Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 200

Westheim · 09-04-2022, 06:14 AM

Raccoons (3-10) vs. Titans (8-4) – April 19-21, 2050

Fifth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and 1.5 games behind in the division, the Titans came to Portland to probably also take all the wins from the Critters, who had yet to win a series this year. The Coons had won the season series from the Titans eight years in a row, with a 10-8 mark in ’49, but those times were now surely over.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (1-0, 5.14 ERA)
Victor Merino (0-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. Jim Cushing (1-1, 4.97 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-2, 5.68 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (0-0, 5.66 ERA)

The series opened with a southpaw in Scott, and my crystal ball told me that the Titans might skip righty Tim Steinbach (0-1, 6.00 ERA) utilizing the common off day on Monday. Steinbach would pitch Wednesday if they went in order.

Game 1
BOS: SS Ale. Silva – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – CF Monson – 1B J. Rodriguez – LF Mangual – P V. Scott
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – LF Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Powell

Alejandro Silva opened the game with a double to right and eventually scored on a 2-out passed ball, so Ruben Gonzalez kept living up to that seven-figure salary like only he could. The Coons opened the bottom 1st with three singles in order, and Matt Waters drawing a walk, which amounted to no runs so far, since Lonzo had been caught stealing right away. The bags were thus full for Gonzalez, who found that 6-4-3 double play with utmost precision and kept living up to that seven-figure salary like only he could. Ed Crispin instead tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom 2nd. Ricky Lamotta singled his way on and was also caught stealing, and when Lonzo opened the bottom 3rd with another single, he got the “move and you get slapped” sign. Armando Herrera stuffed a liner into the right-center gap instead for an RBI double, giving the Coons a 2-1 lead. Maldo and Waters both grounded out… except that Silva threw away Waters’ grounder for an error that brought in Herrera anyway.

Jason Monson took Powell deep in the fourth, 3-2, but the Coons kept taking Scott apart. Lamotta and Glodowski, the misery squad at the bottom of the pile, opened the bottom 4th with singles, were bunted into scoring position, and brought home by Lonzo with a 2-run single to center. By that point it was a terrible struggle for Powell, however, who had started to lose command as early as the second inning, and issued five hits and four walks through five laborious innings. He made it to the seventh anyway, but was finally whittled down there with three long counts run by the 1-2-3 guys, although only Chris Jimenez reached with a 2-out infield single. Danny Landeta struck out Tony Lopez to close Powell’s line, then got three more outs in the eighth, all on easy infield grounders. Willie Cruz closed out the game for only a single in the ninth. 5-2 Critters. Lavorano 4-4, 2 RBI; Herrera 2-4, 2B, RBI; Medina (PH) 1-1; Glodowski 2-4; Powell 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, W (2-1);

Game 2
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Cushing
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Luna – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Merino

Matt Watt reached on an error in the bottom 1st, but was left stranded. He also singled to move Ruben Gonzalez to third base in the bottom 3rd, setting up Lonzo for a sac fly to center that brought in the game’s first run. Armando Herrera doubled to right, and Waters cashed both runners in scoring position with a 2-out, 2-run single to right. It had been a bleak start to the season for the Coons’ alleged best batter, but it appeared like he was to start to work his way out of it, now at .250 with a homer and seven runs batted in.

Merino held the Titans to not a whole lot for four innings, then did typical Merino things, like stumbling over the 8-9 batters. Back-to-back doubles by Jose Rodriguez and, y’know, the pitcher … brought in the Titans’ first run in the top 5th, and Nate Massey singled home Cushing to narrow the Coons’ lead to 3-2 before the inning ended with Chris Jimenez’ pop. The Coons stopped hitting, but Merino didn’t stop leaking. Both Rodriguezes, Jose and Elias, got on base in the top 7th, and Massey tied the game with a 2-out single. Failing to retire the two left-handed batters in the 1-2 slots got him yanked, and while Preston Porter retired Chris Jimenez and Tony Lopez orderly, Elias Rodriguez stole third base before coming in on Jimenez’ groundout to give the Titans a 4-3 lead. Jason Monson tacked on a run with a homer off Bob Ibold in the eighth. But, down 5-3, the Raccoons had the tying runs in scoring position after a Herrera single and a Waters double off Eddie Sotelo in the bottom 8th, and with nobody out…! Maldo grounded out poorly, Luna popped out, and Tony Ruiz struck out Ed Crispin to keep those tying runs in scoring position.

After Merino, Brett Lillis jr. also failed to retire the lefty 1-2 batters in the top 9th, got yanked for Hitchcock, and the righty got a double play from Jimenez and exited the inning without allowing a run. Ex-Coon Adam Bates responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. 5-3 Titans. Herrera 3-4, 2B; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4;

Sigh.

Only 147 to go, though.

Game 3
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – CF Monson – SS Ale. Silva – LF Mangual – P Steinbach
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Maldonado – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – C J. Jimenez – P Wheatley

Tim Steinbach showed up after all, but second-half form for Wheatley was a long way from it. He walked three batters the first time through, allowed a single to Ruben Mangual, and somehow stranded pairs in both of the first two innings, including with a full-count K to Elias Rodriguez in the top 2nd after getting a good ol’ talking-to by the pitching coach. Took him just 40 pitches to get through two… He was spotted a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, which was partially unearned, since Matt Waters reached base on a throwing error. Maldo, Luna, and Juan Jimenez then all hit singles off Steinbach, the latter two each driving in a run.

The only other K for Wheats through five was one he hung on Steinbach, but he held the Titans to two actual hits while retooling himself to give up serial grounders instead, which was an adaptions the really good pitchers were still able to do on “nope!” days. Wheats reached on an uncaught third strike in the bottom 5th, but was then forced out by Matt Watt, and nothing came out of the act at all. Wheats got another five outs, without much fanfare, although he left with Ruben Mangual at second – having reached on an infield single after all – and two outs. Ponce and Glodowski replaced him and Maldo in a double switch, but Ponce had nothing better to do than to give up Wheats’ run on an Elias Rodriguez single. Bums, them all…! Massey was at least out on a grounder, preserving a skinny 2-1 lead. Preston Porter had a 1-2-3 eighth, but Steinbach continued to hold the Coons to their four hits and two runs through eight, thus sending Willie Cruz out with no cushion in the ninth, facing the 6-7-8 batters. He struck out Monson, then got groundouts from Silva and Mangual, and the Raccoons actually won a series in 2050…! 2-1 Furballs. Wheatley 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-2);

Raccoons (5-11) vs. Bayhawks (7-9) – April 22-24, 2050

Here was another team that hadn’t started well, but for whom there was still hope (other than the Critters). The Baybirds had just swept the Falcons to start a dig out of an early-April hole, but had already lost Craig Czyszczon, Todd Dau, and Mike Roberts on the DL. They were seventh in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, but led the CL in bombs and had four .328+ hitters in Sergio Quiroz, Ken Crum, Sean Suggs, and Ramon Sifuentes. The Coons had lost six of nine to the Bayhawks two years in a row.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (0-1, 5.12 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (0-1, 1.04 ERA)
Victor Salcido (1-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (1-0, 3.98 ERA)
Elijah Powell (2-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (1-2, 5.82 ERA)

Only right-handers to see here.

Game 1
SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF Ritchey – CF G. Pena – 2B McCutcheon – P I. Mendoza
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – LF Medina – RF Lamotta – P Wolinsky

There was loud contact from the start against Bubba Wolinsky, who walked Sergio Quiroz, gave up a double to Sebastian Copeland, and somehow buggered out for nothing more than a Sean Suggs sac fly. While Wheats had busied the infielders, Bubba kept the outfielders awake, but in the fourth had the bases full with no outs after walking Sifuentes to follow up earlier singles by Ken Crum and Sean Suggs, which sugged. Joe Ritchey shoved a 2-run double to right, Wolinsky walked Gustavo Pena to restock the bags, and Lee McCutcheon hit another RBI single, with Ritchey thrown out trying to score as well, which was at least a ******* out. Mendoza whiffed, and Quiroz grounded out to Lonzo to end the miserable inning with a 4-0 score. Roberto Medina singled home Ed Crispin in the bottom 4th to at least get Portland on the board.

Wolinsky was gone after five shoddy innings, not that things got better with that. Bob Ibold allowed a run on two hits in the sixth, while the seventh was even worse. Lillis got the ball, and didn’t have the least clue where he was throwing it to, walking Quiroz, who advanced on a wild pitch at one point, but he struck out Suggs, who was too eager to get a knock rather than just hold off, and almost stranded the runner at third base until throwing one right down the middle to Crum that was ticked for an RBI single. Landeta replaced him and got out of the inning with a pop from Sifuentes. Matt Watt singled home Medina with two outs in the bottom of that inning, and Landeta had a scoreless eighth before the Coons, down 6-2, somehow got the tying run to the plate in the bottom 8th. Maldo and waters opened the inning with singles, and Mendoza walked Gonzalez with one out. Expecting a slam from Roberto Medina was perhaps a bit much, but he was also 2-for-3 in the game, so why not? He popped out unhelpfully, but Lamotta killed Mendoza’s day with a 2-run single through the left side, while Jeremy Mayhall gave up an RBI single to Eddy Luna in the #9 hole, and Matt Watt ticked one up the middle that narrowly eluded Lee McCutcheon for a game-tying RBI single, all even at six…! Lonzo then hit a spanker, but right at Copeland, ending the inning.

Willie Cruz got around a Waters error that put Mark Cahill on base to begin the ninth. Quiroz forced him out with a grounder, but then stole second base, and reached third on Copeland’s groundout to Waters that would have been two without the steal. The count to Suggs ran full, but ended with a swing and a miss, while the bottom 9th began with Mayhall plunking Maldo, who represented the winning run and was swiftly replaced with pinch-runner Evan Van Hoy. Waters struck out, but Glodowski singled to move Van Hoy to second. Four balls to Gonzalez loaded the bases for, well, Medina. Only Juan Jimenez was left on the bench, and the pitcher was in the #1 slot, which needed to be hit for in an eventual 10th. Besides, Medina was just as qualified to hit into an extra-inning-birthing double play as Jimenez. McCutcheon went home though on the first-pitch grounder he got, which removed Van Hoy, but there was no double play and Ricky Lamotta got another chance, also poked at the first pitch, and sailed a ball over a reaching Sifuentes to end the ballgame. 7-6 Raccoons. Watt 3-5, 2 RBI; Waters 3-5; Medina 2-5, RBI; Lamotta 2-5, 3 RBI;

We had 15 hits – all singles.

Game 2
SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF Fink – 2B McCutcheon – P Cantrell
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – RF Luna – C Gonzalez – LF Lamotta – P Salcido

Salcido was battered around for seven hits and three runs in the first three innings, also walking a pair. Sifuentes in the second and Suggs in the third took him deep, which sugged, and then they also loaded the bases before getting nothing more than an RBI single by McCutcheon before Milt Cantrell grounded out (sharply) to Lonzo to strand a full set, but Salcido got waffled for another three hits and two runs in the fourth as the meltdown continued. Salcido had hit a double in the bottom 3rd, ironically, but had gotten no help from his ho-hum team and had been stranded at second base. He was then yanked when he gave up a 2-out double to Cantrell in the fifth. Ricky Lamotta hit a homer in the bottom 5th for one run, but Joe Ritchey touched Kevin Hitchcock for two with a blast of his own in the top 6th, Ken Crum scoring after drawing a 2-out walk, following Suggs’ double play grounder erasing Copeland’s leadoff walk. Those were the last runs for San Francisco, while the Raccoons remained harmless enough for Cantrell to pitch into the ninth inning. Matt Watt batted for Herrera and hit a leadoff double, but was thrown out trying to score on Waters’ single to center. A strikeout to Crispin ended the game. 7-1 Bayhawks. Watt (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 3
SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF Fink – 2B McCutcheon – P Bulas
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 3B Luna – RF Lamotta – C Jimenez – 1B Van Hoy – P Powell

Elijah Powell began the game with two walks, and Ken Crum dutifully singled home Quiroz for the early 1-0 lead before Ritchey spanked a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play to get the Coons out of the inning. Powell started another double play to bow out of the second inning, which began with singles by Sifuentes and John Fink, but gave up a solo jack to Quiroz in the third, 2-0. Jesse Bulas, meanwhile, retired the Critters in order the first time through, whiffing three. Finally by the fourth, three singles (including one by Bulas), two errors (Waters, Lamotta), and a wild pitch conceded another three runs to the Baybirds, putting the game well out of the range of the newest version of the Inepticoons.

While Matt Watt’s leadoff walk was followed by a Lonzo grounder and Herrera’s RBI single to left-center to shorten the gap to 5-1, I had no comeback confidence and preferred to eat little chocolates by the pawful in between gulps of Capt’n Coma. Regardless, the tying run was at the plate in Matt Watt in the bottom 5th. Jimenez and Van Hoy hit 1-out singles, and Copeland misfielded Powell’s bunt to load the bases. Watt hit a deep fly to left, but it was caught by Ken Crum, who held the Coons to a sac fly. Lonzo grounded out, stranding two. Bottom 6th, Armando Herrera went deep to left to shorten the gap to 5-3.

So Powell immediately gave up three leadoff singles to the 1-2-3 batters in the top 7th, although Quiroz was caught stealing. Porter inherited runners on first and second, and got Crum to ground out to Waters for a 4-6-3 double play to dissolve the inning. Crum was the only batter Porter faced in the game, with Maldo hitting for him after Van Hoy got on base to begin the bottom 7th, but he grounded out. Watt got on, Lonzo hit a sac fly to get to 5-4, but Herrera grounded out. While I was waiting for another 6-run blowup, Landeta retired the Birds in order in the eighth, but while Lamotta got on in the bottom 8th, the tying run remained on first base when Jimenez grounded out.

The meltdown apparently came in the ninth instead. Landeta was still up there, gave up a leadoff single to McCutcheon, who stole a base, was singled home by Quiroz, and Waters added another error to put Copeland on base. Ponce replaced Landeta, threw a single pitch for a double play comebacker, and the Coons entered the bottom 9th against long-long-ago Coon Josh Livingston (age 39) down by two. Crispin batted for Ponce, but grounded out, as did Maldo. Watt struck out. 6-4 Bayhawks. Herrera 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Van Hoy 2-3, 2B;

Quiroz was unretired in the game, drove in three, and missed the cycle by the triple. The Coons made enough errors so that only two of the runs allowed in this game were earned.

In other news

April 19 – Hitting from the #8 hole, Canadiens INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.370, 2 HR, 12 RBI) drives in seven runs on three hits and a walk in the Canadiens’ 13-2 destruction of the Loggers.
April 21 – SAC OF/1B Pedro Leal (.349, 2 HR, 12 RBI) slaps five hits and is a triple shy of the cycle as early as the eighth inning, but even as the Scorpions take 17 innings to lose 9-8 to the Wolves, can’t find that elusive triple and has to settle for a 5-hit, 5-RBI day.
April 22 – SAC SP C.J. Harney (1-2, 4.21 ERA) nips the Rebels in a 3-hit shutout, taking his first W of the year in a 2-0 game.
April 22 – SFW LF Mario Villa (.404, 6 HR, 19 RBI) will miss six weeks with a strained ACL.
April 23 – The Gold Sox’ OF Tylor Cecil (.286, 2 HR, 11 RBI) will miss at least another week with a shoulder subluxation suffered on Tuesday.

FL Player of the Week: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.479, 8 HR, 18 RBI), raking .542 (13-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.338, 5 HR, 15 RBI), slapping .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I am *really* struggling to come up with upsides right now. We’re tied, but not worse than the Loggers? Maybe? Nah. We suck.

Few things have worked out so far. The only regular to beat the 100 OPS+ mark is Herrera, which is a nice start to describe the offense. The pitching has been … let’s remain polite and say “rough”. Most homers allowed, second-worst ERA, and despite the error clown show on Sunday, the defense is actually the most presentable stat in the run prevention department.

Oh, Sean Suggs didn’t win that Player of the Week award on trampling the Coons (Quiroz and Crum did most of that). He was .357 with 1 HR, 2 RBI in Portland, but he stuffed the Falcons earlier in the week, .583 with 2 HR, 5 RBI. His OPS actually went down by 24 points in the Raccoons series.

How about some actually interesting bits? Alan Puckeridge is hitting over .400 to start the AAA season. I’d say it won’t be very long before we’ll give this 22-year-old Aussie boy a look. Corner guy (first, left, right), but the arm isn’t the greatest. Speed *and* power potential. Cost less than a new sedan in the 2044 July IFA round. Rich Seymour’s around .300, so he might grab a look eventually as well. And Ricky de la Cruz, a crispy 19 years old, had a trying year in Ham Lake last year with a 4.58 ERA, but that’s down to 1.47 in the first few starts of 2050.

Also, Knights and Indians to complete the homestand next week.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are above .500 in one-run games!

2-1 to be precise, both wins coming back-to-back this week. It’s also a metric of a team usually losing by lots.

Westheim · 09-05-2022, 04:06 PM

Raccoons (6-13) vs. Knights (9-9) – April 25-27, 2050

The Raccoons offered up their 4-year winning streak against the Knights – well, all of 5-4 in 2049, but it counted. Atlanta was sixth in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, with a +8 run differential (Coons: -17) but had already taken some collateral damages with Vic Chavez, Antonio Ramires, and Arnout van der Zanden all on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (0-3, 5.29 ERA) vs. Will Cormack (2-0, 3.00 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-2, 4.56 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (1-2, 4.00 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-1, 5.55 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (2-1, 0.82 ERA)

Buttress was the sole southpaw available in their rotation. The Coons didn’t bring up the left-handed prospect Alan Puckeridge to open the series, so maybe he’d be here by Wednesday?

Game 1
ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – C Cass – RF Worden – 3B Hornig – 1B Gurney – P Cormack
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – LF Medina – P Merino

Three hits, three stolen bases, and an error by ******* Victor Merino – the Knights had it all in the first inning, but the runs. They scored only one of those. Steve Royer reached on the error to begin the game, but was caught stealing. Matt Housey then doubled to left, stole third base, and scored on the first of back-to-back singles by Anton Venegas and Jon Alade, who pulled off a double steal, but were stranded with poor outs by Tyler Cass and Matt Worden. Pat Gurney then got a warm welcome from the skinny crowd – as warm as a welcome could be in a three-fifths-empty ballpark in a moist 55 degrees with the team out of contention in April – at least until he hit a homer to right, 2-0 in the second. Alade singled, stole second, and scored on a Cass single in the third, 3-0. While the Critters did a pretty spiffy job of getting a single per inning and never scoring (or even getting to third base) against Cormack, the Knights went up 4-0 when Alade singled home Royer in the fifth, which was also the first inning in which Portland got more than one runner on base. Matt Watt hit a 2-out single, and then Lonzo doubled to left. Watt went home, but was thrown out by Alade, and the sadness continued in shutout fashion.

Five runs (four earned) in 6.1 innings would be the final tally on Merino, who walked four and struck out two, and had the final run on his ledger conceded by Hitchcock on a 2-out single by Tyler Cass. Ruben Gonzalez hit a third single on the day to begin the bottom 7th, but was thrown out trying to make it a double. It was raining. It was sad. Maldo made an error in the eighth, Lillis made an error in the ninth. The Knights somehow didn’t score at either occasion. The Raccoons never scored. 5-0 Knights. Watt 2-4; Lavorano 2-4; Gonzalez 4-4;

The Knights had seven hits. We had A DOZEN HITS.

And four errors.

Rock bottom with 142 to play.

Game 2
ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – RF Worden – C S. Green – 1B Jon Lopez – 3B Hornig – P Buttress
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – LF Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley

I started Tuesday by tearing Monday’s black 25 off the calendar in Maud’s office, then immediately banged my head against the wall for 25 minutes. That was even before Wheatley gave up a single, double, and homer to the 2-3-4 batters in the first inning to eliminate any chance for a win on Tuesday. While the Coons had the bags full in the bottom 1st and Waters singled home Herrera to make up *one* run, Luna and Lamotta failed and stranded three aboard with a pop and a K. The Knights stung Wheats with three more singles for a run in the top 3rd, but Eddy Luna singled and Ricky Lamotta homered to left to get back to 4-3 in the bottom 3rd. Lonzo and Herrera would get on in the fourth, but Maldonado killed that inning with a 4-6-3 double play.

…and while Wheats just couldn’t handle a lineup with just two right-handed batters (Anton Venegas, Jeremy Hornig), the baseball gods then also added a whole shovelful of the absolutely most rotten luck you could expect at a baseball game. The top 5th of a 4-3 game began thusly: Steve Royer legged out an infield single. Matt Housey hit another ****** grounder, Maldo tried to get the lead runner, but got nobody, and that was another infield single. Venegas bounced to Luna, who ****** the play for an error (the first on Tuesday, and the fifth of the week). Three on, nobody out. The Raccoons pulled the handbrake and yanked Wheatley after 63 pitches and reached for the southpaw Ponce, who gave up three singles and three runs (two earned) to the first three left-handed batters – Alade, Worden, and Sean Green – that he saw. That wasn’t all; Jeremy Hornig added a double, and in total the Knights plated five runs in the inning.

Ponce ended up throwing 54 pitches in three innings, because **** that guy, ridiculously allowing only one more runner between the sixth and seventh. Lonzo singled home Glodowski in unearned fashion against Tony Rosas in the bottom 8th; Glodowski had singled, and PH Roberto Medina had reached on a Venegas error, all with two outs. Herrera was out to Hornig to end the inning then. Willie Cruz had a scoreless ninth in a toss-away game, but the team tried to play the bottom 9th, still against Rosas, for maximum pain. Maldo and Waters made quick outs before Gonzalez doubled to left. Crispin had arrived in the #6 hole earlier and tripled to right, driving home a pointless run, and then had a rib broken when he slid awkwardly and crushed his chest into Hornig’s knee at third base. Lamotta flew out to center to end the game. 9-5 Knights. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-3, BB; Waters 2-5, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Crispin 1-1, 3B, RBI;

Well. Roster moves, huh?

Crispin, batting .182 with two homers, was off to the DL for the next six weeks, while Roberto Medina (.227, 0 HR, 1 RBI) ended up on waivers. The replacements were Alan Puckeridge, hitting .471 with 4 homers in AAA (!), and right-handed INF/LF Shane Honig was batting only .188 for the Alley Cats, but that was with a near-negative BABIP. He had five walks against four strikeouts.

Game 3
ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – C Cass – RF Worden – 3B Hornig – 1B Gurney – P Koga
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Luna – RF Lamotta – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky

Puckeridge’s first career at-bat came with Watt and Waters on second and first and two outs in the bottom 1st, and he… struck out. He went on to make two neat plays on D in the next two innings, including collecting a sharp grounder by Alade with the bags full in the top 3rd for the final out of that frame. The Knights filled them up again and left them full in the fourth as well, then with Royer out on a comebacker to Wolinsky, who gave up seven hits and a walk in four innings, but no runs.

Bubba’s spot came up with three on and nobody out in the bottom 5th after Koga allowed soft singles to all of the 6-7-8 batters. He erred into a double play, but Luna scored for the game’s first run, and Watt singled home Lamotta to make it 2-0. Lonzo grounded out, while in the bottom 6th Waters chased back Alade, who made a tumbling catch and hurt himself, and was replaced with Carlos Vega, while Puckeridge improved on his 0-2, 2 K line with a 2-out double to right, his first big league knock. Luna walked, but Lamotta grounded out to strand the runners.

Shane Honig made his major league debut in a double switch in the seventh, entering with Lillis and playing third base as replacement for Luna, all with Royer on third base and two outs for Atlanta. Vega grounded out on Lillis’ first pitch to end the inning. He flew out to center in his first at-bat in the league, but Herrera singled home Jimenez with two outs to tack on a run. Lonzo was also on base, but him and Herrera were stranded when Housey intercepted Waters’ bouncer. Lillis held up for another inning, only for Willie Cruz to get torn up. Joe Besaw hit a pinch-hit single to begin the ninth, and Housey crashed a 2-run homer to right-center, reducing the lead to a skinny run. Venegas singled, Sean Green doubled, and the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with one out. Cass then, crucially perhaps, struck out, leaving things to the .184 hitter Worden. He popped to third base, Honig made the catch, and that left the Critters with their weekly win. 3-2 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, RBI; Luna 1-2, BB; Jimenez 1-2; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 11 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

It's not just that Bubba allowed 11 hits and no runs. The Knights had *16* hits in a regulation game – and lost!

Raccoons (7-15) vs. Indians (9-12) – April 29-May 1, 2050

Act Four of a senselessly terrible homestand would feature the Arrowheads on the weekend. They were up 2-1 in the season series, but had a CL-worst .235 batting average and the second-fewest runs scored. They had however also only surrendered the third-fewest runs with a +1 differential. If that didn’t sound like an Indians team of old… including the successlessness.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (1-2, 5.82 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (4-0, 0.79 ERA)
Elijah Powell (2-2, 3.24 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (2-0, 2.03 ERA)
Victor Merino (0-4, 5.01 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (0-1, 5.87 ERA)

Only right-handers on offer here. Bill Quinteros was day-to-day with a back ailment but trying to play through it.

Game 1
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Brayboy – 1B R. White – P Nichol
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Honig – P Salcido

The Arrowheads loaded the bases against Salcido in the first, but Ray DeFrank flew out to Herrera to strand the runners, and then the Coons instead scored a 3-spot in the bottom 1st. Watt got on, was forced out by Lonzo, and Herrera hit an infield single. Waters doubled both of them in, then scored on a Maldo single himself. Gonzalez popped out foul. Salcido was then shoved around, gave up a run when Angel Mendez singled home Rusty White in the second, and another one on a DeFrank sac fly in a 3-hit third, narrowing the score to 3-2. DeFrankly, he looked awful.

Bottom 3rd, Waters and Puckeridge went to the corners with leadoff hits against Nichol, and while Puckeridge was antsy to go and get his first stolen base in the Bigs, Maldo hissed over to first so he’d hold still and Maldo could concentrate his milky eyes on that round thing hurled at him all the time by these kids. The hiss worked, and he slapped a soft looper over Alex de Castro for an RBI single, 4-2. Gonzalez found a double play to hit into, and Honig was walked intentionally to bring up Salcido, who hit a duck snort single for a 2-out run. Watt singled home Honig, completing another 3-spot before Lonzo flew out to Angel Mendez. Salcido had a quick fourth, then a dragging fifth with Hugo Acosta, DeFrank, and White all aboard until finally PH Ron Kurtz struck out to leave another full set aboard. Salcido added a 1-2-3 sixth, but then was done after 100 pitches exactly, yet still up 6-2.

Porter and Lillis then got flogged for three sharp hits and two runs (both on the former) in the seventh inning, cutting that lead in half. De Castro and Bobby Anderson both reached against Bob Ibold in the eighth, but were left on when Acosta popped out to shallow left. Bottom 8th and facing Alfredo Llamas, though, the Coons loaded them up again; soft Gonzalez singled, Luna drawing a walk in Honig’s spot against the right-hander, and then a Lamotta single, all with one out. Evan Van Hoy batted for Ibold in the #1 spot and at least got in a run with a groundout. Lonzo was out on a sharp grounder up the middle, de Castro warping over to retire him. Willie Cruz then struck out two in a perfect ninth. 7-4 Raccoons! Watt 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2 RBI; Honig 0-1, 2 BB;

Game 2
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Hare – 1B R. White – P Brink
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Honig – P Powell

Back here, back there, Quinteros sent Puckeridge back with a mighty drive in the first inning, and put Indy up 1-0 with a solo homer. DeFrank singled and Josh Hare doubled, both with two strikes on them, and Rusty White made it 2-0 with a groundout in the second, while Puckeridge opened the bottom 2nd with a single to center, but then was forced out on a Maldo grounder. Gonzalez singled, Honig got pummeled, and Powell batted with the bags full. He ran a full count, then struck out anyway for the second red light of the inning. Watt flew out to Hare. Instead, de Castro, Anderson, and Acosta all whacked hits off Powell in the third, extending the Indians’ lead to 4-0 against a hapless Powell. Top 4th, de Castro singled home White, Quinteros homered again, this time to left-center, and Powell was yanked from the 7-0 rout then.

Landeta offered four outs, but Hitchcock allowed another run in the sixth, but that inning also saw the first career RBI for Alan Puckeridge, plating Lonzo with a groundout to reduce the gap to … 8-1. And then Matt Waters left the game the inning after with an oblique tweak, and I was about ready to cry when Maud swooped in saved me temporarily with a big bowl of fudge. Mmmm. Fudge! … Luna entered the game at third, with Honig to second base with Waters out. Ponce gave up a run in the eighth, but Puckeridge hit a sac fly to steadfastly keep the Coons at 7-run distance. What a little hero! Brink was pitching into the ninth, which Ruben Gonzalez opened with his first homer of the year, shortening the drubbing all the way to 9-3, after which Honig singled to center for his first career base knock. He also stole his first base, but couldn’t prevent Brink to finish the game all by himself. 9-3 Indians. Lavorano 3-5; Herrera 3-5; Maldonado 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1;

Your good old complete-game 13-hitter for Tan Brink, on a baffling 135 pitches.

Waters would sit on Sunday, which would have been a day off for Maldo, but the way we were playing it was not like it mattered much. Day off for everybody! How about a lineup full o’ pitchers!?

Game 3
IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B Brayboy – SS de Castro – CF Locke – P Medvec
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – SS Luna – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 1B Van Hoy – 3B Lamotta – 2B Honig – P Merino

Merino didn’t look *that* bad… until he walked Medvec with one out in the third inning in a scoreless game. Mendez then singled, Acosta walked, and Quinteros singled home two in quick succession. Anderson flew out to Watt, but Merino walked DeFrank to fill the bags, then walked Aaron ******* Brayboy with the bases ******* loaded, 3-0. De Castro popped out to end the inning, while Medvec hit a triple in the fourth, which somehow ended without an Indians run on poor outs by Mendez and Acosta, the latter whiffing in a full count.

The Coons didn’t get a hit until Ricky Lamotta singled with one out in the bottom 5th, sending Van Hoy to third base after the forgettable left-handed first-bagger had drawn a walk off Medvec. Honig hit a sac fly to Philip Locke, Merino singled, Watt walked to make it three on and two outs, but Herrera grounded out to third base, and the score remained 3-1. Well, at least until Medvec singled home Brayboy in the top 6th. Those two had half of the four singles the first five batters in the sixth smacked off Merino in the inning, kicking him from the game. Ponce inherited the bags full, gave up a sac fly to Acosta, 5-1, then plunked Quinteros with a 1-2 pitch. With Bobby Anderson up, Ponce was beaten back to the dugout, and Preston Porter got to try his luck. He also got to 1-2 before giving up a drive to deep left… but Watt made the catch on the warning track… Slappy, please pinch me, I want to wake up from this nightmare. – Ow! Ow! Ow!! OW!!! – NO IT’S NOT WORKING SLAPPY PLEASE STOP AAAAAAAAHHH-HOOO-HOOOOOH!!!

Ruben Gonzalez hit a homer in the bottom 6th, while Preston Porter gave up three singles, a balk, a walk, and three runs in the top 7th before Lillis restored whatever ******* counted for order anymore around here. Lillis then singled in the bottom 7th, of which nothing came, and then was taken deep by Anderson for congratulations in the eighth. 9-2 Indians.

Waters and Maldo both pinch-hit in the hopeless ninth inning, and made outs, but maintained a perfect appearance record. Them and Lonzo have all appeared in all 25 games the Coons have played this year.

In other news

April 26 – SFB C Sean Suggs (.348, 6 HR, 16 RBI) homers for the only marker in a 1-0 win over the Titans.
April 27 – The Condors beat the Loggers, 9-8 in 14 innings. MIL 2B/SS Ricky Lopez (.176, 0 HR, 3 RBI) shines by going 1-for-7 with a platinum sombrero.
April 29 – WAS SP/MR Nick Young (1-3, 9.00 ERA) comes within two outs of a no-hitter against the Rebels before walking two and giving up an RBI single to RIC LF/CF Bill Reeves (.277, 4 HR, 10 RBI). The Caps need two more relievers that concede two more runs on Young’s behalf before getting away with a 7-3 win.
April 29 – Atlanta’s OF/1B Steve Royer (.344, 1 HR, 5 RBI) hits three singles and two doubles in an honest effort against the Aces, but the Knights lose anyway, 7-3.
April 30 – The Crusaders’ SP Edwin Sopena (3-1, 2.58 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Canadiens. He strikes out three in a 6-0 New York win.
May 1 – Aces INF Josh Landstrom (.236, 0 HR, 6 RBI) hits a single for the only Las Vegas hit against ATL SP Will Cormack (4-0, 1.71 ERA) and two relievers. The Knights win 5-0.

FL Player of the Week: CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.364, 3 HR, 10 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 2 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.323, 0 HR, 9 RBI), hitting .536 (15-28) with 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.427, 8 HR, 19 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT SS/1B/LF Ryan Cox (.342, 3 HR, 16 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Mike Zeigler (4-0, 1.26 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Jeff Johnson (4-0, 1.59 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Chris Thomas (.375, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: IND OF/1B/2B Rusty White (.348, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

(walks by Shane Honig, who has both front paws firmly covered in honey and several empty glasses of honey strewn all around him) Can you… Can you please be less *basic*…? *

Matt Waters will probably be day-to-day with the oblique for much of next week, too, so that’s an additional slice of fun here.

Roberto Medina cleared waivers (shocker) and was assigned back to the Alley Cats.

We’re still waiting for Lonzo to be *awesome*, but it wouldn’t be so bad if the pitching was at least *basic*. Four starters have an ERA over five. The pen isn’t that great, either. The defense is porous. And they have no ******* luck whatsoever. We currently have the most runs allowed in the league, just a tick over five per game, and it’s yet going up.

Next week, grim mistreatments in New York and Pittsburgh. We’ll then skip home just for the Pacifics, then immediately play another two weeks on the road. In fact, we only have seven home games in all of May. What fun…!

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are on pace for a -227 run differential.

I’ll need more fudge with that, Maud.

+++

Honig is honey in German. I know, I know, nobody’s more basic than me.

Westheim · 09-07-2022, 07:11 AM

Raccoons (8-17) @ Crusaders (14-10) – May 2-5, 2050

How about four in New York with Matt Waters having a bad oblique and everybody being obliquely bad? The Crusaders were three behind the damn Elks for the top spot in the North. They couldn’t bloody score, making precisely 3.5 runs per game for themselves, but still had a +5 run differential (Critters: -35) thanks to not giving up any runs either. The Raccoons had still won 11 games from New York in last year’s season series, but at this point I was not quite sure we’d win 11 games for the whole season…

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-3, 5.76 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (2-1, 3.24 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-1, 4.35 ERA) vs. TBD
Victor Salcido (2-2, 5.20 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (4-0, 1.59 ERA)
Elijah Powell (2-3, 5.02 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-1, 2.58 ERA)

We’d face a southpaw in Malla, a smoldering crater where Adam Messer (1-0, 1.33 ERA) had been before being felled by a hamstring, and then two righties. By the way, Bubba is our only starting pitcher with a sub-5 ERA.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – RF Glodowski – LF Puckeridge – 2B Honig – P Wheatley
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – RF Arens – 2B Bent – P Malla

Lonzo opened the week with a double to left, and before long, the Raccoons had three runs on the board, although the Crusaders’ Omar Sanchez and Andrew Russ (grrr!) assisted with a pair of throwing errors in that effort. Armando Herrera got an RBI, though, singling home Lonzo, and Luna singled in Maldo for the third and final run of the inning. Not that a 3-0 lead helped Wheatley much; he still managed to run into a string of four straight hits against the ******* 7-8-9-1 batters in the bottom 2nd, all damage with two outs. Ron Arens doubled, Art Bent, Carlos Malla, and Omar Sanchez all singled, and Malla had to be slapped out in a rundown to end the goddamn inning at all, but by then two runs were already across. By the third inning, a Danny Rivera single and an Omar Ramirez homer put the New Yorkers in front, 4-3, and Wheats had an ERA over ******* six.

The Raccoons continued the game in their usual dunderheaded ways. Lonzo and Herrera were on base in the fifth, but Gonzalez chopped into an inning-ending double play. Glodowski somehow happened to find first base in the sixth, then was picked off there by Malla. An infield single by Ed Haertling and a Bent double added a Crusaders run in the bottom 6th, and after that Wheatley spent the last innings of the game standing in the dugout, staring across the field into the great black darkness, obviously not knowing what the **** was wrong with him either. Omar Ramirez meanwhile sealed the deal with a 2-run homer off Lillis in the bottom 7th. Yes, the Raccoons did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but when had that ever led to something nice? Pinch-hitters Matt Waters walked and Evan Van Hoy was nicked, Lonzo hit into a fielder’s choice, and with two outs and runners on the corners, Herrera singled home a run off Melvin Lucero, bringing up Maldo as the tying run. He popped out to Haertling. 7-4 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-5, 2B; Herrera 3-4, 2 RBI;

Maybe a .355 BABIP is part of it. In fact, all our starters have a BABIP of .320+ against them. Bubba would enter the Tuesday game at .343;

Game 2
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Luna – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – LF Van Hoy – 2B Honig – P Wolinsky
NYC: 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – RF D. Rivera – LF Bent – CF Ceballos – 1B Haertling – C O. Ramirez – P J. Johnson

Johnson went on short rest, and fell behind 1-0 on a Maldonado homer, making Maldo the first Critter to three homers in 2050, and as early as May…! Wolinsky got rid of the lead pronto rapido, giving up leadoff singles in each of the first three innings. Art Bent hit one in the second, stole his way to second base, then scored on two productive groundouts. Johnson (…) opened the third with a single, Russ doubled to left, and it all came crashing down pretty quickly from there, with an Omar Sanchez gapper and another Bent single to boot, and 3-runs in total.

Watt got on, advanced on two outs, and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, which already described how active the Coons offense was; through six innings, we had three hits, and were down 5-2 once the Crusaders turned a leadoff walk to Danny Rivera, the old Indian, and two singles into a run off Bubba in the bottom 6th. Russ singled, stole second, and came home on a Sanchez single against Bob Ibold in the seventh. Willie Cruz pitched in the eighth, since there would not be any ninth innings to pitch in during this road week, and got romped for three hits and two more runs. 8-2 Crusaders. Jimenez 2-4;

Matt Waters pinch-hit in both of these games to maintain his perfect attendance record, then demanded to go into the lineup, oblique be damned, on Wednesday.

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – RF Puckeridge – P Salcido
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – RF Ceballos – 2B Haney – P Sopena

On the bright paw, Victor Salcido struck out three Crusaders in the first inning, but those three hitters were Haertling, Mark Haney, and the short-rested Sopena, after he had allowed two hits, FOUR walks, and three runs already. Matt Waters hit a first-pitch double to lead off the top 2nd and scored on productive outs by Maldo and Gonzalez to shorten the gap to 3-1, and the Coons got Puckeridge and Salcido on base to begin the third inning, but then Watt popped out and Lonzo hit into a double play. Salcido continued to pitch almost exclusively behind in the count to every batter he faced, until he started to shake out his shoulder in the fourth inning, and never found a state of comfort with that. Dr. Padilla collected him, and the Raccoons got to pitch the last 4.1 innings of Wednesday’s loss with the bullpen.

Ibold collected four outs, then was hit for with Lamotta to begin the top 6th. Lamotta singled, stole second, and came in after a Watt grounder and a Lonzo sac fly to shorten the score to 3-2. Danny Landeta dutifully collected five outs without accident while I was only waiting for a chance to release him, after which Julian Ponce entered the bottom 7th with the bags clear and two outs, and sucked the bags full before getting the third out on an Angel Lara grounder after allowing a single and two walks. And then the Coons DID tie the game…! Sopena was still pitching in the eighth, but allowed a leadoff single to Eddy Luna, who stole second, and then came around on a Puckeridge single to left-center. A Lamotta double moved the go-ahead run to third base, and Matt Watt gave the Coons the lead – with a 3-run homer to right-center! With new pitcher Taylor Stabile in, Lonzo singled, stole two bases, and scored on a Maldo sac fly for an extra run, which was given back by Ponce and Porter with three walks and a passed ball on Gonzalez in the bottom 8th… Sanchez eventually popped out to Puckeridge as the tying run, and Porter retired the Crusaders without drama in the bottom 9th, which was perhaps the most surprising bit here. 7-4 Raccoons. Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Lamotta (PH) 2-3, 2B;

Salcido and his third-best-on-team 5.46 ERA hit the DL by Thursday, after being diagnosed with a mild shoulder strain that would cost him a couple of starts. The Coons’ AAA rotation posted numbers just as ghastly as the big league boys, but we’d probably pick up 25-year-old southpaw Danny Hall (no relation to Daniel Hall; they’re not even the same skin color, the pitcher Hall being black), a 2045 third-rounder that had posted a 5.16 ERA last year in AAA, but was at 3.07 this year in five starts. He had three nice pitches, terrible control, and little stamina, which was a gruesome combo. Hall had pitched on Monday, and we’d likely bring him up for a spot start on regular rest on the weekend, then return him to AAA right away since next Thursday was a day off for the Coons. Saturday sounded like the timing would be perfect for his debut that nobody whatsoever had been looking forward to.

I asked Maud on the phone whether Danny stood for Daniel, and she said no. Apparently it’s for Dantevious.

Kids’ names these days.

For the time being, Salcido went to the DL, and the Coons brought up an extra garbage reliever in offseason pickup Eloy Sencion. The lefty was whiffing 10.1/9 and walking next to nobody in AAA, across 10.2 innings. Sencion had been part of the Willie Cruz deal with the Gold Sox and would make his debut.

Game 4
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – SS Luna – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – P Powell
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – 2B Haney – P Messer

Powell right away got stuffed four hits and three runs by the Omars, Gateses, and Garrises on the Crusaders, so that game was in the bin right in the first inning. Top 2nd, the Coons stirred with two outs, as Messer walked Ruben Gonzalez in a full count, then gave up an RBI double to Puckeridge. Ricky Lamotta singled home the rookie to shorten the score to 3-2 before the inning ended with Powell grounding out to short, but in the third inning Maldo doubled and Waters homered, both to center, making for a 4-3 lead. But apparently Waters had hurt himself on that power swing; he still played D in the bottom 3rd, but then left the game in favor of Shane Honig.

And while Powell held up at least for a little while, Maldo hit a soft single to begin the sixth and Honig then walked in the cleanup spot. Luna flew out shoddily, Gonzalez whiffed, but with two outs, Puckeridge peppered a ball into the gap between Sanchez and Garris for a 2-run double…! Up 6-3 then, Powell pitched through seven innings, allowing but a single base hit (but three walks) in the six frames after that dismal opening inning. He faced Russ, the awful rat, to begin the bottom 8th, but gave up a single. Lillis then entered, with four of the next five batters being left-handers. He walked Ramirez, was taken deep with two outs by Josh Garris, and we were tied. The Coons didn’t get past a Lamotta single in the top 9th, but Eloy Sencion made his debut in 1-2-3 style to bring about extras.

Herrera was on, and caught stealing, in the top 10th, but Preston Porter had a quick bottom 10th to extend the game. Porter’s spot then came up in the 11th after Jeff Frank had walked Luna and Puckeridge, and Lamotta had hit a shy single to right. Three on, one out, Juan Jimenez pinch-hit… straight into a double play. Hitchcock then held the Critters in the game, and Watt slapped a leadoff single against Frank in the 12th. He was moving on the 1-0 to Herrera, which old Armando bowled into the depths of centerfield for an RBI triple, thus breaking the 6-6 tie. Maldo was walked with intent, and we had no middle infielder left over to bat for the useless Shane Honig. He popped out foul, but with two outs Eddy Luna shoved another triple into the rightfield corner, and that broke up the score, 9-6, and brought in a new pitcher in Neal Hamann, who got out of the inning. Willie Cruz retired the Crusaders in order to earn a split in the series. 9-6 Raccoons. Herrera 2-6, 3B, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, BB, 2B; Waters 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Lamotta 3-5, BB, RBI;

Second series not lost this year…! Yay…!

Raccoons (10-19) @ Miners (13-15) – May 6-8, 2050

The Miners were getting pounded for the second-most runs in the FL (Coons: most in CL), which didn’t really make their fourth-most runs scored stand up in any way. They were first in stolen bases, second in OBP, but lacked power to make it really big, and actually sat in last place in a tight FL East as the Raccoons entered town. These teams had not played in FIVE years. The Raccoons had won two of three in the last meeting in 2044.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (0-5, 5.65 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (2-3, 4.19 ERA)
Danny Hall (0-0) vs. Jerry Cruz (2-3, 3.55 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-4, 6.06 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (3-2, 2.87 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Jackson was also their only southpaw on staff.

While the Miners had Joe Feltman, Tony Aparicio, Matt Cox, and Mario Briones all stowed away on the DL, the Coons now also had to deal with Matt Waters, now laboring on a back strain. He kept being labeled day-to-day, but I had a hunch his perfect attendance record would end sooner rather than later.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 3B Luna – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 2B Honig – P Merino
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – CF J. Ward – SS Soberanes – 3B Corrales – C Santa Cruz – LF Abecassis – RF Waltz – 1B Guillory – P Freels

Eddy Luna killed three singles in the top 1st with a 6-4-3 double play, and no Coons scored, and in the second inning Puckeridge singled and Jimenez doubled, but no Coons scored because Puckeridge was caught stealing before Jimenez took Bobby Freels to the grass in deep left. The Portlanders then had no hits in the next two innings, while Merino allowed one hit per inning from the start of the game, which worked out well enough until Alex Abecassis took him deep on the Miners’ sole knock in the bottom 4th, thus establishing a 1-0 Miners lead. The Miners had another single in the fifth, while the Coons had no hits, but two on in the top 6th after Lonzo walked and stole his 12th base, and Maldo was brushed by a pitch. Then Luna found another inning-slaying double play to hit into – except that Ed Soberanes missed second base and Maldo was never called out! Two in scoring position with two outs then, and Puckeridge… grounded out to Alex Vasquez anyway.

Soberanes had the Miners’ hit in the sixth, a leadoff double, before being caught stealing third base. Briefly-a-Coon Justin Waltz hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but was doubled off by Landon Guillory’s grounder to Lonzo. Jayden Ward doubled in the eighth and was stranded by Landeta eventually, so the Raccoons entered the ninth still down by only that skinny run. Southpaw Bernardino Risso would see to them. Lamotta and Jimenez struck out before Waters batted for the useless Honig, fell to 1-2, then got nailed to add to all his other pains, leaving him to drag himself to first base with a single tear running down the fuzzy cheek. Yup, there was ONE guy giving it all he had, and then another 10%. Ruben Gonzalez batted for Landeta, got ahead 2-1, then belted a bomb to left, and put the Coons ahead 2-1…!! He also had to carry Waters partway round the bases. There was no Miners hit in the bottom 9th – Willie Cruz struck out three instead. 2-1 Blighters. Maldonado 2-3; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

First Merino start not lost this year, although the W went to Landeta, his first decision as a Critter.

THREE-GAME WINNING STREAK!! I want to cover myself in Honig and run around downtown Pittsburgh naked!!

The locals might object, though, and thus we will exchange infielder Shane Honig (.111, 0 HR, 1 RBI) with John Castner, who was hitting .293 in AAA. Also optioned was Brett Lillis jr. (0-0, 6.39 ERA) to get up spot starter Danny Hall.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – 2B Castner – P Hall
PIT: CF J. Ward – RF de Luna – SS Soberanes – 3B Corrales – C Santa Cruz – LF Abecassis – 2B Stalker – 1B Guillory – P J. Cruz

Jayden Ward singled to christen Danny Hall’s career, but Hall struck out two to get out of the inning, whiffing up both Soberanes and Victor Corrales. He then got a lead when Evan Van Hoy singled home Luna in the top 2nd. The thing was, though, that Luna had only reached second base on his single on the throw to home plate with which Rich de Luna threw out Ruben Gonzalez, who had doubled, at the plate. Scoring remained low in the first half of the game; Hall did far better than expected, scattering three hits and a walk against five strikeouts for no runs in the first four innings. The Coons got Van Hoy on in the fifth, and then John Castner unpacked a 2-run homer to left that cast silence over a stunned ballpark… and Castner’s GM as well, before I started to giggle like a maniac. It was the first career home run for a guy that had collected all of 213 at-bats since making his ABL debut *five* years ago!

The inning was not over yet. With two outs, the Raccoons would get Lonzo and Herrera on base, and Puckeridge buried a ball in the left-center gap for another two runs, 5-0. Gonzalez flew out to deep left, bringing back the debutee Dantevious Hall. Jayden Ward hit a 2-out single off him in the bottom 5th, but de Luna flew out to Herrera so he now would qualify for a potential W. Hall added a scoreless sixth and a single in the top 7th to his exploits, but was forced out by Matt Watt then. He was lifted after Abecassis opened the bottom 7th on a single, with only righty hitters waiting after that and Hall on 99 pitches. Bob Ibold replaced him, and together the battery took it upon themselves to ruin Hall’s line with a wild pitch and a throwing error, allowing Abecassis to score, although the run was unearned. Castner singled home Luna to grab the run back in the eighth inning, while Hitchcock, Sencion, and Porter split the last two innings between them to extend the winning streak to four. 6-1 Raccoons. Van Hoy 2-4, RBI; Castner 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Hall 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

Neither Waters nor Maldo appeared in this game, so Lonzo was the last Coon to participate in all games this year. And Hall, as well as he pitched, didn’t hang around. Five days from now, the Coons would be off, and he was returned to hone his craft in AAA, but had surely risen a bit on the depth chart.

Replacing Hall would be OF Mikio Suzuki, who had played in a few rehab games in AAA. Suzuki had batted 3-for-7 before getting hurt in the first week of the season. The Coons thus went with 11 pitchers for the time being.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 2B Castner – P Wheatley
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – C Petroni – 3B Corrales – 1B Abecassis – CF J. Ward – SS Guillory – RF Waltz – LF Abercrombie – P B. Jackson

Lamotta singled home Herrera and Maldo in the first to give Wheats the early lead, which had not worked well at all in New York on Monday, but he gave up only two hits the first time through in this game. Corrales ticked a single in the first, and Jackson hit a single in the third, and yes, that was the pitcher, but it was also one of those annoying duck snorts that dropped between three converging defenders… Alex Vasquez hit another single to right then, but Giampaolo Petroni found a double play, 1-6-3, to hit into to kill the inning.

The Coons then tripled their lead in the fourth, despite Puckeridge being caught stealing before the 2-out train got rolling. Glodowski walked in a full count, then was tripled home by Castner, or whichever All Star pretended to be John Castner. Wheats snuck a single through the left side for his first RBI of the year, Lonzo singled to center, and Herrera was up 3-0 when he raked a double into left-center, driving in both runners. Maldo grounded out to keep it 6-0, but Castner singled home Lamotta with two outs in the fifth to tack on another run and give everybody more shrugs. Wheats gave up a run on a Guillory double, Josh Abercrombie single, and a sac fly in the bottom 5th, but we had seen worse.

Lamotta scored again in the seventh, doubling and coming around on a Puckeridge single off righty Rodger Arrendell. Glodowski, RBI-less in ’50, then ended the inning with a double play grounder to short. Guillory opened the bottom of the frame with a soft single off Wheats, but Waltz followed with a 4-6-3 double play immediately. Wheats still batted for himself in the eighth inning, which was a good sign, and had a 1-2-3 bottom of that inning, and was still on a good pace for a complete game (but obviously not a shutout). A wild pitch by Jose Colon plated Herrera for an extra run in the ninth, while Wheats was up against the 3-4-5 batters, none of them righty-handers. He rung up Corrales. He rung up Abecassis. And Jayden Ward’s grounder was easily handled by Evan Van Hoy at first base. 9-1 Critters! Herrera 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Lamotta 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, RBI; Glodowski 1-2, 2 BB; Castner 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-4) and 1-3, RBI;

Wheeeeeeats!!

In other news

May 2 – There is four runs in total between the Falcons and Thunder through 14 innings before the Falcons break out for four more in the 15th inning, eventually winning a 6-2 game.
May 6 – CHA SP Ray Thune (1-2, 3.59 ERA) gets his first W of the year in style with a 3-hit shutout over the Wolves. The Falcons win 5-0.
May 6 – IND OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.264, 4 HR, 18 RBI) is going to miss two weeks with an intercostal strain.
May 8 – Indians INF Alex de Castro (.306, 0 HR, 11 RBI) has five hits, four singles and a double, in a 3-2 loss to the Buffaloes.
May 8 – The Wolves have two hits and make four errors in a particularly dismal 5-1 loss to the Falcons.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF/1B Dario Martinez (.345, 3 HR, 21 RBI), batting .444 (12-27) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.313, 4 HR, 22 RBI), swatting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

So, who expected this team to have a 5-game winning streak? Yeah.

During the streak we scored 6.6 runs per game and allowed 2.6 runs a game. In the 27 games before that, we scored 3.6 runs per game, and served up 5.2 markers per time they put on pants. I don’t see it lasting.

Alan Puckeridge let it be known he wants his nickname be “Pucker”. (looks at Puckeridge over the top edge of the note he’s handed in) Are you sure of that? Because I drink a lot, and then certain letters all sound the same…

Puckeridge – … sorry, “Pucker”… (doesn’t like it, visibly) … is one of the few bright spots on the team. Lonzo is doing alright, but I wish he’d walk a bit more. And as a whole, I wish they’d make a few more plays defensively… Holding the Miners to three runs on the weekend did quite a bit to improve our defensive ranking (it was *that* bad), but we still are worst in runs allowed in the CL, and third-worst overall.

Next, a quick trip home to see the Pacifics, then another 2-week road trip starting in Boston.

Fun Fact: The damn Elks have allowed only 92 runs in 30 games.

We shouldn’t have taken those precious wins from the Crusaders….

Westheim · 09-09-2022, 02:15 PM

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Pacifics (12-20) – May 9-11, 2050

Here were two teams that didn’t look like they were gonna go anywhere any time soon, even though the Raccoons had won five in a row at this point, probably just to annoy me. The Pacifics had the worst rotation in the FL and were allowing the fourth-most runs, and were scoring the seventh-most runs in the Federal League. Their pen and their defense were generally very good, though. The last meeting between these teams had been in 2046, with the Raccoons winning two of three games back then.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (1-2, 4.86 ERA) vs. Marc Hubbard (1-4, 5.09 ERA)
Elijah Powell (2-3, 5.05 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (3-1, 3.57 ERA)
Victor Merino (0-5, 4.71 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (1-3, 4.22 ERA)

Two righties and a lefty in this brief homestand. The southpaw Baker was the former Raccoon. The right-hander Craig was not.

Game 1
LAP: CF Shaw – SS Andrews – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – 3B Reid – RF S. King – 2B Larsen – P Hubbard
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky

Offense was slow to begin the game, with only one hit by Scott King for L.A. the first time through, while the Raccoons had two hits, but also couldn’t get anybody across. Brent Andrews got across in the fourth inning then, reaching base on a pretty dismal throwing error by John Castner that put him on second base to begin the inning. He scored on a single by Eric Monaghan right away. That run was unearned, but the three the Pacifics tacked on in the fifth were not. David Reid (single), King (walk), and Shane Larsen (RBI double) all reached to start of the frame, and Hubbard and Joshua Shaw both had productive outs to get everybody across for a 4-0 lead. The Raccoons had both Puckeridge and Lonzo caught stealing when they were on base in the middle innings, but Shaw stole a base off Eloy Sencion in the seventh and was then singled home by Andrews to tack on another run for the Pacifics, who got a 3-hit shutout pitched by Hubbard to kill the Raccoons’ little winning streak. 5-0 Pacifics.

Game 2
LAP: CF Shaw – 2B Larsen – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 3B Reid – LF D. Wright – 1B S. King – SS Andrews – P Jon Craig
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – P Powell

Lonzo smashed a leadoff jack in the bottom 1st for a 1-0 Coons lead, quickly followed by Armando Herrera going back-to-back with him. Powell turned in two solid innings to begin the game, then turned to horse **** again in the third, which began with a walk to Brent Andrews. Craig bunted badly, forcing out the runner, and was even thrown out at home after singles by Shaw and Larsen, but Powell STILL managed to give up a run by nailing Matt Diskin and allowing a bases-loaded single to Eric Monaghan. Somehow, David Reid failed to hit a grand slam when the writing was very much on the wall and instead flew out to Suzuki to end the inning with the Coons still up 2-1.

Bottom 4th, Maldo, Gonzalez, and Suzuki all hit 1-out singles to load the bases for the Critters, who found their way into a 9-2 double play when Ricky Lamotta flew out to Diskin, and Maldo was not nearly lumbering home fast enough to score on that throwing arm, being slapped out by Monaghan to end the soggy frame. Powell managed to wiggle his way through seven innings of 6-hit ball without blowing the lead, while the Raccoons were not doing anything outside of the two early homers and the three consecutive singles that led to nothing but sadness through seven innings. Ponce and Porter handled the eighth with more competence than usual, and Willie Cruz struck out David Reid to begin the ninth, but then got chipped for singles by Dylan Wright, who was run for with speedster Victor Flores, and King. Shortstop Shane Corry was down 2-2 in the count when he hit a sharp grounder right at Waters, and the Raccoons buggered out of the affair with a 4-6-3 double play to even the series. 2-1 Blighters. Herrera 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-3);

Is that right, Maud, still 128 to play?

(sigh)

Game 3
LAP: CF Shaw – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – SS Andrews – 3B Corry – 2B Larsen – P J. Baker
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Merino

For the second time in the series, L.A. took a 1-0 lead in unearned fashion, this time with Lamotta throwing a Monaghan grounder well over Maldo at first base. Even a juicy 25-year-old first baseman wouldn’t have leapt to catch that one. When not sabotaged by his own team, Merino had a solid start to the game, striking out four batters in three innings after only getting 11 batters in 36.1 innings prior to that. Portland eventually got the game tied up with back-to-back 2-out doubles in the bottom 4th, Gonzalez and Puckeridge doing the honors, before Lamotta lined out after also hitting a rocket, but into an occupied spot.

The next inning saw Merino hit a single, but he misread the play and was thrown out at second base by Bobby Grewe. Lonzo was then nicked with two outs, stole his 14th base, and easily scored when Armando Herrera doubled over Shaw in center for a go-ahead RBI double. Baker walked Maldo and Waters, both in full counts, but Gonzalez then grounded out to Andrews to end the inning. Puckeridge and Glodowski went to the corners in the bottom 6th, but Merino rolled into a double play and nobody scored.

Merino, still winless in ’50, held out through seven innings, stranding Andrews as the tying run on third base in his last inning when he got Larsen to ground out to Lonzo. Maldo hit into the seventh inning’s double play, but at least Porter and Sencion held together in the eighth inning, getting the 9-1-2 batters in order. Meat of the order thusly for Willie in the ninth inning, and still with no cushion, because the Coons obviously thought that two runs was plenty. Monaghan struck out, Larry Rodriguez grounded out, and Scott King pinch-hit for Grewe… but still struck out. 2-1 Critters. Puckeridge 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-5) and 1-3;

Even when it’s just three games… “We scored four runs on that homestand” never sounds too great.

Raccoons (15-20) @ Titans (16-15) – May 13-15, 2050

We had won two of three from the Titans in the first go at them this year. Scoring was not their thing and they sat third from the bottom in runs in the league, but also gave up the second-fewest runs, with a +16 run differential (Coons: -27).

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 5.04 ERA) vs. Tim Steinbach (0-4, 3.35 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-3, 4.81 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (2-2, 3.93 ERA)
Elijah Powell (3-3, 4.43 ERA) vs. David Barel (4-3, 2.08 ERA)

Right, right, left once more, and thus a Southpaw Sunday!

Wheats, how come you have the worst ERA amongst our starters? – “First half” only, you promise?

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C J. Jimenez – P Wheatley
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Steinbach

Both teams loaded the bases in the second inning of the Friday opener, but the Coons brought up Wheats with two outs after a Maldo single and walks to Luna and Juan Jimenez, and he grounded out to Chris Jimenez. The Titans got three on with one out and the #8 batter Jose Rodriguez up and the Coons failed to turn two on his grounder to Lonzo, allowing the other Jimenez to score. Steinbach then popped out. Things continued to not work out for Wheats in particular or the Coons as a whole. The Critters found a double play with Puckeridge in the third inning, while Wheats brutally drilled Tony Lopez in the bottom 3rd. Nothing came of that, but he didn’t strike out anybody in three innings, then had Chris Jimenez hit a single to center, which Herrera overran for an extra base, to begin the bottom 4th. Alejandro Silva drove home Jimenez, 2-0, but Wheatley then struck out Steinbach and Jason Monson to eventually get out of that inning.

Wheatley popped out on a bunt attempt in the fifth, while Herrera opened the sixth with a single. Steinbach threw away the ball on a pickoff attempt, allowing Herrera to second base, then gave up a single to Puckeridge on the very next pitch, putting the tying runs on the corners with nobody out for Matt Waters, who was fighting both various ailments and a ghastly pile of strikeouts on his ledger. He socked a 1-0 pitch to center; Lopez caught it, but the sac fly at least cut the lead in half. Maldo came through, though, driving a ball down the leftfield line, where it eventually hit the sidewall in a funny way to fool Rodriguez, allowing Puckeridge to score from first base and tie the score. Suzuki and Luna then left the go-ahead run on second base.

Wheats fought the Titans to a 2-2 draw through seven innings, striking out six eventually from the fourth onwards after eventually finding his mojo. The Coons didn’t get past a Puckeridge single in the eighth, however, and he had to settle for a no-decision. Sencion and Hitchcock held Boston away in the bottom 8th before Adam Bates gave up a single to Suzuki to begin the top 9th, then walked Jimenez. Watt flew out on the first pitch, Lonzo whiffed, and nobody scored. Danny Landeta’s 1-2-3 bottom 9th extended the game to free baseball, and the Raccoons squeezed through Bates in the 10th, aided by a Rodriguez error on a 2-out single by Waters. Rodriguez fumbled the ball on the first bounce for an extra base, and Waters then scored on Maldo’s scratch single through the right side to break the 2-2 tie. That was all the offense to be had, and Willie Cruz got another shallow lead to defend. Jose Rodriguez grounded out to Waters, but Elias Rodriguez singled up the middle in the bottom 10th. Monson hit another roller to Waters, but the Critters only got the lead runner, allowing Nate Massey to the plate. The count ran full while Monson, a quick runner, apparently didn’t get a go sign from his bench, and never made an attempt to run. It wouldn’t have made much difference; Monson struck out eventually to give the Coons a 3-game winning streak again. 3-2 Coons. Herrera 2-5; Puckeridge 2-5; Maldonado 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

Only seven games behind the damn Elks anymore, hah!!

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – P Wolinsky
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF D. Gonzales – P Turay

Turay, the little ****** drilled the entire Coons battery in the second inning, but didn’t get penalized for it, neither with run(s), nor with an ejection and banishment for life. Eddy Luna also worked a walk in the inning, but they were all stranded when Matt Watt flew out to Monson. He added van Hoy to his list of victims in the fourth, nailing him with Luna on first and two outs, but then Wolinsky whiffed. The teams totalled five hits, all singles, through five innings, none of them for extra bases, or with a runner already on, and correspondingly you almost had to call it a pitchers’ duel, even though at least one of the pitchers was working on becoming a serial killer in broad ******* daylight.

