which could only go horribly wrong. They were only three games out in the South, which lacked good teams altogether. They were fourth in runs scored, but lacked pitching, sitting eighth in runs allowed. A rash of injuries had befallen them, with starting pitchers Gilberto Rendon and Ryan Kinner on the DL along with position players Bobby Hennessy and Robbie Sailas. SP Lorenzo Viamontes dealt with an abdominal strain, but was not on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (12-4, 2.36 ERA) vs. Josh Long (10-7, 3.59 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 4.96 ERA) vs. Andy Geiser (0-0)
TBD vs. Jose Moreno (9-9, 2.82 ERA)

All right-handers among these survivors. Geiser was a 34-year-old veteran swingman from the Federal League that would likely make his season debut. The Raccoons were looking into recalling Fidler for Sunday, if we could get Jeff Kilmer out of the litter by then…

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes
SFB: CF Balderrama – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Chavira – SS Greer – 1B McGrath – C Umanzor – 3B J. Hernandez – P Long

The Raccoons took a quick 2-0 lead when Manny Fernandez singled home Trevino (single) and Maldonado (double) with two outs in the top 1st, but the Bayhawks would be dangerous and not lie down – Edgardo Balderrama singled and Dave Martinez was nicked to create a tight spot in the bottom 1st until Vinny Chavira rolled into a 6-4-3 to end the inning. They tied the score in the bottom 3rd, with Joel Hernandez opening with a single up the middle. Long bunted him over, Balderrama hit a ground-rule double, and scored after Dan Schneller singled on Martinez’ sac fly.

Raccoons offense was slow until the sixth when they got runners on the corners with no outs, the runners being Maldo and Greenway. Manny struck out, but Ed Hooge singled through the right side to reclaim the lead, 3-2! The inning ended with pops by Morales and Stedham though… The Bayhawks didn’t take long to respond, with Martinez sticking his fat bum out to get hit to begin the bottom 6th. Chavira walked, and Marshall Greer’s grounder was only good for an out at second base, leaving the Baybirds with guys on the corners. A strikeout would be great here, but Sparkes had only two for the whole day, and Kevin McGrath was not an easy victim, and also was hitting .289 with 10 homers. He tied the game with a single to left, but at least Eduardo Umanzor popped out. Sparkes had Hernandez at 1-2 before giving up a fly to center that beat Ed Hooge for a triple, and everything came apart as the Baybirds took a 5-3 lead. Nothing good had ever happened at the Bay, and nothing ever would…

Long allowed 2-out singles to Hooge and Morales in the eighth, but Stedham struck out to throw that chance away. Citriniti held the Birds away in the eighth, after scoreless relief by Feist and Garavito in the seventh, and the Raccoons had the tying run at the plate with the top of the order approaching once Chavira dropped Myers’ leadoff fly against lefty Adrian McQuinn in the top of the ninth. Then a lack of progress took out all the euphoria. Berto flew out to left, Cosmo hit into a fielder’s choice, and the game ended with Maldonado grounding out to third base. 5-3 Bayhawks. Hooge 3-4, RBI;

The Raccoons reversed their earlier roster move by bringing back Fidler in place of Wheeler, who went 1-for-3 in his cameo, enrichening his career tally to 2-for-6 when Jeff Kilmer reported back for duty by Saturday.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Hooge – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger
SFB: CF Balderrama – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Chavira – SS Greer – 1B McGrath – C Umanzor – 3B Levinson – P Geiser

Ottinger was just good old **** on Saturday, wasting over 30 pitches in the first inning for two hits, two walks, and two runs, driven in by Kevin McGrath with a 2-out, 2-strike knock. The Raccoons loaded the bags with Greenway and Hooge singles as well as a Schneller error (!) that put Morales on base in the top 2nd. Nobody out, Dave Myers hit an RBI single to left to keep the line moving, before Stedham hit a deep fly to right, and, oh boy – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That wasn’t even the last run in the inning, with Cosmo reaching with two outs (by forcing out Ottie, admittedly), stealing his 25th bag, and then scoring on Manny’s triple to rightish-center. That gave Ottinger a 6-2 lead, and if he forked that one, we’d have to kill him. …or at least send him to St. Petersburg. The one in Russia. By the third inning, the bases were loaded again with two outs; Martinez had singled, and then Ottinger walked Chavira and McGrath. Umanzor was a sporadic .345 batter and the tying run, I had a bad vibe about the at-bat, even against a right-hander, but he grounded out easily to Berto, stranding three.

Top 4th, Ottie opened with a double, then scored after singles by Berto and Manny, 7-2. That was the end for Geiser, with right-hander Steven Wilson giving up a bases-filling single to Greenway, but Hooge struck out and Morales grounded out to first base. Hooge also failed with Manny and Greenway on base and two outs in the sixth, grounding out again. In all fairness, he might have lost his mental thread there – Greenway only reached on an uncaught third strike. Ottinger then arrived in the sixth with four hits and four walks against him and on 89 pitches, but up by five we’d have him face the 6-7-8 batters, of which Umanzor reached with a single (better now than last time through…), and Ottinger was removed after 5.2 innings when lefty Luis Sagredo pinch-hit for the reliever on duty, then singled off Garavito instead. Prieto struck out Balderrama to end the inning. Prieto bunted with Myers and Stedham on base and one out in the seventh, slapped a ball to third base that Tristan Levinson took for a force at his sack, then caught Berto’s pop to end the inning anyway, while Prieto went on to give up a leadoff jack to Dan Schneller in the bottom of the inning, 7-3.

It only got worse from there, with Cosmo stranded on third base in the top 8th before Feist put McGrath and Umanzor on base to begin the bottom 8th. Balderrama’s gapper with two outs plated both of them, and by now the Raccoons were adrift. Jermaine Campbell arrived in a double switch that replaced Greenway with Ledford and got an F8 from Schneller to at least get the tying run off the plate and end the inning. Williams also replaced Berto for defense, but there was no defending on the left side of the infield on a leadoff walk to Martinez in the ninth. Chavira struck out, but Greer slapped a 3-2 pitch to right. It dinked, Martinez rushed for third base, and so did Brad Ledford with a terrible throw that skipped over everybody and allowed Martinez to score as well as the tying run to reach second base. McGrath struck out in another full count as the game descended into bloody attrition. Campbell had already thrown 28 pitches to four batters at this point, then faced Umanzor, who grounded out to Dave Myers on the 1-0… 7-6 Raccoons. M. Fernandez 3-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Greenway 2-5; Stedham 1-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI;

And this, kids, is why you never stop scoring when you have your cleats on their throat. Always press down harder!!

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – LF Ledford – 1B Stedham – C Kilmer – P Fidler
SFB: CF Balderrama – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Chavira – SS Greer – 1B McGrath – C Kennett – 3B J. Hernandez – P J. Moreno

The Bayhawks‘ 2-3-4 went single, double, homer on Fidler to put the Raccoons in an instant 3-0 hole, and scored another two runs on four singles in the bottom 2nd, bitterly with Jose Moreno dropping in the first ball before Balderrama, Schneller, and Chavira piled on. Fidler was unquestionably ghastly, but the Raccoons saw no hope at this point and had him bat to begin the third inning. He doubled, and singles by Berto and Trevino drove him in and put the tying run in the on-deck circle. Well, maybe …! No. Greenway’s sac fly was the only other run-scoring event and Manny and Maldo were stranded on the corners after a drawn-out inning that ended with Ledford flying out to Dave Martinez. Stedham reached on a Greer error to begin the fourth and Jeff Kilmer clobbered one to narrow the gap to 5-4 after all, so the Coons were back in the game here. This time Fidler was batted for, but Myers grounded out. Cosmo reached with a 2-out single and scored on Manny’s gap double to tie the game at five and make it a brand-new ballgame…!

That also meant that Portland defaulted to the much-abused Dennis Citriniti, who had already pitched 51.1 innings in late July and was now asked for long relief once more. Schneller singled off him in the bottom 4th, but was stranded, and he walked Greer to begin the fifth, then fought a long battle against the next three, whiffing two, to keep that run stranded. After 34 pitches he was pinch-hit for with Kilmer on first and nobody out against Moreno in the sixth, but Hooge hit into a force and the inning went nowhere. Moreno was still holding out through seven despite allowing ten base hits, then got into the lead again when the Bayhawks hit back-to-back doubles with PH Keith Damron and Marshall Greer off Yeom Soung in the bottom 7th.

Top 8th, down by one, the Raccoons took up the corner positions on leadoff singles by Ledford and Stedham. On a dubious and critical, and potentially pivotal call, Jeff Kilmer was ruled to have drawn ball four in a full count from Jason Frank, loading the bases. Left-hander Adam Moran replaced Frank, with Rich Vickers hitting for Soung in the spot and hitting a loud blast to right-center on the 2-1 pitch – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!!

With the score flipped in style, 9-6, the Raccoons turned to Prieto in the bottom 8th. Joel Hernandez hit a leadoff single, but was doubled up on Umanzor’s grounder, 6-4-3. Balderrama and Schneller hit back-to-back doubles between Fernandez and Greenway to shorten the score by one run, but Dave Martinez grounded out to short to end the eighth. Then the main problem surfaced in the ninth inning – after the long slog in the ninth the previous day, Jermaine Campbell was unavailable! The Raccoons had to make do with David Fernandez, the most-rested of the remaining relievers, even though he wouldn’t likely encounter any left-handed bats except maybe due up third in the inning, the #6 hole occupied by reliver Moran. Damron lined out to to Maldonado at short. Greer doubled to right. Ex-Coon Juan Camps hit for Moran, another righty bat. Nothing good had ever happened at the Bay, but Camps flew out to Ledford, bringing up Elliott Kennett with San Francisco down to their last out. He hit an RBI single to keep everybody going. Joel Hernandez had already ruined Friday night for us, now hit a long fly to right. Greenway back, but not with great urgency, and … the catch was made at the edge of the warning track. 9-8 Furballs. Trevino 2-5, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Stedham 2-5; Kilmer 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Vickers (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Citriniti 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;


In other news

July 20 – In a major demolition, the Scorpions sink the Pacifics, 24-5. Sacramento puts up four innings of five or more runs with a high-water mark of seven in the bottom 6th. Carlos Cortes (.345, 18 HR, 72 RBI) leads his team with four hits and five RBI. All Scorpions starters have at least one hit and one run, and all besides winning pitcher Gabriel Lara (4-9, 6.77 ERA) get an RBI.
July 20 – The Condors pick up SP Jose Lerma (4-9, 3.93 ERA) from the Buffaloes, who receive two prospects.
July 21 – The Buffos get Charlotte’s SP Chris “Tuba” Turner (5-9, 4.39 ERA) in a trade, with outfielder Ruben Esperanza (.261, 10 HR, 44 RBI) going over to the Falcons.
July 24 – NAS 3B/2B Jim “Mastodon” Allen (.283, 9 HR, 50 RBI) will miss a month with elbow inflammation.
July 24 – MIL 3B/2B/RF Jared Paul (.294, 4 HR, 46 RBI) is out for the year with a ruptured achilles tendon.
July 25 – 28-year-old Rebels backup 2B/SS Jim Adams (.375, 0 HR, 10 RBI) breaks out with a 6-hit game in a 19-5 bludgeoning of the Pacifics. Included in Adams’ onslaught are three singles, a double, and two triples, as well as 4 RBI. Adams, who only made his 42nd lineup assignment for his career in this game, becomes the first player to land six hits since Portland’s Jimmy Wallace achieved the feat in *2033* and the third Rebels player to do so after Riley Simon (1978) and Kunimatsu Sato (2013).
July 25 – Boston gets INF/CF Mike Toney (.293, 2 HR, 10 RBI) and interesting but unranked pitching prospect Lazaro Ochoa from the Aces in a deal that sends SP Tony Chavez (10-3, 3.23 ERA) to Las Vegas.

FL Player of the Week: WAS C Nate Evans (.258, 9 HR, 50 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN RF Ryan Phillips (.286, 11 HR, 64 RBI), hitting .600 (12-20) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

If they keep playing like this, they might well make it back to the World Series, but I’ll be laid up on a sliding metal tray in a refrigerator with a handwritten tag note on the big toe.

The Raccoons remain shockingly idle as the trade deadline approaches, which is a factor of how good the team is (and how often I feel they lay unnecessary eggs, like on Thursday). It’s genuinely hard to improve what we have, and it would almost invariably take top prospect Nelson Moreno, still a tender 19 years old, to get a deal done. And I’m not having it.

The Loggers remain close, but slid back a game this week. Our run differential (+70) is slightly bigger than theirs (+67), while the damn Elks keep dominating the division in that regard with their +113 mark. These three teams are also the top offenses in the Continental League, in reverse order of their places in the division standings. We tie the damn Elks for fewest runs allowed at this point. The Loggers are fifth.

But in terms of trades, an ace for the rotation is not going to happen. We don’t have the disposable prospects for that anymore.

Speaking of young trade meat, on Monday the Raccoons signed the last of the international free agent they had been after, left-hander Jose Arias. It cost us $432k, which tucked us in *just* below the soft cap, spending $526k with only 4k of space. Granted, you could go over by 5% without incurring a penalty for next year. Would we have gone after Arias for a penalty? Probably not! So this was just pissing away money that was lying around before Nick Valdes could do shenanigans with it.

Update on Berto – he’s worth a strong 0.1 WAR, Cristiano told me this week. On the plus side. Yes, we pay $2.5M for that. Thank goodness that WAR is a useless stat …! He’s tied for fifth in stolen bases in the CL, how bad can he actually be??

Off day on Monday as we return home. We’ll be in Portland for a week, facing the Condors and Falcons, then head back out on a 2-week road trip that will also see a critical 4-game set in Milwaukee and not another off day until August 12. On the way back from that trip we’ll get to check out the rotting Pacifics team in person.

Fun Fact: For the entire Crusaders series, the Raccoons used only three relievers, and only two of them actually got outs.

That would be Campbell and Prieto, with David Fernandez the guy that couldn’t get anybody out.

Somehow that only amounted to two wins…

+++

Alright, enough with fun and games here! I have more nieces and nephews to stab to enlargen my domain!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-36) vs. Condors (48-51) – July 27-29, 2038

Despite that record, THAT record, the Condors were only two games out in the South. They were fifth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, with the third-worst rotation, which were not numbers you were used to seeing from the Condors. We were up in the season series, 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (7-6, 4.16 ERA) vs. Juan Garcia (5-10, 5.21 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-7, 3.16 ERA) vs. Jose Lerma (5-9, 3.69 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (12-5, 2.59 ERA) vs. Matt Diduch (11-5, 4.10 ERA)

Following the common off day on Monday, we’d get two southpaws and a righty at the end.

And Nick Valdes in the house. – Hi Nick. – No-no, I’m sorry, Nick, I can’t deal with that right now. – Please direct your complaint to my assistant. (plunks down the stuffed toy raccoon on the table) Honeypaws!

(watches Valdes talking to the toy raccoon)

I can’t believe this worked.

Game 1
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Vitalini – RF Willie Ojeda – LF J. Williams – 2B Ragsdale – C J. Herrera – SS Bunyon – 3B Strohm – P J. Garcia
POR: 2B Trevino – 1B Vickers – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – 3B Myers – SS E. Williams – P Chavez

Portland loaded them up in the first inning, with Vickers, Greenway, and Maldonado reaching before Fernandez and Kilmer both struck out. Instead, Elijah Williams homered in the bottom 2nd for a 1-0 lead, and nobody knew where he suddenly knew the location of the fences of, but please, just keep it coming. Bernie was fine the first time through; in the fourth Willie Ojeda hit a leadoff single to right-center, stole his 20th base of the year, and reached third base on Justin Williams’ fly to center. Critically, Bernie got a K on Dylan Ragsdale, then a pop from Juan Herrera, stranding the runner. And that was all the memorable offense early on; through five innings, Bernie allowed just two hits, and reached the 4.00 mark with his ERA again. Not as good a day was had by Juan Garcia, who walked *seven* by the bottom 6th, with Myers and Williams both drawing 1-out walks after Manny Fernandez’ leadoff single and a K to Kilmer. Garcia also had seven of those. Bernie batted and hit a sac fly, going up 2-0, and Trevino grounded out to Chris Strohm. There was a Herrera double to left in the seventh, but with two outs, and Donovan Bunyon stranded him, and Bernie retired them in order in the eighth. He was that much in control on the mound, the Raccoons were sending him for it – with Dave Myers on first and two outs, Bernie Chavez batted against Josh Heckman in the bottom 8th and even singled. Cosmo hit a floater to Willie Ojeda’s feet to load the bags, and critically Rich Vickers actually got a run in for the whole she-bang, grounding up the middle for an RBI single; Bernie was stopped at third base when a position player would have been sent. Greenway, lost at the plate now, struck out, sending Bernie back up with a 3-0 lead and the 2-3-4 up. Giacomino Vitalini struck out. Ojeda popped out to third. And Williams flew out to Manny Fernandez. 3-0 Raccoons! Vickers 2-4, BB, RBI; Myers 0-1, 3 BB; Chavez 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-6) and 1-3, RBI;

Fourth career shutout for Bernie Chavez, and his second-best effort in terms of hits allowed after a 2-hitter against the damn Elks back in ’36. He needed only 97 pitches to turn Tijuana away.

