Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-70) vs. Titans (69-54) – August 23-25, 2050

Following another Monday off, the slowpoke Raccoons had the Titans in the house, who were 14 games out of the damn Elks and could just as well have stayed home. They were seventh in runs scored, but with a strong and sturdy pitching staff that would surely extend the Raccoons extended scoring drought. It was good for a +97 run differential after all (Coons: -80). The Titans were two wins away from taking the season series for the first time since 2041, coming in at 8-4.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.43 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (7-2, 1.66 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-6, 3.64 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (7-10, 4.07 ERA)
Danny Hall (2-3, 3.09 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (11-6, 3.10 ERA)

Two left-handers and a right-hander, maybe. With an off day, you never know. Southpaw David Barel (12-10, 2.67 ERA) would be next in line.

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

Turpeau was a 23-year-old rookie that had made 27 appearances with 11 starts so far this season after a cameo in ’49. He was living on a .240 BABIP that didn’t really go up on this Tuesday, either. Jason Monson doubled home Nate Massey with two outs in the first inning, and that was the only run in the first five innings of this game, as Wolinsky kinda looked semi-competent for once, while the Raccoons offense decidedly did not. Tony Lopez’ 17th homer of the year increased the lead to 2-0 in the sixth, but the Raccoons actually made that up in the bottom of the same inning. Held to two hits through five, they added two more to tie the game with a Waters single and Ruben Gonzalez’ first homer in three and a half months.

The seventh was even honors between Wolinsky and Turpeau, with no runners on base for either team, after which Bubba had to settle for a no-decision on account of 106 pitches thrown. Hitchcock held off the Titans in the top 8th, after which the bottom 8th saw both Lonzo and Waters caught stealing, and yet the Coons went up 3-2 on three singles. Those two and Castner notched the knocks, with Waters driving home Castner before getting nipped at second base himself. Willie Cruz got the ball in the ninth, was almost taken deep by Chris Jimenez as the leadoff man, but the ball was caught on the track by Mitch Sivertson. Lopez and Monson made easy outs to end the game. 3-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Waters 2-3, BB, RBI; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

Our weekly win, yay!

There was a skip in the Titans rotation indeed, with Kyle Turay moved up to the middle game, thus giving us a look at a right-hander.

Game 2
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF Mangual – P Turay
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – LF Watt – C J. Jimenez – P Salcido

The good: Salcido rallied a bit from recent mediocre outings and struck out eight against four base hits in five shutout innings. The bad: he needed 88 pitches to get even that far. The ugly: the Coons were hitless through four, bringing up the bare minimum with Juan Jimenez walking and getting doubled off by Salcido. Maldo had hit a deep fly to left, but that was caught, and the Coons only got a hit when Waters singled to lead off the bottom 5th, then was immediately forced out by Mikio Suzuki with a grounder, and the inning led absolutely nowhere.

Top 6th. Chris Jimenez drew a full-count walk with one out, the first offered by Salcido in the game. Tony Lopez then fought for nine pitches before snipping a single to center. There was a meeting on the mound, after which Monson hit a grounder to Waters for a fielder’s choice at second base, all on the first pitch. Looking good, Salcido can see Ryan Youngquist, too! Youngquist popped a bloop to shallow right, Waters and Glodowski converged, and it dropped between them for an RBI single. The Titans went up, 1-0, and nobody was happy. Salcido hung around for Alejandro Silva, who lasted four pitches before popping a bloop to shallow right, Waters and Glodowski converged, and this time Waters was a little closer, diving for the ball, and into Glodowksi’s legs, catching a snoutful of knee, but not the ball, and with Glodowski tumbling towards the infield now, collecting the deflected ball was left to Suzuki, allowing for a 2-run double. Nobody was happy, it was 3-0, and I went up to hide in a closet until all the mean baseball people would be gone and leave me alone.

Well, at least Maldo would still try his very best, even with his GM that had signed off on that luxurious $38.5M contract a while back no longer watching. Maldo found Crispin on base in the seventh, homered to right-center, and cut the gap to 3-2. That was still the score in the bottom 9th with Jordan Ramos pitching for Boston. Ed Crispin popped out to begin the inning, but Maldo socked a double to left. Waters walked, but Suzuki grounded out, advancing the tying and winning runs both into scoring position. Ruben Gonzalez batted for Glodowski with two outs, but grounded out to short. 3-2 Titans. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB;

The lefty Scott did get his turn after all, but in the rubber game. Maud had even coaxed me out of the closet with a fresh apple pie, which I appreciated very much. I didn’t appreciate that we were still more than a month from the merciful end of the season so much.

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

Danny Hall pitched two scoreless innings and nothing more, disappearing in favor of Paul Miles with an undisclosed injury afterwards. He took over a 1-0 lead thanks to a homer by Ed Crispin, which Maldo expanded with a Lamotta-plating RBI double in the third inning. There was not much more early offense to talk about, nor any much offense for Boston, with Miles throwing four shutout innings on 56 pitches in long relief. We got the seventh from Hitchcock and asked for the eighth from Eloy Sencion. He struck out Elias Rodriguez to begin the inning, got Alejandro Silva as well, but then stumbled and lost Chris Jimenez and Tony Lopez to 2-out walks in full counts. Willie Cruz came on early with the tying runs on and four outs to collect, as well as the switch-hitting Monson in the box. Monson blasted his 16th homer of the year to flip the score. Well, wasn’t that a *loud* blown save…! Cruz struck out a pair in the top 9th, but here was Cristiano Carmona already nagging me again that Hitchcock should be the actual closer because of these and those numbers. There was a bottom 9th still to go, with Jordan Ramos out on the mound again. Crispin’s floater to left was dropped by a stumbling Ruben Mangual, putting the tying run on first base right away. Watt popped out, Suzuki grounded to short to kill the lead runner, and the third pinch-hitter in a row would be Evan Van Hoy, who had hit that walkoff against the damn Elks on Friday prior. At 1-1, a wild pitch moved Suzuki into scoring position, but Ramos recovered and struck out Van Hoy to take the series and season series. 3-2 Titans. Crispin 2-4, HR, RBI; Hall 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Miles 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K;

(bangs both fists on the desk) SCORE SOME RUNS, YOU BUMS!!!

Yes, Maud, I will munch another tray of apple pie.

(munches his pie angrily)

Raccoons (55-72) vs. Falcons (57-70) – August 26-28, 2050

We were down 4-2 in the season series and well on our way to lose a fifth straight season series to the Falcons, who were otherwise routinely very crummy. They had the worst team batting average in the CL but still managed to sit eighth in runs scored by playing small ball better than most. They gave up the second-most runs, however, with the rotation and pen both over four in terms of ERA, and in the bottom quarter of the league. Omar Marroquin, Manny Castillo, and a few fringe guys were on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-15, 4.28 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (3-2, 3.71 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-9, 4.07 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (11-9, 4.04 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.35 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (5-12, 4.16 ERA)

No righty scheduled to appear against us here.

For Friday, Mitch Sivertson (.174, 0 HR, 2 RBI) departed to be replaced by Alan Puckeridge, who had batted .265 with 4 HR and 35 RBI before a lengthy DL stint and rehab term in St. Pete. There was not an actual game on Friday though on account of dousing rain that postponed the opener into a double header on Thursday, which also got the pitchers flipped in their order, Wheats going ahead of Merino. The Falcons fell into step though, and moved Takagi to the opener as well.

At this point, Dr. Padilla had no definite news on Danny Hall yet, but the Raccoons put him on the DL anyway to get an extra arm up for the double header, which turned out to be right-hander Mike Snyder, the #21 pick in the 2047 draft. He had a devastating curveball, but only a middling cutter on top of that, and starting hadn’t worked out for him at all. He had a 3.95 ERA in 41 innings in AAA this year.

Game 1
CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – SS Woodrome – 3B Wilken – LF Allegood – C Gowin – CF Caballero – 1B E. Miller – P Takagi
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – CF Suzuki – P Wheatley

The weather was still mucky on Saturday, as were the Raccoons. Oscar Ceballos opened the game with a double to left and scored on two productive outs, and the Raccoons got Lonzo, who stole his 50th base, and Crispin on to begin the bottom 1st, and then croaked with their 3-4-5 batters to score nobody. Puckeridge stranded three more in his return to the big league lineup in the bottom 3rd, which Wheats opened with a single, so it had to lead nowhere of course. Crispin singled, was forced out by Maldo, and Waters was nicked, but, alas, Puckeridge flew out too easily to right to end the inning.

The rain returned in the fourth, and by the fifth we were in an hourlong rain delay that ended the day of the starters, all still in a 1-0 game. Paul Miles chipped in an inning in the sixth and got in line for the W when Puckeridge came through big in the bottom of the inning, homering to right with Matt Waters aboard to flip the score to 2-1 Portland. Mike Snyder made his ABL debut in the seventh inning, walking Ian Woodrome before whiffing both Randy Wilken and Mike Allegood to get out of the inning himself. It was still 2-1 through seven, and with wet Wheats withdrawing weirdly early, the Raccoons turned to Kevin Hitchcock and asked for two innings to still have some arms left over for Merino’s probably putrid performance pending in the second game. Oscar Caballero reached on a throwing error by Waters in the eighth, but Hitchcock worked around that, and Randy Wilken made a throwing error in the bottom of the eighth, yet that one was more costly, coming with Waters and Puckeridge in scoring position after reaching base and executing a double steal. Both runs scored, 4-1, as the ball got all the way into rightfield. The additional cushion did nothing to derail Hitchcock, who completed the six-out save unfazed. 4-1 Critters. Waters 2-3, 2B; Wheatley 4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 1-1; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (3);

Game 2
CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – SS E. Miller – LF Marroquin – CF Caballero – C T. Alvarez – 1B Allegood – P C. Jones
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Merino

Merino, the bum, threw 30 pitches in the first inning, walking three and allowing a hit and a run, the latter scoring on a groundout by Omar Marroquin, who had come off the DL between games. Lonzo grounded out to begin the Coons’ turn in batting, but then the 2-3-4-5 batters reeled off four straight singles, with an RBI for Matt Waters to tie the game. Glodowski then killed the effort with a double play grounder, 6-4-3. He also lined out to Eric Miller to end the bottom 2nd with the bases full after the Coons went up 4-2, countering Mike Allegood’s leadoff jack in the top 2nd and then some. Juan Jimenez tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom 2nd, and Crispin singled home two more to take the lead. Merino, meanwhile, continued to display utter ignorance to the general game situation, and tossed like he was emptying a chamber pot for a living. He needed 69 pitches through three innings, allowing three hits, four walks, and threw a wild pitch. He walked Allegood to begin the fourth, with me gnashing my teeth being clearly audible on the NWSN feed of the game, but then Chris Jones bummed a bunt for a double play. The inning after, he walked Miller, and by then, his mere face on the screen made me mad as heck.