Eddy Luna was then nailed in the sixth inning, which made it four welts and three walks offered by Turay’s ****** paws, a performance I wouldn’t even have expected from Edward Scissorhands. Wolinsky then nailed Tony Lopez with two on and nobody out in the bottom 6th, and we can not rule out that revenge was involved there.

Both pitchers were gone after seven shutout innings, Bubba allowing four singles to Turay’s three, and the only time a team reached third base was in that abortive yet infuriating top 2nd. Monson reached third against Bob Ibold in the bottom 8th after drawing a leadoff walk, but was stranded when Lopez flew out to Matt Watt. Adam Bates kept Portland from scoring in the ninth, and Hitchcock sent a scoreless game to extras while nailing Alejandro Silva in the bottom 9th; for those out there that couldn’t count that far, we were at six mauled batters by now, and still no ******* run on the board. From there, nobody reached base until Maldo hit a single in the 12th inning, but then Danny Landeta bunted badly and got him forced out, and the inning was killed more or less at that point. The Titans then walked off on Landeta in the bottom 12th with a leadoff single by Ryan Youngquist, who was run for by Jordan Giammarco, who swept second base by force, and then scored on a Silva single. 1-0 Titans. Lavorano 2-6; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Brilliant.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Powell
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Barel

The Coons went up 1-0 in the first on doubles by Lonzo and Waters, but Jeff Wheeler tripled home Monson to make up for that in the bottom 1st right away. Tony Lopez’ infield pop and Youngquist’s groundout stranded Wheeler at third base at least… Powell seemed to be scuffling, barely got through the bottom 3rd with a leadoff single by Barel, a wild pitch, and a walk to Monson, but the Raccoons got Maldo and Waters aboard to begin the fourth inning and, hey, crazy thought, how about scoring two runs in the same inning here for once?? And as if K-pop wasn’t bad enough, after Gonzalez fanned and Puckeridge scared the pigeons with a ball that was caught by Youngquist five feet from home plate, Ricky Lamotta then grounded out to Chris Jimenez to strand the runners for good. David Gonzales homered with Youngquist aboard in the bottom 4th, and the Titans got to scrawl a big red 2 on the board to take a 3-1 lead. I marked an L in my pocket schedule, then sought out the nearest stand that offered Irish brew.

While I engaged with some red-nosed locals, Powell was stuffed another five hits and a fifth-inning run and required rescue from Eloy Sencion following a Barel double in the bottom 6th. Sencion got Massey to ground out to Maldo, keeping it at 4-1 at the completion of six. Somehow the Coons brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth after Barel gave up 1-out singles to Lonzo and Herrera, but both Maldo and Waters struck out, and that was that. Ponce cocking up two runs in the bottom 8th against the bottom of the order sealed the deal. 6-1 Titans. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Waters 3-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 14 – The Gold Sox erase a 3-run deficit in the ninth inning, then pound out five runs in the 10th inning to beat the Pacifics, 13-8.
May 15 – Crusaders infielder Art Bent (.373, 1 HR, 9 RBI) smacks a 3-run homer for a 15th inning walkoff to beat the Indians, 4-1.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.337, 2 HR, 26 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Raul Sevilla (.284, 7 HR, 29 RBI), smashing .480 (12-25) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know from which end I want to skin that cat. On one paw, we had a .500 week, which usually means it wasn’t all **** and *******, but then again the Raccoons managed to play a whole week without scratching out more than two runs in regulation… EVER. Only eight runs total in six games, which Cristiano assures me is not conducive to long-term success. 16 runs allowed, which is better than you’d dare to dream about after this April, but then again … that offense. That offense!

Is there more hope in AAA? Not really. The only guy still in AAA that is hitting quite a bit is Brian Shedd, who does not really qualify as a prospect anymore (he’ll turn 28 in September) and has been in all of TWO major league games in the past four seasons. He made 18 appearances for the ’45 Coons, somehow, which is why he proudly wears a World Series ring on his sodden travels between St. Petersburg, Lubbock, and Rancho Cucamonga. Well yes, the Thunder might *claim* their AAA team plays in Anaheim, but when you look on the map it’s bloody clear they have their old sandlot out in bloody ******* RANCHO CUCAMONGA…!

So, uh, Shedd’s not the solution. I keep hawking the waiver wire. It got us… whatever the hell it is Ricky Lamotta does for a living.

From here, the Raccoons will zig-zag their way home via Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Vegas.

Fun Fact: The only regular position player waiting for the pitch in fair territory on this team with an OPS+ over 100 is Armando Herrera.

(blows)

That guy needs a new 5-year deal, I say…!

Westheim · 09-10-2022, 07:35 AM

Raccoons (16-22) @ Loggers (14-22) – May 16-19, 2050

First games with Milwaukee this year; they had lost four straight to find last place once more, but were outscoring the Raccoons with the sixth-most markers put on the board in the CL. Unfortunately, just about everybody outscored *them*, with a CL-high 5.1 runs per game against them. Their rotation had an ERA over five, and the pen wasn’t that far behind. The Coons had won the season series from the Loggers for six straight years – 13 wins last year – but things looked a lot tighter this year. And sadder, too.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (1-5, 3.95 ERA) vs. John Morrill (3-3, 6.33 ERA)
Danny Hall (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Alex Flores (0-0, 2.57 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.70 ERA) vs. Bubba Poss (2-3, 6.17 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-3, 4.14 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (3-3, 3.95 ERA)

The Victors didn’t line up, the Bubbas didn’t line up, nothing lined up here! Except Danny Hall for another spot start, probably the last one for now before Victor Salcido would return. The Loggers would sent a pair of right-handers against us, then a pair of left-handers.

Lonzo got a day off on Monday, and Waters was scheduled for Tuesday. Everybody else rotated pretty much anyway, sometimes just to get them outta sight.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – SS Luna – 3B Lamotta – P Merino
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C Nagel – P Morrill

Merino had lost his first five starts of the year, but the last two had been neat. He got spotted a lead in the second inning, which Matt Waters opened with a screaming triple. Puckeridge singled him in, and a walk to Eddy Luna and a Ricky Lamotta single against his old team loaded the bases. Merino grounded out, but brought in the second and final run of the inning, with Matt Watt whiffing after him. Ricky Lopez hit a leadoff double in the bottom 2nd, but was stranded with poor outs. The Coons then continued to crowd Morrill, who had Herrera on to begin the third, nicked Maldo, and then gave up an RBI double to Waters, who was busily clicking off parts of the cycle. Maldo and Waters were in scoring position, where they would be left with two strikeouts, a walk to Luna, and then Lamotta’s fly over to Will McIntyre…

Waters whiffed his next time up to begin the fifth, but Alan Puckeridge then powered a homer to right, the first of his career, to extend the lead to 4-0! The Loggers made up half of that on Merino in the bottom 5th, though. Nick Jackson singled, stole second, and was doubled home by Jose Delgado. Brent Allen’s 2-out single up the middle made it 4-2, and he also stole second, but was left on when Zach Suggs flew out to Watt in shallow left. Merino nicked Lopez when the sixth rolled around, but Adrian Tinoco found a double play to hit into. A walk to Nick Jackson and a David Nagel single, both in full counts, then put the tying runs on and knocked out Merino without an out logged in the bottom 7th. Bob Ibold replaced him, surrendered a run against two pinch-hitters, but retired three in a row to get the Coons to the eighth with a 4-3 lead. There, Luna and Suzuki went to the corners with singles. Lonzo batted for Watt and grounded to short, but legged out the return throw from Lopez to break up the double play and get Luna home, 5-3. Porter held the fort in the bottom of the inning, and Willie Cruz retired Jackson, Nagel, and John Wieczorek in order to put the game away for his 12th save. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-3, BB; Waters 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Luna 1-2, 2 BB; Suzuki (PH) 1-1;

Pinch-hitting maintained Lonzo’s record of appearing in all games this year.

It was roster move time then; the Raccoons had to get Danny Hall on the roster, and did so by dumping Matt Glodowski (.205, 0 HR, 0 RBI).

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 3B Luna – 2B Castner – P Hall
MIL: 3B N. Jackson – LF C. Lowe – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – CF Wieczorek – C Nagel – P A. Flores

There was an hourlong rain delay right after the first inning, so, y’know, *great*… and then the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the third when Nagel threw the ball away on a double steal attempt by Watt and Lonzo with two outs, allowing Watt to score. Alex Flores opened the bottom 3rd with a single after Herrera left Lonzo on third, was forced out by Nick Jackson, but a Chris Lowe double brought in the third-sacker and tied the score at one. Hall wasn’t as sharp as in his debut, struck out nobody the first time through, and only got Wieczorek with a K to end the fourth inning. But, well, he still had the rain to blame for messing him up, so there was that.

The rain returned in the sixth, which sugged, with Watt advancing bases on another throwing error, this time by Suggs, who sent a souvenir into the stands along the first base line to put Watt on second base with one out as the tie-breaking run. Lonzo singled to put runners on the corners, but Herrera grounded to Jackson – who bungled the ball and everybody was safe on the Loggers’ third error of the game, while Watt scored. In fact, the Loggers had made more errors than the Raccoons had found base hits at that point. Maldo whiffed, but Puckeridge had found that the feeling of whacking one deep was much to his liking and crashed a 3-run homer to right to really make those errors count, now in a 5-1 game – although all the runs were unearned as far as a soggy-looking Flores was concerned.

Minutes after the Puckeridge bomb a second hourlong rain delay broke out, ending the pitchers’ days. In a double switch (Lamotta in for Luna at third), Danny Landeta replaced him, got four outs, but put Nagel on in the bottom 7th before being lifted for Sencion, who had his first useless outing, facing two lefties in the 1-2 spots, and retiring neither, instead waving in two runs on a Jackson single and a Lowe double. Hitchcock was next, gave up an RBI double to Suggs, which sugged, but then retired Lopez and Tinoco to bugger out of the damn inning with a skinny 5-4 lead.

Top 8th, Lonzo was a terror on the Loggers, legging out a grounder off Nick Johns for an infield single, then stole his way to third base. Herrera walked, Maldo hit an RBI single, 6-4, and Puckeridge flew out to Wieczorek, but deep enough for Herrera to come home even without the ghastly throw to the backstop that Wieczorek unleased, which allowed Maldo into second base on the Loggers’ fourth error of the game. Jimenez walked, and Castner singled home a run with two outs. So, up 8-4, and two rain delays in, could we safely nurse that W across the line? (laughs)

Ibold got the ball for the eighth, but put two on, Nagel and Jack Barrington. Ponce was the next lefty to face that 1-2 pair and without retiring either one, although I tended to glare at Lonzo for dropping Jackson’s 2-out pop to fill the bags. Lowe then emptied them with a 2-2 triple over the head of Puckeridge, shaving that 8-4 lead all the way down to one ****** run again. Suggs grounded out to Lonzo, which sure sugged for the Loggers. Angelo Munoz gave up a run on a Herrera double and Maldo single in the ninth, and also walked Puckeridge, but the inning ended with a K by the pinch-hitting Mikio Suzuki. Willie Cruz was then back for the ninth, up by two. Lopez whiffed, Tinoco flew out to right, but McIntyre singled to left. Watt got to Wieczorek’s fly to left, though, ending the game. 9-7 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5; Maldonado 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Hall 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-0);

Salcido would be back in a few days and thus we no longer needed Hall and his 0.82 ERA for the moment (although he had surely been noted for good behavior). The next few days we added an extra reliever, though, adding Polibio O’Higgins for the first time this year. He had a 3.86 ERA in St. Pete.

Game 3
POR: 3B Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 2B Castner – P Wheatley
MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – CF B. Allen – RF C. Lowe – C Abrego – P Poss

Wheats walked Delgado to begin his day, with the runner advancing on a Jackson groundout, and being thrown out at home by Armando Herrera on a Suggs single. Top 2nd, Waters and Puckeridge singles, plus Lowe overrunning the latter for an error, put a pair of Critters into scoring position with one out, but Lamotta struck out, Castner walked, and Wheats flew out to Lowe to strand the full set. Herrera was stranded on third base in the third inning; he hit a double, but Waters fly to deep left was caught by Jose Delgado on the warning track to end the inning. Another leadoff walk (to Jackson) in the bottom 4th then began to dig a shallow grave for Wheats, who got dinked for three mostly soft singles and two runs by the Loggers in that inning, but then stranded Delgado after the leftfielder whacked a 1-out triple in the bottom 5th.

Lamotta hit a triple in the sixth, but his came with Gonzalez aboard and two outs, thus cutting the deficit in half. The tying run was stranded; the Loggers bypassed Castner and got a K from Wheats to kill that off. Wheatley did get off the hook though; throwing 100 pitches in six middling innings was enough for him, but Lonzo hit a leadoff single, and while he was forced out by Herrera, Waters would cash Herrera with a 2-out single to get us even at two. Gonzalez grounded out to reach the seventh-inning stretch.

Sencion had a clean seventh, but O’Higgins allowed a single to Suggs and a 2-out double to Tinoco, but Lamotta fired that ball back in rather quick and Castner relayed it to home plate in time to have Suggs and the go-ahead run slapped out by mere inches, thusly also ending the inning. The Raccoons lost anyway; Julian Ponce allowed a leadoff triple to Brent Allen in the bottom 9th, and Waters couldn’t fire it home quick enough on Lowe’s grounder, which ended the game. 3-2 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Lamotta 2-4, 3B, RBI;

Well, you can’t expect to keep a great team like the Loggers down forever…

Game 4
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – LF Van Hoy – P Wolinsky
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C Nagel – P V. Padilla

While Bubba faced the minimum the first time through, conceding a single to Jackson, but getting a double play from Nagel, the Raccoons had three singles in the first three innings, all scattered as inefficiently as possible. Allen singled off Wolinsky in the fourth, but was doubled up on a Suggs grounder, which sugged for the Loggers for sure. Herrera walked and Maldo singled in the fifth, but Waters and Gonzalez made weak outs and nothing came of that for the Portlanders. Bubba meanwhile – still facing the minimum *twice* through the order!

So who was gonna score? MAYBE the Coons, with a leadoff triple in the left-center gap by Mikio Suzuki in the seventh! Well, Lamotta was walked intentionally to get to Van Hoy, but the Raccoons sent Puckeridge to pinch-hit, but his comebacker to the pitcher kept Suzuki pinned and Lamotta forced out at second base. Bubba then fouled out while Puckeridge failed to get a steal attempt off, but Lonzo came through, driving a 2-out single through the left side to finally ******* get Suzuki home. Herrera and Maldo both flopped soft RBI singles to shallow center, and Padilla lost Waters in a full count to load the bases, but then Gonzalez grounded out.

Wolinsky retired the Loggers in order in both the seventh and eighth, while also batting again with runners on the corners in the top 8th, but this time both him and Lonzo failed to get anybody across. Herrera walked and Maldo doubled to begin the ninth, putting two in scoring position again, but all the Coons got was a Waters sac fly before Gonzalez walked and Suzuki hit into a double play. Bubba was on all of 81 pitches through eight and obviously returned for the bottom 9th against the 7-8-9 batters. Jackson popped out on the first pitch. Nagel flew out to Herrera on the first pitch. Dismal Jack Barrington singled up the middle, ruining the whole minimum thing. Delgado made the final out though. 4-0 Raccoons. Herrera 3-4, BB, RBI; Maldonado 4-5, 2B, RBI; Suzuki 2-4, BB, 3B; Wolinsky 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3);

A whiffless shutout…! The defense was sure up to snuff in this one.

O’Higgins was back to AAA after one scoreless appearance, and Victor Salcido was brought back from the DL to make a start on the weekend, and hopefully more beyond that.

Raccoons (19-23) @ Falcons (24-18) – May 20-22, 2050

All cute and stuff, but now try it against a winning team; the Raccoons were 11-4 for their last 15, but the Falcons had been pretty consistently good all year long. They were leading the CL in runs scored, but were also tenth in runs allowed, so they had to outwhack their own pitching staff to keep going. The pen was alright, but the rotation was in need of a do-over. The Coons also needed a do-over in their fortunes against the Falcons, having lost the season series four years running, each time with a 5-4 total in Charlotte’s favor.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (3-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Juan Arrocha (3-3, 4.25 ERA)
Victor Merino (2-5, 4.01 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (0-6, 6.27 ERA)
Victor Salcido (2-2, 5.46 ERA) vs. Ray Thune (3-2, 4.00 ERA)

Alrighty – all righties.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – P Powell
CHA: LF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 1B Sevilla – 3B Wilken – RF Allegood – SS Woodrome – CF Marroquin – C M. Castillo – P Arrocha

Powell drowned quickly after the Falcons loaded them up to begin the bottom 2nd. Mike Allegood legged out an infield single, Ian Woodrome and Omar Marroquin both walked, and while Manny Castillo struck out, Arrocha himself drove in two and another run scored on Danny Ceballos’ groundout for a 3-0 Falcons lead. The Coons almost made it back in the top of the third; Jimenez drew a walk and was bunted to second. A wild pitch gave him third base, and Watt singled him home. Lonzo then buried a 2-out RBI triple in left-center, shortening the score to 3-2, but when Maldo grounded up the middle, Woodrome made a lunging grab and whooped the ball to Erik Stevens for the force at second to keep the Critters from tying it up. The Falcons answered by socking Powell for four more singles and another two runs in the bottom of the inning, and while Luna brought in Puckeridge in the fourth with a groundout, 5-3, the Raccoons remained behind during Powell’s time in the game, which ended in the bottom 5th after a walk to Woodrome and a Marroquin single with two outs. Sencion got him out of the inning by retiring Castillo on an easy fly to Watt.

Bottom 6th, Sencion continued, getting Arrocha on a pop before Ceballos banged a triple to center. Sencion drilled Stevens, who was none too happy, then dashed ahead on a 3-2 pitch to Raul Sevilla, who fanned, and Jimenez zinged out Stevens for a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the inning. Could the Raccoons have a comeback after that blackout? They didn’t get back on base until Lonzo hit a 2-out single in the eighth, and that led nowhere. They were still down a pair in the ninth, facing righty Armando Romero and his 4.30 ERA, as well as an equal number of walks and strikeouts. He kept that mojo with a walk to Waters, then a K on the Aussie sensation. Suzuki hit into a fielder’s choice, but Luna scratched out a 2-out single to put the tying run on base. Herrera batted for Jimenez and walked, filling the sacks for … Van Hoy? He had pinch-hit earlier for a sad groundout and had remained in a probable loss over old man Maldo. Lamotta batted for him with three on and two outs, and grounded out to short with little fanfare. 5-3 Falcons. Lavorano 3-4, 3B, RBI;

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – LF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – P Merino
CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – LF Marroquin – CF Caballero – C Gowin – 1B Allegood – SS Woodrome – P C. Jones

Merino came in nibbling on a sub-4 ERA, but gave up four singles and two runs in the bottom 1st right away, with RBI singles to center for both Oscar Caballero and Chris Gowin. “Go Win” would be an entirely new concept for Jones, who came in with six losses in eight attempts, had a clean first, but then saw Waters reach on a Stevens error to begin the top 2nd. Waters stole second, scored on a Luna single, and Luna also stole second, but had to hold at third base when Gonzalez scratched out a single, which somehow again brought up Van Hoy and his dismal line (.222, 0 HR, 2 RBI) in a big spot, runners on the corners and one out. He popped out, Merino flew out to center, and the Coons remained behind.

Merino muddled along for five innings, giving up another run on a Caballero triple, chasing home Omar Marroquin, whom Merino had walked, and needed 101 pitches to make it even that far. The actual explosions though and what really handed the W to Chris Jones – not that the Coons were to touch him in a naughty way any time soon, or ever – was the bottom 6th, in which ****** pitching by Ponce and Hitchcock, plus an untimely error by Luna, contributed to a 5-run inning (three earned, all on Ponce), as the Falcons just kept whacking away at the hapless Critters. The game was of course over then, and the most infuriating thing was Ponce allowing singles to all three lefty hitters he faced. Jones pitched a complete-game 6-hitter, giving up a second run on a Suzuki sac fly in the ninth as if it still mattered. 8-2 Falcons. Gonzalez 2-4;

I think we’re sinking back into the stinking realm…

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – LF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – C Jimenez – P Salcido
CHA: CF Marroquin – LF Caballero – 1B Sevilla – 3B Wilken – RF Allegood – SS Woodrome – 2B E. Sandoval – C M. Castillo – P Thune

Salcido faced the minimum the first time through in his return from the DL, whiffing two, but the Coons were not a whole lot more exciting either. The first Falcons runner would be Sevilla, who got nicked, but stranded when Randy Wilken grounded out. Ian Woodrome reached on a Lamotta error in the fifth, but removed himself by getting caught stealing. Salcido had a 1-2-3 sixth, while the Raccoons got their *second* base runner in the seventh inning – and Lonzo was both of them. Lonzo had singled in the first and had been stranded, and he was nicked by Thune to begin the seventh. In between, a whole lotta nothin’! A Maldo groundout advanced the runner, but took the bat away from a scuffling Waters with an intentional walk that was hard to explain or make sense of. Puckeridge then brutalized a fastball for a screamer into the gap in right-center and a 2-run triple. Suzuki plated him with a duck snort single, 3-0, stole second – his first bag in the ABL – but was stranded eventually.

Salcido retired Caballero and Sevilla easily to begin the bottom 7th, although Wilken then hit a drive to deep right – Puckeridge caught it on the warning track, though, and the Falcons remained held to a plunked batter and one that reached on an error. Salcido began the bottom 8th on 95 pitches, which made me feel queasy, then took seven more to ring up Mike Allegood for his sixth K on the day. Two more retired Woodrome on a grounder, and then Sandoval flew out to Puckeridge rather easily, except that it took another five pitches. His pitch count was at 109 when the ninth began, with the Coons up 3-0 and Willie Cruz all warmed up and ready in the pen. Five pitches into his at-bat, Manny Castillo grounded out to Salcido. Chris Gowin pinch-hit, fell to 0-2, then hit a sharp grounder at Waters, who remained on top of the play – two out. Here was Marroquin – one more to go! One ball outside. One ball inside. The 120th pitch of the game was more middling, but a bit low, and Marroquin chomped it into the ground, bouncing it back to Salcido, who pounced, fired to first, Maldo with the snag – it’s a no-hitter!!! 3-0 Furballs!!! Puckeridge 1-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Salcido 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-2);

In other news

May 21 – NAS LF/RF Pat Stipp (.267, 3 HR, 24 RBI) hits a grand slam and a 3-piece, and brings in eight runs in total in a 16-9 shootout win over the Wolves.

FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/RF Mike Preble (.356, 10 HR, 40 RBI), bombing .423 (11-26) with 4 HR, 16 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA CF Brent Cramer (.298, 3 HR, 14 RBI), clipping .417 (10-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Victor Salcido!! **** my ***, a no-hitter!!! (giggles)

Juan Berrios – 1977
Jason Turner – 1989
Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda – 1998
Bob Joly – 2000
Jose Dominguez – 2007
Nick Brown – 2016
Jonathan Toner – 2019
Tom Shumway – 2030
Victor Merino – 2046
Victor Salcido – 2050

Our first no-hitter against the Falcons, who were last no-noed by Brian Frain of the Thunder in ’38, and haven’t had one themselves since Steve Kreider in 2015. Second no-hitter in the league this year, after Kodai Koga of Atlanta no-hit the Aces in early April.

Also curious how very few of our no-hitters have been pitched in good times. Turner’s, yes, right at the start of the our first actual dynasty, which made the first of six postseasons in eight years that season. But the Coons sucked in 1977 and 1998 and 2000, and while we posted a winning record in 2007, it was also the year we blew a 10 1/2 game lead on June 26 to the Crusaders. Brownie and Jonny pitched theirs for a strong team (but only the 2019 made the playoffs). 2030 was dim, 2050 might be dimmer. Only Merino’s no-hitter came in a season in which we actually took home a ring. We won the pennant in ’89, but then Glenn Johnston dropped Ed Parrell’s fly in Game 6 and that was that, and yes, even 50 years from now I will manage to weave that nightmare into more retrospectives.

Comparably, under the radar, but the highlight of the week prior to Sunday, Thursday marked the first-ever complete game for Bubba Wolinsky in the majors. Well, stamina isn’t his strong suit, so it sure helped that the Loggers cleaned up their own runners so thoroughly. The shutout came in his 92nd ABL start (93rd appearance). The previous time he had pitched a complete game had been in AA ball in 2042, when he spun three complete games, including his only prior pro shutout, a 5-hitter against the Arlington Rattlers.

Maldo chipped in an RBI on Thursday to become the first Critter this year to reach the all-too-lofty *20* mark. Man, good thing that game *only* marked the first quarterpost… And that’s still the mark after 45 games. The team homer lead is *three*. Ironically, that’s also the highest wins total for any pitcher on staff. Danny Hall has made two starts and is one win behind the lead…

Next week then? MAYBE another no-hitter, perhaps even somebody hitting a fourth home run, but definitely the Aces in Vegas and the Thunder in our little corner of the woods.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons now have two Victors in the rotation that both spun a no-hitter in a 3-0 road win.

Merino did so four years ago against the Titans in Boston, also in his second “real” season, outside of all the spot starts and cups of coffee.

The Raccoons are also the first team to pitch ten no-hitters. Somehow nobody else has even more than six. The Stars are the only team with ten cycles (Coons: seven), but there’s more competition in that category.

Westheim · 09-11-2022, 08:10 AM

2050 DRAFT POOL

The Raccoons would have the #14 pick in every round of the 2050 draft, plus a pair of supplemental round picks after the first round. With that, we intended to assemble the Portland Futures! …because, as you know, the Portland Currents are all a bit meh.

112 players had been lined up on our shortlist for interesting draft targets, and of course there was also the annual hotlist again with a dozen-or-so of the most attractive looking lottery tickets of them all (*denotes high school player):

SP Tyler Riddle (13/12/15) * – BNN #3
SP Kenneth Spencer (11/13/11) *
SP Brian Fuqua (12/14/11)
SP Antonio Arias (11/11/15) * – BNN #1
SP Craig Kniep (13/12/7) *

CL Steve Watson (17/12/10)

1B Zach Johnson (9/13/16) * – BNN #7
1B Mario Delgadillo (12/12/12) *
2B Mike DeFusco (11/11/10) – BNN #2

OF Dan Martin (10/11/14) – BNN #10
UT Jeremy Lindauer (11/12/12) – BNN #6
OF/1B Bill Hartman (13/9/11) – BNN #5
UT Mark Younce (16/2/7)

I have a hard time picking a favorite hear, but the nice thing is that they number 14, so the Raccoons are assured to get any one of them.

Some are peculiar though, like Zach Johnson, who is a defensive liability at 17 years old, also pitches, but badly, and is quite the diamond in the rough. Lindauer and Younce both play multiple infield and outfield positions, and everybody knows I’m a sucker for that. Both are right-handers, both are speedy – they’re like twins, if you draft them both you’ll never be able to tell them apart.

Westheim · 09-12-2022, 03:11 PM

Raccoons (20-25) @ Aces (16-28) – May 24-26, 2050

While the Raccoons had issues, the Aces probably had more; they were bottoms in runs scored (3.6 per game) *and* runs allowed (5.2 a game). Worst defense, worst rotation by ERA, second from the bottom in batting average. It was rough watching! Wouldn’t it been nice to actually win a season series from them? We had not done so since 2047, dropping five of nine games each of the last two years.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.53 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (1-6, 6.50 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (2-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Dave Saldivar (3-5, 4.20 ERA)
Elijah Powell (3-5, 5.09 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (4-2, 3.78 ERA)

After a common off day on Monday, we’d see a righty on Tuesday, then two southpaws. I didn’t see much reason to artificially move up Marty Madera, who had lost all but one of his 10 starts, had a 6.52 ERA, and would be fourth in line.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – P Wheatley
LVA: CF Cramer – 3B Welter – RF Austin – 1B Witherspoon – C Weese – LF van de Wouw – SS R. Ramos – 2B Landstrom – P Broad

RBI singles by Waters and Gonzalez gave the Coons a 2-0 lead after Matt Watt opened the game with a walk and Maldo snuck a double into leftfield, but Larry Broad would tie the game himself with a first-pitch, 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom 2nd even after the Raccoons walked Josh Landstrom intentionally when two runners were already in scoring position. Brent Cramer then struck out with Wheats noticeably mad at himself.

Waters doubled in the third, but got no help; Suzuki doubled to left in the fourth and Eddy Luna at least found a single, putting runners on the corners with one gone for Wheats, who smacked the first pitch from Broad up the middle now for an RBI single to take that damn lead back. Matt Watt grounded to short, but Rafael Ramos threw the ball past Landstrom for an error, loading the sacks for Lonzo, whom Broad simply nailed to push home Luna with a run, 4-2. Maldo popped out, Waters grounded out, and even in their 46th game of the year, the Raccoons were still looking for somebody to get past that mighty 20 RBI speed bump.

Ramos singled to begin the bottom 4th, stole second, and eventually scored on a sac fly by Gary Tabano, batting for Broad already. Another thick chance for the Coons developed in the fifth against Jayden Woods, who nicked Gonzalez with one out, then gave up a double to right to Suzuki, putting two in scoring position. Luna got four wide ones and pointers to first base, to bring back Wheats, who already had an RBI single in the game, as well as still sufficient steam under his head over his own mistakes (6 H, 3 ER in 4 IP), but flailed himself back to the bench. Matt Watt grinded out a walk in a full count, however, restoring that 2-run lead, but Lonzo grounded out, and a walk to Aubrey Austin and a Kevin Weese homer tied the game at five in the bottom of the same ******* inning. Porter and Ponce then imploded for another five runs in the bottom 6th; Porter put everything on base that had legs, and Ponce then gave up a grand slam to Sam Witherspoon, basically. Watt, Lonzo, and Maldo all hit 2-out singles off Efrain Estrada in the seventh, but Waters grounded out to Witherspoon with the bags full, and that was the ballgame. 10-5 Aces. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-6, 2B; Waters 2-6, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, RBI; Suzuki 2-5, 2 2B; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – LF Watt – P Wolinsky
LVA: 2B R. Ramos – SS Holbrook – C Weese – RF Austin – CF J. Harris – 1B Witherspoon – 3B Welter – LF van de Wouw – P Saldivar

The Aces lineup had five right-handers on top, then four left-handers at the bottom, which was … odd, but they had just clomped us for two pawsful, so what the **** did I know about baseball?

The Aces had a Witherspoon triple in the bottom 2nd, but Jeremy Welter’s 1-out pop contributed to ruin the inning, but Welter would later drive in the game’s first run in the bottom 4th with a 2-out, 2-strike RBI single to get Aubrey Austin across. The Coons had two hits the first time through, including a Wolinsky single, and didn’t get anywhere near to third base. By the fourth, we lost Suzuki to injury (again), and by the fifth Wolinsky ceased to retire… anybody, really. Saldivar opened with a single up the middle, and Ramos swiftly smacked a double. Steve Holbrook walked, followed by two RBI singles for Kevin Weese and Aubrey Austin, 3-0, although Holbrook tried to get around on Austin’s single to right, and was thrown out by Alan Puckeridge, Suzuki’s replacement. Jonathan Harris’ triple then made it a 5-pack on another Raccoons starter anyway. Welter singled him home with two outs, 6-0. Worst offense in the league, my ***. A run fell out of Landeta in the sixth, but the Coons actually scored (!) in the eighth on Matt Watt getting smitten with a fastball, and singles by Castner and Maldo – oh, so someone finally DID get over 20 RBI! I almost enjoyed myself dead over that one…

And then an actual rally started in the ninth, with two outs, as Evan Van Hoy singled in the #7 spot when we were just about to empty our silly bench before the game was out so everybody could have a share of the misery. Watt and Castner singled two, the latter driving in a run, and then Luna smacked a 2-run double from the #1 hole (there had been *a few* double switches…). The Aces went to a new pitcher there in closer Jose Santamaria, who faced only Herrera, who grounded over to Holbrook – who peppered the ball into the stands for a 2-base, run-scoring error, and Santamaria then left injured (probably a stroke). It was then 7-5, and Maldo came up as the tying run against lefty B.J. Brantley. He singled, putting the tying runs on the corners for Waters, who at 3-2 grounded out to Landstrom. 7-5 Aces. Luna 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 3-3, RBI;

I think we can add Vegas to the list of places where nothing good ever happens to the Raccoons, next to the Bay, Boston, British Columbia, and Bloody Portland itself.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Powell
LVA: CF Cramer – 3B Welter – RF Austin – 1B Witherspoon – C Weese – SS Holbrook – LF F. Rojas – 2B Landstrom – P Washington

Single, single, single, homer – after Witherspoon’s 3-spot in the bottom 1st the Aces were up 4-0 without making a single ******* out. The Raccoons went on to pile up errors, one by Waters, one by Powell, who allowed another run in the bottom 4th after a leadoff triple by Felix Rojas, thus making it 3-for-3 in getting a five-punch from the worst offense (my ***) in the league. What did that say about our pitching again?

On offense the Raccoons had five hits in four innings and enough double plays and silly pops to short to not grab any runs that far, or in the next two innings either. Armando Herrera doubled home a pair in the seventh inning, but those runners (Castner, Lonzo) had reached on an error and on getting plunked… But then there was only Lonzo reaching on a single in the ninth inning, and he never got off first base before the game ended. 5-2 Aces. Herrera 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Lamotta 2-4;

Woof.

Raccoons (20-28) vs. Thunder (30-16) – May 27-29, 2050

After that waffling, the Thunder could hardly do anything that would shock me in this weekend set. They were in first place anyway, the Raccoons were rapidly racing the Loggers for bottoms in the North, and we had already lost two of three to the Thunder in April. Oklahoma was fourth in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, but their +22 run differential still beat the Coons’ -40 by a country mile.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (2-6, 4.14 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (5-1, 2.94 ERA)
Victor Salcido (3-2, 4.24 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (6-3, 3.76 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.88 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (4-4, 4.82 ERA)

Third straight lefty to begin the set, then two right-handers to finish the week.

Mikio Suzuki also hit the DL (again) on Friday, this time with a sprained ankle that would keep him out until the second half of June. Have some Matt Glodowski, everybody, batting .324 in nine games back in St. Pete.

Game 1
OCT: C Adames – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – LF Humphreys – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 3B Adame – CF M. Allen – P V. Marquez
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Lamotta – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Merino

The Friday series opener saw another first-frame 4-spot on the hapless Raccoons, with Merino getting smacked around for four hits and runs each, although a Maldo error at the very beginning of the game that put Jesus Adames on base made three of the runs unearned. Adames, Jonathan Ban, and Steve Humphreys loaded the bags in the second inning, but Merino eloped that time with a K to Juan Benavides, but Benavides got back at him with a leadoff jack in the fifth inning that would Merino give his own 5-spot in five innings or less. Merino became the first pitcher this week to actually see the sixth, but hardly sparkled, walking Mike Allen to lead off and then getting a bunt from Marquez, who was still firing a 1-hit shutout, before getting yoinked.

Marquez nicked Lonzo in the bottom 6th, and Lonzo took his 20th base off him out of spite, then was singled home by Armando Herrera, who was about the last guy stirring in that lineup. And then? Then Landeta, the ex-Thunder, walked the bags full in the top of the seventh, and allowed all the free runners to score on singles by ex-Coon Alex Adame and Mike Allen. It was so hard to watch, I climbed into the XXXL box of donuts Maud had brought in, and closed the lid behind me in another 8-1 drubbing. That was before two unearned runs were beaten out of Eloy Sencion, with a 2-base error by Glodowski really fueling the Thunder offense to begin with. By this game we had to use Willie Cruz in a 9-run blowout just to make ends meet in the shudderworthy bullpen, and at least he struck out the side in the ninth inning… Singles by Maldo, Jimenez, and Gonzalez would load the bases against Marquez in the bottom 9th, but Puckeridge’s 4-6-3 double play gave him a 101-pitch complete-game 8-hitter after all. 10-1 Thunder. Lavorano 1-2; Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 1-1;

Maud, stop knocking on the lid of the donut box! I’m not coming out again! – Actually, Maud can you slip my bottle of One-Eyed Jack’s in here? – Thanks, Maud, you’re my favorite!

Whoever’s tickling my tail out there, stop it! I can’t help it hanging out, it won’t fit in the box!!

Game 2
OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF M. Allen – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – C Burnham – LF Harmon – P Lehman
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Salcido

Salcido had pitched that no-hitter his last time out, but I’d be entirely content with seven innings and two runs for now. Well. Walking Allen, whacking David Worthington, and a Lonzo error put one on board in the top 1st, but at least Herrera ran down Ryan Cox’ drive to deep center to end the inning with two still aboard. Only down 1-0 in the first – ******* progress!! Armando Herrera homered to get the Coons back into a tie in the bottom 1st, and in fact Herrera would make plus catches to end each of the first three inning, stranding a total of five runners that might have crept onto Salcido’s ledger. What a nice change of pace – not quite getting to hit them were a brownshirt stands, but at least where your 36-year-old centerfielder can reach them at breakneck pace….

Like Wheats on Tuesday, Salcido drove his own lead In the bottom 4th, chipping an RBI single to center after Lehman carelessly walked both Gonzalez and Luna with two outs. Watt grounded out to strand a pair, and Worthington and Ban doubles tied the damn game immediately in the fifth. Salcido tagged on two more innings without coughing up more runs, which technically gave me what I despondently had asked for at the start, but him only a no-decision, for the Raccoons being unable to score. Ponce held the game tied in the eighth (!), but Willie Cruz now broke, walking Allen and getting bombed by Worthington in the ninth. In turn, another ex-Coon, Mike Lynn, saved the game for Oklahoma… 4-2 Thunder. Salcido 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-3, RBI;

Sometimes I wonder whether any of them buggers would still be alive if Kisho Saito and his ceremonial sword were still pitching on the Critters…

Game 3
OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF M. Allen – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – C Adames – LF Harmon – P Hendrix
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – 1B Van Hoy – P Wheatley

The week was gonna end, but the sucking wouldn’t. Wheatley gave up three hits, three walks, and three runs in the first after retiring the leadoff man Angel Montes de Oca, then none of the next six batters. Lamotta singled and Luna homered in the bottom 2nd to narrow the gap a little bit, but Wheats just cocked up another run right away, nailing Jesus Adames with a 1-2 pitch with two outs, then gave up the run on a Mike Harmon double into the gap in right-center. A Benavides homer in the fifth left him with the usual line for a Raccoons starter this week – five runs in five frames. Sometimes more of one and less of the other. Or for Wheats, more of both – he came back for the sixth, allowed a single to Harmon, threw away Hendrix’ bunt, and then surrendered another single to Montes. Harmon went home and was thrown out by Puckeridge, but Mike Allen singled the other runners home against Eloy Sencion when he replaced a smothered Wheatley.

And the rest of the miscreants? Lonzo hit a leadoff homer in the bottom 6th, reducing the gap to 7-3, but not much happened after that. Bob Ibold struck out the 1-2-3 batters in order in the eighth, which was neat, but the ship had sailed a while back by then. Lonzo knocked out Hendrix with a leadoff double to left in the bottom 8th, but was nevertheless stranded right at second base. Luna singled off Willie Maldonado in the bottom 9th, but was doubled up by John Castner, who was useless even *while* batting .333 … 7-3 Thunder. Lavorano 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4; Luna 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

May 25 – The Scorpions suffer a two-way flogging against the Miners, amounting to just two hits against PIT SP Marcos Nabo (2-6, 6.33 ERA) while getting romped for 15 runs in the shutout themselves. It’s never close – 11 runs score in the second inning alone.
May 25 – DEN INF/RF Rick Price (.311, 2 HR, 22 RBI) socks his first two home runs of the season and walks four times, bringing in six RBI in an 18-7 blasting of the Cyclones.
May 26 – ATL CL David Hardaway (5-1, 1.90 ERA, 7 SV) will miss two weeks after suffering an oblique strain during what the team calls “a workout” and the tabloid Daily Outrage labels “rough horsing around with his mistress”.
May 28 – A broken thumb will keep DAL INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.207, 1 HR, 14 RBI) out for at least a month.
May 29 – SAL 3B Ricky Jimenez (.270, 2 HR, 29 RBI) hits a home run for the only marker on the board in a 1-0 Wolves in over the Cyclones.

FL Player of the Week: DEN INF/RF Rick Price (.337, 2 HR, 23 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.372, 1 HR, 26 RBI), slapping .522 (12-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I had to look this up, but I think the technical term for what the Raccoons did with this week was “schlonzing”. In short, nothing worked. Everybody* sucked. And they should all* be drowned in a river. And the Willamette is RIGHT THERE, so what’s stopping me?

I will make an exception for Salcido (ND!), Lonzo, and Herrera (both .318 with a homer each). The rest was just wholly awful. Although, Salcido needs a talking-to as well. He’s TOTALLY ruining the chemistry in the rotation, because take this string of pitching lines:

5 IP, 5 R/ER
5 IP, 6 R/ER, L
5 IP, 5 R/ER, L
5.1 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, L
7 IP, 2 R, 1 ER
5.1 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, L

Completely ruining any harmony there! Too much excellence! He needs trading to the Buffos.

And the offense? Schlonzing it so good that Maldo’s 21 RBI still lead the team. In fact, Lonzo is in no way excelling in stealing bases (he’s been thrown out 11 times in 31 tries), but we’re that close to having the team leader in stolen bases outdo the team leader in RBI at the end of May. And don’t get me started on the team home run lead of THREE.

THREE!!

Blargh. And now another road trip to the damn Bay and Indy. Although, if you stay away from home during these seasons, the kids in the other cities usually don’t recognize you on your way home from another 10-2 waffling at the old ballpark and yell “Coons suck! You suck!” at you.

Fun Fact: There is no fun.

There’s only schlonzing.

(gets puffed by Maud with the elbow)

Fine! Here’s a neat one. (clears throat)

Fun Fact: Danny Hall made all of two starts, but is t-2nd in salary per WAR on the team.

That’d be $544k per WAR, twice his minimum salary with 0.5 WAR. Salcido – on more starts, mind – has the same values. Only Lonzo beats them, bringing in precisely his minimum salary of $272k with 1.0 WAR. Only Wolinsky, Sencion, and Puckeridge are even under $1M per WAR, and three of those six ******* started the season in AAA!!

Waters and Maldo don’t show up on the list at all, because Steve from Accounting tells me that dividing by zero is really really hard and we can’t even handle the Aces…

Westheim · 09-13-2022, 03:34 PM

Raccoons (20-31) @ Bayhawks (26-25) – May 30-June 1, 2050

After getting drowned like a really unwanted set of newborn farm cat kittens the week before, the Raccoons’ reward was a trip down to the Bay, where nothing good ever happened, and the season effort against the Bayhawks was already well off at 1-2. San Francisco was third in the South, eight games out, with the second-best offense, but second-worst pitching, with a -14 run differential (Furballs: -55). They were without some key contributors like starter Craig Czyzszczon and position players Ken Crum and Mike Roberts, all on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (2-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (2-3, 5.03 ERA)
Elijah Powell (3-6, 5.43 ERA) vs. Chih Ke (3-3, 3.55 ERA)
Victor Merino (2-7, 4.07 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (5-4, 5.07 ERA)

Only righties in that rotation!

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky
SFB: 2B Quiroz – CF G. Pena – 3B R. Sifuentes – 1B Copeland – SS McCutcheon – C Harvey – RF P. Colon – LF Fink – P Cantrell

Wolinsky survived a lot of things early on, including a 2-base throwing error by Waters in the first, a 2-base throwing error by Luna in the second, and conceding a leadoff single to the ******* opposing pitcher and nailing Gustavo Pena in the third – none of those runs scored. But neither did the Critters. Maldo hit a double in the first, but was stranded, and after that it took until the fifth for Gonzalez and Puckeridge to club leadoff singles, only to get stranded by a Luna pop to short and a Castner double play grounder. Same inning, Cantrell went to 2-for-2 against Bubba, but was doubled up by Sergio Quiroz, and we remained scoreless. Weird game, this one.

Bottom 6th, things finally seemed to fall into place. Bubba threw eight balls in a row to Gustavo Pena and Ramon Sifuentes to start the inning, and then Sebastian Copeland singled. Lee McCutcheon hit a comebacker that Bubba turned into a 1-2-3 double play, though, and Aaron Harvey grounded out to third base, keeping everybody well off the board. Ruben Gonzalez opened the seventh with a single, but then was doubled off by Puckeridge, and Wolinsky finished seven shutout innings on 107 pitches, but for no greater reward than a sub-4 ERA. Kevin Hitchcock was then taken deep to left by Sifuentes in the bottom 8th, and I felt like that was gonna be the L, but the Bayhawks left Cantrell out there for a leadoff single by Herrera in the ninth, and only then brought on Josh Livingston to close it out, except that he didn’t. Maldo made an out, but Waters slapped an RBI triple to right, Gonzalez walked, and Puckeridge’s grounder to second was at least good enough to not turn two on it, and Waters scored with the go-ahead run. Willie Cruz then blitzed the Bayhawks away in the bottom 9th; Mark Cahill lined out softly to Waters on the first pitch, and Joe Ritchey and Chris Robinson both struck out. 2-1 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-3, BB; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K;

Ends an 0-6 string that was rather depressing!

Game 2
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Van Hoy – 2B Castner – P Powell
SFB: 1B Copeland – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF G. Pena – 2B McCutcheon – CF Fink – P Ke

The Coons put up a pair in the second on doubles by Gonzalez, Van Hoy (!), and Castner (!!), one to each field, while Powell had nothing better to do than walk the bags full in the bottom 2nd before Chih Ke bounced into an inning-killing 6-4-3 double play. Lonzo and Lamotta hit into double plays for Portland in the next two innings, but the game was otherwise rather calm, also assisted by the Raccoons having no hits through five innings except for their three doubles in the second. Powell gave up a run, finally, when Joe Ritchey doubled home Todd Dau in the bottom 5th, but struck out Sifuentes to strand the tying run on second base.

When Lonzo opened the sixth with a single and stole second base, the Coons’ team RBI and SB leads were for a minute identical at 21, but then Maldo uncorked a blaster to right to extend the lead to 4-1, which also had the nice effect of lifting the Coons’ homer lead past ******* THREE before May ran out of juice altogether.

Powell pitched six busy, but ultimately not unsuccessful innings before yielding for Preston Porter, who got rid of the Bayhawks on ten pitches in the seventh, but Bob Ibold put runners on the corners by the time there were two gone in the eighth. With left-handed batter John Fink up, the Raccoons poignantly went to Eloy Sencion rather than Julian Ponce, and Sencion got a K … against the pinch-hitter Harvey after Fink knocked an RBI single. Better than a slam… Bottom 9th, Hitchcock got the ball, since Willie Cruz had been out three of the last four days, often pointlessly. Copeland flew out. Dau grounded out. Sean Suggs whiffed, which sure sugged for San Fran. 4-2 Critters. Gonzalez 3-4, 2 2B; Van Hoy 2-4, 2B, RBI; Powell 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, W (4-6);

Winning streak to end the month of May, wheee!

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Merino
SFB: 2B Quiroz – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF Ritchey – 1B Copeland – CF P. Colon – LF Fink – P Nolte

Maldo singled, Puckeridge doubled, and they came in on a Gonzalez groundout and a 2-out single chopped up the middle by Merino for a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Joe Ritchey took half of it away again with a solo homer in the bottom 2nd, while the following inning was led off by John Fink with a double to right. Merino wild-pitched him to third base after getting a K from Nolte, then walked Sergio Quiroz – who was caught stealing – and then walked Dau as well. Suggs somehow popped out rather than making Merino meat a grisly end, and the Raccoons remained owners of a 2-1 lead. Sifuentes and Copeland went to the corners on a walk and single, respectively, but then Pedro Colon killed that bottom 4th with a double play bouncer to Waters.

Top 5th, Luna swatted a leadoff double to left. Merino’s grounder advanced him, but Watt’s did not. Lonzo came through with an RBI single, though, then stole second, and scored on another 2-out single by Herrera, 4-1. Merino pitched solidly into the eighth then without finding much trouble, until he found much trouble there. He walked Dau on four pitches with one gone, then gave up an RBI double to Suggs, which sugged, and also cut the lead to 4-2. Porter came on, gave up an RBI double to Sifuentes, but Ritchey popped out. Two gone, Mark Cahill pinch-hit for Copeland, and the Raccoons went to Sencion again, and got a K on three pitches to bugger out of the inning. Now, while Sencion came on in a double switch with Van Hoy to replace Maldo in the #5 hole, the Raccoons didn’t actually leave him in for the bottom of the ninth with a 4-3 lead and went back to Cruz, even though the first two batters were left-handers. None of them reached base, with Colon grounding out and Fink getting robbed by Watt in left-center. Lee McCutcheon though singled when the Baybirds were a strike away from getting swept. Willie Cruz hung the K on Quiroz instead. 4-3 Raccoons. Herrera 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-4;

Raccoons (23-31) @ Indians (24-26) – June 3-5, 2050

The Indians were weird; they were average in scoring runs, but in the top 3 in preventing runs to the opposition, with a +33 run differential, and yet they were just under .500 at the start of June. Was there potential there? If so, they had to get going quick. And they were 4-2 on the Raccoons in 2050.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (3-2, 3.80 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (2-2, 4.31 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-5, 5.29 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (6-1, 2.45 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (2-4, 3.68 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (3-6, 4.48 ERA)

Both teams had been off on Monday, but the Indians didn’t have a lefty starter anyway right now. Another righty, Enrique Ortiz, was on the DL, along with position players Angel Mendez, Aaron Brayboy (snort!), and Juan Arguello.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – P Salcido
IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – LF R. White – C Poindexter – 1B Briscoe – P Medvec

Who were all these people in the lineup?? Anyway. Three Indians reached the first time through against Salcido, two singles to center and a walk there, but the Raccoons were up 2-0 on Puckeridge’s third homer of the year, which also chased home Gonzalez. The Coons added two more in the top 3rd, which saw Herrera single, Maldo tickle the wall in left with a double, and then the runs scoring on a Waters sac fly and a Gonzalez single, and Lonzo singled home Luna, both of whom also stole second base in the inning, to make it 5-0 in the fourth. Manny Poindexter drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th after Merino had put up two 1-2-3 innings, but then was doubled off, 3-U, on a Joe Briscoe liner to Maldonado. Medvec whiffed, and Salcido saw the minimum on that second run through the lineup.

To begin the bottom 6th, Allen Ragen singled, and Salcido walked Bill Quinteros with one out, but then got a double play grounder from Bobby Anderson, ending the inning 6-4-3 style. In turn, three singles off Medvec and Miguel Herrera snapped by Waters, Puckeridge, and Lamotta brought in the 6-0 run in the seventh, and another single by Luna loaded the bases, but Salcido batted for himself and struck out. He was on shutout pace at that point, throwing 72 pitches for a 3-hitter through six. He retired another six in a row on 19 more pitches, while the Coons tacked on a pair in the eighth, where briefly the team stolen base lead actually *eclipsed* the RBI lead when Lonzo stole his 24th base of the year, only to then being doubled home by Maldonado for the veteran’s 24th RBI. Waters then socked home Maldo with a sharp single. So the lead was ample for Salcido in the bottom 9th, but the 2-3-4 batters were up. De Castro grounded out on the first pitch. Quinteros worked out a walk, though, and so did Bobby Anderson, and worse, in a full count. Salcido had to get an out from Acosta or would be lifted – but threw another four balls, and that gave the baseball to Ponce, who tried to give up another grand slam to Rusty White, but Herrera tracked the ball down just shy of the 420’ mark in dead center to hold him to a sac fly, and Waters remained master of a sharp Poindexter grounder to end the game. 8-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Waters 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Luna 2-4, BB; Salcido 8.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, W (4-2);

All our position players had at least one hit, and we poured out 15 in total on the way to a 4-game winning streak.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – P Wheatley
IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – LF R. White – C Poindexter – 1B Briscoe – P Brink

On two singles and a walk, the 2-3-4 hitters for Portland filled the bases in the first inning, with one run each scoring on a Gonzalez single, a Puckeridge sac fly, and a wild pitch thrown by Brink before Lamotta whiffed to end it there with Gonzalez left on second. The 2-3-4 hitters were on base again in the top of the third, then on a hit batter, single, and error. This time only one run came in on Gonzalez’ 6-4-3 grounder, with Puckeridge flying out to Quinteros in deep right. And Wheats? No hits the first time through! …unfortunately… four hits in the bottom 4th. De Castro and Quinteros opened with singles, Anderson’s grounder scored one, Rusty White’s double scored another, and Poindexter somehow legged out an infield single before Briscoe popped out to Puckeridge in shallow left to strand the tying runs on the corners. Somehow, teams kept bunching them up against him. The Indians had nobody on in the fifth, but Acosta and White hit singles in the sixth before Poindexter stranded them with a grounder to short.

The Coons hadn’t done anything in the middle innings but Lamotta singled and Luna walked to begin the top 7th. Wheats bunted them into scoring position, but a poor grounder by Lonzo and a standard F8 from Herrera kept them stranded. Wheats made it through seven with some hard work, only for the riffraff in the bullpen to almost undoing it in the eighth. Landeta put on two, Sencion conceded one on a Poindexter single, but got out of the inning against Briscoe. But don’t you worry – Willie Cruz threw just six pitches in getting rid of the Arrowheads in the ninth to extend the winning streak to five…! 4-3 Critters. Herrera 2-3; Maldonado 2-4; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (3-5);

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – RF Glodowski – P Wolinsky
IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C M. Gilmore – LF R. White – 2B A. Rios – 1B Briscoe – P E. Ortiz

Ortiz (2-5, 4.08 ERA) came off the DL for this start, and the last time a guy had come off the DL in a Coons game, he fired a no-hitter. Puckeridge singled before the Indians could get ideas, but they were also up 1-0 when Wolinsky failed to retire any of the first three batters he faced, and ended up surrendering an early first-inning run. Bubba remained busy with plenty of Arrowheads on the basepaths in the first five innings, as he conceded five hits, two walks, and there were two errors, including one by the pitcher on an errant pickoff attempt on Antonio Rios in the fourth. The Indians also found two double plays, though, and with the Raccoons being 2-hit through five by Ortiz, it remained a 1-0 game. The Indians only scratched out a second run in the seventh and Wolinsky’s final innings, with de Castro singling home his own pitcher, who had smacked a 1-out double. Another 1-2-3 inning for the Critters in the top 8th was followed by Ibold and Ponce combining for a quick bottom 8th, but all that did was to get John Steuer in with a 2-0 lead against the thick of the order (allegedly) in the top of the ninth. Maldo grounded out. Waters flew out. Puckeridge struck out. 2-0 Indians.

In other news

June 4 – DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.313, 7 HR, 39 RBI) is a write-off for the season with a torn labrum.
June 5 – WAS SP Sean Fowler (3-4, 3.95 ERA) will be out for three months with a case of rotator cuff inflammation.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.361, 10 HR, 44 RBI), socking .409 (9-22) with 4 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL INF Zach Suggs (.288, 7 HR, 34 RBI), hitting .393 (11-28) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.358, 8 HR, 36 RBI), raking .396 with 7 HR, 24 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.367, 1 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .409 with 1 HR, 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Nick Whetsell (9-0, 1.88 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 2.09 ERA, 29 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Jeff Johnson (8-0, 1.41 ERA), throwing up a 4-0 mark with 1.29 ERA, 26 K
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN CF/LF Jose Gutierrez (.318, 2 HR, 22 RBI), batting .313 with 2 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: ATL INF Matt Housey (.349, 2 HR, 18 RBI), poking .385 with 1 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(shrugs) I don’t know what they’re doing! They are redefining what “streaky” means at the very least though. After last week’s 0-6, now a 5-1, and even a modicum of offense would have been enough to make it 6-0 on Sunday. Wasn’t meant to be, but the plus side of that is that now we can’t have a winning streak shattered by the big dumb Elks when they come in on Tuesday. Also next week: the Cyclones.

I got a complaint from Julian Ponce, who thinks he should be the closer. Well, and I think he should be confined to an insane asylum, but that’s just opinions, aren’t they?

We are preparing for Draft Day, which is only a week and a half away. Some pitchers were moved around at the start of June (but that anticipated promotion for Rafael de la Cruz to AAA has not come; it’s not *quite* the time yet), and a few position players canned from the lower levels, of which 2044 fifth-rounder Travis Futch and 2047 tenth-rounder Jarod Nardine were the most significant ones.

Fun Fact: We still have nobody with five homers.

…and the stolen base lead remained equal to the RBI lead through the weekend, which is just shambolic.

…which gets me here:

Fewest home runs to lead the Raccoons in any given season:

Clyde Brady (2006) – 12
Adrian Quebell (2006) – 12
Craig Bowen (2011) – 12
Adrian Quebell (2011) – 12
Ralph Nixon (1981) – 14
Tetsu Osanai (1991) – 14
Justin Perkins (2032) – 14
Clyde Brady (2000) – 15
Royce Green (1995) – 16
Neil Reece (1998) – 17
Terry Kopp (2026) – 17
Manny Fernandez (2040) – 17
Manny Fernandez (2042) – 17
Wyatt Johnston (1978) – 18
Travis Zitzner (2034) – 18
Cesar Gonzalez (1999) – 19
Gil Rockwell (2022) – 19
Elias Tovias (2023) – 19

Getting there!

Westheim · 09-15-2022, 05:41 PM

Raccoons (25-32) vs. Canadiens (37-16) – June 7-9, 2050

Oh boy, was I not in the mood to face the damn Elks right now. They had already swept us in four games in their stupid ballpark, and now we had to contend them for three days at home. They allowed the fewest runs in the league, under 3.3 per game, and by then, even scoring just the fifth-most markers was good enough to lead the North. They arrived without two position players that were on the DL, one of which was ex-Coon Bryce Toohey, hitting .204 with four homers. Sterling Henderson was also missing.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (3-7, 4.03 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (8-3, 2.18 ERA)
Victor Salcido (4-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (6-3, 2.70 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-5, 5.04 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (5-4, 3.86 ERA)

Southpaws at either end of the set, and a righty in the middle for Elk City.

The Coons skipped Elijah Powell (4-6, 5.06 ERA), who had gotten a string of wafflings and hadn’t been effective even in beating the Bayhawks on May 31.

Game 1
VAN: LF Escobido – SS Mullen – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – C Julio Diaz – 2B DeMarco – CF Tomasello – 1B A. Madrid – P McMichael
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Merino

Angel Escobido singled, Jerry Outram singled, Jesus Burgos singled, Julio Diaz singled… who let the ******* Elks in to begin with?? Nick DeMarco’s double play grounder held them to a lone run in the first inning, but I longed myself to the weekend already. That was the only run allowed by Merino through four innings, but it took him 67 pitches to get there thanks to countless 3-ball counts, which sounded like a terrible paradoxon, which was just like how I felt. The Coons even tied the game in the bottom 4th on their first hit of the ballgame when Puckeridge singled home Matt Waters, who had drawn his second walk in the game before. Then came the top 5th, which saw Alfonso Madrid, batting well under .200, open the inning with a double to right. McMichael bunted badly, getting Madrid out at third base, and Escobido hit into a grounder that removed the pitcher from the bases, but then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Dan Mullen’s single, just to make it all worse on the old GM. Tyler Tomasello singled home Jesus Burgos in the sixth, and Merino wasn’t seen afterwards, getting plinked to death with nine hits in the game.

Bob Ibold survived the top of the order to get the Coons to stretch time, after which Glodowski hit a leadoff single against McMichael, which – as I would have agreed – was reason enough to yank McMichael from the game, forever. Ruben Mendez however filled the bases against Watt and Lonzo, and the Raccoons had three on and regrettably nobody out in the bottom 7th. Herrera popped out, Maldo whiffed, Waters grounded out. Was I surprised? Nah. Dismayed? ******* hell yes. Ponce followed for Portland in the eighth, had no troubles, but Danny Landeta put Nate Oden and Escobido aboard in the ninth. Here, rookie Eloy Sencion came on with two outs to face big mean old man Jerry Outram, he of a thousand stabs into every decent little Critter’s belly. He struck him out. For naught, as it turned out, because the Raccoons still couldn’t put any offense together in the bottom of the inning… 3-1 Canadiens. Watt (PH) 1-1; Luna (PH) 1-1;

0-5.

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 3B Burgos – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – 1B A. Quintana – P Herman
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – CF Herrera – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – P Salcido

The damn Elks reached base on a Luna error, a hit batter, and an infield single the first time through, but Outram also hit into a double play to kill the first, and Salcido struck out the other five batters, so maybe this could be our lucky day. I was kidding of course. Salcido had the Coons’ only hit the first time through, and nothing came of that double, but in the bottom 4th we had Maldo sneak one up the middle for a single, and then Matt Waters remembered that he used to be almost great and bashed a 2-run homer for the first tally in the game.

Salcido responded by nailing Angel Quintana at 1-2 in the top of the fifth, then gave up an aggressive single to Herman. What looked like the beginnings of a 6-run “aw shucks” turned to nothing when Escobido bored the very next pitch, Salcido’s 70th, into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Instead a Jerry Outram error – he *was* getting long in the tooth, as I’ve been saying for about ten years now – allowed Juan Jimenez to score from second base with two outs in the bottom 5th, 3-0, and Salcido was great through six, and then imploded in the seventh, obviously. Julio Diaz was on, got singled home by Nick DeMarco, but Quintana forced him out, and there were two outs, so what was Terry Herman gonna do now? Go yard, as it turned out. Tying the game, as it turned out. Escobido hit another one to bury Salcido for good, 4-3.

He was dug out again, though, and it was in another sequence where Lonzo in the bottom 8th put the sluggers to shame by stealing a base to exceed once more the team RBI lead. Thusly led around the arena on a ring through the nose, Maldo immediately singled him home against Herman, leveling the score at four, and the SB-RBI blastout at a quarter-century each. Waters and Puckeridge did nothing to keep the inning going, and Willie Cruz immediately fell behind again, having a run pressed out of him on three hits, the deciding one being a 2-out RBI single by Escobido. Sam Gibson got around a Luna single in the bottom 9th to put the miserable Critters away. 5-4 Canadiens. Maldonado 2-4, RBI;

0-6.

Game 3
VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 3B Burgos – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – 1B A. Madrid – P Orozco
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley

Maldo homered to left for a first-inning lead, 1-0, and batted again with Lonzo (triple) and Herrera (nicked) on the corners in the bottom 3rd. Nobody out, Orozco’s wild pitch plated Lonzo, taking a rare RBI away from Maldo when he singled to left-center to put them on the corners again. Waters was down 1-2 when he plopped a pitch into play that died next to the first base line and legged it out to fill the bases with an infield single – but there were still no outs, so we’d probably LOSE runs now. Gonzalez lined out to DeMarco. Lamotta popped out. Puckeridge grounded out. I slammed my Coons hat against furniture until the stupid ******* thing disintegrated into its individual bits and bobs.

And that was with Wheats still pitching a 1-hit shutout through three. Burgos hit a single in the fourth, but that led nowhere. The fifth was clean, but in the sixth Escobido hit a 1-out single to center, stole second, and Tomasello was donated a walk by the blind-bat ump on a 3-2 pitch that was TOTALLY in the zone!! Burgos popped out, but Outram stepped in with two outs, and he was batting only .281 with three homers here, but it was still Jerry Outram. The count ran full, Outram lobbed an RBI single over Lonzo, Wheats walked Diaz, stomped around the mound hating his own very existence, but somehow got Dan Mullen on a cozy pop to Waters to strand the bases loaded in a 2-1 game. The bottom of the Elks order went without a squeal in the seventh, and Wheats fought Escobido for a pop to Lonzo to begin the top 8th, but then was lifted with the left-handed Tomasello up. The Coons notably went to Sencion rather than Ponce, and the Elks left Tomasello in there, leading to him striking out. Burgos – right-handed – landed a hit to left, but the crucial guy for us here was Outram, and Sencion got him on a beginner-level fly to Puckeridge, ending the top of the eighth.