Game 2
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Vitalini – RF Willie Ojeda – LF J. Williams – 2B Ragsdale – SS Bunyon – C J. Flores – 3B Strohm – P Lerma
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Ledford – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – SS E. Williams – P Sabre

Now for some counterprogramming, Raffaello Sabre. He allowed four singles for two runs in the top 3rd, which were also the first runs of the game. – Yes, I know, Nick, that was the other team. – I know, you didn’t like that. Why don’t tell Honeypaws about it? … (slowly gets up and sits down on the other side of Slappy while watching Valdes talk to the toy raccoon)

The Raccoons tied it up in the bottom of the same inning with a Vitalini error handily putting Stedham on base before Williams tripled and was scored on a Sabre sac fly, 2-2. Both teams stranded a pair in the fourth, and the Condors had Chris Murphy on base with one out in the fifth, but Vitalini lined into a double play to Stedham, 3-unassisted. While Sabre kept giving up hits (eight through five innings), the Raccoons couldn’t really get much on base again until they got a big fat chance in the bottom 6th. Manny led off with a single through the left side, and Maldonado doubled to right-center, putting two in scoring position for Brad Ledford. Lerma got the 0-2 advantage on him, then hung one, and Ledford found it hanging. Only the 3-run homer ended Valdes’ conversation with poor Honeypaws, who looked somewhat suicidal, and gave the Raccoons a 5-2 lead. Valdes jumped up, ran into Maud’s room, and yelled whether she had seen the home run, and that it had been great, and whether he could meet the big baseball player after the game. Poor Brad Ledford. He’d also look somewhat suicidal after that…

Sabre returned for the seventh on a very short leash, but not short enough to be replaced right after a bloop single by Strohm to lead off the inning. Skunk weasel Shane Sanks pinch-hit at that point, and I grinned with glee as he limped into the batter’s box. Finally the colossal ****head looked like 39! Fat, swollen, sore. He had not played in the first game. He had not played in many recent games. Here he pinch-hit in a crucial spot. Grounder to Cosmo, 4-6-3. My grin got big enough for Slappy to slide away to the next cushion out of fear. Honeypaws, too. The game was in the books at that point. Only one more Raccoon reached, as well as only one more Condor – none of them scored, with Sabre going seven before Soung and Campbell slammed the door. 5-2 Coons. M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Maldonado 3-4; Ledford 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Kilmer 2-4; Sabre 7.1 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (7-7);

Nick Valdes got an autograph („For Mr. Valdes”) from Brad Ledford.

I got the comfort of being two games up in the division, even though many things didn’t work. F.e. we were 0-for-3 in stealing bases in this series.

Game 3
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Vitalini – RF Willie Ojeda – LF J. Williams – 2B Ragsdale – C J. Herrera – SS Bunyon – 3B Strohm – P J. Garcia
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes

There were plenty of runners against Bryce Sparkes right from the start in the final game on Thursday. The Condors had two on in the first, two more in the second, and stranded all of them. The third inning began with a Vitalini single before Ojeda was hit by a pitch. Williams hit an RBI single to left for the first marker on the board (the Critters still being heavy from their second breakfast), before Dylan Ragsdale flew out to Greenway. Ojeda went – and was thrown out at home! Herrera struck out, keeping the Condors to one run from seven runners in three innings, but in the fourth Chris Murphy tripled in Chris Strohm with two outs. Sparkes wasn’t having it, very obviously.

So did the Critters’ offense. Berto and Cosmo had reached with two gone in the bottom 3rd, but Manny had flown out to Williams with ease. They only scored in the fifth inning on Tony Morales’ leadoff homer, cutting the gap to 2-1. Sparkes then singled with two outs, only his second base hit on the year, and Berto and Cosmo filled the bags to bring up Manny again. This time he hit a fly to center, and – oh, my! GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

Unfortunately, the slam and the 5-2 lead did nothing to make Sparkes even remotely palatable. He retired nobody in the sixth, with Herrera walking and Bunyon and Strohm hitting singles. Three on, no outs, skunk weasel hitting for Garcia, the Raccoons also yanked their starter. In a display of grand ineptitude, Antonio Prieto walked runners in against both Sanks and Vitalini, with a K to Murphy in between. Garavito came on against Ojeda, but gave up a game-tying grounder before Ramos played Williams’ grounder for the third out of a long and miserable inning. In the bottom 6th of the 5-5 tie, the Raccoons ran three three-ball counts against Gabe McGill, and struck out once and popped out on the two others. That’s why some guys bat sixth, seventh, or eighth, I guess…. In the seventh, Dave Myers’ leadoff walk led nowhere, and in the eighth Dennis Citriniti gave up back-to-back homers to Vitalini and Ojeda. Nick Valdes looked at me with big eyes and asked when the big baseball player would make boom-boom and make the world whole again. I had no answers. There were no answers in baseball. There was only drinking more after your team had cocked up five unanswered…

Bottom 8th, Maldonado reached with a leadoff walk. Elijah Williams batted for Hooge against the left-hander Ryan McConnell on account of being a bit hot, then spanked a ball into a double play. Morales reached, so did Stedham, putting them on the corners. Myers had remained in the #9 hole, and now faced new pitcher Omar Uribe. He struck out. Bottom 9th, Steve Bailey in for Tijuana. Berto *would* have batted leadoff, but had been removed earlier. Rich Vickers pinch-hit for Ben Feist in the spot and singled up the middle, bringing up the tying run again. Cosmo popped out, and Manny was robbed deep by Justin Williams, both in 0-2 counts. Greenway flicked a single over the head of Dylan Ragsdale to bring up the winning run. “The big baseball player! The big baseball player!”, Valdes begged. Looking how Maldonado was 0-for-3 and how Ledford would counter Bailey, it was not the worst idea he had ever had. Bailey also got two strikes on Ledford, before giving up a shot up the rightfield line that Ojeda couldn’t quite cut off. Extra bases! Vickers in to score, Greenway in to score, tied game, and the winning run was at second base! I hissed at Valdes – no jumping on my trusty brown couch!! There was however nobody left to bat for Elijah Williams (and only Kilmer left at all), and Williams popped out (then was eaten by the pitcher’s spot). However, Jermaine Campbell hadn’t expected to get into the game anymore and had already changed into street clothes, then was suddenly called out for the 10th. It didn’t go so well. Three singles, two walks, three runs, all driven in with two outs by Williams and Ragsdale. But the Raccoons made an attempt at least, and had the tying run up with nobody out in the bottom 10th after Morales and Stedham reached. Myers hit into a fielder’s choice, and Vickers hit into a double play. 10-7 Condors. Vickers (PH) 1-2; Trevino 2-4, BB; M. Fernandez 1-5, HR, 4 RBI; Greenway 2-5; Ledford (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, RBI;

First loss for Jermaine Campbell in the brown shirt, and boy, was it a stinker!

Nick Valdes had no more time after this game. He had to visit a kindergarten on Friday, but I wasn’t sure whether for himself or for another kid by a mistress, and then had business meeting in Antarctica on the weekend…

Raccoons (65-37) vs. Falcons (51-49) – July 30-August 1, 2038

Charlotte was somehow leading the South with that record, so it was sort of a top-tier game although they were only two coughs over .500 and the Raccoons didn’t know which pedal to step on at any given day. Sometimes they instead just stepped on their own tails. The Falcons were sixth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed with a modest +22 run differential (Coons: +73). They were especially weak in the power department. Nobody on that team had double digit home runs, and they were 11th overall in homers in the CL. We were up 4-2 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (6-4, 4.87 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (9-7, 3.56 ERA)
Steve Fidler (5-1, 3.07 ERA) vs. John Nelson (1-0, 3.14 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-6, 3.87 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (4-9, 5.88 ERA)

Three right-handed pitchers on offer.

Game 1
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – LF Esperanza – SS Aparicio – 1B Regan – CF J. Reyna – RF Ugolino – P Pedraza
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – CF Hooge – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Ottinger

Ottie continued to be worth beating with a stick, but that wouldn’t come off well in front of a couple o’ thousand braying kids. He walked Oscar Aguirre to begin the game, then allowed singles to Mike Sawyer and Jose Farfan to load them up. Ruben Esperanza popped out, Tony Aparicio was out on a shoestring catch by Manny in shallow left, and … and then he walked Greg Regan to push in a run anyway with awful control, and that had been going on for like a month now. Jonathan Reyna popped out, stranding three. The next inning was three walks, two run-scoring doubles by Aguirre and Aparicio, and Ottinger being yanked in a 4-0 game with two in scoring position – which turned out to be the equivalent of beating him with a stick on the mound. – No, Maud, what are we gonna do!? We play against the Loggers more than we play against thumbs down on Gobble!!

Bottom 2nd, Maldo, Hooge, and Stedham hit singles to load the bases, but thanks to their starting pitcher being utterly **** the Raccoons had to send David Fernandez, who had ended the top 2nd, to bat. He hit a sac fly, which was more than was expected of him, shortening the gap to 4-1, but Ramos grounded out, ending the inning. The Coons stranded two more (Manny, Maldo) in the third, then had Morales (drilled) and Stedham (walk) on base with nobody out in the bottom 4th. Fernandez was asked to bunt, but chopped the ball to the mound so hard that Pedraza could get Morales out at third base, then was easily picked up for a 3-6-3 double play on Berto’s grounder, then finally gave up a clumsy run in the top of the fifth, but at least he gave the Raccoons ten outs. Not that it mattered much – the offense never got their points black noses out of their own bumholes, and Ben Feist was tabbed for a run in the seventh, allowing singles to Regan and Reyna, then a sac fly to Fabien Ugolino, and finally Prieto was rushed for three runs in the eighth. That included an Esperanza RBI double on which the batter tweaked an abdominal muscle and came out for Greg Aarhus, who then got a free run on Aparicio’s monster homer. At some point, Ed Hooge hit an RBI double. Nobody gave a **** anymore. 9-2 Falcons. Trevino 2-4, BB; Maldonado 1-2, 2 BB; Hooge 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Pedraza walked six, but somehow went the distance. (shakes head)

Untenable, Jared Ottinger (6-5, 5.11 ERA) was sent to St. Petersburg. Maybe they would be able to figure him out. The Raccoons inherited Gene Tennis (0-1, 22.50 ERA), so the joy was big.

Game 2
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – LF Esperanza – SS Aparicio – 1B Regan – CF J. Reyna – RF Nuno – P J. Nelson
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Stedham – SS Myers – P Fidler

Extra innings on Thursday, another Ottinger corker on Friday, and Fidler on Saturday, with the Loggers back in antlers’ distance – the mood was strained on Saturday. I hissed at the mailman on my way into the office. Dave Myers’ 2-out, 2-run double, plating Troy and Tony in the bottom 2nd certainly improved my mood a tiny bit, but there was still Fidler pitching, and the bad thing about it was that Fidler pitching was one thing, but Fidler not pitching in the third inning would be even worse…

Fidler pitched in the third, maintaining shutout pace but not vigor, relying mostly on the defense for outs, which was not a proven way to win with this team. The Raccoons at least found their scoring shoes, getting Cosmo on in the bottom 3rd. Manny tripled him in, Greenway was nailed, and Maldonado hit an RBI single, 4-0, before the inning fizzled out. The fourth was uneventful, and in the fifth triples by Regan and Manny Fernandez were wasted on either side. Tony Morales lashed a double to left to begin the bottom 6th, advanced on a groundout, and Myers walked. Fidler slapped a ball up the middle for an RBI single, 5-0, before Berto hit into a fielder’s choice to get the pitcher off the basepaths. Berto then stole second – the first successful steal by a Raccoon all week! Cosmo flew out to Federico Nuno to strand two, though. Portland got another scratch run in the seventh thanks to Stedham legging out a 2-out roller that allowed Manny Fernandez, who had hit a third extra-base knock, to come home from third base.

Fidler reached the eighth on 96 pitches and without a hint of stuff or much of a clue; the pen was warm for sure, although in the end his demise was as unlucky as it could be; Federico Nuno and Oscar Aguirre hit not one, but TWO infield singles in the inning, and Fidler left with one out and those two on base. Yeom Soung replaced him, got a double play grounder, and that was that. The team shutout came apart in the ninth inning, but in unearned fashion – Manny Fernandez dropped Jose Farfan’s fly to lead off the inning, putting him at second base. Garavito allowed a single to Esperanza, then a sac fly to Aparicio, before Regan hit into a double play. 6-1 Coons. Williams (PH) 1-1; M. Fernandez 3-5, 3B, 2 2B, RBI; Stedham 2-4, RBI; Fidler 7.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (6-1) and 1-3, RBI;

The month ended with no pitching reinforcement for the Raccoons. They didn’t get the pitcher they wanted in the first place (more below), and a last-ditch effort fell also through for at least an adequate replacement for Ottinger.

Next, Bernie. Another shutout please!

Game 3
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – C Sawyer – 3B Farfan – LF Esperanza – SS Aparicio – 1B Regan – CF Aarhus– RF Nuno – P Olguin
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Hooge – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – SS Myers – P Chavez

Chavez allowed one hit the first time through and struck out three, but all my dreams died in the fourth, where Ruben Esperanza hit a 2-out single, and Tony Aparicio blasted a 2-run homer. The Raccoons were not getting anything done against Olguin at that point, and I was already eyeing second place in the division again. Our offensive efforts amounted to two hits in four innings before Kilmer and Stedham hit 1-out singles in the bottom 5th and Myers walked. Unfortunately that brought up Bernie, and Bernie could not be hit for. He lined out, Ramos popped out, and everything sucked. The following inning, Cosmo opened with a double to left, and neither Manny nor Greenway could even advance him. Ed Hooge’s single brought him around with two outs. And then Kilmer struck out…

Bernie was done after seven innings of 5-hit, 2-run ball, and still stuck on the losing end. Stedham, Myers, and Vickers were retired in order in the bottom 7th, but after Garavito and Citriniti held at least the 1-run deficit together in the eighth, the Raccoons got the tying run on base with Berto’s leadoff walk in the bottom 8th. He swiped second base, advanced on Trevino’s sharp groundout to Regan, and then –

In signs of the apocalypse, Manny Fernandez and Troy Greenway both hit scorched liners. Both hit them right into mittens of infielders. Regan first, then Aguirre. Berto was stranded at third base. I called Maud to take my dictation at that point, as we’d begin to compose the congratulatory telegram to the Loggers for winning the division. If they couldn’t score THAT run, they’d never score ANY run that mattered. They were even up against Raccoons scum of legends, Josh Livingston, in the bottom 9th. For some reason, he had an 0.77 ERA with the Falcons. Entirely unsurprisingly, Hooge, Ledford, and Stedham were retired in order to end the game. 2-1 Falcons. Myers 1-2, BB;

In other news

July 27 – The Bayhawks get 3B/SS Sergio Barcia (.249, 7 HR, 39 RBI) from the Miners in exchange for CL Adrian McQuinn (2-8, 4.91 ERA, 24 SV) and a prospect, #77 INF Freddy Gutierrez.
July 27 – The Titans get INF Jose Santillan (.165, 2 HR, 16 RBI) from the Indians, parting with MR Dusty Kulp (1-3, 5.11 ERA, 1 SV) and a prospect Lazaro Ochoa, who they got just two days ago in a trade with Las Vegas.
July 27 – SAL 1B/LF/RF Jose Rivera (.350, 22 HR, 67 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in the Wolves’ 1-0 win over the Miners.
July 28 – Stars and Rebels play a 16-inning game, with Dallas emerging 2-1 victors, in which they combine for 16 base hits – all singles, as neither team finds an extra-base hit for well over four hours of baseball.
July 28 – The Indians continue the remodelling, sending Donovan Mason (9-5, 3.73 ERA) to the Wolves (with cash) for a prospect, and MR J.D. Hamm (4-4, 4.65 ERA, 1 SV) and *Lazaro Ochoa* to the Pacifics for infielder Ryan Johnston (.212, 2 HR, 11 RBI).
July 30 – The Stars trade C Ernesto Huichapa (.283, 6 HR, 19 RBI) to the Pacifics for outfielder Roy Pincus (.193, 6 HR, 18 RBI) and a prospect.
July 30 – The Stars tied the game with the Blue Sox in the ninth, both teams score a run each in the 11th and 13th innings, and the Stars don’t walk off until Manuel Fuentes (.280, 2 HR, 36 RBI) is walked with the bases loaded by Matt Stonecipher (0-1, 1.03 ERA, 1 SV) in the bottom 16th, giving them a 4-3 walkoff win.
July 31 – The Warriors will be without INF/LF Alex Villegas (.268, 6 HR, 35 RBI) for most of the remaining season after the 25-year-old goes down with a strained anterior cruciate ligament.
August 1 – In his first start for his new team, SAL SP Donovan Mason (10-5, 3.47 ERA) blanks the Rebels on three hits in a 4-0 shutout.
August 1 – CIN INF Bob Cruz (.274, 7 HR, 39 RBI) was out for up to nine months with a torn medial collateral ligament.