Maldo batted for Merino with Glodowski and Jimenez (who had forced out Suzuki with a grounder to third) and two gone in the bottom 5th, but flew out easily, so at least the burning anger at Merino could subside. Ponce and Porter held the fort for the next two innings, and then the Raccoons did something they hadn’t done in *24* ******* days – they scored a fifth run! In one game!! Evan Van Hoy singled home Glodowski to make it a 5-2 game in the seventh! The scenes! The oohs and awws! – Yes, Maud, I will take a calm-down pill. (drops it into his bottle of Capt’n Coma)

So of course the lead was blown in the eighth then. Eric Miller opened with a single to right, and a Crispin error added Marroquin. Porter served up a 2-run triple to Caballero, who scored on Tony Alvarez’ groundout to even the score at five. The calm-down pill wore off rapidly, while the Raccoons were on their second-to-last reliever by the ninth inning, and then squeezed every drop of juice out of Willie Cruz for three innings, all the way through the 11th, the bottom of which Lonzo opened with a 1-2 single up the middle against lefty Carlos Castillo, then stole his 52nd base. The Falcons walked Crispin with intent, but all that did was to allow Puckeridge to hit the walkoff, a single to right-center. 6-5 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, BB, 2B; Crispin 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-6, RBI; Waters 2-5, RBI; Suzuki 2-2, 3 BB; Glodowski 2-5; Van Hoy 2-5, 2B, RBI; Cruz 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, W (6-5);

Eloy Sencion was the last guy in the pen and would have taken over in the 12th inning – and there were only four starters on the roster, either, so it was slim pickings at that point.

There it was – this team made me wish back to having a Preston Pinkerton on the roster…!!

By Sunday we had confirmation that Danny Hall’s season was over with a tear in his triceps needing treatment, thus ending his campaign on seven starts and a 2-3 record and 2.92 ERA. Not shabby.

Not Merino.

Southpaw Andy Overy (10-11, 4.42 ERA) then got the call for Sunday after all. At this rate, however, not even a Southpaw Sunday could excite me anymore.

Game 3
CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – 3B Wilken – SS E. Miller – LF Marroquin – CF Caballero – C Gowin – 1B Allegood – P Overy
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – RF Glodowski – LF Watt – P Wolinsky

The Raccoons stranded two in the second when Watt grounded out, but took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Sunday… in a bit of a weird way. Wolinsky opened the inning by singling to right, and Lonzo was nicked at 0-2. Lamotta grounded into a fielder’s choice, moving Wolinsky to third, then was caught trying to steal second base. Maldo grounded to right with two gone, reaching on a throwing error by Allegood, which scored the run, and then Matt Waters singled to right, but Maldo was thrown out trying to score from second, hammered out at home plate by Mario Ceballos.

Bubba Wolinsky was nursing a 2-hitter at that point, and the Falcons didn’t reach base at all in the middle innings. Bubba had six strikeouts through six innings, walked Eric Miller with one out in the seventh, but then rung up Marroquin. Caballero would be his final batter, stepping into the box with Wolinsky on 99 pitches. Pitch #100 was promptly deposited into the stands in left, a score-flipping 2-run homer. Sencion replaced him in a double switch – Crispin went home, with Lamotta to third base and Suzuki batting ninth and playing center. A strikeout of Chris Gowin ended the inning, and after the stretch Glodowski socked a leadoff homer off Overy to tie the game at two. Randy Wilken’s throwing error then put Watt on second base, Suzuki singled, runners were on the corners with nobody out, and then Lonzo struck out and Lamotta lined out to Allegood, who doubled up a sleeping Suzuki, 3-unassisted. The Raccoons reached the corners with Waters and Puckeridge in the bottom 8th, but then Glodowski lined out to short…

Snyder had a scoreless ninth, walking the leadoff man Wilken, but getting a double play from Miller right away to keep the Falcons off the board and the game tied. The season series was still up for grabs in the bottom 9th, with righty Armando Romero and his 5.46 ERA in their second inning of work. He walked Watt to begin the inning, and Suzuki, too, to make it more interesting. Lonzo flew out to *deep* center, moving the winning run to third base. Juan Jimenez batted for an 0-for-4 Ricky Lamotta and hit a walkoff single to complete the sweep. 3-2 Raccoons! Jimenez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Glodowski 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Suzuki 1-1, BB; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K and 1-2;

In other news

August 23 – Rebels INF Landon Guillory (.292, 3 HR, 27 RBI) hits for the cycle in an 8-5 win over the Rebels, making it 4-for-4 with three runs batted in and an honorary walk in the ninth inning. Guillory hits for the fourth cycle in 2050, joining Todd Dau, Mike Pfeifer, and Mike Crenshaw, all in July and August.
August 23 – WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (9-14, 3.06 ERA) shines with a 3-hit shutout, whiffing five, in a 5-0 win over the Buffaloes.
August 24 – A partial tear in his labrum puts CIN SP Jameson Monk (10-9, 5.28 ERA) out for the remainder of the season, but he should be ready for Opening Day in 2051.
August 24 – A walkoff single by infielder Vittorio Riario (.264, 5 HR, 47 RBI) gives the Buffaloes a 4-3 win over the Capitals after both teams blew ninth-inning leads earlier.
August 25 – ATL SP Kodai Koga (9-12, 3.07 ERA) 2-hits the Condors in a 9-0 rout, striking out six Tijuana batters.
August 26 – The Indians score two runs in the top of the 11th inning to break a 7-7 tie with the Aces, but the Aces roar back for four runs, topped with a 3-run walkoff homer by 1B/LF/RF Aubrey Austin (.216, 7 HR, 48 RBI) for an 11-9 Aces win.
August 27 – The Canadiens acquire MR Nate Henderson (2-0, 4.83 ERA, 1 SV) in a waiver deal with the Warriors, who receive a pitching prospect.

FL Player of the Week: SAC INF Ricky Espinoza (.269, 17 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .577 (15-26) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF Juan Benavides (.280, 16 HR, 73 RBI), socking .381 (8-21) with 3 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons found the bottom of the pile in terms of runs scored this week, at least as far as the CL was concerned – the Caps and Wolves in the FL were scoring even less. I have seen a lot of **** in baseball with this team, but four 3-2 games (either way) in a week feels kinda new.

So the pitching has a solid month, but the offense was crap. Maybe September will see it flip back again and three 8-7 losses per week.

Once can hope? With Danny Hall out for the year, Kyle Brobeck is a solid bet for an extended September run. Not up in September: Rafael de la Cruz. The #2 prospect made the move to AAA this month, though, but the first four games haven’t gone so well. 13 walks in 19.1 innings, but also 19 strikeouts. The main issue, however, was no support for the barely 20-year-old righty: a .410 BABIP meant that every ******* ball fell in, and he went 1-2 with a 6.52 ERA for his debut outings.

We will on the road next week while rosters expand, visiting Atlanta and Milwaukee for more hopeless games.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons still have not scored more than four runs in a regulation ballgame in the entire month of August.

(groans!)

Last time was July 30 against San Fran when Willie Cruz cocked up four runs in trying to hold down a 6-5 lead in the ninth for what would have been a debut win for Kyle Brobeck.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-72) @ Knights (56-73) – August 29-31, 2050

The Knights had won five in a row and were well below where they should be given they were ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, and only had a -36 run differential, but sat 17 games under .500; the season series with the Critters was even, three wins a side.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (11-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (5-13, 4.72 ERA)
Paul Miles (4-2, 3.39 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (9-12, 3.07 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-9, 4.01 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (13-8, 3.10 ERA)

Southpaw on Wednesday in the season finale; all other Knights starters were right-handed. The Coons would ask for a spot start from Paul Miles, their waiver claim from a month earlier. Miles had never made a start in the majors, but had been a regular starter in the minors.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – P Salcido
ATL: C S. Green – LF van der Zanden – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – 2B Housey – CF A. Herrera – 1B V. Chavez – 3B Hornig – P E. Duran

Lonzo opened the week with a walk, was caught stealing, and while Ed Crispin hit a triple and Maldo an infield single, the Raccoons managed to strand runners on the corners without scoring when Waters struck out and Puckeridge grounded out. Salcido walked two in the bottom 1st, but wiggled out of that, and then gave himself the lead with a sac fly in the top 2nd, bringing in a run after a walk to Suzuki and a Glodowski double. He kept missing all over the place though, nailed Esteban Duran to begin the bottom 3rd, walked Sean Green, and gave up the tying run on Jon Alade’s single. The Coons had put Waters and Puckeridge on base in the top 3rd, but Ruben Gonzalez hit into a double play. The Coons didn’t reach again in the first five innings, which was as deep as Salcido managed to go with lots of long counts, four walks, and five strikeouts, and many, many, maaaany full counts.

Waters walked and Puckeridge singled to begin the sixth inning. This time Gonzalez drew another walk, making it three on, no outs, which had to go wrong in some way for sure. Suzuki flew out to center then, Waters went for home, and was thrown out by ex-Coon Armando Herrera – who hurt himself on the throw and had to be replaced by Steve Royer. The remaining runners moved up, with an intentional walk to Glodowski. Matt Watt batted for Salcido, lobbed a single over the head of Anton Venegas at short, and two runs scored, giving Salcido a claim for the W after all…! Lonzo ended the inning with a fly to Royer, who hit a sac fly with Jon Alade and Matt Housey on the corners, all on Hitchcock’s ledger, to shorten the score to 3-2. Hitchcock got another out, and Ponce collected five to complete eight innings, still up 3-2. The Raccoons kept bumbling chances away, f.e. in the top 8th with Suzuki hitting a leadoff single and getting doubled off by Glodowski immediately. Glodowski picked a Housey drive off the fence to begin the bottom 9th, but Willie Cruz found a way to sink regardless. Royer singled, Victor Chavez chucked a ball into the gap for an RBI triple, and the game was tied. Jeremy Hornig, batting a steady .119, grounded out poorly, keeping the winning run on third base still for a pinch-hitter, but Joe Besaw flew out to Suzuki.

Suzuki tore out a leg again upon hitting a leadoff double in the top 11th. He at first turned second base, but realized he had no shot against Arnout van der Zanden in the leftfield corner, and about-turned awkwardly, eventually hobbling off with Dr. Padilla. The Raccoons were out of outfielders at this point, but shifted Lamotta from left to center in the #5 spot (two double switches had jumbled the order a bit), Van Hoy went from first to left (where he had initially entered the game, batting ninth), and Gonzalez moved to first base, with Juan Jimenez taking up catching duties. The Coons never got the go-ahead run off second base, however, with Glodowski walking, and Van Hoy, Lonzo, and Crispin making pathetic outs in order. Bottom 11th, Preston Porter gave up a leadoff single to Jon Alade, who advanced on two outs to third base. Vic Chavez was walked intentionally with Hornig up next, Porter got the .118 batter to 2-2, and then gave up a walkoff knock to left anyway… 4-3 Knights. Maldonado 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4; Suzuki 2-5, 2B; Watt (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Porter now a sturdy 0-8 this year…

Suzuki off to the DL with a strained hammy then, probably for the remainder of the season. He will thus have missed 105 games with three different DL stints… Adam Samples returned to great jubilations by everybody. (looks expressionlessly into the distance)

Puckeridge had never played centerfield anywhere. Maybe this was a nice time to start with that.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Glodowski – P Miles
ATL: CF Royer – 3B Hornig – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – 2B Housey – 1B Gurney – LF Besaw – C Cline – P Koga

Top 2nd, three on, no outs, once more. Waters singled, Puckeridge doubled, and Gonzalez walked to fill them up. Watt whiffed, I sighed, but Matt Glodowski singled home a pair with a ball to shallow center. Miles struck out, but Lonzo refilled the bags with a shy single for Ed Crispin, who pushed a sharp ball through the right side for another 2-run single. Maldo flew out to Joe Besaw to end the inning, up 4-0. Miles promptly made it 4-2 with two doubles surrendered in the bottom 2nd, along with a walk and a beaned catcher in Heath Cline. Top 3rd, bags full again, but with one out, and with the 5-6-7 on base for Portland. Glodowski whiffed, Miles popped out, and nobody scored, again.