The bags were full in the bottom 8th as Gonzalez doubled, Lamotta walked, and Puckeridge singled. Next would have been Glodowski, zero RBI in 50 at-bats. The lefty Orozco was still there, but the Raccoons sent Matt Watt to pinch-hit, who ran a full count, and then snuck a ball through the left side to score Gonzalez and Lamotta, 4-1! Jimenez pinch-hit for Eloy Sencion and singled to center to restock the bases, but Lonzo tore my heart out by finding a double play. It was thus Willie Cruz in the ninth, and he got rid of the lead in four batters. Julio Diaz singled, Mullen singled, Nate Oden tripled, and Madrid brought home Oden with a groundout. Now disgraced as I kept screaming into a pillow, Cruz was yanked for Preston Porter, who got out of the inning, but Tim Abraham kept Portland under control in the ninth and the game went to extras.

There, Ponce pitched two innings while Lamotta found a way on in the 10th, but was doubled off by Watt. Abraham was still hanging around in the bottom 11th and added a third scoreless inning to his ledger. Herrera legged out an infield single with two outs, but Maldo’s drive to center ended up with Daniel Hertenstein. Bob Ibold got the 12th, walked both Escobido and Hertenstein, but then got a groundout from Burgos to escape. Ruben Mendez got the ball for the Elks, struck out Waters, but gave up a double to Ruben Gonzalez to right. Lamotta did him one better, and to left, mashing a walkoff homer to FINALLY grab a W from the damn Elks…! 6-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-6, 3B; Herrera 2-5; Maldonado 3-6, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 2-6, 2 2B; Lamotta 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-5; Watt (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI; Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Ponce 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Raccoons (26-34) vs. Cyclones (28-33) – June 10-12, 2050

The Cyclones were fifth in the FL East, but only five games out – that division was just an annual suckerfest by now. They had the second-most runs scored in the Federal League, but were also bleeding the third-most, which still made for a +16 run differential, so maybe they were due a reversal of fortunes soon. Their rotation was middling, their pen atrocious, and they had one of the worst defenses in the land. They had also just lost a crucial bat to injury with Chris Delgado going down. The last meeting had been in 2047, when the Coons had won two of three from them, but I think they were *really* still grumpy from the 2044 World Series…

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (2-5, 3.58 ERA) vs. Ross Mitchell (7-3, 4.15 ERA)
Elijah Powell (4-6, 5.06 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (4-4, 5.85 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-8, 4.07 ERA) vs. Jameson Monk (7-2, 3.91 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up on this weekend.

Game 1
CIN: SS Ojeda – CF I. Jaramillo – 1B Liberos – RF C. Williams – C J. Luna – 3B S. Diaz – LF Montecino – 2B Tindle – P Mitchell
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – 3B E. Luna – RF Van Hoy – P Wolinsky

Israel Jaramillo and Manny Liberos went to the corners against Bubba Wolinsky in the first inning, but Chad Williams hit into a double play to turn them away. The Coons had their own corners situation in the bottom 2nd on a Waters double and Herrera single, but with nobody out. They scored, barely, with a sac fly by Eddy Luna for the first run of the game. The bases were even full in the bottom 3rd, when Watt and Lonzo poked really soft hits, and while Maldo popped out, Waters walked to fill them up with one gone. Herrera raked a 2-run double up the rightfield line, 3-0, and Gonzalez added a run with a groundout. Luna hit a sharp 2-out grounder, but was beaten by Joe Tindle.

Bubba kept scratching along, getting around a leadoff double by Williams in the fourth, then a 2-out double by Juan Ojeda in the fifth. In the sixth he even survived a leadoff walk to Liberos and a Van Hoy error in right, where he dropped a foul ball by Steve Diaz. In turn, the Coons went up to 6-0 in the bottom 6th; Eddy Luna and Van Hoy got on, were bunted over by Wolinsky, and then both scored on successive wild pitches by Ross Mitchell, who was yanked as soon as Matt Watt, who looked on bemusedly, was done popping out.

Bubba was done after 102 pitches and seven innings of 3-hit, shutout ball, which was probably a good enough effort to help out the pen after a 12-inning sloucher. The Raccoons pulled Maldo and Waters from the game after the bottom 7th, with Danny Landeta assigned the last two innings in the 6-0 contest. When the Coons ended up crowding Marvin Lacey in the bottom 8th and Glodowski, filling the #3 hole, hit a bases-loaded, 2-out RBI single to right, Landeta came up in Waters’ spot. He was retained so he could strike out, then give up back-to-back homers to Steve Diaz and Salvador Montecino in the ninth inning. He still finished the game. 7-2 Raccoons. Watt 3-5; Glodowski 1-1, RBI; Herrera 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Castner 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-5);

Game 2
CIN: 3B S. Diaz – CF I. Jaramillo – LF E. Moreno – 1B Liberos – RF C. Williams – C W. Gardner – SS Clevidence – 2B Tindle – P Wilcox
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – 3B E. Luna – 1B Van Hoy – P Powell

Powell had little trouble the first time through, but with two outs in the third had the first five batters in the order all reach in succession on three hits and two walks to get bombed for three runs once again. The Raccoons had only one hit in three innings, but Lonzo legged out an infield single in the bottom 4th, stole second, reached third on a throwing error by Wade Gardner (huh!), and scored on Gonzalez’ sac fly. Chad Williams pulled that run back right away against Powell, singling home Eddie Moreno in the top 5th, 4-1. The Coons remained rather listless, and couldn’t gain any traction against Wilcox, and while Porter, Ponce, and Hitchcock pitched three scoreless innings to finish out regulation, the Raccoons entered the bottom 9th still behind by three runs, and then facing Jon Craig – *our* former Jon Craig, the white one. Gonzalez and Waters opened the inning by hitting singles through either side of the infield, bringing up Puckeridge as the tying run with nobody out. His fly to center was caught by Ismael Jaramillo, however, and Lamotta found a double play to smash into… 4-1 Cyclones. Lavorano 2-4;

For what it was worth, Lonzo’s stolen base total (27) now *did* exceed the team RBI lead (Maldo, 26, still) at the end of a game. Yay?

Game 3
CIN: SS Ojeda – CF I. Jaramillo – LF E. Moreno – 1B Liberos – RF C. Williams – C J. Luna – 3B S. Diaz – 2B Tindle – P Monk
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 3B E. Luna – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Merino

Jaramillo hit a solo homer in the top 1st, but that was little against what the Raccoons carted up in the bottom 1st, violating Monk for six hits and four runs. Lonzo and Herrera opened with back-to-back triples, followed by Maldo and Puckeridge singles, before Glodowski hit into a double play. A wild pitch then scored Maldo from third, but Luna and Jimenez hit a single and RBI double, respectively, anyway after that, establishing a 4-1 lead, but Merino threatened to get singled to death. The Cyclones whacked a run off him in the second, and another one in the third, the latter mitigated on a leadoff jack by Alan Puckeridge to right. Cincy hit another two sharp singles off Merino in the fourth, but Jaramillo struck out with the tying runs aboard to get Merino off the hill.

Eddie Moreno’s homer in the fifth shortened the score to 5-4 again, and the bullpen got active. Merino had nothing, put Williams aboard with another single, and barely got out of it at all on a Steve Diaz grounder to short to complete five on 88 miserable pitches. Monk was gone already in the bottom 5th, with Jorge Gonzalez allowing singles to Puckeridge and Glodowski before leaving one on a coat hanger to Juan Jimenez that got blasted for a 2-out 3-piece to left, doubling Jimenez’ output in both homers and RBI’s this year.

But this game was far from over. Bob Ibold didn’t get a strike past any of the first three batters he faced, gave up a single to Joe Tindle, a walk to Aaron Foss, and eventually a run on two productive outs, 8-5. Hitchcock was even worse in the seventh, getting plunked for three leadoff singles and two runs to whittle the lead down to a skinny run. Hectic and useless double-switching – because NOBODY COULD GET ANY ******* OUTS!! – left the Raccoons with Maldonado at third base for the first time this year, just when they were looking for defense. Maldo’s lack of D was not an issue in the eighth though, when a Jaramillo single to right, a Preston Porter error on a Moreno comebacker, and a 3-run homer by Doug Clevidence flipped the score to 10-8 Cincy. Steve Diaz added another homer after that, but the Coons had the tying runs aboard without making an out in the bottom 8th against Pedro de Leon. Castner singled, Van Hoy doubled, and Lonzo hit an RBI single; 11-9 with runners on the corners. Ricky Lamotta hit a sac fly, Maldo singled to right, but was forced out on a Puckeridge grounder. Glodowski hit a ****** comebacker to de Leon to kill the ******* inning. Willie Cruz held Cincy at bay in the top 9th, then was hit for with Ruben Gonzalez in the #6 spot to begin the bottom 9th against Craig – which also emptied the Critters’ bench. The two catchers fell in order, but Castner drew a 2-out walk to senselessly prolong the game to promote another Evan Van Hoy appearance in the box. He grounded out. 11-10 Cyclones. Lavorano 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Herrera 1-2, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, HR, RBI; Waters (PH) 1-1; Jimenez 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

Do I feel joy in my line of work?

**** no.

In other news

June 6 – Pacifics OF Joshua Shaw (.321, 2 HR, 14 RBI), amidst a trying season for Los Angeles, has put a 20-game hitting streak together with two singles in a 7-5 win over the Wolves.
June 6 – SFB 2B/SS Sergio Quiroz (.329, 5 HR, 41 RBI) has five hits and drives in four runs in a 10-4 win over the Aces.
June 7 – A partially torn UCL puts Bayhawks SP Chih Ke (3-4, 3.86 ERA) out for the rest of the season.
June 7 – The Stars score ten runs in the third inning and almost double that in total in an 18-2 whacking of the Scorpions.
June 8 – CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.336, 7 HR, 32 RBI) should be out until late July with a bruised kneecap.
June 8 – TOP INF Travis Malkus (.241, 7 HR, 27 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with 2 RBI from the #8 hole in a 12-6 win over the Rebels.
June 10 – The Crusaders beat the Stars, 8-7 in 16 innings. Both teams score a run apiece in the 13th, and three runs each in the 14th inning before the Crusaders walk off on a throwing error by 1B Jamie King (.233, 2 HR, 7 RBI), misfiled at third base in the late innings.
June 10 – The hitting streak of LAP OF Joshua Shaw (.319, 3 HR, 16 RBI) ends in a 6-1 loss to the Loggers, who hold the 24-year-old dry.
June 12 – A walkoff homer by TIJ 1B/2B Bob Mancini (.308, 9 HR, 34 RBI) puts a W down for the Condors against the Warriors, 8-7, in 15 innings.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.383, 14 HR, 56 RBI), batting .531 (17-32) with 4 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL C Tyler Cass (.332, 3 HR, 39 RBI), poking .593 (16-27) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Tying for last with the Loggers is a dim existence.

That sentence should really be the whole and sole rapport for this week.

I don’t know what the deal with Preston Porter is anymore, and I am not hot on finding out about it. The pen and pitching and defense as a whole is a great annoyance to me.

Not that the lineup offers much joy. Lonzo and Puckeridge are doing alright, but it’s nothing that will win ROTY awards. So far it hasn’t even won ROTM awards.

Sigh. Next week: a trip to Salem, the draft, and another quick set at home with the Loggers.

Fun Fact: Ricky Lamotta’s walkoff homer on Thursday brought about the 6,200th regular season win for the Raccoons.

I still would have preferred Wheats to get the win in regulation. (glares at Willie Cruz) As it was, Wheats remains milestone-winless, while Bob Ibold lucked into his second; he previously had gotten #5,700 in 2044.

Westheim · 09-16-2022, 07:36 PM

Little bit different thing here today – just a single series today, because I don’t know whether I can actually do a full week *and* the draft tomorrow. Thing is, I can’t watch the Mets game from the archive while drafting, because I need the full screen for that and… boy, do I sound full of myself again.

Anyway, just the Wolves series now. Who knows how much in terms of updates will actually come tomorrow.

+++

Raccoons (27-36) @ Wolves (25-37) – June 13-15, 2050

The Wolves had not won a series from the Coons since 2041, the last three meetings all going Portland’s way, with two of three games being won in the most recent clash in 2048. That was the good news. Overall, Oregon baseball was in a state of shambles, both teams were trying to stave off last place in their divisions, and they were a combined 35 games out in draft week. Salem in particular had the most rotten offense in the FL, unable to put out more than 3.7 runs per contest, and barely average pitching didn’t help in that case, either. They had a -66 run differential (Coons: -45).

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (4-2, 3.59 ERA) vs. Jonathan Abernathy (0-5, 6.05 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-5, 4.70 ERA) vs. Darren McRee (4-8, 3.59 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-5, 3.28 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (5-5, 3.89 ERA)

Abernathy was the sole southpaw available to them. Also, the finale on Wednesday would be Draft Day.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Salcido
SAL: SS J. Miller – CF M. Gray – C J. Ortiz – LF A. Cedillo – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B C. Tyler – RF Clay – 2B Visser – P Abernathy

Both teams stranded pairs in the first inning, with Mike Gray and Jose Ortiz on for Salem, same as in the third inning. Both times Salcido escaped (at least partially) with a K to cleanup man Alfonso Cedillo, while the Raccoons in between went up 1-0 in the second when Ricky Lamotta singled, stole second, and was singled in by Matt Glodowski, the certified bum. The Coons got a fat chance in the fourth, which began with Abernathy plunking Ruben Gonzalez before John Miller threw away Lamotta’s grounder for two bases. A passed ball (…!) and a Puckeridge single scored the runners, while Glodowski, the certified bum, forced out the rookie Puckeridge with a grounder. Salcido, who bunted into a force play his first time up, this time got the runner to second base, and Lonzo cashed Glodowski with a 2-out single to left, 4-0.

While Salcido was 3-hitting the Wolves for no runs through five, Lonzo singled home Glodowski once more in the sixth inning, going up 5-0. Herrera tripled to add on, but a Maldo whiff and a Waters groundout stranded him on third base. The Wolves’ 2-3 hitters were on yet again in the bottom 6th with a Gray double and a walk issued to Ortiz, this time to begin the inning. This time, the Wolves got a run with two productive outs, the RBI going to the ex-Critter Ricky Jimenez, but Ortiz was stranded. Casey Clay landed a fifth and final hit off Salcido with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th. Salcido rung up Preston Visser, then bowed and left with Frank Mujica pinch-hitting. Sencion got the lefty stick, gave up a hefty double, and then was replaced with Bob Ibold, who retired absolutely ******* nobody. John Miller hit a 2-run double, and two walks filled the bags before the Raccoons went to their fourth pitcher of the inning with the tying runs aboard and one gone in a 6-3 game that was about to get away rather spectacularly. Cedillo struck out once more, Jimenez grounded out, and Julian Ponce turned out to for once not cock it up.

The Coons counterattacked in the top 8th against righty Ben Arner, who issued a leadoff walk to PH Matt Watt in the #9 hole. Lonzo stuck a ball into the leftfield corner for an RBI triple, 7-3. After an intentional walk to Armando Herrera, he scored on a Maldo sac fly to center, which notably made the RBI lead top the stolen base lead on this shoddy team once again, 28 to 27. Waters doubled home Maldo, Jay Gunderson replaced Arner, but continued to get pummeled. Gonzalez singled home Waters, Lamotta got on, Puckeridge got an RBI, and then Evan Van Hoy ripped a 2-out RBI double in Glodowski’s place. Watt got a second turn and drew a second walk, loading them up for Lonzo, who hit a slow roller between the mound and third base – and Jimenez had no play…! RBI infield single, the Coons were up to a dozen, and still not stopping. Herrera singled to right for a pair, Gunderson was yanked for Matt Otte, who on his first pitch gave up an RBI single to Maldonado. Waters was the 14th and final batter of the inning, grounding out to short after the Coons put up a 9-spot…! The Wolves went into hiding after that, with Danny Landeta pitching two scoreless on the way back to the hotel. 15-3 Furballs! Lavorano 4-7, 3B, 4 RBI; Herrera 3-4, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Waters 2-6, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Lamotta 2-6; Puckeridge 2-6, RBI; Glodowski 2-4, 2B, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 2-2, 2B, RBI; Watt (PH) 0-0, 3 BB; Landeta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

We did not even put up the most runs on Monday – we came *third*!

The Thunder shanked the Cyclones for 19 runs, allowing none themselves. Down in Cali meanwhile there were 27 runs in a Bayhawks-Scorpions game, with eight ninths of those in favor of Sacramento.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – SS Luna – 3B Lamotta – P Wheatley
SAL: RF S. Petersen – CF M. Gray – C J. Ortiz – LF A. Cedillo – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B C. Tyler – SS J. Miller – 2B Mujica – P McRee

Soft singles by Watt, Herrera, and Waters loaded the bags in the first inning, and Ruben Gonzalez flew to deep left – but could beat neither Cedillo nor the fence, being held to a sac fly. However, Puckeridge and Luna added RBI singles with two outs, putting the Coons up 3-0 rather quickly. The bases were full with no outs in the second inning. After Lamotta grounded out, Wheats hit a leadoff single in the top 2nd. Watt walked, Herrera singled, and the Coons put up a 4-spot this time: Maldo whacked a 2-run double, Gonzalez added an RBI single, and Puckeridge hit a sac fly, stuffing McRee for seven runs through two innings, and McRee wouldn’t get through the third inning eventually.

Matt Waters hit a solo homer in the fourth off Pat Woodyard to go up 8-0, and Herrera singled home another run in the fifth, another inning in which Wheats hit a single himself. At that point, he had more singles hit than surrendered (one) on his ledger, at least until Mike Gray hit a single with one gone in the bottom 6th. Baseball being run by some utter ***** (looks threateningly up to the baseball gods), the Wolves now chained hits together out of the blue. Ortiz singled. Cedillo singled home Gray from second, while Ortiz was slapped out at third base for the second out. Cedillo stole second, but Wheats hung a K on Jimenez to get out of the inning. Waters countered with a 2-out, 2-run double to plate Watt and Herrera in the seventh, running the score into double digits for consecutive days, 11-1, and more followed in the eighth, when Watt singled home Puckeridge with two outs, Herrera singled home Castner, and Maldo was barely retired by Steve Petersen in the gap in right-center to keep it at 13-1. Ponce was taken deep by Ortiz for a solo shot in the bottom 8th, but the top 9th saw that run pulled back when Lamotta livened up an 0-for-5 with a 2-out RBI single, driving home Lonzo, who had opened the ninth with a pinch-hit single off Otte. Preston Porter resisted the urge to blow a dozen-sized lead in the bottom 9th, and I was very happy for that. 14-2 Critters! Watt 4-5, BB, RBI; Herrera 4-5, BB, 2 RBI; Waters 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Gonzalez 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (4-5) and 2-4;

No luck today, either – the Aces dumped 16 runs on the Gold Sox (yes, the Aces won), including five homers.

Since I had a hunch a 2-1 loss was coming, I was quite glad to elope to New York at that point to participate in Draft Day proceedings there.

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky
SAL: CF M. Gray – RF S. Petersen – 3B R. Jimenez – LF A. Cedillo – C J. Ortiz – 1B C. Tyler – SS Acuna – 2B Visser – P Sparks

Van Hoy put the Coons on top with a sac fly in the second inning, which began with singles by Waters and Puckeridge, and ended with Juan Jimenez striking out. Chris Tyler countered with a sac fly of his own in the bottom 2nd after a leadoff walk to Cedillo and a double by the consistently annoying Ortiz. Bill Acuna popped out, Preston Visser walked in a full count, but Sparks struck out and the game remained a 1-1 tie through two innings.

The thing was that the Ortiz single was the Wolves’ only hit for a while, but Wolinsky didn’t know where any of his pitches were going, causing a few Wolves to evade the box in terror at one point or another, and by the bottom 4th he was on 75 pitches, five walks, and had a generally confused look on his face, as had Jimenez. He finally nailed Petersen in the bottom 5th with his 95th pitch, and was then excused from further doing harm to players and/or the beauty of the game. Ibold got out of the inning, but Preston Visser tripled home Tyler off Danny Landeta in the sixth, which, funnily enough, made it 2-1 Wolves.

That was not the final score, though, since Sencion balked home a runner owed by Landeta in the bottom 7th to make it 3-1. THAT was the final score. The Raccoons had no stab at Blake Sparks for eight innings, and ex-Coon Josh Rella retired the top of the order 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. 3-1 Wolves. Herrera (PH) 1-1;

In other news

June 13 – SAC 3B/2B Jonathan Iverson (.400, 3 HR, 12 RBI) casually puts up *nine* RBI on three hits (including a grand slam) and a walk from the #8 hole in a 24-3 ravaging of the Bayhawks.
June 13 – Dallas’ RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.389, 15 HR, 58 RBI) keeps steaming, putting up three hits, including a homer and a pair of RBI, in a 4-3 win over the Falcons to reach a 20-game hitting streak.
June 14 – NYC SP Ryan Fentress (2-5, 2.87 ERA) is out for the season and heading for surgery with bone spurs in his elbow.
June 15 – TIJ SP Larry Colwell (4-8, 3.43 ERA) 2-hits the Buffaloes in a 2-0 shutout.
June 15 – A fourth-inning single in the Condors’ 2-0 win over Topeka gives 1B/OF Gil Cabrera (.340, 2 HR, 34 RBI) a 20-game hitting streak.
June 15 – DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.333, 15 HR, 49 RBI) will miss three to four weeks with a strained rib cage muscle.
June 15 – With a broken elbow, Scorpions rookie RF/LF Jamie Harmon (.278, 1 HR, 2 RBI) is out for the season.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons scored 30 runs during a midweek trip to Salem, and won two of three.

The less said about that, the better.

We go back home to play the Loggers this weekend. Next week is a stretched-out trip to Boston and Tijuana.

Fun Fact: On Monday, Matt Watt didn’t put pants on until the eighth inning and ended up drawing three walks – or as many as Lonzo had for the whole season.

The less said about that, the better.

Westheim · 09-17-2022, 06:17 AM

2050 AMATEUR DRAFT

While the Raccoons were busy to minimize the wins return from a 30-run series against the Wolves, on the other side of the continent the 24 GMs of the league were occupied with divvying up the year’s harvest of college and high school talent for their respective organizations.

112 players had been lined up on our shortlist for interesting draft targets, and of course there was also the annual hotlist again with a dozen-or-so of the most attractive looking lottery tickets of them all (*denotes high school player):

SP Tyler Riddle (13/12/15) * – BNN #3
SP Kenneth Spencer (11/13/11) *
SP Brian Fuqua (12/14/11)
SP Antonio Arias (11/11/15) * – BNN #1
SP Craig Kniep (13/12/7) *

CL Steve Watson (17/12/10)

1B Zach Johnson (9/13/16) * – BNN #7
1B Mario Delgadillo (12/12/12) *
2B Mike DeFusco (11/11/10) – BNN #2

OF Dan Martin (10/11/14) – BNN #10
UT Jeremy Lindauer (11/12/12) – BNN #6
OF/1B Bill Hartman (13/9/11) – BNN #5
UT Mark Younce (16/2/7)
RF/LF Danny Barton (11/9/13)

As indicated before, we conveniently had 14 guys on that hotlist, which lined up well with our #14 pick. Note: …and it would have been 14 in the original post as well if some dumbhead hadn’t failed to copy the last line as well…

Tyler Riddle was the #1 pick this year, being selected by the Loggers and thus doomed to at least a decade in a miserable organization that yet remained somehow likeable. Because come on, everybody knew the Loggers were the three-legged puppies of the ABL…!

The Wolves selected Brian Fuqua at #2, and the Aces took the first position player, Dan Martin, with the #3 pick. After that it was Zach Johnson to the Cyclones, and Jeremy Lindauer to the Pacifics to complete the top 5. At that rate, and with any luck, I wouldn’t have to make a decision that I would regret forever at all for our #14 pick!

…and then the Crusaders made a lateral move with the selection of Ben Seiter at #6, and thus throwing all my best-laid plans overboard. That aside, Mike DeFusco (Warriors, #8), Antonio Arias (Knights, #9), Craig Kniep (Caps, #10), Bill Hartman (Miners, #12), and Steve Watson (Titans, #13) were taken off the hotlist as well before the Raccoons got their turn.

That left us with four options, the only pitcher being lefty finesse guy Kenneth Spencer. They say “finesse” almost disparagingly sometimes, but the reviews for this guy were rave, with four quality pitches, groundball tendency, and the prospect that he’d add to that 87mph cutter he currently threw. The main drawback was that he knew he was good and liked to say so to his poor teammates. On the offensive side there was still Mario Delgadillo, a stock-standard first baseman, hitting from the left side. Y’know them, hits the ball hard, struggles to move on his own two hindlegs. Mark Younce was a singles-slapping super utility with great defense AND a punnable name, exactly the type of player I’d love having around. Danny Barton had lefty power in a power position, but wasn’t fielding so well. Yeah… I kinda like that lefty finesse guy…!

Barton went to the Stars with the very next pick at #15. The Thunder snapped up Younce at #19. And the Stars had another turn with the #21 pick, and used that to select Delgadillo, thusly emptying the hotlist rather briskly and before the Raccoons could start to fling their two supplemental picks around.

+++

2050 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#14) – SP Kenneth Spencer, 18, from Sacramento, CA – left-handed finesse guy with four quality pitches and the prospect to add to that 87mph cutter. Very good curve and splitter, keeps it on the ground, and all would be well if he kept his mouth on the ground from time to time as well. It says 18 on that card, but he’ll be 19 by the time he arrives in Aumsville.
Supp. Round (#28) – SP Phil Baker, 21, from League City, TX – right-handed groundballer throwing 93mph with a good slider, changeup, and circle change arsenal. Control needs work, but this looks like a damn fine package.
Supp. Round (#34) – 3B/2B Richard Anderson, 17, from Sunnyvale, CA – above-average contact and power potential and plus defense at the hot corner; probably not as suited to the middle infield positions, although we could try to fit him in at shortstop to make him a real utility.
Round 2 (#50) – C Brian Moore, 18, from Rohnert Park, CA – not the most agile defender even as a teenager, but we’re being suckered in by the rather attractive power potential here; also has a keen eye at the dish.
Round 3 (#74) – OF Jim Matthews, 20, from Strafford, NH – very good defense on all three outfield positions, with a centerfielder’s bat, being more pronounced in contact than power; seems unable to get the timing right to steal bases, despite ample speed.
Round 4 (#98) – CL Geoff Sather, 20, from Lake Dallas, TX – left-handed fastball/slider guy; the slider looks top notch, but he really lacks control so far…
Round 5 (#122) – LF/RF Humberto Hernandez, 22, from Eldersburg, MD – the Oregon State student was first scouted a few years ago at Raccoons Ballpark, drunkenly lobbing a Jerry Outram home run ball back onto the field; a bit of an indifferent fielder, he does have a decent eye and somewhat promising contact abilities, but not a lot of power at a power position…
Round 6 (#146) – MR Adam Sewell, 20, from Freeland, MI – right-hander with a 91mph fastball and a curve, and a changeup that doesn’t look like it will amount to much
Round 7 (#170) – INF Jonathan Welsh, 18, from New York, NY – promises to be an elite defensive shortstop, and hit like one!
Round 8 (#194) – 1B/OF Jason Phillips, 20, from Willow Street, PA – not a lot of power, but some speed and a decent eye; however, a fourth-round bat was probably dropped to the eighth round by his last-round attitude.
Round 9 (#218) – CL Eric Meekins, 20, from Spring Lake Heights, NJ – righty with a fastball and slider, and a fireworks tendency; was drafted partially because he was the last hurler on the shortlist and I wanted to fold up that paper neatly and put it away
Round 10 (#242) – 1B Justin Undercoffer, 18, from Birmingham, AL – as far as baseball players go, few are weirder than this kid, a switch-hitting singles-poker with no defensive skills whatsoever that can move comparably quick in a straight line, but not an inch laterally; the singles poking thing is what gets him drafted in the first place.
Round 11 (#266) – MR Kyle Mascarello, 21, from Manhattan, NY – lefty (obviously) throwing 90mph with a curve and splitter, and not the least clue where any of them are gonna end up (usually the backstop, though)
Round 12 (#290) – 2B Ryan Allred, 18, from North Providence, RI – has a singles bat, blazing speed, and a thick head that is difficult to get instructions into
Round 13 (#314) – SP Angel Fernandez, 18, from Humacao, Puerto Rico – throws four pitches, all bad, but wins people over with self-deprecating humor

+++

All new selections were assigned to single-A Aumsville, with the exception of Phil Baker, who was moved to double-A Ham Lake right away.

We had already weeded out some players a few weeks ago, but now dumped a few more, mostly pitchers; these included 2045 seventh-rounder Kevin Beck, 2046 sixth-rounder Reynaldo Soto, and 2047 Nick Brown Memorial pick Bob Norwood. Also gone was Ronnie McKnight’s kid DaShawn, who had been taken in the seventh round in ’48 and had left no impression whatsoever in Aumsville.

Westheim · 09-18-2022, 04:41 PM

Raccoons (29-37) vs. Loggers (28-38) – June 17-19, 2050

The Loggers were sixth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, and also in a position to drop the Raccoons into last place by Sunday night (although the Indians were also mingling at the bottom of the division). We were up 3-1 in the season series, and they arrived without DL inhabitants Ernesto Hernandez and Tony Sanchez.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (4-7, 5.14 ERA) vs. Bubba Poss (3-5, 4.66 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-8, 4.27 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (5-6, 3.61 ERA)
Victor Salcido (5-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Alex Flores (3-3, 3.05 ERA)

The series would start with two left-handed opponents and once again we were successful in squishing in a combined three Victors. And fun fact, as bad as both teams were, three lucky pitchers would indeed be victors in this series, somehow.

The Coons came in with a roster move, dropping the timeless wonder that was Matt Glodowski (.233, 0 HR, 2 RBI) to activate Ed Crispin (.182, 2 HR, 5 RBI) from a rehab assignment. Crispin, who was supposed to be the co-pseudo-rookie wonder to Lonzo, had so far missed 48 of our 66 games with two DL stints.

Game 1
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – LF Sayre – C Abrego – P Poss
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – RF Puckeridge – LF Watt – P Powell

Bubba Poss didn’t retire many to begin the game; Lonzo slapped a triple right away in the bottom 1st, and then a Herrera single made it 1-0. Maldo singled, Waters walked, and the bags were full with nobody out (tee-hee!), runs scoring on a Gonzalez sac fly, a Lamotta single, and after Puckeridge whiffed and Watt walked the bags full again, Powell rolled a single through the right side, plating Waters and Lamotta just ahead of Watt getting tagged out by Nick Jackson at third base after a great throw by Will McIntyre, but that made for a 5-run opening frame. Not that it made for a cozy game – Ricky Lopez, Craig Sayre, and Nick Abrego all socked doubles in the top 2nd to get two runs back for the Loggers right away, because Elijah Powell still sucked. Jack Barrington would bat for the battered Bubba Poss in the top 5th, found Abrego on first base, and mashed a 2-run homer to left to cut the lead to 5-4. Dave de Lemos singled, stole second, and was singled home by Jackson, tying the game after all. Powell soldiered on, walked Lopez, then disappeared after a 3-run homer by Chris Lowe, 8-5.

Nothing good was coming along for the Critters, who had the leadoff hitter on base in the second (Lonzo) and third (Waters), hit into a double play each time, and then just quietly wasted everybody’s time. The nearest thing to a success was Nick Jackson getting ejected for disputing strike three from Preston Porter in the seventh inning. Ricky Lamotta’s single in the bottom 8th was almost counting as a rally already. Puckeridge forced him out with a grounder, two outs, stole second, then scored on a Watt single off new pitcher Nick Johns. But when Evan Van Hoy pinch-hit for Julian Ponce, he drew Chris Cortright as a left-hander and popped out easily to second base. Hitchcock held the 8-6 score in the top 9th, with righty Angelo Munoz assigned to the save chance in the bottom 9th. Lonzo led off swinging at a 3-1 pitch, which made me squeak, but ended up with a triple in the gap, his second triple in the game. Armando Herrera hit a sac fly to center, which made it 8-7, but didn’t get us any closer, actually. Maldo singled to right, though, and Waters worked out a walk, putting the winning run on base. Munoz was 2-1 behind to Gonzalez when another ball was hit past de Lemos in center. Maldo scored on the double, but Waters had to throw the anchor at third base. The Loggers walked Lamotta intentionally, setting up forces all over the place for Puckeridge with one out, but the rookie won the game with a single past Ricky Lopez anyway. 9-8 Raccoons! Lavorano 3-5, 2 3B; Maldonado 2-5; Lamotta 3-4, BB, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – LF Wieczorek – C Nagel – P V. Padilla
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – 3B Crispin – LF Watt – P Merino

Tripling and scoring for a 1-0 lead was left to Waters by Lonzo in the second game, Gonzalez bringing him in with a groundout in the bottom 2nd. That was all, and especially in the hits department, the first time through, and Merino fumbled away the lead in the fourth, when Zach Suggs singled, stole second, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a 2-out single by Chris Lowe, all of which sugged. The Coons got the lead back the same inning through no contribution of their own, Padilla drilling both Maldo and Gonzalez before Ricky Lamotta hit a 2-out single to left. John Wieczorek overran that one for an error, allowing Maldo to score, 2-1. Ed Crispin snuck a single to center to plate both runners, and Watt drew a walk, but Merino grounded out to Lopez to end the inning with a 4-1 lead I had no idea where we’d gotten it from.

Merino gave up a run when McIntyre singled home Lopez in the sixth, then came to the plate again with Crispin and Watt on the bases and two outs in the bottom of that inning, lining out to Lowe to strand them. In return, he fumbled up another run in the seventh on a Barrington double, a balk, and a de Lemos groundout, 4-3. Bottom 7th, Julian Villarreal was in for Milwaukee. Herrera and Maldo hit 1-out singles off the southpaw to go to the corners, but before Waters could try and do damage, a wild pitch brought Herrera across, 5-3, and Waters lined out to Lowe anyway. Maldo was stranded on second when Gonzalez grounded out. Bob Ibold had a perfect eighth, with Villarreal less successful in the bottom 8th. Lamotta singled, Watt walked, and Juan Jimenez tried to pinch-hit, but was nicked to load the bags for Lonzo with one out. Another liner – another liner caught, this one by Nick Jackson, and Herrera grounded out to Lopez. Willie Cruz saved the game anyway. 5-3 Raccoons. Maldonado 1-2; Crispin 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Watt 0-1, 3 BB; Merino 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-8);

Interlude: Trade

It was the last groundout in a Raccoons uniform for Armando Herrera (.345, 3 HR, 31 RBI), who was in a contract year, and waived his 10/5 rights to complete a trade to the Atlanta Knights on Sunday. The Raccoons received #28 prospect SP Kyle Brobeck, a #8 pick in 2048 that had already been traded the previous summer, for the 36-year-old centerfielder.

In five-and-a-half seasons, Herrera hit .313/.370/.405 with 18 HR and 270 RBI for the Raccoons, partaking in two championship runs.

Herrera’s roster spot was taken by the #21 pick from 2036, OF/1B Adam Samples, who was not quite as adept in centerfield, but serviceable there. He was a plus defender on the corners. Samples, 22, had started the season in Ham Lake, had batted .357 there, and .284 in AAA, and now got a shot at the majors. He was a right-handed batter, but did not fit our mold of “oh everybody can at least run a bit”; he was not going to set any stolen base records.

Raccoons (29-37) vs. Loggers (28-38) – June 17-19, 2050

Game 3
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C Abrego – P A. Flores
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – CF Samples – C Jimenez – P Salcido

Salcido got flattened for a walk, four hits, and three runs in the first inning. Lopez singled home Delgado with two outs, Lowe singled, and McIntyre hit the big 2-run double before Lonzo got hold of a Jackson grounder. Just perfect, boys! Really fitting my mood here! You couldn’t say though that Victor Salcido didn’t try to make up for it. After Luna drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd and Adam Samples singled in his first major league at-bat, Salcido came up with two on and two out, and ripped a 3-run homer to right-center to tie the game back up…!

…which was a nice attempt to plaster over his pitching being an absolute mess in this game, but maybe he could suck his way through five innings for a cheapskate win after all. The Coons’ 2-3-4 batters all reached base to begin the bottom 3rd, presenting Eddy Luna with three on, no outs. Luna squeezed out a walk to push home the go-ahead run, after which we went sac fly, walk, sac fly to bring up Victor “Slugs-A-Lot” Salcido again, but this time he ended the inning with a groundout to short, leaving the score at 6-3.

Salcido managed to drag his furry tush through six innings on 101 pitches, after which Preston Porter invited the Loggers back into the game with a homer surrendered to Suggs, which sugged, 6-4 in the seventh. Other highlights included Lonzo stealing two bags and being stranded at one point, and Eloy Sencion getting through the eighth just fine, but then giving up a double to left-handed hitting Nick Abrego to begin the top 9th when he was meant to shorten the inning for Willie Cruz, not make it more difficult. Barrington, the pinch-hitting devil, singled from the #9 slot to put the tying runs on the corners, but they both held on de Lemos’ fly to Puckeridge in left. Cruz walked PH Craig Sayre in a full count to load the bases, but Suggs made the second out with a run-scoring grounder that Ed Crispin made a nice play on from the hot corner. Ricky Lopez, batting .194 for the win…! Indeed – a strikeout completed the sweep. 6-5 Critters. Samples 2-3, BB;

Raccoons (32-37) @ Titans (37-31) – June 20-22, 2050

Off to Boston for three games, with the season series even at three apiece. The Titans had sagged to 11 games out in a division rapidly becoming boring, ranking seventh in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed. They had the best bullpen in the CL, while the rotation was merely average. Pitcher Tim Steinbach and catcher Ryan Youngquist were out with injuries as the Raccoons came in, the latter without an official diagnosis yet.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (4-5, 4.43 ERA) vs. David Barel (7-6, 2.97 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-5, 3.22 ERA) vs. Jim Cushing (7-4, 3.89 ERA)
Elijah Powell (4-7, 5.81 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (5-4, 3.78 ERA)

The Titans had three lefty starters, but we figured to get only one of them, Barel in the opener.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – CF Samples – 3B Crispin – 2B Castner – P Wheatley
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C I. Davison – SS J. Rodriguez – LF Mangual – P Barel

Jason Wheatley was held to three ****** innings by rain and poor performance, getting routed for five runs on eight hits, including two doubles and two homers. Nate Massey and Chris Jimenez hit the doubles for one run in the first, while Jose Rodriguez’ solo shot in the second and Tony Lopez’ 2-piece in the third kept piling on.

Barel threw only 32 pitches prior to the hourlong rain delay after three innings, and continued to face the Critters afterwards, not allowing a run until the sixth. That inning, Lonzo opened with a leadoff walk (!!!), Maldo singled, and RBI doubles by Gonzalez and Samples got the Coons on the board, 5-2, but Crispin popped out as the tying run. That was the first and only hurrah, though; John Castner poked a few futile singles from the #8 spot, and the bullpen pitched five equally useless shutout innings, but the game had been easily lost by Wheats having another awful outing… 5-2 Titans. Castner 3-4; Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Sigh.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – CF Lamotta – C J. Jimenez – P Wolinsky
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C I. Davison – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Cushing

Lonzo stole his 32nd base of the season in the opening inning, once again surpassing the team RBI lead, which continued to make me both frown and grin at the same time… but mostly frown. Also reason to frown: Jim Cushing driving in his own lead with a 2-strike single in the bottom 2nd, plating Chris Jimenez with the middle infielders on the corners for Boston. Cushing cushioned his lead with a sac fly in a 3-run third that put Boston up 4-0 after Wolinsky had already been swamped in a pile of base runners. Through three, he allowed six hits, three walks, and four runs – marginally better than Wheatley on Monday at best. Without any rain on the horizon, he pitched into the fourth, and barely out of it, conceding another run on Tony Lopez’ double that scored Nate Massey. Another 5-0 deficit, great.

Again, the Raccoons had two hits through five innings, but this time even missed the bus for some offense in the sixth, through which Cushing was largely blameless. Eloy Sencion struck out three in the bottom 6th, which sounded good as long as you ignored Jeff Wheeler’s homer to left that ran the tally to 6-0. Chris Jimenez added a homer against Preston Porter in the seventh. The Coons never added anything but agony to the growing agony pile. 7-0 Titans.

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Samples – 3B Crispin – P Powell
BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C Salas – SS Ale. Silva – LF Mangual – P Turay

Three singles scored a run in the first inning (for Boston, in case you weren’t sure), but the Raccoons got Puckeridge and Gonzalez on in the top 2nd, and Ed Crispin shoved a single through the left side with two outs to plate both of them with two outs, flipping the score to 2-1 Coon City. And while the defense held Powell together for at least a little bit, ironically it would be Crispin to blow the lead with a throwing error in the fourth inning, conceding two bases to Alejandro Silva and allowing Raul Salas to score from second with a throw into the amused spectators behind first base. Ruben Mangual grounded out, Kyle Turay popped out to end the inning, and the game at least remained tied through four.

Watt singled home Samples with two outs in the fifth, but Powell blew the 3-2 lead without getting anybody out in the bottom 5th. Jason Monson doubled, Nate Massey singled him home, and I was longing my sorry bum to the winter. Massey would be caught stealing, but the Titans took a 4-3 lead in the inning on 2-out doubles by Lopez and Jimenez anyway. Waters doubled in the top 6th, but was stranded, and the Coons kept going back to Powell, the bum, who needed to fill 100 pitches (all awful) after the pen had done most of the hard work in the last few games. Monson singled, Wheeler walked, and Lopez hit an RBI single before Powell was knocked out with one gone in the bottom 7th, down 5-3 with two on base. Hitchcock whiffed Jimenez, while Salas was retired on a Samples dash into the left-center gap to strand the remaining runners, and the eighth was also done by Hitchcock. Top 9th, Puckeridge led off with an infield single against Adam Bates, promoting the tying run to the plate. Gonzalez whiffed. Samples hit into a double play. And that was a sweep. 5-3 Titans. Waters 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4; Crispin 2-3, 2 RBI; Hitchcock 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Yikes.

Raccoons (32-40) @ Condors (29-42) – June 24-26, 2050

The Condors were in last place, and the Coons were working their way there. Tijuana was up 2-1 in the season series with the second-worst offense and mediocre pitching. Both teams had been off on Thursday – the Raccoons by schedule, and the Condors by virtue of a dust storm that sent the Knights home with unfinished business.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-8, 4.24 ERA) vs. Kevin Daley (4-8, 4.32 ERA)
Victor Salcido (6-2, 3.60 ERA) vs. Tony Llorens (4-8, 3.06 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-6, 4.78 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (4-8, 3.46 ERA)

I’m 4-8, you’re 4-8, everybody’s 4-8! … Llorens was the only southpaw on their rotation. Sam Geren (5-4, 4.26 ERA) could be skipped into the series.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Lamotta – 3B Crispin – P Merino
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – CF G. Cabrera – C Mittleider – LF Mancini – 1B Yamamoto – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – P Daley

Lonzo pushed the team stolen base lead to 33, and Maldo the team RBI lead to 32 with a single in the top 1st, the latter driving in the former on a grand total of two singles, and I morally readied myself that that would be all on the day. An error put Gonzalez on base and Lamotta doubled to put them into scoring position in the top 2nd, but Crispin’s sad groundout and Merino’s weak pop ended the inning without any offense tacked on. Merino meanwhile faced an all-righty lineup, so that was another thing to duck for. He struck out four against a single the first time through but Chris Navarro and Miguel Martinez plinked 2-out singles in the bottom 3rd before Gil Cabrera flew out to Puckeridge on the warning track.

Three singles from Waters, Gonzalez, and Lamotta loaded the bases in the fourth, bringing back Crispin with one out. He slapped the first pitch through the same hole he had used to flip the score on the Titans two days earlier, this time adding one run for a 2-0 lead, with Gonzalez reasonably held at third base. Merino added a run with a groundout to Shuta Yamamoto, but Matt Watt hit a zinger into the right-center gap for a 2-out, 2-run triple…! Lonzo singled him home for the fifth and final run of the inning, putting Merino up 6-0. The Condors kept crowding him, stranding two in the bottom 4th, and loading the bases with one out in the fifth until Jon Mittleider spanked a 2-0 pitch into a 6-4-3 double play to keep them off the board. The Condors had another two runners in the sixth, and while they still couldn’t touch Merino, the Coons hurler needed 100 pitches exactly to even make it that far and was not back for the seventh inning. The Condors had a pair on against Porter in the seventh, against Landeta in the eighth, and still couldn’t score. The Raccoons also didn’t score anymore, but also removed Maldo and Waters a few innings early in this game. 6-0 Raccoons. Watt 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Lamotta 3-4, 2B; Merino 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-8) and 1-3, RBI;

Game 2
POR: CF Lamotta – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – LF Samples – 3B Luna – P Salcido
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – LF G. Cabrera – C Mittleider – 1B Mancini – CF Pruitt – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – P Llorens

Tijuana took a 1-0 lead without a hit in the bottom 1st as Miguel Martinez walked, stole second, reached third on a throwing error by Gonzalez, and came across on a wild pitch by Salcido. Nothing quite like an empty battery…!

While the Coons were entirely absent, the Condors didn’t get a hit until the fourth, when they got two singles by Martinez and Mittleider as well as a run when the latter singled home the former. Their 2-0 lead went poof in the following half-inning, though, which Llorens began with a leadoff walk to Ruben Gonzalez, before with one gone back-to-back RBI doubles by Samples and Luna tied up the game. Portland then took the lead the inning after, when Maldo singled and Waters homered, tying another sad-sack team lead, the one for bombs, which in late June sat at … five. Llorens nicked Gonzalez with the next pitch, and while Ruben chirped at him, he didn’t start a brawl, which was a wise decision. He moved up on a Puckeridge groundout, then scored on a Samples hit for the second straight run through the lineup, this time on a 2-out single that died in shallow right-center, 5-2.

Salcido went seven, issuing a total of four hits and 108 pitches, and keeping the 5-2 lead in good working order. Samples plated Gonzalez for the third straight time in the top 8th, then with a sac fly against David Fox, who was already four runners and two runs deep in a mess by then. John Castner had already hit an RBI double to score Maldo at that point. Fox recovered from there to end the inning, while Ibold and Ponce put the Condors away for the last six outs. 7-2 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4; Gonzalez 1-1, 2 BB; Castner (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Samples 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Salcido 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (7-2);

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 3B Waters – 1B Luna – CF Samples – 2B Castner – C Jimenez – P Wheatley
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – LF G. Carbrera – C Mittleider – 1B Mancini – CF Pruitt – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – P Colwell

Lonzo stole his 34th base in the opening inning, and Castner stole his first in the second inning. Neither one scored, but at least Castner’s stolen base prompted a 2-out intentional walk to Juan Jimenez, and cleared the pitcher’s spot as Wheatley whiffed. Top 3rd, Lonzo hit a 1-out single to left, Puckeridge a double to right, but Waters struck out and Luna lined out to Martinez to keep the board empty… at least until Martinez singled home Shintaro Watanabe in the bottom 3rd. The run was unearned, since Watanabe had reached on a Lonzo error, but I was dismayed nevertheless, as was Wheats, who just couldn’t put a clean game together. First half struggles, eh?

Portland didn’t do much in the middle innings, while Wheats had two good innings before everything came crashing down in the sixth. Navarro led off with a triple, scored on Martinez’ groundout, and he then allowed another three hits and a run to Gabrera, Mittleider, and Mancini to get 3-0 behind. Watanabe, homerless in 181 at-bats this year, homered to open the bottom 7th, which was Wheats’ last inning in another toss-away start. Ed Crispin doubled for him in the eighth, but was stranded. Nobody reached in the ninth. 4-0 Condors. Lavorano 2-3; Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Larry Colwell spun a 5-hit shutout here.

In other news

June 16 – OCT SP Felix Alvarez (7-3, 2.33 ERA) finishes off the Knights in shutout fashion in a 6-0 win, allowing only one hit, a double, to C Tyler Cass (.337, 3 HR, 40 RBI).
June 16 – The Stars beat the Wolves, 4-0, but Dallas’ Dario Martinez (.386, 15 HR, 59 RBI) has his 22-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-3 day.
June 17 – TIJ 1B/OF Gil Cabrera (.344, 2 HR, 34 RBI) also loses his hitting streak at 21 games with a hitless appearance in a 2-1 loss to the Bayhawks.
June 17 – Thunder SS/LF/1B Ryan Cox (.307, 7 HR, 34 RBI) hits a walkoff triple for an 11-inning, 1-0 win over the Knights.
June 18 – The Blue Sox acquire SP Jason Palladino (1-5, 3.23 ERA) from the Indians for #43 prospect SP Michael McLaughlin.

June 19 – Charlotte’s outfielder Oscar Caballero (.246, 5 HR, 32 RBI) misses the cycle by the double, hitting a homer, *two triples*, and two singles in a 15-11 loss to the Aces. The home run is a grand slam, but even six RBI in total was not enough to lift the Falcons to victory in this one.
June 19 – The Scorpions lose LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.312, 14 HR, 33 RBI) to a torn ACL, erasing the slugger from the lineup for the rest of the season.
June 19 – PIT LF/RF Matt Cox (.278, 8 HR, 38 RBI) will miss three months with a badly dislocated shoulder.
June 19 – SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.308, 14 HR, 42 RBI) beats the Condors with a solo home run in the seventh inning for a 1-0 final score.
June 19 – The Stars beat the Wolves, 5-4 in 15 innings. Both teams scored a run each in the ninth and tenth innings before the Stars squeeze through when 36-year-old utility Jose Farfan (1-for-3, 0 HR, 1 RBI) singles home Celio Umbreiro (.219, 1 HR, 17 RBI) with his first base hit of the season.

June 22 – CIN SP Austin Wilcox (7-4, 4.63 ERA) flips a 3-hit shutout against the Blue Sox, claiming the 6-0 win.
June 22 – The Rebels acquire C Dan Whitley (.306, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and a prospect from the Crusaders, who receive outfielder Ken Mills (.326, 2 HR, 17 RBI).
June 22 – The Crusaders collapse in the 15th inning of a game against the Indians and give up five runs after holding the Indians to two runs in the previous 14 frames. New York makes up one run, but loses, 7-3.
June 22 – The Thunder rally for six runs in the top of the ninth inning against the Aces to tie the game, but then still lose on a walkoff double by LVA C Bobby Ortega (.319, 0 HR, 12 RBI), 8-7 in regulation.
June 23 – The Capitals beat the Buffaloes, 3-2 in six innings, as the game is ended by a thunderstorm.
June 25 – SAL SP Darren McRee (4-10, 4.15 ERA) is out for the season with ruptured finger tendons.
June 26 – Warriors INF Jose Rivas (.344, 0 HR, 13 RBI) hits his 2,000th career hit in an 8-1 loss to the Cyclones. Two hits in the second leg of a double header do the trick, the milestone being a leadoff double in the eighth inning against CIN MR Jon Craig (0-2, 3.00 ERA, 6 SV). Rivas is a career .326 batter with four homers and 645 RBI, plus 362 stolen bases.

FL Player of the Week I: LAP 1B Larry Rodriguez (.233, 10 HR, 38 RBI), hitting .480 (12-25) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week I: BOS 1B/2B Jeff Wheeler (.290, 1 HR, 24 RBI), batting .536 (15-28) with 10 RBI

FL Player of the Week II: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.311, 0 HR, 33 RBI), poking .591 (13-22) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week II: BOS OF Tony Lopez (.309, 11 HR, 54 RBI), swatting .542 (13-24) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Well, we’re still owning the Loggers. Yay.

With Armando Herrera dealt, we get to play more of the youngsters, like new arrival Adam Samples. Still not inclined to trade Waters and Wheatley, not that they would net us much right now. And Maldo is the immovable object anyway and will remain here through the end of 2052 anyway. Unless he breaks his neck soon, he will retire as the Coons RBI leader. He has 1,045 right now, which is only eight behind good ol’ Matt Nunley, and 65 behind Manny Fernandez.

65, or, a season’s worth around here.

I don’t see him taking the franchise home run lead away from Daniel Hall at all by now. He sits at 194, which is behind Manny (198), Mark Dawson (221), and Dan the Man (223).

Sigh. Whatever.

Two weeks left (and no off days) to the All Star Game. We will have the Falcons and Elks (again!) at home next week, then be on the road in New York and Indy after that.

Fun Fact: Armando Herrera’s .313 batting average in the brown shirt is the eighth-highest among players with at least 100 at-bats.

If you reduce that to at least 300 at-bats, he’s already up to fourth behind David Brewer (.335 in 1,707 AB), Mike Preble (.316 in 709 AB), and Tetsu Osanai (.316 in 4,897 AB). Herrera had 2,758 at-bats as a Critter.

Who else sneaks in ahead of him if you lower the threshold to 100 at-bats? Couple more half-season rentals, including Jose Morales (.352 in 2011), Chris Robinson (.321 in 2048), and Scott Strong (.315 in 1996), and also one that you didn’t see coming:

Ottie! … Jared Ottinger, the pitcher with both the meteoric rise and crash, hit .330 in 176 at-bats from 2036 to 2040.

Right behind Herrera on either list at the time of the trade at least? Lonzo, at .312.

Westheim · 09-20-2022, 05:03 PM

Raccoons (34-41) vs. Falcons (36-40) – June 27-29, 2050

The week began with the Falcons in the house, plus other guests, but for now let’s only worry about the Falcons, who had lost four in a row and were third in the South, but already 15 1/2 games out. Their .240 batting average was the lowest in the league, but thanks to some power and the CL lead in stolen bases, they scratched out the sixth-most runs. They were giving up the second-most runs and had a -33 run differential (Coons: -24). The season series was at 2-1 in Charlotte’s favor.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (3-6, 3.57 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (8-4, 4.10 ERA)
Elijah Powell (4-8, 5.80 ERA) vs. Juan Arrocha (5-6, 3.76 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-8, 3.96 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (2-7, 4.31 ERA)

Only right-handers at work here for the Falcons.

The other guests? Oh, besides the Falcons we merely had to worry about Nick Valdes visiting, along with some 21-year-old model bimbo who struggled to form a coherent sentence in any language, but whom he planned to make his fourth wife; at the same time we were getting introduced to his offspring with wife number three, since divorced of, who had been the previous 21-year-old model bimbo by his side. The boy, age five, heir-apparent, and named Tremendous Valdes (yes, actually), unsurprisingly knew no limits and was finger-painting the wall in my office as early as Monday morning, and they planned to stay for THREE DAYS.

Most important things first, I hid Honeypaws on the highest shelf before the brat could give him a purple nose.

Game 1
CHA: 1B Sevilla – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – LF Marroquin – SS Woodrome – C Gowin – CF Whitehead – RF R. Gomez – P Takagi
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – CF Samples – P Wolinsky

Puckeridge popped out with the bases loaded and leaving the bases loaded in the bottom 1st, which prompted Nick Valdes to puff me in the side and ask who the heck that even was. 15 minutes later, he puffed me again and asked me who the heck that pitcher was that was getting run over on the mound. That was with the Falcons up 5-0 in the second inning, four runs unearned, in one of the more frightening meltdowns in recent memory. Omar Marroquin drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and Wolinsky looked like he was gonna get out with minimal damage when he struck out Ian Woodrome and got a grounder from Chris Gowin to short. Lonzo threw that away for a run-scoring 2-base error, and Ethan Whitehead then singled home Gowin, then reached second on Matt Watt’s late throw home. Whitehead attempted to steal third base, and ended up taking home on a throwing error by Gonzalez. From there, Robby Gomez walked, stole second, and Raul Sevilla homered to left with two outs. Erik Stevens added a single. I added a sigh. Nick Valdes opined he’d no longer pay for these shenanigans. Randy Wilken grounded out. There were seven and a half innings left to go, and then another two days of the Valdeses and this miserable sucker team after that.

Puckeridge made an error, and grounded out with Maldo and Waters on base in the third inning. Bubba Wolinsky got only one out deep in the fourth, allowing sharp hits to Whitehead, Gomez, and Sevilla, while Takagi had made it 6-0 with a sac fly. Bob Ibold took the ball, struck out Erik Stevens for the second out, then proceeded to get bleached for five runs; Wilken singled in two, and with the bags restacked after two walks, Gowin doubled in three. Tremendous cried. Somehow it was of course all my fault.

When Ruben Gonzalez singled home Maldonado with two outs in the bottom 5th, it somehow didn’t spark a rally out of an 11-0 hole, either, nor were two innings each of score- and pointless relief by Danny Landeta and Eloy Sencion going to be rewarded in any way. Even Preston Porter laid off the catastrophic sucking – plenty of which had been done by Wolinsky, Ibold, and a host of defenders. As Pedro Flores aimed for a 3-inning save in the bottom 9th for the Falcons, Nick kindly pointed out to me that we had as many errors as hits on the scoreboard, and that was usually bad. Yes, Nick, yes. It usually is. And somehow it’s always my fault. 11-1 Falcons. Maldonado 1-2, BB; Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Sencion 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Three singles. Mountains of pain. And two more days with the Valdeses.

Before they were in on Tuesday, Maud told me that she had tried to have a very polite conversation with the model bimbo (her words, not mine) over tea during the game on Monday, but that the model bimbo (her words, not mine) appeared to be absolutely unable to form a single coherent thought in her brain. She smelled like a garden of roses though. I sneered. Just like Valdes liked them, pretty and pretty dumb. (my words, not Maud’s)

Game 2
CHA: LF Marroquin – SS Woodrome – 1B Sevilla – 3B Wilken – RF Allegood – 2B E. Stevens – C M. Castillo – CF Caballero – P Arrocha
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Luna – LF Lamotta – 3B Crispin – C Jimenez – P Powell

The middle game began with Cristiano Carmona busy overpainting the artwork on the wall – it was in a five-year-old’s height, everybody here had a bad back, and Cristiano, being in a wheelchair, was closest to the ground anyway – while Maud tried to busy Tremendous Valdes with bobbleheads. Not the good old ones in the collection, but we had ordered 20,000 Bubba Wolinsky bobbleheads for a Saturday promotion, and after Monday’s blowout I couldn’t figure out how anybody would show up to take one of those things into their house…

Nick and me, sat on either side of Slappy on the trusty brown couch, because Slappy had his spot, and there was no messing with that, argued the benefits of state-sponsored euthanasia during the early innings as nothing was happening, which was actually good news given that Elijah Powell was pitching and he was usually tumbling from blowup to blowup. He allowed two hits through four innings, but the Raccoons had none, and didn’t even reach base until Maldo reached on an error in the bottom 4th. Waters walked then, but Eddy Luna grounded out harmlessly. It took Ed Crispin to break into the H column with a fifth-inning single, and he celebrated by immediately getting himself caught stealing.

Arrocha doubling into the rightfield corner to begin the sixth inning was surely gonna be the beginning of the end. Ian Woodrome singled him home, 1-0 Falcons, which at least gave me practical applications for all the euthanasia talk, given that the Willamette was only a couple of blocks from the stadium. Surprisingly, though, Arrocha walked Watt in the bottom 6th, then gave up a score-flipping homer to Lonzo! That got the diehards in the stands moving, and I also squealed in joy, but Tremendous angrily tossed another bobblehead and declared he didn’t like Lonzo, for his name was too long. – Nick, none of this makes any sense. – What do you, mean, your kid is not the smartest tool in the shed … *yet*??

Maldo doubled after the homer, and Waters walked, but the bags filled up slowly with a 2-out single by Ricky Lamotta before Crispin found a hole on the right side for a 2-run single, 4-1. Jimenez grounded out to short. Powell returned for the seventh, walked the leadoff man Stevens, then gave up a 1-out RBI double to Oscar Caballero before getting yanked. Chris Gowin’s double off Hitchcock narrowed the score to 4-3, but Ponce eventually got out of the inning, and he even pitched the eighth without any stupid accidents, so the Raccoons readied Willie Cruz. He came in without an insurance run materializing, and his appearance prompted the model bimbo to declare how beautiful he was and how she liked his brown skin and wished to have an oily massage from him. Before I could tell her off, Nick already ordered me to make it happen, which doubly confused me.

While all that was going on, Erik Stevens hit a leadoff single off Cruz, advanced on two groundouts, and then scored on a pinch-hit single by Xiao-peng Chin, levelling the score at four. The bottom 9th saw Van Hoy ground out for Cruz in the #7 spot, but righty Ryan Porter then conceded a single to Jimenez and a double to Puckeridge, putting the winning run 90 feet away with one down. Samples pinch-ran for Jimenez at third base, while Watt was walked intentionally to bring up Lonzo with the bags stacked. He found a double play to hit into. Top 10th, Landeta put Woodrome and Sevilla on the corners with leadoff singles, and Wilken got the go-ahead run home with a groundout, which was the only marker the Falcons got. The Coons got a walk from Armando Romero to Matt Waters in the bottom 10th… and absolutely nothing else. 5-4 Falcons. Maldonado 2-5, 2B; Crispin 2-3, 2 RBI;

(downs another gulp of Capt’n Coma)

The good news was that we got at least the early innings of the Wednesday game without interjections by Nick Valdes, who removed himself to the care of Dr. Padilla just before the game. And it was truly his fault this time, for asking Maud what she thought of his fiancé. Maud countered what he was looking for in a woman, and Nick, ever the fool, boorishly proclaimed that he was going for looks first, because if he sought somebody to have an interesting conversation, he’d seek the company of a *man*. Maud then “stumbled” over an imaginary object on the ground, regrettably pouring a hot coffee into Valdes’ lap.

Game 3
CHA: CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – LF Marroquin – SS Woodrome – C Gowin – 1B Sevilla – RF Allegood – P C. Jones
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – CF Samples – P Merino

While Tremendous was blaring his lungs out after I refused to let him roughhouse with Honeypaws like he had with everything else in the goddamn office, Matt Waters singled home Watt and Lonzo in the bottom 1st for a 2-0 Coons lead. The lead only lasted through the second, with a Lonzo error and three hits tying the game on Merino in the top 3rd. Three more singles gave the Falcons a 4-2 load in the fourth, with singles by Raul Sevilla, Mike Allegood, and then Oscar Caballero to cash them. A 2-base throwing error by Woodrome put Puckeridge on base, and Luna singled him home in the bottom 4th to make up one run, but we were still 4-3 behind when Nick Valdes returned with an ice pack in his crotch and the concerned-looking bimbo right about at that time, so the fun was over.

Same for Merino, who gave up 12 hits in 5.2 innings, then left with Allegood and Jones on base and two outs for Ibold, who immediately gave up an infield single to Stevens. Wilken flew out to Samples, though, stranding the bases full. Valdes was just about to start complaining when the Raccoons put Luna and Samples on base with one out in the bottom 6th. Ibold bunted the runners into scoring position, and Watt hit a floater behind Sevilla that dropped just a foot behind the reaching first baseman. Both runners scored, flipping the score to 5-4 Portland. Ibold held the fort in the seventh, and Sencion put Allegood on second base in the eighth, but Kevin Hitchcock grabbed a crucial K on Stevens to reach the middle of the eighth.