FL Player of the Week: LAP INF/CF Brian Bowman (.321, 8 HR, 38 RBI), batting .522 (12-23), 1 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Steve Jorgensen (.295, 10 HR, 54 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 1B/RF/LF Carlos Cortes (.337, 20 HR, 80 RBI), batting .333, 8 HR, 30 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN RF Ryan Phillips (.297, 11 HR, 67 RBI), batting .386, 4 HR, 22 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: NAS SP Doug Clifford (14-4, 2.38 ERA), pitching to 4-1, 1.72 ERA, 29 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS SP Andy Bressner (7-12, 3.57 ERA), pitching to 5-1, 1.88 ERA, 19 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL 1B/LF/RF Jose Rivera (.352, 22 HR, 67 RBI), batting .384, 5 HR, 19 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN 2B Glenn Sprague (.288, 5 HR, 37 RBI), batting .379, 2 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Manny Fernandez has a 14-game hitting streak, but if we ever find out what happened to Troy Greenway, we’ll let everybody know…

We’re back in second place behind the Loggers. They still don’t look like a team that one has to *beat* to make the playoffs. They still look like driftwood to me.

Alright, listen – I tired hard to trade for Boston’s Rich Willett, a Pitcher of the Year with a long-term deal buried on a team that finally died of old age and will have ashes in their mouth through 2042 … but it wasn’t possible. And it would take a Rich Willett-sized pitcher to make a real impact on the rotation. They wanted Nelson Moreno – or bust. Now, they’d talk about, oh, say, Jesus Maldonado… but they still wanted Nelson Moreno on top of that.

Over my dead body.

Now watch us drop a tie-breaker to the Loggers in October. Somehow, Ottinger will pitch that and give up ten walks in four innings.

Fun Fact: Troy Greenway has hit one home run since the 25th of June.

…with all of 8 RBI in … (counts on his claws) … 105 at-bats. It’s not like we’re not having him try. He’s hitting .248 in that span. 26 hits. One homer and … 25 singles. Not ONE double or triple.

Not ONE.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (66-39) @ Knights (49-55) – August 2-4, 2038

We’d be off to the East once again, visiting the Knights, who had lost six in a row (so they were now somehow 4 1/2 games out), and ranked eighth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed. Their run differential was a modest -6. Their pitching had been decimated by injuries recently, with Danny Orozco, Robbie Peel, and Roland Warner all on the DL. We had already claimed the season series, winning five out of six previous games.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (7-7, 3.12 ERA) vs. Terry Garrigan (10-6, 3.64 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (12-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Carlos Jimenez (3-2, 4.50 ERA)
Gene Tennis (0-1, 22.50 ERA) vs. Chris Lulay (4-7, 4.32 ERA)

Two right-handers, then a lefty, up for competition here. Same for the Critters, with Tennis taking the spot of the banished Jared Ottinger, who would hopefully be pieced back together in St. Petersburg…

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Stedham – SS Williams – P Sabre
ATL: CF N. Velez – C Horner – LF Inoa – 2B Matos – 1B Monge – RF P. Sanchez – SS K. Thomson – 3B Zesati – P Garrigan

Berto opened the week with a leadoff walk, but before he could get a steal off, Cosmo forced him out, then stole second base himself. It was no use, he was stranded at third base in the inning, but the Raccoons opened the second inning with straight singles from their 5-6-7 batters, scoring the first run of the game when Stedham hit a grounder that Keith Thomson intercepted deep on the infield dirt, where he had no play and could only watch as Maldonado scored from third base. Vincent Zesati, former Raccoons farmhand, dropped an Elijah Williams grounder, loading the bags with no outs for, well, Sabre, who hit a fly to right. Tony Morales was sent, thrown out at home, and Ramos popped out to shallow left to end the inning. Woof.

Sabre, who somehow started the week ranking third in ERA in the Continental League (and second on his own team), allowed the tying run to score on Keith Thomson’s 2-out double to right in the bottom 2nd, Pablo Sanchez coming across. Both teams wasted a 1-out double in the third (Manny extending his hitting streak to 15 games, though), and somehow the Coons got a scoring chance through no fault of their own in the top of the fourth. Tony Morales drew a leadoff walk, after which Stedham whiffed. Williams grounded to Zesati for the second time, who bobbled the ball for the second time, and then a wild pitch sent both runners into scoring position with Sabre at the plate, looking on bemusedly. Pop outs by him and Berto however threw that chance away as well. The Coons also stranded Manny Fernandez at third base in the fifth, and then stopped hitting altogether, leaving Sabre to his own devices, which turned out to be pitching seven 5-hit, 1-run innings on 91 pitches. Then the meat of the order was back at the plate for Portland, with Manny leading off against Garrigan in the top 8th. He tagged another ball for a leadoff double, and COME ON NOW!! For reasons mysterious, the Knights walked Troy Greenway intentionally, after which Maldonado flew out to Nelson Velez in center. Manny tagged and went for third base, which he would have reached anyway once Tony Morales got nailed. Three on, one out for Stedham, who ran a full count, and then laid off a wide pitch for ball four, forcing home the go-ahead run. Williams popped out, but Brad Ledford hit for Sabre to try and scratch out more offense. He grounded out pathetically. Then Yeom Soung came on, allowed a single to Velez, and then a homer to Luis Inoa, and it was all in the garbage again. (kicks garbage bin on the walkway) Rich Ray axed the Raccoons in the ninth. 3-2 Knights. M. Fernandez 3-5, 2 2B; Morales 1-2, BB; Sabre 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

Yes, Mr. Attendant? – Are you serious? – But I have a VIP badge! – Aww…! (whines)

(picks up the garbage he’s just spilled all over the walkway)

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Ledford – C Morales – SS Myers – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes
ATL: CF N. Velez – C Horner – LF Inoa – 2B Matos – 1B Monge – RF P. Sanchez – SS K. Thomson – 3B Zesati – P C. Jimenez

Before long, Sabre was close to having the best ERA on his team, with Sparkes looking like wet dirt right out of the gate, walking Adam Horner before giving up a pair of doubles to Luis Inoa and Jesus Matos and dropping 2-0 behind. Manny Fernandez hit a leadoff triple in the second inning, then was stranded because of too many pop outs over the infield… Alright, another L, put it in the books!

A Keith Thomson homer made it 3-0 in the second, while the Raccoons scratched for one run in the third, Stedham singling, being bunted over, and scoring on a Berto single. That was about their offensive output through five, amounting to all of four base hits. Then, the top 5th – runners on the corners with no outs after singles by Cosmo and Maldonado, and 2-for-2 Manny was up, the sole cylinder currently working in this offensive engine… He hit a sac fly to left, which wasn’t gonna save us, but Brad Ledford buried a ball in the right-center gap for a game-tying RBI triple, and I’d take that knock every time. Tony Morales rammed a grounder through the normally-useful Zesati for a go-ahead RBI double, 4-3, then was stranded with the last two outs picked from Myers and Sparkes, who went on to retire another five batters until he reached the top of the order with 102 pitches on the clock, and that top of the order was hitting all-lefty. This time we’d try David Fernandez, who got Velez on an easy fly to left to close out the seventh. Portland tagged on a run on doubles by Ledford and Myers in the eighth, with the tying run getting into the box upon Matos’ leadoff walk in the bottom 8th. Fernandez got two more outs before Prieto was sent against the veteran righty Danny Monge, who had lost his pop of earlier years, but why poke him? Prieto gave up a single, sending Matos to third base, then was exchanged for Garavito against timeless Pablo Sanchez, hitting .259. The Knights pinch-hit with scrap righty Dominique Dichio, who struck out. Jermaine Campbell closed the deal, no problem, in the bottom 9th. 5-3 Raccoons. M. Fernandez 2-3, 3B, RBI; Ledford 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI;

Ledford’s gotta play more …! For Wednesday, with a lefty up, we’d help ourselves with Maldonado replacing Berto on the infield. And with Gene Tennis on the mound, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – LF Ledford – RF Greenway – 1B Vickers – 3B Myers – P Tennis
ATL: C Horner – 2B Matos – LF Inoa – 1B Monge – RF P. Sanchez – 3B Dichio – SS Zesati – CF A. Guerrero – P Lulay

Tennis actually put up two scoreless before getting the lead, with Cosmo hitting a leadoff triple in the top 3rd and getting home on Maldonado’s single through the hole on the left side. Manny singled, and both advanced on Kilmer’s groundout and scored on Ledford’s single (on 1-2) to right, 3-0. Ledford stole second, but was stranded with Greenway whiffing (oh boy) and Vickers grounding out.

We then watched Tennis holding the Knights to the minimum; an earlier Danny Monge single had dissipated in a Pablo Sanchez double play (!) and nobody else reached base through five for Atlanta. Antonio Guerrero broke up the string of retirements with a 1-out double in the gap in the bottom 6th, although both Lulay and Horner grounded out to Vickers to strand him. Matos got Atlanta on the board with a leadoff jack in the bottom 7th, and Inoa singled, but before the bullpen could replace Tennis regularly, they had to replace him irregularly when his back balked on him after Monge’s foul pop out. Soung would find a way out of the inning, still up 3-1, but that was to be dealt with in the eighth. Feist allowed a single to Guerrero, who was hit by a ball PH Mike Edwards hit against David Fernandez. That was the last out for a long time, since Fernandez shuffled the bags full after that, then gave up a 2-out, 2-run double to Inoa to blow the lead. Prieto replaced him after that ****show and got a fly to Greenway from Monge, stranding two in scoring position…

Facing Rich Ray, the Raccoons caused more of a stir against the righty than on Monday. Stedham drew a leadoff walk after entering with Prieto in a double switch. Cosmo singled, sending him to third base with nobody out, then stole second base to take away the double play, too. Maldonado grounded out to first base in the most unhelpful way, and on a 3-1 pitch, and then the Knights waved Fernandez aboard. Three on, one out, Berto hit for Kilmer, ran a full count, then hit a high, but not really deep fly to left. Inoa caught it, the Raccoons were despaired and sent Stedham – and he scored! …barely. Ledford flew out to Guerrero in deep center. Jermaine Campbell retired the Knights in order again to put the game and series away. 4-3 Critters. Trevino 3-5, 3B; M. Fernandez 2-4, BB; Kilmer 0-1, 3 BB; Tennis 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

We won two, but the Loggers won three and were now 1 1/2 games ahead.

Luckily, we could discuss our grievances in person now.

Raccoons (68-40) @ Loggers (69-38) – August 5-8, 2038

Nope, still no clue how they were doing it. Well, they had the second-most runs scored and the fourth-fewest runs allowed in the league, and their +96 run differential outranked ours (+72), but I still didn’t know how they were doing it. They had no power, and few guys that were hitting above .300; Ted Del Vecchio (.308, 7 HR, 76 RBI) was a breakout pest, but the only other hitter that might improve our lineup visibly was Danny Valenzuela (and also for his D), hitting .322 with five homers. They did have the best defense, but despite that their pitchers were … nothing special. Carlos Padilla was leading the starting corps with a 3.18 ERA, although the offense piled up W’s for them. And the pen was full of holes. They led the season series, 4-3, and I was scared.

Projected matchups:
Steve Fidler (6-1, 2.71 ERA) vs. Carlos Padilla (12-3, 3.18 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-7, 3.80 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (11-4, 3.21 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (7-7, 3.03 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (12-4, 3.23 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (13-5, 2.87 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (9-7, 4.09 ERA)

Southpaw on Sunday, the others were all right-handed.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – LF Ledford – RF Greenway – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Fidler
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 3B Conner – 1B Ronan – 2B V. Acosta – P C. Padilla

Why was Steve Fidler not trusted around here despite a strong ERA after a non-trivial mount of innings (63.0)? Because he was the type of pitcher that had two outs, nobody on, nailed a guy with two strikes, gave up a double, and then threw a wild pitch to get 1-0 behind, as happened in the bottom 2nd of this game pitching to the Felipe Gomez, Joseph Ronan, Victor Acosta sequence. Meanwhile the Raccoons were the team that would have Berto on base twice without scoring him in the early innings, once because he was caught stealing, and the other time for reasons of a double play, while also getting Manny Fernandez to extend his hitting streak to 18 games with a leadoff single in the fourth, only to have Ledford force him at second base, then be picked off first himself.

Jesse Stedham reached base to begin the fifth, was bunted over and then went home on Berto’s single to tie the game. At that point the Raccoons were out-hitting the Loggers, 6-1, but, eh… Speaking of 6-1; Cosmo grounded out, but Maldo singled, putting them on the corners, from where both runners socred when Manny buried a ball in the left-center gap. Ledford then hit a shy single, and then – biggest of all – Troy Greenway, down 1-2 with two outs, hit a ******* home run!! 3-piece to right, 6-1!!

Then there was a rain delay, after which, on five pitches, Steve Fidler gave up a homer to Ronan, a double to Acosta, and a single to PH John Maier, whoever the **** that was. Then he was yanked, because he couldn’t be trusted with ANYTHING. Ben Feist conceded one more run on his way out of the inning, but we still led by three, so there was that. Then came Citriniti, had a clean sixth before putting two on in the seventh, Garavito showed a fat pitch to Tony Romero, and a homer tied the game at six. Rico Leyva’s pinch-hit single and a Justin Nelson homer gave Milwaukee the lead. The Raccoons never got it back. 8-6 Loggers. Ramos 2-4, BB, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ledford 2-4; Greenway 3-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

****.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – LF Ledford – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – P B. Chavez
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 3B Conner – 1B Ronan – 2B V. Acosta – P Piedra

From the first inning, I knew Bernie Chavez wouldn’t be pitching to a W here. Every Logger that made contact, made so in loud fashion; they just hadn’t found the angle yet. With two on, Felipe Gomez flew all the way to fence, where Greenway made the catch to end the inning. It wasn’t gonna work. Piedra pitching like Martin Gacia was one thing, but Chavez pitching like Travis Garrett was sure to doom them. As if on command, the Loggers had three hard line drive hits in the bottom 3rd, scoring two runs with it. For all of five innings, the Racccoons had one soft single by Stedham, and no other base runners. This was going to be it – the game that gave Milwaukee a 3 1/2 game lead and the keys to the division.

There was no soft hit off Chavez. Through six, the Loggers had seven of them, but none over the fence, and the outfielders did their utmost; and so did the infielders, turning double plays at critical junctions in the fourth and sixth innings to get Bernie Chavez out of sticky situations. None of that helped with offense, though, with Piedra quietly cruising along, whiffing only three Critters through six, but the contact they generated was absolutely dismal – until Maldonado hit a 1-out triple in the seventh. It went over Romero’s head and was only the Brownshirts’ second hit in the game. Manny plated him with a groundout, cutting the gap in half, but only with two outs Ledford and Greenway found holes for singles. And then Kilmer popped out to Ronan. Tony Romero, a .210 hitter when the Raccoon came in, popped another ball over the fence in the bottom of the frame, and it was two runs’ difference again.

Top 8th, Piedra allowed leadoff singles to Stedham and Hooge, the latter having arrived in a double switch. They went to the corners as the tying runs, but Ramos whiffed, and Cosmo’s RBI came on a groundout, as the team again fell short; Maldonado grounded out to Acosta. Alex Banderas faced Manny Fernandez to begin the ninth, and Manny had yet to land a base hit to save his hitting streak. He grounded out. Tony Morales hit for Soung and flew out to Justin Nelson, and Greenway grounded out to short, both on the first pitch. 3-2 Loggers. Stedham 2-3; Hooge 1-1;

Game 3
POR: 2B Trevino – LF Ledford – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Morales – CF Hooge – 3B Myers – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – 3B Conner – 1B Ronan – LF Leyva – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez

The Raccoons had the bases loaded with no outs in the second inning and barely scored one run on Stedham’s grounder, which was not something to get worked up about any longer now that the year was as good as over. The Loggers took the 1-0 deficit and turned it into a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, with Joseph Ronan’s RBI triple key to the feat. He plated Josh Conner before being brought in by Leyva. The Raccoons played like ******* morons, even when they had Cosmo at third base with one out. Maldonado poked at a 3-0 pitch and popped out. It was bad enough that he was sent to the showers after the half-inning was complete. Elijah Williams took over.

Bottom 3rd, Danny Valenzuela hit a 1-out double and stole third. Sabre then walked Del Vecchio, the ******* pest, who stole second. Felipe Gomez popped out, but Conner drove them in with a 3-2 single dished through Dave Myers. Honestly, Dave, if we want somebody playing like stale arse at third base, we can put Berto there! Or ******* Cristiano Carmona. The Loggers hit another two singles off Sabre to get to 5-1 in the inning, taking care of that #3 in ERA ****.