The Knights tied it up in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single for Housey, an RBI double for ex-Coon Pat Gurney, and an RBI single by Besaw. Miles walked Cline, gave up a 2-run double to Royer, and then was unceremoniously yanked from his first career start. Landeta took over and surrendered two more runs with two outs, an RBI double by Venegas and an RBI single by Alade extending the score to 8-4. Good times.

Landeta pitched through the sixth and hit a single in what was already garbage time again, immediately after Glodowski hit a solo homer to right, his second of the year. Heath Cline answered with a 2-run homer off Eloy Sencion in the bottom 7th. Portland pulled one back in the eighth; Matt Watt doubled to begin the inning, and John Castner got him home with the second of two productive groundouts. That was of course a terrible waste of outs, and the Raccoons ran out of outs without putting another runner out on base after that. 10-6 Knights. Puckeridge 2-4, BB, 2B; Glodowski 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

First time scoring more than four runs since friggin’ AUGUST THIRD.

AND IN A LOSS.

(breathes into a paper bag)

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 2B Castner – C Jimenez – P Wheatley
ATL: CF Royer – LF van der Zanden – SS A. Venegas – RF Alade – 1B Gurney – 2B Housey – C S. Green – 3B Hornig – P Buttress

Maldo homered in the first to give Wheats a 1-0 lead. Venegas walked in the bottom 1st, but was caught stealing, but the Coons also made the third out on the bases in the following half-inning when John Castner drove a double to right and was thrown out at third base trying to make it a triple, all with nobody else on base.

Maldo and Waters hit 1-out singles in the fourth, but Housey lunged and cut off a sharply spanked bouncer by Puckeridge and played it to first in time for the second out while the runners advanced. Glodowski, trying to stay relevant, shoved a 3-2 pitch past Venegas then for another 2-run single, 3-0. The Knights replied with Venegas and Alade singles, who went to the corners in the bottom 4th, but with nobody out. Wheats gutted it out, getting a pop to second from former teammate Pat Gurney, and then a 4-6-3 double play from Housey…!

Wheats struck out the side in the fifth, but came apart in the sixth; van der Zanden singled, Venegas hit an RBI triple, and Alade worked out a walk. Sencion surrendered a run but dug him out still with a 3-2 lead, as Pat Gurney drove in a run with a groundout, but Housey flew out to center. Top 7th, Glodowski and Castner went to the corners to begin the inning. Jimenez whiffed against Buttress, but Crispin grabbed an RBI with a pinch-hit fielder’s choice, restoring the 2-run lead. Mike Snyder snuck in a 1-2-3 inning against the bottom of the order in the home half of the seventh, after which Ponce came in with another double switch. Here we were past caring – if Ponce could get six outs, let him have it. The Knights’ lineup was mostly lefty, and he could blow a lead just as well as Willie Cruz… The Coons got nothing together in the ninth, and Ponce returned for the bottom 9th indeed. Gurney lined out, Housey flew out, and Sean Green grounded out. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Maldonado 2-4, HR, RBI; Glodowski 2-4, 2 RBI; Castner 2-3, 2B; Ponce 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (1);

Roster expansion time, as if we needed more Glodowskian bums…

The Raccoons added a token third catcher in Jeff Raczka, super utility Mitch Sivertson, and a few pitchers in Kyle Brobeck, Polibio O’Higgins, Brett Lillis jr., and Bryan Lenderink.

Raccoons (59-74) @ Loggers (61-73) – September 1-4, 2050

The Raccoons had to find some magic against the Loggers to get out of last place. We were up 7-4 in the season series, but right now also 1 1/2 games behind Milwaukee. They were fourth in runs scored and second-to-worst in runs allowed, but with a decent -39 run differential (Coons: -79).

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-15, 4.25 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (0-0)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.28 ERA) vs. TBD
Victor Salcido (11-7, 3.62 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (11-14, 4.48 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 5.68 ERA) vs. John Morrill (10-11, 4.52 ERA)

Only right-handers here, and whatever on Friday. Perhaps swingman Alex Flores (5-7, 4.06 ERA)? Also a right-hander, in any case. Costello had been the #45 pick three years ago and had posted a 3.65 ERA in AAA. He was a tender 21 years old.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Glodowski – P Merino
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B C. Lowe – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C C. Thomas – P Costello

Maldo and Waters had 2-out hits in the first, but Puckeridge grounded out to keep them on base. Merino’s bid for his 16th loss was then swift and convincing, putting Dave de Lemos and Jose Delgado on base to begin the bottom 1st, throwing a wild pitch, giving up a 2-run triple to Ricky Lopez, and Chris Lowe brought that runner home with a grounder to short, putting the Loggers up 3-0. The Raccoons remained a nightmare; Ruben Gonzalez hit a leadoff double in the second, was stranded, Lonzo was on and caught stealing in the third, and Waters was caught stealing to end the fifth, that one after a Maldo sac fly had cashed in at least *a* run against the debutee after Lonzo and Crispin had gone to the corners to begin the inning. That was the only run in the inning, however.

Merino was hit for in the sixth when Watt and Glodowski drew 2-out walks to put the tying runs on base. Costello got Van Hoy to 1-2, then nailed him, bringing up Lonzo with the bags stacked. Lonzo tried to make his ROTY case with a groundout, which yielded no points, and probably also no ROTY title… Instead, the Coons pen collapsed to the tune of three runs (two earned) in the bottom 6th, with O’Higgins, Ponce, and Landeta – not aided exactly by Lonzo’s error to begin the inning – hardly could get out anybody. Nick Jackson doubled two onto O’Higgins’ ledger against Ponce, and also was brought in himself, 6-1. The Coons got those runs back with Maldo and Puckeridge reaching in the seventh. Costello plated Maldo with a wild pitch, and Gonzalez singled home Pucks. John Castner batted for Bryan Lenderink to begin the top 8th, whacked a triple into the right-center gap, and came home on a Lonzo single, but that’s where the rally ended once more, still down two runs. Lillis’ 1-2-3 bottom 8th kept the Loggers there, with righty Angelo Munoz being given the ball for the ninth. Pucks singled to right, Gonzalez walked, and Watt was nicked. Three on, one out, once more. Lamotta batted for Glodowski against his hold team, but popped out to Zach Suggs at short, which sugged. Juan Jimenez hit for Lillis, and had to evade the first pitch, which got away from backup catcher Nick Abrego and plated a run, while moving the tying run to third base…! There it remained while Jimenez and Lonzo struck out. 6-5 Loggers. Lavorano 3-6, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Watt 2-3, 2 BB; Castner (PH) 1-1, 3B;

On the way back to the hotel I came past a laundry place that had a sign in the window, reading “Help Wanted!”. I wasn’t quite sure whether to apply myself or dump the rotten half of the roster there.

…and if only to get a round of ironing done…!!

Days off for Lonzo and Maldo on Friday.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – 3B Crispin – CF Puckeridge – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – 1B Van Hoy – RF Lamotta – P Wolinsky
MIL: 3B N. Jackson – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 1B C. Lowe – RF McIntyre – CF Wieczorek – 2B Barrington – C C. Thomas – P A. Flores

Waters singled home Crispin for an early 1-0 lead, while Wolinsky allowed no runs early in the game, but had quite the loud contact made off him; however, the Loggers only had one hit in three innings, persistently finding defenders with their drives. Top 4th, Waters and Gonzalez reached scoring position with a 1-out walk and a double, respectively. Time to tack on, boys! Castner got ahead 3-1, then promptly bounced a ball at Nick Jackson to freeze the runners, which was the reason I’d rather see him rot in AAA (but he was on pace to get 200 at-bats this year…), while Van Hoy was rung up by the swingman Flores. Bottom of the inning, Jose Delgado legged out an infield single to get things underway. A passed ball moved him to second, and Suggs singled up the middle. Delgado went home, but was thrown out by Puckeridge, which logged for the Suggers – except that they still tied the game on a Chris Lowe double… all even at one through four innings then.

Bubba grabbed the lead back himself, doubling to left to plate Ricky Lamotta, who got on base with a leadoff single in the top 5th, stole second, and easily cruised home on the line grazer hit by Wolinsky, 2-1. He advanced on a passed ball, Crispin walked, and Puckeridge plated Bubba with a fielder’s choice to Jack Barrington. That didn’t keep Wolinsky from sinking spectacularly in the bottom 6th, though, which the Loggers opened with three straight sharp singles, which scored one run, and a wild pitch scored the tying run. Two strikeouts and a fly to left ended the inning from there, but a little late for my taste……

He got the lead back though when Maldo batted for him in the top 7th and hit a casual blast to left for a new 4-3 lead. All for naught, though; while Lillis held the fort in the seventh, Hitchcock blew up again in the eighth, giving up three hits and the tying run on a pinch-hit single by Craig Sayre. Miles rung up Ernesto Hernandez to get out of the inning. The game went to extras without a Lonzo appearance, but it came batting for Preston Porter to begin the top 10th in the 4-4 game. Julian Villarreal retired him, Watt, and Crispin in order, however. Mike Synder got the ball for the bottom 10th, threw 35 pitches, walked the bags full, but struck out Tony Sanchez to get the game to the 11th – SOMEHOW – and then pitched the 11th as well to completion.

Top 12th, Lamotta and Sivertson led off with singles to go to the corners against right-hander Chris Kaye. Watt walked on a disputed 3-2 call, but the Loggers should just zip it. As if the Coons could score from three on and nobody out! Crispin’s deep drive to right was caught by Will McIntyre, but was at least good enough for a sac fly, as was a Puckeridge drive to center, bringing in Sivertson, who had moved up on the previous play. Waters then socked home Watt with a triple…! Gonzalez grounded out, and the 3-run lead went to Willie Cruz. He walked Lowe, but McIntyre hit into a double play and the Loggers went down. 7-4 Raccoons. Waters 3-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Lamotta 2-5; Maldonado (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Synder 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (2-0);

Waters would get Saturday off.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – CF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – LF Watt – RF Sivertson – C Raczka – P Salcido
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – 2B R. Lopez – 1B C. Lowe – LF Sayre – SS Wieczorek – RF Lovell – C C. Thomas – P Hollis

Maldo, Puckeridge, and Watt all hit doubles in a 2-run fourth inning, which flipped the table on the Loggers, who had gone up 1-0 on Salcido in the bottom 2nd when Craig Sayre got on, stole second, Raczka fumbled a ball, and John Wieczorek singled home the runner. Nick Jackson tripled home Hollis with the tying run the inning after, however, and it was 2-2 through five… We just won’t go into how after the 2-out triple by Jackson; Salcido walked the bags full and only narrowly got Lowe out on a fly ball.