When Cruz was back out for another 1-run lead in the ninth, Valdes, still cooling his burnt mid-sections, wondered out loud whether that was the same bum that had already blown the lead on Tuesday, but his bimbo pointed out how firm his paws were. Firm paws are not – Randy Wilken almost homered to left on the first pitch of the inning, but was caught by Watt on the warning track. Marroquin flew out to center, and Woodrome grounded out to Waters. 5-4 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-4;

Yes yes, Nick, you and your family should definitely visit again soon. Yes, definitely. (shoves Valdes and the still screaming Tremendous out of the office with the closing door)

After my retirement that is.

(takes Honeypaws from the highest shelf and rolls up on the couch with him, then proceeds to suck his thumb)

Raccoons (35-43) vs. Canadiens (54-21) – June 30-July 3, 2050

There was no reason for hope here. The damn Elks were second in runs scored, first in runs allowed – just a scratch over three runs per game! – and looked pretty much unbeatable. They were also already up 6-1 in the season series, so would clinch it probably before the All Star Game. Oh the humanity…

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (7-2, 3.51 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (8-4, 3.56 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 4.71 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (9-3, 3.03 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-7, 3.82 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (6-2, 3.69 ERA)
Elijah Powell (4-8, 5.69 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (12-4, 2.06 ERA)

For something else, three southpaw starters from Vancouver in this set; all but Godinez threw from the left side.

Game 1
VAN: LF Escobido – C Julio Diaz – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – CF Tomasello – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – P Orozco
POR: CF Lamotta – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – LF Samples – 3B Luna – 2B Castner – P Salcido

Salcido struck out six Elks in the first three innings, allowing just one base runner, which nonsensically was the opposing pitcher Orozco with an infield single. The Raccoons were hardly any more successful, scattering three runners in as many innings to begin the game. The fourth saw singles by Julio Diaz and Adam Samples, but both were doubled up by the next batter in line. Salcido remained dominant through six innings, whiffing nine against two hits, but then walked Bryce Toohey and allowed a double to Jesus Burgos in the seventh, both with two outs. Tyler Tomasello whiffed, giving Salcido two pawfuls of strikeouts in the game. He also retired Dan Mullen, Nate Oden, and Orozco in order in the eighth, getting one more K from the opposing pitcher, and all the effort for naught and a no-decision when the Raccoons scratched out singles from Watt – batting for Salcido – and Lonzo in the bottom 8th, but Maldo jabbed into a double play to kill the inning. For further miracles, Preston Porter retired the 1-2-3 batters in order in the ninth, still allowing for a single-run walkoff against Orozco, who was still going on 90 pitches, facing Ruben Gonzalez to begin the bottom 9th. He struck out, and Puckeridge flew out. Samples doubled to center, at which point Juan Jimenez – all .183 of him – batted for a listless Luna with two outs just in the vain hope for a platoon advantage. He grounded out, and we went to extras, where Jerry Outram began the tenth inning with an infield single off Julian Ponce, but never made it off first base with the go-ahead run. Bottom 10th, Castner and Watt hit singles off Orozco, who was still going. Van Hoy grounded out as he batted for Ponce in the #1 spot, but that advanced the winning run to third base…! The damn Elks elected to walk Lonzo intentionally, but were beaten when Maldo singled to right to end the game. 1-0 Blighters. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Samples 2-3, 2B; Castner 2-4; Watt (PH) 2-2; Salcido 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K;

Whatever ******* works.

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – C Julio Diaz – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – CF Tomasello – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – P Godinez
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Lamotta – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Wheatley

Single, single, single, single – two runs in, no outs, and only then did Jesus Burgos pop out. Tomasello walked, but Wheats buggered out when Dan Mullen hit into a double play with the bases loaded. Watt and Puckeridge found the corners in the bottom 1st, but Waters also found an inning-killing double play. He made up for it the next time around, though, coming up in the third inning with Watt and Lonzo on base and two outs, and shot a 1-0 pitch into the left-center gap for a game-tying double. Crispin singled to center, plating Waters, 3-2, but Lamotta’s fly to center was caught by Tomasello. DeMarco took Wheats deep to left in the fourth, though, and the game was tied again.

Wheats pitched six and held the tie in a 3-3 game, technically a quality start, but … not really. Thankfully that was his last one in the first half. It was a no-decision anyway; while Crispin singled in the bottom 6th, Lamotta found another double play to end an inning. Ibold held up in the seventh, but Landeta fell in the eighth when Dan Mullen whacked a leadoff triple to right-center and Nate Oden got the Elks ahead with a pinch-hit sac fly. Puckeridge’s 2-out single in the bottom 8th went nowhere, and it was Sam Gibson up in the bottom 9th, sporting a spiffy 0.86 ERA. Crispin found the crease on the left side for a leadoff single, bringing up the winning run in the box. Lamotta hit into a fielder’s choice, Gibson hit Maldo hitting for Van Hoy, and somehow Eddy Luna, replacing Jimenez, jabbed a 1-2 bouncer through the hole between Toohey and Angel Quintana on the right side for another single. Crispin flew around and scored, and the Critters had at least tied it up for the time being! Ruben Gonzalez struck out, Matt Watt grounded out, however, and the Coons had their third extra-inning affair of the week on their paws. Would this one also end in the 10th? If so, the merrier, because Cruz held the Elks to a Mullen single in the top of the inning. Alas, three fly outs in the bottom 10th extended the game, and Cruz walked Bryce Toohey, then conceded a 2-out RBI double in the gap to Jesus Burgos in the 11th. Bill Drury had pitched the 10th for Elk City and also got the 11th, whiffing Crispin to begin it … but Crispin reached when strike three got away from Diaz. Lamotta doubled him home with a corner-hugging drive on the very next pitch, staving off defeat yet again. John Castner batted for Cruz, emptying the bench, grounded to second, and Quintana fudged the ball for an error, moving Lamotta and the winning run to third base with nobody out. A half-arsed walk to Luna set up forces everywhere. The next pitch drilled Ruben Gonzalez, though, and that was how victory came about in this game. 6-5 Critters! Puckeridge 2-5; Crispin 3-4, BB, RBI; Luna (PH) 1-1, BB, RBI;

I must say, I didn’t expect to grab a split here, and especially not by Friday!

Game 3
VAN: LF Escobido – SS Mullen – RF Outram – 1B Toohey – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – CF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P de Anda
POR: LF Watt – CF Samples – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 2B Castner – RF Puckeridge – P Wolinsky

Bubba’s bobblehead day began with a 3-run first inning on four hits and a walk. Angel Escobido grounded out, but the next three Elks filled the bases. Diaz’ sac fly and a 2-out, 2-run single by Tim Burkhart got the runs home. This start turned out even ******** than his outing on Monday. Three-plus innings, 11 hits, including four straight to begin the fourth inning, in which the damn Elks extended their lead to 5-0 while having Outram and Toohey on the corners with nobody out when Wolinsky was yanked. Porter conceded Outram’s run, but at least got out of the ******* inning.

The Coons looked beaten, and Hitchcock gave up another run in the sixth inning to fall behind 7-0, but the Raccoons then gave de Anda a bit of a waffling in the bottom 6th. Samples and Waters provided an on-base presence with early walks, but Maldo and Gonzalez also had sad fly outs. With two gone, Crispin hit an RBI single, Castner walked in a full count, and Puckeridge drove in two more with another single, but Lonzo grounded out hitting for Hitchcock, ending the inning after three runs had scored and still a slam short. It was still a semi-decent result until Bob Ibold got involved in the ninth, and he was also sort of the last guy available from the pen. He ended up walking three and conceding five, with a big part of that being a grand slam by Bryce Toohey, who knew his way around the fences in this ballpark. Down by nine in the bottom of nine, the Raccoons whacked Ruben Mendez around instead of saving it for Sunday. Van Hoy drove in a run, another run scored on a wild pitch, and the bases were loaded with one out for Matt Waters, who hit a 2-run double to right, the fifth hit off Mendez in the inning. Tim Abraham replaced him at that point, rung up Gonzalez, but nicked Jimenez, and that brought on Sam Gibson with the Coons having come back from nine down to “this is a save opportunity now”. Even though Castner grounded out, that almost counted as a moral victory. 12-7 Canadiens. Samples 2-3, 2 BB; Castner 2-4, BB, 2B; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1, RBI; Porter 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 4
VAN: CF Escobido – C Julio Diaz – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – CF Tomasello – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – P McMichael
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Samples – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – LF Watt – 3B Luna – P Powell

The bullpen after three extra-inning games and two ****** starts by Wolinsky this week was at the very end of its tethers, and Powell was told from the start that he wasn’t gonna get pulled before he was through at least five innings and better seven. The Vancouver run total was not exactly a factor in the deliberations here. His first two innings were good and scoreless, and then the Coons took the lead on singles by Gonzalez, Watt, and Luna in the bottom 2nd. Powell bunted, Burgos tried to get the lead runner at third base, but was late, and now the bags were full for Lonzo, who was down 0-2, but then managed a jabber to DeMarco, slow enough to not allow for a double play, and a run scored. Before Samples could fly out to left, McMichael balked home a third run, which was very kind of him.

The Elks didn’t get a hit until Jerry Outram whacked a leadoff double in the fifth inning and was soon enough brought in to score on a Tomasello single, 3-1, but overall Powell held his crap together remarkably well. At least if he didn’t face Toohey, who led off the seventh with a jack to get the score to 3-2. The Coons hadn’t done much in the meantime, but had Luna and Lonzo on in the bottom 7th, but then Samples popped out to second base to strand them. But at least Powell toughed it out for eight innings and 115 pitches, which was more than any of us would have dared to put a bet on. Well, almost anyone. (pulls a crumpled $20 note out of his pocket and slaps it down in front of Honeypaws)

Bill Drury had Waters on second in the bottom 8th when he gave up a single to Ruben Gonzalez to left. Waters was sent around for the insurance run, but thrown out by Escobido, and Gonzalez was left on by Lamotta. The Raccoons then pulled a surprise move; with the 2-3-4 batters up in the ninth, the pitcher would face two lefty hitters in Diaz and Outram. The save opportunity then went not to Willie Cruz, but to Eloy Sencion…! He struck out Diaz. Toohey popped out to Van Hoy at first base. And Outram was down 2-2, then got hold of a fastball and peppered it to deep left again… but not out of the park. Watt made the snag at the fence, and the Raccoons actually beat the Elks, three out of four! 3-2 Critters!! Gonzalez 2-4; Watt 2-3; Powell 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (5-8);

First career save for Eloy Sencion!

In other news

June 27 – DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.340, 3 HR, 44 RBI) ticks out two hits in a 4-1 win over the Cyclones, reaching a 20-game hitting streak in the process.
June 27 – The Canadiens beat the Knights, 6-5, in 15 innings. VAN INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.294, 7 HR, 44 RBI) brings home the winning run with a sac fly.
June 29 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.275, 9 HR, 47 RBI) beats the Loggers with a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning after the Thunder had heretofore been shut out by a procession of six Loggers pitchers. Oklahoma City wins, 4-2.
June 30 – There are three 1-0 games on the same day; the Raccoons beat the Canadiens by that score in 10 innings, while the Buffaloes and Wolves prevail over the Rebels and Pacifics, respectively, in regulation.

July 1 – Dallas INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.202, 1 HR, 16 RBI) has two hits in a 5-4 loss to the Scorpions, reaching the 2,000 hits mark in the process. A 2-run single off SAC SP Angel Velasquez (5-8, 4.32 ERA) gets the deal done for the 37-year-old Marquez, a 4-time Gold Glover batting .280 with 169 HR and 835 RBI in a career spent entirely in the Federal League.
July 1 – ATL C Tyler Cass (.345, 3 HR, 47 RBI) is the next batter with a 20-game hitting streak, connecting twice in a 10-4 win over the Falcons to reach the mark.
July 1 – TIJ SP Larry Colwell (6-8, 2.96 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout of the Thunder for a 2-0 win.
July 1 – A pinched nerve could keep NYC INF Andrew Russ (.283, 0 HR, 16 RBI) out for the full month of July.

July 2 – The Titans send CL Adam Bates (4-1, 1.56 ERA, 17 SV) to the Cyclones for two prospects.
July 2 – The Capitals trade SP Victor Mondragon (5-6, 3.21 ERA) to the Blue Sox for C Mitch Korfhage (.196, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and a prospect.
July 2 – The Scorpions acquire SP Matt Weber (6-5, 4.27 ERA) for two prospects from the Condors, who receive #54 prospect SP Gabe Hill as part of the deal.
July 2 – DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.342, 3 HR, 46 RBI) reaches a 25-game hitting streak with two hits in a 12-2 roughing of the Scorpions. He drive in two runs on a double and a single.
July 2 – The hitting streak of ATL C Tyler Cass (.340, 3 HR, 47 RBI), however, ends at 20 games with an 0-for-4 in a 5-2 loss to the Falcons.
July 3 – OCT OF Juan Benavides (.275, 10 HR, 53 RBI) drives in six runs on four hits in a 15-4 beating of the Condors.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.323, 3 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND LF/RF/1B Bill Quinteros (.279, 10 HR, 41 RBI), batting .370 (10-27) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.375, 15 HR, 59 RBI), batting .421 with 7 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: LVA CF Brent Cramer (.349, 8 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .385 with 5 HR, 23 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Arthur Pickett (9-5, 3.03 ERA), tossing for a 5-1 record with 2.23 ERA, 38 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Terry Herman (10-3, 2.41 ERA), throwing for a 5-0 mark with 1.71 ERA, 29 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL 1B Chris Tyler (.279, 1 HR, 13 RBI), batting .255 with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: POR SS Lorenzo Lavorano (.297, 3 HR, 25 RBI), poking .295 with 1 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Lonzo, finally going places! Rookie of the Month honors, and if finds the groove now, he can totally also still win the Rookie of the Year award. Boo-yah!

It may not have felt like it, but the Raccoons turned a winning month in June, 14-12 after all. The offense remained indifferent to both walks and extra-base hits, and the pitching regularly gets their snouts buckled. Somehow they squeeze one out. Some of it might be luck, but maybe the kits dropped at the end of the pen actually are for real: we’re 16-6 in one-run games, and 5-2 in overtime affairs. Those are the only bright splits. We can’t win at home, or on the road, or during the day, or at night, or against lefties, or against righties. But we win the 3-2 games, somehow.

Or the 1-0, 10-inning games. (snickers)

The international free agent pool opened for signings this week, but I’m afraid it looks a bit thin. Not something we want to blow millions on. There’s the odd interesting player in there that might go for like $200k, but nothing major. We in fact already signed a switching-hitting outfielder, David Milian, for all of $13k.

Only a trip to New York and Indy left before the All Star Game now.

Fun Fact: Ivan Villa has 21 home runs, more than half the Raccoons’ output.

I don’t … I don’t know. We have 37 homers. It’s now the second half officially (looks at Wheats, who briefly freezes mid-munch over his food bowl) and the team leaders are aiming for TEN.

Who has homers here? Actually we’re splitting 37 homers between 13 players, and I don’t know whether that makes it better or worse. Waters and Maldo have five each. Puckeridge has four. Luna, Lonzo, Gonzalez, Herrera (since departed), Lamotta all have three. Watt, Crispin, Jimenez have a pair. Castner and Salcido chipped in one each.

Actually, maybe even worse than comparing the team to Villa, is the comparison with Lonzo. Yes, he has 36 sacks and Waters now leads the team with 35 RBI.

But Lonzo is only one sack short of matching the homer output of the entire team…! When has that ever happened??

Westheim · 09-23-2022, 06:15 AM

Raccoons (38-44) @ Crusaders (43-39) – July 4-7, 2050

The two teams were a combined 32 teams out at the start of the second half of the season and had no reason to harbor any hopes for the rest of the year. We’d nevertheless play eight against another over the next two weeks, after splitting a 4-game set earlier in May. New York was second from the bottom in runs scored, but also conceded only the fourth-fewest runs, but that worked out for a -1 run differential (Coons: -36).

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-8, 3.91 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (5-7, 3.23 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. Yataro Tanabe (3-0, 2.98 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 4.70 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-6, 5.12 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-8, 4.24 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (12-2, 1.75 ERA)

Two southpaws sandwiched in between two right-handers. The Crusaders had a bunch of injuries; f.e. there was no Ed Haertling, no Andrew Russ (grins fiendishly), Ryan Fentress, or Jim White.

The Coons meanwhile disposed of Evan Van Hoy (.211, 0 HR, 7 RBI) to begin the week and brought back Mikio Suzuki (.261, 0 HR, 3 RBI) from a rehab assignment. Maybe he’d stay on the field this time!

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – P Merino
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – 3B Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF Bent – CF Ceballos – RF Garris – C O. Ramirez – P Sopena

Merino was the first player to land a hit this week, squeezing out a 1-out single in the third inning against Sopena, which was soon imitated by Matt Watt and Lonzo behind him, with three singles filling the bags in a hurry for Maldo, who flew out to Josh Garris in right. Merino went for home and was thrown out, ending the inning. Merino singled again in the fifth inning, but was entirely ignored that time around. Instead, a Mario Ceballos single to left, a stolen base, and a 2-out single past Maldonado chipped by Omar Ramirez gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead in the bottom 5th. That would be the only run against Merino in eight innings, but also enough to give him an L, since the Raccoons just couldn’t put anything together. Lonzo hit another single in the eighth, but was caught stealing, and that was all the rally effort before the middle of the order came up against Melvin Lucero in the ninth inning. Maldo singled to right, but was forced out on a Waters grounder to Prince Gates. Gonzalez whiffed, but Alan Puckeridge singled to right on a 3-2 pitch, sending Waters and the tying run to third base with two outs. Up came Suzuki, also ran a full count, bashed a liner to right … and Garris caught that one. 1-0 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-3; Puckeridge 2-4; Merino 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (5-9) and 2-3;

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Samples – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 3B Luna – P Salcido
NYC: 2B Haney – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – SS E. Zuniga – CF Ceballos – P Tanabe

Three batters in, the Raccoons were up 3-0 as Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!!), Adam Samples singled, and Jesus Maldonado cranked one over the fence in left for his rousing, team-leading sixth homer of the season. That wasn’t even all in the first inning, with Juan Jimenez doubling home Alan Puckeridge with two outs before all was said and done. Salcido then sparkled with four balls straight to Mark Haney to begin his day, with Omar Ramirez singling home that run with two outs to shorten the lead to 4-1 right away. Salcido hit a single in the top 2nd and was joined on base by Lonzo and Maldo to give Waters a slam chance with one out, but all we got was a grounder to Edwin Zuniga for an inning-murdering double play.

Maldo grabbed a fourth RBI (re-tying Lonzo’s stolen base total with 37) when he singled home Lonzo from second base in the fourth. Lonzo had hit a leadoff single and had taken second on an errant pickoff attempt by Tanabe. And Salcido? Went down in flames in the bottom of the inning. Two walks, a Prince Gates triple, a Randy Anton double, and the tying run was on second base with nobody out already. Zuniga walked, and only Ceballos finally grounded out for anything at all. PH Dave Hernandez flipped the score with a single through the left side, and Salcido was yanked. ******* useless. They’re all ******* useless…….

Ponce got out of the fourth, but Danny Landeta got romped for three more runs in the fifth, putting this game into the books as another dispiriting, soul-bleaching loss. Eddy Luna singled home a run against Neil Hamann in the seventh, but Randy Anton countered with a homer off Kevin Hitchcock in the same inning to maintain slam range for New York. That was about it for this sad Tuesday in New York. 10-6 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Maldonado 3-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B; Jimenez 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Sometimes … no, we couldn’t even have won that one in Portland. Can’t have a game shortened to four innings by floods….

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – CF Samples – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 2B Castner – P Wheatley
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – 2B Bent – CF Ceballos – P Malla

The Coons casually barfed a 6-spot onto the board in the first inning on Wednesday, with Samples singling home a pair, Crispin adding one, and John Castner mashing a 3-piece, all with two outs. We then very very carefully gave the baseball to Wheats in his final start before the All Star Game. He walked Garris in the first, but struck out Danny Rivera and got out of the inning unharmed, while the Coons got an unearned run home in the top 2nd on singles by Lonzo and Maldo, and a throwing error by Mario Ceballos when Lonzo went to third base, allowing the rookie to scamper home, 7-0. Randy Anton and Art Bent had base hits in the bottom 2nd, but Ceballos found his way into an inning-ending double play, and the Crusaders stranded another two hits in the third before Ruben Gonzalez doubled home Lamotta and Maldo in the fourth, 9-0.

…and while Wheats was not *great*, he kept the Crusaders off the board. The Coons loaded the bags again in the fifth, assisted by a Sanchez error, although with three on and no outs, both Lamotta and Maldo struck out against Xavier Gomez. Adam Samples did as well, but Ramirez fumbled that ball away and everybody circled onwards on the uncaught third strike, with Wheats scoring to make it 10-0. Gonzalez singled home another pair, and then Ed Crispin legged out an infield single to refill the bases, but collided with Randy Anton at first base and left the game with a bruised paw, Luna taking over. Castner then struck out to end the inning on the fourth K hung on a Critter in the top 5th.

Maldo was lifted from the game after a single in the seventh, at which point the Crusaders had gotten a run off Wheats after all when Wheats plunked Gates in the bottom 6th, he stole a base, and was singled in by Anton. Puckeridge replaced Maldo, while multiply-ringed Derek Baskins pinch-hit for the Crusaders in the bottom 7th, but hurt himself in breaking up a double play grounder and was gone in a flash. Wheats completed seven decent innings, with Waters hitting a single in his place. Castner had singled ahead of them and scored after a balk and a Watt groundout, before Lonzo took Matthew Owen deep for a 2-run homer. Yes, the rout remained very much on, and Preston Porter kept the knee on the Crusaders’ throats with two scoreless innings to finish out the game. 15-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-6, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5; Gonzalez 3-6, 2B, 4 RBI; Crispin 2-4, RBI; Castner 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Waters (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-7) and 1-3;

Crispin would be day-to-day for the rest of the week, probably, giving more playing time to Eddy Luna.

Game 4
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – P Wolinsky
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – 3B Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – RF D. Rivera – LF Bent – CF Arens – C A. Lara – P J. Johnson

Former Indians terror Danny Rivera hit a leadoff double off Wolinsky in the bottom 2nd and scored on two productive outs to give the New Yorkers a 1-0 lead, and wouldn’t that be fitting, to lose 1-0 or 2-1 after pouring out 15 runs the day before? The Coons didn’t have a hit the first time through, but Lonzo stuffed a leadoff triple into the gap in left-center to begin the fourth inning. Maldo singled him home right away to tie the game, but that was also all the Coons got in the inning, and Wolinsky then imploded spectacularly in the bottom 4th, much like Salcido on Tuesday. Gates singled, Hernandez doubled, Rivera singled both of them home, 3-1, before Wolinsky walked the bags full. Still nobody out, yay! Angel Lara lined out on a 3-2 pitch, but Jeff Johnson broke the game open with a bases-clearing double through a diving Eddy Luna. Sanchez popped out, but Mark Haney RBI-doubled Wolinsky off the mound, and Danny Landeta had nothing better to do than to give up two more runs on a Gates double and a Hernandez single. Rivera struck out to complete a jaw-dropping 8-spot.

Waters’ pointless solo homer in the top 6th was countered in the bottom 6th when the ******* opposing pitcher reached on an uncaught third strike (glares at Gonzalez), Bob Ibold walked the bags full, and gave up a sac fly to Dave Hernandez. That was the last run in a game in which Willie Cruz got his only appearance in the series when he pitched mop-up in the eighth inning… 10-2 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Waters 2-4, HR, RBI; Luna 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Raccoons (39-47) @ Indians (38-47) – July 8-10, 2050

Two meaningless teams in a battle for a meaningless fourth place ahead of the All Star Game. The Indians had a 5-4 edge in the season series and sat sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +4 run differential. They were remarkably average, the only major stat in which they were in the bottom or top three in the league being home runs, where they tied for tenth. Not that the Coons were shining there; the outburst on Wednesday had merely lifted us to ninth in the league in bombs.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (5-8, 5.40 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (8-5, 3.25 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-9, 3.70 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (4-6, 4.35 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (6-7, 3.58 ERA)

Only right-handers for this series – with Tan Brink going on short rest after a double header on Monday.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – CF Suzuki – C Jimenez – P Powell
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – RF Locke – C Gilmore – 2B R. White – P Brink

Both teams only brought up the minimum through three innings, despite landing a base hit each. But Juan Jimenez hit into a double play, and Alex de Castro was caught stealing, thus removing either team’s base hit from the bases again. De Castro was actually caught stealing *again* in the fourth inning, leading to some dismay in his dugout. The Indians finally went up 1-0 in the fifth when Aaron Brayboy hit a leadoff double, and was on the corners with Mark Gilmore when the Coons couldn’t turn two on Rusty White’s grounder to short. Brayboy scored thus, while Brink struck out to leave White on first.

The Indians continued to run on Jimenez, and continued to be thrown out. Angel Mendez singled and was caught stealing in the sixth, and Philip Locke getting hammered out in the seventh. That was 4-for-4 for Jimenez with the rocket launcher, and 2-for-3 with the poke stick, which was not a horrendous day at all. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was collectively doing absolutely nothing.

Top 8th, finally some movement. Brink walked Watt to begin the inning, and Lonzo singled over the head of de Castro, moving the tying run to second base. Maldo popped out. Waters struck out. But Puckeridge came through – doubling to right to tie the game. Lonzo didn’t score mainly for stumbling around second base, which was not conducive to taking a lead here, although we still had .362 wonder John Castner stepping up to bat against righty reliever Bill Quinn. He shot the first pitch to right, a whizzer past Rusty White, and a 2-run single to take the lead, 3-1! John ******* Castner! Quinn walked Suzuki, but Jimenez grounded out to short to end the inning. Once in the lead, the Raccoons got the eighth pieced together by Eloy Sencion and Preston Porter, and Willie Cruz did the rest in the ninth, all without major accidents. 3-1 Coons. Watt 1-2, 3 BB; Lavorano 2-5; Castner 2-4, 2 RBI; Jimenez 2-4; Powell 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (6-8);

John Castner, a career sucker, is batting .371/.421/.529 in his age 29 season, and in only 70 at-bats. Surely he’s not for real – career OPS still at .633 – but we’ll slide a few more starts his way until he sucks himself to the point where the Agitator puts the pitchfork down again.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Merino
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C Gilmore – CF R. White – 2B N. Fernandez – P Medvec

Merino avoided giving up runs on both Angel Mendez’ leadoff double in the first and Mike Gilmore’s 1-out double in the second, although following a Rusty White single, the latter required some outfield assistance from Matt Watt, throwing out Gilmore at the plate on Nick Fernandez’ flyout for a 7-2 double play to end the inning. But the Coons had no hits the first time through, and the Indians kept plinking away at Merino, with success by the bottom 3rd. Mendez singled, stole second, and was singled home by Bill Quinteros, and then Bobby Anderson crashed a homer to left, 3-0. Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the fourth, but was left on, and in the fifth Castner was nicked and Merino singled with two outs before Watt lined out to the shortstop to end the inning.

A Mendez triple and de Castro’s groundout made it 4-0 on Merino in the bottom 5th, while the Coons needed an error to get Lonzo aboard again in the sixth. He stole second, but Maldo grounded out, and Waters popped out on a 3-1 pitch. And that was precisely why our RBI lead at the end of the year would be a ******* 69!! IF THAT!! Puckeridge hit a 2-out single through the right side to get the Coons on the board at all, only the third Portland hit against ten for Indy in this game, but Castner grounded out to end the inning. Merino was gone without retiring a batter in the bottom 6th, walking Gilmore and seeing White reach on an infield single. Bob Ibold at least got out of the inning on five pitches, getting two pops from Fernandez and Medvec, then a grounder to short from Mendez. Hitchcock and Ponce held the Indians in place after that, but the Raccoons never got untracked and never got another base hit. 4-1 Indians.

For Sunday, no special All Star rest this year – it’s simply not required…

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Salcido
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – RF Locke – C Poindexter – 2B R. White – P E. Ortiz

Lonzo singled, stole second, and Maldo singled him home, then stole his first base of the year himself. When Puckeridge singled to right, Maldo was sent from second, but was thrown out by Philip Locke to end the inning. The Coons left Gonzalez and Salcido on the corners in the second, but Waters zinged a 2-run homer to center in the third inning after the Indians’ hurler nicked Maldonado, thus extending the lead to 3-0. Salcido seemed recovered from his waffling on Tuesday; he walked one, but struck out four and allowed no hits the first time through against the Arrowheads. Aaron Brayboy, the disgusting little brat, would get Indy into the H column with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, and then a Lonzo error put the tying run in the box right away, but Merino retired Manny Poindexter, White, and Ortiz in order without allowing Brayboy as far as third base. The shutout went in the sixth though, when Bobby Anderson drove home Mendez with two outs, 3-1. Brayboy then disgustingly doubled, but Anderson was thrown out at home plate by Suzuki to end the inning.

The Raccoons got Maldo and Waters on base with leadoff singles in the eighth inning, but failed to tack on runs when the next three sods made soddy outs. Salcido had thrown 98 pitches through seven and was not back for the bottom 8th. Sencion and Porter retired the 9-1-2 batters in order. Still in a 2-run game, Willie Cruz was a strike away from closing it out when Brayboy, the ******* ********* **** *************, snuck a single through the right side. Nick Fernandez ran for him, and Joe Briscoe pinch-hit for the pitcher in the #6 spot, batting .187, and shedding two points by grounding out to Lonzo after all. 3-1 Coons. Maldonado 2-3, RBI; Waters 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4; Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Salcido 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (8-3) and 1-3;

In other news

July 4 – SFB SS/2B Todd Dau (.212, 6 HR, 25 RBI) connects all the dots in a 16-2 rout of the Knights and collects all types of hit exactly once while driving in five runs. He thus hits for the 111th cycle in ABL history, and the first since 2048, as well as the first for a home team since Jerry Outram did that with the Canadiens in 2044.
July 4 – The Pacifics beat the Stars, 7-4, and kill the hitting streak of DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.340, 3 HR, 47 RBI) at 25 games in one swoop.
July 4 – The Scorpions acquire CF Clay Krabbe (.278, 3 HR, 18 RBI) from the Warriors for 1B Dale Haracz (.200, 2 HR, 4 RBI), who has yet to start an ABL game, and a prospect.
July 5 – OCT SP Ben Lehman (12-3, 3.16 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 7-0 shutout.
July 6 – The Cyclones beat the Rebels, 12-11 in 12 innings, in a see-saw battle with five homers and as many blown leads. RIC C Dan Whitley (.299, 3 HR, 6 RBI) leads all players with four RBI and missing the cycle by the triple.
July 8 – The Warriors’ SP Mike Zeigler (7-3, 2.45 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves in a 2-0 win. Only OF Angelo Zurita (.258, 1 HR, 21 RBI) finds a single for Salem in the game.
July 8 – The Crusaders acquire SP Jeremy Baker (4-10, 4.34 ERA) from the Pacifics for two prospects.
July 8 – The Titans send SP Jim Cushing (8-5, 3.66 ERA, 1 SV) to the Gold Sox for two prospects.
July 9 – In a full count and with the bases just as full, LAP OF Joshua Shaw (.342, 3 HR, 27 RBI) draws a walk from SAC SP C.J. Harney (7-8, 3.28 ERA), pressed into service in overtime, to walk off the Pacifics, 4-3 in 14 innings.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 3B Jon Elkins (.220, 3 HR, 24 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.354, 1 HR, 32 RBI), slapping .577 (15-26) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

No Portland All Stars this year. Are dismayed? Sure. Surprised? Nah. Just… Just look at the bunch. Just look at them.

In fact, not only did we not have an All Star – we didn’t have ANY player even in the top 3 in voting at ANY position, or in the top 5 for pitchers. NONE. You can’t get rejected much harder than that, and I must know; I was once rejected by the girl two farms down the road, who instead made off with the family’s price-winning pig…

Salcido took the team’s 5,700th regular season loss in blowout fashion on Tuesday. Our overall record is now 6,215-5,702 (.52152).

EVERYBODY now has three days off, and then we’ll host the Crusaders and Titans in Portland. The rest of the month will be spent with the CL South, starting with a trip to Atlanta and Vegas.

Fun Fact: The last time a Raccoons team ended the season all-time under .500 was in 2008.

The 2009 team missed the playoffs, but flicked the all-time winning percentage to .501 and it’s never dropped below .500 afterwards. And given that we’re now 513 games over .500 I guess we’ll never drop below .500 again, either.

(looks skywards)

Maybe I shouldn’t tease Igor, the littlest and meanest of all the baseball gods, all that hard……

Westheim · 09-24-2022, 05:54 PM

All Star Game

Bayhawks catcher Sean Suggs has two hits with a homer and an RBI to win MVP honors in the All Star Game, but even without being weighed down by any Raccoons, the Continental League drops the game to the Federal League, 4-3. Pittsburgh’s Ed Soberanes hits three singles in the FL win, which goes to Buffos closer Trent O’Sullivan.

Raccoons (41-48) vs. Crusaders (46-43) – July 14-17, 2050

Now down 5-3 in the season series, the Raccoons got to host the Crusaders for four at our own cozy place, which was remarkably empty these days. Still unable to score (unless Bubba Wolinsky could find more blowouts in his arm), still decent pitching.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (5-7, 4.49 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (6-8, 3.29 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-9, 4.79 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-7, 5.76 ERA)
Victor Salcido (8-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (4-11, 4.36 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-10, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (13-2, 1.78 ERA)

The series opened with a righty, of which the injury-riddled Crusaders had only two in the rotation right now, the other being Jeff Johnson. For New York, there was no Haertling, no Baskins, no Russ, no White, no Mills, no Fentress, and for me soon no breath… (gasp!)

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – RF Arens – CF Ceballos – P Sopena
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Wheatley

Wheats gave up three hits the first thing after the All Star break, with Danny Rivera singling home Omar Sanchez to get New York on the board right away. The Coons left Matt Watt on third base after his leadoff double in the bottom 1st, and threatened to do the same with Puckeridge on third in the bottom 2nd until Wheats himself shoved a 2-out RBI single up the middle to unhook himself. For naught; Watt flew out, and in the third Wheatley allowed a walk, a single, and with two outs, a 2-run single to center to Prince Gates, 3-1. Randy Anton walked, and only Ron Arens grounded out to Ed Crispin. Bottom 3rd, Lonzo hit a leadoff single. Maldo had a deep fly out, after which Lonzo took second by force for his 40th stolen base. Waters then singled him home, tying Maldo with 39 RBI for the miserable team lead in the Coons’ 90th game. Waters stole second, too, Puckeridge reached on an Omar Sanchez error, and then another runner was wasted at third base when Crispin hit into an inning-ending double play, 4-6-3…

Wheats came apart for good in the fourth, walking Mario Ceballos and Sanchez, giving up a run on a Mark Haney single, and then two more on a gapper by Danny Rivera. The barrage against the Raccoons didn’t end, with Sopena getting a turn in the fifth when he doubled home a run with two outs. Bottom 7th, however, Waters singled home his 40th run with Watt (walk) and Maldo (single) on the corners. An infield single for Puckeridge loaded the bases and brought back Crispin as the tying run. Haney lunged, but missed his shot up the middle for a 2-run single, but Gonzalez and Sopena then made the last two outs. After an uneventful eighth, Bob Ibold pitched around a Ramirez double in the top 9th so that when Maldo lobbed a soft leadoff single in the bottom 9th against Melvin Lucero, the tying run was back in the box in Matt Waters. He grounded out to advance Maldo to second, but Puckeridge socked a drive over the glove of a reaching Ceballos for an RBI double, and now the tying run was just 180 feet away. Make that 90 on a wild pitch to Crispin, and with one out! Except that a poor floater by Crispin and Gonzalez’ fly to Ceballos ended the game to strand yet another fuzzy bum on third base. 7-6 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-5; Waters 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-5, 2 RBI; Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – CF Ceballos – C O. Ramirez – P Malla
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – P Wolinsky

The Coons left runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, and fourth inning without scoring in any ******* one of them, but the Crusaders weren’t any better, except that they stranded fewer runners for having fewer runners to begin with. The ice wasn’t broken until the fifth when Malla walked Wolinsky and Castner zinged a 2-out double to drive him in. No, really, that actually happened. Maldo flew out to left, and through five it was 1-0 Critters.

Confused, Bubba then allowed a leadoff single to Haney in the top 6th, then nailed Gates. Dave Hernandez bounced into a 6-4-3, though, and Rivera went down on strikes to strand a Crusader on third base for a change. Art Bent hit another leadoff single to center in the seventh, but was also doubled up by Ceballos. Omar Ramirez singled, Angel Lara struck out, and seven shutout innings would be all the Coons asked for from Wolinsky in this one. The pen got a 1-0 lead; Lonzo stole not one, but TWO bases in the bottom 7th, but was left on third base when Maldo sailed out to Ceballos. The Coons mixed and matched to the best of their abilites in the eighth; Sencion didn’t get his man, with Sanchez reaching on another leadoff single. Hitchcock got the next two before Josh Garris pinch-hit for Hernandez, promoting a move to Ponce, who secured a foul pop to Matt Waters to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Waters blooped a leadoff single, and Jeff Frank walked Puckeridge with one out. Crispin batted for Lamotta and was nicked, loading them up for Eddy Luna, coming on for Adam Samples. He grounded to Haney, but the Crusaders couldn’t turn two, and a puffer run scored. Suzuki then whiffed in Ponce’s place, sending Willie Cruz out with a 2-0 lead. Cruz cocked it up, big time. Leadoff single for Rivera, RBI double for Bent, and then two walks and another RBI single for Omar Sanchez, which tied the game, loaded the bases with two outs, and brought on Preston Porter, who got Gates to bounce out to Crispin at third base.

Right-hander Sean Yates was out for the bottom 9th. The thing was, the 1-2-3 were up, after which Waters had gotten lost in the position shuffle after the pinch-hitting bonanza in the bottom 8th, so the pitcher was in the #4 spot and only Juan Jimenez was left on the bench. The spot never came up in the ninth, as Yates sawed off the 1-2-3 in order, but Porter then had to remain in for the 10th inning. He gave up two runs on a walk to Rivera, a Bent double, and a Ramirez single. Lucero scuffled again in the bottom 10th as well, giving up a 1-out double to Gonzalez, then an RBI single to Puckeridge, which brought the winning run to the plate; and while we were out of bench, there were three lefty hitters lined up against the right-hander Lucero. Puckeridge made second on an errant pickoff when it was already 3-0 to Crispin, who managed to strike out from *there*, while Luna walked. That brought up Suzuki, batting .186, with no lifelines left. He grounded out to Gates. 4-3 Crusaders. Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 3-4, BB, RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K;

(groans bigly!)

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – 2B Haney – CF Ceballos – P J. Baker
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – P Salcido

A pair of errors and a Samples single somehow got Puckeridge around the bases for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, which I was of course not going to refuse, but at the same time I’d brace myself with booze and Honeypaws for the inevitable boomerang. Salcido had struggled in the first two innings, with quite a few long counts, but he sat down the next five before Prince Gates missed a homer by inches in the fourth, having to settle for a 2-out double. Randy Anton popped out, keeping the Coons ahead. We also wasted a 2-out double in the fourth, that one hit by Jimenez.

Through six, the Coons out-hit the Crusaders, 10-3, but still only led 1-0. Ramirez and Anton promptly went to the corners in the seventh, but Castner spun an Angel Lara bouncer for an inning-ending double play. The Coons loaded them up with two outs in the bottom 7th as Maldo was nicked, Waters and Puckeridge hit soft singles, and then Ricky Lamotta FINALLY came through for this team, blasting a bases-clearing double over the head of Mario Ceballos to run the score to 4-0…!

Salcido got one more out in the eighth after a leadoff double by Ceballos, after which the lefty top of the order would come back. Sencion entered in a sextuple-switch, with the only defenders not moving or leaving being Maldo, Lonzo, and Jimenez; in short, the pitcher went to the #7 hole and Castner and Samples were gone. Sencion got out of the eighth just fine, but then walked Rivera and gave up an RBI double to Ramirez to begin the game. So here was Cruz again in the ninth. Infield single, passed ball to score a run, and with the tying run in the ******* box, finally a K to Anton and Watt retiring Arens on a sliding catch in shallow left. Ceballos grounded out. 4-2 Coons. Suzuki 1-1; Maldonado 3-3, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4; Lamotta 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Samples 2-4, RBI; Salcido 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (9-3);

Hey, we didn’t blow a game!

Excitement.

Game 4
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – C O. Ramirez – 2B E. Zuniga – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Merino

Johnson flew out into a 9-2 double play after a Ramirez single and an Edwin Zuniga double had put New Yorkers in scoring position to begin the top 3rd. In a kind, loving world, Merino would then have gotten out of the inning, but no, Omar Sanchez singled home Zuniga with a run anyway, the first in the game. While that was pretty much it for the Crusaders for the first six innings against Merino, the Coons had only two hits in five innings against Jeff Johnson, who was nearly untouchable as whole for this season. Matt Watt was the first Coon to even reach third base in the bottom 6th, drawing a leadoff walk before getting inevitably stranded.

Merino went through eight on 96 pitches, allowing just two hits outside the befuddled third, while Matt Watt hit a soft single to begin the bottom 8th, but the next three hitters all made poor outs and he went back to the dugout from first base. Merino then came back for the ninth with two lefty batters leading off, walking Ed Haertling, just off the DL, and throwing a wild pitch before Rivera’s grounder moved the insurance run to third base. Ibold gave up a sac fly to Art Bent, but the Coons got handled well by Lucero anyway… 2-0 Crusaders. Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Merino 8.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (5-11);

In other news

July 13 – The Falcons acquire UT Eric Miller (.255, 8 HR, 40 RBI) from the Gold Sox for 1B Raul Sevilla (.270, 14 HR, 54 RBI). The Falcons also get a prospect.
July 16 – The Blue Sox acquire the Warriors’ closer Ralph Needham (3-3, 3.29 ERA, 23 SV) for a prospect.
July 16 – The Pacifics score a lazy nine runs in the 11th inning to beat the Stars, 12-3. LAP 1B Larry Rodriguez (.238, 13 HR, 48 RBI) keeps the fire burning with a grand slam in the 11th, his only contribution in the game.
July 16 – TIJ 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.327, 1 HR, 48 RBI) is expected to miss a month with a hip strain.
July 17 – Cyclones 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.307, 19 HR, 67 RBI) hits a 2-run homer off RIC SP Steve Miles (3-4, 4.82 ERA) in a 10-2 Cincy win for his 300th career home run. The 31-year-old won three home run titles with the Scorpions in his 20s and is batting .278/.347/.486 for his career with 995 RBI to his name. He was the 2044 FL Player of the Year.
July 17 – The Thunder lose OF Juan Benavides (.275, 11 HR, 57 RBI) for three weeks with a torn thumb ligament.

FL Player of the Week: DAL INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.226, 3 HR, 26 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.320, 13 HR, 47 RBI), zinging .529 (9-17) with 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Coons had another bad week. What else is new?

Let’s instead reach into the mailbag, where we answer questions that weigh on the minds of our dear fans, all three of them. Here is a question from Herschel, age 13, from The Dalles: “Dear Raccoons; I have had my pet raccoon Stinky since the first championship won by the 2040s dynasty. I got it for Christmas! But lately, Stinky has been very sleepy and tired, and sometimes won’t even touch what’s in his food bowl. I wonder whether he will live to see another Raccoons championship…! Kind regards, Herschel, age 13.”

(puts down the letter) Well, Herschel… let me put it – No.

That aside, we signed 16-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Juan Nava this week for $240k, which will also be our second and final signing this July. Groundballer, interesting changeup. Could be tossing harder, only 87 at the peak right now.

This year’s pool never excited me, and so there was no point to blow millions and a chance to get anybody worth the oxygen next year…

Titans, Knights next week.

Fun Fact: Except for Elijah Powell, all Raccoons starters have a FIP at least 0.4 runs better than their ERA.

That’s about where the Victors are at. Bubba is just over 0.5, and for Wheats it’s almost a whole ******* run. His ERA bloomed back to 4.85 this week with another shellacking, but his FIP remains down-ish at 3.96 … which *is* the worst it’s been since his age 22 season, a.k.a. his first full year in the majors, but that is little consolation when he just gets whacked around for whatever reason…

Westheim · 09-26-2022, 02:06 PM

Raccoons (42-51) vs. Titans (52-40) – July 18-20, 2050

The Titans pretended they were in pursuit of the Elks, but were also 11 games out. They were sixth in runs scored and third in runs allowed, with a +65 run differential, and up 6-3 on the Critters this year.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (6-8, 5.12 ERA) vs. David Barel (8-7, 3.02 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-8, 4.85 ERA) vs. Tim Steinbach (2-8, 4.69 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-9, 4.49 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (5-8, 4.18 ERA)

Left, right, left. And probably three losses.

Game 1
BOS: CF Monson – 2B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – SS C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – LF Mangual – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Barel
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Samples – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – CF Lamotta – P Powell

Lonzo and Ryan Youngquist each had a single for their teams’ only hit through three innings, neither club reaching even third base. Youngquist hit another single in the fourth inning then, that one with two outs and Jeff Wheeler on first after a leadoff walk in a full count. That one didn’t hurt yet, but Ruben Mangual’s soft single to center did, circling Wheeler around for a 1-0 Boston lead. Jose Rodriguez then sailed out to Lamotta to strand a pair for Boston, which was innocent enough, but of course Powell was Powell and bigger noises were yet to follow. The fifth inning saw two Titans retired before they reached base, but when they reached, they *reached*. Powell nailed Nate Massey, and Wheeler walked again. Tony Lopez singled to make it 2-0, Chris Jimenez doubled home two, and Youngquist chipped in the fifth run with his third single in the game…

The Coons then asked for two innings from Danny Landeta, but got only five outs before the ceiling crashed down on them all over again. Three straight hits, and when he was yanked for Ponce, a Mangual hit and a Puckeridge error piled up with all the earlier damage for three more runs. Somewhere in between, the Coons had scored a sad run on a pinch-hit RBI triple by Eddy Luna. That was one of only three hits off Barel for the Coons in eight innings, but the Bostonian started the bottom 9th as well, giving up a leadoff jack to left to Matt Waters, but still had plenty of cushion, and finished the game for only a Ruben Gonzalez single after that. 8-2 Titans. Waters 2-4, HR, RBI; Luna (PH) 1-2, 3B, RBI;

Still 68 games to play, Maud? – Do I have to be here for all of them? – Aww!

Game 2
BOS: CF Monson – 2B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – SS C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – LF Mangual – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Steinbach
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – 1B Luna – CF Suzuki – P Wheatley

The Coons loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit or run in the bottom 1st, getting on Lonzo and Crispin with walks, Waters by an error, and all of them back to the dugout without touching home plate when Ruben Gonzalez grounded out to Jimenez. So, it was waiting for Wheats to stumble over stupid things, which happened in the third. Jason Monson doubled into the gap, Jeff Wheeler singled him home with a quick bouncer just past a diving Lonzo, but it could have been worse. Lonzo threw away Lopez’ grounder after that and only a K to Jimenez ended the inning with a pair stranded in scoring position.

Bottom 3rd, the first hits for Portland; Watt and Lonzo both singled, and a wild pitch moved them into scoring position on the 1-1 to Puckeridge. Come on, boys! But now…! On the next pitch, Puckeridge dinked a ball just in front of Jason Monson for an RBI single, with Lonzo having had to stay close to second base and not being able to score on the play. Waters shoved a single to right to take a 2-1 lead then, with Puckeridge making for third, but arriving there limping and requiring replacement with Ricky Lamotta. Ed Crispin tried to console me with a homer to right, extending the lead to 5-1, but I still looked like three days of rain. Wheats put on pairs in the next two innings, none of whom scored, although that required some heroics, like Crispin swiping for a blazing liner by Lopez that left him shaking his glove paw with a pained expression on the way back to the dugout. Wheats then retired another five in a row before Wheeler hit a single to center on his 110th and final pitch, putting him in the dugout after 6.2 innings. Tony Lopez almost took Bob Ibold deep to left then, but Watt picked the ball against the fence there… In the end, the Coons bullpen would not allow a base runner at all, with Ibold, Sencion, and Porter getting seven outs from seven batters. Matt Waters chipped in another homer in the bottom 8th for the final tally. 6-1 Raccoons. Watt 1-2, 2 BB; Puckeridge 1-2, RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Jimenez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (6-8);

Well well, look who’s finally waking up!

Waters, I hope.

And even then, no W came without an L here – Alan Puckeridge hit the DL with a tear in his quad and would miss a month or so. We could bring back Glodowski, but I’d rather jump into the Willamette with lead weights around my neck, so how about a new debutee in Mitch Sivertson, a right-handed super utility opposed to Luna, the left-handed super utility. Short, Sivertson didn’t play first or center, but every other position in fair territory quite competently. He was a quick singles slapper. He was the return for Bryce Toohey from the Rebels last year, and had been batting .292 with no homers in 80 games in AAA.

Game 3
BOS: CF Monson – SS Ale. Silva – 1B Wheeler – 3B T. Lopez – RF C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – 2B J. Rodriguez – LF Giammarco – P V. Scott
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – LF Sivertson – P Wolinsky

Monson opened the rubber game with a homer to left, and three singles loaded the bases with nobody out after that. Wolinsky then got yelled at, then proceeded to get out of the inning with a K, pop, and grounder to Maldo without conceding a second run. The Titans had another three singles in the second inning, and that was after walks had been drawn by Jordan Giammarco and Monson, and they scored three runs this time as Wolinsky threw 53 pitches in two innings, all of them ****. The Coons had no hits in two innings, but a run anyway. Waters walked to begin the bottom 2nd, advanced on an error, and scored on two productive outs. A Lonzo single and a Castner homer (!!) even narrowed the game to 4-3 in the third, and then Wolinsky retired absolutely ******* nobody in the top 4th and left with the 1-2-3 hitters on base and Preston Porter being tossed the ball. His third pitch to Tony Lopez was belted for a grand slam, and that was that game.

Mitch Sivertson hit himself a souvenir in the bottom 5th of a lopsided game, following Juan Jimenez in hitting a pair of leadoff singles, with Sivertson of course landing the first hit of his career. Ed Crispin hit for Ponce, grounded into a fielder’s choice, was caught stealing, and Lonzo grounded out to allow no runs to score whatsoever. Bottom 6th, down 8-3, Castner reached on an error and Maldo reached on an Alejandro Silva bobble that was charitably scored an “infield single”. Waters then beat Giammarco up the leftfield line for an RBI double and suddenly there seemed to be contention again. All we got, however, was a Lamotta sac fly, and Waters was left on base. The Lopez grand slam was the last Titans tally in regulation, with five scoreless inning following after that, and entirely pointless at that. The Coons were still three down in the bottom 9th, with righty Jordan Ramos up against the 6-7-8 batters. Samples, Watt, and Sivertson were out in order and the series was lost. 8-5 Titans. Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (43-53) @ Knights (38-56) – July 22-24, 2050

The Knights were terrible. 25 games out in the South (almost the same as the Coons), in last place (getting there), second from the bottom in runs scored (almost!), and with sub-standard pitching (eh!), they were almost a carbon copy of the Coons. And they were even up 2-1 on the Coons this season…! Arnout van der Zanden was their only injury worth bringing up.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (9-3, 3.26 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (4-3, 3.92 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-11, 3.74 ERA) vs. Will Cormack (7-4, 2.40 ERA)
Elijah Powell (6-9, 5.30 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (7-8, 2.99 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up in this series. The Knights were being awful meanwhile with two key pieces of the Coons’ recent dynasty. Armando Herrera was hitting .349, but Pat Gurney was down to .244.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Samples – CF Suzuki – P Salcido
ATL: 2B Housey – CF A. Herrera – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – C Cass – LF Besaw – 1B Gurney – 3B Loyola – P J. Byrd

Matt Housey struck out in a full count to begin the bottom 1st, objected loudly, and was tossed right away. Josh Jackson would go on to replace him. An Anton Venegas single and Jon Alade’s double nevertheless put the Knights ahead 1-0 in the first inning, but Salcido also struck out five batters the first time through the order.

The score was still 1-0 in the fourth when after the Coons didn’t get a hit from any of their first 13 batters, they then got straight singles from Crispin, Gonzalez, and Samples, loading the bases with one out for the .188 disappointment that was Mikio Suzuki, who had almost as many DL stints (2) as RBIs (3), but finally came through for *something* with a clean RBI single to left, tying the game. Salcido hit one right through the same hole then for another RBI single, scoring Ruben Gonzalez for a 2-1 lead. As it turned out, the last out that Joe Byrd got was Matt Waters … prior to the singles barrage. Watt’s grounder was fumbled by Jackson for a run-scoring error, and Lonzo (double) and Maldo (single) each drove home pairs to explode the score to 7-1. Right-hander Danny Guzman then replaced Byrd with Waters back at the dish, conceding a double, meaning that by now all nine Coons had reached in order (though only eight safely). Two groundouts to third base then stranded two runners in scoring position, but the 6-run lead looked plenty with Salcido dealing.

The long inning however had gotten Salcido out of shape and after 5 K the first time through, he got nobody the second time through the order. The Knights also hit them right at the defense at least, and didn’t reach until Jon Alade drew a walk in the sixth, only to get picked off by Gonzalez a few pitches later. Tyler Cass then struck out, while Loyola singled in the seventh, then was caught stealing in a 6-run game. Sometimes you just know why a team is in last place…! Salcido never brittled, completed seven innings, and while Hitchcock and Sencion each put a man on base after him, the Knights didn’t get on board anymore. 7-1 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-3, 2 RBI; Waters 2-5, 2B; Salcido 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (10-3);

Well pitched, Cesar! I mean, Victor. – Don’t growl at me. Names are hard.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Sivertson – RF Luna – C Jimenez – P Merino
ATL: CF Royer – 1B Swift – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – C Cass – LF Besaw – 3B Loyola – 2B Housey – P Cormack

Atlanta scored first again, two runs in the second inning, one earned. A Lonzo error put Alade on base, and a Joe Besaw double and Jon Loyola’s single each got home the previous runner. The inning after, T.J. Swift hit his first homer of the year after a leadoff walk to Steve Royer, so we were already at 4-0, and the Raccoons had yet to decipher Will Cormack’s pitches. Somehow we scored a run in the fourth inning despite making two outs at second base in failed stolen-base attempts, with both Maldo and Crispin (1 SB between those two in ’50) being thrown out by Tyler Cass. Crispin had singled home Lonzo, though.

That was about it for fuzzy offensive heroics, though. We had a measly four hits through six innings, while the Knights knocked out Merino with three hits and a run in the bottom 6th. Porter stranded Loyola and Housey in scoring position, getting a groundout from Steve Royer, barely, and kept the score at 5-1. Not so much in the seventh, when the Raccoons’ pen completely exploded. Porter put a guy on base, as did Ponce, walking his only man, Jon Alade. Then came Bob Ibold, conceded the runners on a Cass double, and then issued another FIVE passes on base before being yanked from a 10-1 game with the bases loaded and two outs. Hitchcock and Lamotta entered the game in a double switch (Crispin got a reprieve from further teabagging at the hands of a last-place team), and the former got the third out on a cozy fly to the latter on his very first pitch. Juan Jimenez then hit the most pointless solo homer ever in the top 8th, and that was the Coons’ answer to just about everything… 10-2 Knights. Maldonado 3-4; Crispin 2-3, RBI;

For the rubber game, both teams went back to the lineup that actually hit a damn lick in the prior two games of the series (mostly).

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – CF Suzuki – P Powell
ATL: CF Royer – 1B Swift – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – C Cass – LF Besaw – 2B Housey – 3B Loyola – P Koga

Watt and Maldo singles and a Crispin double scored an early run, but Gonzalez then struck out to leave two in scoring position. The Knights tied the game in the second, in which Besaw – ever the terror – whacked a leadoff double up the line and then came home on two groundouts to the right side by Housey and Loyola. Top 3rd, Watt and Lonzo drew leadoff walks (!) and swiftly advanced when Maldo grounded out to Swift. Koga rung up Waters and Crispin to dismiss the threat. The Coons also wasted Lamotta’s 1-out triple in the fourth inning, while the Knights went in order for a bit until roughing up Powell with two outs in the fifth. Swift and Venegas hit soft singles, Alade walked, and Cass doubled home a pair. Besaw was out to Maldo on the first pitch, the score through five thus being 3-1 Atlanta.

Powell held out for seven innings despite getting plonked for ten hits and the three runs, with the Raccoons barely scratching out one run in the seventh on singles by Suzuki (who stole second) and Watt. Koga nicked Maldo to begin the eighth inning, and the old man dragged his newest welt – it was his 17th hit-by-pitch this year – to first base, then second on Waters’ groundout. Crispin popped out, but Gonzalez drew a 2-out walk, only for Lamotta to fall down 0-2. The next pitch was slapped up the leftfield line … and bounced behind the bag … fair? …foul? The ump signaled fair, the Knights were upset, and the Coons tied the game on the RBI double. Whatever ******* works. Suzuki worked, suddenly going on a tear and singling home the two runners in scoring position with a slapper up the middle for the final two runs in the inning.

Landeta held his crap together in the bottom 8th, retiring the 6-7-8 in order, while David Hardaway retired the Coons in order in the ninth. The bottom 9th was for Willie Cruz, who right now spent most of each week bored to death in the pen. He struck out Nate Rossi to begin the bottom 9th, then loaded the sacks with two singles by Royer and Armando Herrera (shyly waves to Herrera), then nailed Venegas. Brilliant! The pitching coach went out to remind him of the general goal of the game and his ******* job description, upon which he blazed Jon Alade on three pitches. Cass was last, hopefully. Eh, merely a .338 hitter. He popped the 0-1 in foul territory off first base, near the stands. Adam Samples had replaced Maldo for defense prior to the inning and dashed after the ball, jumped on top of the low wall next to a camera well, and reached into and over the home fans including a bunch of screeching kids to make the catch for the final out. The rookie almost, but not quite, tumbled and crushed a few third-graders in the process, but held his balance as well as on to the final out of the series. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB, RBI; Lamotta 3-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Suzuki 2-4, 2 RBI;

I refused to even imagine Maldo trying to make a play on that one.

In other news

July 19 – NAS LF/RF/1B Billy Hester (.261, 9 HR, 56 RBI) is a triple short of the cycle, but drives in five runs as the Blue Sox win a 15-8 battle against the Cyclones.
July 20 – IND SP Tan Brink (9-6, 2.97 ERA) and CL John Steuer (0-5, 3.67 ERA, 25 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter for a 1-0 win over the Crusaders. Utility man Omar Sanchez (.290, 1 HR, 26 RBI) has the only hit for New York, a single.
July 21 – RIC INF Landon Guillory (.236, 0 HR, 10 RBI) and cash go from the Miners to the Rebels in exchange for swingman Steve Miles (3-4, 4.82 ERA).
July 22 – 3B/2B Frank Mujica (.215, 0 HR, 9 RBI) is traded from the Wolves back to the Crusaders for two prospects.
July 22 – A single by OF Mike Gray (.261, 4 HR, 17 RBI) is all the Wolves can put up in a 5-0 shutout by the Capitals’ SP Kennedy Adkins (5-6, 3.38 ERA) and two relievers.
July 24 – The Crusaders acquire OF/1B Pedro Leal (.302, 11 HR, 44 RBI) from the Scorpions for a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Dale Haracz (.355, 4 HR, 10 RBI), pushing .476 (10-21) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN C Julio Diaz (.279, 6 HR, 53 RBI), whacking .545 (12-22) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The team remains… playing games.

I doubt there will be many trades next week ahead of the deadline. The assets we have we’d have to sell low on now and I’d rather watch Matt Waters hit .240 and strike out 120 a year for another six years than trade him for a righty reliever currently in double-A…

…and Maldo is hitting .303, but it’s barely enough for an OPS+ over 100 at the same time. He’s a grumpy old man with no patience left (9 BB in 385 PA), and the power is also gone. Really bad combo! Only two years and $11M left on that contract after this season, gee, I wonder why the Aces aren’t breaking down my door over him.

The Aces are currently on my blacklist. Maud is under strict orders to keep telling them that I’m dead and nobody’s running the team anymore. They offered Jayden Woods for prospects (ours, ha-hah) no fewer than EIGHT TIMES in the last three weeks and I can’t hear their ******** anymore. I – oh, wait, what is it, Pat? – We’re in Vegas starting Tuesday? – I can’t go there then. – Yeah, Pat, it’s fine by YOU, but I love gambling away a couple thousand of Nick Valdes’ dosh every time we’re in Vegas…!!

Well, let’s just say the Coons will play three in Vegas next week, then return home to host the Baybirds.

Fun Fact: Lonzo is on pace for 72 stolen bases this year.

Only four players have ever put together more than 72 SB in a season, two of which donned the brown shirt at one point:

Hugo Acosta (2038) – 76
Cosmo Trevino (2027) – 74
Alberto Ramos (2030) – 74
Alex Vasquez (2048) – 74

Cosmo did so with the Caps in his rookie season; he did not come over to Portland until the 2037 season. Berto died for what was then the ABL record three years later in his age 24 season. It was the third time he led the CL in stolen bases, out of six times overall. Not just coincidentally, those two are also in the top 4 in career stolen bases:

Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
Cosmo Trevino – 708
Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
Alberto Ramos – 677
Rich de Luna – 523 (active, barely)

Acosta is of course on the Indians these days, can not really move all that well anymore, and has only five sacks in 69 games this year. In total he’s 10th all-time with 468. Vasquez of the Miners meanwhile is only 24 and has just barely entered the career top 100, but, debuting at 19, he’s on a bit of a Berto career trajectory, except that he’s more of a second baseman, but could hold all infield positions.

We expect both Berto and Cosmo to make the Hall of Fame eventually as well; Berto was two votes shy last time around in his second time on the ballot. Cosmo will be on the ballot (as a Capital) for the first time this winter. Would be kinda cute to get those two in together, wouldn’t it?

Westheim · 09-29-2022, 04:26 PM

Raccoons (45-54) @ Aces (44-53) – July 26-28, 2050

The Raccoons arrived in Vegas, where the Aces were allowing the most runs in the Continental League (a solid 5.3 per game) while scoring the seventh-most runs, which made for an unhealthy -87 run differential. Nevertheless, they were unfazed by Portland this year, leading the season series 3-0. Dustin Huber and Josh Landstrom were on the DL for the Aces, while the Coons arrived in Vegas with Julian Ponce having the sniffles and being day-to-day to begin the series.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (6-8, 4.66 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (7-7, 4.46 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-10, 4.92 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (3-9, 5.10 ERA)
Victor Salcido (10-3, 3.14 ERA) vs. B.J. Brantley (7-6, 4.34 ERA)

Two southpaws in this series, and they were on either end of the set.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Samples – 2B Castner – LF Sivertson – P Wheatley
LVA: LF F. Rojas – C Weese – 1B Witherspoon – RF Austin – CF Cramer – SS Welter – 3B Coen – 2B R. Ramos – P Washington

Wheats rung up five and gave up two singles the first time through, with BABIP continuing to be one of his biggest enemies in the sport. The Aces remained off the bags early on, but so did the Coons, until Matt Waters walked in the fourth. He stole second, reached third on Kevin Weese’s bad throw, and then scored on a passed ball. The Coons tacked on a pair with two outs an inning later as Lonzo walked, scored on a Ricky Lamotta through ex-Coon Ben Coen, and then Lamotta was singled in by Maldo with another ball just by Coen, going up 3-0. Wheats nurtured that lead nice enough, though only for six innings. The counts got longer in the fifth and sixth, and he had to settle for six shutout innings on 101 pitches eventually, but at least struck out eight batters.