The Raccoons had a brief rally in the fifth when Sabre, Cosmo, and Ledford had straight hits and Williams chipped in a sac fly to score two runs, but that still left them 5-3 behind and Ledford was stranded by Troy Greenway. Besides, Dave Myers cost another ******* run with a stupid error in the bottom 5th, not that we were still counting… The Loggers still added two runs on a 2-out double by Gomez in the sixth, loading Citriniti’s ledger with another two runs as Valenzuela (single) and Del Vecchio (nailed) scored. David Fernandez pitched the last two innings, didn’t allow a run, and still looked like ready for composting, walking three Loggers in total. 8-3 Loggers.

…

Game 4
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – SS Myers – P Sparkes
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 3B Conner – 1B Ronan – 2B V. Acosta – P Stockwell

Three hits scored Tony Romero for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st, so this game was another L. The Raccoons had one hit the first time through, and Danny Valenzuela hit a homer in the bottom 3rd to up the score to 2-0. Maldonado opened the fourth inning with a single, but then nothing happened until Jeff Kilmer drew a walk. Stedham singled through the left side to get Maldonado around and the Raccoons on the board, and Myers did something to save his bum from being encased in cement at the bottom of the Willamette and doubled over Josh Conner’s head, tying the game at two, although Stedham had to be held at third base. Sparkes, a .040 batter, came up with two outs and two in scoring position, and easily grounded out to Acosta, and the following inning began with Berto and Vickers singles before Maldonado hit into a force at third base. Manny singled, but Vickers was not the quickest and again had to be held, putting three on for Greenway, who was at least good for a sac fly to Nelson, putting Portland up 3-2. Kilmer popped out to Acosta, ending the inning…

Bottom 6th, the Loggers put their two most annoying players on base with incessantly soft singles, and nobody outs. Nelson flew out to Maldonado, with Valenzuela scurrying to third base with the tying run. At 1-0 to Gomez, Del Vecchio took off – and was thrown out by Kilmer!! YAASS!! **** YOU, TED DEL VECCHIO!! Gomez grounded out on the next pitch, ending the inning. With Del Vecchio still on, the game would have been tied.

Greenway and Stedham reached base in the eight, but were stranded when Romero ran down a Myers drive in right-center. Soung got the lead at that point and retired Maier, Romero, and Valenzuela in order in the bottom 8th. Still up 3-2, Campbell then got the meat of the order in the bottom 9th after Alex Banderas refused all Raccoons advances in the top of the inning. Right away, Del Vecchio doubled, and was anybody really surprised at this point? Campbell struck out Nelson. He also struck out Gomez. Josh Conner didn’t fall to two strikes, though – he put the 1-1 in play. Fly into the gap in right-center, I screamed, but Greenway warped, and made the catch on the run. 3-2 Coons. Maldonado 2-4; Stedham 2-3, BB, RBI; Sparkes 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (14-5);

In other news

August 2 – The Falcons are razed by the Titans, 20-3. Boston’s Jose Santillan (.271, 2 HR, 21 RBI) is unretired with three hits, three walks, and 5 RBI.
August 4 – Capitals 3B/2B Rich Falzone (.236, 5 HR, 27 RBI) might miss six weeks with a sprained knee.
August 7 – WAS OF Ken Gibbs (.249, 6 HR, 39 RBI) would miss the rest of the month with a strained oblique.
August 7 – The Buffaloes put OF/1B Miguel Reyna (.259, 3 HR, 30 RBI) on the DL with a broken rib; he will be out until mid-September.
August 8 – Atlanta’s SP Carlos Jimenez (4-3, 4.08 ERA, 2 SV) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 shutout effort.
August 8 – NAS SP Kevin Stice (7-5, 3.91 ERA) was out for the year after breaking the wrist on his pitching hand.

FL Player of the Week: CIN C/1B Ricky Rodriguez (.220, 3 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B/2B Sergio Barcia (.275, 9 HR, 45 RBI), batting .615 (16-26) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The only good thing is that we didn’t trade Nelson Moreno.

And that … that is all that I can think of.

Gene Tennis would be up on Monday in Indy, but he still has “back” and will end up on the DL probably, because we can’t do it otherwise. Jose de Leon has been reserved in AAA to make that start instead. He pitched seven innings of 1-hit, 2-run ball for a W against the Warriors in June, but has been dismal in AAA. Like, ERA over six.

Fun Fact: In 2014, the Raccoons won 16 of 18 games against the Loggers.

(opens mouth)

(closes mouth)

(buries striped face back in the pillows)

[Questdog]

How many games are left with the Loggers?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Questdog

How many games are left with the Loggers?

Seven. As many as we've already lost. So we're realistically 10 1/2 behind.

They hit for average, but... not... lots of .260, .270 hitters. And the Raccoons have terrible defense.

I don't know.

Or the baseball gods. Probably them. They have ... they don't like us. For reasons.

I don't know.

I know nothing anymore.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (69-43) @ Indians (52-60) – August 9-11, 2038

Part of the three teams who were fully and completely out of it in the North, the Indians were posting numbers in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed and their record was probably a bit too good for their -72 run differential. Indeed, their pythagorean record should be 47-65, much worse (but still ahead of the Crusaders). We were up 8-4 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Jose de Leon (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (9-9, 2.97 ERA)
Steve Fidler (6-1, 2.96 ERA) vs. Jake Jackson (1-1, 3.06 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-8, 3.81 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (5-8, 3.51 ERA)

Left, right, left, and probably three more disappointments for Portland…

Also unfortunate: Cosmo Trevino was not in the lineup on Monday, suffering from earache. The hope was that he’d be back on Tuesday.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – SS Williams – P de Leon
IND: LF Cassell – SS Johnston – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – 3B Howden – 2B McKenzie – P J. Robinson

Yes, that was Jarod Howden, the dumb pig, at third base for Indy – they deserved to be beaten up for that one alone. Howden, 33, hadn’t had a semi-regular gig in the majors since he’d been with the 2034 Crusaders, and now the Indians tried him at the hot corner when he was very much a first baseman all his life. Of course he hit a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd after the Indians had loaded them up again de Leon in the first inning, but had left them loaded, with John Baron popping out foul and Elliott Thompson grounding out to short after the 2-3-4 batters had reached by getting hit, getting a hit, and walking. De Leon walked Jim McKenzie after that, but the inning was derailed by Robinson’s bad bunt, and in the third inning de Leon drilled Doug Levis and allowed a single to Baron, but Thompson grounded out to strand those; so that was three innings and a whole pile of Indians left on base. Robinson hit Greenway in the fourth, which was probably not intentional given that Manny had opened the inning with a single and there was nobody out. Kilmer walked on four pitches, filling them up for Stedham, whose sac fly looked like all the Critters would get until de Leon spilled a 1-2 pitch over the second base bag for an RBI single with two down. Berto walked to restock the bases, but Vickers flew out to left, ending the inning. McKenzie singled in the bottom 4th, but Robinson bunted into a double play, so the Indians kept making outs in the worst ways against a pitcher that looked very much like he’d be toppled any second now…

The Coons added a run in the fifth, Greenway singling home Manny Fernandez, and with two outs Stedham reached base on McKenzie’s error and Elijah Williams hit an RBI double, 4-0. This was followed by de Leon coming apart entirely in the bottom 6th, walking Levis, nailing Baron, and walking Thompson – all with nobody out. David Fernandez replaced him and blew the game entirely; Howden, the dumb pig, hit a run-scoring grounder, and the second run scored on a wild pitch. McKenzie flew out, but PH Brent Rempfer hit a homer to left, tying the score at four…

Dusty Kulp pitched in the eighth inning, which inspired a Raccoons comeback. Williams singled, Berto was walked intentionally, and Vickers dropped a 2-out RBI single to grab a new 5-4 lead. Michael Donovan, a left-hander, replaced Kulp, the right-hander who we knew ENOUGH about, had Maldonado at 0-2, then gave up a triple up the line for two runs. Sadly, that triple was threw Lewis and not through the dumb pig. Manny Fernandez added an RBI single before Greenway grounded out. Getting six outs while not blowing an 8-4 lead sounded like too much asked, though. Garavito came out to pitch, allowed a single to Baron leading off the bottom 8th, which was *excusable* since Baron was a right-hander with a weird approach to the game of baseball, but the three LEFT-handed batters he put on base were not. Thompson walked, McKenzie and Ryan Cassell hit RBI singles, and Jermaine Campbell came in with the tying runs on the corners, barely getting Ryan Johnston out on a grounder. The consolation came in the ninth, with Howden making an error to aid the Raccoons in loading the bases with two outs, and then missing Tony Morales’ pinch-hit, 0-2 roller for a 2-run single. Campbell finished the game, allowing merely a John Baron homer to far, far away. 10-7 Coons. Morales (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 3-5, RBI; Greenway 2-4, RBI; Williams 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Morales – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – P Fidler
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – SS Johnston – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – 2B McKenzie – P Ja. Jackson

Early offense was limited to home runs by Troy Greenway and Dan Hutson; unfortunately the Critter’s came with nobody on, while Hutson homered with Jake Jackson having singled before that and thus Indy took a 2-1 lead in the bottom 3rd. Nothing else of value happened through five, and the Raccoons had only one base hit on top of the Greenway bomb. It didn’t get much better after that, despite Cosmo (nailed) and Manny (walk) reaching in the sixth; Greenway popped out there, and Portland didn’t get a hit until Ed Hooge singled with one out in the seventh, an effort that led nowhere in particular.

The Indians removed Jackson after he walked Cosmo with one out in the eighth, bringing in Donovan again, who was near-impossible to steal on, and the score was still 2-1, so that was a good move. Maldonado flew out, Fernandez grounded out, and nobody scored. Steve Fidler completed eight innings of solid ball, but looked doomed for the lack of run support. The Indians brought in Tim Thweatt against our array of left-handed bats at the bottom of the order, but I had no hope. Greenway struck out. Morales singled to right, though, only the fourth base knock for Portland in the game. When he advanced on a passed ball charged to Sean Ebner, the Raccoons sent Williams to run for Morales, but Hooge lined out to McKenzie and Stedham grounded out to first base. 2-1 Indians. Trevino 1-2, BB; Fidler 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (6-2);

Sigh.

Game 3
POR: CF Maldonado – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Vickers – SS Williams – 3B Myers – P Chavez
IND: LF Cassell – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – 1B Levis – CF Baron – C E. Thompson – SS Johnston – 2B McKenzie – P Terwilliger

The bags filled up in the first inning on Maldo’s single, Manny’s walk, and then Ryan Johnston’s error on a potential double play grounder by Troy Greenway. Jeff Kilmer was an obvious double play candidate, but came through with a ball over the head of John Baron for a 2-run double, while Vickers popped out and Williams grounded out to Dan Hutson. Unfortunately, Bernie Chavez fought threw one long count after another, and it was not a question of if, but when, and when turned out to be the bottom 3rd. Leadoff walk to McKenzie, Cassell triple in the gap, well-placed Hutson grounder – tied ballgame…

After Levis and Thompson ripped doubles to give Indy a 3-2 lead in the fourth, the Raccoons answered with Cosmo getting on, stealing his 30th base, and scoring, barely, on a 2-out single by Kilmer, who went to 3-for-3 on the day. None of that made Bernie Chavez pitch any better, and he was entirely chewed up in just five innings, tossing 103 pitches in a shambles outing.

Dennis Citriniti then tried to soak a loss in the dumbest way possible. He came in to start the sixth, and fell to 3-0 against Doug Levis, who then *poked*, grounded back to the pitcher, and Citriniti – threw it away. Somehow, nobody knew quite how, the Indians didn’t rally for six on Citriniti’s dismal ***, and the game remained tied at three. The Coons had Cosmo and Manny on to begin the seventh, then struck out three times against Dusty Kulp, of all losers. Kilmer struck out again with Cosmo and Greenway on base, ending the top 9th against Jimmy Lohrey, after which Jarod Howden, the dumb pig, came frighteningly close to a leadoff, walkoff jack against Prieto in the bottom 9th, flying out to Greenway on the warning track instead. Nobody harmed Prieto in the game, which went to extras. Even Fernandez avoided destruction despite Abel Madsen’s leadoff double in the bottom 10th, getting around the obstacle thanks to a crucial K to Leftwich with one out. The Raccoons had no offense whatsoever at that point, so the game dragged on waiting for the Indians to score. They had Madsen, batting in the #1 spot, on again with a single in the bottom 12th. Lohrey, holding out bravely, bunted him to second base, and with Ben Feist on the mound the Raccoons walked Leftwich (.266, 17 HR, 48 RBI) and instead brought up the right-handed Doug Levis (.205, 8 HR, 38 RBI). The latter flew out to Greenway and the game dragged on. Mike Hurley replaced Lohrey in the 13th, but the Raccoons didn’t reach until Stedham’s leadoff single from the #9 hole in the 14th. Maldonado’s grounder narrowly got by Johnston at short, putting two Furballs on, and when Cosmo grounded to right, Doug Levis dove and missed, but Danny Briseno made the play behind first base – but had no play after all, since Hurley hadn’t broken to cover first base! Bases loaded, no outs, Manny in the box in the 14th! And he BROKE the tie, finding the gap in right-center for a 2-run double! Greenway was walked intentionally before Kilmer killed the inning with a 5-2-3 double play. At least Campbell didn’t allow a guy on base….. 5-3 Blighters. Trevino 4-6, BB; M. Fernandez 2-6, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 3-7, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Prieto 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; D. Fernandez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Feist 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (7-2);

This game was followed by a very welcome off day!

The Raccoons only now made a roster move, sending de Leon back to AAA. Since Monday was another day off, we would not need a fifth starter until the following weekend, and by then could have Gene Tennis back if we so desired (although we – and Maud especially – really wanted Ottie back and were eyeing his AAA performances very closely). Chris Womble was brought up from AAA as an extra righty arm in the pen for the weekend and maybe a few days after that if he didn’t do too badly.

Raccoons (71-44) @ Pacifics (44-71) – August 13-15, 2038

Final stop on this endless road trip of sadness – Los Angeles. The Pacifics lay dead in the gutter, almost 30 games back in their division. They were 11th in runs scored and last in runs allowed in the FL, with a scary -157 run differential. There was little to love on that roster, although losing four qualified starting pitchers (Adam Potter, Julio Palomo, Andy Jimenes, Chris Sulkey) for significant amounts of time (and only Potter was active now) surely hadn’t helped their attempts to be relevant. But even then they were also near the worst defense in the league. Their current team home run leader (Vinny Chavira) had played upstate for more than a month. The only category in which they were good at was stolen bases, their 85 almost matching our 89. We were second in the CL with that; they ranked third in their league. This was the fifth straight year these two teams faced off in interleague play. We had taken the last three sets, each by two games to one.

There was also a bit of celebration ahead of the series opener on Friday. Both teams played their 10,000th regular season game on that day!

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (7-8, 3.23 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (4-5, 3.84 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (14-5, 2.86 ERA) vs. Jose Rivas (1-3, 5.87 ERA)
Steve Fidler (6-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. Ernesto Lujan (7-8, 3.95 ERA)

Alternating righty and lefty opponents continued; in this set Rivas would be the southpaw.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Morales – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
LAP: 1B S. Garcia – RF Gouveia – 2B M. Hurtado – C Huichapa – 3B Bowman – SS J. Cruz – CF Botzet – LF D. Willis – P Potter

Troy Greenway reached the 80 RBI mark approximately seventhousand months after reaching 70, singling home Manny to make it 2-0 in a messy top of the first. Berto singled, stole second, and scored on Maldonado’s single. An errant pickoff advanced Maldo, Manny walked, and on a double steal Maldonado was killed at third base. Tony Morales would end the inning on strikes. Berto singled home Stedham in the second inning, 3-0. That looked fairly well, but then Raffaello Sabre had all his limbs removed in the bottom of the third inning, which never ended, and which saw the Pacifics tie the game on five base hits that were knocked increasingly hard. Steve Garcia and Mario Hurtado, old CL North foes, both singles to go to the corners. Ernesto Huichapa, once CL Rookie of the Year, hit a ground-rule double to make up one run. Brian Bowman’s single chased home the remaining runners and even Jose Cruz fought Sabre for eight pitches before singling. Aaron Botzet then grounded out to end the miserable affair.

The Coons put three on and left three on in the fourth, with Cosmo grounding out to strand Morales, Stedham, and Ramos. Sabre allowed one more hit in the fourth, then three more in the fifth, being yanked with Hurtado, Huichapa, and Bowman on base and nobody out whatsoever. Garavito conceded all the runs on singles by Cruz and Daron Willis, and the Raccoons were 6-3 behind, allowing 13 hits in five innings to a team that couldn’t find a run if it was served on a ******* silver plate.