Salcido, who was 0-4 in his last six starts, held out for seven innings, whiffing eight, but the game remained tied through seven. He was hit for with Lamotta to no great result in the eighth inning, but Lonzo singled to center with two outs. De Lemos had that ball go through the wickets for an extra base, and Ed Crispin kindly singled home the runner there with two outs and two strikes on him. Maldo singled as well, but Puckeridge grounded out to end the inning. Eloy Sencion held on in the bottom 8th, getting three grounders for outs from the Loggers, and the bottom of the order was up against Cruz in the ninth. Pat Lovell hit a leadoff single, and was run for with Tony Ferrusquia, who immediately took second base. Chris Thomas grounded out, moving the tying run to third base, but Cruz got a big K against Ernesto Hernandez in the #9 hole for the second out. De Lemos struck out likewise, ending the game…! 3-2 Raccoons. Crispin 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Watt 2-4; Salcido 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, W (12-7);

Game 4
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – LF Lamotta – C Gonzalez – P Brobeck
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B C. Lowe – RF McIntyre – 3B Barrington – C C. Thomas – P Morrill

With a John Morrill single as spearhead, the Loggers added a de Lemos walk and a Delgado single to put their first three runners in the third inning on base. Delgado already tied the game there, the throw home by Glodowski allowed the runners to advance, and they scored on two productive outs, erasing the Coons’ 1-0 lead from the second inning and then some. Puckeridge had singled, stolen a bag, and been driven home by Ricky Lamotta back in the second. Waters and Puckeridge reached base in the fourth and were in scoring position for Lamotta with two outs, and the ex-Logger came up with more revenge RBIs for having been dumped via waivers early in the year, singling to right on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game at three. Milwaukee promptly loaded the bases in the bottom 4th on a Crispin error and walks by the rookie Brobeck to the Loggers battery (gnashes teeth), but de Lemos hacked himself out and Jose Delgado grounded a 3-2 pitch back to Lonzo for the third out, and three Loggers stranded.

Brobeck hit a single in the fifth, which led nowhere, and pitched six busy innings on 108 pitches, holding the 3-3 tie to the end. A 2-out assault got him in line for the win in the seventh inning, though. Maldo walked, advanced on a wild pitch, and was driven home with a Waters single. Puckeridge singled, and then Glodowski doubled both of them home…! Two more singles by the 7-8 batters got Glodowski home, 7-3, and then Evan Van Hoy powered a pinch-hit homer as the Loggers’ pen completely imploded for a 7th-inning 7-spot. The Loggers answered with three runs; all runs reached on singles off Lenderink, and were haphazardly stumbled home by Ponce with two more hits against him, 10-6.

Maldo, Waters, and Puckeridge all reached base to begin the top 8th against righty Jose Osorio in his first outing of the year, and the second overall. Double, walk, walk, three on and nobody out once again. Glodowski hit a sac fly to right, and Lamotta singled to refill the bags. Osorio walked Gonzalez and Matt Watt with the bases loaded, pushing home two more runs, then was yanked. Kyle Buemi allowed another run on a Lonzo groundout before Crispin grounded out to short to keep it a 14-6 game in the middle of the eighth. Miles gave a run back in the bottom of the inning, and the bottom 9th began with four straight singles off Sencion and Landeta, who then walked in a run, 14-9. O’Higgins came in, allowed a run on a groundout by Delgado, and another one on a Zach Suggs double, which sugged, 14-11. The tying run was in the box. Ricky Lopez was up and got Preston Porter, the fourth bum of the inning, who gave up a 2-run double on his second pitch, 14-13, and with the tying run in scoring position. Pat Lovell doubled to left, tying the game. Will McIntyre hit a mighty drive to deep right, but that one actually ended up with Glodowski at the ******* fence. Nick Abrego popped out, sending the screaming game to extra innings.

Munoz pitching, Gonzalez singled and Raczka did as well in the 10th. Lonzo popped out for the second out, but Ed Crispin popped one 430 feet for a 3-run homer…! Yey, another lead to blow! No, actually Hitchcock held on in the bottom of the inning… 17-14 Furballs? Crispin 2-6, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 BB, 2B; Waters 2-5, BB, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2 BB; Glodowski 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Lamotta 4-6, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Raczka (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 29 – A single by Rebels 3B Danny Espinosa (.259, 3 HR, 20 RBI) is the only base hit for Richmond in a 6-0 loss to the Pacifics, with LAP SP/MR Ricky Garcia (3-3, 3.98 ERA) pitching a 1-hit shutout.
August 31 – Denver OF Tylor Cecil (.304, 22 HR, 104 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring.
August 31 – NYC SP Jeff Johnson (17-6, 2.24 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder with six strikeouts in a 5-0 win.
September 3 – A month short of turning 40, VAN SP Danny Orozco (14-10, 3.61 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against the Indians, claiming the 8-0 win.
September 4 – PIT 1B Alex Abecassis (.283, 17 HR, 100 RBI) could be out for the season with a strained hamstring.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.298, 26 HR, 96 RBI), hitting .542 (13-24) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.344, 2 HR, 62 RBI), slapping .522 (12-23) with 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.351, 21 HR, 99 RBI), hitting .396 with 2 HR, 32 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB C Sean Suggs (.345, 20 HR, 73 RBI), batting .408 with 7 HR, 24 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Marcus Wilkins (11-1, 3.31 ERA), hurling a perfect 4-0 with 2.18 ERA, 22 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: TIJ SP Larry Colwell (14-11, 3.40 ERA), also a perfect 6-0 with 2.58 ERA, 39 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW 1B Dale Haracz (.343, 9 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .347 with 2 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: ATL INF Matt Housey (.291, 4 HR, 41 RBI), splashing .323 with 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Orozco shutout on Saturday mathematically eliminated the Raccoons from postseason contention. Oh bugger! And on Sunday we were mathematically eliminated from being even a borderline serious baseball team, despite winning EVENTUALLY, blowing a 7-run lead with 9 outs to go, and an *8*-run lead with 6 outs to go …..

(groans)

Oscar Rivera isn’t hitting much at all in AAA (.214, 11 HR, 62 RBI), but we’ll bring him up after the AAA season ends. We traded for the #11 prospect (who promptly plunged to #39) and thus have to at least pretend he’s gonna amount to something. Plus, he has to go on the 40-man roster this fall anyway.

Four more weeks. The next week has us home for three with the Indians starting on Tuesday, and then out in New York for a pointless weekend trip.

Fun Fact: The FL single-season RBI record is crumbling yet again.

Tylor Cecil set a new mark three times between 2045 (144), 2047 (148), and 2048 (149), which Ivan Villa then tied last year. They’re BOTH on the Gold Sox now, so no wonder they lead the FL West by a gazillion runs, but Villa also has 133 RBI with 27 games to spare. Cecil is well short of him, but is now also out with a strained hammy, so that’s that.

[Archelirion]

Westheim you poor thing. Only your Coons can go a month with absolutely turd hitting, out of nowhere score 17 in a game, and STILL have you sweating into extras.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

Westheim you poor thing. Only your Coons can go a month with absolutely turd hitting, out of nowhere score 17 in a game, and STILL have you sweating into extras.

When that 14-6 lead was melting away on Sunday, I actually considered nailing them to a tree in the forest and abandoning them there.

+++

Raccoons (62-75) vs. Indians (62-74) – September 6-8, 2050

With last-place playoffs still in full swing in the CL North, the Raccoons were to host the Indians for three games starting on Tuesday. The Arrowheads were very average, seventh in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. Eighth in homers, fourth in sacks, sixth in defense. A very kind of “oh well” roster. The season series was, oh well, even at six.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (9-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (10-10, 3.63 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-16, 4.29 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (6-12, 5.02 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.29 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (12-9, 2.91 ERA)

They only had righty starters hanging around.

Game 1
IND: CF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – LF R. White – 1B M. Gilmore – SS de Castro – P Brink
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – LF Watt – C Jimenez – P Wheatley

The Coons carried all their sucky momentum across the end of the week AND an off day into Tuesday, on which Lonzo opened the bottom 1st with a double to left and then was steadfastly stranded on third base. Maldo walked, but Crispin, Waters, and Puckeridge all made weak outs. With Wheats pitching fine, but not exactly in dominating fashion, the early innings were scoreless and the ice wasn’t broken until the fourth inning, which Puckeridge opened with a single to right. Ricky Lamotta doubled to left, and Matt Watt’s grounder brought home a run. Never mind the battery then stranding Lamotta on third.

Wheats pitched to the stretch with only one Arrowhead reaching third base, scattering three hits, two walks, and getting around a Lonzo error while whiffing seven. His turn was up in the bottom 7th, with Juan Jimenez hitting a 1-out double just ahead of him. Having lost all trust in the pen on Sunday at the very latest, we were ready to embrace an “every man for himself” mentality here. Wheats remained in the game and hit a shy single that put the runners on the corners for Lonzo, who managed to shove a ball into a double play from there, ending the inning. Wheats went on to retire Angel Mendez with a K, Hugo Acosta with a grounder, and had Bill Quinteros at 0-2 in the eighth, the nicked him ever so slightly. Bobby Anderson grounded out after that, but the extra pitches got Wheats to 105 for the day, and into “eeeeh…!” territory for getting back out there with a 1-0 lead. The Coons’ 2-3-4 went in order against Brink in the bottom 8th. Oh well. Wheats? You want the ball? – Fine. – You have to take it out of your snout though, so you can actually pitch.

There he went for the ninth, with Ray DeFrank leading off. He lifted the 1-0 to center for an easy out for Pucks. Rusty White grounded out to Waters on three pitches. And then? Then Aaron Brayboy pinch-hit, at which point I knew that it had all been for the bum, and that we were all forsa- no! Strikeout! Shutout! Hu-wheee!! 1-0 Blighters! Lamotta 2-3, 2B; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (10-9) and 1-3;

Seventh career shutout for Wheats, and the first this year, as well as the first against the Indians. Also the first time he had got as close as three hits since he shut out the Loggers almost precisely five years ago.

Yes, Slappy, I’m gonna put down a tenner that this will be our highlight of September.

Game 2
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – LF Hare – 1B R. White – 2B N. Fernandez – P Serio
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Glodowski– P Merino

Waters and Gonzalez went to the corners with second-inning singles, but Watt whiffed and Glodowski hit his patented pop to shortstop Alex de Castro to get out of the inning without putting a run on the board. Angel Mendez had opened the game with a single, but had been doubled off by de Castro, and Merino faced the minimum through three innings, whiffing three batters, but I had no doubt he’d still make a solid case for his 17th loss in front of a crowd announced as 15,394, but looking more like 5,394.

To begin the fourth, the 1-2 batters for Indy hit singles to reach the corners, but de Castro was then thrown out trying to steal second. Quinteros’ sac fly to center made it a 1-0 game, and Bobby Anderson whacking a homer to left upped the score to 2-0. Merino went on to strike out DeFrank, and then solidly pitched his way through six, while the Raccoons… Yeah, well, the Raccoons didn’t have another hit until Ed Crispin snipped a 1-out single to center in the bottom 6th. Maldo flew out, but Waters hit a soft single. A wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position, and a Pucks single to center got them both home to tie the game…! Pucks stole second, but Gonzalez lined out to a rushing Josh Hare in shallow center to end the inning.

Merino made another solid bid for the L, though, getting an out from Quinteros to begin the top 7th before walking Anderson, giving up a double to DeFrank, and walking PH Vinny Marin in the latter’s first plate appearance of the year. Rookie Antonio Rios batted for Rusty White, and the Coons went and grabbed Kevin Hitchcock to meet the right-handed threat. A strikeout to Rios and a fly to left from Philip Locke ended the inning and kept Merino from losing a 17th game (yet). Not that a win was in the cards, either for him or the remainder of the Critters. They didn’t score in the bottom 7th, while Eloy Sencion began the eighth by retiring Brayboy. O’Higgins was next, faced four batters, and gave up a stunning four screamers, all for hits, three of them for extra bases, as the Arrowheads went triple, double, single, double. Mike Snyder replaced O’Higgins, kindly walked the bags full, then left for Ponce, who finally ******* got a double play grounder from PH Joe Briscoe to end the ******* inning. Slappy wordlessly handed me a tenner, resigning on the season. Ponce pitched for two more outs in the ninth, but when the righty top of the order with Juan Arguello (who?) came back up, we went to Lenderink to ask his silly bum for ONE out. We got ONE out. After he filled the bags with two hits and a walk, when Bobby Anderson grounded out with the bags stacked. The Raccoons never remotely rallied. 5-2 Indians. Waters 2-4; Raczka (PH) 1-1;

Sigh!