Washington got seven on his way into the seventh, where he got stuck and left with Crispin, who singled for Wheats, Lonzo, and Maldo on base, and two outs. Jayden Woods, who had been offered to us about ten times in the last month by the braindead Aces, replaced him, got Matt Waters to 0-2, and then gave up a booming bases-clearing double to deepest, but not quite out, center – a slam in 20 ballparks in the league, I’ve been told. Preston Porter then gave back an unearned run in the bottom 7th, but the real fun came in the eighth with Danny Landeta packing the bases through more sheer incompetence. Steve Holbrook, Aubrey Austin, Brent Cramer all aboard, the Raccoons turned to Eloy Sencion with one out. He got two groundouts to Matt Waters – by now at second base – with the first one bringing in a run at Landeta’s expense, but ended the inning. With a 4-run lead in the ninth, the ball went to Bob Ibold, who put Rafael Ramos on with a single, Bobby Ortega with a walk, and retired nobody before Willie Cruz got a save chance slash mess to figure out against the top of the order. Felix Rojas flew out easily to left, but PH Miguel Colon *flew out* … of the ******* ballpark, for a 3-run homer, reducing the Raccoons’ lead to one run. Sam Witherspoon then coaxed out a walk to put that tying run on the bases. Aubrey Austin flew out to Samples. Brent Cramer hit a liner – and Maldo snagged it! Ballgame…! 6-5 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-4, BB; Waters 1-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-2; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (7-8);

This ******* bullpen.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – CF Suzuki – P Wolinsky
LVA: LF F. Rojas – SS Holbrook – C Weese – RF Austin – CF Cramer – 2B R. Ramos – 3B Welter – 1B Witherspoon – P Broad

Waters doubled home Maldo for a quick 1-0 lead in the first, with a second run driven in by Bubba in the second inning. Lamotta had walked, stolen second, and a Holbrook error on Mikio Suzuki’s grounder had put runners on the corners. When Bubba singled past Ramos into right, Lamotta scored from third base. Watt singled home another run, but Lonzo then hit a ball so hard at Steve Holbrook that it left a singe mark in the glove, and the inning ended on a 6-4-3 double play. Crispin found another double play the inning after, but at least Wolinsky held up on the pitching side, scattering three singles the first time through, but holding the Aces to precisely that amount through five innings. He then came back to the plate in the sixth, finding three Coons aboard and one home already after the 5-6-7-8 batters had flicked away four singles against Broad. Unfortunately, Bubba took strike three looking, and Watt flew out to Felix Rojas, stranding three.

Of course, the Aces woke up in the last innings again, and this time the cushion was smaller. Wolinsky nicked Cramer and walked Jeremy Welter in the bottom 7th before Sam Witherspoon welted a withering one that hit off the very top of the fence in rightfield for a 2-run double. Colon and Rojas stranded that third run, keeping it a 4-2 game, and Bubba was not brought back for the eighth. At least Hitchcock retired the side in order in the bottom 8th. Top 9th, lefty Jay Carroll loaded the bags for the Portlanders with singles by Suzuki and Samples (batting for Watt), nailing another pinch-hitter, the unfathomable John Castner, in between. Lonzo up with nobody out, he hit a sac fly, 5-2, on the first pitch. Maldo singled to fill the bases once more, before Carroll walked in a run against Waters. Sivertson batted for Crispin – straight into a double play. Bob Ibold appeared with a 6-2 lead for the second time, and again retired ******* nobody, departing with Cramer and Ramos on the corners after two singles. Sencion got the save this time (or at least the opportunity), but gave up RBI singles to Welter and Coen before Bobby Ortega hit into a double play, 4-6-3, and Rojas struck out. 6-4 Coons. Samples (PH) 1-1; Suzuki 2-4; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (4-10) and 1-3, RBI;

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Samples – 2B Castner – LF Sivertson – P Salcido
LVA: LF F. Rojas – C Weese – 1B Witherspoon – RF Austin – CF Cramer – SS Welter – 3B Coen – 2B R. Ramos – P Brantley

After strong results recently, Salcido had a rancid first inning, although Felix Rojas’ leadoff triple ended up being erased on a 6-5 double play when Kevin Weese lined out to Lonzo and Rojas was found astray and was doubled up. Witherspoon homered right after that, though, and the Aces put on two more with singles before Welter struck out. That was the first of five straight strikeouts, and of seven to the next eight batters, the only exception being Weese. All that got him was hanging on a rather unsatisfying 1-0 hook, with the Coons held to one base hit through five, and then Rafael Ramos hit another solo homer in the bottom 5th, 2-0.

Top 6th, Salcido led off with a single to left, and Lonzo doubled – he had the only prior Coons hit on the day, too – to put the tying runs into scoring position. One run scored on a wild pitch, and another on Lamotta’s single then. But Lamotta was stranded despite stealing second base, but came back to the plate still in a 2-2 game in the seventh, finding Salcido and Lonzo on base *again*, but now with two outs and 90 feet further back; the former had forced out Castner with a bad bunt, and the latter had singled. Lamotta doubled to dead center on the first pitch, driving home Salcido, but Lonzo was held up in deference to Cramer’s cannon. Both runners were stranded when Maldo flew out to Aubrey Austin.

Salcido whiffed nine and held up the 3-2 lead through seven innings, with Porter retiring the 1-2-3 batters in due order in the bottom 8th. Matt Watt hit a leadoff double as pinch-hitter for the completely unhelpful Mitch Sivertson in the top 9th, but was stranded, and with a 1-run lead rather than 4-run lead, we forewent the Ibold depression and went straight to Willie Cruz. He struck out Austin and Cramer, then got a grounder from Welter to Eddy Luna at third base to complete the sweep…! 3-2 Coons. Lavorano 3-5, 2B; Lamotta 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, 2B; Watt (PH) 1-1, 2B; Salcido 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (11-3) and 1-3;

Waiver claim

The Raccoons claimed 26-year-old southpaw Paul Miles (2-2, 5.17 ERA) off waivers by the Stars on Friday. The fourth-year hurler had 40 ABL appearances under his belt, all in relief and 80% of them this season. He looked like he had a thing with the home run ball, but he also had in theory three very nice pitches that could play well.

To make room on the roster, the Raccoons, with a big sigh, put Bob Ibold (2-0, 4.72 ERA) on waivers. Ibold appeared broken beyond repair with more walks than strikeouts and a below-average ERA despite a rather strong .269 BABIP to his advantage.

Raccoons (48-54) vs. Bayhawks (52-48) – July 29-31, 2050

The Bayhawks were second in the South, but 15 games out, as the CL just didn’t offer much excitement this year. They were third in runs scored, but ninth in runs allowed for a -14 run differential, which didn’t lend itself to postseason aspirations. We were up in the season series, actually, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-12, 3.86 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (10-8, 4.79 ERA)
Elijah Powell (7-9, 5.21 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (6-9, 4.48 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-8, 4.44 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (6-4, 3.87 ERA)

Only right-handers in their rotation;

Game 1
SFB: CF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B R. Sifuentes – 1B Copeland – RF P. Colon – 2B Quiroz – P Nolte
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – RF Lamotta – CF Suzuki – C Jimenez – P Merino

Merino struck out Mike Roberts to begin the game, then still allowed the Baybirds to bat through the order. Walks to Todd Dau and Ken Crum, singles by Sean Suggs and Ramon Sifuentes, finally a grand slam for Sebastian Copeland made for five runs. Sergio Quiroz also reached base with a single before Nolte struck out to end the dismal inning. The game sure felt in the bin well before Ramon Sifuentes hit a bases-clearing double in the top 2nd to knock out Merino after only four outs. Eight runs, seven earned, all deserved. Bum.

Landeta got five outs in relief before the Coons tossed their new acquisition into garbage relief. Miles threw 49 pitches in three busy innings, allowing four hits but no runs, which certainly was an upgrade over Merino. The Raccoons couldn’t get going offensively at all against Nolte and were not even in the discussion for this game. Maldo doubled home Lonzo in the sixth. Castner singled in a run after coming off the bench in a double switch in the seventh. Landeta, Miles, Hitchcock, Ponce, and Porter eventually lined up 7.2 scoreless innings in relief – all for a rat’s ***. A throwing error by Todd Dau conceded an unearned run to the Critters in the bottom 9th… but it wasn’t like it mattered anymore… 8-3 Bayhawks. Luna (PH) 1-1; Miles 3.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons acquired #45 prospect SP Juan Mercado on Friday night, sending a package of three players to the Capitals for the 23-year-old southpaw that had just arrived in AAA (4-2, 2.76 ERA in 7 GS).

Over to Washington went SP Elijah Powell (7-9, 5.21 ERA), super utility Eddy Luna (.209, 3 HR, 29 RBI), and AA 1B Belchior Fresco.

Yes, I like my super utilities; but I think we have better options than Luna now with Lamotta and Sivertson, although they are both batting right-handed. Powell was gonna be a free agent anyway and the weakest link in the rotation (cough, Merino, cough) and Fresco was nothing worth writing home about, except that he was Brazilian and counted as exotic (anybody remember Daniel Bullock?) …

Mercado had four pitches, the best of which was a mean slider, and had control over almost all his stuff. He threw 94 with the cutter, and was probably not too far away from the majors.

Raccoons (48-54) vs. Bayhawks (52-48) – July 29-31, 2050

Of course, by trading Powell, the Raccoons lost their starter for Saturday, and Miles, who we pretend is a potential starter, had been used up in useless long relief. Danny Hall, who had spun a couple of excellent spot starts already this year, had pitched on Thursday in AAA and was thus unavailable. Of the AAA pitchers that were available, Kyle Brobeck, acquired just the prior month from the Knights, looked like the best bet to not also get whacked out in the second inning. He would thus make his ABL debut at age 22.

Welcome to the big leagues, kid. – What do you mean? – I won’t call you “Bro”. – No I won’t. – No I won’t.

The other open spot on the roster went to … (sigh) … Matt Glodowski.

Game 2
SFB: 1B Copeland – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 2B Quiroz – CF Fink – 3B R. Sifuentes – P Bulas
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – RF Samples – P Brobeck

Brobeck struck out Sebastian Copeland, the first batter he faced in the Bigs, but Copeland would get back at him with a solo homer in the third inning for his first run in the Bigs. That took away a 1-0 lead, gained in the bottom 2nd when Samples singled home Crispin with two outs, then was picked off first base.

Maldo hit doubles in his first two times at the plate; the first time came just after Lonzo had been caught stealing in the bottom 1st, but in the bottom 3rd Lonzo stole second safely and scored for a 2-1 lead. Waters singled home Maldo, and then Ed Crispin hammered one to right for a 2-run homer, 5-1! The lead was reduced soon, with Brobeck walking Quiroz and John Fink before getting bombed by Ramon Sifuentes in the next inning, 5-4… He took it out on Sal Chavez in the bottom 4th, hitting a solo homer to right…!

The score was still 6-4 when Brobeck left after collecting an out from Sifuentes in the seventh with his 102nd pitch. It wasn’t all pretty – five walks against three strikeouts – but he had surely held the Critters in the game, allowing only four hits for four runs. Sencion got out of the inning, but Hitchcock conceded the cushion run on a 2-out RBI double by Joe Ritchey in the eighth, plating the leadoff walk of Todd Dau to get back to 6-5. The Coons failed to tack on, then went back to Willie Cruz against the 7-8-9 batters. It was a disaster. Infield single for Fink to begin the inning, then a wild pitch. Sifuentes doubled home the run, Mark Cahill singled, and Copeland hit a sac fly to give San Fran the lead. A passed ball on Gonzalez then advanced Cahill to second. Dau walked, Suggs hit an RBI double, which sugged, and then Cruz was yanked. Landeta allowed another run on a Ken Crum sac fly. 9-6 Bayhawks. Lavorano 3-5; Maldonado 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Waters 2-5, RBI; Crispin 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

This ******* bullpen will be the ******* death of me.

Game 3
SFB: CF M. Roberts – SS Dau – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 2B Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C Harvey – 3B R. Sifuentes – P Cantrell
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 1B Lamotta – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley

Wheats didn’t allow a hit until Todd Dau’s second turn with two outs in the third inning, but also cost himself a third-inning lead when he bunted badly to get Glodowski (groans) forced out at second base after the unloved corner outfielder drew a leadoff walk. Wheats ended up stranded at third base in the inning, with Crispin flying out to strand him and Lonzo on the corners. Both sides totalled two hits and an error through five innings, and neither scratched out a run in not only the weekend’s rubber game, but also the season’s rubber game.

Quiroz and Copeland hit 2-out singles in the sixth, but a K on Aaron Harvey kept them aboard. Crispin singled and Waters walked, both with one out, in the bottom of the same frame, but Gonzalez whiffed and Lamotta popped out. Sifuentes got a ball through between Lamotta and Waters to begin the top 7th, which was the first time the Baybirds got on to begin an inning in the game, but he was also left on when Wheats retired the next three in order, which would also be his last three of the game – 96 pitches had been thrown, and his spot was up after the stretch. That was with the go-ahead run on third base and one gone: Suzuki had snuck a leadoff single, stole second, and was moved up when Glodowski grounded out. Castner batted for Wheatley and struck out, and Watt flew out to Roberts, and the game remained yet scoreless.

Ah, but that’s what our pen’s for anyway, isn’t it? Ponce put Quiroz and Copeland on the corners with 2-out singles in the eighth, fell 3-1 to Harvey, and then Glodowski snatched his fly to right near the warning track after all. Bottom 8th, Crispin hit a 1-out double, after which Cantrell got to give four intentional ones to Waters, then was yanked for Jeremy Mayhall, the old dread. The Coons brought their own heavy hitter, Maldo batting for Gonzalez, but he flew out to center. Lamotta grounded out, and still no runs. Miles kept it like that for another inning in the ninth, while Mayhall continued against the bottom of the order in the bottom 9th. Glodowski hit a single, but that was it. 14 hits in regulation, no runs.

Extras! Miles and Mayhall remained untouched in the 10th inning, and Miles even added another scoreless frame in the 11th as the Raccoons just casually abused him for seven innings out of the pen within 72 hours of acquiring him. Former Furball Josh Livingston took over for San Fran in the bottom 11th, facing Maldo to lead off, with the pitcher’s spot behind him as the 5-6-7 spots opened that inning. They went in order. Willie Cruz got the ball for the 12th and kept the Baybirds away, while Juan Jimenez doubled off Livingston with one out in the bottom 12th – that was the first hit for either team in overtime. Watt grounded out, Lonzo whiffed, the band played on.

The Baybirds reached against Cruz in the 13th; Ritchey singled, Quiroz walked… and Suggs jammed into a double play as pinch-hitter, which sure sugged for them as it ended the inning. Crispin drove a Carson Jarvinen pitch to the warning track to begin the bottom half of that particular inning, which briefly opened again my sleepy black eyes. Ritchey caught that one, as the Coons went in order again. Sencion did the 14th, then was hit for with Samples, the last stick off the bench to begin the bottom 14th. Him, Suzuki, and Glodowski had a total of zero dingers on the season, didn’t hit one here either, but two more to the warning track. No cigar though, as all of them were caught. Crum hit a single off Porter in the 15th, but that was that. Jarvinen was still on duty in the home half, and gave up another double to Jimenez, that one to lead off the inning. Watt flew out to Crum. Lonzo grounded out to third. They didn’t even advance the runner. Crispin also grounded out, and Jimenez trudged back to the dugout from second base.

And then Porter was overcome. He got two outs in the 16th, but then lost it, and we only had two arms left in the pen that had both tossed two days in a row and not just a few tosses either (Hitchcock, Landeta), hoped he’d bow out, but he didn’t. A single and two walks with two gone loaded the bases, and then Mike Roberts singled home a pair with a dying wailer into shallow right-center. Dau struck out in a full count, but the damage was done. The Coons went in order against Jarvinen. 2-0 Bayhawks. Lamotta 2-4; Jimenez 2-3, 2 2B; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K; Miles 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Cruz 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

(has thankfully snoozed off an inning earlier, slobbering onto an angelically patient Slappy’s upper arm)

In other news

July 26 – The Condors acquire OF Steve Petersen (.233, 4 HR, 31 RBI) from the Wolves, along with a prospect, for 1B/2B/LF/RF Bob Mancini (.296, 9 HR, 45 RBI) to return to Salem.
July 26 – In another trade, the Condors pick up SP Garrett Guistino (2-12, 6.26 ERA) from the Rebels for two prospects, #15 OF/1B Aidan Calhoun and #100 3B/2B Jorge Rodriguez.
July 27 – BOS SP Kyle Turay (10-5, 3.29 ERA) throws a no-hitter in a 6-0 win over the Thunder! Turay whiffs six and walks one, seeing only two batters over the minimum in the effort. The 26-year-old throws the second no-hitter of the year, and is the second straight Titan to throw his no-hitter against the Thunder (David Barel, 2045).
July 27 – NAS OF/1B Mike Pfeifer (.288, 8 HR, 54 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 12-3 win over the Pacifics in L.A., hitting for all four types of base hit with an at-bat to spare. It’s the second cycle of the month (Todd Dau), and the first Blue Sox cycle in nine years (Jim Price).
July 27 – DEN SP John Kennedy (13-4, 3.32 ERA) remains dominant at age 38, and throws a 3-hit shutout in an 8-0 win against the Cyclones.
July 27 – Continuing breathtakingly pointless transactions, the Condors flip MR Leonardo Ramos (1-4, 2.95 ERA) to the Buffos for two “eh”-level prospects.
July 27 – It takes 14 innings for a run to score in the Knights’ 1-0 win over the Indians, with a single by ATL SS/2B Josh Jackson (.220, 3 HR, 20 RBI) finally ending the drag.
July 28 – The Wolves acquire CF/RF Brent Allen (.255, 3 HR, 22 RBI) from the Loggers for C Chris Thomas (.248, 4 HR, 22 RBI).
July 28 – After eight idle innings, amidst three singles, Nashville’s Billy Hester (.268, 11 HR, 65 RBI) plates Adam Magnussen (.224, 4 HR, 29 RBI) with a groundout to break a tie with the Pacifics. Hester also goes on to score, the two runs being the difference in a 17-inning, 6-4 Blue Sox win.
July 30 – The Scorpions acquire SP Brad Blankenship (6-9, 5.65 ERA) from the Pacifics for three prospects.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Raul Sevilla (.269, 18 HR, 62 RBI), batting .429 (9-21) with 3 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS OF Jason Monson (.228, 13 HR, 35 RBI), slapping .429 (9-21) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC RF Chris Morris (.340, 13 HR, 65 RBI), hitting .393 with 6 HR, 27 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.354, 2 HR, 44 RBI), slashing .423 with 1 HR, 15 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Marcos Nabo (11-6, 3.95 ERA), a perfect 5-0 with a 2.04 ERA, 28 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Terry Herman (14-3, 2.21 ERA), a strong 4-0 in 5 starts with a 1.60 ERA, 27 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW 1B Dale Haracz (.340, 7 HR, 14 RBI), batting .357 with 5 HR, 13 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: IND OF/1B/2B Rusty White (.255, 6 HR, 29 RBI), hitting .297 with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(rubs eyes) Did we win, Maud? – Yes? – Aw, I missed it. – Why are you wiping Slappy’s arm?

Snatched us another pitching prospect at the expense of the last third on a disappointing 1-year rental, and one of our super utilities – neither Brobeck nor Mercado will pitch a lot up here this year, but Danny Hall is likely to take the Powell spot for the rest of the year as we continue to turn over the rotation. They’re gonna come for Merino next…

Nothing else at the deadline. But with the pen troubles here, we’ll likely bring up an extra arm for a few days next week, when we’re in Tijuana. Unfortunately, there is no off day, so we need to get up that fifth starter by Thursday, when we’ll start a 4-game set with the Loggers.

Until then, I should grab another cap full of zzz.

Fun Fact: Wednesday was *not* the first time a no-hitter and a cycle occurred on the same day in the ABL.

On April 10, 1989, this already happened, then with both events in the Federal League. Pittsburgh’s Wilson Cordova no-hit the Pacifics, while Richmond’s Gary Lang cycled against the Scorpions.

On July 26-27, 2018 the events occurred 24 hours apart. First Brian Furst pitched his second no-hitter with the Thunder against the Indians, and after that Dave Garcia, then with the Bayhawks, cycled against the Crusaders.

Westheim · 10-01-2022, 08:05 AM

Raccoons (48-57) @ Condors (48-56) – August 1-3, 2050

Two soul-searching teams, two months yet to go. It was not gonna be a spectacle, even with the season series very much up for takers at 3-3. The Condors were 11th in runs scored in the CL, fifth in runs allowed, and had a -34 run differential (Critters: -46). Catcher and perhaps best hitter on the team Jon Mittleider was on the DL, and that was very much that, except that this was probably the most right-handed team in the universe. Only one lefty starter (who would be up for the opener), one lefty reliever, and only two lefty batters worth talking about, f.e. Cullen Tortora.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (4-10, 4.79 ERA) vs. Tony Llorens (8-10, 2.90 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-3, 3.11 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (8-11, 3.65 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-13, 4.32 ERA) vs. Sam Geren (8-6, 3.58 ERA)

Left, right, right, as indicated above. Of course *we* would cart up two struggling southpaws against a mostly right-handed lineup again…

I decided to give the third game away, pretty much; for that one we scheduled both Waters and Lonzo for an off day. Well, Salcido gave us a chance to win regularly now, while Merino very much did not do so. Why should *I* give him a chance to win then?

The Coons also made a roster move, sending Kyle Brobeck back to AAA after his semi-decent spot start, and bringing up Polibio O’Higgins to stretch the battered bullpen. He’d only be here a few days though, with a starter needed for Thursday against the Loggers, although Paul Miles *was* an option for that. I preferred Danny Hall though.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – LF Sivertson – P Wolinsky
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – CF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – LF T. Duncan – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – C R. Cruz – P Llorens

Neither team managed more than a single the first time through, but the Coons went up 2-0 in the fourth on a Matt Waters homer, his tenth of the year. Castner had reached on an infield single, but had been forced out by Maldo ahead of Waters. That was all the runs in the game through five innings, with Wolinsky thankfully holding up remarkably well against a lineup in which only the opposing pitcher would face him from the left side. He allowed three hits and struck out four against one walk through five innings, throwing just 59 pitches.

The Coons lost Ricky Lamotta to dizziness later blamed on dehydration in the sixth inning, with Mikio Suzuki replacing him. Wolinsky also stepped into a puddle of glue, issuing a walk to Miguel Martinez and nicking Shuta Yamamoto in the bottom 6th before aching out with a K to Brian Blackburn after almost 30 tosses in the inning. He would add a scoreless seventh, but that put him on 103 pitches and that was just about as much as Bubba could give you – stamina was not his strong suit. Willie Cruz was unavailable, and while Kevin Hitchcock was, not for two innings, so he was reserved for the ninth. The Coons used O’Higgins for the eighth against the top of the order instead, since he hadn’t pitched in AAA on Sunday. Gil Cabrera drew a 2-out walk off him, but that was it for the Condors in the eighth. The Coons didn’t come close to tacking on, but neither did the Condors come near a rally in the bottom 9th. Tim Duncan flew out to right, and neither Blackburn nor Shintaro Watanabe managed to even put the ball in play, both going down on strikes against Hitchcock. 2-0 Critters. Waters 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Suzuki 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (5-10) and 1-2;

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – P Salcido
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – RF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – LF T. Duncan – 3B Watanabe – CF S. Petersen – C Robbinson – P Colwell

Chris Navarro walked and stole a base in the bottom 1st, but was stranded on third base when Yamamoto, once a listless Critter, briefly, struck out badly against Salcido. The Coons left two on when Glodowski (moan) struck out in the top 2nd, and then Salcido got shredded in the bottom 2nd, because me and my big snout. Tim Duncan legged out an infield single (and tore his leg out), with pinch-runner Dustin Ransford stealing second and reaching third on Gonzalez’ throwing error. That didn’t matter much, since Salcido got whacked for another three hits, including two doubles, in the inning. Steve Petersen, Ryan Robbinson, and Chris Navarro all chipped in an RBI hit to send the Condors up 3-0.

Salcido never got into any usable shape in this game. While he did soldier on, he walked a pair in the fifth, including Colwell, which was especially infuriating, as always, but Gil Cabrera found a double play to kill the inning before Tijuana could add runs. A solo jack by Maldo to right shortened the score to 3-1 in the sixth, but there was no general momentum gained from that either. The offense was just flatter than flat right now. Salcido completed seven, then was hit for to begin the eighth inning. Castner singled to center in his place, and then Watt doubled to right-center and suddenly we had the tying runs in scoring position. It happened so quick I could hardly comprehend it all…! Of course we then failed to tie the game – that I could comprehend; that I was used to. Lonzo got in a run with a groundout, but Maldo and Waters did not with more poor outs and the Coons remained a run behind. Still behind, the Coons went to Danny Landeta rather than a more ambitious move to Hitchcock in the bottom 8th, and Landeta promptly sucked up two more runs on his cramped ledger. 5-2 Condors. Castner (PH) 1-1;

O’Higgins returned to AAA by Wednesday, with Danny Hall called up to pitch the opener against the Loggers on Thursday.

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – SS Sivertson – P Merino
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – 2B M. Martinez – CF Tortora – 1B Yamamoto – RF Blackburn – 3B Watanabe – LF G. Cabrera – C Robbinson – P Geren

The lineup of scabs promptly put up a 2-spot in the first inning with four singles by Watt, Maldo, Gonzalez (RBI), and Glodowski (RBI), with Suzuki adding a full-count walk, before Sivertson whiffed to strand a full set of runners. Dustin Ransford also entered the game in the top 1st as injury replacement, the second time in this series, when Gil Cabrera hurt himself catching Ed Crispin’s fly. Merino blew the lead right away, giving up 2-out hits to Tortora, Yamamoto (double), and Blackburn to get the Condors even again. Ruben Gonzalez answered with a 2-out, 2-run single to score Watt and Castner in the top 2nd, while Merino walked Geren (…), nailed Navarro *and* Martinez (…!!), and then somehow got outs from Tortora (pop to shallow left) and Yamamoto (grounder to short) in 3-ball counts to boogie out of the inning still up 4-2.

Merino *did* single home Mitch Sivertson in the top 3rd to make it 5-2, but don’t get too excited – Sivertson reached on a 2-base throwing error by Navarro and was still sucking his average towards negative, now at .045. Watt and Castner hit soft singles, loading the bases yet again, but Maldo whiffed and Gonzalez found the glove of Martinez to end the third inning with three Coons stranded in this game; in fact, four of the first five half-innings ended with three left on. The bottom 3rd did not; while the Condors had three singles off a hapless Merino, Watanabe hit into a double play in the middle and they stranded only two…!

After a clean fourth, Merino nailed Yamamoto in the bottom 5th. Blackburn reached on an infield single, Ransford got on when Sivertson threw a double play inning-ender away, and it was three on with one out once more. We gave Merino the left-handed Robbinson, who grounded out but shortened the score to 5-3 doing so, and then another left-hander, Alex Lopez, pinch-hit for Geren. We should have known better, but with the tying runs in scoring position, Merino got that batter, too, and gave up the lead with a single to right-center. That was his last batter in the game, as the inning conveniently ended with Lopez being thrown out at second base trying to make it a double, but the runs were in by then, all even at five after five.

Yamamoto doubled home Tortora against Hitchcock in the sixth for Tijuana to take a 6-5 lead, but Maldo hit a monstrous homer – solo though – in the eighth to tie the score at six again. Porter got around a Martinez single in the eighth to keep it tied, and neither team reached in the ninth against Tommy Gardner and Eloy Sencion, respectively, sending the game to overtime. Gardner also did the 10th, while Sencion got two more outs, then went out with Maldo in a double switch for Samples and Willie Cruz when the Condors’ lineup flipped back to the top. Navarro popped out, sending the game to the 11th. The Coons pounced on Aaron Erwin then, with Suzuki finding a cozy place near the leftfield line for a 1-out double, then scoring on a Glodowski single. Yes, that was all in the inning, but with this team it counted as a pounce…! Cruz was already up for the bottom of the inning, allowed a 1-out single to Tortora, but then got Yamamoto to spank into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game. 7-6 Raccoons. Watt 2-5, BB; Castner 2-6; Maldonado 2-6, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 3-6, 3 RBI; Glodowski 2-5, BB, 2 RBI;

Gil Cabrera, batting .328 with four homers, broke his wrist in the first inning as we found out after the game, which would cost him most of the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, this was the first game all year in which Lonzo did not appear.

Raccoons (50-58) vs. Loggers (47-62) – August 4-7, 2050

The Loggers were more about bad pitching (second-most runs allowed) than no offense, with them sitting sixth in the CL in runs scored. Their run differential was -59, which was far from great, but probably not as bad as they themselves would have expected. They still had no whiff against the Coons, though, Portland having taken six of the first seven games between these teams this year.

Projected matchups:
Danny Hall (2-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (2-4, 3.70 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-8, 4.21 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (11-8, 3.63 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-10, 4.52 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (7-13, 4.92 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. John Morrill (7-11, 4.56 ERA)

Of their two southpaws we’d see only one, Padilla, while the other had pitched on Wednesday: Bubba Poss was 7-8 with a 4.94 ERA.

Game 1
MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – C Nagel – CF Wieczorek – P Kaye
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – RF Lamotta – CF Suzuki – C Jimenez – P Hall

Hall walked Zach Suggs but whiffed two in his first outing as regularly anointed major league starter, after having made two fine spot starts earlier this season. Chris Lowe tripled over Suzuki’s head to begin the second inning, but never scored as Will McIntyre popped out and both David Nagel and John Wieczorek grounded out to Crispin. He had no struggles the next three innings, but the Raccoons didn’t reach base with any of their first dozen batters until Matt Waters doubled to the base of the wall in rightfield to begin the bottom 5th. He, too, was stranded, as offense was at a premium once more.

Hall stumbled over nicking Jose Delgado to begin the sixth then. Nick Jackson’s groundout advanced the runner, and he scored on Suggs’ single, which sugged. They were six busy innings, though, and when Juan Jimenez hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, Hall was hit for with Glodowski, who forced out the runner, then was caught stealing. (unscrews bottle of Capt’n Coma) Slappy, you will have to call your friend Motley Moe; I need some of his special juice.

Landeta allowed singles to the battery in the top 7th, but Paul Miles struck out PH Ernesto Hernandez to end that inning, while in the home half of the inning Lonzo opened with a screaming liner to left, caught by Craig Sayre. Maldo singled to left, though, and Waters ripped a double, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for Ed Crispin. He popped out, Ricky Lamotta flew out to Chris Lowe, and I was wondering whether Honeypaws also had homebrewing friends and whether it was worth asking – he was also so secretive about his private life.

Ponce stranded two runners left on by Hitchcock in the top 8th, with Suzuki singling, stealing, stranding for Portland in that frame. Lonzo then singled in the bottom 9th to put the tying run on base…! …and was caught stealing. Maldo and Waters struck out anyway, so he probably would have had to steal three bases to get us level and to the same ******* thing again in the 11th……. 1-0 Loggers. Waters 2-4, 2 2B;

The Raccoons and Loggers were then rained out on Friday, making that the third day all week we didn’t score a run. Double header on Saturday! Both teams left their rotations in order. We’d have a problem going forwards with no off day on Monday, but that was a problem for Future Me…

Game 2
MIL: CF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – LF Lowe – RF McIntyre – 1B E. Hernandez – C C. Thomas – P V. Padilla
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Samples – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Wheatley

I hoped for a solid outing from Wheats to open the double-header; seven innings would be nice! He offered leadoff walks in both of the first two innings, but the Loggers didn’t get beyond second base with either runner. Waters also drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, Gonzalez singled, and after two fruitless appearances by “who’s-that?” outfielders, Mitch Sivertson lobbed a 2-2 pitch over the head of Zach Suggs for a single and his first career RBI, plating Waters from second base. Wheats grounded out, then offered a single to the opposing pitcher in the third, but dodged the bullet, too, even with Jackson also singling. He walked Suggs to lead off the fourth, which sure sugged, but Ricky Lopez found Castner for a quick 4-6-3.

Bottom 4th, Waters had another leadoff walk and Ruben Gonzalez added another single, this time sending Waters to third base. Samples remained useless, but Lamotta managed a sac fly to go up 2-0. Ernesto Hernandez and Chris Thomas opened the fifth with singles, but Wheats stranded them as well with three straight outs from the 9-1-2 batters, but he surely had be out of lives soon…

Well, he didn’t make it through seven, putting McIntyre and Thomas on the corners with singles in the seventh. The Loggers had Padilla take a K for the second out there, but then batted the left-handed Craig Sayre for Jose Delgado, and with Wheats on 101 pitches, we felt the time had come for a reliever. Sencion and Glodowski entered in a double switch, Samples leaving, and Sayre grounded out to Castner to kill the tying runs. Portland added on, though, in the bottom of the inning. Glodowski reached, but was forced out by Lonzo; but Lonzo scored on a 2-out double to left-center by Castner, and Maldo smacked an RBI triple into the other gap after that, stretching the lead to 4-0. Waters flew out to Sayre in deep right. The Coons got Sencion to whiff Jackson, then made a gamble that Danny Landeta could get five outs before blowing a 4-run lead, entering the righty in another double switch along with Crispin, Matt Waters taking a seat. He got two outs to end the eighth, then allowed singles to Lowe and McIntyre to begin the ninth. Hernandez popped out, but Chris Thomas doubled to left-center. One run scored, but the other was thrown out at home plate by Ricky Lamotta! Landeta struck out Jack Barrington then, ending the game after all. 4-1 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, 3B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Crispin 1-1; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (8-8);

Series even and five relievers saved for the second game – but Willie Cruz would have come in for the last two outs if McIntyre hadn’t been thrown out at the plate, which then would have been a 4-2 game with the tying run in the box.

Game 3
MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lowe – RF McIntyre – C Nagel – CF Wieczorek – P Hollis
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – 1B Lamotta – CF Suzuki – C Jimenez – RF Glodowski – P Wolinsky

Bubba didn’t retire any of the first three batters, giving up a run when Suggs singled home Delgado, but then got three in order without conceding any more actual damage. But it was a long inning, and the next two were hardly shorter, so it was probably a good thing that we had five relievers left over. Through three, the Coons had Lonzo double in the first, but being left on, and Lamotta was on in the second, but caught stealing. But while the Coons offense remained absent, Wolinsky suddenly clicked and put quick fourth and fifth innings together to limit his pitch count, and eventually outlasted Wheats, going the full seven innings on 105 pitches. Of course, Wheats had done so with a 2-0 lead, not a 2-0 deficit…

Preston Porter had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, but the best offense the Raccoons could muster in this period was a pinch-hit single with two outs in the eighth by Maldo, who was left on by Watt, and then just dragged his old body back to the bench to enjoy the rest of his evening nap. Miles did the ninth on four pitches, but Hollis was still going in the ninth, having thrown only 86 pitches to hapless Critters through eight. Lonzo whiffed, but 1-out singles by Crispin and Waters put the tying runs on the corners all of a sudden and knocked out the right-hander. Angelo Munoz, also a righty, took over. Ruben Gonzalez batted for Lamotta, and walked in a full count to crowd the bags around the mound. Suzuki fell to 1-2, then spanked a ball at Nick Jackson… *right at* Nick Jackson. He stepped on third, easily zinged to first, and the Coons disappeared in a 5-3 double play. 2-0 Loggers. Suzuki 2-4; Maldonado (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (5-11);

Arf.

Game 4
MIL: CF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – RF McIntyre – 1B E. Hernandez – LF Sayre – C C. Thomas – P Morrill
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – RF Samples – P Salcido

The Coons put the 3-4-5 on in the opening inning with a walk and two soft singles, but Gonzalez was rung up in a full count to leave all of them aboard. We also watched the Coons waste a Salcido double in the bottom 2nd, and then Salcido got bombed in the third. Sayre homered, Thomas and Delgado hit doubles, and the Loggers went up 2-0. In the fifth, the Loggers had them on the corners and Salcido had Morrill at 0-2 with two outs – and couldn’t put him away. Morrill eventually singled, a run scored, the inning continued, Jackson had another RBI hit, and Suggs eventually popped out foul to leave behind teeming bases.

Salcido also bested Wheats in innings pitched only, putting seven soggy frames together while the Raccoons did absolutely ******** nothing. One exception – Matt Waters hit a homer off Morrill in the eighth, with nobody on base of course. Ernesto Hernandez just took Ponce deep in retaliation in the ninth, and the score remained a slam apart. Morrill went for the complete game, but was yanked when he managed to hit BOTH Raccoons backstops with pitches in the bottom of the ninth, Gonzalez to begin the inning and Jimenez with two outs and pinch-hitting in the #9 spot. Watt walked against Munoz, and suddenly Lonzo came up as the tying run, pushed a single through the left side, and everybody moved up a station, bringing up Maldo as the winning run. He grounded out to Suggs. 5-2 Loggers. Waters 2-3, BB, HR, RBI;

That sugged.

In other news

August 2 – LVA C/1B Kevin Weese (.340, 11 HR, 56 RBI) has five hits and a walk, but the Aces can’t put anything together as a team – with Weese having no RBIs and scoring only once – to ultimately drop their 15-inning game to the Loggers, 6-2.
August 4 – SAL 1B/RF/LF Bob Mancini (.298, 9 HR, 51 RBI) knocks out two singles in a 13-7 loss to the Stars. His fourth-inning single off DAL SP Matt Sealock (12-5, 3.45 ERA) is the 2,000th hit of his career. Defensively challenged, the 34-year-old Mancini is on his second stint with the Wolves, and hitting .285/.355/425 with 159 HR and 909 RBI for his career.
August 5 – CIN 1B Manny Liberos (.256, 12 HR, 73 RBI) singles home the winning run in the 15th inning to end the Cyclones’ game against the Capitals with a 4-3 win.
August 6 – Boston SP Victor Scott (7-9, 3.98 ERA) fires a 2-hit shutout of the Crusaders for a 6-0 win.
August 6 – DAL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.296, 4 HR, 56 RBI) is out for the season with a fracture in his elbow.
August 7 – Dallas takes another hit, losing INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.230, 5 HR, 34 RBI) to a strained ACL. The 37-year-old is expected to come back in early September.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tim Turner (.308, 9 HR, 47 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA C/1B Kevin Weese (.344, 11 HR, 59 RBI), plonking .481 (13-27) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Dead from the waist up for an entire week. At least Slappy hooked me up with Motley Moe for a crate of his homebrew. It doesn’t even have a label, but I’m told it’s called “Asbestos”. I was also told not to ask questions. Just glug and enjoy.

17 runs in seven games, including seven in that 11-inning rubber game in Tijuana, so now we’re already down to 10 runs in the other six games. Appropriately, they were shut out twice, and lost two more. And there is nothing left in AAA. Tim Rogers and Dave Blackshire are hitting a bit, but they’re infielders, and our gaping holes are mostly in the outfield. I would love to bring up Oscar Rivera, but he’s not hitting in AAA.

Nope, it’s two more months of crummy, and then another year at least on top of it.

Bob Ibold cleared waivers on Monday and was sent to St. Petersburg. Up here we have little hope that he’ll still get himself back together, which fills me with sadness.

Next week: three against the Crusaders, then three in Dallas. Gee, that’ll be fun.

Fun Fact: Motley Moe’s Asbestos burns in your eyes when you drink it.

Or maybe it’s the tears from having absolutely no ******* offense.

Westheim · 10-02-2022, 06:20 AM

Raccoons (51-61) vs. Crusaders (56-54) – August 8-10, 2050

The season-long string continued with the Crusaders, who stepped in for three games beginning on Monday. Was it Monday? Was it still summer? It was hard to tell after a sip of or five of Asbestos. Anyway. (giggles) New York had the fewest runs scored in the CL, which was not helping their pathetic attempts to be relevant for the first time in years and years, and they were by now 18 games out. They allowed the fourth-fewest runs, with a -11 run differential (Critters: -49). New York led the season series, 8-4.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-13, 4.29 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (6-13, 3.90 ERA)
Danny Hall (2-1, 1.06 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (15-4, 1.90 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-8, 4.02 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-10, 5.35 ERA)

The Crusaders had been rained out on Sunday, so they had a chance to shuffle the rotation. As it was, we expected southpaws on either end of the set, with the right-handed Pitcher of the Year candidate Jeff Johnson in the middle. While they had a day to spare, the Coons had played a double-header on Saturday, so Wheats was a bit of a question mark on Wednesday. One idea was to pencil him in for five innings and plan with Paul Miles for length after that.

That aside, the Crusaders had a mountain of injuries weighing them down, being without Jim White, Ryan Fentress, Andrew Russ (grumble grumble), Ken Mills, and a few relievers.

Game 1
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – 1B Leal – 2B E. Zuniga – C O. Ramirez – P J. Baker
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – LF Watt – P Merino

Merino continued to be a pain in the bum, allowing three singles, a walk, a wild pitch, and two runs in a highly annoying first inning. Danny Rivera singled home Omar Sanchez, while Prince Gates scored on the wild pitch for New York. It got even better in the second inning, which began with a 4-pitch walk to Omar Ramirez. Baker bunted, and Matt Waters threw that one away for two bases. Sanchez whiffed, but Mario Ceballos’ grounder to right was bungled by Maldo for another error, conceding Ramirez’ run. Gates singled home Baker, while a wild pitch plated Ceballos before Merino filled the bases with a walk to Art Bent and nailing Pedro Leal. Somehow, Edwin Zuniga left three on flying out to center, but it was already 5-0 anyway. Those three runs were all unearned, but I was lusting to tear Merino’s ******* head off anyway.

The Coons were gone in the minimum the first time through; while Waters hit a single, he was doubled up by Lamotta. After Prince Gates homered to make it 6-0 in the top 4th, Castner reached on an infield single, and Maldo chipped a 2-piece to left, 6-2. Merino was gone after five ****** innings, with Landeta following in with allowing another run on three more singles in the sixth. It was just the worst game – y’know, of the sort the Coons delivered three or four of every week now. Hitchcock gave up one more run in the ninth, as if it mattered. 8-2 Crusaders. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – 2B E. Zuniga – 1B D. Hernandez – C O. Ramirez – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – P Hall

Neither me nor Honeypaws had any hope of the Coons dinking Johnson, so we instead dinked the basket of muffins that Maud had wisely brought in. Of course, the first three Coons then all reached base with a leadoff walk drawn by Watt and singles by Lonzo and Maldo. Of course they also didn’t score. Waters popped out, Crispin whiffed, and Gonzalez sailed out to Ceballos to strand three. Glodowski hit a double in the second, Maldo and Waters had singles in the third – none of them scored. But the Crusaders joined the dinking, merrily roughing up the rookie Hall. The two Omars hit singles in the third, with a run scoring on Ceballos’ groundout, and they piled three on him in an endless fourth inning with three hits and two walks offered by Hall. Edwin Zuniga doubled home two more in the fifth inning, 6-0. Worst offense in the league, my ***.

The Coons didn’t eek out a run until the eighth inning, when Lonzo singled, stole a base, and was driven in by Matt Waters. That was their rally against Johnson, who did not appear again for the ninth inning, with Melvin Lucero getting a 6-1 lead, because yes of course, with the game in the bin, our pen could always chain zeroes together, but never with a ******* lead. Suzuki singled, Glodowski doubled, and two were in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 9th. Jimenez then lined out to Art Bent, Watt popped out to first, and Lonzo went down on strikes, once more scoring absolutely ******* nobody. 6-1 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5; Maldonado 2-4; Waters 2-4, RBI; Glodowski 3-4, 2 2B;

(licks an Asbestos-soaked muffin) Maud, we’ll gonna need more of these.

So much more of these. (rolls into a ball with Honeypaws locked up in the middle of all the limbs)

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – CF Ceballos – 2B Bent – P Malla
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Wheatley

Wheats assured everybody he was good enough for six, which probably meant he aimed for a shutout, but we’d be content with five good innings, with Paul Miles to follow on. But the game sure began like more of the same. The Crusaders sprayed three singles the first time through (but didn’t score a run), while the Coons got a leadoff double from Lonzo in the bottom 1st and left him on base. Wheatley held the Crusaders off the board through four, and then Matt Glodowski even gave the Coons a *lead* when he singled home Waters from second base in the bottom 4th. Waters had notched a leadoff walk and his 11th stolen base of the year against Malla. Lamotta then found a double play to stop the offensive shenanigans.

Wheats went through five innings on four hits, no runs, and 70 pitches, and his spot was up in the bottom 5th. He hit for himself in the bottom 5th, a 1-2-3 affair, and returned for the sixth, getting Rivera on a grounder, Ramirez on strikes, and then got his bum homered out of the park by Josh Garris. He completed six with a K to Ed Haertling, but had to settle for a no-decision, ever unhappily. Maldo hit into a double play with Castner aboard in the sixth, and Lamotta found yet another double play to hit into by the seventh. Bottom 8th, still tied after two scoreless from Miles, Sivertson opened with a single to center (!), and Ed Crispin singled to right from the #9 spot, where he had entered in a double switch with Miles earlier (Miles was in the #2 spot). Sivertson went to third, Rivera threw there late, and Crispin snuck up into second base. Runners in scoring position, no outs, and I reached for the Asbestos. The Crusaders reached for righty Taylor Stabile, with Lonzo lining out to third base off him. Suzuki batted for Miles, grounded back to the pitcher, and the runners still held. Maldo hit a drive to left, but that was caught by Haertling in leftfield – it ended the inning, but also Haertling’s day out as he slammed into the sidewall at full steam. Pedro Leal would replace him. Willie Cruz held the Crusaders to the tie with a 1-2-3 ninth, with Gonzalez reaching base with a 1-out single against Stabile in the bottom 9th. Glodowski grounded out, but Watt singled for Lamotta, moving the winning run to third. Jimenez batted for Sivertson, walked, and the bags were full for Crispin. Ed didn’t have to do much more than hold still for two pitches. At 1-1 in the game and 1-1 in the count, Stabile leaned in on Omar Ramirez’ signs so intently, he dropped the ball out of his glove while toeing the slab – it was a walkoff balk…! 2-1 Blighters. Castner 1-2, BB; Watt (PH) 1-1; Sivertson 2-3; Crispin 1-1; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Miles 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Hey, a win! Somehow.

Raccoons (52-63) @ Dallas (67-47) – August 12-14, 2050

My only hope was that no one would die on the trip. I had already marked three losses in the pocket schedule. And that was with the Stars not even up to snuff. They were second in the FL West, but 15 games out – that division was also long over – in fact, the Miners’ 6-game lead over the Blue Sox was the only single-digit gap between first and second in the entire league. Dallas was fourth in offense, third in pitching, but with a creaky pen. Besides their #2 rotation, they didn’t sparkle in any one category, but were mostly solid across the board. This was the fourth straight year we’d meet in the regular season. We had lost all of the previous three series, plus the 2048 World Series, but none of those had been a sweep. Well, that’s what we’re here for now!

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (5-11, 4.42 ERA) vs. Nick Whetsell (13-4, 3.30 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-5, 3.25 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (7-7, 3.36 ERA)
Danny Hall (2-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Arthur Pickett (11-10, 3.42 ERA)

All right-handers. The Coons dropped Adam Samples (.208, 0 HR, 9 RBI) for an extra lefty stick… (deep breath) … Evan Van Hoy (.211, 0 HR, 7 RBI).

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C R. Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – CF Suzuki – P Wolinsky
DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – 1B D. Martinez – 3B K. Leon – C Ater – RF D. Wright – 2B B. Oliver – P Whetsell

Portland got an unearned 1-0 lead and a Van Hoy sac fly in the second inning when Waters reached on an error, Crispin doubled, and for once, just once, they didn’t croak 1-2-3. At least not without a sac fly by a random quad-A bum. It was of course all for nothing, because Bubba Wolinsky was just plain old awful again, put on Kenny Leon and Mike Ater in the bottom 2nd, and then got taken well deep by the #8 hitter, Brian Oliver for his second homer of the season. Wolinsky still made it through seven in the inning, simply because the Stars hit the ball hard, but right at people for the next five innings. They were held to six hits through seven innings, and the three runs they already had, but that also figured to be enough, with the Coons on five hits, hardly reaching base, and when they did, they were caught stealing, like Lonzo in the sixth and Waters in the seventh…

Suzuki chipped a 1-out single in the eighth to bring the tying run back to the plate. Lamotta batted for Wolinsky and hit a double into the left-center gap, placing the tying runs in scoring position, but I had seen that movie before. Watt hit a sac fly to left, but Lonzo popped out to Dario Martinez, and the tying run was left on. Dallas pulled the run back with a Dario Martinez double off Sencion, and a 2-out RBI single Ater clipped to right against Porter in the bottom 8th, 4-2, but against Dale Mrazek in the ninth the Raccoons didn’t get beyond a Waters single and stranding him on second base anyway… 4-2 Stars. Waters 2-4; Lamotta (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C R. Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – CF Suzuki – P Salcido
DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – RF D. Martinez – C A. Mercado – 3B K. Leon – 1B Umbreiro – 2B Gould – P Ru. Guzman

Maldo doubled home Lonzo for his 50th RBI of the year in the first inning, but Salcido was on a losing run, and I had no hopes. Salcido held on for two innings, however, even though that took him over 40 pitches with many long counts, and then the Raccoons added to the lead (!). Maldo hit another double in the top 3rd, leading off, and Waters walked. They were on the corners two outs later, when Van Hoy snuck a shy RBI single. Guzman casually walked Suzuki to fill them up with two outs for Salcido, who *was* hitting .234 with a homer, but grounded out to Ricardo Martinez. Maldo hit ANOTHER double his next time up, then plating Lonzo again for a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Lonzo having also hit a double over the head of Omar Gonzalez.

And then it all went bust at once, once more. Dario Martinez opened the bottom 4th with a homer to right, 3-1. Anton Mercado singled to left. Salcido walked all of the next three batters, pushing home a run with a free pass to Thomas Gould, and then had Guzman at 1-2, but gave up a 2-run single to flip the score to 4-3 Dallas. Gonzalez popped out and Ricardo Martinez hit into a double play after that, but I was stunned, with my snout agape, and I didn’t move or blink until the seventh inning stretch, which at least meant I caught nothing of the 6-spot the Stars put on Salcido and Porter in the fifth inning, or of Maldo’s fourth double of the day in the top 6th. He was having way too much fun, though, trying to get a triple and was thrown out by Gonzalez.

The Stars, once up 10-3, shifted back two gears, with the Raccoons making no obvious rally noises. The only thing still to look forward to for us was Maldo’s fifth plate appearance in the ninth inning, where he came up against righty Alex Mancilla with one out and nobody on base because why would there be anybody on base? He popped out. Waters reached on an error, but Crispin was rung up. 10-3 Stars. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Maldonado 4-5, 4 2B, 2 RBI; Van Hoy 2-4, RBI; Miles 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Yes, Maldo, your ice bath is over there. Your schnitzel plate today is on me though. That was the most fun we had all year. – Victor, I don’t think you should bicker about your no-hitter now after THIS ******* start!

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Hall
DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – 1B D. Martinez – C A. Mercado – 3B K. Leon – RF Umbreiro – 2B B. Oliver – P Pickett

This would have been Merino’s turn, but I didn’t want to see any of him right now. Three singles through the right side and a Maldonado error made it 2-0 in the bottom 1st anyway. The Coons loaded the bags with their 5-6-7 batters and one out in the top 2nd, but Juan Jimenez found the double play, 6-4-3, with no issue. Hall went only five innings, steadily leaking runners, with five hits and three walks against him. He allowed only one more run though, when Anton Mercado drove home Juan del Toro in the bottom 3rd, so the score was obviously 3-0 after five innings.

Maldo did come up as the tying run in the sixth though, after Pickett walked Watt and Lonzo doubled to center, and with nobody out. Maldo popped out, Waters grounded out, and Crispin was rung up. Only Waters got home a run, his 55th RBI of the year, which was the sad-sack team lead. The Stars answered by tearing Danny Landeta a new one, driving three hits and notching a walk in the bottom 6th, then ran themselves out of the inning on Ricardo Martinez’ 2-out double to right. Oliver scored from third, but Gonzalez was thrown out trying to do the same by Maldo, ending the inning at 5-1. Sencion and Hitchcock would add scoreless relief after that as if there was still something to win here. In fact, Pickett went on to pitch a complete-game 4-hitter… 5-1 Stars.

In other news

August 8 – It’s a cycle for SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.288, 13 HR, 59 RBI), who goes 4-for-4 in a 5-4 win over the Warriors, connecting for every hit once and driving in all the Sacramento runs. It’s the third cycle in the ABL this year, and the second ever for the Scorpions (Pablo Sanchez, 2021).
August 8 – Loggers outfielder Will McIntyre (.302, 8 HR, 55 RBI) knocks out five hits and knocks in five runs in a 14-7 shootout win over the Indians, also missing the cycle by the triple.
August 9 – SAL OF Mike Gray (.254, 4 HR, 20 RBI) is ruled out for the season with a concussion.
August 13 – SFB RF Joe Ritchey (.225, 16 HR, 57 RBI) is also out for the year with a concussion.
August 14 – OCT SP Juan Ramos (15-5, 2.57 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals for a 6-0 shutout win. He strikes out eight.
August 14 – The Warriors have only three hits in ten innings against the Titans, but squeeze out a 1-0 win on a walkoff sac fly for Julio Moriel (.324, 3 HR, 35 RBI), bringing in 1B Jason Schaack (.250, 3 HR, 22 RBI), who had landed the team’s third and final hit with a leadoff double in that bottom 10th.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.292, 14 HR, 63 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF/1B Will McIntyre (.312, 9 HR, 60 RBI), batting .600 (15-25) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I hope you enjoyed National Concussion Week. I didn’t. Hit my head against the doorframe with vigor and repeatedly in the hotel in Dallas and also at home at various times this week, so maybe the booze is masking the symptoms from that.

Also, can someone answer that ringing phone, please?

We won a game on a walkoff balk and apart from that were outromped, 34-11 in terms of runs. Only two games were even vaguely close. Would Ed Crispin have made us a winner at all if Stabile hadn’t balked home the winning run on Wednesday? Nah. And now – another 44 games of THAT.

Next up: 2-week homestand with the Caps, Elks, Titans, and Falcons, all 3-game sets.

What do you mean, Maud, the phone is not ringing?

Fun Fact: Jesus Maldonado became the fourth Raccoon to hit four doubles in a game, and he’s by far the least annoying one of the four.

Nobody had done it in almost 50 years, by the way. Glenn Johnston hit four doubles in a game in September 1989, which was when we still liked him (a month later, not so much). Daniel Richardson had a 4-double game in 2000, his sole lackluster season in Portland. Chris Roberson had four doubles in a 2002 game; he was also short-lived in Portland, but most people not named Clyde Brady, the Avatar of Losing, were in the 2000s.

Westheim · 10-03-2022, 04:09 PM

Monday was an off day for the Raccoons, who sent Alan Puckeridge on a rehab assignment to begin the week, thus emptying their DL.

Raccoons (52-66) vs. Capitals (49-68) – August 16-18, 2050

As this series began on Tuesday, both teams sat in last place in their divisions. The weird thing was that the Capitals were ranked second-best in not allowing runs in the Federal League with a really stingy pitching staff. On the flip side of the coin, they were glued to the 3.4 mark in terms of runs scored, and had a -75 run differential despite all that good pitching. The teams had last met in 2048, with Washington taking two of three games then.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (8-8, 3.92 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (9-10, 4.31 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-12, 4.39 ERA) vs. Bruce Mark jr. (7-14, 3.30 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-6, 3.60 ERA) vs. Nick Young (8-9, 5.22 ERA)

Young was a lefty, as was the #19 prospect Kennedy Adkins (8-7, 2.81 ERA), who we were not scheduled to meet in this series.

Game 1
WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – RF E. Luna – LF Vesey – 3B Higareda – P Ellis
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – P Wheatley

Wheats expended just 30 pitches to dispatch the Caps in order once through, with one strikeout, while the Raccoons in three innings scattered four hits and plated no runs. Maldo flew out to very deep center to keep Watt and Lonzo stranded in the bottom 3rd. Wheatley retired the first 13 batters of the game, but then Ivan Dominguez put a 3-2 pitch through the hole on the right side for a single. Eddy Luna, recently a Critter, hit into a fielder’s choice, Jim Vesey hit an infield single, but Adrian Higareda grounded out to Lonzo to keep everybody on base. The Coons only reached again when Watt walked in the bottom 6th, but got doubled up by Lonzo. In a game of nothing, Bill Jenkins homered to left in the top 7th just as rain began to fall for what figured to be the only run on the day – and it was. A rain delay was called just minutes later, and the game didn’t emerge from it.

HOWEVER – since the Caps had not scored their run until that same inning, the game was not official and had to be resumed on Wednesday. Not that that made Wheats any happier.

Game 1 (resumed)
WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – RF E. Luna – LF Vesey – 3B Higareda – P Dow
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – P Ponce

The Raccoons went to Ponce, who inherited one out, nobody on, and a 2-2 count to Luna, and got two groundouts from him and Vesey to exit the inning. The Raccoons then managed to get singles from Evan Van Hoy and Lonzo in the bottom 8th to actually tie up the game, and then Lonzo was caught stealing to end the inning. Hitchcock held the fort in the eighth and ninth, despite issuing an uncharacteristic three walks, but the 3-4-5 were retired in order in the bottom 9th to send the game to extras, because that was what we needed – more Wednesday innings…

The Coons gave the ball to Paul Miles to pitch as long as he’d please, which would leave four relievers for the actual Wednesday game. The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, getting Gonzalez on with a single, Van Hoy on balls, and Mitch Sivertson, who had entered in a double switch for Crispin, with another single. Watt batted with one gone, whiffed, but Lonzo chipped a cheap single to shallow center to end the ballgame. 2-1 Critters. Lavorano 3-5, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Sivertson 1-1; Wheatley 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K;

Game 2
WAS: SS Tamargo – 2B I. Dominguez – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – RF E. Luna – 3B Higareda – C R. Zamora – LF de la Torre – P Mark jr.
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky

Even the Capitals could score off Bubba Wolinsky, though, getting two runs in the second inning as Bill Jenkins singled, Eddy Luna tripled, and scored on a groundout by Ruben Zamora. Bruce Mark jr. whacked a leadoff double in the third inning and scored on a 2-out single by Galvan. Yup, Wolinsky was hittable, and much so. He couldn’t bunt either, finding Van Hoy and Jimenez on second and first, respectively, and bunted into a force at third base, and in the end the Coons didn’t score in the inning.

Higareda homered in the fourth, while the Raccoons got three singles, Van Hoy getting an RBI single with two outs to keep the distance at three runs, 4-1. Nevertheless, Wolinsky fumbled his way through seven innings, and didn’t surrender any more runs. That didn’t mean the Coons rallied before the stretch, or immediately after. Matt Watt, in a slump as deep as the Grand Canyon, walked to lead off the bottom 8th, but then was doubled off by Lonzo, who also just couldn’t get unstuck in August. Two scoreless innings from Danny Landeta went to waste when Mikio Suzuki hit a double in the bottom 9th, but Raul Cornejo struck out the other three Coons that stumbled into the box. 4-1 Capitals. Waters 2-4; Landeta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Will this season ever end?

Will the pain ever cease?

I ran out of Asbestos…

We saw Adkins on Thursday after all, as the Caps flipped southpaws in their rotation. As if we needed another incentive to not hit.

Game 3
WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – LF D. Diaz – RF de la Torre – 3B Higareda – P Adkins
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Salcido

The Coons squeezed out a pair in the second inning putting their first two batters, Glodowski and Lamotta, on the corners. They had already done that in the first inning with Lonzo and John Castner, but then had whiffed twice and popped once, but Mitch Sivertson’s fielder’s choice to short got a run home. Sivertson stole second, then was singled home by Lonzo, who also stole second, but was stranded by Castner’s groundout to short.

A Bill Jenkins double and two productive outs gave the Caps a run in the fourth to cut the lead in half, but Salcido gave himself a cushion again when he singled to center with Glodowski on second and two outs in the home half of the inning, 3-1. Salcido looked kinda fine at this stage, then threw well over 20 pitches in the fifth inning, which he artificially and clumsily extended with two full-count walks to Oscar Tamargo and Mitch Korfhage with two gone already. Nelson Galvan then popped out. I also wished to pop out and go somewhere nice, but I was kinda pinched in on the brown couch between Slappy and Honeypaws and didn’t want to inconvenience anybody…

A Lonzo error and another clumsy walk pushed Salcido to almost 100 pitches in the top 6th, but when Sivertson singled ahead of him in the bottom 6th he was called on to bunt. Salcido failed at that, but then slapped a single with two strikes on him. (shrugs) Whatever ******* works, at this point, I just don’t care. The single led nowhere with Lonzo whiffing and Castner popping out, and instead Jaden Richards and Oscar Tamargo opened the seventh with singles against him. Preston Porter replaced him, filled them up with a Korfhage single to center, then got a grounder to short from Galvan which Lonzo tossed away carelessly, scoring the first run. Walking Jenkins scored another, tied game. Exit Porter, enter Sencion, and can someone please press this pillow firmly on my face until I stop muffling? Sencion got a double play… AFTER Dominguez singled home two more. The Caps posted four (three earned) and led 5-3 at the stretch, which was also enough, since the Raccoons would not get another base runner in the game. 5-3 Capitals. Lavorano 2-5, RBI;

Raccoons (53-68) vs. Canadiens (81-39) – August 19-21, 2050

Man, two straight 1-5 weeks, huh? I had no illusions. The Elks were only up 7-4 this year, but I had no clue how we planned to keep them from taking the season series in our ballpark. They had … everything, including the division in the bag. First in runs scored, first in runs allowed, +197 run differential. It was slightly nauseating.

Projected matchups:
Danny Hall (2-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (12-4, 3.17 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-14, 4.33 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (10-5, 3.63 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-8, 3.82 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (15-5, 2.46 ERA)

De Anda was the runt of the litter in that rotation, also the only southpaw we’d see on this weekend. Maybe the last southpaw I’d ever see. (calmly knots a rope while sitting on the trusty brown couch)

Game 1
VAN: LF Escobido – 1B S. Henderson – 3B Burgos – RF Toohey – SS Mullen – C Julio Diaz – CF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P Godinez
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – P Hall

Danny Hall hit two batters in the first three innings, Jesus Burgos in the first and Sterling Henderson in the third, but the Elks didn’t amount to much actual hitting with the sticks, and the Raccoons managed to score first on their maiden base hit, a 2-out RBI single by Matt Watt in the bottom 3rd, chasing home Ricky Lamotta, who had walked and been bunted to second.