The tying run was at the plate with nobody out in the seventh, thanks to Berto singling and Cosmo walking. They pulled off a double steal successfully, then scored on Maldonado’s single to right, flipped over Hurtado on 0-2. Julio San Pedro replaced Potter, but Manny Fernandez singled, however, Greenway chopped into a double play and Morales flew out to left to keep Portland behind, 6-5. Stedham and Berto were stranded when Cosmo struck out against Josh Bourgeois (who?) in the eighth, and the bottom 8th saw Womble retire two batters before walking the bases full. Yeom Soung then gave up two runs on a Bowman single to doom the Raccoons once more before J.D. Hamm saw Maldonado reach on an error by Luis Allucingoli in the ninth. Manny singled, bringing up Greenway with runners on the corners and no outs in a 3-run deficit. He based Hamm’s first pitch to right, but off the fence, rather than over it, for an RBI double. The tying runs were now in scoring position for the bottom of the order – with Tony Morales wasting no time and ramming a single to left-center to tie the game at eight. Dave Myers and Jesse Stedham singled, loading the bases for Jeff Kilmer, hitting for Soung. He ran a full count before lining a ball to short, OFF THE GLOVE of Allucingoli, and the go-ahead run scored! What madness was this!? The Raccoons just kept going! The Pacifics brought in righty Gene Winton to replace the charred remains of Hamm, but Winton walked in a run on Berto without throwing a strike. Cosmo then made the first out, getting Stedham forced at home plate on a poor grounder. Maldonado brought in a sixth run on a groundout, but Manny flew out to center to end the inning. Campbell allowed singles to Willis and Allucingoli with one out, making me nauseous, but Steve Garcia popped out and Narciso Gouveia grounded out to end the inning. 11-8 Critters!? Ramos 4-4, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-6, 4 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, BB; Greenway 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Stedham 3-3, 2 BB; Kilmer (PH) 1-1, RBI;

You can’t say we didn’t put on a show for the 10,000th game…. But boys, seriously, stop driving up my heartbeat…

Getting extra-base hits to full in would be nice – among 16 knocks, Greenway’s double was the only one good for more than 90 feet.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 1B Vickers – SS Williams – P Sparkes
LAP: CF McGuigan – RF Gouveia – 2B M. Hurtado – C Huichapa – 3B Bowman – SS J. Cruz – 1B Botzet – LF D. Willis – P J. Rivas

After going dry but for a walk in the jubilee, Cosmo hit a 2-out, 2-run double plating Sparkes (bad bunt) and Berto (unretirable) in the third inning for the first runs of the game. And while solid contact off Bryce Sparkes was readily to be had, it was good that the Critters tacked on in the fourth when Maldo and Greenway hit back-to-back leadoff doubles. Kilmer walked, Vickers singled, and there were three on and no outs for Williams, who grounded to the left side. Bowman made a diving play to cut the ball off, but had no play but at third base, with Kilmer having stumbled after misreading the play. Greenway scored, 4-0, Sparkes’ bunt was misfielded by Rivas to load the sacks for Berto, who struck out, but Cosmo dished a 2-run single up the middle! Manny grounded out, ending the inning at 6-0.

Of course the Pacifics had to knock up Sparkes at some point, although it took until the sixth inning. There, with two outs, they had Gouveia and Huichapa on base after two shoddy defensive plays already, then got Brian Bowman to drive a triple through Alberto Ramos for two runs. Cruz struck out, so the Raccoons maintained slam range… at least until Steve Garcia’s pinch-hit homer in the bottom 7th cut the gap to 6-3. Top 8th, Vickers doubled off Mike Wilt to start the inning. Williams made a poor out, after which Dave Myers pinch-hit and was walked intentionally, which was a weird move. Berto walked without being invited, loading them up for Cosmo, who got a fifth RBI in the game with a sac fly to center. Manny and Maldo hit RBI singles, Greenway walked, all against occasionally changing pitchers, none more effective than the previous one. Right-hander Dan Juarez (15.95 ERA) came in to face Jeff Kilmer, had him 2-2, then threw a fireball right down the middle. And Kilmer hit it right over the fence in left. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMM!!! … 13-3 Furballs! Ramos 2-5, BB, 2B; Trevino 3-5, 2B, 5 RBI; Maldonado 3-6, 2B, RBI; Greenway 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Kilmer 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Vickers 4-5, 2B; Williams 2-5, RBI; Sparkes 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (15-5);

I liked that one.

That tasted good.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – C Morales – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – P Fidler
LAP: CF McGuigan – RF Gouveia – 2B M. Hurtado – C Huichapa – 3B Bowman – SS J. Cruz – 1B Allucingoli – LF D. Willis – P Lujan

Portland was up 1-0 in the first on Maldonado’s fourth homer of the year, and he also drove in the second run of the game in the third inning. That one was a Ramos Special, with Berto singling, stealing second, and then scoring on another single, just like in the olden days! Unlike any time in Raccoons history, Greenway and Ledford then smacked back-to-back bombs to extend the lead to 5-0. Morales hit a hard single after that, but Hooge flew out to center.

The second they were up 5-0, things started to come apart once more. Daron Willis reached on an infield single to begin the bottom 3rd. Berto then fumbled Lujan’s bunt, and Fidler balked the runners into scoring position before ringing up Jim McGuigan and Gouveia. Mario Hurtado we knew was of sterner steel, but still was retired on Maldonado’s nifty play on his grounder, stranding the runners. Bowman legged out an infield single in the fourth, but was stranded, and the Raccoons had Greenway knock a double in the fifth, but being thrown out at third base for misreading the play in rightfield and getting no help from the third base coach, who was all over a sandwich.

Lujan held out into the seventh (and the Pacifics had no reason to expect improvement from their pen, either), but then allowed another double to Greenway, put Morales on base with balls, and then served up a 3-piece to Ed Hooge, extending the score to 8-0. The Raccoons were calmly lining up Womble to follow Fidler, who was on 79 pitches through six and could not be expected to finish his 3-hitter. Greenway drove in Cosmo to tack on a run in the eighth, but Fidler was out after walking Gouveia with two outs in the eighth – Womble came in, walked Hurtado, then got a long flyout to center from Huichapa. He gave up a run in the ninth, but was unlucky with that one; Bowman opened with another triple, and the ball was fair by mere inches. He scored on Cruz’ sac fly, but that was all for L.A. 9-1 Raccoons! Maldonado 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Greenway 4-4, BB, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Ledford 2-5, HR, RBI; Hooge 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Fidler 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7-2);

In other news

August 15 – 44-year-old Knights outfielder Pablo Sanchez (.281, 0 HR, 17 RBI) still has it, sprinkling five hits in five attempts and driving in three runs in a 9-2 win over the Capitals.
August 15 – SAC SP Ignacio del Rio (12-11, 4.41 ERA) throws a 6-hit shutout against the Crusaders, who had traded him to Sacramento this May.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Joreao Porfirio (.261, 8 HR, 44 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR RF Troy Greenway (.294, 24 HR, 85 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

On towards another 10,000! (raises pocket-size bottle of Capt’n Coma as the plane back to Portland takes off) Only 9,998 left to go.

The offense was lively this week! They scored merely 49 runs in six games. The pitching barely held up and was bailed out more than once. Of course, even while scoring eight per game, they still found a way to sneak in a 2-1 loss.

Bryce Sparkes leads the CL in wins (tied with Eric Weitz of the damn Elks) and and strikeouts, but is third in ERA behind Joe Robinson (by 0.01) and Rich Willett (by 0.39). Willett already crossed the 162-innings mark so there’s no reason for me to send the letter prepared with itching powder anymore.

Pablo Sanchez is gonna play forever, I think. And while he does play the field like you’d expect a 44-year-old to play the field, he might find another gig next year if he desires so. He now has 4,425 career hits, which is of course the all-time record, and keeps building up that lead. Will there ever be another one like him? Maybe; but as of now the league doesn’t even have another active player with 3,000 hits, and #2 on the active leaderboard, Guillermo Obando (2,841) is 38 and gets hurt a lot and might not even make it that far anymore. Third in hits among active players? Kevin Harenberg! – although active in his case means that he’s sitting at home, waiting for the phone to ring, and has done so all season. He did bat .308 with two homers in pinch-hitting duty for the Stars in 2037.

Weeklong homestand coming up, hosting the Miners and Titans.

Fun Fact: Troy Greenway didn’t know it at the time, but had he been safe on his fifth-inning wannabe-triple on Sunday, he would have come up with only the fourth reverse-natural cycle in league history.

That would also have been the closest-ever occurrence of two reverse-natural cycles, since dismal Elk Jesse LeJeune had hit one just last year. The others occurred in 2006 (ATL Jason Clark) and 2021 (DAL Jose Avila).

[Westheim]

(uncomfortably watches Maud as she’s rubbing her back on door frame, groaning)

No, Maud, that is not my fault. – I said *throw out* the letter with the itching powder. I didn’t tell you to shred it!

Raccoons (74-44) vs. Miners (66-52) – August 17-19, 2038

The Miners were in second place in the FL East, just like the Critters were in their division. Both teams were within just a couple of games and couldn’t afford to let up. Pittsburgh sat fourth in runs scored, but struggled with pitching, allowing the fifth-most runs in the FL. Their mojo was batting average and on-base percentage. They hardly had anybody who could steal a base and were last in the league in the category. These teams were meeting for the fourth straight year; last year’s series had ended in a sweep, Pittsburgh taking all three games.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (8-8, 3.87 ERA) vs. Roberto Pruneda (12-6, 2.64 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (7-8, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jonathan Dykstra (11-8, 4.22 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (15-5, 2.90 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (10-7, 2.71 ERA)

These would be their three right-handers; including on Wednesday former Raccoons supplemental-round pick Jonathan Dykstra, who had arrived in Pittsburgh in the 2034 deadline deal for Kurt Wall, who by now had arrived back in Pittsburgh.

Game 1
PIT: LF Burch – C Wall – 1B Santillano – CF Vermillion – SS Rowell – 2B C. Russell – RF Dunlap – 3B S. Ramirez – P Pruneda
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – C Morales – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – P Chavez

…so of course Chris Russell singled, stole second, and scored on Tom Dunlap’s single. Hey! Scout guy! – Don’t you dare cashing that paycheck!! … That was in the second inning; by the third inning, Bernie Chavez had been beaten to ******* death by the Miners, with Kevin Burch and Kurt Wall taking up the corners. Danny Santillano’s grounder made it 2-0, now with two outs, but Rick Rowell’s RBI single, and Russell’s 3-run blast put the Miners up 6-0. The Raccoons then sent out Chris Womble, who would log seven outs against six hits and two runs, leaving two on base for Mauricio Garavito to deal with in the fifth inning. At that point it was an 8-2 game, in which Berto and Maldonado had driven in single runs in the third and fifth, respectively, but that was universally agreed to be wildly out of paw at this stage. Garavito coaxed a double play grounder out of Santillano, the serial Player of the Year, not that this could save the game anymore… Brad Ledford hit a solo homer in the bottom 6th, and Garavito was torn apart for a hit batter, four base knocks, and three runs in the seventh in return. Jeff Kilmer’s pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth against Adrian McQuinn was not quite enough to make the experience wholesome again… 11-4 Miners. Ramos 2-5, RBI; Trevino 3-5, 2B; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Kilmer (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morales 2-4; Stedham 3-4; Myers (PH) 1-1, 3B;

Unsurprisingly, the Raccoons dumped Chris Womble (9.00 ERA) after another terrible outing. Hey, let’s try Francisco Pena again! He would only be here for a day (because Gene Tennis would come off the DL on Thursday), but why not create more havoc between here and St. Petersburg?

Game 2
PIT: LF Burch – C Wall – 1B Santillano – CF Vermillion – SS Rowell – RF Wade – 2B C. Russell – 3B S. Ramirez – P Dykstra
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Hooge – 1B Stedham – P Sabre

Portland went up 2-0 in the first with Berto singling, stealing, and then Cosmo and Maldo both doubled over Mark Vermillion to get a run home each. But Sabre had been shackled in a no-decision last time out and from the start he looked like the same old meh again; hard contact, and the Miners were also waiting for the bad pitch, knowing they’d get one, driving up the pitch count early. Add in our crummy defense and you get the same mix that prevented us from winning against the Loggers – lots of slap single hitters in a lineup and our infield just didn’t mesh with another. For the time being all was well, and only one hit fell in against Sabre in the first three innings. The bottom 3rd began with Ramos singling, stealing second again (just like when he was the sparkle in my eye!), and then scored on a Maldonado single this time around. And then Greenway tumbled into a double play.

Worse yet, Cosmo hurt himself on a double play in the top of the fourth, and losing Enrique Trevino was not something that would be becoming of the Raccoons’ wish to participate in the playoffs. Sabre also nailed Adrian Wade and allowed an infield single to third base to Russell, loading the bases with two outs, so here came the loud knell, you’d assume, with .167 batter Sergio Ramirez stepping in. He was a 30-year-old career nothing, but drove in two runs with a single through the left side. Dykstra was barely retired by Rich Vickers up the middle after that… Sabre came through with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning, bringing home Tony Morales and his leadoff double, but even up 4-2 the writing was on the wall. Kevin Burch’s leadoff jack in the fifth didn’t help with confidence, either. Greenway answered with his 25th bomb of the year, a solo piece to right, in the bottom of the inning before Dykstra’s throwing error in the bottom 6th really offered to open the gates. It came against Stedham, with Morales (leadoff double) and Ed Hooge (hit by baseball) on base already, and loaded the sacks for a pinch-hitter, because Sabre was on 97 pitches already. Brad Ledford grounded to second base, getting a run home on a fielder’s choice, and another marker got on the board on Berto’s groundout. Vickers grounded to third base on a 1-2 pitch by righty Carlos Rojo, but Ramirez threw that one away for two bases, allowing Ledford to score, giving the Raccoons an entirely undeserved 3-spot and an 8-3 lead. Ex-Coon Pat Okrasinski allowed another run in the bottom 7th, Hooge doubling home Morales with two outs, then two more in the eighth when Maldonado homered to right-center with Berto aboard. Greenway made it back-to-back! Pena then pitched a scoreless ninth to end the game. 12-3 Raccoons! Ramos 3-5, RBI; Trevino 1-2, 2B, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Greenway 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Morales 3-4, 2 2B;

That was already it for Pena, who’s spot was taken by Tennis again. Dr. Chung had yet to come back to me about Trevino, which was never a good sign…

Game 3
PIT: 2B C. Russell – C Wall – 1B Santillano – CF Vermillion – SS Rowell – RF Wade – LF Dunlap – 3B S. Ramirez – P M. Peterson
POR: 3B Ramos – CF Hooge – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – 2B Vickers – P Sparkes

Bryce Sparkes triple crown ambitions ended for good in the rubber game, in which he was sledgehammered in the first inning. Chris Russell led off with a double, but was still on third base after two outs had been made. Vermillion singled to score him, Rowell was hit with a pitch, and Adrian Wade hit an RBI single. Dunlap walked to fill the bases, one run scored on a wild pitch, and ******* Sergio Ramirez drove in three more with a homer, the first major-league homer of the 30-year-old career nothing. Sparkes would be left in there for another three innings just to have some relievers available for the Titans, and allowed one more run; that one would be unearned thanks to Stedham dropping a Ramirez pop to get the Miners going in the first place. The Raccoons were never into the basic idea of this game and were held to two hits by Matt Peterson in the first five innings, or as many as Peterson would drop in himself against Sparkes and Garavito.

When Peterson loaded the bags with nobody out on a hit and two walks in the bottom 7th, it came as a bit of a shock. Kilmer was up next and struck out, but the Miners then looked for safety in their pen and sent Jon Bleich, who gave up an RBI single to Stedham, a 2-run double over Vermillion to Rich Vickers, and a double up the line for two more to Brad Ledford. Out of the blue, the Raccoons had turned a 7-0 game into having the tying run at the plate… and then on base when Ramos singled to right. Ed Hooge hit a ball to right that narrowly dropped in fair near the line, but was cut off by Wade before Berto could circle around on the double, but it was 7-6 with runners on second and third. Adrian McQuinn came on to play fire brigade against Maldonado, who was out on a ****** grounder, and Greenway flew out to center harmlessly, stranding the runners. Three relievers retired three batters in the bottom 8th before Andy Hyden (34 BB in 55.2 IP) could bring his right arm to bear in the bottom 9th. Vickers struck out in a full count. Ledford grounded out. Berto struck out. 7-6 Miners. Stedham 2-4, RBI; Vickers 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ledford (PH) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Soung 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

At that point, I’d have rather lost seven-zip. – Oh, don’t come whining, Sparkes!! – If you give up a ******* homer to ******* Sergio Ramirez, you deserve it!! (looks at notes) Is that right, Cristiano, 20 more lashes? – You do them, my arm hurts.

(hands whip to Cristiano)

No-no-nonono! You must use your lower body more! – Oh come on! Being in a wheelchair is your excuse for EVERYTHING!! – (storms out) Bunch of whiners!! (slams door)

Raccoons (75-46) vs. Titans (56-66) – August 20-22, 2038

The Titans were bad, pretty bad. Fourth in runs scored, but tenth in runs allowed, with a -46 run differential bad. Their rotation was just barely hanging together, but their pen was the worst in the CL. At the plate they had the third-highest OBP in the league, despite batting only .251, but were last in homers in the CL. The Coons were up in the season series, 7-5.