Am I sighing a lot, Maud? – I mean, a-“more than usual”-lot. – Thought so.

Sigh!

Game 3
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B R. White – LF Ragen – 2B N. Fernandez – P E. Ortiz
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Lamotta – P Wolinsky

A Waters homer and some stingy baserunning by Ricky Lamotta gave Wolinsky a 2-0 lead after three. Waters went yard in the second, while Lamotta opened the third with a single and stole second base before advancing on a grounder by Wolinsky and scoring on Lonzo’s groundout. In between Angel Mendez hit a soft single in the top 3rd, stole two bases, and was yet stranded at third base. The tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out, though, come the top 4th. Bobby Anderson singled, Ray DeFrank doubled, and while Rusty White whiffed, Allen Ragen brought in a run with a groundout. The Coons pitched to .177 batter Nick Fernandez with two outs, Bubba got to two strikes, then gave up a sharp grounder – but Ed Crispin was on it and made the play for the third out, stranding DeFrank.

Pucks singled home Crispin in the sixth inning for an add-on run, 3-1, while Wolinsky gave up a triple to Ragen with one out in the seventh. That brought up Fernandez again, this time with an out to spare, but he was out to Crispin *again*. The runner had to hold, and was stranded once Ortiz struck out. That was it for Wolinsky; Preston Porter narrowed the score to 3-2 in the eighth, giving up a bomb to Alex de Castro, but Ponce got out of the inning. The lead was buried by Willie Cruz in the ninth, and with that I mean it expired non too peacefully. Bombarded with pinch-hitters, he walked Philip Locke, gave up RBI doubles to Brayboy and Acosta, and was probably leaving the mound after that assuming his closing days were over. Danny Landeta finished the inning, but the Raccoons had no rally in them and lost the series in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom 9th. 4-3 Indians. Crispin 2-4; Lamotta 2-3; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K;

Raccoons (63-77) @ Crusaders (68-72) – September 9-11, 2050

We arrived just as the Crusaders were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, and if they were anything like me they had to take out their frustration on something. Maybe some nice family-owned deli? Please not on the Coons, they’re a wimpy bunch…! Not scoring runs had kept them well outside of actual contention this year; they were 10th in runs scored in the CL, and fifth in runs allowed, with a -33 run differential (Coons: -76). These were our last games with New York this year, with the season series already lost, 10-5. They were without Jeff Johnson and Ryan Fentress as well as a couple of relievers.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (12-7, 3.57 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (8-17, 4.12 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 5.11 ERA) vs. TBD
Jason Wheatley (10-9, 3.79 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (12-11, 3.10 ERA)

Lefty, whatever, righty – Johnson’s spot would have been Saturday, but he was dealing with a sore elbow and was not likely to take the ball on the weekend.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 2B Castner – C Jimenez – P Salcido
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – C A. Lara – RF Mills – CF Ceballos – P J. Baker

Three singles, two stolen bases, a walk in the top 1st for the Coons … and one run. Pucks struck out, Glodowski hit into a double play, and the only run that came home was Lonzo, who took his 54th bag after a dry series against Indy and was then singled home by Lamotta. Ed Haertling scored Danny Rivera with the last of three straight 2-out singles in the bottom 1st, and the lead was quickly gone. Angel Lara grounded out, though.

Lara did bring in a run in the bottom 3rd with a groundout, Rivera scoring after earlier gaining a base with a Salcido balk. That already made it a 3-1 game. Omar Sanchez had singled in Mario Ceballos in the second, and Salcido bled runners quite profusely. He came to bat in the fourth with the 6-7-8 batters all just having reached with one out. Bags full, Salcido hit a comebacker that Baker fumbled for an error, and all paws were safe while a run scored. Lonzo then tied it up at three with a looping RBI single to shallow right. A Lamotta sac fly made it 4-3, but Maldo grounded out to end the inning after having hit a triple in his previous appearance, only to get stranded.

Salcido went five, but blew the lead on a Haertling triple in the bottom 5th, which brought in the perpetual Danny Rivera again. The tie would be broken in the seventh when Pucks singled home Lamotta with two outs as the Raccoons put three singles together again; those two and Maldo hit them, but Maldo was forced out by Waters’ fielder’s choice grounder. Glodowski, ever useless, grounded out to short to strand two runners in a 5-4 game.

Josh Garris’ 3-run homer flipped the score in the bottom 7th. It came off hopeless Brett Lillis jr., but Miles and O’Higgins both shared in the runs that scored, with the right-hander having different issues altogether, having been hauled in by Dr. Padilla after moving his hindleg weirdly between pitches to Pedro Leal. Mike Snyder gave up another run in the eighth. 8-5 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Lamotta 2-3, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 3B; Castner 2-4;

O’Higgins was off to the DL afterwards with a tweaked hamstring. He was unlikely to return this season. No replacement – the Alley Cats had another six game to play and we’d probably add another two or three guys after that. There were still ten bums in that pen as it was.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Sivertson – RF Samples – P Brobeck
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Haertling – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – 2B Haney – C A. Lara – RF P. Leal – CF Ceballos – P Sopena

Sopena went on short rest and not for very long. Ruben Gonzalez doubled home Waters and Puckeridge in the second, while Lonzo and Crispin reached base in the third, did the double steal, and then scored on separate groundouts by Maldo and Waters to go up 4-0. Not that all was splendid with Brobeck, who loaded the bags with the first three batters he faced, but got out on pops and a grounder at Maldo. New York scored on him in the bottom 3rd when he issued a leadoff walk to Ed Haertling, who was then doubled home by Prince Gates, 4-1.

Lonzo reached again in the fifth, stole another bag, and was singled home by Matt Waters with two gone to restore slam range, but made an error to begin the bottom of that inning, in which feces soon hit the fan. Brobeck again walked Haertling, gave up two straight RBI singles, 5-3, but then got a double play grounder from Mark Haney. Lara flew out to Mitch Sivertson to end a shudderworthy inning. Brobeck got Leal out to begin the sixth, but was yanked after hitting Ceballos. Lillis came on and actually got two outs, beginning with PH Josh Garris, off lefties (far from a given) to stall the Crusaders out. Lillis got two more outs in the seventh, and Porter and Sencion would pitch the lead through eight, although the lefty walked a pair before escaping on a K to PH Randy Anton. So who’d it be for the ninth? Cruz or Hitchcock!? First it was the Critters batting, though. Matt Watt pinch-hit for Sivertson to lead off the ninth against Taylor Stabile and whacked a jack to right to extend the lead to 6-3. That was all though, and then it was indeed Hitchcock to get the ball for a 3-run save. He walked Omar Sanchez to begin the bottom 9th, but retired the next three without the runner reaching scoring position. 6-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Waters 2-4, 2 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1;

So this was the first career win for Kyle Brobeck, who pitched muddily, has twice as many walks as strikeouts, but still hasn’t suffered an actual loss in the majors.

The Crusaders were kind enough to arrange a Southpaw Sunday then, with Carlos Malla (5-11, 5.13 ERA) being sent up against Wheats.

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

Wheats had made it nine without allowing a run on Tuesday, but couldn’t even make it through one on Sunday. He nailed Omar Sanchez right away, allowed a single to Russ, the persistent pest, and conceded a run on Ramirez’ single. A Castner error filled the bags with Gates before Garris and Haertling were both rung up to end the inning. Gates and Garris added a run with back-to-back doubles in the third, 2-0, while the Coons had yet to reach base. Lamotta hit a single, but was doubled up by Maldo in the fourth, in the bottom of which Russ, the ********** ******, singled home Sanchez for another run, 3-0.

Wheats went seven innings, didn’t allow any more runs, and whiffed nine batters by the end of it, all in vain. The Raccoons managed all of three base hits and certainly no runs through seven innings. The eighth began though with the tying run in the box and no outs against right-hander Jeff Frank. Gonzalez singled, Castner singled. Watt batted in place of Samples in that spot, and coaxed a walk to fill the bags… with nobody out. Crispin batted for Wheats, drew left-hander Neil Hamann, and struck out. After that it was right back to a righty, Brett Graham, who made his third ABL appearance against Lonzo, and gave up a quick RBI single, 3-1. Lamotta grounded out, plating another run. Maldo grounded out, which ended the inning… Bottom 8th, Sencion put a pair on base again, Gates with a single and Haney with a pinch-walk. When Art Bet pinch-hit for Leal, the Coons went to Hitchcock, who got the K to keep them just a run away. And the start to the ninth was quick. Waters single to center, Puckeridge single to right, sending Waters and the tying run to third base against Melvin Lucero, with nobody out. Gonzalez grounded out to short, with Waters holding, while Pucks moved up. The pitcher was in the #7 hole at this point, so we went to our secret weapon – Evan Van Hoy! He popped out shyly to right, the bum, and Watt flew out to left to strand the runners in scoring position. 3-2 Crusaders. Waters 2-4; Puckeridge 2-4; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (10-10);

In other news

September 5 – With an RBI single in a 4-3 loss to the Crusaders, VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.344, 2 HR, 63 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 20 games.
September 5 – The Blue Sox drown the Miners, 20-5, with a handful of RBI each from the Blue Sox’ Alejandro Ramos (.299, 27 HR, 101 RBI) and Jose Cantu (.264, 17 HR, 79 RBI).
September 6 – Stars standout LF/CF Juan del Toro (.355, 21 HR, 99 RBI) breaks his elbow and is out for the season.
September 6 – PIT SS/2B Tony Aparicio (.336, 7 HR, 67 RBI) will miss the rest of the regular season at least with a separated shoulder.
September 6 – The Crusaders beat the Canadiens, 6-2, and this time also leave Dan Mullen (.342, 2 HR, 63 RBI) dry to kill his 20-game hitting streak.
September 7 – WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (9-14, 3.11 ERA) is out for the season after suffering a strained hamstring.
September 10 – TOP RF/CF J.P. Angeletti (.248, 12 HR, 71 RBI) is out for the year and questionable for Opening Day after snapping his achilles tendon.
September 10 – The Stars-Pacifics game enters the 11th inning tied at three before Dallas puts it away with a 10-spot in the road half. L.A. doesn’t bother to respond, and the Stars win 13-3.

FL Player of the Week: TOP C Brett Banks (.247, 16 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Prince Gates (.305, 3 HR, 53 RBI), batting .414 (12-29) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Five years ago we had a roster that would have easily flipped the score in the ninth on Sunday, and then would have scored a few runs to go to last us on the off day on Monday. And now? Now we’re hoping for Evan Van Bombs A-Hoy…!

Three weeks left. I really don’t want to finish last in the division, especially when that’s nowhere near a #1 pick. Right now we’d be the #6 pick, and just half a game ahead of the Caps for that. Three more teams within a game and a half, and even more within five games. I have a hunch we’ll play us into a #13 pick again. Yey.

No Rafael de la Cruz this year – he needs more time to adjust to AAA and there’s no point to throw him into the flames up here now, even though he has to go on the 40-man roster in the fall.