The Elks were still down on one base hit to begin the sixth inning, with only one strikeout for Hall either, and then a leadoff walk to Henderson put the tying run on base. Burgos – who had a pair of 5-hit games already this week – singled, but Bryce Toohey, down 1-2 in the count, slapped one at Crispin for a 5-4-3 double play. Dan Mullen came through though, doubling to left with two gone to tie the game at one at once. And that was it for Hall, who added a 1-2-3 seventh, and had to settle for fighting the Elks to a draw, with both teams on three hits and a run through seven innings. Jerry Outram pinch-hit against Hitchcock to begin the eighth, singled, but was forced out by Henderson and the inning fizzled out for Elk City. Castner and Lonzo reached base in the bottom 8th against Godinez, but Maldo struck out and the inning ended. Willie Cruz had the ninth, was bombarded with lefty pinch-hitters, and walked two of them, Tyler Tomasello and Nate Oden, but still got out of the inning when Bob Montana grounded out to Crispin for the third out. Waters popped out against righty Ruben Mendez to begin the bottom 9th, but Crispin and Suzuki slapped singles to put the winning run 90 feet away…! We sniffed an opening, but the only lefty stick on the bench was Evan Van Hoy. Oh what the heck. Van Hoy pinch-hit for Ruben Gonzalez, hit the bejesus out of a fastball by Mendez, and walked off the Critters with a 430-footer…!!! 4-1 Furballs!! Suzuki 2-4; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1; Hall 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K;

(sits motionless on the brown couch with enormously big eyes)

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 3B Burgos – SS Mullen – C Julio Diaz – 1B S. Henderson – RF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P de Anda
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Merino

Dan Mullen’s sac fly put the Elks up 1-0 after Tomasello and Burgos reached base against the habitually hapless Merino, but the Elks also had their lapses, like getting caught stealing twice in the third inning. Nick DeMarco was nipped trying to take third base, and Tomasello was thrown out in a bid for second to end the inning, Ruben Gonzalez not taking ******** from anybody. Merino though remained useless, unable even to bunt Mitch Sivertson to second when it was his first turn at the plate in the bottom 3rd. Sivertson was forced out at second base, and the Coons didn’t score in the inning.

The defense kept Merino together for a while, although Sterling Henderson eventually doubled home a run in the sixth inning. Turns out, lacking any sort of stuff didn’t play for very long against the Elks – nor did having no offense, with Portland still stuck on one base hit through five and thus behind 2-0. Watt batted for Merino as the bottom 6th broke, walked, was forced out by Lonzo, and while Lonzo stole his 49th of the year, he was also stranded like that because WE COULDN’T GET A ******* HIT!!

The game moved out of reach in the eighth, when the Elks, after passing on roughing up Porter, instead hit singles off Ponce with Burgos and Mullen, then had Julio Diaz cram a double into the rightfield corner to drive both of them in. Hitchcock came in, but conceded the third run of the inning on a 2-out single by Tim Burkhart. De Anda didn’t stumble until there were only four outs to go, conceding a 2-out double to Lonzo in the bottom 8th. Juan Jimenez singled home Lonzo, Maldo hit another single, but Waters flew out to center, stranding two. Nobody even reached to get stranded against Sam Gibson in the ninth. 5-1 Canadiens. Jimenez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

I asked around whether anybody could remember the Raccoons scoring a bunch of runs in a game. Turns out they had done so ONCE all month, in a 7-6 win in Tijuana on August 3. Cristiano knew it, of course, he’s one of those supersmart kids with glasses. Except that he has no glasses, just the wheelchair. And I occasionally just push him out of the room when him being always right annoys me.

Right now, everything annoys me.

No Maud, that’s alright. – Yes, the banging in the closet outside in the hall is perfectly fine. – No, don’t investigate. – Maud, no! Maud…! – Great, now you let the know-it-all on wheels out again…!

Game 3
VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – P Herman
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – LF Watt – C Jimenez – P Wheatley

The thin crowd politely applauded a Bryce Toohey homer that made it 1-0 Elks in the first, but showed little emotion when Nick DeMarco doubled home two in the second inning, as Wheatley looked like he had absolutely nothing. Burgos and Mullen scored, 3-0, while Waters walked and Watt singled in the bottom 2nd, the latter with two outs. Juan Jimenez hit an RBI single to center to bring in Waters, while Wheats had to bat with the tying runs on, flying out to Outram. Wheatley struck out Outram in the top 3rd, but otherwise got waffled for three more hits and two more runs driven in by Julio Diaz. It was all just so hopeless.

Or maybe not? Bottom 3rd, Crispin and Waters were on the corners with a walk and a single and two outs, and then the Coons almost faked a rally. Maybe it was doppelgangers. Suzuki hit an RBI single to left-center. Glodowski chopped one to the other side. Watt walked, filling them up for Jimenez, who whacked a 2-0 pitch to deep left … and to Angel Escobido, ending the inning with a 5-3 score and three runners stranded.

Wheatley didn’t make it out of the fourth, conceding another run on an Escobido walk, Tomasello single, and a wild pitch. Eloy Sencion struck out Outram to end the damn inning, down 6-3. Sencion, Landeta, Miles, and Porter then put together a string of zeroes on the board in another stunning display of uselessly competent (or competently useless) relief after yet another starting pitcher had been doused with gasoline and lit on fire. Same for the Elks, though. Herman held up through seven, and Tim Abraham and Sam Gibson finished out the game without allowing another filthy Critter on base. 6-3 Canadiens. Waters 2-3, BB; Watt 1-1, BB; Miles 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

August 16 – PIT 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.321, 6 HR, 64 RBI) will miss two weeks with a herniated disc.
August 17 – Vancouver’s 3B Jesus Burgos (.313, 10 HR, 71 RBI) drives in four runs on five base hits in a 9-5 win over the Blue Sox.
August 18 – Vancouver’s 3B Jesus Burgos (.320, 11 HR, 75 RBI) drives in four runs on five base hits in a 14-5 win over the Blue Sox – this time even including a home run.
August 21 – A strained hammy would cost LAP RF Matt Diskin (.321, 16 HR, 59 RBI) a month of play.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.327, 19 HR, 88 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 4 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 3B Jesus Burgos (.321, 11 HR, 75 RBI), swatting .615 (16-26) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

There is not a lot to say. We have scored more than four runs in ONE of our last 20 games. And we are 6-14 accordingly. And I don’t even have injuries to blame it on. Alan Puckeridge will return when the Titans come into town on Tuesday, and then we will have no injured major leaguers anymore…

Another 38, Cristiano? Great. Was that necessary?

Fun Fact: Victor Merino might become only the second Raccoon to ever lose 20 games in a season.

If I don’t sink him in the Willamette before he gets there.

Gary Simmons did it in 1981, as a 23-year-old, posting a stellar 3-21 record with a not too shabby (but still shabby) 4.60 ERA in 31 games (30 starts). Those were the last starts of Simmons’ career. He was traded to the Blue Sox after not appearing in the majors at all in 1982, and then enjoyed an 11-year run as reliever, ending up with a 52-64 record, 3.44 ERA, and 28 saves, most prominently as a Knight.

Nobody else has lost more than 18 games in a season as a Raccoon. That includes Juan Berrios in 1977 (same year he pitched a no-hitter against the Loggers), “Old Chris” Powell in 1978 (but he had his number retired eventually, so he had to be doing *something* right), Ralph Ford in 2004 (when he actually pitched much better than in ’03), and by Bobby Guerrero in 2022.

Yeah, I’ve now run out of nice things to say. Guerrero was just gnarly, like Merino now, lacking stuff, guile, and luck all at the same time, when he was in his second go-around with the Coons. He was actually fairly good as a deadline pickup in 2018-19 (but with nagging injuries), but was then traded to Vegas after the 2020 playoff bid shattered in game #164 on the Loggers, but mostly Nick Lester. We got Matt Hamilton for him, who had a fine half-season, but proved no help against the general decline of the team. Hamilton was then flicked to the Caps for two players, including Omar Alfaro, who had an age named after him at age 22, and was out of baseball as a 30-year-old.

The trades we do!

(nervously looks at Oscar Rivera’s non-production in AAA)