Projected matchups:
Steve Fidler (7-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (14-7, 2.51 ERA)
Gene Tennis (0-1, 6.48 ERA) vs. Mario Gonzalez (2-1, 3.44 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-9, 4.15 ERA) vs. Alex Aguilar (0-3, 4.68 ERA)

Gonzalez was the only southpaw in their rotation.

More bad news: Cosmo Trevino went on the DL with a strained rib cage muscle and would miss three weeks or so. That should be enough to do the team in for good… We brought up infielder Jon Caskey, who was really a third baseman, but was moonlighting in middle infield, too. The 24-year-old was batting .234/.369/.408 in AAA with 15 homers. He had hit .281/.343/.438 in ten games with the ’37 Coons.

Game 1
BOS: RF M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B J. Wallace – LF W. Vega – C Dear – 2B Santillan – 3B Adkins – CF Toney – P Willett
POR: 3B Ramos – CF Hooge – SS Maldonado – RF Greenway – LF M. Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – 2B Vickers – P Fidler

Moises Avila’s double and Willie Vega’s single gave the Titans a run to begin the game, but Berto and Hooge had a single and a double, respectively to park themselves in scoring position in the bottom 1st. Maldonado struck out, which was not remotely helpful, but Greenway ticked a single into shallow right to tie the game and send Hoogey to third. He scored on Fernandez’ groundout, putting Portland up 2-1, but Travis Adkins reaching on an infield roller and Mike Toney getting on via a Vickers error set the stage for Avila’s 2-out, 2-run double right through Ramos’ underwear to flip the score right back. Vickers did his part in recovering, finding Jesse Stedham on first base with a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, then sent a pitch over the fence in left for the third flip of the score in as few half-innings as possible, Portland now 4-3 ahead. Not that things were stopping there – Jimmy Wallace’s leadoff double quickly led to a bases-loaded situation with one out in the top 3rd. Adkins’ 1-out grounder brought in the tying run, and Fidler plated the go-ahead run with a wild pitch.

Of course that was where the buck stopped with the Coons, but Avila hit a homer in the top 4th to extend Boston’s lead to 6-4. The Raccoons remained stuck on five base hits, while the Titans resorted to managing what they had, and did so pretty convincingly while at the same time draining the Raccoons’ pen for the rest of the weekend. Nothing happened whatsoever in terms of rallying until the Brownshirts arrived in the bottom 9th still trailing by two and facing right-hander Mike Hugh and his 5-ish ERA. Fernandez, Morales, and Ledford made three ****** outs in order to end the game. 6-4 Titans. Greenway 2-4, RBI; Prieto 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
BOS: RF M. Avila – 1B J. Elder – LF Calais – CF W. Vega – C Dear – 3B Gil – 2B Santillan – SS Toney – P M. Gonzalez
POR: 3B Ramos – 1B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 2B Caskey – SS Williams – P Tennis

In a new twist of “you gotta be kitten me”, Gene Tennis faced one batter (Avila grounding out) before leaving the game with elbow soreness. There was no way for us to piece 8.2 innings together with the pen after the previous disaster. Bernie Chavez, who had never appeared in relief in the major leagues before, but had thrown only 61 pitches in a waffling his last time out, was sent to the pen to warm up while we’d plug the gap with overworked Dennis Citriniti. Bottom 1st, Berto single, Toney error, Fernandez single – bases loaded with no outs. Maldonado found the gap for a 2-run double, Greenway found the seats for a 3-run homer, and it was 5-0 Coons, and yet I looked like six weeks of rain.

Citriniti covered the Coons through three innings without allowing a hit or run, which was more than what you could expect of him. Maldonado was nicked by Gonzalez to begin the bottom 3rd, caught stealing, then followed by a Greenway homer to right, three seats up from the last one. When Bernie Chavez came into the game he looked confused and bewildered, but immediately clicked off hitters, retiring nine in a ro- … oh, no, Moises Avila got pointers to first base with two outs in the sixth, deemed to have reached on catcher’s interference on strike three. Kilmer held his paw, so it was probably true… Jay Elder struck out validly to end the inning after all. Bottom 6th, Chris D’Angelo allowed singles to Berto and Manny to put them on the corners. Maldonado flew out too shallowly to get Berto home from third, but that wasn’t the problem with Troy Greenway, who crashed another baseball, this time to left-center, for another 3-run homer! Three in a game!! – No, Cristiano, I am NOT smiling!!

Next, Greenway caught a searing liner off Sean Calais’ bat, but the combined no-hitter ended on Matt Dear’s 2-out double off the wall in the gap – no way anybody could have ever caught that one. Bernie got a fly to center to end the inning. The Raccoons then scratched out a run in the bottom 7th, going up 10-0 on Berto’s sac fly to get Caskey across, to ensure Greenway would come to the plate again in the bottom 8th. Tony Rivas started that inning, whiffing Manny before Maldo singled, but Greenway never got a pitch to hit and had to settle for a walk. No Craig Bowen heroics today! Rivas went on to hit Kilmer and allow a run on a Caskey grounder, 11-0. Bernie Chavez was still at it in the ninth, facing the top of the order. He hit Elder with one out before Calais hit into a fielder’s choice. Willie Vega went down on strikes. 11-0 Furballs. Ramos 2-4, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Greenway 3-3, 2 BB, 3 HR, 7 RBI; Citriniti 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-1); Chavez 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, SV (1);

What the **** just happened?

The real work just started now, though, because we had just used up our Sunday starter. Useless Gene Tennis had his bum sent back to the DL. Unfortunately, Jared Ottinger had pitched on *Friday* and was unavailable. The Raccoons had to make do with the next guy in line, which turned out to be Jose de Leon (1-0, 3.00 ERA), who had thrown 28 pitches on Thursday in getting his first professional save in AAA, but he was the only guy reasonably available; Jon Hass, signed for injury depth before the season, had started on this day, so he was also not available…

Meanwhile the Titans skipped Aguilar and brought in Andy Bressner (8-15, 3.78 ERA) on Sunday.

And then everybody lined up and – didn’t play. It rained from the second breakfast onwards and didn’t stop until everybody had to catch a flight outta town. De Leon would be sent back to St. Petersburg for nothing more than a warm meal (well, three warm meals in five hours) in Portland.

In other news

August 18 – The Buffos’ SP David Elliott (13-11, 2.99 ERA) would miss three weeks with shoulder tendinitis.
August 19 – SAL SP Phil Harrington (13-3, 1.90 ERA) and MR Russell Maratta (0-1, 4.08 ERA) pitch a combined 1-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Condors. Only TIJ RF/LF/1B Giacomino Vitalini (.286, 8 HR, 29 RBI) hits a single against the Wolves duo.
August 20 – Las Vegas OF Mike Hall (.316, 5 HR, 34 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 6-1 win over the Knights, hitting a home run, a triple, a double, and a single in order for the fourth-ever reverse-natural cycle in league history.
August 21 – ATL LF/CF/1B/SS Luis Inoa (.299, 10 HR, 56 RBI) could miss four weeks with a sprained ankle.
August 22 – Condors 1B/LF Alvin Zuazo (.290, 9 HR, 54 RBI) has five hits and drives in four runs in an 18-1 rush of the Bayhawks. Among Zuazo’s hits are a home run, two singles, a triple, and a double, giving him the second cycle in 48 hours in the ABL. It is the seventh cycle in Condors history, and the first since 2031, when Danny Zarate achieved the feat against the Crusaders.

FL Player of the Week: DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.353, 2 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR RF Troy Greenway (.299, 29 HR, 95 RBI), hitting .400 (8-20) with 5 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

One day we’ll understand why this team went from yay to a pile of turd over the summer, but so far… so far, nothing.

We will file away Saturday’s win over Boston as the “Weird-*** Game of the Year”. An 11-0 win, combined 1-hitter, in which a recently-dead slugger pumps three homers and your Opening Day starter logs a 6-inning save surely qualifies for that moniker and distinction. It also had a catcher’s interference call for additional weirdness.

Troy Greenway is only the fourth Raccoon to hit three homers in a game, following Ben Simon (1977), Craig Bowen (2007), and Kevin Harenberg (2026). Bowen still has the only game with FOUR home runs in league history.

The rainout from Sunday will be made up in the last week of September, when the Titans are here again for a 3-game set. Monday will now be a double header. Not that double headers in September were particularly scary.

De Leon will be returned to the Alley Cats without pitching here; next week we have an off day on Thursday, so we can get by with only four starters until … Tuesday after that. That’ll be the 31st. Maybe Citriniti can make a spot start to make his arm fall off for good. We will play the Crusaders and Thunder next week.

Fun Fact: Mike Hall came up with only the fourth reverse-natural cycle in league history.

That is also the closest-ever occurrence of two reverse-natural cycles, since dismal Elk Jesse LeJeune had hit one just last year. The others occurred in 2006 (ATL Jason Clark) and 2021 (DAL Jose Avila).

[Archelirion]

Honestly it's just your luck that you're posting a .600+ season and there are two others in your DIVISION which are around it - including those damn Elks.

To ask a question you must've been asked a thousand times (I may well have asked you already... my memory is pretty dodgy at times) - I've been reading that 14 year drought of playoff featuring lately and it got me thinking. For a game that's well-known as being easy to exploit, how do you play it so beautifully in a way that balances the joy and heartbreak in (moderately) equal measure? One of the things I have always loved about this dynasty is how genuine each winning season feels - it's never just a formality with you. Have you ever consciously employed 'rules' to keep you honest, or is it just the way you've always played it?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

Honestly it's just your luck that you're posting a .600+ season and there are two others in your DIVISION which are around it - including those damn Elks.

To ask a question you must've been asked a thousand times (I may well have asked you already... my memory is pretty dodgy at times) - I've been reading that 14 year drought of playoff featuring lately and it got me thinking. For a game that's well-known as being easy to exploit, how do you play it so beautifully in a way that balances the joy and heartbreak in (moderately) equal measure? One of the things I have always loved about this dynasty is how genuine each winning season feels - it's never just a formality with you. Have you ever consciously employed 'rules' to keep you honest, or is it just the way you've always played it?

The entire secret is playing dumb and emotional, and always afraid to be pulling the trigger. Note how the Raccoons made no moves at the deadline this year. However, you just watch Berto nip another 6-year, $15M contract before the year is out...

Kinda like Clyde Brady was The Thing to get us back to the postseason, and the Raccoons couldn't even post a winning record in nine years with his bum on the roster. That's why he's the Avatar of Losing. Yet there he was, year in, year out. I'm still surprised Chris Roberson didn't hang around until '09 or so.

Blind faith to gimmick players like Preston Pinkerton is also one of those things. And/or when they have a punny name.

I traded Jimmy Wallace, but how often have you seen me sit it out with a player for another year. Or three. Or six. While always complaining about him. R.J. DeWeese doesn't count. He was officially untradeable with that contract while doing NOTHING. Outside of torturing rookies in his darkroom beneath the ballpark.

I don't need house rules. I suck enough as it is.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (76-47) @ Crusaders (51-73) – August 23-25, 2038

Critters could use some wins; how about the Crusaders, last in the CL North, down 9-3 against Portland in this season, and in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Continental League. They looked ripe for taking some wins from!

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (8-8, 3.54 ERA) vs. Josh Brown (0-4, 4.98 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (15-6, 3.16 ERA) vs. Julian Ponce (5-10, 4.17 ERA)
Steve Fidler (7-3, 2.87 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (1-2, 4.01 ERA)

We’d kick it off against two southpaws here, then a rookie righty. Hils was a tender 21 years old and looing forward to his fourth big league start. He had been taken #28 in the 2035 draft. Brown meanwhile was to make his ninth start (among 49 relief appearances) after having been a #282 pick 2033.

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – 1B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – SS Myers – 2B Caskey – P Sabre
NYC: CF Salek – LF Hawthorne – SS Duenez – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – 2B Lira – RF Dalton – 3B G. Ortiz – P J. Brown

Rich Salek’s leadoff double and a Mario Duenez single helped the Crusaders to a quick run against Sabre, while the Raccoons had nothing much the first time through, even when the Crusaders made not one, but two errors in the third inning. The Portlanders left Jon Caskey and Rich Vickers on the corners. Salek hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, stole second, and came around on Duenez’ double play grounder after a George Hawthorne single moved him to third base, 2-0. A Hawthorne homer made it 3-0 in the fifth, which gave the Crusaders as many runs as they had made errors at that point, but the Raccoons were on a single single and looked rather hopeless against the youngster Brown. When the Raccoons made an error in the sixth inning, it was good for three runs. Tony Lira and Greg Ortiz had both drawn walks, when Brown’s 2-out grounder was thrown away by Caskey for two bases and a run. Salek then hit a 2-run triple to extend the gap to six runs. The game was over by then, with Brown throwing eight shutouts innings before being replaced for the ninth with Jorge Villegas jr., who had a 10.09 ERA, nailed Troy Greenway to begin the inning, but the Raccoons could only muster enough lust for revenge to hit into two fielder’s choices and finally Tony Morales’ fly to left to end the game. 6-0 Crusaders.

Playoff form – detected!

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 1B Vickers – CF Maldonado – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – LF Hooge – SS Myers – 2B Caskey – P Sparkes
NYC: CF Salek – RF Carr – SS Duenez – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – 2B Lira – LF Hawthorne – 3B G. Ortiz – P Ponce

Scoreless into the middle innings, the box score said the Raccoons were actually out-hitting the Crusaders, 4-2 through four, but I would have been damned if I could have described even one of their utterly unremarkable hits in the early going. They surely didn’t reach third base until the fifth inning (still ahead of New York, though), when Jon Caskey reached on a Duenez error, was bunted over, and reached third base on Berto’s soft single. Rich Vickers then drew a walk, cleverly setting up forces on all bases, before Maldonado popped out to Graciano Salto for the second out. Oh there we go, they were taking the sky-high-and-a-mile-short approach! Here was Greenway with two ou- OUTTA HERE! GRAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Unsurprisingly, up by a slam, Sparkes came apart immediately. He hit Lira to begin the bottom 5th, then in quick succession allowed a single, an RBI double to Greg Ortiz, and an RBI single even to Ponce. That made it 4-2 with the tying runs on the corners and no outs, but Salek’s sac fly brought in the final runs of the inning, although Sparkes came mighty close to blowing the lead outright; Duenez hit a 2-out single, and Devin Phillips struck a bouncer right into Berto’s fat tummy, so he just had to fall onto third base to get a force on Ponce to end the inning, now only 4-3 ahead. Hawthorne would tie the game soon enough with a sixth-inning double, scoring Lira…

Sparkes was hit for with Manny Fernandez to begin the seventh to no great effect, but Berto walked and Vickers doubled by Salek to put two in scoring position with one down. The Crusaders boldly walked Maldo with intent, bringing up all 30 homers and 99 RBI of Troy Greenway. No better place to hit #100 than this one! He got it done – but by flying out to Salek. All other runners advanced as well after a wild throw and chaotic infield defense, but Jeff Kilmer was rung up to strand them in scoring position. Ryan Carr and Duenez hit singles off David Fernandez and Antonio Prieto in the bottom 7th, but were stranded when Salto popped out. Yeom Soung held up in the eighth despite walking Hawthorne. The Raccoons found no further offense (and were out-hit, 8-7 through the middle of the ninth). PH Tony Coca grounded out to short to begin the bottom 9th against Jermaine Campbell, with Elijah Williams now manning that spot. Carr grounded up the middle and was also thrown out on a great play by Williams. Duenez was lost in a full count, drawing a 2-out walk, and on the very next pitch Phillips hit a moaner over the converging middle infielders for a bloop single. Salto had his 19 homers were up next, and Campbell got to 0-2 before allowing a deep fly to center that surely going to end the ballgame, one way or another. Maldonado made the catch on the run to save Campbell’s bacon. 5-4 Coons. Vickers 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Greenway 1-3, HR, 5 RBI;

Again, peak performance …!

Also, I was going to call Maud in Portland and ask her about where the place was that sold those liquor-filled chocolates, but the damn Crusaders tore out the speakerphones in the entrance to the ballpark! How am I going to make a phone call??

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Maldonado – LF Ledford – RF Greenway – CF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Stedham – 2B Vickers – P Fidler
NYC: CF Salek – LF Hawthorne – SS Duenez – C D. Phillips – 1B Salto – 2B Lira – RF Coca – 3B G. Ortiz – P Hils

Salto got his homer in the second inning on Wednesday where it didn’t lose us the game instantly, merely putting hitless Raccoons down 1-0. Jesse Stedham soon had a hit that also led absolutely nowhere, and the Crusaders piled another three run on Steve Fidler in the bottom 3rd, because Fidler was garbage, had been all the time, and we just hadn’t really noticed it because of an advantageous BABIP. In the bottom 3rd, Hils hit a 1-out single, Salek doubled him home, and Duenez slapped a 2-out homer to make it 4-0. Three hits plated another run for New York in the fourth. In between the Raccoons had seen Maldonado on base, and Maldonado being caught stealing AGAIN.