Simple scheduling from here. We have one more 3-team homestand against the Loggers, Aces, and Thunder. The rest of the year is on the road, in Boston, Elk City, and Indy; so Raccoons Ballpark gets shuttered as early as the 21st this year.

Fun Fact: Matt Watt and Preston Porter are pretty much the biggest upcoming free agents on this roster.

There’s also Landeta, who was dead weight taken on to make the Lynn/Adame deal with the Thunder work, in which we got prospects Prospero Tenazes and Adam Peltier. Both did well in AA this year; only Tenazes moved up to AAA late in the season, struggled, and neither will make cameos for the Coons down the stretch. Beyond that our upcoming free agents are limited to two cup of coffee guys (Alcala, Shedd), and a bevvy of failed starting pitchers from c.2044…

That also means no compensation picks of course.

Sigh!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-79) vs. Loggers (67-77) – September 13-15, 2050

Garbage playoffs continued with the final 3-game set against the Loggers, also opening the final homestand of the year. They were third in runs scored (!?) and second from the bottom in runs allowed by this point. We had clinched the season series already, 10-5; it was just all those other teams we couldn’t ******* beat.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-16, 4.23 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (12-11, 4.17 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.17 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (12-15, 4.48 ERA)
Victor Salcido (12-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. John Morrill (10-11, 4.59 ERA)

Probably only one southpaw opponent here in the opener.

Game 1
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – 1B Lovell – C C. Thomas – P V. Padilla
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – RF Samples – P Merino

Milwaukee lost Padilla to injury by the third inning, although they were up 2-0 at that point. Merino faced six in the first two innings, but then found another pot of lard to step into and get stuck in by the top of the third, which Pat Lovell and Chris Thomas opened with singles. Lovell made for third on the latter’s single to right, Adam Samples grossly threw that ball away, and a run scored, while Thomas advanced to second. Padilla moved Thomas to third, and that run scored on a wild pitch. Pat Lovell would add a 2-run double with two outs in the fourth inning, while in the fifth the Loggers loaded the bases with a walk, a single, and a Lonzo error, but Merino then sort of miraculously struck out both Will McIntyre and Nick Jackson to keep the bags full. He pitched six innings of 5-hit, 4-run ball, which also hinted at rotten luck, which we had enjoyed absolutely plenty of all year long, but on the other paw he was also 4-0 behind when pinch-hit for to begin the bottom 6th because the entire damn team had yet to land a single hit against Padilla and the ramshackle Loggers pen.

Watt singled off Roberto Oyola in Merino’s spot to break into the H column to begin the bottom 6th, and Lonzo doubled to right. Lamotta hit a shy RBI single, putting the tying run in the box. Maldo was hit on 1-2, and with three on and nobody out, Waters popped out in foul territory, and Puckeridge hit into a double play. (deep sigh) Watt and Lonzo were on base again to begin the bottom 8th, but the team croaked way faster this time around. Lamotta popped out, Watt was caught stealing third base, and Maldo whiffed. Lovell added a homer for the Loggers against Lillis, and that was that in the ninth. 5-1 Loggers. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Watt (PH) 1-1, BB;

The Loggers slotted righty Josh Costello (2-0, 2.25 ERA) into the middle game. Not that it mattered. We couldn’t hit against anybody.

Game 2
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF J. Delgado – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B C. Lowe – RF McIntyre – 3B N. Jackson – C C. Thomas – P Costello
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Sivertson – P Wolinsky

The Loggers nicked Lonzo to begin the Coons’ day of batting on Wednesday, and he took it personally, swiping base #57 on the year and scoring on a Crispin single right away for a quick 1-0 lead. Wolinsky knew how to get rid of it expertly, however, putting Ricky Lopez and Nick Jackson on with a walk and single, respectively, in the top 2nd, then gave up a score-flipping, 2-out, 2-run double to Chris Thomas, a wallbanger in dead center. The Coons countered with a Ruben Gonzalez walk opening the bottom 2nd, then a Watt single. Sivertson crammed a ball into the rightfield corner for a 2-run triple, flipping the score right back Portland’s way, with a Lonzo single with one out bringing in Sivertson for an extra run, 4-2. Challenge accepted, thought Wolinsky. The 1-2-3 Loggers opened the top 3rd with straight singles, scoring one run on Zach Suggs’ single, but what sugged even more was Chris Lowe’s 1-out double, which flipped the score for the third time in the game, and it was THE THIRD ******* INNING.

Wolinsky didn’t get out of the fourth, leaving with runners on the corners. Landeta walked the bags full with Suggs in a full count, then walked Lopez in a full count to push home Chris Thomas with a run, 6-4. Chris Lowe popped out, somehow, ending the ******* inning. To my even greater annoyance, Maud had already scrambled and hidden every bottle of cleaning agent I could have possibly gotten my paws on to spice my Capt’n Coma.

Danny Landeta coughed up a run, but at least his tenure was three weeks from ending. Matt Waters found Crispin (forced out Lonzo) and Maldo (nicked) on base and tripled those home, narrowing the gap to 7-6, but then the Coons stopped hitting for a while. They didn’t reach scoring position until the ninth inning, and then with two outs, when Ed Crispin doubled off Angelo Munoz to put the tying run into scoring position for Maldo, who promptly dished the first pitch he got from Munoz to left-center for a game-tying single. Waters flew out, sending the game to extras, where Eloy Sencion offered a leadoff walk to McIntyre, an infield single to Jackson, and then gritted out a groundout and a K on Craig Sayre and Ernesto Hernandez, in that order, before Preston Porter was called on for a pop to short from Dave de Lemos. Porter also did the 11th, with Alex Flores for the Loggers in his second inning of work in the bottom 11th. Leadoff single by Juan Jimenez, who had pinch-hit for Sivertson and was pinch-run for with Lamotta right away. Van Hoy batted for Porter, grounding out, with Lamotta to second base, then to third on Lonzo’s groundout. Ed Crispin walked, and Maldo, who had extended the game his last time up, now ended it with another whizzer of a single to shallow center. 8-7 Raccoons! Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Crispin 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 2 RBI; Watt 2-5; Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Glodowski (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B C. Lowe – RF McIntyre – LF Wieczorek – C C. Thomas – P Hollis
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Watt – 1B Van Hoy – C Raczka – P Salcido

The rubber game began with an infield single for de Lemos, but continued with a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play. The Coons went up 2-0 in the second, hitting four singles between Waters, Watt, Van Hoy (who got an RBI), and Salcido, but the second run actually scored on a 2-out wild pitch before Lonzo flew out to de Lemos to strand the remaining runners.

A Waters homer upped the score to 3-0 in the bottom 3rd, but that was before Salcido got buried in a landslide. The fourth began with de Lemos doubling to center. Jackson singled, putting them on the corners. A walk to Suggs filled them up, which sugged, and another walk to Ricky Lopez brought home a run. And ANOTHER walk to Chris Lowe…! McIntyre hit a game-tying single (still nobody out by the way), and then John Wieczorek’s sac fly to center put the Loggers on top. Thomas was retired on a comebacker, and Hollis rung up, but the Loggers had plated four to rob me of any sort of emotion once again.

Those four runs would be the only four runs off Salcido in seven innings, because baseball was a cruel Medusa, and the Raccoons’ offense was frozen to stone – minus Maldo, who hit a double at some point before the stretch, stretched a paw awkwardly, and left the game with Dr. Padilla, replaced with Glodowski. Of course, the ordeal did not amount to a tying run. When Ed Crispin hit a game-tying homer off Hollis in the bottom 8th, not only the Loggers were stunned, but it got wickeder in the ninth inning, when Nick Johns nicked Watt, and then got taken well deep by none other than Evan Van Hoy, Destroyer of Worlds. It was a walkoff, again! 6-4 Critters. Van Hoy 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Raccoons (66-80) vs. Aces (62-84) – September 16-18, 2050

The season series between these two bottom dwelling teams was even at three. Vegas was fifth in runs scored, but with the worst pitching in the CL, allowing almost 5.2 runs per game.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (1-0, 4.58 ERA) vs. B.J. Brantley (10-11, 4.17 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-10, 3.79 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (4-16, 5.17 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-17, 4.30 ERA) vs. Dave Saldivar (10-9, 4.28 ERA)

Left, right, left. The Coons countered with young, good, suck.

No, I’m still not calling you “Bro”.

Game 1
LVA: CF Cramer – C Weese – 1B Witherspoon – RF Austin – LF van de Wouw – SS Welter – 3B Coen – 2B Hager – P Brantley
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – RF Glodowski – 1B Samples – P Brobeck

Neville van de Wouw broke up a scoreless tie with a 2-out, 2-run homer in the fourth inning after both teams had been futilely poking away at another the first time through the order. Sam Witherspoon had reached on a shy single ahead of the bomb. Brantley set the Coons up for a chance in the bottom of the same inning, allowing a single to Puckeridge and a walk to Waters, all with one gone, then moved them up with a wild pitch. Ruben Gonzalez wouldn’t have needed no such help, as he blasted a 3-run homer anyway to make it 3-2 Critters. After Castner made an out, the 7-8-9 all loaded the bases with two outs, and Lonzo turned an 0-2 pitch from Brantley into an RBI single to shallow left. Lamotta ended Brantley’s day with an RBI single to right, after which Cory Schilt got Pucks to pop out to short, ending the 5-run assault.

Brobeck continued through six, allowing an unearned run in the final inning of this outing after a Matt Waters throwing error put the leadoff man Kevin Weese on second base. Aubrey Austin singled him home, 5-3. With Witherspoon on base, Waters made *another* error in the eighth inning on a van de Wouw grounder, which put the tying runs on the corners with one gone, and replaced Paul Miles on the mound with Kevin Hitchcock against PH Miguel Colon. The count ran full, Colon hit a sac fly, 5-4, but Hitchcock then got a pop to Waters to end the inning. While Ed Crispin hit a pinch-hit single in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons failed to tack on, and handed a 1-run lead to Eloy Sencion in the ninth inning, in which we expected mostly if not all lefty hitters. Steve Holbrook actually hit a pinch-hit single, right-handed, with one out, then was forced out by Cramer. Sencion hung around to face the righty Weese, batting .311 with 13 homers, walked him, and was then lifted with another righty pinch-hitter up, Jonathan Harris, even though Harris was only hitting .196 with two homers. Willie Cruz got the final out from him, a fly to Watt in leftfield. 5-4 Coons. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1;

Good news regarding Maldonado: he had not done any serious damage to his hindpaw on his fruitless double on Thursday and was day-to-day with a mild calf strain. We’d probably sit him for the rest of the weekend, though, although he was good to pinch-hit.

Game 2
LVA: CF Cramer – C Weese – 1B Witherspoon – RF Austin – LF van de Wouw – SS Welter – 3B V. Fernandez – 2B R. Ramos – P Broad
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – RF Lamotta – P Wheatley

Wheats struggled with the middle of the order, walking two and giving up an Aubrey Austin double in the first inning on the way to conceding a run, while in the fourth it was a Vic Fernandez double to left that was followed by Lonzo’s bumbling of a Rafael Ramos grounder that put runners on the corners. Broad hit into a double play, which scored an unearned run before Brent Cramer flew out to center. The Coons had next to nothing in the first three innings, but then got Ricky Lamotta to double home Pucks and Van Hoy to tie the score in the bottom 4th with two outs. The Aces countered right away with a Weese single and Witherspoon homer to right-center to begin the fifth, though, and restored their 2-run lead… Another 2-spot scored in the sixth inning to knock out Wheatley, who saw Ramos reach on a single, and then Cramer and Weese get 2-out RBI knocks, a triple and a single, respectively. As usual with the starting pitcher roughed up this year, the bullpen didn’t budge nor buckle, but the three shutout innings were for nothing. 6-2 Aces. Watt 1-2, 3 BB; Puckeridge 2-3, BB; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Lenderink 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Nope, still no Maldo on Sunday.