09-04-2022, 06:14 AM	#3981
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (3-10) vs. Titans (8-4) – April 19-21, 2050 Fifth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and 1.5 games behind in the division, the Titans came to Portland to probably also take all the wins from the Critters, who had yet to win a series this year. The Coons had won the season series from the Titans eight years in a row, with a 10-8 mark in ’49, but those times were now surely over. Projected matchups: Elijah Powell (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (1-0, 5.14 ERA) Victor Merino (0-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. Jim Cushing (1-1, 4.97 ERA) Jason Wheatley (0-2, 5.68 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (0-0, 5.66 ERA) The series opened with a southpaw in Scott, and my crystal ball told me that the Titans might skip righty Tim Steinbach (0-1, 6.00 ERA) utilizing the common off day on Monday. Steinbach would pitch Wednesday if they went in order. Game 1 BOS: SS Ale. Silva – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – CF Monson – 1B J. Rodriguez – LF Mangual – P V. Scott POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – LF Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Powell Alejandro Silva opened the game with a double to right and eventually scored on a 2-out passed ball, so Ruben Gonzalez kept living up to that seven-figure salary like only he could. The Coons opened the bottom 1st with three singles in order, and Matt Waters drawing a walk, which amounted to no runs so far, since Lonzo had been caught stealing right away. The bags were thus full for Gonzalez, who found that 6-4-3 double play with utmost precision and kept living up to that seven-figure salary like only he could. Ed Crispin instead tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom 2nd. Ricky Lamotta singled his way on and was also caught stealing, and when Lonzo opened the bottom 3rd with another single, he got the “move and you get slapped” sign. Armando Herrera stuffed a liner into the right-center gap instead for an RBI double, giving the Coons a 2-1 lead. Maldo and Waters both grounded out… except that Silva threw away Waters’ grounder for an error that brought in Herrera anyway. Jason Monson took Powell deep in the fourth, 3-2, but the Coons kept taking Scott apart. Lamotta and Glodowski, the misery squad at the bottom of the pile, opened the bottom 4th with singles, were bunted into scoring position, and brought home by Lonzo with a 2-run single to center. By that point it was a terrible struggle for Powell, however, who had started to lose command as early as the second inning, and issued five hits and four walks through five laborious innings. He made it to the seventh anyway, but was finally whittled down there with three long counts run by the 1-2-3 guys, although only Chris Jimenez reached with a 2-out infield single. Danny Landeta struck out Tony Lopez to close Powell’s line, then got three more outs in the eighth, all on easy infield grounders. Willie Cruz closed out the game for only a single in the ninth. 5-2 Critters. Lavorano 4-4, 2 RBI; Herrera 2-4, 2B, RBI; Medina (PH) 1-1; Glodowski 2-4; Powell 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, W (2-1); Game 2 BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Cushing POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Luna – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Merino Matt Watt reached on an error in the bottom 1st, but was left stranded. He also singled to move Ruben Gonzalez to third base in the bottom 3rd, setting up Lonzo for a sac fly to center that brought in the game’s first run. Armando Herrera doubled to right, and Waters cashed both runners in scoring position with a 2-out, 2-run single to right. It had been a bleak start to the season for the Coons’ alleged best batter, but it appeared like he was to start to work his way out of it, now at .250 with a homer and seven runs batted in. Merino held the Titans to not a whole lot for four innings, then did typical Merino things, like stumbling over the 8-9 batters. Back-to-back doubles by Jose Rodriguez and, y’know, the pitcher … brought in the Titans’ first run in the top 5th, and Nate Massey singled home Cushing to narrow the Coons’ lead to 3-2 before the inning ended with Chris Jimenez’ pop. The Coons stopped hitting, but Merino didn’t stop leaking. Both Rodriguezes, Jose and Elias, got on base in the top 7th, and Massey tied the game with a 2-out single. Failing to retire the two left-handed batters in the 1-2 slots got him yanked, and while Preston Porter retired Chris Jimenez and Tony Lopez orderly, Elias Rodriguez stole third base before coming in on Jimenez’ groundout to give the Titans a 4-3 lead. Jason Monson tacked on a run with a homer off Bob Ibold in the eighth. But, down 5-3, the Raccoons had the tying runs in scoring position after a Herrera single and a Waters double off Eddie Sotelo in the bottom 8th, and with nobody out…! Maldo grounded out poorly, Luna popped out, and Tony Ruiz struck out Ed Crispin to keep those tying runs in scoring position. After Merino, Brett Lillis jr. also failed to retire the lefty 1-2 batters in the top 9th, got yanked for Hitchcock, and the righty got a double play from Jimenez and exited the inning without allowing a run. Ex-Coon Adam Bates responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. 5-3 Titans. Herrera 3-4, 2B; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Sigh. Only 147 to go, though. Game 3 BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – CF Monson – SS Ale. Silva – LF Mangual – P Steinbach POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Maldonado – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – C J. Jimenez – P Wheatley Tim Steinbach showed up after all, but second-half form for Wheatley was a long way from it. He walked three batters the first time through, allowed a single to Ruben Mangual, and somehow stranded pairs in both of the first two innings, including with a full-count K to Elias Rodriguez in the top 2nd after getting a good ol’ talking-to by the pitching coach. Took him just 40 pitches to get through two… He was spotted a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, which was partially unearned, since Matt Waters reached base on a throwing error. Maldo, Luna, and Juan Jimenez then all hit singles off Steinbach, the latter two each driving in a run. The only other K for Wheats through five was one he hung on Steinbach, but he held the Titans to two actual hits while retooling himself to give up serial grounders instead, which was an adaptions the really good pitchers were still able to do on “nope!” days. Wheats reached on an uncaught third strike in the bottom 5th, but was then forced out by Matt Watt, and nothing came out of the act at all. Wheats got another five outs, without much fanfare, although he left with Ruben Mangual at second – having reached on an infield single after all – and two outs. Ponce and Glodowski replaced him and Maldo in a double switch, but Ponce had nothing better to do than to give up Wheats’ run on an Elias Rodriguez single. Bums, them all…! Massey was at least out on a grounder, preserving a skinny 2-1 lead. Preston Porter had a 1-2-3 eighth, but Steinbach continued to hold the Coons to their four hits and two runs through eight, thus sending Willie Cruz out with no cushion in the ninth, facing the 6-7-8 batters. He struck out Monson, then got groundouts from Silva and Mangual, and the Raccoons actually won a series in 2050…! 2-1 Furballs. Wheatley 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (1-2); Raccoons (5-11) vs. Bayhawks (7-9) – April 22-24, 2050 Here was another team that hadn’t started well, but for whom there was still hope (other than the Critters). The Baybirds had just swept the Falcons to start a dig out of an early-April hole, but had already lost Craig Czyszczon, Todd Dau, and Mike Roberts on the DL. They were seventh in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, but led the CL in bombs and had four .328+ hitters in Sergio Quiroz, Ken Crum, Sean Suggs, and Ramon Sifuentes. The Coons had lost six of nine to the Bayhawks two years in a row. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (0-1, 5.12 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (0-1, 1.04 ERA) Victor Salcido (1-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (1-0, 3.98 ERA) Elijah Powell (2-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (1-2, 5.82 ERA) Only right-handers to see here. Game 1 SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF Ritchey – CF G. Pena – 2B McCutcheon – P I. Mendoza POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – LF Medina – RF Lamotta – P Wolinsky There was loud contact from the start against Bubba Wolinsky, who walked Sergio Quiroz, gave up a double to Sebastian Copeland, and somehow buggered out for nothing more than a Sean Suggs sac fly. While Wheats had busied the infielders, Bubba kept the outfielders awake, but in the fourth had the bases full with no outs after walking Sifuentes to follow up earlier singles by Ken Crum and Sean Suggs, which sugged. Joe Ritchey shoved a 2-run double to right, Wolinsky walked Gustavo Pena to restock the bags, and Lee McCutcheon hit another RBI single, with Ritchey thrown out trying to score as well, which was at least a ***** out. Mendoza whiffed, and Quiroz grounded out to Lonzo to end the miserable inning with a 4-0 score. Roberto Medina singled home Ed Crispin in the bottom 4th to at least get Portland on the board. Wolinsky was gone after five shoddy innings, not that things got better with that. Bob Ibold allowed a run on two hits in the sixth, while the seventh was even worse. Lillis got the ball, and didn’t have the least clue where he was throwing it to, walking Quiroz, who advanced on a wild pitch at one point, but he struck out Suggs, who was too eager to get a knock rather than just hold off, and almost stranded the runner at third base until throwing one right down the middle to Crum that was ticked for an RBI single. Landeta replaced him and got out of the inning with a pop from Sifuentes. Matt Watt singled home Medina with two outs in the bottom of that inning, and Landeta had a scoreless eighth before the Coons, down 6-2, somehow got the tying run to the plate in the bottom 8th. Maldo and waters opened the inning with singles, and Mendoza walked Gonzalez with one out. Expecting a slam from Roberto Medina was perhaps a bit much, but he was also 2-for-3 in the game, so why not? He popped out unhelpfully, but Lamotta killed Mendoza’s day with a 2-run single through the left side, while Jeremy Mayhall gave up an RBI single to Eddy Luna in the #9 hole, and Matt Watt ticked one up the middle that narrowly eluded Lee McCutcheon for a game-tying RBI single, all even at six…! Lonzo then hit a spanker, but right at Copeland, ending the inning. Willie Cruz got around a Waters error that put Mark Cahill on base to begin the ninth. Quiroz forced him out with a grounder, but then stole second base, and reached third on Copeland’s groundout to Waters that would have been two without the steal. The count to Suggs ran full, but ended with a swing and a miss, while the bottom 9th began with Mayhall plunking Maldo, who represented the winning run and was swiftly replaced with pinch-runner Evan Van Hoy. Waters struck out, but Glodowski singled to move Van Hoy to second. Four balls to Gonzalez loaded the bases for, well, Medina. Only Juan Jimenez was left on the bench, and the pitcher was in the #1 slot, which needed to be hit for in an eventual 10th. Besides, Medina was just as qualified to hit into an extra-inning-birthing double play as Jimenez. McCutcheon went home though on the first-pitch grounder he got, which removed Van Hoy, but there was no double play and Ricky Lamotta got another chance, also poked at the first pitch, and sailed a ball over a reaching Sifuentes to end the ballgame. 7-6 Raccoons. Watt 3-5, 2 RBI; Waters 3-5; Medina 2-5, RBI; Lamotta 2-5, 3 RBI; We had 15 hits – all singles. Game 2 SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF Fink – 2B McCutcheon – P Cantrell POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – RF Luna – C Gonzalez – LF Lamotta – P Salcido Salcido was battered around for seven hits and three runs in the first three innings, also walking a pair. Sifuentes in the second and Suggs in the third took him deep, which sugged, and then they also loaded the bases before getting nothing more than an RBI single by McCutcheon before Milt Cantrell grounded out (sharply) to Lonzo to strand a full set, but Salcido got waffled for another three hits and two runs in the fourth as the meltdown continued. Salcido had hit a double in the bottom 3rd, ironically, but had gotten no help from his ho-hum team and had been stranded at second base. He was then yanked when he gave up a 2-out double to Cantrell in the fifth. Ricky Lamotta hit a homer in the bottom 5th for one run, but Joe Ritchey touched Kevin Hitchcock for two with a blast of his own in the top 6th, Ken Crum scoring after drawing a 2-out walk, following Suggs’ double play grounder erasing Copeland’s leadoff walk. Those were the last runs for San Francisco, while the Raccoons remained harmless enough for Cantrell to pitch into the ninth inning. Matt Watt batted for Herrera and hit a leadoff double, but was thrown out trying to score on Waters’ single to center. A strikeout to Crispin ended the game. 7-1 Bayhawks. Watt (PH) 1-1, 2B; Game 3 SFB: SS Quiroz – 1B Copeland – C S. Suggs – LF Crum – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – CF Fink – 2B McCutcheon – P Bulas POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 3B Luna – RF Lamotta – C Jimenez – 1B Van Hoy – P Powell Elijah Powell began the game with two walks, and Ken Crum dutifully singled home Quiroz for the early 1-0 lead before Ritchey spanked a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play to get the Coons out of the inning. Powell started another double play to bow out of the second inning, which began with singles by Sifuentes and John Fink, but gave up a solo jack to Quiroz in the third, 2-0. Jesse Bulas, meanwhile, retired the Critters in order the first time through, whiffing three. Finally by the fourth, three singles (including one by Bulas), two errors (Waters, Lamotta), and a wild pitch conceded another three runs to the Baybirds, putting the game well out of the range of the newest version of the Inepticoons. While Matt Watt’s leadoff walk was followed by a Lonzo grounder and Herrera’s RBI single to left-center to shorten the gap to 5-1, I had no comeback confidence and preferred to eat little chocolates by the pawful in between gulps of Capt’n Coma. Regardless, the tying run was at the plate in Matt Watt in the bottom 5th. Jimenez and Van Hoy hit 1-out singles, and Copeland misfielded Powell’s bunt to load the bases. Watt hit a deep fly to left, but it was caught by Ken Crum, who held the Coons to a sac fly. Lonzo grounded out, stranding two. Bottom 6th, Armando Herrera went deep to left to shorten the gap to 5-3. So Powell immediately gave up three leadoff singles to the 1-2-3 batters in the top 7th, although Quiroz was caught stealing. Porter inherited runners on first and second, and got Crum to ground out to Waters for a 4-6-3 double play to dissolve the inning. Crum was the only batter Porter faced in the game, with Maldo hitting for him after Van Hoy got on base to begin the bottom 7th, but he grounded out. Watt got on, Lonzo hit a sac fly to get to 5-4, but Herrera grounded out. While I was waiting for another 6-run blowup, Landeta retired the Birds in order in the eighth, but while Lamotta got on in the bottom 8th, the tying run remained on first base when Jimenez grounded out. The meltdown apparently came in the ninth instead. Landeta was still up there, gave up a leadoff single to McCutcheon, who stole a base, was singled home by Quiroz, and Waters added another error to put Copeland on base. Ponce replaced Landeta, threw a single pitch for a double play comebacker, and the Coons entered the bottom 9th against long-long-ago Coon Josh Livingston (age 39) down by two. Crispin batted for Ponce, but grounded out, as did Maldo. Watt struck out. 6-4 Bayhawks. Herrera 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Van Hoy 2-3, 2B; Quiroz was unretired in the game, drove in three, and missed the cycle by the triple. The Coons made enough errors so that only two of the runs allowed in this game were earned. In other news April 19 – Hitting from the #8 hole, Canadiens INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.370, 2 HR, 12 RBI) drives in seven runs on three hits and a walk in the Canadiens’ 13-2 destruction of the Loggers. April 21 – SAC OF/1B Pedro Leal (.349, 2 HR, 12 RBI) slaps five hits and is a triple shy of the cycle as early as the eighth inning, but even as the Scorpions take 17 innings to lose 9-8 to the Wolves, can’t find that elusive triple and has to settle for a 5-hit, 5-RBI day. April 22 – SAC SP C.J. Harney (1-2, 4.21 ERA) nips the Rebels in a 3-hit shutout, taking his first W of the year in a 2-0 game. April 22 – SFW LF Mario Villa (.404, 6 HR, 19 RBI) will miss six weeks with a strained ACL. April 23 – The Gold Sox’ OF Tylor Cecil (.286, 2 HR, 11 RBI) will miss at least another week with a shoulder subluxation suffered on Tuesday. FL Player of the Week: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.479, 8 HR, 18 RBI), raking .542 (13-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.338, 5 HR, 15 RBI), slapping .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 7 RBI Complaints and stuff** I am really struggling to come up with upsides right now. We’re tied, but not worse than the Loggers? Maybe? Nah. We suck. Few things have worked out so far. The only regular to beat the 100 OPS+ mark is Herrera, which is a nice start to describe the offense. The pitching has been … let’s remain polite and say “rough”. Most homers allowed, second-worst ERA, and despite the error clown show on Sunday, the defense is actually the most presentable stat in the run prevention department. Oh, Sean Suggs didn’t win that Player of the Week award on trampling the Coons (Quiroz and Crum did most of that). He was .357 with 1 HR, 2 RBI in Portland, but he stuffed the Falcons earlier in the week, .583 with 2 HR, 5 RBI. His OPS actually went down by 24 points in the Raccoons series. How about some actually interesting bits? Alan Puckeridge is hitting over .400 to start the AAA season. I’d say it won’t be very long before we’ll give this 22-year-old Aussie boy a look. Corner guy (first, left, right), but the arm isn’t the greatest. Speed and power potential. Cost less than a new sedan in the 2044 July IFA round. Rich Seymour’s around .300, so he might grab a look eventually as well. And Ricky de la Cruz, a crispy 19 years old, had a trying year in Ham Lake last year with a 4.58 ERA, but that’s down to 1.47 in the first few starts of 2050. Also, Knights and Indians to complete the homestand next week. *Fun Fact:* The Raccoons are above .500 in one-run games! 2-1 to be precise, both wins coming back-to-back this week. It’s also a metric of a team usually losing by lots. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-05-2022, 04:06 PM	#3982
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (6-13) vs. Knights (9-9) – April 25-27, 2050 The Raccoons offered up their 4-year winning streak against the Knights – well, all of 5-4 in 2049, but it counted. Atlanta was sixth in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, with a +8 run differential (Coons: -17) but had already taken some collateral damages with Vic Chavez, Antonio Ramires, and Arnout van der Zanden all on the DL. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (0-3, 5.29 ERA) vs. Will Cormack (2-0, 3.00 ERA) Jason Wheatley (1-2, 4.56 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (1-2, 4.00 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (0-1, 5.55 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (2-1, 0.82 ERA) Buttress was the sole southpaw available in their rotation. The Coons didn’t bring up the left-handed prospect Alan Puckeridge to open the series, so maybe he’d be here by Wednesday? Game 1 ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – C Cass – RF Worden – 3B Hornig – 1B Gurney – P Cormack POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – LF Medina – P Merino Three hits, three stolen bases, and an error by ******* Victor Merino – the Knights had it all in the first inning, but the runs. They scored only one of those. Steve Royer reached on the error to begin the game, but was caught stealing. Matt Housey then doubled to left, stole third base, and scored on the first of back-to-back singles by Anton Venegas and Jon Alade, who pulled off a double steal, but were stranded with poor outs by Tyler Cass and Matt Worden. Pat Gurney then got a warm welcome from the skinny crowd – as warm as a welcome could be in a three-fifths-empty ballpark in a moist 55 degrees with the team out of contention in April – at least until he hit a homer to right, 2-0 in the second. Alade singled, stole second, and scored on a Cass single in the third, 3-0. While the Critters did a pretty spiffy job of getting a single per inning and never scoring (or even getting to third base) against Cormack, the Knights went up 4-0 when Alade singled home Royer in the fifth, which was also the first inning in which Portland got more than one runner on base. Matt Watt hit a 2-out single, and then Lonzo doubled to left. Watt went home, but was thrown out by Alade, and the sadness continued in shutout fashion. Five runs (four earned) in 6.1 innings would be the final tally on Merino, who walked four and struck out two, and had the final run on his ledger conceded by Hitchcock on a 2-out single by Tyler Cass. Ruben Gonzalez hit a third single on the day to begin the bottom 7th, but was thrown out trying to make it a double. It was raining. It was sad. Maldo made an error in the eighth, Lillis made an error in the ninth. The Knights somehow didn’t score at either occasion. The Raccoons never scored. 5-0 Knights. Watt 2-4; Lavorano 2-4; Gonzalez 4-4; The Knights had seven hits. We had A DOZEN HITS. And four errors. Rock bottom with 142 to play. Game 2 ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – RF Worden – C S. Green – 1B Jon Lopez – 3B Hornig – P Buttress POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – LF Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley I started Tuesday by tearing Monday’s black 25 off the calendar in Maud’s office, then immediately banged my head against the wall for 25 minutes. That was even before Wheatley gave up a single, double, and homer to the 2-3-4 batters in the first inning to eliminate any chance for a win on Tuesday. While the Coons had the bags full in the bottom 1st and Waters singled home Herrera to make up one run, Luna and Lamotta failed and stranded three aboard with a pop and a K. The Knights stung Wheats with three more singles for a run in the top 3rd, but Eddy Luna singled and Ricky Lamotta homered to left to get back to 4-3 in the bottom 3rd. Lonzo and Herrera would get on in the fourth, but Maldonado killed that inning with a 4-6-3 double play. …and while Wheats just couldn’t handle a lineup with just two right-handed batters (Anton Venegas, Jeremy Hornig), the baseball gods then also added a whole shovelful of the absolutely most rotten luck you could expect at a baseball game. The top 5th of a 4-3 game began thusly: Steve Royer legged out an infield single. Matt Housey hit another **** grounder, Maldo tried to get the lead runner, but got nobody, and that was another infield single. Venegas bounced to Luna, who ** the play for an error (the first on Tuesday, and the fifth of the week). Three on, nobody out. The Raccoons pulled the handbrake and yanked Wheatley after 63 pitches and reached for the southpaw Ponce, who gave up three singles and three runs (two earned) to the first three left-handed batters – Alade, Worden, and Sean Green – that he saw. That wasn’t all; Jeremy Hornig added a double, and in total the Knights plated five runs in the inning. Ponce ended up throwing 54 pitches in three innings, because ** that guy, ridiculously allowing only one more runner between the sixth and seventh. Lonzo singled home Glodowski in unearned fashion against Tony Rosas in the bottom 8th; Glodowski had singled, and PH Roberto Medina had reached on a Venegas error, all with two outs. Herrera was out to Hornig to end the inning then. Willie Cruz had a scoreless ninth in a toss-away game, but the team tried to play the bottom 9th, still against Rosas, for maximum pain. Maldo and Waters made quick outs before Gonzalez doubled to left. Crispin had arrived in the #6 hole earlier and tripled to right, driving home a pointless run, and then had a rib broken when he slid awkwardly and crushed his chest into Hornig’s knee at third base. Lamotta flew out to center to end the game. 9-5 Knights. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-3, BB; Waters 2-5, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Crispin 1-1, 3B, RBI; Well. Roster moves, huh? Crispin, batting .182 with two homers, was off to the DL for the next six weeks, while Roberto Medina (.227, 0 HR, 1 RBI) ended up on waivers. The replacements were Alan Puckeridge, hitting .471 with 4 homers in AAA (!), and right-handed INF/LF Shane Honig was batting only .188 for the Alley Cats, but that was with a near-negative BABIP. He had five walks against four strikeouts. Game 3 ATL: CF Royer – 2B Housey – SS A. Venegas – LF Alade – C Cass – RF Worden – 3B Hornig – 1B Gurney – P Koga POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Luna – RF Lamotta – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky Puckeridge’s first career at-bat came with Watt and Waters on second and first and two outs in the bottom 1st, and he… struck out. He went on to make two neat plays on D in the next two innings, including collecting a sharp grounder by Alade with the bags full in the top 3rd for the final out of that frame. The Knights filled them up again and left them full in the fourth as well, then with Royer out on a comebacker to Wolinsky, who gave up seven hits and a walk in four innings, but no runs. Bubba’s spot came up with three on and nobody out in the bottom 5th after Koga allowed soft singles to all of the 6-7-8 batters. He erred into a double play, but Luna scored for the game’s first run, and Watt singled home Lamotta to make it 2-0. Lonzo grounded out, while in the bottom 6th Waters chased back Alade, who made a tumbling catch and hurt himself, and was replaced with Carlos Vega, while Puckeridge improved on his 0-2, 2 K line with a 2-out double to right, his first big league knock. Luna walked, but Lamotta grounded out to strand the runners. Shane Honig made his major league debut in a double switch in the seventh, entering with Lillis and playing third base as replacement for Luna, all with Royer on third base and two outs for Atlanta. Vega grounded out on Lillis’ first pitch to end the inning. He flew out to center in his first at-bat in the league, but Herrera singled home Jimenez with two outs to tack on a run. Lonzo was also on base, but him and Herrera were stranded when Housey intercepted Waters’ bouncer. Lillis held up for another inning, only for Willie Cruz to get torn up. Joe Besaw hit a pinch-hit single to begin the ninth, and Housey crashed a 2-run homer to right-center, reducing the lead to a skinny run. Venegas singled, Sean Green doubled, and the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with one out. Cass then, crucially perhaps, struck out, leaving things to the .184 hitter Worden. He popped to third base, Honig made the catch, and that left the Critters with their weekly win. 3-2 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, RBI; Luna 1-2, BB; Jimenez 1-2; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 11 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-1); It's not just that Bubba allowed 11 hits and no runs. The Knights had 16 hits in a regulation game – and lost! Raccoons (7-15) vs. Indians (9-12) – April 29-May 1, 2050 Act Four of a senselessly terrible homestand would feature the Arrowheads on the weekend. They were up 2-1 in the season series, but had a CL-worst .235 batting average and the second-fewest runs scored. They had however also only surrendered the third-fewest runs with a +1 differential. If that didn’t sound like an Indians team of old… including the successlessness. Projected matchups: Victor Salcido (1-2, 5.82 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (4-0, 0.79 ERA) Elijah Powell (2-2, 3.24 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (2-0, 2.03 ERA) Victor Merino (0-4, 5.01 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (0-1, 5.87 ERA) Only right-handers on offer here. Bill Quinteros was day-to-day with a back ailment but trying to play through it. Game 1 IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Brayboy – 1B R. White – P Nichol POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Honig – P Salcido The Arrowheads loaded the bases against Salcido in the first, but Ray DeFrank flew out to Herrera to strand the runners, and then the Coons instead scored a 3-spot in the bottom 1st. Watt got on, was forced out by Lonzo, and Herrera hit an infield single. Waters doubled both of them in, then scored on a Maldo single himself. Gonzalez popped out foul. Salcido was then shoved around, gave up a run when Angel Mendez singled home Rusty White in the second, and another one on a DeFrank sac fly in a 3-hit third, narrowing the score to 3-2. DeFrankly, he looked awful. Bottom 3rd, Waters and Puckeridge went to the corners with leadoff hits against Nichol, and while Puckeridge was antsy to go and get his first stolen base in the Bigs, Maldo hissed over to first so he’d hold still and Maldo could concentrate his milky eyes on that round thing hurled at him all the time by these kids. The hiss worked, and he slapped a soft looper over Alex de Castro for an RBI single, 4-2. Gonzalez found a double play to hit into, and Honig was walked intentionally to bring up Salcido, who hit a duck snort single for a 2-out run. Watt singled home Honig, completing another 3-spot before Lonzo flew out to Angel Mendez. Salcido had a quick fourth, then a dragging fifth with Hugo Acosta, DeFrank, and White all aboard until finally PH Ron Kurtz struck out to leave another full set aboard. Salcido added a 1-2-3 sixth, but then was done after 100 pitches exactly, yet still up 6-2. Porter and Lillis then got flogged for three sharp hits and two runs (both on the former) in the seventh inning, cutting that lead in half. De Castro and Bobby Anderson both reached against Bob Ibold in the eighth, but were left on when Acosta popped out to shallow left. Bottom 8th and facing Alfredo Llamas, though, the Coons loaded them up again; soft Gonzalez singled, Luna drawing a walk in Honig’s spot against the right-hander, and then a Lamotta single, all with one out. Evan Van Hoy batted for Ibold in the #1 spot and at least got in a run with a groundout. Lonzo was out on a sharp grounder up the middle, de Castro warping over to retire him. Willie Cruz then struck out two in a perfect ninth. 7-4 Raccoons! Watt 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2 RBI; Honig 0-1, 2 BB; Game 2 IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – C DeFrank – LF Hare – 1B R. White – P Brink POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Honig – P Powell Back here, back there, Quinteros sent Puckeridge back with a mighty drive in the first inning, and put Indy up 1-0 with a solo homer. DeFrank singled and Josh Hare doubled, both with two strikes on them, and Rusty White made it 2-0 with a groundout in the second, while Puckeridge opened the bottom 2nd with a single to center, but then was forced out on a Maldo grounder. Gonzalez singled, Honig got pummeled, and Powell batted with the bags full. He ran a full count, then struck out anyway for the second red light of the inning. Watt flew out to Hare. Instead, de Castro, Anderson, and Acosta all whacked hits off Powell in the third, extending the Indians’ lead to 4-0 against a hapless Powell. Top 4th, de Castro singled home White, Quinteros homered again, this time to left-center, and Powell was yanked from the 7-0 rout then. Landeta offered four outs, but Hitchcock allowed another run in the sixth, but that inning also saw the first career RBI for Alan Puckeridge, plating Lonzo with a groundout to reduce the gap to … 8-1. And then Matt Waters left the game the inning after with an oblique tweak, and I was about ready to cry when Maud swooped in saved me temporarily with a big bowl of fudge. Mmmm. Fudge! … Luna entered the game at third, with Honig to second base with Waters out. Ponce gave up a run in the eighth, but Puckeridge hit a sac fly to steadfastly keep the Coons at 7-run distance. What a little hero! Brink was pitching into the ninth, which Ruben Gonzalez opened with his first homer of the year, shortening the drubbing all the way to 9-3, after which Honig singled to center for his first career base knock. He also stole his first base, but couldn’t prevent Brink to finish the game all by himself. 9-3 Indians. Lavorano 3-5; Herrera 3-5; Maldonado 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1; Your good old complete-game 13-hitter for Tan Brink, on a baffling 135 pitches. Waters would sit on Sunday, which would have been a day off for Maldo, but the way we were playing it was not like it mattered much. Day off for everybody! How about a lineup full o’ pitchers!? Game 3 IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B Brayboy – SS de Castro – CF Locke – P Medvec POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – SS Luna – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 1B Van Hoy – 3B Lamotta – 2B Honig – P Merino Merino didn’t look that bad… until he walked Medvec with one out in the third inning in a scoreless game. Mendez then singled, Acosta walked, and Quinteros singled home two in quick succession. Anderson flew out to Watt, but Merino walked DeFrank to fill the bags, then walked Aaron ***** Brayboy with the bases *** loaded, 3-0. De Castro popped out to end the inning, while Medvec hit a triple in the fourth, which somehow ended without an Indians run on poor outs by Mendez and Acosta, the latter whiffing in a full count. The Coons didn’t get a hit until Ricky Lamotta singled with one out in the bottom 5th, sending Van Hoy to third base after the forgettable left-handed first-bagger had drawn a walk off Medvec. Honig hit a sac fly to Philip Locke, Merino singled, Watt walked to make it three on and two outs, but Herrera grounded out to third base, and the score remained 3-1. Well, at least until Medvec singled home Brayboy in the top 6th. Those two had half of the four singles the first five batters in the sixth smacked off Merino in the inning, kicking him from the game. Ponce inherited the bags full, gave up a sac fly to Acosta, 5-1, then plunked Quinteros with a 1-2 pitch. With Bobby Anderson up, Ponce was beaten back to the dugout, and Preston Porter got to try his luck. He also got to 1-2 before giving up a drive to deep left… but Watt made the catch on the warning track… Slappy, please pinch me, I want to wake up from this nightmare. – Ow! Ow! Ow!! OW!!! – NO IT’S NOT WORKING SLAPPY PLEASE STOP AAAAAAAAHHH-HOOO-HOOOOOH!!! Ruben Gonzalez hit a homer in the bottom 6th, while Preston Porter gave up three singles, a balk, a walk, and three runs in the top 7th before Lillis restored whatever *** counted for order anymore around here. Lillis then singled in the bottom 7th, of which nothing came, and then was taken deep by Anderson for congratulations in the eighth. 9-2 Indians. Waters and Maldo both pinch-hit in the hopeless ninth inning, and made outs, but maintained a perfect appearance record. Them and Lonzo have all appeared in all 25 games the Coons have played this year. In other news April 26 – SFB C Sean Suggs (.348, 6 HR, 16 RBI) homers for the only marker in a 1-0 win over the Titans. April 27 – The Condors beat the Loggers, 9-8 in 14 innings. MIL 2B/SS Ricky Lopez (.176, 0 HR, 3 RBI) shines by going 1-for-7 with a platinum sombrero. April 29 – WAS SP/MR Nick Young (1-3, 9.00 ERA) comes within two outs of a no-hitter against the Rebels before walking two and giving up an RBI single to RIC LF/CF Bill Reeves (.277, 4 HR, 10 RBI). The Caps need two more relievers that concede two more runs on Young’s behalf before getting away with a 7-3 win. April 29 – Atlanta’s OF/1B Steve Royer (.344, 1 HR, 5 RBI) hits three singles and two doubles in an honest effort against the Aces, but the Knights lose anyway, 7-3. April 30 – The Crusaders’ SP Edwin Sopena (3-1, 2.58 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Canadiens. He strikes out three in a 6-0 New York win. May 1 – Aces INF Josh Landstrom (.236, 0 HR, 6 RBI) hits a single for the only Las Vegas hit against ATL SP Will Cormack (4-0, 1.71 ERA) and two relievers. The Knights win 5-0. FL Player of the Week: CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.364, 3 HR, 10 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 2 RBI CL Player of the Week: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.323, 0 HR, 9 RBI), hitting .536 (15-28) with 4 RBI FL Hitter of the Month: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.427, 8 HR, 19 RBI) CL Hitter of the Month: OCT SS/1B/LF Ryan Cox (.342, 3 HR, 16 RBI) FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Mike Zeigler (4-0, 1.26 ERA) CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Jeff Johnson (4-0, 1.59 ERA) FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Chris Thomas (.375, 2 HR, 9 RBI) CL Rookie of the Month: IND OF/1B/2B Rusty White (.348, 1 HR, 5 RBI) Complaints and stuff** (walks by Shane Honig, who has both front paws firmly covered in honey and several empty glasses of honey strewn all around him) Can you… Can you please be less basic…? * Matt Waters will probably be day-to-day with the oblique for much of next week, too, so that’s an additional slice of fun here. Roberto Medina cleared waivers (shocker) and was assigned back to the Alley Cats. We’re still waiting for Lonzo to be awesome, but it wouldn’t be so bad if the pitching was at least basic. Four starters have an ERA over five. The pen isn’t that great, either. The defense is porous. And they have no ***** luck whatsoever. We currently have the most runs allowed in the league, just a tick over five per game, and it’s yet going up. Next week, grim mistreatments in New York and Pittsburgh. We’ll then skip home just for the Pacifics, then immediately play another two weeks on the road. In fact, we only have seven home games in all of May. What fun…! Fun Fact:** The Raccoons are on pace for a -227 run differential. I’ll need more fudge with that, Maud. +++ Honig is honey in German. I know, I know, nobody’s more basic than me. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-07-2022, 07:11 AM	#3983
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (8-17) @ Crusaders (14-10) – May 2-5, 2050 How about four in New York with Matt Waters having a bad oblique and everybody being obliquely bad? The Crusaders were three behind the damn Elks for the top spot in the North. They couldn’t bloody score, making precisely 3.5 runs per game for themselves, but still had a +5 run differential (Critters: -35) thanks to not giving up any runs either. The Raccoons had still won 11 games from New York in last year’s season series, but at this point I was not quite sure we’d win 11 games for the whole season… Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (1-3, 5.76 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (2-1, 3.24 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (1-1, 4.35 ERA) vs. TBD Victor Salcido (2-2, 5.20 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (4-0, 1.59 ERA) Elijah Powell (2-3, 5.02 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-1, 2.58 ERA) We’d face a southpaw in Malla, a smoldering crater where Adam Messer (1-0, 1.33 ERA) had been before being felled by a hamstring, and then two righties. By the way, Bubba is our only starting pitcher with a sub-5 ERA. Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – RF Glodowski – LF Puckeridge – 2B Honig – P Wheatley NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – RF Arens – 2B Bent – P Malla Lonzo opened the week with a double to left, and before long, the Raccoons had three runs on the board, although the Crusaders’ Omar Sanchez and Andrew Russ (grrr!) assisted with a pair of throwing errors in that effort. Armando Herrera got an RBI, though, singling home Lonzo, and Luna singled in Maldo for the third and final run of the inning. Not that a 3-0 lead helped Wheatley much; he still managed to run into a string of four straight hits against the ***** 7-8-9-1 batters in the bottom 2nd, all damage with two outs. Ron Arens doubled, Art Bent, Carlos Malla, and Omar Sanchez all singled, and Malla had to be slapped out in a rundown to end the goddamn inning at all, but by then two runs were already across. By the third inning, a Danny Rivera single and an Omar Ramirez homer put the New Yorkers in front, 4-3, and Wheats had an ERA over *** six. The Raccoons continued the game in their usual dunderheaded ways. Lonzo and Herrera were on base in the fifth, but Gonzalez chopped into an inning-ending double play. Glodowski somehow happened to find first base in the sixth, then was picked off there by Malla. An infield single by Ed Haertling and a Bent double added a Crusaders run in the bottom 6th, and after that Wheatley spent the last innings of the game standing in the dugout, staring across the field into the great black darkness, obviously not knowing what the was wrong with him either. Omar Ramirez meanwhile sealed the deal with a 2-run homer off Lillis in the bottom 7th. Yes, the Raccoons did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but when had that ever led to something nice? Pinch-hitters Matt Waters walked and Evan Van Hoy was nicked, Lonzo hit into a fielder’s choice, and with two outs and runners on the corners, Herrera singled home a run off Melvin Lucero, bringing up Maldo as the tying run. He popped out to Haertling. 7-4 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-5, 2B; Herrera 3-4, 2 RBI; Maybe a .355 BABIP is part of it. In fact, all our starters have a BABIP of .320+ against them. Bubba would enter the Tuesday game at .343; Game 2 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Luna – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – LF Van Hoy – 2B Honig – P Wolinsky NYC: 2B Russ – SS O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – RF D. Rivera – LF Bent – CF Ceballos – 1B Haertling – C O. Ramirez – P J. Johnson Johnson went on short rest, and fell behind 1-0 on a Maldonado homer, making Maldo the first Critter to three homers in 2050, and as early as May…! Wolinsky got rid of the lead pronto rapido, giving up leadoff singles in each of the first three innings. Art Bent hit one in the second, stole his way to second base, then scored on two productive groundouts. Johnson (…) opened the third with a single, Russ doubled to left, and it all came crashing down pretty quickly from there, with an Omar Sanchez gapper and another Bent single to boot, and 3-runs in total. Watt got on, advanced on two outs, and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, which already described how active the Coons offense was; through six innings, we had three hits, and were down 5-2 once the Crusaders turned a leadoff walk to Danny Rivera, the old Indian, and two singles into a run off Bubba in the bottom 6th. Russ singled, stole second, and came home on a Sanchez single against Bob Ibold in the seventh. Willie Cruz pitched in the eighth, since there would not be any ninth innings to pitch in during this road week, and got romped for three hits and two more runs. 8-2 Crusaders. Jimenez 2-4; Matt Waters pinch-hit in both of these games to maintain his perfect attendance record, then demanded to go into the lineup, oblique be damned, on Wednesday. Game 3 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – RF Puckeridge – P Salcido NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – RF Ceballos – 2B Haney – P Sopena On the bright paw, Victor Salcido struck out three Crusaders in the first inning, but those three hitters were Haertling, Mark Haney, and the short-rested Sopena, after he had allowed two hits, FOUR walks, and three runs already. Matt Waters hit a first-pitch double to lead off the top 2nd and scored on productive outs by Maldo and Gonzalez to shorten the gap to 3-1, and the Coons got Puckeridge and Salcido on base to begin the third inning, but then Watt popped out and Lonzo hit into a double play. Salcido continued to pitch almost exclusively behind in the count to every batter he faced, until he started to shake out his shoulder in the fourth inning, and never found a state of comfort with that. Dr. Padilla collected him, and the Raccoons got to pitch the last 4.1 innings of Wednesday’s loss with the bullpen. Ibold collected four outs, then was hit for with Lamotta to begin the top 6th. Lamotta singled, stole second, and came in after a Watt grounder and a Lonzo sac fly to shorten the score to 3-2. Danny Landeta dutifully collected five outs without accident while I was only waiting for a chance to release him, after which Julian Ponce entered the bottom 7th with the bags clear and two outs, and sucked the bags full before getting the third out on an Angel Lara grounder after allowing a single and two walks. And then the Coons DID tie the game…! Sopena was still pitching in the eighth, but allowed a leadoff single to Eddy Luna, who stole second, and then came around on a Puckeridge single to left-center. A Lamotta double moved the go-ahead run to third base, and Matt Watt gave the Coons the lead – with a 3-run homer to right-center! With new pitcher Taylor Stabile in, Lonzo singled, stole two bases, and scored on a Maldo sac fly for an extra run, which was given back by Ponce and Porter with three walks and a passed ball on Gonzalez in the bottom 8th… Sanchez eventually popped out to Puckeridge as the tying run, and Porter retired the Crusaders without drama in the bottom 9th, which was perhaps the most surprising bit here. 7-4 Raccoons. Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Lamotta (PH) 2-3, 2B; Salcido and his third-best-on-team 5.46 ERA hit the DL by Thursday, after being diagnosed with a mild shoulder strain that would cost him a couple of starts. The Coons’ AAA rotation posted numbers just as ghastly as the big league boys, but we’d probably pick up 25-year-old southpaw Danny Hall (no relation to Daniel Hall; they’re not even the same skin color, the pitcher Hall being black), a 2045 third-rounder that had posted a 5.16 ERA last year in AAA, but was at 3.07 this year in five starts. He had three nice pitches, terrible control, and little stamina, which was a gruesome combo. Hall had pitched on Monday, and we’d likely bring him up for a spot start on regular rest on the weekend, then return him to AAA right away since next Thursday was a day off for the Coons. Saturday sounded like the timing would be perfect for his debut that nobody whatsoever had been looking forward to. I asked Maud on the phone whether Danny stood for Daniel, and she said no. Apparently it’s for Dantevious. Kids’ names these days. For the time being, Salcido went to the DL, and the Coons brought up an extra garbage reliever in offseason pickup Eloy Sencion. The lefty was whiffing 10.1/9 and walking next to nobody in AAA, across 10.2 innings. Sencion had been part of the Willie Cruz deal with the Gold Sox and would make his debut. Game 4 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – SS Luna – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – P Powell NYC: CF O. Sanchez – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – 2B Haney – P Messer Powell right away got stuffed four hits and three runs by the Omars, Gateses, and Garrises on the Crusaders, so that game was in the bin right in the first inning. Top 2nd, the Coons stirred with two outs, as Messer walked Ruben Gonzalez in a full count, then gave up an RBI double to Puckeridge. Ricky Lamotta singled home the rookie to shorten the score to 3-2 before the inning ended with Powell grounding out to short, but in the third inning Maldo doubled and Waters homered, both to center, making for a 4-3 lead. But apparently Waters had hurt himself on that power swing; he still played D in the bottom 3rd, but then left the game in favor of Shane Honig. And while Powell held up at least for a little while, Maldo hit a soft single to begin the sixth and Honig then walked in the cleanup spot. Luna flew out shoddily, Gonzalez whiffed, but with two outs, Puckeridge peppered a ball into the gap between Sanchez and Garris for a 2-run double…! Up 6-3 then, Powell pitched through seven innings, allowing but a single base hit (but three walks) in the six frames after that dismal opening inning. He faced Russ, the awful rat, to begin the bottom 8th, but gave up a single. Lillis then entered, with four of the next five batters being left-handers. He walked Ramirez, was taken deep with two outs by Josh Garris, and we were tied. The Coons didn’t get past a Lamotta single in the top 9th, but Eloy Sencion made his debut in 1-2-3 style to bring about extras. Herrera was on, and caught stealing, in the top 10th, but Preston Porter had a quick bottom 10th to extend the game. Porter’s spot then came up in the 11th after Jeff Frank had walked Luna and Puckeridge, and Lamotta had hit a shy single to right. Three on, one out, Juan Jimenez pinch-hit… straight into a double play. Hitchcock then held the Critters in the game, and Watt slapped a leadoff single against Frank in the 12th. He was moving on the 1-0 to Herrera, which old Armando bowled into the depths of centerfield for an RBI triple, thus breaking the 6-6 tie. Maldo was walked with intent, and we had no middle infielder left over to bat for the useless Shane Honig. He popped out foul, but with two outs Eddy Luna shoved another triple into the rightfield corner, and that broke up the score, 9-6, and brought in a new pitcher in Neal Hamann, who got out of the inning. Willie Cruz retired the Crusaders in order to earn a split in the series. 9-6 Raccoons. Herrera 2-6, 3B, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, BB, 2B; Waters 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Lamotta 3-5, BB, RBI; Second series not lost this year…! Yay…! Raccoons (10-19) @ Miners (13-15)** – May 6-8, 2050 The Miners were getting pounded for the second-most runs in the FL (Coons: most in CL), which didn’t really make their fourth-most runs scored stand up in any way. They were first in stolen bases, second in OBP, but lacked power to make it really big, and actually sat in last place in a tight FL East as the Raccoons entered town. These teams had not played in FIVE years. The Raccoons had won two of three in the last meeting in 2044. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (0-5, 5.65 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (2-3, 4.19 ERA) Danny Hall (0-0) vs. Jerry Cruz (2-3, 3.55 ERA) Jason Wheatley (1-4, 6.06 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (3-2, 2.87 ERA) Southpaw Sunday! Jackson was also their only southpaw on staff. While the Miners had Joe Feltman, Tony Aparicio, Matt Cox, and Mario Briones all stowed away on the DL, the Coons now also had to deal with Matt Waters, now laboring on a back strain. He kept being labeled day-to-day, but I had a hunch his perfect attendance record would end sooner rather than later. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 3B Luna – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 2B Honig – P Merino PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – CF J. Ward – SS Soberanes – 3B Corrales – C Santa Cruz – LF Abecassis – RF Waltz – 1B Guillory – P Freels Eddy Luna killed three singles in the top 1st with a 6-4-3 double play, and no Coons scored, and in the second inning Puckeridge singled and Jimenez doubled, but no Coons scored because Puckeridge was caught stealing before Jimenez took Bobby Freels to the grass in deep left. The Portlanders then had no hits in the next two innings, while Merino allowed one hit per inning from the start of the game, which worked out well enough until Alex Abecassis took him deep on the Miners’ sole knock in the bottom 4th, thus establishing a 1-0 Miners lead. The Miners had another single in the fifth, while the Coons had no hits, but two on in the top 6th after Lonzo walked and stole his 12th base, and Maldo was brushed by a pitch. Then Luna found another inning-slaying double play to hit into – except that Ed Soberanes missed second base and Maldo was never called out! Two in scoring position with two outs then, and Puckeridge… grounded out to Alex Vasquez anyway. Soberanes had the Miners’ hit in the sixth, a leadoff double, before being caught stealing third base. Briefly-a-Coon Justin Waltz hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but was doubled off by Landon Guillory’s grounder to Lonzo. Jayden Ward doubled in the eighth and was stranded by Landeta eventually, so the Raccoons entered the ninth still down by only that skinny run. Southpaw Bernardino Risso would see to them. Lamotta and Jimenez struck out before Waters batted for the useless Honig, fell to 1-2, then got nailed to add to all his other pains, leaving him to drag himself to first base with a single tear running down the fuzzy cheek. Yup, there was ONE guy giving it all he had, and then another 10%. Ruben Gonzalez batted for Landeta, got ahead 2-1, then belted a bomb to left, and put the Coons ahead 2-1…!! He also had to carry Waters partway round the bases. There was no Miners hit in the bottom 9th – Willie Cruz struck out three instead. 2-1 Blighters. Maldonado 2-3; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; First Merino start not lost this year, although the W went to Landeta, his first decision as a Critter. THREE-GAME WINNING STREAK!! I want to cover myself in Honig and run around downtown Pittsburgh naked!! The locals might object, though, and thus we will exchange infielder Shane Honig (.111, 0 HR, 1 RBI) with John Castner, who was hitting .293 in AAA. Also optioned was Brett Lillis jr. (0-0, 6.39 ERA) to get up spot starter Danny Hall. Game 2 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – 2B Castner – P Hall PIT: CF J. Ward – RF de Luna – SS Soberanes – 3B Corrales – C Santa Cruz – LF Abecassis – 2B Stalker – 1B Guillory – P J. Cruz Jayden Ward singled to christen Danny Hall’s career, but Hall struck out two to get out of the inning, whiffing up both Soberanes and Victor Corrales. He then got a lead when Evan Van Hoy singled home Luna in the top 2nd. The thing was, though, that Luna had only reached second base on his single on the throw to home plate with which Rich de Luna threw out Ruben Gonzalez, who had doubled, at the plate. Scoring remained low in the first half of the game; Hall did far better than expected, scattering three hits and a walk against five strikeouts for no runs in the first four innings. The Coons got Van Hoy on in the fifth, and then John Castner unpacked a 2-run homer to left that cast silence over a stunned ballpark… and Castner’s GM as well, before I started to giggle like a maniac. It was the first career home run for a guy that had collected all of 213 at-bats since making his ABL debut five years ago! The inning was not over yet. With two outs, the Raccoons would get Lonzo and Herrera on base, and Puckeridge buried a ball in the left-center gap for another two runs, 5-0. Gonzalez flew out to deep left, bringing back the debutee Dantevious Hall. Jayden Ward hit a 2-out single off him in the bottom 5th, but de Luna flew out to Herrera so he now would qualify for a potential W. Hall added a scoreless sixth and a single in the top 7th to his exploits, but was forced out by Matt Watt then. He was lifted after Abecassis opened the bottom 7th on a single, with only righty hitters waiting after that and Hall on 99 pitches. Bob Ibold replaced him, and together the battery took it upon themselves to ruin Hall’s line with a wild pitch and a throwing error, allowing Abecassis to score, although the run was unearned. Castner singled home Luna to grab the run back in the eighth inning, while Hitchcock, Sencion, and Porter split the last two innings between them to extend the winning streak to four. 6-1 Raccoons. Van Hoy 2-4, RBI; Castner 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Hall 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3; Neither Waters nor Maldo appeared in this game, so Lonzo was the last Coon to participate in all games this year. And Hall, as well as he pitched, didn’t hang around. Five days from now, the Coons would be off, and he was returned to hone his craft in AAA, but had surely risen a bit on the depth chart. Replacing Hall would be OF Mikio Suzuki, who had played in a few rehab games in AAA. Suzuki had batted 3-for-7 before getting hurt in the first week of the season. The Coons thus went with 11 pitchers for the time being. Game 3 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 2B Castner – P Wheatley PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – C Petroni – 3B Corrales – 1B Abecassis – CF J. Ward – SS Guillory – RF Waltz – LF Abercrombie – P B. Jackson Lamotta singled home Herrera and Maldo in the first to give Wheats the early lead, which had not worked well at all in New York on Monday, but he gave up only two hits the first time through in this game. Corrales ticked a single in the first, and Jackson hit a single in the third, and yes, that was the pitcher, but it was also one of those annoying duck snorts that dropped between three converging defenders… Alex Vasquez hit another single to right then, but Giampaolo Petroni found a double play, 1-6-3, to hit into to kill the inning. The Coons then tripled their lead in the fourth, despite Puckeridge being caught stealing before the 2-out train got rolling. Glodowski walked in a full count, then was tripled home by Castner, or whichever All Star pretended to be John Castner. Wheats snuck a single through the left side for his first RBI of the year, Lonzo singled to center, and Herrera was up 3-0 when he raked a double into left-center, driving in both runners. Maldo grounded out to keep it 6-0, but Castner singled home Lamotta with two outs in the fifth to tack on another run and give everybody more shrugs. Wheats gave up a run on a Guillory double, Josh Abercrombie single, and a sac fly in the bottom 5th, but we had seen worse. Lamotta scored again in the seventh, doubling and coming around on a Puckeridge single off righty Rodger Arrendell. Glodowski, RBI-less in ’50, then ended the inning with a double play grounder to short. Guillory opened the bottom of the frame with a soft single off Wheats, but Waltz followed with a 4-6-3 double play immediately. Wheats still batted for himself in the eighth inning, which was a good sign, and had a 1-2-3 bottom of that inning, and was still on a good pace for a complete game (but obviously not a shutout). A wild pitch by Jose Colon plated Herrera for an extra run in the ninth, while Wheats was up against the 3-4-5 batters, none of them righty-handers. He rung up Corrales. He rung up Abecassis. And Jayden Ward’s grounder was easily handled by Evan Van Hoy at first base. 9-1 Critters! Herrera 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Lamotta 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, RBI; Glodowski 1-2, 2 BB; Castner 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-4) and 1-3, RBI; Wheeeeeeats!! In other news May 2 – There is four runs in total between the Falcons and Thunder through 14 innings before the Falcons break out for four more in the 15th inning, eventually winning a 6-2 game. May 6 – CHA SP Ray Thune (1-2, 3.59 ERA) gets his first W of the year in style with a 3-hit shutout over the Wolves. The Falcons win 5-0. May 6 – IND OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.264, 4 HR, 18 RBI) is going to miss two weeks with an intercostal strain. May 8 – Indians INF Alex de Castro (.306, 0 HR, 11 RBI) has five hits, four singles and a double, in a 3-2 loss to the Buffaloes. May 8 – The Wolves have two hits and make four errors in a particularly dismal 5-1 loss to the Falcons. FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF/1B Dario Martinez (.345, 3 HR, 21 RBI), batting .444 (12-27) with 2 HR, 9 RBI CL Player of the Week: ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.313, 4 HR, 22 RBI), swatting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 9 RBI Complaints and stuff So, who expected this team to have a 5-game winning streak? Yeah. During the streak we scored 6.6 runs per game and allowed 2.6 runs a game. In the 27 games before that, we scored 3.6 runs per game, and served up 5.2 markers per time they put on pants. I don’t see it lasting. Alan Puckeridge let it be known he wants his nickname be “Pucker”. (looks at Puckeridge over the top edge of the note he’s handed in) Are you sure of that? Because I drink a lot, and then certain letters all sound the same… Puckeridge – … sorry, “Pucker”… (doesn’t like it, visibly) … is one of the few bright spots on the team. Lonzo is doing alright, but I wish he’d walk a bit more. And as a whole, I wish they’d make a few more plays defensively… Holding the Miners to three runs on the weekend did quite a bit to improve our defensive ranking (it was that bad), but we still are worst in runs allowed in the CL, and third-worst overall. Next, a quick trip home to see the Pacifics, then another 2-week road trip starting in Boston. *Fun Fact:* The damn Elks have allowed only 92 runs in 30 games. We shouldn’t have taken those precious wins from the Crusaders…. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-09-2022, 02:15 PM	#3984
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (13-19) vs. Pacifics (12-20) – May 9-11, 2050 Here were two teams that didn’t look like they were gonna go anywhere any time soon, even though the Raccoons had won five in a row at this point, probably just to annoy me. The Pacifics had the worst rotation in the FL and were allowing the fourth-most runs, and were scoring the seventh-most runs in the Federal League. Their pen and their defense were generally very good, though. The last meeting between these teams had been in 2046, with the Raccoons winning two of three games back then. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (1-2, 4.86 ERA) vs. Marc Hubbard (1-4, 5.09 ERA) Elijah Powell (2-3, 5.05 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (3-1, 3.57 ERA) Victor Merino (0-5, 4.71 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (1-3, 4.22 ERA) Two righties and a lefty in this brief homestand. The southpaw Baker was the former Raccoon. The right-hander Craig was not. Game 1 LAP: CF Shaw – SS Andrews – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – 3B Reid – RF S. King – 2B Larsen – P Hubbard POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Maldonado – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky Offense was slow to begin the game, with only one hit by Scott King for L.A. the first time through, while the Raccoons had two hits, but also couldn’t get anybody across. Brent Andrews got across in the fourth inning then, reaching base on a pretty dismal throwing error by John Castner that put him on second base to begin the inning. He scored on a single by Eric Monaghan right away. That run was unearned, but the three the Pacifics tacked on in the fifth were not. David Reid (single), King (walk), and Shane Larsen (RBI double) all reached to start of the frame, and Hubbard and Joshua Shaw both had productive outs to get everybody across for a 4-0 lead. The Raccoons had both Puckeridge and Lonzo caught stealing when they were on base in the middle innings, but Shaw stole a base off Eloy Sencion in the seventh and was then singled home by Andrews to tack on another run for the Pacifics, who got a 3-hit shutout pitched by Hubbard to kill the Raccoons’ little winning streak. 5-0 Pacifics. Game 2 LAP: CF Shaw – 2B Larsen – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 3B Reid – LF D. Wright – 1B S. King – SS Andrews – P Jon Craig POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – P Powell Lonzo smashed a leadoff jack in the bottom 1st for a 1-0 Coons lead, quickly followed by Armando Herrera going back-to-back with him. Powell turned in two solid innings to begin the game, then turned to horse ** again in the third, which began with a walk to Brent Andrews. Craig bunted badly, forcing out the runner, and was even thrown out at home after singles by Shaw and Larsen, but Powell STILL managed to give up a run by nailing Matt Diskin and allowing a bases-loaded single to Eric Monaghan. Somehow, David Reid failed to hit a grand slam when the writing was very much on the wall and instead flew out to Suzuki to end the inning with the Coons still up 2-1. Bottom 4th, Maldo, Gonzalez, and Suzuki all hit 1-out singles to load the bases for the Critters, who found their way into a 9-2 double play when Ricky Lamotta flew out to Diskin, and Maldo was not nearly lumbering home fast enough to score on that throwing arm, being slapped out by Monaghan to end the soggy frame. Powell managed to wiggle his way through seven innings of 6-hit ball without blowing the lead, while the Raccoons were not doing anything outside of the two early homers and the three consecutive singles that led to nothing but sadness through seven innings. Ponce and Porter handled the eighth with more competence than usual, and Willie Cruz struck out David Reid to begin the ninth, but then got chipped for singles by Dylan Wright, who was run for with speedster Victor Flores, and King. Shortstop Shane Corry was down 2-2 in the count when he hit a sharp grounder right at Waters, and the Raccoons buggered out of the affair with a 4-6-3 double play to even the series. 2-1 Blighters. Herrera 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Powell 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-3); Is that right, Maud, still 128 to play? (sigh) Game 3 LAP: CF Shaw – RF Diskin – C Monaghan – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Grewe – SS Andrews – 3B Corry – 2B Larsen – P J. Baker POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Merino For the second time in the series, L.A. took a 1-0 lead in unearned fashion, this time with Lamotta throwing a Monaghan grounder well over Maldo at first base. Even a juicy 25-year-old first baseman wouldn’t have leapt to catch that one. When not sabotaged by his own team, Merino had a solid start to the game, striking out four batters in three innings after only getting 11 batters in 36.1 innings prior to that. Portland eventually got the game tied up with back-to-back 2-out doubles in the bottom 4th, Gonzalez and Puckeridge doing the honors, before Lamotta lined out after also hitting a rocket, but into an occupied spot. The next inning saw Merino hit a single, but he misread the play and was thrown out at second base by Bobby Grewe. Lonzo was then nicked with two outs, stole his 14th base, and easily scored when Armando Herrera doubled over Shaw in center for a go-ahead RBI double. Baker walked Maldo and Waters, both in full counts, but Gonzalez then grounded out to Andrews to end the inning. Puckeridge and Glodowski went to the corners in the bottom 6th, but Merino rolled into a double play and nobody scored. Merino, still winless in ’50, held out through seven innings, stranding Andrews as the tying run on third base in his last inning when he got Larsen to ground out to Lonzo. Maldo hit into the seventh inning’s double play, but at least Porter and Sencion held together in the eighth inning, getting the 9-1-2 batters in order. Meat of the order thusly for Willie in the ninth inning, and still with no cushion, because the Coons obviously thought that two runs was plenty. Monaghan struck out, Larry Rodriguez grounded out, and Scott King pinch-hit for Grewe… but still struck out. 2-1 Critters. Puckeridge 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-5) and 1-3; Even when it’s just three games… “We scored four runs on that homestand” never sounds too great. Raccoons (15-20) @ Titans (16-15) – May 13-15, 2050 We had won two of three from the Titans in the first go at them this year. Scoring was not their thing and they sat third from the bottom in runs in the league, but also gave up the second-fewest runs, with a +16 run differential (Coons: -27). Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (2-4, 5.04 ERA) vs. Tim Steinbach (0-4, 3.35 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (1-3, 4.81 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (2-2, 3.93 ERA) Elijah Powell (3-3, 4.43 ERA) vs. David Barel (4-3, 2.08 ERA) Right, right, left once more, and thus a Southpaw Sunday! Wheats, how come you have the worst ERA amongst our starters? – “First half” only, you promise? Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C J. Jimenez – P Wheatley BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Steinbach Both teams loaded the bases in the second inning of the Friday opener, but the Coons brought up Wheats with two outs after a Maldo single and walks to Luna and Juan Jimenez, and he grounded out to Chris Jimenez. The Titans got three on with one out and the #8 batter Jose Rodriguez up and the Coons failed to turn two on his grounder to Lonzo, allowing the other Jimenez to score. Steinbach then popped out. Things continued to not work out for Wheats in particular or the Coons as a whole. The Critters found a double play with Puckeridge in the third inning, while Wheats brutally drilled Tony Lopez in the bottom 3rd. Nothing came of that, but he didn’t strike out anybody in three innings, then had Chris Jimenez hit a single to center, which Herrera overran for an extra base, to begin the bottom 4th. Alejandro Silva drove home Jimenez, 2-0, but Wheatley then struck out Steinbach and Jason Monson to eventually get out of that inning. Wheatley popped out on a bunt attempt in the fifth, while Herrera opened the sixth with a single. Steinbach threw away the ball on a pickoff attempt, allowing Herrera to second base, then gave up a single to Puckeridge on the very next pitch, putting the tying runs on the corners with nobody out for Matt Waters, who was fighting both various ailments and a ghastly pile of strikeouts on his ledger. He socked a 1-0 pitch to center; Lopez caught it, but the sac fly at least cut the lead in half. Maldo came through, though, driving a ball down the leftfield line, where it eventually hit the sidewall in a funny way to fool Rodriguez, allowing Puckeridge to score from first base and tie the score. Suzuki and Luna then left the go-ahead run on second base. Wheats fought the Titans to a 2-2 draw through seven innings, striking out six eventually from the fourth onwards after eventually finding his mojo. The Coons didn’t get past a Puckeridge single in the eighth, however, and he had to settle for a no-decision. Sencion and Hitchcock held Boston away in the bottom 8th before Adam Bates gave up a single to Suzuki to begin the top 9th, then walked Jimenez. Watt flew out on the first pitch, Lonzo whiffed, and nobody scored. Danny Landeta’s 1-2-3 bottom 9th extended the game to free baseball, and the Raccoons squeezed through Bates in the 10th, aided by a Rodriguez error on a 2-out single by Waters. Rodriguez fumbled the ball on the first bounce for an extra base, and Waters then scored on Maldo’s scratch single through the right side to break the 2-2 tie. That was all the offense to be had, and Willie Cruz got another shallow lead to defend. Jose Rodriguez grounded out to Waters, but Elias Rodriguez singled up the middle in the bottom 10th. Monson hit another roller to Waters, but the Critters only got the lead runner, allowing Nate Massey to the plate. The count ran full while Monson, a quick runner, apparently didn’t get a go sign from his bench, and never made an attempt to run. It wouldn’t have made much difference; Monson struck out eventually to give the Coons a 3-game winning streak again. 3-2 Coons. Herrera 2-5; Puckeridge 2-5; Maldonado 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Only seven games behind the damn Elks anymore, hah!! Game 2 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – P Wolinsky BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – 2B C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF D. Gonzales – P Turay Turay, the little ** drilled the entire Coons battery in the second inning, but didn’t get penalized for it, neither with run(s), nor with an ejection and banishment for life. Eddy Luna also worked a walk in the inning, but they were all stranded when Matt Watt flew out to Monson. He added van Hoy to his list of victims in the fourth, nailing him with Luna on first and two outs, but then Wolinsky whiffed. The teams totalled five hits, all singles, through five innings, none of them for extra bases, or with a runner already on, and correspondingly you almost had to call it a pitchers’ duel, even though at least one of the pitchers was working on becoming a serial killer in broad *** daylight. Eddy Luna was then nailed in the sixth inning, which made it four welts and three walks offered by Turay’s ** paws, a performance I wouldn’t even have expected from Edward Scissorhands. Wolinsky then nailed Tony Lopez with two on and nobody out in the bottom 6th, and we can not rule out that revenge was involved there. Both pitchers were gone after seven shutout innings, Bubba allowing four singles to Turay’s three, and the only time a team reached third base was in that abortive yet infuriating top 2nd. Monson reached third against Bob Ibold in the bottom 8th after drawing a leadoff walk, but was stranded when Lopez flew out to Matt Watt. Adam Bates kept Portland from scoring in the ninth, and Hitchcock sent a scoreless game to extras while nailing Alejandro Silva in the bottom 9th; for those out there that couldn’t count that far, we were at six mauled batters by now, and still no *** run on the board. From there, nobody reached base until Maldo hit a single in the 12th inning, but then Danny Landeta bunted badly and got him forced out, and the inning was killed more or less at that point. The Titans then walked off on Landeta in the bottom 12th with a leadoff single by Ryan Youngquist, who was run for by Jordan Giammarco, who swept second base by force, and then scored on a Silva single. 1-0 Titans. Lavorano 2-6; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Brilliant. Game 3 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Glodowski – P Powell BOS: CF Monson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – RF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Ale. Silva – LF J. Rodriguez – P Barel The Coons went up 1-0 in the first on doubles by Lonzo and Waters, but Jeff Wheeler tripled home Monson to make up for that in the bottom 1st right away. Tony Lopez’ infield pop and Youngquist’s groundout stranded Wheeler at third base at least… Powell seemed to be scuffling, barely got through the bottom 3rd with a leadoff single by Barel, a wild pitch, and a walk to Monson, but the Raccoons got Maldo and Waters aboard to begin the fourth inning and, hey, crazy thought, how about scoring two runs in the same inning here for once?? And as if K-pop wasn’t bad enough, after Gonzalez fanned and Puckeridge scared the pigeons with a ball that was caught by Youngquist five feet from home plate, Ricky Lamotta then grounded out to Chris Jimenez to strand the runners for good. David Gonzales homered with Youngquist aboard in the bottom 4th, and the Titans got to scrawl a big red 2 on the board to take a 3-1 lead. I marked an L in my pocket schedule, then sought out the nearest stand that offered Irish brew. While I engaged with some red-nosed locals, Powell was stuffed another five hits and a fifth-inning run and required rescue from Eloy Sencion following a Barel double in the bottom 6th. Sencion got Massey to ground out to Maldo, keeping it at 4-1 at the completion of six. Somehow the Coons brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth after Barel gave up 1-out singles to Lonzo and Herrera, but both Maldo and Waters struck out, and that was that. Ponce cocking up two runs in the bottom 8th against the bottom of the order sealed the deal. 6-1 Titans. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Waters 3-4, 2B, RBI; In other news May 14 – The Gold Sox erase a 3-run deficit in the ninth inning, then pound out five runs in the 10th inning to beat the Pacifics, 13-8. May 15 – Crusaders infielder Art Bent (.373, 1 HR, 9 RBI) smacks a 3-run homer for a 15th inning walkoff to beat the Indians, 4-1. FL Player of the Week: DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.337, 2 HR, 26 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 8 RBI CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Raul Sevilla (.284, 7 HR, 29 RBI), smashing .480 (12-25) with 3 HR, 8 RBI Complaints and stuff I don’t know from which end I want to skin that cat. On one paw, we had a .500 week, which usually means it wasn’t all and ****, but then again the Raccoons managed to play a whole week without scratching out more than two runs in regulation… EVER. Only eight runs total in six games, which Cristiano assures me is not conducive to long-term success. 16 runs allowed, which is better than you’d dare to dream about after this April, but then again … that offense. That offense! Is there more hope in AAA? Not really. The only guy still in AAA that is hitting quite a bit is Brian Shedd, who does not really qualify as a prospect anymore (he’ll turn 28 in September) and has been in all of TWO major league games in the past four seasons. He made 18 appearances for the ’45 Coons, somehow, which is why he proudly wears a World Series ring on his sodden travels between St. Petersburg, Lubbock, and Rancho Cucamonga. Well yes, the Thunder might claim* their AAA team plays in Anaheim, but when you look on the map it’s bloody clear they have their old sandlot out in bloody ***** RANCHO CUCAMONGA…! So, uh, Shedd’s not the solution. I keep hawking the waiver wire. It got us… whatever the hell it is Ricky Lamotta does for a living. From here, the Raccoons will zig-zag their way home via Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Vegas. Fun Fact:** The only regular position player waiting for the pitch in fair territory on this team with an OPS+ over 100 is Armando Herrera. (blows) That guy needs a new 5-year deal, I say…! Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-10-2022, 07:35 AM	#3985
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (16-22) @ Loggers (14-22) – May 16-19, 2050 First games with Milwaukee this year; they had lost four straight to find last place once more, but were outscoring the Raccoons with the sixth-most markers put on the board in the CL. Unfortunately, just about everybody outscored them, with a CL-high 5.1 runs per game against them. Their rotation had an ERA over five, and the pen wasn’t that far behind. The Coons had won the season series from the Loggers for six straight years – 13 wins last year – but things looked a lot tighter this year. And sadder, too. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (1-5, 3.95 ERA) vs. John Morrill (3-3, 6.33 ERA) Danny Hall (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Alex Flores (0-0, 2.57 ERA) Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.70 ERA) vs. Bubba Poss (2-3, 6.17 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (1-3, 4.14 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (3-3, 3.95 ERA) The Victors didn’t line up, the Bubbas didn’t line up, nothing lined up here! Except Danny Hall for another spot start, probably the last one for now before Victor Salcido would return. The Loggers would sent a pair of right-handers against us, then a pair of left-handers. Lonzo got a day off on Monday, and Waters was scheduled for Tuesday. Everybody else rotated pretty much anyway, sometimes just to get them outta sight. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – SS Luna – 3B Lamotta – P Merino MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C Nagel – P Morrill Merino had lost his first five starts of the year, but the last two had been neat. He got spotted a lead in the second inning, which Matt Waters opened with a screaming triple. Puckeridge singled him in, and a walk to Eddy Luna and a Ricky Lamotta single against his old team loaded the bases. Merino grounded out, but brought in the second and final run of the inning, with Matt Watt whiffing after him. Ricky Lopez hit a leadoff double in the bottom 2nd, but was stranded with poor outs. The Coons then continued to crowd Morrill, who had Herrera on to begin the third, nicked Maldo, and then gave up an RBI double to Waters, who was busily clicking off parts of the cycle. Maldo and Waters were in scoring position, where they would be left with two strikeouts, a walk to Luna, and then Lamotta’s fly over to Will McIntyre… Waters whiffed his next time up to begin the fifth, but Alan Puckeridge then powered a homer to right, the first of his career, to extend the lead to 4-0! The Loggers made up half of that on Merino in the bottom 5th, though. Nick Jackson singled, stole second, and was doubled home by Jose Delgado. Brent Allen’s 2-out single up the middle made it 4-2, and he also stole second, but was left on when Zach Suggs flew out to Watt in shallow left. Merino nicked Lopez when the sixth rolled around, but Adrian Tinoco found a double play to hit into. A walk to Nick Jackson and a David Nagel single, both in full counts, then put the tying runs on and knocked out Merino without an out logged in the bottom 7th. Bob Ibold replaced him, surrendered a run against two pinch-hitters, but retired three in a row to get the Coons to the eighth with a 4-3 lead. There, Luna and Suzuki went to the corners with singles. Lonzo batted for Watt and grounded to short, but legged out the return throw from Lopez to break up the double play and get Luna home, 5-3. Porter held the fort in the bottom of the inning, and Willie Cruz retired Jackson, Nagel, and John Wieczorek in order to put the game away for his 12th save. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-3, BB; Waters 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Luna 1-2, 2 BB; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Pinch-hitting maintained Lonzo’s record of appearing in all games this year. It was roster move time then; the Raccoons had to get Danny Hall on the roster, and did so by dumping Matt Glodowski (.205, 0 HR, 0 RBI). Game 2 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 3B Luna – 2B Castner – P Hall MIL: 3B N. Jackson – LF C. Lowe – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – CF Wieczorek – C Nagel – P A. Flores There was an hourlong rain delay right after the first inning, so, y’know, great… and then the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the third when Nagel threw the ball away on a double steal attempt by Watt and Lonzo with two outs, allowing Watt to score. Alex Flores opened the bottom 3rd with a single after Herrera left Lonzo on third, was forced out by Nick Jackson, but a Chris Lowe double brought in the third-sacker and tied the score at one. Hall wasn’t as sharp as in his debut, struck out nobody the first time through, and only got Wieczorek with a K to end the fourth inning. But, well, he still had the rain to blame for messing him up, so there was that. The rain returned in the sixth, which sugged, with Watt advancing bases on another throwing error, this time by Suggs, who sent a souvenir into the stands along the first base line to put Watt on second base with one out as the tie-breaking run. Lonzo singled to put runners on the corners, but Herrera grounded to Jackson – who bungled the ball and everybody was safe on the Loggers’ third error of the game, while Watt scored. In fact, the Loggers had made more errors than the Raccoons had found base hits at that point. Maldo whiffed, but Puckeridge had found that the feeling of whacking one deep was much to his liking and crashed a 3-run homer to right to really make those errors count, now in a 5-1 game – although all the runs were unearned as far as a soggy-looking Flores was concerned. Minutes after the Puckeridge bomb a second hourlong rain delay broke out, ending the pitchers’ days. In a double switch (Lamotta in for Luna at third), Danny Landeta replaced him, got four outs, but put Nagel on in the bottom 7th before being lifted for Sencion, who had his first useless outing, facing two lefties in the 1-2 spots, and retiring neither, instead waving in two runs on a Jackson single and a Lowe double. Hitchcock was next, gave up an RBI double to Suggs, which sugged, but then retired Lopez and Tinoco to bugger out of the damn inning with a skinny 5-4 lead. Top 8th, Lonzo was a terror on the Loggers, legging out a grounder off Nick Johns for an infield single, then stole his way to third base. Herrera walked, Maldo hit an RBI single, 6-4, and Puckeridge flew out to Wieczorek, but deep enough for Herrera to come home even without the ghastly throw to the backstop that Wieczorek unleased, which allowed Maldo into second base on the Loggers’ fourth error of the game. Jimenez walked, and Castner singled home a run with two outs. So, up 8-4, and two rain delays in, could we safely nurse that W across the line? (laughs) Ibold got the ball for the eighth, but put two on, Nagel and Jack Barrington. Ponce was the next lefty to face that 1-2 pair and without retiring either one, although I tended to glare at Lonzo for dropping Jackson’s 2-out pop to fill the bags. Lowe then emptied them with a 2-2 triple over the head of Puckeridge, shaving that 8-4 lead all the way down to one ****** run again. Suggs grounded out to Lonzo, which sure sugged for the Loggers. Angelo Munoz gave up a run on a Herrera double and Maldo single in the ninth, and also walked Puckeridge, but the inning ended with a K by the pinch-hitting Mikio Suzuki. Willie Cruz was then back for the ninth, up by two. Lopez whiffed, Tinoco flew out to right, but McIntyre singled to left. Watt got to Wieczorek’s fly to left, though, ending the game. 9-7 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5; Maldonado 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Hall 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-0); Salcido would be back in a few days and thus we no longer needed Hall and his 0.82 ERA for the moment (although he had surely been noted for good behavior). The next few days we added an extra reliever, though, adding Polibio O’Higgins for the first time this year. He had a 3.86 ERA in St. Pete. Game 3 POR: 3B Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 2B Castner – P Wheatley MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – CF B. Allen – RF C. Lowe – C Abrego – P Poss Wheats walked Delgado to begin his day, with the runner advancing on a Jackson groundout, and being thrown out at home by Armando Herrera on a Suggs single. Top 2nd, Waters and Puckeridge singles, plus Lowe overrunning the latter for an error, put a pair of Critters into scoring position with one out, but Lamotta struck out, Castner walked, and Wheats flew out to Lowe to strand the full set. Herrera was stranded on third base in the third inning; he hit a double, but Waters fly to deep left was caught by Jose Delgado on the warning track to end the inning. Another leadoff walk (to Jackson) in the bottom 4th then began to dig a shallow grave for Wheats, who got dinked for three mostly soft singles and two runs by the Loggers in that inning, but then stranded Delgado after the leftfielder whacked a 1-out triple in the bottom 5th. Lamotta hit a triple in the sixth, but his came with Gonzalez aboard and two outs, thus cutting the deficit in half. The tying run was stranded; the Loggers bypassed Castner and got a K from Wheats to kill that off. Wheatley did get off the hook though; throwing 100 pitches in six middling innings was enough for him, but Lonzo hit a leadoff single, and while he was forced out by Herrera, Waters would cash Herrera with a 2-out single to get us even at two. Gonzalez grounded out to reach the seventh-inning stretch. Sencion had a clean seventh, but O’Higgins allowed a single to Suggs and a 2-out double to Tinoco, but Lamotta fired that ball back in rather quick and Castner relayed it to home plate in time to have Suggs and the go-ahead run slapped out by mere inches, thusly also ending the inning. The Raccoons lost anyway; Julian Ponce allowed a leadoff triple to Brent Allen in the bottom 9th, and Waters couldn’t fire it home quick enough on Lowe’s grounder, which ended the game. 3-2 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Lamotta 2-4, 3B, RBI; Well, you can’t expect to keep a great team like the Loggers down forever… Game 4 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – LF Van Hoy – P Wolinsky MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C Nagel – P V. Padilla While Bubba faced the minimum the first time through, conceding a single to Jackson, but getting a double play from Nagel, the Raccoons had three singles in the first three innings, all scattered as inefficiently as possible. Allen singled off Wolinsky in the fourth, but was doubled up on a Suggs grounder, which sugged for the Loggers for sure. Herrera walked and Maldo singled in the fifth, but Waters and Gonzalez made weak outs and nothing came of that for the Portlanders. Bubba meanwhile – still facing the minimum twice through the order! So who was gonna score? MAYBE the Coons, with a leadoff triple in the left-center gap by Mikio Suzuki in the seventh! Well, Lamotta was walked intentionally to get to Van Hoy, but the Raccoons sent Puckeridge to pinch-hit, but his comebacker to the pitcher kept Suzuki pinned and Lamotta forced out at second base. Bubba then fouled out while Puckeridge failed to get a steal attempt off, but Lonzo came through, driving a 2-out single through the left side to finally ***** get Suzuki home. Herrera and Maldo both flopped soft RBI singles to shallow center, and Padilla lost Waters in a full count to load the bases, but then Gonzalez grounded out. Wolinsky retired the Loggers in order in both the seventh and eighth, while also batting again with runners on the corners in the top 8th, but this time both him and Lonzo failed to get anybody across. Herrera walked and Maldo doubled to begin the ninth, putting two in scoring position again, but all the Coons got was a Waters sac fly before Gonzalez walked and Suzuki hit into a double play. Bubba was on all of 81 pitches through eight and obviously returned for the bottom 9th against the 7-8-9 batters. Jackson popped out on the first pitch. Nagel flew out to Herrera on the first pitch. Dismal Jack Barrington singled up the middle, ruining the whole minimum thing. Delgado made the final out though. 4-0 Raccoons. Herrera 3-4, BB, RBI; Maldonado 4-5, 2B, RBI; Suzuki 2-4, BB, 3B; Wolinsky 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3); A whiffless shutout…! The defense was sure up to snuff in this one. O’Higgins was back to AAA after one scoreless appearance, and Victor Salcido was brought back from the DL to make a start on the weekend, and hopefully more beyond that. Raccoons (19-23) @ Falcons (24-18) – May 20-22, 2050 All cute and stuff, but now try it against a winning team; the Raccoons were 11-4 for their last 15, but the Falcons had been pretty consistently good all year long. They were leading the CL in runs scored, but were also tenth in runs allowed, so they had to outwhack their own pitching staff to keep going. The pen was alright, but the rotation was in need of a do-over. The Coons also needed a do-over in their fortunes against the Falcons, having lost the season series four years running, each time with a 5-4 total in Charlotte’s favor. Projected matchups: Elijah Powell (3-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Juan Arrocha (3-3, 4.25 ERA) Victor Merino (2-5, 4.01 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (0-6, 6.27 ERA) Victor Salcido (2-2, 5.46 ERA) vs. Ray Thune (3-2, 4.00 ERA) Alrighty – all righties. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – P Powell CHA: LF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 1B Sevilla – 3B Wilken – RF Allegood – SS Woodrome – CF Marroquin – C M. Castillo – P Arrocha Powell drowned quickly after the Falcons loaded them up to begin the bottom 2nd. Mike Allegood legged out an infield single, Ian Woodrome and Omar Marroquin both walked, and while Manny Castillo struck out, Arrocha himself drove in two and another run scored on Danny Ceballos’ groundout for a 3-0 Falcons lead. The Coons almost made it back in the top of the third; Jimenez drew a walk and was bunted to second. A wild pitch gave him third base, and Watt singled him home. Lonzo then buried a 2-out RBI triple in left-center, shortening the score to 3-2, but when Maldo grounded up the middle, Woodrome made a lunging grab and whooped the ball to Erik Stevens for the force at second to keep the Critters from tying it up. The Falcons answered by socking Powell for four more singles and another two runs in the bottom of the inning, and while Luna brought in Puckeridge in the fourth with a groundout, 5-3, the Raccoons remained behind during Powell’s time in the game, which ended in the bottom 5th after a walk to Woodrome and a Marroquin single with two outs. Sencion got him out of the inning by retiring Castillo on an easy fly to Watt. Bottom 6th, Sencion continued, getting Arrocha on a pop before Ceballos banged a triple to center. Sencion drilled Stevens, who was none too happy, then dashed ahead on a 3-2 pitch to Raul Sevilla, who fanned, and Jimenez zinged out Stevens for a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the inning. Could the Raccoons have a comeback after that blackout? They didn’t get back on base until Lonzo hit a 2-out single in the eighth, and that led nowhere. They were still down a pair in the ninth, facing righty Armando Romero and his 4.30 ERA, as well as an equal number of walks and strikeouts. He kept that mojo with a walk to Waters, then a K on the Aussie sensation. Suzuki hit into a fielder’s choice, but Luna scratched out a 2-out single to put the tying run on base. Herrera batted for Jimenez and walked, filling the sacks for … Van Hoy? He had pinch-hit earlier for a sad groundout and had remained in a probable loss over old man Maldo. Lamotta batted for him with three on and two outs, and grounded out to short with little fanfare. 5-3 Falcons. Lavorano 3-4, 3B, RBI; Game 2 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – LF Suzuki – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – P Merino CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – LF Marroquin – CF Caballero – C Gowin – 1B Allegood – SS Woodrome – P C. Jones Merino came in nibbling on a sub-4 ERA, but gave up four singles and two runs in the bottom 1st right away, with RBI singles to center for both Oscar Caballero and Chris Gowin. “Go Win” would be an entirely new concept for Jones, who came in with six losses in eight attempts, had a clean first, but then saw Waters reach on a Stevens error to begin the top 2nd. Waters stole second, scored on a Luna single, and Luna also stole second, but had to hold at third base when Gonzalez scratched out a single, which somehow again brought up Van Hoy and his dismal line (.222, 0 HR, 2 RBI) in a big spot, runners on the corners and one out. He popped out, Merino flew out to center, and the Coons remained behind. Merino muddled along for five innings, giving up another run on a Caballero triple, chasing home Omar Marroquin, whom Merino had walked, and needed 101 pitches to make it even that far. The actual explosions though and what really handed the W to Chris Jones – not that the Coons were to touch him in a naughty way any time soon, or ever – was the bottom 6th, in which **** pitching by Ponce and Hitchcock, plus an untimely error by Luna, contributed to a 5-run inning (three earned, all on Ponce), as the Falcons just kept whacking away at the hapless Critters. The game was of course over then, and the most infuriating thing was Ponce allowing singles to all three lefty hitters he faced. Jones pitched a complete-game 6-hitter, giving up a second run on a Suzuki sac fly in the ninth as if it still mattered. 8-2 Falcons. Gonzalez 2-4; I think we’re sinking back into the stinking realm… Game 3 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – LF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – C Jimenez – P Salcido CHA: CF Marroquin – LF Caballero – 1B Sevilla – 3B Wilken – RF Allegood – SS Woodrome – 2B E. Sandoval – C M. Castillo – P Thune Salcido faced the minimum the first time through in his return from the DL, whiffing two, but the Coons were not a whole lot more exciting either. The first Falcons runner would be Sevilla, who got nicked, but stranded when Randy Wilken grounded out. Ian Woodrome reached on a Lamotta error in the fifth, but removed himself by getting caught stealing. Salcido had a 1-2-3 sixth, while the Raccoons got their second base runner in the seventh inning – and Lonzo was both of them. Lonzo had singled in the first and had been stranded, and he was nicked by Thune to begin the seventh. In between, a whole lotta nothin’! A Maldo groundout advanced the runner, but took the bat away from a scuffling Waters with an intentional walk that was hard to explain or make sense of. Puckeridge then brutalized a fastball for a screamer into the gap in right-center and a 2-run triple. Suzuki plated him with a duck snort single, 3-0, stole second – his first bag in the ABL – but was stranded eventually. Salcido retired Caballero and Sevilla easily to begin the bottom 7th, although Wilken then hit a drive to deep right – Puckeridge caught it on the warning track, though, and the Falcons remained held to a plunked batter and one that reached on an error. Salcido began the bottom 8th on 95 pitches, which made me feel queasy, then took seven more to ring up Mike Allegood for his sixth K on the day. Two more retired Woodrome on a grounder, and then Sandoval flew out to Puckeridge rather easily, except that it took another five pitches. His pitch count was at 109 when the ninth began, with the Coons up 3-0 and Willie Cruz all warmed up and ready in the pen. Five pitches into his at-bat, Manny Castillo grounded out to Salcido. Chris Gowin pinch-hit, fell to 0-2, then hit a sharp grounder at Waters, who remained on top of the play – two out. Here was Marroquin – one more to go! One ball outside. One ball inside. The 120th pitch of the game was more middling, but a bit low, and Marroquin chomped it into the ground, bouncing it back to Salcido, who pounced, fired to first, Maldo with the snag – it’s a no-hitter!!! 3-0 Furballs!!! Puckeridge 1-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Salcido 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-2); In other news May 21 – NAS LF/RF Pat Stipp (.267, 3 HR, 24 RBI) hits a grand slam and a 3-piece, and brings in eight runs in total in a 16-9 shootout win over the Wolves. FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/RF Mike Preble (.356, 10 HR, 40 RBI), bombing .423 (11-26) with 4 HR, 16 RBI CL Player of the Week: LVA CF Brent Cramer (.298, 3 HR, 14 RBI), clipping .417 (10-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI Complaints and stuff Victor Salcido!! ** my , a no-hitter!!! (giggles) Juan Berrios – 1977 Jason Turner – 1989 Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda – 1998 Bob Joly – 2000 Jose Dominguez – 2007 Nick Brown – 2016 Jonathan Toner – 2019 Tom Shumway – 2030 Victor Merino – 2046 Victor Salcido – 2050 Our first no-hitter against the Falcons, who were last no-noed by Brian Frain of the Thunder in ’38, and haven’t had one themselves since Steve Kreider in 2015. Second no-hitter in the league this year, after Kodai Koga of Atlanta no-hit the Aces in early April. Also curious how very few of our no-hitters have been pitched in good times. Turner’s, yes, right at the start of the our first actual dynasty, which made the first of six postseasons in eight years that season. But the Coons sucked in 1977 and 1998 and 2000, and while we posted a winning record in 2007, it was also the year we blew a 10 1/2 game lead on June 26 to the Crusaders. Brownie and Jonny pitched theirs for a strong team (but only the 2019 made the playoffs). 2030 was dim, 2050 might be dimmer. Only Merino’s no-hitter came in a season in which we actually took home a ring. We won the pennant in ’89, but then Glenn Johnston dropped Ed Parrell’s fly in Game 6 and that was that, and yes, even 50 years from now I will manage to weave that nightmare into more retrospectives. Comparably, under the radar, but the highlight of the week prior to Sunday, Thursday marked the first-ever complete game for Bubba Wolinsky in the majors. Well, stamina isn’t his strong suit, so it sure helped that the Loggers cleaned up their own runners so thoroughly. The shutout came in his 92nd ABL start (93rd appearance). The previous time he had pitched a complete game had been in AA ball in 2042, when he spun three complete games, including his only prior pro shutout, a 5-hitter against the Arlington Rattlers. Maldo chipped in an RBI on Thursday to become the first Critter this year to reach the all-too-lofty 20* mark. Man, good thing that game only marked the first quarterpost… And that’s still the mark after 45 games. The team homer lead is three. Ironically, that’s also the highest wins total for any pitcher on staff. Danny Hall has made two starts and is one win behind the lead… Next week then? MAYBE another no-hitter, perhaps even somebody hitting a fourth home run, but definitely the Aces in Vegas and the Thunder in our little corner of the woods. *Fun Fact:* The Raccoons now have two Victors in the rotation that both spun a no-hitter in a 3-0 road win. Merino did so four years ago against the Titans in Boston, also in his second “real” season, outside of all the spot starts and cups of coffee. The Raccoons are also the first team to pitch ten no-hitters. Somehow nobody else has even more than six. The Stars are the only team with ten cycles (Coons: seven), but there’s more competition in that category. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-11-2022, 08:10 AM	#3986
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	2050 DRAFT POOL The Raccoons would have the #14 pick in every round of the 2050 draft, plus a pair of supplemental round picks after the first round. With that, we intended to assemble the Portland Futures! …because, as you know, the Portland Currents are all a bit meh. 112 players had been lined up on our shortlist for interesting draft targets, and of course there was also the annual hotlist again with a dozen-or-so of the most attractive looking lottery tickets of them all (denotes high school player): SP Tyler Riddle (13/12/15) – BNN #3 SP Kenneth Spencer (11/13/11) * SP Brian Fuqua (12/14/11) SP Antonio Arias (11/11/15) * – BNN #1 SP Craig Kniep (13/12/7) * CL Steve Watson (17/12/10) 1B Zach Johnson (9/13/16) * – BNN #7 1B Mario Delgadillo (12/12/12) * 2B Mike DeFusco (11/11/10) – BNN #2 OF Dan Martin (10/11/14) – BNN #10 UT Jeremy Lindauer (11/12/12) – BNN #6 OF/1B Bill Hartman (13/9/11) – BNN #5 UT Mark Younce (16/2/7) I have a hard time picking a favorite hear, but the nice thing is that they number 14, so the Raccoons are assured to get any one of them. Some are peculiar though, like Zach Johnson, who is a defensive liability at 17 years old, also pitches, but badly, and is quite the diamond in the rough. Lindauer and Younce both play multiple infield and outfield positions, and everybody knows I’m a sucker for that. Both are right-handers, both are speedy – they’re like twins, if you draft them both you’ll never be able to tell them apart. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-12-2022, 03:11 PM	#3987
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (20-25) @ Aces (16-28) – May 24-26, 2050 While the Raccoons had issues, the Aces probably had more; they were bottoms in runs scored (3.6 per game) and runs allowed (5.2 a game). Worst defense, worst rotation by ERA, second from the bottom in batting average. It was rough watching! Wouldn’t it been nice to actually win a season series from them? We had not done so since 2047, dropping five of nine games each of the last two years. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.53 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (1-6, 6.50 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (2-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Dave Saldivar (3-5, 4.20 ERA) Elijah Powell (3-5, 5.09 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (4-2, 3.78 ERA) After a common off day on Monday, we’d see a righty on Tuesday, then two southpaws. I didn’t see much reason to artificially move up Marty Madera, who had lost all but one of his 10 starts, had a 6.52 ERA, and would be fourth in line. Game 1 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – P Wheatley LVA: CF Cramer – 3B Welter – RF Austin – 1B Witherspoon – C Weese – LF van de Wouw – SS R. Ramos – 2B Landstrom – P Broad RBI singles by Waters and Gonzalez gave the Coons a 2-0 lead after Matt Watt opened the game with a walk and Maldo snuck a double into leftfield, but Larry Broad would tie the game himself with a first-pitch, 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom 2nd even after the Raccoons walked Josh Landstrom intentionally when two runners were already in scoring position. Brent Cramer then struck out with Wheats noticeably mad at himself. Waters doubled in the third, but got no help; Suzuki doubled to left in the fourth and Eddy Luna at least found a single, putting runners on the corners with one gone for Wheats, who smacked the first pitch from Broad up the middle now for an RBI single to take that damn lead back. Matt Watt grounded to short, but Rafael Ramos threw the ball past Landstrom for an error, loading the sacks for Lonzo, whom Broad simply nailed to push home Luna with a run, 4-2. Maldo popped out, Waters grounded out, and even in their 46th game of the year, the Raccoons were still looking for somebody to get past that mighty 20 RBI speed bump. Ramos singled to begin the bottom 4th, stole second, and eventually scored on a sac fly by Gary Tabano, batting for Broad already. Another thick chance for the Coons developed in the fifth against Jayden Woods, who nicked Gonzalez with one out, then gave up a double to right to Suzuki, putting two in scoring position. Luna got four wide ones and pointers to first base, to bring back Wheats, who already had an RBI single in the game, as well as still sufficient steam under his head over his own mistakes (6 H, 3 ER in 4 IP), but flailed himself back to the bench. Matt Watt grinded out a walk in a full count, however, restoring that 2-run lead, but Lonzo grounded out, and a walk to Aubrey Austin and a Kevin Weese homer tied the game at five in the bottom of the same ***** inning. Porter and Ponce then imploded for another five runs in the bottom 6th; Porter put everything on base that had legs, and Ponce then gave up a grand slam to Sam Witherspoon, basically. Watt, Lonzo, and Maldo all hit 2-out singles off Efrain Estrada in the seventh, but Waters grounded out to Witherspoon with the bags full, and that was the ballgame. 10-5 Aces. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-6, 2B; Waters 2-6, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, RBI; Suzuki 2-5, 2 2B; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Game 2 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Suzuki – 3B Lamotta – LF Watt – P Wolinsky LVA: 2B R. Ramos – SS Holbrook – C Weese – RF Austin – CF J. Harris – 1B Witherspoon – 3B Welter – LF van de Wouw – P Saldivar The Aces lineup had five right-handers on top, then four left-handers at the bottom, which was … odd, but they had just clomped us for two pawsful, so what the did I know about baseball? The Aces had a Witherspoon triple in the bottom 2nd, but Jeremy Welter’s 1-out pop contributed to ruin the inning, but Welter would later drive in the game’s first run in the bottom 4th with a 2-out, 2-strike RBI single to get Aubrey Austin across. The Coons had two hits the first time through, including a Wolinsky single, and didn’t get anywhere near to third base. By the fourth, we lost Suzuki to injury (again), and by the fifth Wolinsky ceased to retire… anybody, really. Saldivar opened with a single up the middle, and Ramos swiftly smacked a double. Steve Holbrook walked, followed by two RBI singles for Kevin Weese and Aubrey Austin, 3-0, although Holbrook tried to get around on Austin’s single to right, and was thrown out by Alan Puckeridge, Suzuki’s replacement. Jonathan Harris’ triple then made it a 5-pack on another Raccoons starter anyway. Welter singled him home with two outs, 6-0. Worst offense in the league, my . A run fell out of Landeta in the sixth, but the Coons actually scored (!) in the eighth on Matt Watt getting smitten with a fastball, and singles by Castner and Maldo – oh, so someone finally DID get over 20 RBI! I almost enjoyed myself dead over that one… And then an actual rally started in the ninth, with two outs, as Evan Van Hoy singled in the #7 spot when we were just about to empty our silly bench before the game was out so everybody could have a share of the misery. Watt and Castner singled two, the latter driving in a run, and then Luna smacked a 2-run double from the #1 hole (there had been a few* double switches…). The Aces went to a new pitcher there in closer Jose Santamaria, who faced only Herrera, who grounded over to Holbrook – who peppered the ball into the stands for a 2-base, run-scoring error, and Santamaria then left injured (probably a stroke). It was then 7-5, and Maldo came up as the tying run against lefty B.J. Brantley. He singled, putting the tying runs on the corners for Waters, who at 3-2 grounded out to Landstrom. 7-5 Aces. Luna 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 3-3, RBI; I think we can add Vegas to the list of places where nothing good ever happens to the Raccoons, next to the Bay, Boston, British Columbia, and Bloody Portland itself. Game 3 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 2B Castner – P Powell LVA: CF Cramer – 3B Welter – RF Austin – 1B Witherspoon – C Weese – SS Holbrook – LF F. Rojas – 2B Landstrom – P Washington Single, single, single, homer – after Witherspoon’s 3-spot in the bottom 1st the Aces were up 4-0 without making a single ***** out. The Raccoons went on to pile up errors, one by Waters, one by Powell, who allowed another run in the bottom 4th after a leadoff triple by Felix Rojas, thus making it 3-for-3 in getting a five-punch from the worst offense (my ) in the league. What did that say about our pitching again? On offense the Raccoons had five hits in four innings and enough double plays and silly pops to short to not grab any runs that far, or in the next two innings either. Armando Herrera doubled home a pair in the seventh inning, but those runners (Castner, Lonzo) had reached on an error and on getting plunked… But then there was only Lonzo reaching on a single in the ninth inning, and he never got off first base before the game ended. 5-2 Aces. Herrera 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Lamotta 2-4; Woof. Raccoons (20-28) vs. Thunder (30-16)* – May 27-29, 2050 After that waffling, the Thunder could hardly do anything that would shock me in this weekend set. They were in first place anyway, the Raccoons were rapidly racing the Loggers for bottoms in the North, and we had already lost two of three to the Thunder in April. Oklahoma was fourth in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, but their +22 run differential still beat the Coons’ -40 by a country mile. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (2-6, 4.14 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (5-1, 2.94 ERA) Victor Salcido (3-2, 4.24 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (6-3, 3.76 ERA) Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.88 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (4-4, 4.82 ERA) Third straight lefty to begin the set, then two right-handers to finish the week. Mikio Suzuki also hit the DL (again) on Friday, this time with a sprained ankle that would keep him out until the second half of June. Have some Matt Glodowski, everybody, batting .324 in nine games back in St. Pete. Game 1 OCT: C Adames – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – LF Humphreys – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 3B Adame – CF M. Allen – P V. Marquez POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Lamotta – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Merino The Friday series opener saw another first-frame 4-spot on the hapless Raccoons, with Merino getting smacked around for four hits and runs each, although a Maldo error at the very beginning of the game that put Jesus Adames on base made three of the runs unearned. Adames, Jonathan Ban, and Steve Humphreys loaded the bags in the second inning, but Merino eloped that time with a K to Juan Benavides, but Benavides got back at him with a leadoff jack in the fifth inning that would Merino give his own 5-spot in five innings or less. Merino became the first pitcher this week to actually see the sixth, but hardly sparkled, walking Mike Allen to lead off and then getting a bunt from Marquez, who was still firing a 1-hit shutout, before getting yoinked. Marquez nicked Lonzo in the bottom 6th, and Lonzo took his 20th base off him out of spite, then was singled home by Armando Herrera, who was about the last guy stirring in that lineup. And then? Then Landeta, the ex-Thunder, walked the bags full in the top of the seventh, and allowed all the free runners to score on singles by ex-Coon Alex Adame and Mike Allen. It was so hard to watch, I climbed into the XXXL box of donuts Maud had brought in, and closed the lid behind me in another 8-1 drubbing. That was before two unearned runs were beaten out of Eloy Sencion, with a 2-base error by Glodowski really fueling the Thunder offense to begin with. By this game we had to use Willie Cruz in a 9-run blowout just to make ends meet in the shudderworthy bullpen, and at least he struck out the side in the ninth inning… Singles by Maldo, Jimenez, and Gonzalez would load the bases against Marquez in the bottom 9th, but Puckeridge’s 4-6-3 double play gave him a 101-pitch complete-game 8-hitter after all. 10-1 Thunder. Lavorano 1-2; Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 1-1; Maud, stop knocking on the lid of the donut box! I’m not coming out again! – Actually, Maud can you slip my bottle of One-Eyed Jack’s in here? – Thanks, Maud, you’re my favorite! Whoever’s tickling my tail out there, stop it! I can’t help it hanging out, it won’t fit in the box!! Game 2 OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF M. Allen – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – C Burnham – LF Harmon – P Lehman POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Salcido Salcido had pitched that no-hitter his last time out, but I’d be entirely content with seven innings and two runs for now. Well. Walking Allen, whacking David Worthington, and a Lonzo error put one on board in the top 1st, but at least Herrera ran down Ryan Cox’ drive to deep center to end the inning with two still aboard. Only down 1-0 in the first – ******* progress!! Armando Herrera homered to get the Coons back into a tie in the bottom 1st, and in fact Herrera would make plus catches to end each of the first three inning, stranding a total of five runners that might have crept onto Salcido’s ledger. What a nice change of pace – not quite getting to hit them were a brownshirt stands, but at least where your 36-year-old centerfielder can reach them at breakneck pace…. Like Wheats on Tuesday, Salcido drove his own lead In the bottom 4th, chipping an RBI single to center after Lehman carelessly walked both Gonzalez and Luna with two outs. Watt grounded out to strand a pair, and Worthington and Ban doubles tied the damn game immediately in the fifth. Salcido tagged on two more innings without coughing up more runs, which technically gave me what I despondently had asked for at the start, but him only a no-decision, for the Raccoons being unable to score. Ponce held the game tied in the eighth (!), but Willie Cruz now broke, walking Allen and getting bombed by Worthington in the ninth. In turn, another ex-Coon, Mike Lynn, saved the game for Oklahoma… 4-2 Thunder. Salcido 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-3, RBI; Sometimes I wonder whether any of them buggers would still be alive if Kisho Saito and his ceremonial sword were still pitching on the Critters… Game 3 OCT: 3B A. Montes de Oca – CF M. Allen – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – C Adames – LF Harmon – P Hendrix POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – 1B Van Hoy – P Wheatley The week was gonna end, but the sucking wouldn’t. Wheatley gave up three hits, three walks, and three runs in the first after retiring the leadoff man Angel Montes de Oca, then none of the next six batters. Lamotta singled and Luna homered in the bottom 2nd to narrow the gap a little bit, but Wheats just cocked up another run right away, nailing Jesus Adames with a 1-2 pitch with two outs, then gave up the run on a Mike Harmon double into the gap in right-center. A Benavides homer in the fifth left him with the usual line for a Raccoons starter this week – five runs in five frames. Sometimes more of one and less of the other. Or for Wheats, more of both – he came back for the sixth, allowed a single to Harmon, threw away Hendrix’ bunt, and then surrendered another single to Montes. Harmon went home and was thrown out by Puckeridge, but Mike Allen singled the other runners home against Eloy Sencion when he replaced a smothered Wheatley. And the rest of the miscreants? Lonzo hit a leadoff homer in the bottom 6th, reducing the gap to 7-3, but not much happened after that. Bob Ibold struck out the 1-2-3 batters in order in the eighth, which was neat, but the ship had sailed a while back by then. Lonzo knocked out Hendrix with a leadoff double to left in the bottom 8th, but was nevertheless stranded right at second base. Luna singled off Willie Maldonado in the bottom 9th, but was doubled up by John Castner, who was useless even while batting .333 … 7-3 Thunder. Lavorano 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4; Luna 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; In other news May 25 – The Scorpions suffer a two-way flogging against the Miners, amounting to just two hits against PIT SP Marcos Nabo (2-6, 6.33 ERA) while getting romped for 15 runs in the shutout themselves. It’s never close – 11 runs score in the second inning alone. May 25 – DEN INF/RF Rick Price (.311, 2 HR, 22 RBI) socks his first two home runs of the season and walks four times, bringing in six RBI in an 18-7 blasting of the Cyclones. May 26 – ATL CL David Hardaway (5-1, 1.90 ERA, 7 SV) will miss two weeks after suffering an oblique strain during what the team calls “a workout” and the tabloid Daily Outrage labels “rough horsing around with his mistress”. May 28 – A broken thumb will keep DAL INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.207, 1 HR, 14 RBI) out for at least a month. May 29 – SAL 3B Ricky Jimenez (.270, 2 HR, 29 RBI) hits a home run for the only marker on the board in a 1-0 Wolves in over the Cyclones. FL Player of the Week: DEN INF/RF Rick Price (.337, 2 HR, 23 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 2 HR, 9 RBI CL Player of the Week: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.372, 1 HR, 26 RBI), slapping .522 (12-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI Complaints and stuff I had to look this up, but I think the technical term for what the Raccoons did with this week was “schlonzing”. In short, nothing worked. Everybody* sucked. And they should all* be drowned in a river. And the Willamette is RIGHT THERE, so what’s stopping me? I will make an exception for Salcido (ND!), Lonzo, and Herrera (both .318 with a homer each). The rest was just wholly awful. Although, Salcido needs a talking-to as well. He’s TOTALLY ruining the chemistry in the rotation, because take this string of pitching lines: 5 IP, 5 R/ER 5 IP, 6 R/ER, L 5 IP, 5 R/ER, L 5.1 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, L 7 IP, 2 R, 1 ER 5.1 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, L Completely ruining any harmony there! Too much excellence! He needs trading to the Buffos. And the offense? Schlonzing it so good that Maldo’s 21 RBI still lead the team. In fact, Lonzo is in no way excelling in stealing bases (he’s been thrown out 11 times in 31 tries), but we’re that close to having the team leader in stolen bases outdo the team leader in RBI at the end of May. And don’t get me started on the team home run lead of THREE. THREE!! Blargh. And now another road trip to the damn Bay and Indy. Although, if you stay away from home during these seasons, the kids in the other cities usually don’t recognize you on your way home from another 10-2 waffling at the old ballpark and yell “Coons suck! You suck!” at you. *Fun Fact:* There is no fun. There’s only schlonzing. (gets puffed by Maud with the elbow) Fine! Here’s a neat one. (clears throat) *Fun Fact:* Danny Hall made all of two starts, but is t-2nd in salary per WAR on the team. That’d be $544k per WAR, twice his minimum salary with 0.5 WAR. Salcido – on more starts, mind – has the same values. Only Lonzo beats them, bringing in precisely his minimum salary of $272k with 1.0 WAR. Only Wolinsky, Sencion, and Puckeridge are even under $1M per WAR, and three of those six ******* started the season in AAA!! Waters and Maldo don’t show up on the list at all, because Steve from Accounting tells me that dividing by zero is really really hard and we can’t even handle the Aces… Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-13-2022, 03:34 PM	#3988
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (20-31) @ Bayhawks (26-25) – May 30-June 1, 2050 After getting drowned like a really unwanted set of newborn farm cat kittens the week before, the Raccoons’ reward was a trip down to the Bay, where nothing good ever happened, and the season effort against the Bayhawks was already well off at 1-2. San Francisco was third in the South, eight games out, with the second-best offense, but second-worst pitching, with a -14 run differential (Furballs: -55). They were without some key contributors like starter Craig Czyzszczon and position players Ken Crum and Mike Roberts, all on the DL. Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (2-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (2-3, 5.03 ERA) Elijah Powell (3-6, 5.43 ERA) vs. Chih Ke (3-3, 3.55 ERA) Victor Merino (2-7, 4.07 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (5-4, 5.07 ERA) Only righties in that rotation! Game 1 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky SFB: 2B Quiroz – CF G. Pena – 3B R. Sifuentes – 1B Copeland – SS McCutcheon – C Harvey – RF P. Colon – LF Fink – P Cantrell Wolinsky survived a lot of things early on, including a 2-base throwing error by Waters in the first, a 2-base throwing error by Luna in the second, and conceding a leadoff single to the ***** opposing pitcher and nailing Gustavo Pena in the third – none of those runs scored. But neither did the Critters. Maldo hit a double in the first, but was stranded, and after that it took until the fifth for Gonzalez and Puckeridge to club leadoff singles, only to get stranded by a Luna pop to short and a Castner double play grounder. Same inning, Cantrell went to 2-for-2 against Bubba, but was doubled up by Sergio Quiroz, and we remained scoreless. Weird game, this one. Bottom 6th, things finally seemed to fall into place. Bubba threw eight balls in a row to Gustavo Pena and Ramon Sifuentes to start the inning, and then Sebastian Copeland singled. Lee McCutcheon hit a comebacker that Bubba turned into a 1-2-3 double play, though, and Aaron Harvey grounded out to third base, keeping everybody well off the board. Ruben Gonzalez opened the seventh with a single, but then was doubled off by Puckeridge, and Wolinsky finished seven shutout innings on 107 pitches, but for no greater reward than a sub-4 ERA. Kevin Hitchcock was then taken deep to left by Sifuentes in the bottom 8th, and I felt like that was gonna be the L, but the Bayhawks left Cantrell out there for a leadoff single by Herrera in the ninth, and only then brought on Josh Livingston to close it out, except that he didn’t. Maldo made an out, but Waters slapped an RBI triple to right, Gonzalez walked, and Puckeridge’s grounder to second was at least good enough to not turn two on it, and Waters scored with the go-ahead run. Willie Cruz then blitzed the Bayhawks away in the bottom 9th; Mark Cahill lined out softly to Waters on the first pitch, and Joe Ritchey and Chris Robinson both struck out. 2-1 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-3, BB; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K; Ends an 0-6 string that was rather depressing! Game 2 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Lamotta – RF Van Hoy – 2B Castner – P Powell SFB: 1B Copeland – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – RF Ritchey – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF G. Pena – 2B McCutcheon – CF Fink – P Ke The Coons put up a pair in the second on doubles by Gonzalez, Van Hoy (!), and Castner (!!), one to each field, while Powell had nothing better to do than walk the bags full in the bottom 2nd before Chih Ke bounced into an inning-killing 6-4-3 double play. Lonzo and Lamotta hit into double plays for Portland in the next two innings, but the game was otherwise rather calm, also assisted by the Raccoons having no hits through five innings except for their three doubles in the second. Powell gave up a run, finally, when Joe Ritchey doubled home Todd Dau in the bottom 5th, but struck out Sifuentes to strand the tying run on second base. When Lonzo opened the sixth with a single and stole second base, the Coons’ team RBI and SB leads were for a minute identical at 21, but then Maldo uncorked a blaster to right to extend the lead to 4-1, which also had the nice effect of lifting the Coons’ homer lead past *** THREE before May ran out of juice altogether. Powell pitched six busy, but ultimately not unsuccessful innings before yielding for Preston Porter, who got rid of the Bayhawks on ten pitches in the seventh, but Bob Ibold put runners on the corners by the time there were two gone in the eighth. With left-handed batter John Fink up, the Raccoons poignantly went to Eloy Sencion rather than Julian Ponce, and Sencion got a K … against the pinch-hitter Harvey after Fink knocked an RBI single. Better than a slam… Bottom 9th, Hitchcock got the ball, since Willie Cruz had been out three of the last four days, often pointlessly. Copeland flew out. Dau grounded out. Sean Suggs whiffed, which sure sugged for San Fran. 4-2 Critters. Gonzalez 3-4, 2 2B; Van Hoy 2-4, 2B, RBI; Powell 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, W (4-6); Winning streak to end the month of May, wheee! Game 3 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Luna – P Merino SFB: 2B Quiroz – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF Ritchey – 1B Copeland – CF P. Colon – LF Fink – P Nolte Maldo singled, Puckeridge doubled, and they came in on a Gonzalez groundout and a 2-out single chopped up the middle by Merino for a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Joe Ritchey took half of it away again with a solo homer in the bottom 2nd, while the following inning was led off by John Fink with a double to right. Merino wild-pitched him to third base after getting a K from Nolte, then walked Sergio Quiroz – who was caught stealing – and then walked Dau as well. Suggs somehow popped out rather than making Merino meat a grisly end, and the Raccoons remained owners of a 2-1 lead. Sifuentes and Copeland went to the corners on a walk and single, respectively, but then Pedro Colon killed that bottom 4th with a double play bouncer to Waters. Top 5th, Luna swatted a leadoff double to left. Merino’s grounder advanced him, but Watt’s did not. Lonzo came through with an RBI single, though, then stole second, and scored on another 2-out single by Herrera, 4-1. Merino pitched solidly into the eighth then without finding much trouble, until he found much trouble there. He walked Dau on four pitches with one gone, then gave up an RBI double to Suggs, which sugged, and also cut the lead to 4-2. Porter came on, gave up an RBI double to Sifuentes, but Ritchey popped out. Two gone, Mark Cahill pinch-hit for Copeland, and the Raccoons went to Sencion again, and got a K on three pitches to bugger out of the inning. Now, while Sencion came on in a double switch with Van Hoy to replace Maldo in the #5 hole, the Raccoons didn’t actually leave him in for the bottom of the ninth with a 4-3 lead and went back to Cruz, even though the first two batters were left-handers. None of them reached base, with Colon grounding out and Fink getting robbed by Watt in left-center. Lee McCutcheon though singled when the Baybirds were a strike away from getting swept. Willie Cruz hung the K on Quiroz instead. 4-3 Raccoons. Herrera 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Raccoons (23-31) @ Indians (24-26)** – June 3-5, 2050 The Indians were weird; they were average in scoring runs, but in the top 3 in preventing runs to the opposition, with a +33 run differential, and yet they were just under .500 at the start of June. Was there potential there? If so, they had to get going quick. And they were 4-2 on the Raccoons in 2050. Projected matchups: Victor Salcido (3-2, 3.80 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (2-2, 4.31 ERA) Jason Wheatley (2-5, 5.29 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (6-1, 2.45 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (2-4, 3.68 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (3-6, 4.48 ERA) Both teams had been off on Monday, but the Indians didn’t have a lefty starter anyway right now. Another righty, Enrique Ortiz, was on the DL, along with position players Angel Mendez, Aaron Brayboy (snort!), and Juan Arguello. Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – P Salcido IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – LF R. White – C Poindexter – 1B Briscoe – P Medvec Who were all these people in the lineup?? Anyway. Three Indians reached the first time through against Salcido, two singles to center and a walk there, but the Raccoons were up 2-0 on Puckeridge’s third homer of the year, which also chased home Gonzalez. The Coons added two more in the top 3rd, which saw Herrera single, Maldo tickle the wall in left with a double, and then the runs scoring on a Waters sac fly and a Gonzalez single, and Lonzo singled home Luna, both of whom also stole second base in the inning, to make it 5-0 in the fourth. Manny Poindexter drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th after Merino had put up two 1-2-3 innings, but then was doubled off, 3-U, on a Joe Briscoe liner to Maldonado. Medvec whiffed, and Salcido saw the minimum on that second run through the lineup. To begin the bottom 6th, Allen Ragen singled, and Salcido walked Bill Quinteros with one out, but then got a double play grounder from Bobby Anderson, ending the inning 6-4-3 style. In turn, three singles off Medvec and Miguel Herrera snapped by Waters, Puckeridge, and Lamotta brought in the 6-0 run in the seventh, and another single by Luna loaded the bases, but Salcido batted for himself and struck out. He was on shutout pace at that point, throwing 72 pitches for a 3-hitter through six. He retired another six in a row on 19 more pitches, while the Coons tacked on a pair in the eighth, where briefly the team stolen base lead actually eclipsed the RBI lead when Lonzo stole his 24th base of the year, only to then being doubled home by Maldonado for the veteran’s 24th RBI. Waters then socked home Maldo with a sharp single. So the lead was ample for Salcido in the bottom 9th, but the 2-3-4 batters were up. De Castro grounded out on the first pitch. Quinteros worked out a walk, though, and so did Bobby Anderson, and worse, in a full count. Salcido had to get an out from Acosta or would be lifted – but threw another four balls, and that gave the baseball to Ponce, who tried to give up another grand slam to Rusty White, but Herrera tracked the ball down just shy of the 420’ mark in dead center to hold him to a sac fly, and Waters remained master of a sharp Poindexter grounder to end the game. 8-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Waters 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Luna 2-4, BB; Salcido 8.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, W (4-2); All our position players had at least one hit, and we poured out 15 in total on the way to a 4-game winning streak. Game 2 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – 3B Luna – P Wheatley IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 2B H. Acosta – LF R. White – C Poindexter – 1B Briscoe – P Brink On two singles and a walk, the 2-3-4 hitters for Portland filled the bases in the first inning, with one run each scoring on a Gonzalez single, a Puckeridge sac fly, and a wild pitch thrown by Brink before Lamotta whiffed to end it there with Gonzalez left on second. The 2-3-4 hitters were on base again in the top of the third, then on a hit batter, single, and error. This time only one run came in on Gonzalez’ 6-4-3 grounder, with Puckeridge flying out to Quinteros in deep right. And Wheats? No hits the first time through! …unfortunately… four hits in the bottom 4th. De Castro and Quinteros opened with singles, Anderson’s grounder scored one, Rusty White’s double scored another, and Poindexter somehow legged out an infield single before Briscoe popped out to Puckeridge in shallow left to strand the tying runs on the corners. Somehow, teams kept bunching them up against him. The Indians had nobody on in the fifth, but Acosta and White hit singles in the sixth before Poindexter stranded them with a grounder to short. The Coons hadn’t done anything in the middle innings but Lamotta singled and Luna walked to begin the top 7th. Wheats bunted them into scoring position, but a poor grounder by Lonzo and a standard F8 from Herrera kept them stranded. Wheats made it through seven with some hard work, only for the riffraff in the bullpen to almost undoing it in the eighth. Landeta put on two, Sencion conceded one on a Poindexter single, but got out of the inning against Briscoe. But don’t you worry – Willie Cruz threw just six pitches in getting rid of the Arrowheads in the ninth to extend the winning streak to five…! 4-3 Critters. Herrera 2-3; Maldonado 2-4; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (3-5); Game 3 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – C Jimenez – RF Glodowski – P Wolinsky IND: CF Ragen – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C M. Gilmore – LF R. White – 2B A. Rios – 1B Briscoe – P E. Ortiz Ortiz (2-5, 4.08 ERA) came off the DL for this start, and the last time a guy had come off the DL in a Coons game, he fired a no-hitter. Puckeridge singled before the Indians could get ideas, but they were also up 1-0 when Wolinsky failed to retire any of the first three batters he faced, and ended up surrendering an early first-inning run. Bubba remained busy with plenty of Arrowheads on the basepaths in the first five innings, as he conceded five hits, two walks, and there were two errors, including one by the pitcher on an errant pickoff attempt on Antonio Rios in the fourth. The Indians also found two double plays, though, and with the Raccoons being 2-hit through five by Ortiz, it remained a 1-0 game. The Indians only scratched out a second run in the seventh and Wolinsky’s final innings, with de Castro singling home his own pitcher, who had smacked a 1-out double. Another 1-2-3 inning for the Critters in the top 8th was followed by Ibold and Ponce combining for a quick bottom 8th, but all that did was to get John Steuer in with a 2-0 lead against the thick of the order (allegedly) in the top of the ninth. Maldo grounded out. Waters flew out. Puckeridge struck out. 2-0 Indians. In other news June 4 – DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.313, 7 HR, 39 RBI) is a write-off for the season with a torn labrum. June 5 – WAS SP Sean Fowler (3-4, 3.95 ERA) will be out for three months with a case of rotator cuff inflammation. FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.361, 10 HR, 44 RBI), socking .409 (9-22) with 4 HR, 13 RBI CL Player of the Week: MIL INF Zach Suggs (.288, 7 HR, 34 RBI), hitting .393 (11-28) with 2 HR, 7 RBI FL Hitter of the Month: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.358, 8 HR, 36 RBI), raking .396 with 7 HR, 24 RBI CL Hitter of the Month: IND 2B Hugo Acosta (.367, 1 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .409 with 1 HR, 19 RBI FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Nick Whetsell (9-0, 1.88 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 2.09 ERA, 29 K CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Jeff Johnson (8-0, 1.41 ERA), throwing up a 4-0 mark with 1.29 ERA, 26 K FL Rookie of the Month: CIN CF/LF Jose Gutierrez (.318, 2 HR, 22 RBI), batting .313 with 2 HR, 15 RBI CL Rookie of the Month: ATL INF Matt Housey (.349, 2 HR, 18 RBI), poking .385 with 1 HR, 10 RBI Complaints and stuff (shrugs) I don’t know what they’re doing! They are redefining what “streaky” means at the very least though. After last week’s 0-6, now a 5-1, and even a modicum of offense would have been enough to make it 6-0 on Sunday. Wasn’t meant to be, but the plus side of that is that now we can’t have a winning streak shattered by the big dumb Elks when they come in on Tuesday. Also next week: the Cyclones. I got a complaint from Julian Ponce, who thinks he should be the closer. Well, and I think he should be confined to an insane asylum, but that’s just opinions, aren’t they? We are preparing for Draft Day, which is only a week and a half away. Some pitchers were moved around at the start of June (but that anticipated promotion for Rafael de la Cruz to AAA has not come; it’s not quite the time yet), and a few position players canned from the lower levels, of which 2044 fifth-rounder Travis Futch and 2047 tenth-rounder Jarod Nardine were the most significant ones. *Fun Fact:* We still have nobody with five homers. …and the stolen base lead remained equal to the RBI lead through the weekend, which is just shambolic. …which gets me here: Fewest home runs to lead the Raccoons in any given season: Clyde Brady (2006) – 12 Adrian Quebell (2006) – 12 Craig Bowen (2011) – 12 Adrian Quebell (2011) – 12 Ralph Nixon (1981) – 14 Tetsu Osanai (1991) – 14 Justin Perkins (2032) – 14 Clyde Brady (2000) – 15 Royce Green (1995) – 16 Neil Reece (1998) – 17 Terry Kopp (2026) – 17 Manny Fernandez (2040) – 17 Manny Fernandez (2042) – 17 Wyatt Johnston (1978) – 18 Travis Zitzner (2034) – 18 Cesar Gonzalez (1999) – 19 Gil Rockwell (2022) – 19 Elias Tovias (2023) – 19 Getting there! Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-16-2022, 07:36 PM	#3990
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Little bit different thing here today – just a single series today, because I don’t know whether I can actually do a full week and the draft tomorrow. Thing is, I can’t watch the Mets game from the archive while drafting, because I need the full screen for that and… boy, do I sound full of myself again. Anyway, just the Wolves series now. Who knows how much in terms of updates will actually come tomorrow. +++ Raccoons (27-36) @ Wolves (25-37) – June 13-15, 2050 The Wolves had not won a series from the Coons since 2041, the last three meetings all going Portland’s way, with two of three games being won in the most recent clash in 2048. That was the good news. Overall, Oregon baseball was in a state of shambles, both teams were trying to stave off last place in their divisions, and they were a combined 35 games out in draft week. Salem in particular had the most rotten offense in the FL, unable to put out more than 3.7 runs per contest, and barely average pitching didn’t help in that case, either. They had a -66 run differential (Coons: -45). Projected matchups: Victor Salcido (4-2, 3.59 ERA) vs. Jonathan Abernathy (0-5, 6.05 ERA) Jason Wheatley (3-5, 4.70 ERA) vs. Darren McRee (4-8, 3.59 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (3-5, 3.28 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (5-5, 3.89 ERA) Abernathy was the sole southpaw available to them. Also, the finale on Wednesday would be Draft Day. Game 1 POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – P Salcido SAL: SS J. Miller – CF M. Gray – C J. Ortiz – LF A. Cedillo – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B C. Tyler – RF Clay – 2B Visser – P Abernathy Both teams stranded pairs in the first inning, with Mike Gray and Jose Ortiz on for Salem, same as in the third inning. Both times Salcido escaped (at least partially) with a K to cleanup man Alfonso Cedillo, while the Raccoons in between went up 1-0 in the second when Ricky Lamotta singled, stole second, and was singled in by Matt Glodowski, the certified bum. The Coons got a fat chance in the fourth, which began with Abernathy plunking Ruben Gonzalez before John Miller threw away Lamotta’s grounder for two bases. A passed ball (…!) and a Puckeridge single scored the runners, while Glodowski, the certified bum, forced out the rookie Puckeridge with a grounder. Salcido, who bunted into a force play his first time up, this time got the runner to second base, and Lonzo cashed Glodowski with a 2-out single to left, 4-0. While Salcido was 3-hitting the Wolves for no runs through five, Lonzo singled home Glodowski once more in the sixth inning, going up 5-0. Herrera tripled to add on, but a Maldo whiff and a Waters groundout stranded him on third base. The Wolves’ 2-3 hitters were on yet again in the bottom 6th with a Gray double and a walk issued to Ortiz, this time to begin the inning. This time, the Wolves got a run with two productive outs, the RBI going to the ex-Critter Ricky Jimenez, but Ortiz was stranded. Casey Clay landed a fifth and final hit off Salcido with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th. Salcido rung up Preston Visser, then bowed and left with Frank Mujica pinch-hitting. Sencion got the lefty stick, gave up a hefty double, and then was replaced with Bob Ibold, who retired absolutely ******* nobody. John Miller hit a 2-run double, and two walks filled the bags before the Raccoons went to their fourth pitcher of the inning with the tying runs aboard and one gone in a 6-3 game that was about to get away rather spectacularly. Cedillo struck out once more, Jimenez grounded out, and Julian Ponce turned out to for once not cock it up. The Coons counterattacked in the top 8th against righty Ben Arner, who issued a leadoff walk to PH Matt Watt in the #9 hole. Lonzo stuck a ball into the leftfield corner for an RBI triple, 7-3. After an intentional walk to Armando Herrera, he scored on a Maldo sac fly to center, which notably made the RBI lead top the stolen base lead on this shoddy team once again, 28 to 27. Waters doubled home Maldo, Jay Gunderson replaced Arner, but continued to get pummeled. Gonzalez singled home Waters, Lamotta got on, Puckeridge got an RBI, and then Evan Van Hoy ripped a 2-out RBI double in Glodowski’s place. Watt got a second turn and drew a second walk, loading them up for Lonzo, who hit a slow roller between the mound and third base – and Jimenez had no play…! RBI infield single, the Coons were up to a dozen, and still not stopping. Herrera singled to right for a pair, Gunderson was yanked for Matt Otte, who on his first pitch gave up an RBI single to Maldonado. Waters was the 14th and final batter of the inning, grounding out to short after the Coons put up a 9-spot…! The Wolves went into hiding after that, with Danny Landeta pitching two scoreless on the way back to the hotel. 15-3 Furballs! Lavorano 4-7, 3B, 4 RBI; Herrera 3-4, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Waters 2-6, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Lamotta 2-6; Puckeridge 2-6, RBI; Glodowski 2-4, 2B, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 2-2, 2B, RBI; Watt (PH) 0-0, 3 BB; Landeta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; We did not even put up the most runs on Monday – we came third! The Thunder shanked the Cyclones for 19 runs, allowing none themselves. Down in Cali meanwhile there were 27 runs in a Bayhawks-Scorpions game, with eight ninths of those in favor of Sacramento. Game 2 POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – SS Luna – 3B Lamotta – P Wheatley SAL: RF S. Petersen – CF M. Gray – C J. Ortiz – LF A. Cedillo – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B C. Tyler – SS J. Miller – 2B Mujica – P McRee Soft singles by Watt, Herrera, and Waters loaded the bags in the first inning, and Ruben Gonzalez flew to deep left – but could beat neither Cedillo nor the fence, being held to a sac fly. However, Puckeridge and Luna added RBI singles with two outs, putting the Coons up 3-0 rather quickly. The bases were full with no outs in the second inning. After Lamotta grounded out, Wheats hit a leadoff single in the top 2nd. Watt walked, Herrera singled, and the Coons put up a 4-spot this time: Maldo whacked a 2-run double, Gonzalez added an RBI single, and Puckeridge hit a sac fly, stuffing McRee for seven runs through two innings, and McRee wouldn’t get through the third inning eventually. Matt Waters hit a solo homer in the fourth off Pat Woodyard to go up 8-0, and Herrera singled home another run in the fifth, another inning in which Wheats hit a single himself. At that point, he had more singles hit than surrendered (one) on his ledger, at least until Mike Gray hit a single with one gone in the bottom 6th. Baseball being run by some utter *** (looks threateningly up to the baseball gods), the Wolves now chained hits together out of the blue. Ortiz singled. Cedillo singled home Gray from second, while Ortiz was slapped out at third base for the second out. Cedillo stole second, but Wheats hung a K on Jimenez to get out of the inning. Waters countered with a 2-out, 2-run double to plate Watt and Herrera in the seventh, running the score into double digits for consecutive days, 11-1, and more followed in the eighth, when Watt singled home Puckeridge with two outs, Herrera singled home Castner, and Maldo was barely retired by Steve Petersen in the gap in right-center to keep it at 13-1. Ponce was taken deep by Ortiz for a solo shot in the bottom 8th, but the top 9th saw that run pulled back when Lamotta livened up an 0-for-5 with a 2-out RBI single, driving home Lonzo, who had opened the ninth with a pinch-hit single off Otte. Preston Porter resisted the urge to blow a dozen-sized lead in the bottom 9th, and I was very happy for that. 14-2 Critters! Watt 4-5, BB, RBI; Herrera 4-5, BB, 2 RBI; Waters 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Gonzalez 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (4-5) and 2-4; No luck today, either – the Aces dumped 16 runs on the Gold Sox (yes, the Aces won), including five homers. Since I had a hunch a 2-1 loss was coming, I was quite glad to elope to New York at that point to participate in Draft Day proceedings there. Game 3 POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 3B Luna – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky SAL: CF M. Gray – RF S. Petersen – 3B R. Jimenez – LF A. Cedillo – C J. Ortiz – 1B C. Tyler – SS Acuna – 2B Visser – P Sparks Van Hoy put the Coons on top with a sac fly in the second inning, which began with singles by Waters and Puckeridge, and ended with Juan Jimenez striking out. Chris Tyler countered with a sac fly of his own in the bottom 2nd after a leadoff walk to Cedillo and a double by the consistently annoying Ortiz. Bill Acuna popped out, Preston Visser walked in a full count, but Sparks struck out and the game remained a 1-1 tie through two innings. The thing was that the Ortiz single was the Wolves’ only hit for a while, but Wolinsky didn’t know where any of his pitches were going, causing a few Wolves to evade the box in terror at one point or another, and by the bottom 4th he was on 75 pitches, five walks, and had a generally confused look on his face, as had Jimenez. He finally nailed Petersen in the bottom 5th with his 95th pitch, and was then excused from further doing harm to players and/or the beauty of the game. Ibold got out of the inning, but Preston Visser tripled home Tyler off Danny Landeta in the sixth, which, funnily enough, made it 2-1 Wolves. That was not the final score, though, since Sencion balked home a runner owed by Landeta in the bottom 7th to make it 3-1. THAT was the final score. The Raccoons had no stab at Blake Sparks for eight innings, and ex-Coon Josh Rella retired the top of the order 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. 3-1 Wolves. Herrera (PH) 1-1; In other news** June 13 – SAC 3B/2B Jonathan Iverson (.400, 3 HR, 12 RBI) casually puts up nine RBI on three hits (including a grand slam) and a walk from the #8 hole in a 24-3 ravaging of the Bayhawks. June 13 – Dallas’ RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.389, 15 HR, 58 RBI) keeps steaming, putting up three hits, including a homer and a pair of RBI, in a 4-3 win over the Falcons to reach a 20-game hitting streak. June 14 – NYC SP Ryan Fentress (2-5, 2.87 ERA) is out for the season and heading for surgery with bone spurs in his elbow. June 15 – TIJ SP Larry Colwell (4-8, 3.43 ERA) 2-hits the Buffaloes in a 2-0 shutout. June 15 – A fourth-inning single in the Condors’ 2-0 win over Topeka gives 1B/OF Gil Cabrera (.340, 2 HR, 34 RBI) a 20-game hitting streak. June 15 – DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.333, 15 HR, 49 RBI) will miss three to four weeks with a strained rib cage muscle. June 15 – With a broken elbow, Scorpions rookie RF/LF Jamie Harmon (.278, 1 HR, 2 RBI) is out for the season. Complaints and stuff The Raccoons scored 30 runs during a midweek trip to Salem, and won two of three. The less said about that, the better. We go back home to play the Loggers this weekend. Next week is a stretched-out trip to Boston and Tijuana. *Fun Fact:* On Monday, Matt Watt didn’t put pants on until the eighth inning and ended up drawing three walks – or as many as Lonzo had for the whole season. The less said about that, the better. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-17-2022, 06:17 AM	#3991
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	2050 AMATEUR DRAFT While the Raccoons were busy to minimize the wins return from a 30-run series against the Wolves, on the other side of the continent the 24 GMs of the league were occupied with divvying up the year’s harvest of college and high school talent for their respective organizations. 112 players had been lined up on our shortlist for interesting draft targets, and of course there was also the annual hotlist again with a dozen-or-so of the most attractive looking lottery tickets of them all (denotes high school player): SP Tyler Riddle (13/12/15) – BNN #3 SP Kenneth Spencer (11/13/11) * SP Brian Fuqua (12/14/11) SP Antonio Arias (11/11/15) * – BNN #1 SP Craig Kniep (13/12/7) * CL Steve Watson (17/12/10) 1B Zach Johnson (9/13/16) * – BNN #7 1B Mario Delgadillo (12/12/12) * 2B Mike DeFusco (11/11/10) – BNN #2 OF Dan Martin (10/11/14) – BNN #10 UT Jeremy Lindauer (11/12/12) – BNN #6 OF/1B Bill Hartman (13/9/11) – BNN #5 UT Mark Younce (16/2/7) RF/LF Danny Barton (11/9/13) As indicated before, we conveniently had 14 guys on that hotlist, which lined up well with our #14 pick. Note: …and it would have been 14 in the original post as well if some dumbhead hadn’t failed to copy the last line as well… Tyler Riddle was the #1 pick this year, being selected by the Loggers and thus doomed to at least a decade in a miserable organization that yet remained somehow likeable. Because come on, everybody knew the Loggers were the three-legged puppies of the ABL…! The Wolves selected Brian Fuqua at #2, and the Aces took the first position player, Dan Martin, with the #3 pick. After that it was Zach Johnson to the Cyclones, and Jeremy Lindauer to the Pacifics to complete the top 5. At that rate, and with any luck, I wouldn’t have to make a decision that I would regret forever at all for our #14 pick! …and then the Crusaders made a lateral move with the selection of Ben Seiter at #6, and thus throwing all my best-laid plans overboard. That aside, Mike DeFusco (Warriors, #8), Antonio Arias (Knights, #9), Craig Kniep (Caps, #10), Bill Hartman (Miners, #12), and Steve Watson (Titans, #13) were taken off the hotlist as well before the Raccoons got their turn. That left us with four options, the only pitcher being lefty finesse guy Kenneth Spencer. They say “finesse” almost disparagingly sometimes, but the reviews for this guy were rave, with four quality pitches, groundball tendency, and the prospect that he’d add to that 87mph cutter he currently threw. The main drawback was that he knew he was good and liked to say so to his poor teammates. On the offensive side there was still Mario Delgadillo, a stock-standard first baseman, hitting from the left side. Y’know them, hits the ball hard, struggles to move on his own two hindlegs. Mark Younce was a singles-slapping super utility with great defense AND a punnable name, exactly the type of player I’d love having around. Danny Barton had lefty power in a power position, but wasn’t fielding so well. Yeah… I kinda like that lefty finesse guy…! Barton went to the Stars with the very next pick at #15. The Thunder snapped up Younce at #19. And the Stars had another turn with the #21 pick, and used that to select Delgadillo, thusly emptying the hotlist rather briskly and before the Raccoons could start to fling their two supplemental picks around. +++ 2050 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS Round 1 (#14) – SP Kenneth Spencer, 18, from Sacramento, CA – left-handed finesse guy with four quality pitches and the prospect to add to that 87mph cutter. Very good curve and splitter, keeps it on the ground, and all would be well if he kept his mouth on the ground from time to time as well. It says 18 on that card, but he’ll be 19 by the time he arrives in Aumsville. Supp. Round (#28) – SP Phil Baker, 21, from League City, TX – right-handed groundballer throwing 93mph with a good slider, changeup, and circle change arsenal. Control needs work, but this looks like a damn fine package. Supp. Round (#34) – 3B/2B Richard Anderson, 17, from Sunnyvale, CA – above-average contact and power potential and plus defense at the hot corner; probably not as suited to the middle infield positions, although we could try to fit him in at shortstop to make him a real utility. Round 2 (#50) – C Brian Moore, 18, from Rohnert Park, CA – not the most agile defender even as a teenager, but we’re being suckered in by the rather attractive power potential here; also has a keen eye at the dish. Round 3 (#74) – OF Jim Matthews, 20, from Strafford, NH – very good defense on all three outfield positions, with a centerfielder’s bat, being more pronounced in contact than power; seems unable to get the timing right to steal bases, despite ample speed. Round 4 (#98) – CL Geoff Sather, 20, from Lake Dallas, TX – left-handed fastball/slider guy; the slider looks top notch, but he really lacks control so far… Round 5 (#122) – LF/RF Humberto Hernandez, 22, from Eldersburg, MD – the Oregon State student was first scouted a few years ago at Raccoons Ballpark, drunkenly lobbing a Jerry Outram home run ball back onto the field; a bit of an indifferent fielder, he does have a decent eye and somewhat promising contact abilities, but not a lot of power at a power position… Round 6 (#146) – MR Adam Sewell, 20, from Freeland, MI – right-hander with a 91mph fastball and a curve, and a changeup that doesn’t look like it will amount to much Round 7 (#170) – INF Jonathan Welsh, 18, from New York, NY – promises to be an elite defensive shortstop, and hit like one! Round 8 (#194) – 1B/OF Jason Phillips, 20, from Willow Street, PA – not a lot of power, but some speed and a decent eye; however, a fourth-round bat was probably dropped to the eighth round by his last-round attitude. Round 9 (#218) – CL Eric Meekins, 20, from Spring Lake Heights, NJ – righty with a fastball and slider, and a fireworks tendency; was drafted partially because he was the last hurler on the shortlist and I wanted to fold up that paper neatly and put it away Round 10 (#242) – 1B Justin Undercoffer, 18, from Birmingham, AL – as far as baseball players go, few are weirder than this kid, a switch-hitting singles-poker with no defensive skills whatsoever that can move comparably quick in a straight line, but not an inch laterally; the singles poking thing is what gets him drafted in the first place. Round 11 (#266) – MR Kyle Mascarello, 21, from Manhattan, NY – lefty (obviously) throwing 90mph with a curve and splitter, and not the least clue where any of them are gonna end up (usually the backstop, though) Round 12 (#290) – 2B Ryan Allred, 18, from North Providence, RI – has a singles bat, blazing speed, and a thick head that is difficult to get instructions into Round 13 (#314) – SP Angel Fernandez, 18, from Humacao, Puerto Rico – throws four pitches, all bad, but wins people over with self-deprecating humor +++ All new selections were assigned to single-A Aumsville, with the exception of Phil Baker, who was moved to double-A Ham Lake right away. We had already weeded out some players a few weeks ago, but now dumped a few more, mostly pitchers; these included 2045 seventh-rounder Kevin Beck, 2046 sixth-rounder Reynaldo Soto, and 2047 Nick Brown Memorial pick Bob Norwood. Also gone was Ronnie McKnight’s kid DaShawn, who had been taken in the seventh round in ’48 and had left no impression whatsoever in Aumsville. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