That was the story of this game. Fidler was yanked after four innings, but the bloody rookie on the Crusaders’ team pitched eight scoreless innings of 6-hit ball, stranding six in his last three innings. Don’t get excited for the OBP – two of them reached on errors. Hils batted for himself in the bottom 8th, hitting an RBI single with two outs off Citriniti, then returned to the mound. Greenway hit a leadoff single. Fernandez flew out, but Morales walked. Stedham, the dumb ****, hit into a double play. 6-0 Crusaders. Greenway 2-4; Hooge (PH) 1-1; Feist 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

7-hit shutout for a ******* 21-year-old rookie.

Jesus Maldonado, who hadn’t stolen a base since July 10, before the All Star Game, was categorically forbidden from trying to steal another base this year. Else I’d aim for his snout with the blunderbuss.

I may or may not have felt additional anger with events transpiring in Los Angeles. [see below]

Thursday was mercifully off and I could booze myself under the table at home where I had barf buckets installed in all strategically valuable locations. Although, to be fair, even mixing Capt’n Coma with 30% used transmission oil for extra gooeyness didn’t do much for me at this point.

Raccoons (77-49) vs. Thunder (51-75) – August 27-29, 2038

Here was another hopeless team that would get some easy wins of these sad-sack Critters. The Thunder had lost four in a row, had the fewest runs scored in the league, and were barely average when it came to pitching (despite solid defense). The Raccoons had already taken the season series, 5-1, so there was ample room for getting swept.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (6-5, 5.11 ERA) vs. Chris Inderrieden (7-8, 3.47 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Sebastian Parham (1-0, 2.65 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (8-9, 3.57 ERA) vs. Paul Peters (6-16, 4.36 ERA)

That was three right-handers, and another bloody rookie on Saturday. Parham was 24, the #1 pick from last year’s draft, and would make his third career start after a few appearances in relief. He had issued a few walks here and there, but that wasn’t anything the Raccoons would callously exploit…

Ottinger meanwhile had been recalled after Jose de Leon’s non-start on Sunday, which was a bit of a gambit on buying into a known quantity for the end of the rotation of long man duty in the postseason, but as things were going (4 1/2 GB on Friday morning), the point was rather moot.

Game 1
OCT: LF E. Moore – 2B Martell – RF Marz – 1B D. Cruz – CF Ringel – C Adames – SS Agosto – 3B A. Rojas – P Inderrieden
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Stedham – SS Myers – P Ottinger

Ottie had pitched to a 2.39 ERA in four starts in AAA with decent walk and strikeout numbers. There was every reason to believe he’d at least be *alright*. In the event, Ethan Moore opened with a sharp single up the middle, scored on Danny Cruz’ 2-out single, and Adrian Ringel rammed a 2-run homer, only his second of the year and career, to make it 3-0 really, really early on. The Raccoons answered with silence, and Ringel doubled and Jesus Adames homered in the third inning, 5-0. A quantum of solace – Ottinger had been slotted into this game really late, with Bernie Chavez scheduled for this game until Thursday, prompting all his half-size Gobble followers to bug their parents into getting tickets for Saturday, so the only sobbing really heard around the ballpark was mine.

The Raccoons didn’t score until the fourth inning, when Manny came home on a Maldonado sac fly, which was also the first run all week long not driven in by Troy Greenway. Ottinger was dragged into the sixth to get more info on him, not allowing another run, but parking Adames and Alfredo Rojas in scoring position with two outs before being replaced with Soung, who faced Ethan Moore, and got a grounder to Dave Myers to end the inning, keeping the Thunder 5-1 ahead (10-3 in hits). Stedham hit a homer in the seventh to get to 5-2, but the gap was already too big. The Thunder kept sprinkling hits around without scoring further, amassing 14 by the end of regulation when they sent Marcus Goode and his 4.42 ERA to save the game against the 5-6-7 batters. Maldonado’s double and Morales taking a fastball in the ribs brought the tying run to the plate in just five pitches. Stedham grounded the first pitch into a fielder’s choice at second base, and Ed Hooge’s pinch-hit sac fly didn’t really help. Kilmer batted for the pitcher, flew out to John Marz, and that was that. 5-3 Thunder. M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Stedham 2-4, HR, RBI;

No #1 pick on Saturday – the Thunder switched up their plans and sent Peters, the 16-game loser, instead. Here’s to him getting to 7-16!

Game 2
OCT: LF E. Moore – 2B Martell – 1B D. Cruz – C Urfer – CF Ringel – SS Kuhn – RF C. Anderson – 3B A. Rojas – P Peters
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Stedham – SS Caskey – P Chavez

In the third inning, the leadoff walk Bernie issued to Craig Anderson of course came around to score on Ethan Moore’s 2-out single, and of course that was the first run of the game. Greenway and Maldonado had been on to begin the bottom 2nd, but no luck in getting anybody to hit with a runner in scoring position. Slappy and Honeypaws took it better than me. Neither of them was rolled into a ball and wincing the entire time.

Bottom 3rd, Berto reached, stole second, and Vickers singled him home in a good old Ramos Special, tying the game at one. Manny Fernandez then stuffed a liner into the far corner in rightfield, getting Vickers home with a double for a 2-1 lead. Moore’s single and Al Martell’s homer in the fifth took care of that one, putting Oklahoma up 3-2, because of course the Raccoons had not scored Manny with one out. That wasn’t the last bomb off Bernie Chavez, who gave up more in the seventh to Ethan Moore, with Rojas on base, and a solo shot to Danny Cruz to fall down 6-2.

There were still one or two Critters, trying, but they were doing so in vain. Troy Greenway was one of them, or maybe all of them, and hit a 2-run homer to right in the bottom 8th to narrow the score to 6-4, but he would not come up again unless the rest of the team could put something together. Maldonado doubled to knock out Peters with one down, but Morales flew out to Ringel, and Stedham popped out to Rojas. Goode was up again in the ninth. Myers batted for Caskey, but flew out to left. Ledford hit for David Fernandez, but rolled out to Jose Agosto. Berto flew out to Moore. 6-4 Thunder. M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-3, BB;

When would the #1 pick come up? Sunday. Not that it mattered. The season had already been flushed down the toilet.

Game 3
OCT: LF E. Moore – 2B Martell – RF Marz – 1B D. Cruz – CF Ringel – SS Kuhn – C Adames – 3B A. Rojas – P Parham
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Vickers – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – SS Maldonado – LF Ledford – C Kilmer – 1B Stedham – P Sabre

Three of the first four Raccoons reached base in the bottom 1st, but Vickers had already hit into a double play and nobody scored in that inning. Stedham also hit a double in the second inning, but with two outs and nobody on, and Sabre would not be a great help with that runner in scoring position. Berto was on base with a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd, stole second before Vickers could screw him over again, and then was stranded on third base. Oh, okay. I get it. One of those games where we obviously can’t or won’t, and just have to wait until the opposition will indeed, against our guy. Got it. Slappy, gimme that other bottle over there. – Yes the one with bits floating in it. It looks interesting. This team does not look interesting anymore.

Both sides sprinkled four hits in unhelpful patterns through five innings, and neither team scored. Parham was not impressive (he struck out only one batter against two walks), but seemed to wear the fire-******ant underpants. Sabre was … not being blown out yet. Bottom 6th, 2-out walks to Maldonado and Ledford, then an ugly hack and miss by Kilmer on a 2-2 pitch. Ah, **** it! (belch!) Ssssill better than pooping out on a poke onnnnnnn- … onnn… ondefirspitch!!

Berto singled in the seventh and was left on. Alfredo Rojas hit a double in the eighth, and was left on by Sabre. Parham was gone after seven, with righty Mike Bass taking over. He walked Greenway. Maldonado hit into a double play. Sabre didn’t return for the ninth after throwing 98 pitches of shutout ball in vain, with Campbell getting the baseball. He struck out Marz and Cruz before Ringel grounded out. The Raccoons had the 6-7-8 up against Bass in the bottom 9th. Ledford walked. Kilmer flew out to right. Stedham walked. Hoogey hit for Campbell – right into a double play. That sent both teams to extras on five hits and no runs.

The Raccoons nominated Ben Feist for the 10th inning, and he retired the side in order. Bass pitched a third inning without issues. Gary Martin relieving him in the bottom 11th seemed to do the trick, but Greenway’s fly to deep left fell into Ethan Moore’s glove at the wall. Martin walked Maldo and Kilmer, but Stedham grounded out to Martell to let the dismal game well outstay its welcome. Maybe a good old error would help – Brian Heskett misfired a grounder by PH Dave Myers to begin the bottom 12th, giving the Critters an unearned runner on first with nobody gone. Berto singled, moving Myers to second. Vickers struck out, Fernandez flew out, Greenway grounded out. Heskett then led off the 13th with a leadoff single against Garavito. The Thunder were out of bench guys, so Martin had to bat, and bunted badly, getting Heskett forced at second base, then advanced himself on a wild pitch, although a grounder by Moore and Martell’s pop stranded him at third base. Martin walked Maldonado to begin the bottom 13th, then was yanked for last year’s not-quite-help for Portland, Nate Ward, who retired the next three.

Garavito pitched three innings, then was hit for at the start of the bottom 15th, occupying the #3 hole after Myers had stayed in the game earlier (Maldo had moved out to center). Elijah Williams led off with a gap double! The Thunder played games, walking Greenway intentionally, which was a sound move with Ward, a righty, on the hill. Maldonado hit into a fielder’s choice, but Williams went to third base for Brad Ledford, who popped the **** out to Agosto. Jeff Kilmer fell to 0-1, to 0-2, then slapped a grounder to left. It went through. Everybody sighed relieved, then went home. 1-0 Blighters. Ramos 2-5, 2 BB; Williams (PH) 1-1, 2B; Kilmer 2-6, BB, RBI; Sabre 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K; Soung 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Garavito 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (4-3);

In other news

August 24 – ATL SP Brad Santry (10-11, 4.08 ERA) was done with 2038, suffering from a herniated disc.
August 24 – Nashville’s Billy Bouldin (.324, 3 HR, 52 RBI) would miss three weeks with a torn thumb ligament suffered in an on-base collision.
August 24 – The Miners’ Mark Vermillion (.318, 6 HR, 38 RBI) would miss three to four weeks with a back strain.
August 25 – SAC SP Ignacio del Rio (14-11, 4.05 ERA) pitches the first no-hitter in Scorpions history in an 11-0 rout of the Pacifics in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old whiffed four and walked five in his performance, the 69th no-hitter in ABL history.
August 25 – Dallas SP Joe Murphy (2-8, 5.10 ERA) was out for a full year with a torn rotator cuff.
August 25 – In their 14-4 rush of the Stars, SAL 1B Bill Jenkins (.280, 21 HR, 81 RBI) shines with four hits, a double shy of the cycle, and 5 RBI.
August 25 – WAS INF Alex Castillo (.270, 8 HR, 52 RBI) hits a homer for the only score in the Caps’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.
August 26 – SFW SP Jose Medina (10-8, 3.47 ERA) was out for nine months with a tear in his labrum.
August 27 – Atlanta’s Danny Monge (.299, 6 HR, 49 RBI) breaks up the no-hit bid of VAN SP Matt Sealock (16-6, 3.38 ERA) with a ninth-inning, 2-out double, but can’t prevent his team’s 2-0 loss.
August 28 – The Wolves beat in the Blue Sox’ skulls in a 21-2 rush. 11 runs score in the ninth inning. Salem’s Armando Herrera (.327, 1 HR, 68 RBI) leads his team with five hits and four RBI.
August 28 – Buffaloes and Pacifics reach a 3-3 score after three innings, then don’t score again until L.A. walks off in the 15th for a 4-3 win on INF Jose Cruz’ (.338, 11 HR, 67 RBI) RBI single.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Dan Sarro (.306, 15 HR, 64 RBI), hitting .600 (12-20) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC OF Rich Salek (.311, 10 HR, 42 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Boom. Bust. Crunch. Dead. Season over.

Not that the writing hadn’t been on the wall. There were a number of select stats that spelled doom from the beginning, and some things developed over time, like the inability to string even two good starting performances together, or sometimes even getting two in a ******* week. Or month.

A personal nugget for me is Jesus Maldonado’s base stealing rate. As I said on Wednesday when I threatened to blow his ******* stupid brains out, he had not taken a base by force in seven weeks. But it sure wasn’t for a lack of trying! Since then he’s gone eight times, and has been caught eight times. His success rate is now down to 35%. Maybe it’s more than the clapping and shouting before he goes off to second… – Cristiano, roll the tape again. – (watches intently as Maldonado claps and shouts, takes off for second, then after three steps stops, changes into a Flash costume, and then continues, only to be thrown out by six inches) – I don’t see it, Cristiano. Did you? – Let’s watch it again.

Fun Fact: The Buffaloes are the only team to never have had a no-hitter tossed for them.

We should trade Ottinger to them. That should get it done.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-51) vs. Bayhawks (55-75) – August 30-September 1, 2038

The most miserable .600 team in the country, that had also just dropped two series to other teams well under .500, and hadn’t won a series in two weeks, would now welcome the Baybirds, another woeful team well under .500. The season series was even at three against the seventh-ranked offense and fourth-worst pitching; their defense was also in the bottom three. None of this was expected to help the Raccoons, because there was no helping the Raccoons with anything anymore…

Projected matchups:
Bryce Sparkes (16-6, 3.26 ERA) vs. Jamie Klages (0-1, 4.61 ERA)
Steve Fidler (7-4, 3.24 ERA) vs. Josh Long (13-10, 3.40 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (6-6, 5.24 ERA) vs. Rick Haugh (4-7, 4.05 ERA)

All right-handers here; also quite a few people on the DL for San Fran, including three starters (Lorenzo Viamontes, Ryan Kinner, and good ol’ Gilberto Rendon), Bobby Hennessy, and Vinny Chavira was not on the DL, but still ailing with an abdominal strain.

Meanwhile the Raccoons had – Maud, what is this commotion outside? – Why are Manny Fernandez and Jesus Maldonado hissing at each other…? – A-ha. – Uh-hum. – I see. – Well, it’s all your fault then, Maud. Why did you hire them out for shampoo commercials for different companies? Of course each of them now thinks they have the softest, most glitzening fur!

Game 1
SFB: 3B Barcia – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Damron – SS Greer – C Sailas – 1B McGrath – CF Balderrama – P Klages
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – 2B Caskey – C Morales – 1B Stedham – P Sparkes

Sparkes added to the Bayhawks’ injury list with a pitch that drilled Dave Martinez in the forearm and required him to be replaced by Juan Camps in the first inning. Dan Schneller, who had walked, moved to second base, but Keith Damron whiffed and Marshall Greer flew out to Brad Ledford to conclude the inning. Ledford then also plated the Critters’ only run in the bottom 1st with a single, scoring Berto, who had drawn the first of three walks off replacement pitcher Klages in the inning. Tony Morales would ground out to strand three, eventually.

Sparkes allowed no hits before an hour-long rain delay between the third and fourth innings derailed his effort, but maybe it would also break up Klages? Ledford walked, Jon Caskey singled, both advanced on a wild pitch, and Tony Morales walked – all with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. The only run the Raccoons got came on Stedham’s RBI groundout when he poked at a 3-1 pitch like a complete moron. Sparkes still didn’t allow a base hit through six innings, but his pitch count reached over 80 and there was the lingering effects of sitting down for over an hour; the Raccoons pulled the plug on him in the bottom 6th, with Tony Morales (who had driven in Ledford’s leadoff double) on first base and two outs. Ed Hooge grounded out in his spot. Ben Feist immediately blew the no-hitter when he gave up a bloop single to Damron to begin the seventh, then got taken deep by Kevin McGrath, 3-2. The Bayhawks would then put the tying run on second base in that inning with an Edgardo Balderrama double, and again in the eighth when Prieto put Camps and Damron aboard, but never broke through in either frame. Instead, Troy Greenway hit a leadoff jack off Adam Moran, a southpaw, in the bottom 8th, giving the team an insurance run. Jermaine Campbell needed no crutch, though, retiring the Baybirds in order in the ninth inning. 4-2 Coons. Ledford 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Sparkes 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (17-6);

Both teams ended up with merely four base hits each in this game.