But Maud made more muffins, maybe mitigating my monstrous migraines…

Game 3
LVA: 1B D. Blair – 2B Villalobos – C Weese – RF Austin – CF J. Harris – SS R. Ramos – 3B Rand – LF van de Wouw – P Saldivar
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – RF Glodowski – 1B Samples – P Merino

Victor Merino sat down the first five Aces, then gave up three runs with two gone in the top 2nd as he conceded a single to Ramos, an RBI double to Matt Rand, and a 2-run homer to van de Wouw… However, the bottom of the same inning saw homers by Gonzalez and Glodowski, and with Castner getting nicked in between, the Raccoons tied the score right away…!

Lonzo and Merino then crapped out collectively in the top 3rd. The latter walked two, the former made two errors, and the Aces scored two runs with the top of the order for a new 5-3 lead. When the Coons made that one up as well on a Waters homer in the bottom 3rd and an unearned run – Merino reaching on an error by Ramos himself before getting doubled home by Ricky Lamotta – in the fourth, Merino just cocked up a few more in the fifth. Leadoff walk to Weese, a Harris double, sac fly, RBI single by Rand, and then another single for van de Wouw. Snyder got the third out in the damn inning from PH Miguel Colon, and the score remained a mild 7-5 in the middle of the fourth.

Bottom 6th, Crispin singled in the #9 hole with one gone before Lonzo grounded to short, but Ramos tossed that one away for his second error in the game. Lamotta flew out and Puckeridge struck out to leave the tying runs on base, though. In turn, Danny Landeta, the useless chamber pot, was slapped around the ballpark for a four-pitch leadoff walk to Austin, then three screaming doubles and as many runs by the Aces in the seventh, ostensibly putting the game away at 10-5. The Raccoons only made up a run again in the eighth on hits by Glodowski and Watt off Josh Henneberry, plus a throwing error by Austin, which was the fourth Aces error in the game, and yet they were winning by a slam… Watt was at second base with one out, but was stranded by both Lonzo and Lamotta. Ponce held the Aces in place in the ninth inning, before Puckeridge grounded out against Henneberry to begin the bottom 9th. Matt Waters then socked his second homer in the game, 10-7, and Gonzalez was nicked. Henneberry was yanked for another righty, Jose Santamaria, while Van Hoy batted for Castner, but whiffed. Glodowski popped out. 10-7 Aces. Waters 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Glodowski 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 12 – In one of the weirder pitching performances, NYC SP Yataro Tanabe (4-3, 4.74 ERA) and three relievers issue ten walks, but only one hit in a 7-1 win over the Titans. Boston’s Jose Rodriguez (.213, 3 HR, 25 RBI) singles off New York’s Neil Hamann (3-2, 3.97 ERA) for the only Titans knock.
September 13 – IND CL John Steuer (1-8, 3.80 ERA, 39 SV) puts away the Canadiens for a 4-3 save, his 300th career save in fact. A 2-time saves leader in the Federal League and 2-time All Star, Steuer has closed games for six different teams, having joined Indy in mid-2049. He is 61-65 with a 3.19 ERA for his career.
September 13 – Bayhawks and Condors go to extras scorelessly before San Francisco unpacks six runs in the top of the tenth for an eventual 6-0 win. SFB SP Kevin Nolte (15-13, 3.96 ERA) goes nine shutout innings and gets the win, but not a shutout since he does not return for the bottom of the tenth.
September 15 – DAL SP Matt Sealock (17-7, 3.52 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout in an 8-0 win over the Wolves.
September 15 – Batting first, LVA CF Brent Cramer (.343, 15 HR, 81 RBI) drives in six runs on two hits in an 18-3 shredding of the Falcons.
September 16 – Bone spurs in his elbow end the season of NAS SP Zack Stahl (11-11, 4.65 ERA, 1 SV).
September 18 – With a Bayhawks loss to the Loggers and a split in their own double-header against the Titans, the Thunder manage to clinch both the CL South for themselves and the CL North for the Canadiens.
September 18 – MIL SP Victor Padilla (12-11, 4.11 ERA) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL and is expected to miss the entire 2051 season.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Raul Sevilla (.311, 14 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA CF Brent Cramer (.342, 15 HR, 83 RBI), batting .435 (10-23) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Losing record achieved… first since 2042.

Only the Coons can hit four homers in a game and still lose against a last-place team… That’s why they’re a last-place team. They are so bad, they might lose to themselves…!!

(blows)

There’s really not much more to say anymore. We’ll need some creativity this winter to present a watchable product in ’51 for sure. Nevertheless, two or three players will be added to begin next week, with the minor league seasons now over. All our teams missed the playoffs by double digits.

Fun Fact: The only non-minimum player in the top 12 in $/WAR for the Raccoons is Bubba Wolinsky.

…and he makes $455k, hardly highest on the team. 2.2 WAR make him 3rd on the team with $206k/WAR, behind only Salcido and Lonzo.

Crispin, Pucks, Hitchcock, Castner (!!??), Miles (…), Hall (!!), Sencion, Lamotta (waiver claim), and Cruz (hah!) come after that, and only then Gonzalez and Waters start to poke their little knobbly noses into the list.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-82) vs. Thunder (96-53) – September 19-21, 2050

Final home series of the year, after which we’d take our listlessness on the road for the last ten games. The Thunder had locked up the CL South and a meeting with the damn Elks the week before, but had lost outfielder Steve Humphreys and relief man Willie Maldonado somewhere along the way, and both were dubious for that CLCS. For the time being, we had three games with the #2 offense and #1 pitching in the CL on our paws and that could only go snazzy. The Thunder also already held the season series for the year, up 5-1 on the Portlanders.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.38 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (14-8, 3.15 ERA)
Victor Salcido (12-7, 3.74 ERA) vs. Felix Alvarez (13-7, 3.43 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-0, 4.18 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (17-9, 3.66 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition coming up in this series.

The Coons added two more relievers with the AAA season done and over with, Danny Cancel and Jim Larson, both righties. The latter was a seventh-rounder in 2046, and the former has already made the rounds in Portland to no success whatsoever. One final callup for good behavior was given to 2B Rich Seymour, who hit .210 in 33 games with the Coons last year, but this year stalled in AAA. As if we needed another righty-hitting second-sacker to rot on the bench.

Game 1
OCT: CF M. Allen – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – C Adames – SS R. Cox – 3B A. Montes de Oca – LF Harmon – P Hendrix
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – RF Lamotta – LF Sivertson – P Wolinsky

Bubba whiffed six batters in four innings to start the week, with Jonathan Bans’ fourth-inning single the first base knock for the Thunder. Before you get excited – the Raccoons were just as lackluster on offense, one hit through four innings, and no runs. Run(s) occurred in the fifth inning, however. Jesus Adames homered off Wolinsky, and Ryan Cox singled. Advancing on a groundout by Angel Montes de Oca, the shortstop then raced around to score on a Mike Harmon single, but also took a knee of Ruben Gonzalez to the chest and/or private parts and had to be carried off the field, which didn’t bode well for the upcoming CLCS. Joe Crim replaced him at short.

The Coons tied it up in the sixth with doubles by Lonzo and Crispin, a Maldo groundout, and a run-scoring wild pitch by Hendrix, but Wolinsky continued to pitch into the seventh and re-applied for the L with a single allowed to Montes. Hitchcock took over pitching duties, but failed the runner around on two singles, walked the bags full, and only escaped with a well-spun 4-6-3 double play by Matt Waters on Jonathan Ban’s grounder. That 3-2 lead fell apart under Brian Grohoski’s watch in the bottom 8th. John Castner singled in the pitcher’s spot to begin the inning, was held over a bit by Lonzo and Crispin, but then singled home with two outs by Maldo. Waters also singled to center, moving Maldo to third base with the go-ahead run, and while Pucks struck out, he held off on doing so until after Maldonado had been waved across with another wild pitch by a Thunder hurler. Willie Cruz got the ball for the ninth inning, and actually didn’t blow a lead for once… 4-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Castner (PH) 1-1;

Brett Lillis jr. got the win for two outs in the top 8th.

Game 2
OCT: SS A. Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – C Adames – CF M. Allen – 3B Adame – LF Harmon – P F. Alvarez
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – LF Watt – RF Samples – P Salcido

Offense was slow again on Tuesday, with only four combined hits between the two teams and no runners touching third base until Matt Waters crushed the bejitters out of an Alvarez fastball in the bottom of the fourth for his 16th homer of the year, putting the Coons up one-zip. The next runners were Alex Adame, former Raccoon, with an infield single in the fifth, and then Jesus Adames drawing a walk in the seventh, and both were immediately doubled up by the next guy in line.

Waters reached on a Ban error to begin the bottom 7th, reached second base on a wild pitch, and third base when Adame bobbled Juan Jimenez’ 1-out grounder for yet another error. Runners on the corners with one down in the bottom 7th – uh, good job, boys? At least you made contact! Watt grounded to Ban for a fielder’s choice, eliminating Jimenez at second base, but Waters scored, 2-0. Van Hoy batted for Adam Samples, but grounded out, while Salcido axed the Thunder’s 7-8-9 batters on six pitches in the top 8th, and surely was not gonna give up the ball now. He batted for himself to begin the bottom 8th, in which a 2-out stir by Crispin (double) and Maldo (RBI single) added another run to his lead. He thus entered the ninth up by three and on 84 pitches against the top of the order. Montes popped out to Crispin on two pitches, and another two pitches later Pucks secured an easy fly from Ban. David Worthington struck out, completing a 4-hit shutout! 3-0 Furballs! Waters 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Salcido 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (13-7);

Yay, Salcido! Whatever his firs name might be!

This was his second career shutout, and the first that wasn’t a no-hitter. Already regressing, what a bum!

Game 3
OCT: SS Adame – 2B Ban – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – C Adames – CF M. Allen – LF Harmon – 3B Crim – P Lehman
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Lamotta – P Brobeck

Brobeck had two fine innings to begin the game, but then stumbled over everything and everybody, including an Ed Crispin error on the opposing pitcher’s bunt in the third. Crim opened with a single, and the throwing error put two aboard. But from there the Thunder ripped away another three hits, Adame, Ban, and Worthington each driving home a run with screamers, and two more on a Juan Benavides double meant curtains after two-plus innings for Brobeck, socked a 5-spot (four earned) straight in the kisser.

It took a while for any meaning Raccoons offense, but the bottom 5th began with Matt Watt walking and an infield single by Lamotta. A double switch had already put Glodowski into the #9 hole and he found a double play with deadly precision, but Lonzo doubled home Watt from third base to at least get on the board with two outs. Watt scratched out another leadoff walk in the bottom 7th, then was joined by Glodowski on the merits of a 1-out single against Lehman. Lonzo shoved a single through between the Gold Glovers Ban and Adame to drive home Watt, 5-2, but Crispin and Maldo made poor outs and the tying run remained in the box. Danny Landeta and Paul Miles then answered with a 3-run collapse in the eighth inning, including a 2-run homer by Benavides. Matt Waters offered a leadoff jack in the home half of the frame as counterweight, but that was of course only good enough to get back to a 5-run deficit now. Jim Larson made his ABL debut in the ninth inning against the top of the order, drilled Adame, walked Ban, and gave up a run on a Benavides double. He struck out Adames with runners in scoring position, but Eloy Sencion was called on for left-hander Jim Price, getting an emergency hack and pop out on an 0-2 pitch.