09-24-2022, 05:54 PM	#3995
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	All Star Game Bayhawks catcher Sean Suggs has two hits with a homer and an RBI to win MVP honors in the All Star Game, but even without being weighed down by any Raccoons, the Continental League drops the game to the Federal League, 4-3. Pittsburgh’s Ed Soberanes hits three singles in the FL win, which goes to Buffos closer Trent O’Sullivan. Raccoons (41-48) vs. Crusaders (46-43) – July 14-17, 2050 Now down 5-3 in the season series, the Raccoons got to host the Crusaders for four at our own cozy place, which was remarkably empty these days. Still unable to score (unless Bubba Wolinsky could find more blowouts in his arm), still decent pitching. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (5-7, 4.49 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (6-8, 3.29 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (3-9, 4.79 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-7, 5.76 ERA) Victor Salcido (8-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (4-11, 4.36 ERA) Victor Merino (5-10, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (13-2, 1.78 ERA) The series opened with a righty, of which the injury-riddled Crusaders had only two in the rotation right now, the other being Jeff Johnson. For New York, there was no Haertling, no Baskins, no Russ, no White, no Mills, no Fentress, and for me soon no breath… (gasp!) Game 1 NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – RF Arens – CF Ceballos – P Sopena POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Wheatley Wheats gave up three hits the first thing after the All Star break, with Danny Rivera singling home Omar Sanchez to get New York on the board right away. The Coons left Matt Watt on third base after his leadoff double in the bottom 1st, and threatened to do the same with Puckeridge on third in the bottom 2nd until Wheats himself shoved a 2-out RBI single up the middle to unhook himself. For naught; Watt flew out, and in the third Wheatley allowed a walk, a single, and with two outs, a 2-run single to center to Prince Gates, 3-1. Randy Anton walked, and only Ron Arens grounded out to Ed Crispin. Bottom 3rd, Lonzo hit a leadoff single. Maldo had a deep fly out, after which Lonzo took second by force for his 40th stolen base. Waters then singled him home, tying Maldo with 39 RBI for the miserable team lead in the Coons’ 90th game. Waters stole second, too, Puckeridge reached on an Omar Sanchez error, and then another runner was wasted at third base when Crispin hit into an inning-ending double play, 4-6-3… Wheats came apart for good in the fourth, walking Mario Ceballos and Sanchez, giving up a run on a Mark Haney single, and then two more on a gapper by Danny Rivera. The barrage against the Raccoons didn’t end, with Sopena getting a turn in the fifth when he doubled home a run with two outs. Bottom 7th, however, Waters singled home his 40th run with Watt (walk) and Maldo (single) on the corners. An infield single for Puckeridge loaded the bases and brought back Crispin as the tying run. Haney lunged, but missed his shot up the middle for a 2-run single, but Gonzalez and Sopena then made the last two outs. After an uneventful eighth, Bob Ibold pitched around a Ramirez double in the top 9th so that when Maldo lobbed a soft leadoff single in the bottom 9th against Melvin Lucero, the tying run was back in the box in Matt Waters. He grounded out to advance Maldo to second, but Puckeridge socked a drive over the glove of a reaching Ceballos for an RBI double, and now the tying run was just 180 feet away. Make that 90 on a wild pitch to Crispin, and with one out! Except that a poor floater by Crispin and Gonzalez’ fly to Ceballos ended the game to strand yet another fuzzy bum on third base. 7-6 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-5; Waters 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-5, 2 RBI; Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Game 2 NYC: RF O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – CF Ceballos – C O. Ramirez – P Malla POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – P Wolinsky The Coons left runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, and fourth inning without scoring in any ******* one of them, but the Crusaders weren’t any better, except that they stranded fewer runners for having fewer runners to begin with. The ice wasn’t broken until the fifth when Malla walked Wolinsky and Castner zinged a 2-out double to drive him in. No, really, that actually happened. Maldo flew out to left, and through five it was 1-0 Critters. Confused, Bubba then allowed a leadoff single to Haney in the top 6th, then nailed Gates. Dave Hernandez bounced into a 6-4-3, though, and Rivera went down on strikes to strand a Crusader on third base for a change. Art Bent hit another leadoff single to center in the seventh, but was also doubled up by Ceballos. Omar Ramirez singled, Angel Lara struck out, and seven shutout innings would be all the Coons asked for from Wolinsky in this one. The pen got a 1-0 lead; Lonzo stole not one, but TWO bases in the bottom 7th, but was left on third base when Maldo sailed out to Ceballos. The Coons mixed and matched to the best of their abilites in the eighth; Sencion didn’t get his man, with Sanchez reaching on another leadoff single. Hitchcock got the next two before Josh Garris pinch-hit for Hernandez, promoting a move to Ponce, who secured a foul pop to Matt Waters to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Waters blooped a leadoff single, and Jeff Frank walked Puckeridge with one out. Crispin batted for Lamotta and was nicked, loading them up for Eddy Luna, coming on for Adam Samples. He grounded to Haney, but the Crusaders couldn’t turn two, and a puffer run scored. Suzuki then whiffed in Ponce’s place, sending Willie Cruz out with a 2-0 lead. Cruz cocked it up, big time. Leadoff single for Rivera, RBI double for Bent, and then two walks and another RBI single for Omar Sanchez, which tied the game, loaded the bases with two outs, and brought on Preston Porter, who got Gates to bounce out to Crispin at third base. Right-hander Sean Yates was out for the bottom 9th. The thing was, the 1-2-3 were up, after which Waters had gotten lost in the position shuffle after the pinch-hitting bonanza in the bottom 8th, so the pitcher was in the #4 spot and only Juan Jimenez was left on the bench. The spot never came up in the ninth, as Yates sawed off the 1-2-3 in order, but Porter then had to remain in for the 10th inning. He gave up two runs on a walk to Rivera, a Bent double, and a Ramirez single. Lucero scuffled again in the bottom 10th as well, giving up a 1-out double to Gonzalez, then an RBI single to Puckeridge, which brought the winning run to the plate; and while we were out of bench, there were three lefty hitters lined up against the right-hander Lucero. Puckeridge made second on an errant pickoff when it was already 3-0 to Crispin, who managed to strike out from there, while Luna walked. That brought up Suzuki, batting .186, with no lifelines left. He grounded out to Gates. 4-3 Crusaders. Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 3-4, BB, RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K; (groans bigly!) Game 3 NYC: SS O. Sanchez – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – 2B Haney – CF Ceballos – P J. Baker POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – P Salcido A pair of errors and a Samples single somehow got Puckeridge around the bases for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, which I was of course not going to refuse, but at the same time I’d brace myself with booze and Honeypaws for the inevitable boomerang. Salcido had struggled in the first two innings, with quite a few long counts, but he sat down the next five before Prince Gates missed a homer by inches in the fourth, having to settle for a 2-out double. Randy Anton popped out, keeping the Coons ahead. We also wasted a 2-out double in the fourth, that one hit by Jimenez. Through six, the Coons out-hit the Crusaders, 10-3, but still only led 1-0. Ramirez and Anton promptly went to the corners in the seventh, but Castner spun an Angel Lara bouncer for an inning-ending double play. The Coons loaded them up with two outs in the bottom 7th as Maldo was nicked, Waters and Puckeridge hit soft singles, and then Ricky Lamotta FINALLY came through for this team, blasting a bases-clearing double over the head of Mario Ceballos to run the score to 4-0…! Salcido got one more out in the eighth after a leadoff double by Ceballos, after which the lefty top of the order would come back. Sencion entered in a sextuple-switch, with the only defenders not moving or leaving being Maldo, Lonzo, and Jimenez; in short, the pitcher went to the #7 hole and Castner and Samples were gone. Sencion got out of the eighth just fine, but then walked Rivera and gave up an RBI double to Ramirez to begin the game. So here was Cruz again in the ninth. Infield single, passed ball to score a run, and with the tying run in the ***** box, finally a K to Anton and Watt retiring Arens on a sliding catch in shallow left. Ceballos grounded out. 4-2 Coons. Suzuki 1-1; Maldonado 3-3, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4; Lamotta 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Samples 2-4, RBI; Salcido 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (9-3); Hey, we didn’t blow a game! Excitement. Game 4 NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – C O. Ramirez – 2B E. Zuniga – P J. Johnson POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Merino Johnson flew out into a 9-2 double play after a Ramirez single and an Edwin Zuniga double had put New Yorkers in scoring position to begin the top 3rd. In a kind, loving world, Merino would then have gotten out of the inning, but no, Omar Sanchez singled home Zuniga with a run anyway, the first in the game. While that was pretty much it for the Crusaders for the first six innings against Merino, the Coons had only two hits in five innings against Jeff Johnson, who was nearly untouchable as whole for this season. Matt Watt was the first Coon to even reach third base in the bottom 6th, drawing a leadoff walk before getting inevitably stranded. Merino went through eight on 96 pitches, allowing just two hits outside the befuddled third, while Matt Watt hit a soft single to begin the bottom 8th, but the next three hitters all made poor outs and he went back to the dugout from first base. Merino then came back for the ninth with two lefty batters leading off, walking Ed Haertling, just off the DL, and throwing a wild pitch before Rivera’s grounder moved the insurance run to third base. Ibold gave up a sac fly to Art Bent, but the Coons got handled well by Lucero anyway… 2-0 Crusaders. Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Merino 8.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (5-11); In other news July 13 – The Falcons acquire UT Eric Miller (.255, 8 HR, 40 RBI) from the Gold Sox for 1B Raul Sevilla (.270, 14 HR, 54 RBI). The Falcons also get a prospect. July 16 – The Blue Sox acquire the Warriors’ closer Ralph Needham (3-3, 3.29 ERA, 23 SV) for a prospect. July 16 – The Pacifics score a lazy nine runs in the 11th inning to beat the Stars, 12-3. LAP 1B Larry Rodriguez (.238, 13 HR, 48 RBI) keeps the fire burning with a grand slam in the 11th, his only contribution in the game. July 16 – TIJ 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.327, 1 HR, 48 RBI) is expected to miss a month with a hip strain. July 17 – Cyclones 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.307, 19 HR, 67 RBI) hits a 2-run homer off RIC SP Steve Miles (3-4, 4.82 ERA) in a 10-2 Cincy win for his 300th career home run. The 31-year-old won three home run titles with the Scorpions in his 20s and is batting .278/.347/.486 for his career with 995 RBI to his name. He was the 2044 FL Player of the Year. July 17 – The Thunder lose OF Juan Benavides (.275, 11 HR, 57 RBI) for three weeks with a torn thumb ligament. FL Player of the Week: DAL INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.226, 3 HR, 26 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.320, 13 HR, 47 RBI), zinging .529 (9-17) with 1 HR, 3 RBI Complaints and stuff The Coons had another bad week. What else is new? Let’s instead reach into the mailbag, where we answer questions that weigh on the minds of our dear fans, all three of them. Here is a question from Herschel, age 13, from The Dalles: “Dear Raccoons; I have had my pet raccoon Stinky since the first championship won by the 2040s dynasty. I got it for Christmas! But lately, Stinky has been very sleepy and tired, and sometimes won’t even touch what’s in his food bowl. I wonder whether he will live to see another Raccoons championship…! Kind regards, Herschel, age 13.” (puts down the letter) Well, Herschel… let me put it – No. That aside, we signed 16-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Juan Nava this week for $240k, which will also be our second and final signing this July. Groundballer, interesting changeup. Could be tossing harder, only 87 at the peak right now. This year’s pool never excited me, and so there was no point to blow millions and a chance to get anybody worth the oxygen next year… Titans, Knights next week. Fun Fact: Except for Elijah Powell, all Raccoons starters have a FIP at least 0.4 runs better than their ERA. That’s about where the Victors are at. Bubba is just over 0.5, and for Wheats it’s almost a whole ***** run. His ERA bloomed back to 4.85 this week with another shellacking, but his FIP remains down-ish at 3.96 … which is the worst it’s been since his age 22 season, a.k.a. his first full year in the majors, but that is little consolation when he just gets whacked around for whatever reason… Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

10-02-2022, 06:20 AM	#3999
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Raccoons (51-61) vs. Crusaders (56-54) – August 8-10, 2050 The season-long string continued with the Crusaders, who stepped in for three games beginning on Monday. Was it Monday? Was it still summer? It was hard to tell after a sip of or five of Asbestos. Anyway. (giggles) New York had the fewest runs scored in the CL, which was not helping their pathetic attempts to be relevant for the first time in years and years, and they were by now 18 games out. They allowed the fourth-fewest runs, with a -11 run differential (Critters: -49). New York led the season series, 8-4. Projected matchups: Victor Merino (5-13, 4.29 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (6-13, 3.90 ERA) Danny Hall (2-1, 1.06 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (15-4, 1.90 ERA) Jason Wheatley (8-8, 4.02 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-10, 5.35 ERA) The Crusaders had been rained out on Sunday, so they had a chance to shuffle the rotation. As it was, we expected southpaws on either end of the set, with the right-handed Pitcher of the Year candidate Jeff Johnson in the middle. While they had a day to spare, the Coons had played a double-header on Saturday, so Wheats was a bit of a question mark on Wednesday. One idea was to pencil him in for five innings and plan with Paul Miles for length after that. That aside, the Crusaders had a mountain of injuries weighing them down, being without Jim White, Ryan Fentress, Andrew Russ (grumble grumble), Ken Mills, and a few relievers. Game 1 NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – 1B Leal – 2B E. Zuniga – C O. Ramirez – P J. Baker POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – C Jimenez – LF Watt – P Merino Merino continued to be a pain in the bum, allowing three singles, a walk, a wild pitch, and two runs in a highly annoying first inning. Danny Rivera singled home Omar Sanchez, while Prince Gates scored on the wild pitch for New York. It got even better in the second inning, which began with a 4-pitch walk to Omar Ramirez. Baker bunted, and Matt Waters threw that one away for two bases. Sanchez whiffed, but Mario Ceballos’ grounder to right was bungled by Maldo for another error, conceding Ramirez’ run. Gates singled home Baker, while a wild pitch plated Ceballos before Merino filled the bases with a walk to Art Bent and nailing Pedro Leal. Somehow, Edwin Zuniga left three on flying out to center, but it was already 5-0 anyway. Those three runs were all unearned, but I was lusting to tear Merino’s ***** head off anyway. The Coons were gone in the minimum the first time through; while Waters hit a single, he was doubled up by Lamotta. After Prince Gates homered to make it 6-0 in the top 4th, Castner reached on an infield single, and Maldo chipped a 2-piece to left, 6-2. Merino was gone after five ** innings, with Landeta following in with allowing another run on three more singles in the sixth. It was just the worst game – y’know, of the sort the Coons delivered three or four of every week now. Hitchcock gave up one more run in the ninth, as if it mattered. 8-2 Crusaders. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Game 2 NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – 2B E. Zuniga – 1B D. Hernandez – C O. Ramirez – P J. Johnson POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – P Hall Neither me nor Honeypaws had any hope of the Coons dinking Johnson, so we instead dinked the basket of muffins that Maud had wisely brought in. Of course, the first three Coons then all reached base with a leadoff walk drawn by Watt and singles by Lonzo and Maldo. Of course they also didn’t score. Waters popped out, Crispin whiffed, and Gonzalez sailed out to Ceballos to strand three. Glodowski hit a double in the second, Maldo and Waters had singles in the third – none of them scored. But the Crusaders joined the dinking, merrily roughing up the rookie Hall. The two Omars hit singles in the third, with a run scoring on Ceballos’ groundout, and they piled three on him in an endless fourth inning with three hits and two walks offered by Hall. Edwin Zuniga doubled home two more in the fifth inning, 6-0. Worst offense in the league, my . The Coons didn’t eek out a run until the eighth inning, when Lonzo singled, stole a base, and was driven in by Matt Waters. That was their rally against Johnson, who did not appear again for the ninth inning, with Melvin Lucero getting a 6-1 lead, because yes of course, with the game in the bin, our pen could always chain zeroes together, but never with a **** lead. Suzuki singled, Glodowski doubled, and two were in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 9th. Jimenez then lined out to Art Bent, Watt popped out to first, and Lonzo went down on strikes, once more scoring absolutely ***** nobody. 6-1 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5; Maldonado 2-4; Waters 2-4, RBI; Glodowski 3-4, 2 2B; (licks an Asbestos-soaked muffin) Maud, we’ll gonna need more of these. So much more of these. (rolls into a ball with Honeypaws locked up in the middle of all the limbs) Game 3 NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – CF Ceballos – 2B Bent – P Malla POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Wheatley Wheats assured everybody he was good enough for six, which probably meant he aimed for a shutout, but we’d be content with five good innings, with Paul Miles to follow on. But the game sure began like more of the same. The Crusaders sprayed three singles the first time through (but didn’t score a run), while the Coons got a leadoff double from Lonzo in the bottom 1st and left him on base. Wheatley held the Crusaders off the board through four, and then Matt Glodowski even gave the Coons a lead when he singled home Waters from second base in the bottom 4th. Waters had notched a leadoff walk and his 11th stolen base of the year against Malla. Lamotta then found a double play to stop the offensive shenanigans. Wheats went through five innings on four hits, no runs, and 70 pitches, and his spot was up in the bottom 5th. He hit for himself in the bottom 5th, a 1-2-3 affair, and returned for the sixth, getting Rivera on a grounder, Ramirez on strikes, and then got his bum homered out of the park by Josh Garris. He completed six with a K to Ed Haertling, but had to settle for a no-decision, ever unhappily. Maldo hit into a double play with Castner aboard in the sixth, and Lamotta found yet another double play to hit into by the seventh. Bottom 8th, still tied after two scoreless from Miles, Sivertson opened with a single to center (!), and Ed Crispin singled to right from the #9 spot, where he had entered in a double switch with Miles earlier (Miles was in the #2 spot). Sivertson went to third, Rivera threw there late, and Crispin snuck up into second base. Runners in scoring position, no outs, and I reached for the Asbestos. The Crusaders reached for righty Taylor Stabile, with Lonzo lining out to third base off him. Suzuki batted for Miles, grounded back to the pitcher, and the runners still held. Maldo hit a drive to left, but that was caught by Haertling in leftfield – it ended the inning, but also Haertling’s day out as he slammed into the sidewall at full steam. Pedro Leal would replace him. Willie Cruz held the Crusaders to the tie with a 1-2-3 ninth, with Gonzalez reaching base with a 1-out single against Stabile in the bottom 9th. Glodowski grounded out, but Watt singled for Lamotta, moving the winning run to third. Jimenez batted for Sivertson, walked, and the bags were full for Crispin. Ed didn’t have to do much more than hold still for two pitches. At 1-1 in the game and 1-1 in the count, Stabile leaned in on Omar Ramirez’ signs so intently, he dropped the ball out of his glove while toeing the slab – it was a walkoff balk…! 2-1 Blighters. Castner 1-2, BB; Watt (PH) 1-1; Sivertson 2-3; Crispin 1-1; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Miles 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Hey, a win! Somehow. Raccoons (52-63) @ Dallas (67-47) – August 12-14, 2050 My only hope was that no one would die on the trip. I had already marked three losses in the pocket schedule. And that was with the Stars not even up to snuff. They were second in the FL West, but 15 games out – that division was also long over – in fact, the Miners’ 6-game lead over the Blue Sox was the only single-digit gap between first and second in the entire league. Dallas was fourth in offense, third in pitching, but with a creaky pen. Besides their #2 rotation, they didn’t sparkle in any one category, but were mostly solid across the board. This was the fourth straight year we’d meet in the regular season. We had lost all of the previous three series, plus the 2048 World Series, but none of those had been a sweep. Well, that’s what we’re here for now! Projected matchups: Bubba Wolinsky (5-11, 4.42 ERA) vs. Nick Whetsell (13-4, 3.30 ERA) Victor Salcido (11-5, 3.25 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (7-7, 3.36 ERA) Danny Hall (2-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Arthur Pickett (11-10, 3.42 ERA) All right-handers. The Coons dropped Adam Samples (.208, 0 HR, 9 RBI) for an extra lefty stick… (deep breath) … Evan Van Hoy (.211, 0 HR, 7 RBI). Game 1 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C R. Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – CF Suzuki – P Wolinsky DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – 1B D. Martinez – 3B K. Leon – C Ater – RF D. Wright – 2B B. Oliver – P Whetsell Portland got an unearned 1-0 lead and a Van Hoy sac fly in the second inning when Waters reached on an error, Crispin doubled, and for once, just once, they didn’t croak 1-2-3. At least not without a sac fly by a random quad-A bum. It was of course all for nothing, because Bubba Wolinsky was just plain old awful again, put on Kenny Leon and Mike Ater in the bottom 2nd, and then got taken well deep by the #8 hitter, Brian Oliver for his second homer of the season. Wolinsky still made it through seven in the inning, simply because the Stars hit the ball hard, but right at people for the next five innings. They were held to six hits through seven innings, and the three runs they already had, but that also figured to be enough, with the Coons on five hits, hardly reaching base, and when they did, they were caught stealing, like Lonzo in the sixth and Waters in the seventh… Suzuki chipped a 1-out single in the eighth to bring the tying run back to the plate. Lamotta batted for Wolinsky and hit a double into the left-center gap, placing the tying runs in scoring position, but I had seen that movie before. Watt hit a sac fly to left, but Lonzo popped out to Dario Martinez, and the tying run was left on. Dallas pulled the run back with a Dario Martinez double off Sencion, and a 2-out RBI single Ater clipped to right against Porter in the bottom 8th, 4-2, but against Dale Mrazek in the ninth the Raccoons didn’t get beyond a Waters single and stranding him on second base anyway… 4-2 Stars. Waters 2-4; Lamotta (PH) 1-1, 2B; Game 2 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C R. Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – CF Suzuki – P Salcido DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – RF D. Martinez – C A. Mercado – 3B K. Leon – 1B Umbreiro – 2B Gould – P Ru. Guzman Maldo doubled home Lonzo for his 50th RBI of the year in the first inning, but Salcido was on a losing run, and I had no hopes. Salcido held on for two innings, however, even though that took him over 40 pitches with many long counts, and then the Raccoons added to the lead (!). Maldo hit another double in the top 3rd, leading off, and Waters walked. They were on the corners two outs later, when Van Hoy snuck a shy RBI single. Guzman casually walked Suzuki to fill them up with two outs for Salcido, who was hitting .234 with a homer, but grounded out to Ricardo Martinez. Maldo hit ANOTHER double his next time up, then plating Lonzo again for a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Lonzo having also hit a double over the head of Omar Gonzalez. And then it all went bust at once, once more. Dario Martinez opened the bottom 4th with a homer to right, 3-1. Anton Mercado singled to left. Salcido walked all of the next three batters, pushing home a run with a free pass to Thomas Gould, and then had Guzman at 1-2, but gave up a 2-run single to flip the score to 4-3 Dallas. Gonzalez popped out and Ricardo Martinez hit into a double play after that, but I was stunned, with my snout agape, and I didn’t move or blink until the seventh inning stretch, which at least meant I caught nothing of the 6-spot the Stars put on Salcido and Porter in the fifth inning, or of Maldo’s fourth double of the day in the top 6th. He was having way too much fun, though, trying to get a triple and was thrown out by Gonzalez. The Stars, once up 10-3, shifted back two gears, with the Raccoons making no obvious rally noises. The only thing still to look forward to for us was Maldo’s fifth plate appearance in the ninth inning, where he came up against righty Alex Mancilla with one out and nobody on base because why would there be anybody on base? He popped out. Waters reached on an error, but Crispin was rung up. 10-3 Stars. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Maldonado 4-5, 4 2B, 2 RBI; Van Hoy 2-4, RBI; Miles 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Yes, Maldo, your ice bath is over there. Your schnitzel plate today is on me though. That was the most fun we had all year. – Victor, I don’t think you should bicker about your no-hitter now after THIS ***** start! Game 3 POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Hall DAL: CF O. Gonzalez – SS R. Martinez – LF del Toro – 1B D. Martinez – C A. Mercado – 3B K. Leon – RF Umbreiro – 2B B. Oliver – P Pickett This would have been Merino’s turn, but I didn’t want to see any of him right now. Three singles through the right side and a Maldonado error made it 2-0 in the bottom 1st anyway. The Coons loaded the bags with their 5-6-7 batters and one out in the top 2nd, but Juan Jimenez found the double play, 6-4-3, with no issue. Hall went only five innings, steadily leaking runners, with five hits and three walks against him. He allowed only one more run though, when Anton Mercado drove home Juan del Toro in the bottom 3rd, so the score was obviously 3-0 after five innings. Maldo did come up as the tying run in the sixth though, after Pickett walked Watt and Lonzo doubled to center, and with nobody out. Maldo popped out, Waters grounded out, and Crispin was rung up. Only Waters got home a run, his 55th RBI of the year, which was the sad-sack team lead. The Stars answered by tearing Danny Landeta a new one, driving three hits and notching a walk in the bottom 6th, then ran themselves out of the inning on Ricardo Martinez’ 2-out double to right. Oliver scored from third, but Gonzalez was thrown out trying to do the same by Maldo, ending the inning at 5-1. Sencion and Hitchcock would add scoreless relief after that as if there was still something to win here. In fact, Pickett went on to pitch a complete-game 4-hitter… 5-1 Stars. In other news August 8 – It’s a cycle for SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.288, 13 HR, 59 RBI), who goes 4-for-4 in a 5-4 win over the Warriors, connecting for every hit once and driving in all the Sacramento runs. It’s the third cycle in the ABL this year, and the second ever for the Scorpions (Pablo Sanchez, 2021). August 8 – Loggers outfielder Will McIntyre (.302, 8 HR, 55 RBI) knocks out five hits and knocks in five runs in a 14-7 shootout win over the Indians, also missing the cycle by the triple. August 9 – SAL OF Mike Gray (.254, 4 HR, 20 RBI) is ruled out for the season with a concussion. August 13 – SFB RF Joe Ritchey (.225, 16 HR, 57 RBI) is also out for the year with a concussion. August 14 – OCT SP Juan Ramos (15-5, 2.57 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals for a 6-0 shutout win. He strikes out eight. August 14 – The Warriors have only three hits in ten innings against the Titans, but squeeze out a 1-0 win on a walkoff sac fly for Julio Moriel (.324, 3 HR, 35 RBI), bringing in 1B Jason Schaack (.250, 3 HR, 22 RBI), who had landed the team’s third and final hit with a leadoff double in that bottom 10th. FL Player of the Week: SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.292, 14 HR, 63 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 8 RBI CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF/1B Will McIntyre (.312, 9 HR, 60 RBI), batting .600 (15-25) with 2 HR, 10 RBI Complaints and stuff I hope you enjoyed National Concussion Week. I didn’t. Hit my head against the doorframe with vigor and repeatedly in the hotel in Dallas and also at home at various times this week, so maybe the booze is masking the symptoms from that. Also, can someone answer that ringing phone, please? We won a game on a walkoff balk and apart from that were outromped, 34-11 in terms of runs. Only two games were even vaguely close. Would Ed Crispin have made us a winner at all if Stabile hadn’t balked home the winning run on Wednesday? Nah. And now – another 44 games of THAT. Next up: 2-week homestand with the Caps, Elks, Titans, and Falcons, all 3-game sets. What do you mean, Maud, the phone is not ringing? Fun Fact:** Jesus Maldonado became the fourth Raccoon to hit four doubles in a game, and he’s by far the least annoying one of the four. Nobody had done it in almost 50 years, by the way. Glenn Johnston hit four doubles in a game in September 1989, which was when we still liked him (a month later, not so much). Daniel Richardson had a 4-double game in 2000, his sole lackluster season in Portland. Chris Roberson had four doubles in a 2002 game; he was also short-lived in Portland, but most people not named Clyde Brady, the Avatar of Losing, were in the 2000s. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

10-03-2022, 04:09 PM	#4000
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,779	Monday was an off day for the Raccoons, who sent Alan Puckeridge on a rehab assignment to begin the week, thus emptying their DL. Raccoons (52-66) vs. Capitals (49-68) – August 16-18, 2050 As this series began on Tuesday, both teams sat in last place in their divisions. The weird thing was that the Capitals were ranked second-best in not allowing runs in the Federal League with a really stingy pitching staff. On the flip side of the coin, they were glued to the 3.4 mark in terms of runs scored, and had a -75 run differential despite all that good pitching. The teams had last met in 2048, with Washington taking two of three games then. Projected matchups: Jason Wheatley (8-8, 3.92 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (9-10, 4.31 ERA) Bubba Wolinsky (5-12, 4.39 ERA) vs. Bruce Mark jr. (7-14, 3.30 ERA) Victor Salcido (11-6, 3.60 ERA) vs. Nick Young (8-9, 5.22 ERA) Young was a lefty, as was the #19 prospect Kennedy Adkins (8-7, 2.81 ERA), who we were not scheduled to meet in this series. Game 1 WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – RF E. Luna – LF Vesey – 3B Higareda – P Ellis POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – P Wheatley Wheats expended just 30 pitches to dispatch the Caps in order once through, with one strikeout, while the Raccoons in three innings scattered four hits and plated no runs. Maldo flew out to very deep center to keep Watt and Lonzo stranded in the bottom 3rd. Wheatley retired the first 13 batters of the game, but then Ivan Dominguez put a 3-2 pitch through the hole on the right side for a single. Eddy Luna, recently a Critter, hit into a fielder’s choice, Jim Vesey hit an infield single, but Adrian Higareda grounded out to Lonzo to keep everybody on base. The Coons only reached again when Watt walked in the bottom 6th, but got doubled up by Lonzo. In a game of nothing, Bill Jenkins homered to left in the top 7th just as rain began to fall for what figured to be the only run on the day – and it was. A rain delay was called just minutes later, and the game didn’t emerge from it. HOWEVER – since the Caps had not scored their run until that same inning, the game was not official and had to be resumed on Wednesday. Not that that made Wheats any happier. Game 1 (resumed) WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – RF E. Luna – LF Vesey – 3B Higareda – P Dow POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – P Ponce The Raccoons went to Ponce, who inherited one out, nobody on, and a 2-2 count to Luna, and got two groundouts from him and Vesey to exit the inning. The Raccoons then managed to get singles from Evan Van Hoy and Lonzo in the bottom 8th to actually tie up the game, and then Lonzo was caught stealing to end the inning. Hitchcock held the fort in the eighth and ninth, despite issuing an uncharacteristic three walks, but the 3-4-5 were retired in order in the bottom 9th to send the game to extras, because that was what we needed – more Wednesday innings… The Coons gave the ball to Paul Miles to pitch as long as he’d please, which would leave four relievers for the actual Wednesday game. The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, getting Gonzalez on with a single, Van Hoy on balls, and Mitch Sivertson, who had entered in a double switch for Crispin, with another single. Watt batted with one gone, whiffed, but Lonzo chipped a cheap single to shallow center to end the ballgame. 2-1 Critters. Lavorano 3-5, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4; Sivertson 1-1; Wheatley 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K; Game 2 WAS: SS Tamargo – 2B I. Dominguez – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – RF E. Luna – 3B Higareda – C R. Zamora – LF de la Torre – P Mark jr. POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky Even the Capitals could score off Bubba Wolinsky, though, getting two runs in the second inning as Bill Jenkins singled, Eddy Luna tripled, and scored on a groundout by Ruben Zamora. Bruce Mark jr. whacked a leadoff double in the third inning and scored on a 2-out single by Galvan. Yup, Wolinsky was hittable, and much so. He couldn’t bunt either, finding Van Hoy and Jimenez on second and first, respectively, and bunted into a force at third base, and in the end the Coons didn’t score in the inning. Higareda homered in the fourth, while the Raccoons got three singles, Van Hoy getting an RBI single with two outs to keep the distance at three runs, 4-1. Nevertheless, Wolinsky fumbled his way through seven innings, and didn’t surrender any more runs. That didn’t mean the Coons rallied before the stretch, or immediately after. Matt Watt, in a slump as deep as the Grand Canyon, walked to lead off the bottom 8th, but then was doubled off by Lonzo, who also just couldn’t get unstuck in August. Two scoreless innings from Danny Landeta went to waste when Mikio Suzuki hit a double in the bottom 9th, but Raul Cornejo struck out the other three Coons that stumbled into the box. 4-1 Capitals. Waters 2-4; Landeta 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Will this season ever end? Will the pain ever cease? I ran out of Asbestos… We saw Adkins on Thursday after all, as the Caps flipped southpaws in their rotation. As if we needed another incentive to not hit. Game 3 WAS: SS Tamargo – C Korfhage – CF N. Galvan – 1B B. Jenkins – 2B I. Dominguez – LF D. Diaz – RF de la Torre – 3B Higareda – P Adkins POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Salcido The Coons squeezed out a pair in the second inning putting their first two batters, Glodowski and Lamotta, on the corners. They had already done that in the first inning with Lonzo and John Castner, but then had whiffed twice and popped once, but Mitch Sivertson’s fielder’s choice to short got a run home. Sivertson stole second, then was singled home by Lonzo, who also stole second, but was stranded by Castner’s groundout to short. A Bill Jenkins double and two productive outs gave the Caps a run in the fourth to cut the lead in half, but Salcido gave himself a cushion again when he singled to center with Glodowski on second and two outs in the home half of the inning, 3-1. Salcido looked kinda fine at this stage, then threw well over 20 pitches in the fifth inning, which he artificially and clumsily extended with two full-count walks to Oscar Tamargo and Mitch Korfhage with two gone already. Nelson Galvan then popped out. I also wished to pop out and go somewhere nice, but I was kinda pinched in on the brown couch between Slappy and Honeypaws and didn’t want to inconvenience anybody… A Lonzo error and another clumsy walk pushed Salcido to almost 100 pitches in the top 6th, but when Sivertson singled ahead of him in the bottom 6th he was called on to bunt. Salcido failed at that, but then slapped a single with two strikes on him. (shrugs) Whatever ***** works, at this point, I just don’t care. The single led nowhere with Lonzo whiffing and Castner popping out, and instead Jaden Richards and Oscar Tamargo opened the seventh with singles against him. Preston Porter replaced him, filled them up with a Korfhage single to center, then got a grounder to short from Galvan which Lonzo tossed away carelessly, scoring the first run. Walking Jenkins scored another, tied game. Exit Porter, enter Sencion, and can someone please press this pillow firmly on my face until I stop muffling? Sencion got a double play… AFTER Dominguez singled home two more. The Caps posted four (three earned) and led 5-3 at the stretch, which was also enough, since the Raccoons would not get another base runner in the game. 5-3 Capitals. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Raccoons (53-68) vs. Canadiens (81-39) – August 19-21, 2050 Man, two straight 1-5 weeks, huh? I had no illusions. The Elks were only up 7-4 this year, but I had no clue how we planned to keep them from taking the season series in our ballpark. They had … everything, including the division in the bag. First in runs scored, first in runs allowed, +197 run differential. It was slightly nauseating. Projected matchups: Danny Hall (2-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (12-4, 3.17 ERA) Victor Merino (5-14, 4.33 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (10-5, 3.63 ERA) Jason Wheatley (8-8, 3.82 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (15-5, 2.46 ERA) De Anda was the runt of the litter in that rotation, also the only southpaw we’d see on this weekend. Maybe the last southpaw I’d ever see. (calmly knots a rope while sitting on the trusty brown couch) Game 1 VAN: LF Escobido – 1B S. Henderson – 3B Burgos – RF Toohey – SS Mullen – C Julio Diaz – CF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P Godinez POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – P Hall Danny Hall hit two batters in the first three innings, Jesus Burgos in the first and Sterling Henderson in the third, but the Elks didn’t amount to much actual hitting with the sticks, and the Raccoons managed to score first on their maiden base hit, a 2-out RBI single by Matt Watt in the bottom 3rd, chasing home Ricky Lamotta, who had walked and been bunted to second. The Elks were still down on one base hit to begin the sixth inning, with only one strikeout for Hall either, and then a leadoff walk to Henderson put the tying run on base. Burgos – who had a pair of 5-hit games already this week – singled, but Bryce Toohey, down 1-2 in the count, slapped one at Crispin for a 5-4-3 double play. Dan Mullen came through though, doubling to left with two gone to tie the game at one at once. And that was it for Hall, who added a 1-2-3 seventh, and had to settle for fighting the Elks to a draw, with both teams on three hits and a run through seven innings. Jerry Outram pinch-hit against Hitchcock to begin the eighth, singled, but was forced out by Henderson and the inning fizzled out for Elk City. Castner and Lonzo reached base in the bottom 8th against Godinez, but Maldo struck out and the inning ended. Willie Cruz had the ninth, was bombarded with lefty pinch-hitters, and walked two of them, Tyler Tomasello and Nate Oden, but still got out of the inning when Bob Montana grounded out to Crispin for the third out. Waters popped out against righty Ruben Mendez to begin the bottom 9th, but Crispin and Suzuki slapped singles to put the winning run 90 feet away…! We sniffed an opening, but the only lefty stick on the bench was Evan Van Hoy. Oh what the heck. Van Hoy pinch-hit for Ruben Gonzalez, hit the bejesus out of a fastball by Mendez, and walked off the Critters with a 430-footer…!!! 4-1 Furballs!! Suzuki 2-4; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1; Hall 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; (sits motionless on the brown couch with enormously big eyes) Game 2 VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 3B Burgos – SS Mullen – C Julio Diaz – 1B S. Henderson – RF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P de Anda POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Merino Dan Mullen’s sac fly put the Elks up 1-0 after Tomasello and Burgos reached base against the habitually hapless Merino, but the Elks also had their lapses, like getting caught stealing twice in the third inning. Nick DeMarco was nipped trying to take third base, and Tomasello was thrown out in a bid for second to end the inning, Ruben Gonzalez not taking **** from anybody. Merino though remained useless, unable even to bunt Mitch Sivertson to second when it was his first turn at the plate in the bottom 3rd. Sivertson was forced out at second base, and the Coons didn’t score in the inning. The defense kept Merino together for a while, although Sterling Henderson eventually doubled home a run in the sixth inning. Turns out, lacking any sort of stuff didn’t play for very long against the Elks – nor did having no offense, with Portland still stuck on one base hit through five and thus behind 2-0. Watt batted for Merino as the bottom 6th broke, walked, was forced out by Lonzo, and while Lonzo stole his 49th of the year, he was also stranded like that because WE COULDN’T GET A *** HIT!! The game moved out of reach in the eighth, when the Elks, after passing on roughing up Porter, instead hit singles off Ponce with Burgos and Mullen, then had Julio Diaz cram a double into the rightfield corner to drive both of them in. Hitchcock came in, but conceded the third run of the inning on a 2-out single by Tim Burkhart. De Anda didn’t stumble until there were only four outs to go, conceding a 2-out double to Lonzo in the bottom 8th. Juan Jimenez singled home Lonzo, Maldo hit another single, but Waters flew out to center, stranding two. Nobody even reached to get stranded against Sam Gibson in the ninth. 5-1 Canadiens. Jimenez (PH) 1-1, RBI; I asked around whether anybody could remember the Raccoons scoring a bunch of runs in a game. Turns out they had done so ONCE all month, in a 7-6 win in Tijuana on August 3. Cristiano knew it, of course, he’s one of those supersmart kids with glasses. Except that he has no glasses, just the wheelchair. And I occasionally just push him out of the room when him being always right annoys me. Right now, everything annoys me. No Maud, that’s alright. – Yes, the banging in the closet outside in the hall is perfectly fine. – No, don’t investigate. – Maud, no! Maud…! – Great, now you let the know-it-all on wheels out again…! Game 3 VAN: LF Escobido – CF Tomasello – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – 2B DeMarco – P Herman POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – LF Watt – C Jimenez – P Wheatley The thin crowd politely applauded a Bryce Toohey homer that made it 1-0 Elks in the first, but showed little emotion when Nick DeMarco doubled home two in the second inning, as Wheatley looked like he had absolutely nothing. Burgos and Mullen scored, 3-0, while Waters walked and Watt singled in the bottom 2nd, the latter with two outs. Juan Jimenez hit an RBI single to center to bring in Waters, while Wheats had to bat with the tying runs on, flying out to Outram. Wheatley struck out Outram in the top 3rd, but otherwise got waffled for three more hits and two more runs driven in by Julio Diaz. It was all just so hopeless. Or maybe not? Bottom 3rd, Crispin and Waters were on the corners with a walk and a single and two outs, and then the Coons almost faked a rally. Maybe it was doppelgangers. Suzuki hit an RBI single to left-center. Glodowski chopped one to the other side. Watt walked, filling them up for Jimenez, who whacked a 2-0 pitch to deep left … and to Angel Escobido, ending the inning with a 5-3 score and three runners stranded. Wheatley didn’t make it out of the fourth, conceding another run on an Escobido walk, Tomasello single, and a wild pitch. Eloy Sencion struck out Outram to end the damn inning, down 6-3. Sencion, Landeta, Miles, and Porter then put together a string of zeroes on the board in another stunning display of uselessly competent (or competently useless) relief after yet another starting pitcher had been doused with gasoline and lit on fire. Same for the Elks, though. Herman held up through seven, and Tim Abraham and Sam Gibson finished out the game without allowing another filthy Critter on base. 6-3 Canadiens. Waters 2-3, BB; Watt 1-1, BB; Miles 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; In other news August 16 – PIT 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.321, 6 HR, 64 RBI) will miss two weeks with a herniated disc. August 17 – Vancouver’s 3B Jesus Burgos (.313, 10 HR, 71 RBI) drives in four runs on five base hits in a 9-5 win over the Blue Sox. August 18 – Vancouver’s 3B Jesus Burgos (.320, 11 HR, 75 RBI) drives in four runs on five base hits in a 14-5 win over the Blue Sox – this time even including a home run. August 21 – A strained hammy would cost LAP RF Matt Diskin (.321, 16 HR, 59 RBI) a month of play. FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.327, 19 HR, 88 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 4 HR, 7 RBI CL Player of the Week: VAN 3B Jesus Burgos (.321, 11 HR, 75 RBI), swatting .615 (16-26) with 2 HR, 8 RBI Complaints and stuff There is not a lot to say. We have scored more than four runs in ONE of our last 20 games. And we are 6-14 accordingly. And I don’t even have injuries to blame it on. Alan Puckeridge will return when the Titans come into town on Tuesday, and then we will have no injured major leaguers anymore… Another 38, Cristiano? Great. Was that necessary? Fun Fact:** Victor Merino might become only the second Raccoon to ever lose 20 games in a season. If I don’t sink him in the Willamette before he gets there. Gary Simmons did it in 1981, as a 23-year-old, posting a stellar 3-21 record with a not too shabby (but still shabby) 4.60 ERA in 31 games (30 starts). Those were the last starts of Simmons’ career. He was traded to the Blue Sox after not appearing in the majors at all in 1982, and then enjoyed an 11-year run as reliever, ending up with a 52-64 record, 3.44 ERA, and 28 saves, most prominently as a Knight. Nobody else has lost more than 18 games in a season as a Raccoon. That includes Juan Berrios in 1977 (same year he pitched a no-hitter against the Loggers), “Old Chris” Powell in 1978 (but he had his number retired eventually, so he had to be doing something right), Ralph Ford in 2004 (when he actually pitched much better than in ’03), and by Bobby Guerrero in 2022. Yeah, I’ve now run out of nice things to say. Guerrero was just gnarly, like Merino now, lacking stuff, guile, and luck all at the same time, when he was in his second go-around with the Coons. He was actually fairly good as a deadline pickup in 2018-19 (but with nagging injuries), but was then traded to Vegas after the 2020 playoff bid shattered in game #164 on the Loggers, but mostly Nick Lester. We got Matt Hamilton for him, who had a fine half-season, but proved no help against the general decline of the team. Hamilton was then flicked to the Caps for two players, including Omar Alfaro, who had an age named after him at age 22, and was out of baseball as a 30-year-old. The trades we do! (nervously looks at Oscar Rivera’s non-production in AAA) Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.