Game 2
SFB: 3B Barcia – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Chavira – SS Greer – C Sailas – 1B McGrath – CF Balderrama – P J. Long
POR: 3B Ramos – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – SS Caskey – P Fidler

The Critters caught a break on a rare Dan Schneller throwing error in the bottom 2nd that put Greenway on second base to begin the inning. Tony Morales immediately hit a jack, putting the Critters up 2-0. The Bayhawks continued to look limp, especially against *Fidler*, while the Raccoons kept a low hit total, but got Stedham on, saw him steal a base, and eventually score on a groundout in the bottom 5th to tack on a run. Through five, it was 3-0 with three hits on either side. Then there was a Vickers single in the sixth, a McGrath single in the seventh, and then a Sergio Barcia double with one out in the eighth that ended the day for Fidler. As long as nobody was on base we were happy to have him slap his clumsy paws on our 3-0 lead, but that was enough! Citriniti struck out Schneller and got a slightly deep fly from Dave Martinez, who had added a wrap on his left forearm between games, which Maldonado caught in center, concluding the inning. Bottom 8th, Maldonado struck out against Jon Salls, but Manny Fernandez doubled and Troy Greenway put the game away with another bomb to right, this one his 33rd and upping the tally to 5-0. But don’t you worry – there were no easy wins here! Mauricio Garavito got Chavira out to begin the ninth, then suffered three more or less soft singles that loaded the bases with one down. Jermaine Campbell was called out for the third straight day, gave up a sac fly to Balderrama, but ended the inning before calamities could occur. 5-1 Raccoons. Hooge (PH) 1-1; Fidler 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (8-4);

And with that, September hit us smack in the face. It was sure getting late here, and with the Raccoons trailing the Loggers by four and a half.

Roster expansion brought some more personnel: Travis Sims, who was routinely excellent in AAA, but had gotten waffled in the majors this season, and Francisco Pena would stretch out the pen a bit; for the bench we added Chiyosaku Maruyama to keep him out of Damian Salazar’s way in St. Pete, and Alex Castro, a 28-year-old Mexican righty outfielder that had been signed as depth and had hung around the 40-man roster all year. He was hitting .300 with two homers in limited action (260 PA) in AAA and had so far zero major league service time. He might get a start or two against lefty pitchers.

More help was on the way by means of the DL: Cosmo Trevino would come back by next weekend and Gene Tennis would supplement the pitching by Monday or so. No third catcher yet, because we had a bit of an injury squeeze in the minors.

Game 3
SFB: 3B Barcia – 2B Schneller – LF D. Martinez – RF Chavira – SS Greer – C Sailas – 1B O. Calderon – CF Balderrama – P Haugh
POR: 3B Ramos – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – SS Williams – P Ottinger

Neither team landed a base hit the first time through. Both starters walked one guy, but only the Raccoons managed to also hit into a double play. The first base knock for either side was Manny Fernandez’ 1-out single in the bottom 4th, moving Berto (leadoff walk) to second base. Greenway kept raking, hitting an RBI double to left to put the first run on the board. Morales flew out to right, Manny was sent for home, and thrown out by Chavira, ending the inning. Bottom 5th, Vickers, Stedham, and Ottinger loaded the bases with a basketful of singles, bringing up Berto with one out. Ramos poked into an out at home on a comebacker, but legged out the throw to first base to allow Maldonado to bat with three on and two outs, which ended up giving the Critters two runs on a sharp single through the right side. Manny flew out to center to end the inning.

Much-maligned Jared Ottinger meanwhile managed to repeat the feat by Bryce Sparkes from the Monday game, pitching a no-hitter through six and being close to the showers at the same time. He needed a staggering *99* pitches through six innings, while walking only two and whiffing four. It was rather unlikely that he’d finish the job, but before we could get too wound up about it, Marshall Greer hit a jack to left with one out in the seventh, and Ottinger’s removal followed rather swiftly with lefty hitters approaching. David Fernandez finished the inning. Prieto did a quick eighth, and because Campbell was unavailable after three straight days on the mound, Yeom Soung would get the ball for the ninth inning. He had walked only five batters all season long – now walked three in the inning, loading the bags with Chavira, Greer, and Eduardo Umanzor by the time there were two outs. The Raccoons twitched, and with Balderrama at the plate called for a right-hander, who turned out to be Ben Feist. He ran a full count on Balderrama, I sighed, but the batter then flew the 3-2 pitch to Brad Ledford, ending the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Vickers 3-4; Stedham 2-3; Ottinger 6.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (7-6) and 1-2;

A sweep of the unexpected kind for sure.

Also, first save for Feist with the Critters. It was the sixth of his career, collected between five different teams. He had one save with the Pacifics, Miners, and Rebels; two with the Gold Sox.

Raccoons (81-51) @ Loggers (86-47) – September 3-5, 2038

Back in Milwaukee’s torture chamber, the Raccoons could not afford to lose this series. They HAD to win at least two. Three would be better. We trailed 7-4 in the season series, which was bad enough, and needed catching up badly with a 4 1/2 game deficit towards them. They were second in runs scored, third in runs allowed, their +118 run differential beat ours (+94), and their style of offensive play with singles, singles, singles, still didn’t mesh too well with our defense, at least from our point of view.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (8-10, 4.16 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (14-4, 2.98 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (8-9, 3.41 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (15-6, 3.30 ERA)
Bryce Sparkes (17-6, 3.15 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (12-9, 3.74 ERA)

Right, right, left in this set.

Of our three guys, only Sparkes had pitched himself to a W over Milwaukee this year…

Game 1
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – P B. Chavez
MIL: CF T. Romero – 3B Conner – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – RF D. Valenzuela – 1B M. Cooper – LF Riquenes – 2B V. Acosta – P Piedra

Sergio Riquenes caught a Fernandez line drive in a tumble in the first inning, keeping Berto and Maldo on second and first, but then had the team trainer come out to collect his individual parts before being replaced by September callup and rookie Mike Aguirre. Piedra walked Greenway to fill the bags before giving up a run each on Ledford’s single over Victor Acosta and Morales’ sac fly. Rich Vickers legged out an infield single, but Stedham flew out to Aguirre, keeping it at 2-0 behind easily explodable Bernie Chavez, who put the first two Loggers on base and allowed a run on Danny Valenzuela’s 2-out liner into shallow center before striking out Matt Cooper.

Vickers singled home Greenway (who had forced out Fernandez) for a 3-1 lead in the third inning before Stedham as usual stranded runners on the corners. Bernie was held together nicely by the defense, striking out only two batters through four innings before Brad Ledford hit a 2-run homer in the fifth that extended the lead to 5-1, although the Loggers got a run back after Aguirre’s leadoff double in the bottom 5th. The sixth saw Valenzuela on base, but being caught stealing, and Bernie would not return after that, having thrown 104 pitches. Things unraveled immediately in the seventh, like anybody was surprised anymore. Travis Sims walked Cooper in an unsuccessful attempt to get through the bottom of the order, and Berto also chipped in a catastrophic throwing error. Joseph Ronan hit a 2-run single off Garavito, and Prieto had to come in to end the inning after Josh Conner had walked with two outs, getting out Ted Del Vecchio, the persistent pest.

With the lead down to 5-4, the Raccoons got a leadoff double from Ledford in the eighth. Milwaukee walked Morales intentionally, but Vickers singled off Tommy Iezzi, who was responsible for all three runners with nobody out. That brought up Stedham, but what options did we really have…? Stedham slapped a ball through Cooper against the righty Iezzi, and two runs scored! Ed Hooge hit a sac fly, Stedham moved up to third base, and then was balked in by Mike Leeth as the Loggers came apart now. Soung and Pena then finished the game. 9-4 Raccoons! Ledford 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Morales 1-2, BB, RBI; Vickers 3-4, RBI; Chavez 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-10);

The Crusaders lost to the damn Elks on this Friday, becoming the first CL North team to suffer mathematical elimination from the postseason.

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Maldonado – CF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – LF Ledford – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Stedham – P Sabre
MIL: CF T. Romero – 3B Conner – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – RF D. Valenzuela – 1B M. Cooper – LF Leyva – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez

Sabre found an early hole to hide in, walking Josh Conner and Ted Del Vecchio before a Felipe Gomez double made the Loggers 1-0 leaders, a margin doubled on Valenzuela’s pretty deep sac fly to right. The Raccoons’ 5-6-7 countered with three line drive singles to begin the second inning, loading them up for Stedham, who surprisingly ALSO hit a line drive single, getting the first run home, while Morales was obviously held against the murder arm of Rico Leyva. Sabre tied the game on a groundout, and Berto gave Portland the 3-2 lead with another loud single, then stole second base. Too bad that both Maldo and Manny struck out…

Then things got real again. Victor Acosta singled, Sal Chavez swung and doubled, and Sabre went under entirely, getting socked for another three hits and four runs in the next four batters, including another 2-out, 2-run, go-ahead double for dismal striped tail cancer Ted Del Vecchio. After Felipe Gomez’ RBI single, down 6-3, Sabre was yanked, having collected just five outs. Feist got a grounder from Valenzuela to end the ******* inning. That was the only out he got; in the top 3rd, Greenway walked and Morales doubled. Stedham grounded to Acosta with what should have been the third out, but the second baseman fumbled the ball and the Raccoons scored after all following Vickers’ sad strikeout. With the tying runs on the corners, Feist was obviously hit for – but Dave Myers ******** popped out on the first pitch. And Sal Chavez hit a 2-out RBI single off Citriniti in the bottom 3rd instead…

And yet, after Sal Chavez nicked Maldonado and served up a bomb to Manny Fernandez, the Coons were only down 7-6 in the fourth. Not that it helped them any – Garavito walked Acosta in the bottom 5th and served up a home run to left-handed Joseph Ronan. That was the point that signalled there was no point anymore. The Coons tossed in Travis Sims, and he had to collect innings now. The Raccoons got Ramos and Maldonado on base in the sixth, but no support from their 3-4 batters. The seventh saw Morales on second base with two outs. Stedham singled off Rob Clack, with Morales waved around and scoring. Stedham rushed to second base, while Jon Caskey also dropped an RBI single for another 1-run deficit. Clack walked Berto, but Maldonado grounded out to Cooper to once again keep the team short, and Sims went on to walk two and plate Acosta with a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning, 10-8.

Top 8th, leadoff single for Manny. The Loggers brought a new pitcher in Cesar Perez, a right-hander with no inclination to walk anybody. Groundout, strikeout, groundout when the Raccoons. The Loggers somehow didn’t tack on in the eighth, and the Raccoons faced Alex Banderas in the ninth. The 1.60 ERA closer would see the 7-8-9 batters, which was not ideal, with Ed Hooge hitting for Soung in the #7 hole, and singling by Cooper to bring the tying run to the plate. Stedham struck out. Elijah Williams hit for the bloody rookie Caskey, but grounded out. Berto struck out. 10-8 Loggers. Ramos 2-5, BB, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Morales 3-5, 2B; Hooge (PH) 1-1; Stedham 2-5, 2 RBI; Caskey 1-2, RBI;

I don’t know, maybe the problem is their insistence to give up ten ******* runs at least once a week…

Gene Tennis rejoined the team on Sunday – not that he’d be of any use.

Game 3
POR: 3B Ramos – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – RF Greenway – C Kilmer – 2B Vickers – SS Williams – 1B Maruyama – P Sparkes
MIL: CF T. Romero – LF Leyva – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – RF Valenzuela – 3B Conner – 1B M. Cooper – 2B V. Acosta – P Stockwell

Bottom 1st, Tony Romero singled through the left side before Sparkes walked the bags full. Not even a pretense of trying to win, huh? He nailed Felipe Gomez good, and Gomez had to come out for his lieutenant, Jose Zarate, with a squished thumb. Valenzuela hit a sac fly, 2-0, before the inning fizzled out and the Coons tied the score with nobody out in the second. Greenway doubled, Jeff Kilmer homered to left. And that was all the scoring through five. The Raccoons had the occasional runner, but hit into double plays in the third (Maldonado) and fourth (Vickers) to kill each and every opportunity with a guy aboard. The Loggers, meanwhile, had no hits beyond Romero’s leadoff single in the first.

Manny singled and stole a base in the sixth, but was left stranded. Greenway grounded out, Kilmer was nicked, and Vickers looped out easily to Valenzuela. And the Raccoons HAD to win this game, which was the difference between a hole of 3 1/2 or 5 1/2 games. Jose Zarate singled in the bottom 6th, but was first forced by Valenzuela, and Valenzuela stole second, but third baseman Conner made the third out on the third strike. Sparkes survived Berto’s 20th error in the seventh inning as well as Joseph Ronan’s daily pinch-hitting appearance of doom, but the Raccoons needed *offense*. Iezzi came in for the Loggers in the eighth, facing Maldonado to lead off. Iezzi fell to 3-0 before Maldonado ripped. I screamed in horror, but Maldonado homered to left, breaking the tie and giving Sparkes a 3-2 lead.

Sparkes was then goodbyed with 1-out singles by the impossible Del Vecchio and Zarate in the bottom 8th. David Fernandez came on for Valenzuela, but the Loggers knew no heroes and took no prisoners – former Indians shortstop Juan Benito pinch-hit, being 0-for-1 on the year and .174 the prior season. ANYTHING for a right-handed bat! He struck out. Josh Conner (.257, 11 HR, 52 RBI) was next, and at this point all the Loggers in the game were right-handed batters. They had three left-handed bats on the bench. The Raccoons elected to live or die by Jermaine Campbell. He got into the #6 hole, now twice-deserted by second basemen, with Williams to second and Dave Myers in at #9 to play short. Myers immediately looked like stale ***, narrowly missing Conner’s 3-2 grounder that became the game-tying single. Cooper lined out to Ramos, keeping the game tied, 3-3. After Williams singled, Stedham batted for Maruyama – STRAIGHT INTO A DOUBLE PLAY. (heavy breathing)

Campbell struck out the side in the ninth, sending the game to extras with Banderas in his second inning for Milwaukee. Maldonado again scored the go-ahead run, singling and accidentally stealing second base on a run-and-hit where Manny Fernandez failed to meet the ball in the dirt. Greenway crucially dropped a 2-out single in left-center, allowing Maldo to come around to score! Kilmer lined out to left, while Prieto would get the ball in the bottom 10th to get a fresh arm in there. He’d meet the 2-3-4 batters of doom. Leyva grounded out to Berto. Del Vecchio grounded out to Myers. Zarate popped out behind home plate. 4-3 Blighters. Maldonado 2-5, HR, RBI; Greenway 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Maruyama 2-3;

In other news

September 1 – LVA OF Steve Jorgensen (.296, 11 HR, 57 RBI) was out for three weeks with an oblique strain.
September 2 – Boston rookie LF/RF John Davis (.571, 2 HR, 6 RBI) has two bombs and five RBI on his first career home runs in a 13-7 shackling of the Indians.

FL Player of the Week: DEN RF/LF Kyle Beard (.276, 2 HR, 29 RBI), batting .429 (9-21) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS LF/RF John Davis (.563, 2 HR, 8 RBI), all of that since his September 1 callup

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC LF/RF Joreao Porfirio (.275, 13 HR, 59 RBI), going off for .373 with 9 HR, 28 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: POR RF Troy Greenway (.297, 33 HR, 105 RBI), smashing it at .340 with 12 HR, 32 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAL SP Phil Harrington (15-3, 2.00 ERA), routinely a delight with 5-0, 1.65 ERA, 40 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Matt Sealock (16-6, 3.38 ERA), gruesomely robbed but 5-1, 1.07 ERA, 26 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL 1B Phil Jenkins (.278, 21 HR, 83 RBI), ripping pitchers for .339 with 5 HR, 18 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN 2B Glenn Sprague (.291, 11 HR, 55 RBI), sticking it at a rate of .297 with 6 HR, 18 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Dead? Alive? You have to open the box with the “?” on top to know, but it won’t open up for another few weeks, and the box won’t tell.

Not that it gets any easier from here. The Critters will be in Elk City on Monday, meaning I will be in much agony at home while they poke the sleeping bear in Freezeland. The damn Elks remained tucked into our slipstream all week long, and might be in third place, but they surely ain’t out of it. Speaking of chances, BNN has opinions, too:

MIL (87-49) – BOS (6), NYC (4), POR (4), CHA (3), IND (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .499 – 77.0%
POR (83-52) – VAN (7), BOS (4), MIL (4), IND (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) – .521 – 10.5%
VAN (82-52) – POR (7), BOS (4), IND (4), NYC (4), LVA (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3) – .512 – 12.6%

Slugging Troy Greenway is back where he has almost as many as the next four Critters combined in terms of homers. Which is one of those thoroughly odd stat that makes you wonder why. WHY?

Fun Fact: Troy Greenway’s 33 home runs this year already constitute a top 10 mark for the franchise.

Which is sad for sure. He ties Liam Wedemeyer (1996), Luke “Duke Smack” Black (2008), Hugo Mendoza (2021), and Justin Fowler (2037) for the fifth-most homers for the team. You’d say the top spot is in reach; there’s only a pair of 35-bomb seasons in the way – Tetsu Osanai in 1989 and Ron Alston 20 years later – and then the pair of 38-pieces that have been unchallenged for way too long. Royce Green set the mark in ’94. Hugo Mendoza matched it in 2020.

2020 was also the year we fought the Loggers (and Titans) to a draw for first place in the standings.

Nick Lester helped us undo it in extras in the Loggers’ Game #164…