Funny thing, the Raccoons had pinch-hit with Castner in the bottom 8th and had left him in the game over Matt Waters because, (then) five runs down, what are the chances? Bottom 9th: leadoff single by Sivertson, a walk to Glodowski, and another one to Lonzo, both in full counts. That was the exit for Lehman, and now against lefty Tom Spencer, Crispin was in the box, Maldo was in the on-deck circle, and Eloy Sencion was the tying run in the hole. Tah…!! Crispin promptly singled, because we could always come up clutch when that actually made things worserer. Mike Lynn replaced Spencer right away, but his first pitch was ticked to left by Jesus Maldonado for a 2-run single, 9-6. There were only two bats left on the bench, Adam Samples and – the eventual pinch-hitter for Sencion – Juan Jimenez. He flew out to center, Castner spanked into a double play, and the Raccoons really delivered on Closing Day…… 9-6 Thunder. Lavorano 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-5, RBI; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1; Watt 0-1, 3 BB; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Glodowski 1-2, BB;

Raccoons (69-83) @ Titans (84-68) – September 23-25, 2050

The Titans had won four in a row, but all too little, too late. They were eighth in runs scored, but with the most efficient pitching staff in the league. They were so starved for offense, even some of the bums on our team didn’t look unattractive to them…! The season series was also already firmly lost, 10-5 at the time of crawling into Massachusetts.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (10-11, 3.91 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (7-6, 2.18 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-18, 4.45 ERA) vs. David Barnes (2-3, 4.19 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.38 ERA) vs. David Barel (14-10, 2.49 ERA)

We expected three southpaws against us here, although Barel and righty Kyle Turay (13-8, 3.00 ERA) had both pitched in a double header on Tuesday and the Titans could go either way between those two. Turpeau was a leading Rookie of the Year contender, although he now was on a 4-game losing streak. He had met the Raccoons three times this year, twice in April in relief, and once in a start he lost in August.

Fun fact: Victor Merino had not won a game since June. He had a 10-game losing streak, and was winless in his last 14 attempts. He was also not gonna get a reprieve by being spared the start that would be his potential 20th loss. It was hard for everybody here. Suck it up, Buttercup!

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – C Youngquist – LF L. Estrada – SS Ale. Silva – P Turpeau

Lonzo singled, stole second, and was singled home by Maldonado for an early 1-0 lead in the Friday opener, but Wheatley was all over the ******* place in an awful 29-pitch first inning. The first three Titans all reached base, although Elias Rodriguez was also thrown out at home trying to score from second on Chris Jimenez’ single. Jason Monson drew another walk, but Ryan Youngquist flew out to Glodowski to strand three and allow no runs in the inning. Turpeau tied the game instead with a 1-out RBI double, driving home Leo Estrada in the bottom 2nd.

While the Coons were not hitting anything in a way worth talking about, Wheats had a clean third inning, then nailed Ryan Youngquist and gave up a double to Estrada to begin the bottom 4th. He struck out Alejandro Silva and the pitcher after that, and Rodriguez grounded out to Castner, stranding the two runners in scoring position. Which Wheats was that on the mound? First-half or second-half? The answer seemed to change every three minutes or so… In any case, Jimenez and Lopez reached base in the fifth and were doubled home by Tony Lopez to put Boston 3-1 on top. Wheats added another inning after stranding Lopez, but was hit for with Van Hoy as the tying run with two on and two outs in the top 7th, but a fly to center stranded John Castner on base.

The Critters got a leadoff double from Lonzo to begin the eighth, then two poor outs from Lamotta and Maldo. Waters hit a soft single that barely left the infield, putting runners on the corners for Ed Crispin, batting for Gonzalez against righty Eddie Sotelo. The Titans countered with southpaw Tony Ruiz, and Crispin grounded out, stranding those precious tying runs. Lillis held the Titans close, and then the tying run was in the box again to begin the ninth against right-hander Jordan Ramos once Puckeridge doubled to right, swiftly followed by Juan Jimenez’ double to left. 3-2, tying run two bags away now! Glodowski flew out to right. Watt struck out. Lonzo hit a ball to the left side, near the bag, and third baseman Mark Mayfield lunged and touched it, but only deflected the ball into foul ground, and by the time he scrambled after it, even Juan Jimenez – with two out – had scored from second base to tie the game…! Jeff Raczka, last lefty stick on the bench, popped out for Lamotta to keep Lonzo stranded, and Kevin Hitchcock’s scoreless bottom 9th sent the game to extras, and also backup catcher Ian Davison to the showers after he was ejected for barking about a strike three call, leaving the Titans on their third-string September catcher Raul Salas for extra innings.

Him and Ramos quickly gave up a lead to the Coons in the 10th inning, which began with Maldo and Waters singles to left, then an RBI double to left-center by Crispin. Puckeridge hit a 2-run double into the corner in rightfield against Caleb Martin, then scored on a Watt single with one out – Glodowski had also reached base in between. Lonzo hit into a fielder’s choice, but then stole second base, his 60th of the year. Both him and Glodowski scored on Adam Samples’ pinch-hit 2-run single, which completed the 6-spot. Maldo grounded out. Mike Snyder retired Boston without fuss in the bottom of the tenth. 9-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 4-6, 2B, RBI; Samples (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Waters 2-5; Crispin (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 1-2, 2B, RBI;

There was then a waiver deal done on Saturday as the 1-2 teams in the CL North exchanged unwanted pieces. The Titans got catcher Nate Oden (.328, 5 HR, 26 RBI) for Jeff Wheeler (.288, 4 HR, 53 RBI), who went to the damn Elks.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – 2B Seymour – LF Sivertson – P Merino
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – C Youngquist – SS Ale. Silva – LF L. Estrada – P D. Barnes

Four hits scored two runs in the top 1st, with Lonzo, Lamotta, Waters, and Gonzalez all snipping singles. Maldo hit a sac fly if nothing else, and Lamotta got himself caught trying to steal third base, so we could have gotten even more. Serial loser Victor Merino hit a single in the top 2nd that didn’t lead to much, then allowed a single to Monson and got taken deep by Alejandro Silva to get the game level. (bites into fist with utter frustration)

Plus, the Coons plinked Barnes to death with singles, except for the “to death” part. We had EIGHT singles in three innings, but only the two runs. Maldo and Waters singled in the third inning, then were left stranded. Seymour drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, and was also stranded. Ricky Lamotta hit a leadoff double to center in the fifth and probably would have been stranded as well if Silva hadn’t made an error on a Maldo grounder, and Waters then singled up the middle to score Lamotta, 3-2. Ricky Gonzalez flew out to right easily, and Glodowski just as easily found his way into a double play after that. Top 6th, leadoff singles for Seymour and Sivertson, the useless bunch. Merino struck out trying to bunt, Lonzo struck out without trying to bunt, and Lamotta flew out to Tony Lopez. 12 hits, numerous assorted runners beyond that, and three runs… AND Merino on the mound. It had to become an L, somehow! Merino somehow survived giving up a leadoff single to Barnes (…) in the bottom 6th. Rodriguez forced out the runner, but took second on Merino’s errant pickoff attempt. Massey and Jimenez stranded him anyway.

But even though the Coons tossed out the very most of 14 hits through eight innings and were still only up 3-2, Merino managed the impossible and staved off the loss (and thus 20 losses for the season). He put Estrada on in the bottom 8th, but was lifted when Ian Davison pinch-hit for Rodriguez with two outs in the inning. Willie Cruz got the K on Davison, who this time managed to stay in the game, then got two tack-on runs in the top 9th as the Raccoons pounded out another five hits, beginning with a Maldo triple. Waters singled him home, and the Coons went up 5-2 in the inning, which actually ended with Cruz popping out with the bags full. Tony Lopez singled off him with two outs in the bottom 9th, but that was all the Titans put together. 5-2 Coons. Lamotta 2-5, 2B; Maldonado 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waters 4-5, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 3-5, RBI; Seymour 2-4, BB; Sivertson 3-4, 2B; Merino 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-18) and 1-2;

We left 14 runners on base. The Titans left one.

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Van Hoy – RF Lamotta – C Raczka – P Wolinsky
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Massey – 2B C. Jimenez – RF T. Lopez – CF Monson – SS Ale. Silva – C I. Davison – LF L. Estrada – P Turay

No Southpaw Sunday, shambles. Puckeridge dropping a ball in center, facilitating an unearned Titans run to score in the bottom 1st? Also shambles. Jeff Raczka drove home the tying run with a single in the second after a walk to Van Hoy and a single by Lamotta, all with two outs, and Turay nicked Wolinsky to fill the bases, but then Watt struck out flailing to strand a full set. The Furballs went up 2-1 in the third inning when Lonzo reached base, stole second *and* third, and was brought in by Crispin with a sac fly. After a fourth-inning run put together with a Van Hoy double and a Lamotta RBI single, Crispin drove Lonzo home with an out again in the fifth inning, but this time Lonzo had whacked a triple into the gap to begin with. The Raccoons didn’t score in the sixth, but then made up for it with two in the seventh, when Ricky Lamotta singled home both Crispin and Waters with two outs.

And Wolinsky? Steady for once. After the wonky first he recovered to pitch seven innings on four hits without giving up another run, earned or not. Only one strikeout though, but the token right-handed reinforcement of Jim Larson and Danny Cancel would then retire six in order after that to complete the sweep. 6-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Van Hoy 2-4, BB, 2B; Lamotta 3-5, 3 RBI; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (6-13);

In other news

September 19 – Vegas outfielder Felix Rojas (.252, 4 HR, 15 RBI) will miss the rest of the season after suffering an undisclosed injury during gardening work. Rumor has it he got too intimate with a lawnmower.
September 19 – VAN SP Terry Herman (17-7, 2.67 ERA) could be out for the playoffs after straining a calf muscle.
September 20 – The Titans sweep the Aces in a double-header, both with extra-inning walkoffs, the first by a 10th-inning home run by super utility Jose Rodriguez (.215, 5 HR, 28 RBI) for a 2-1 win. It then takes 12 innings for anybody to score a run in the second game until Boston’s backup catcher Ian Davison (.224, 2 HR, 14 RBI) singles home Leo Estrada (.214, 0 HR, 0 RBI) for a 1-0 walkoff victory over the Aces. 6:32 hours of baseball for all of four runs.
September 21 – The Gold Sox clinch the FL West with a 4-3 win over the Rebels.
September 21 – SAC SP Leo Iniguez (6-13, 4.95 ERA) could miss the majority of the 2051 season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
September 23 – PIT 1B/2B Mario Briones (.217, 1 HR, 25 RBI) is out with a torn ACL. The 39-year-old is not expected to return in time for Opening Day in 2051.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tylor Cecil (.313, 23 HR, 108 RBI), batting .800 (8-10) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 2B/SS Matt Waters (.270, 17 HR, 72 RBI), poking .455 (10-22) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Waters also had five walks and a stolen base this season and scored seven runs. This is actually his very first Player of the Week award. He had already been a Batter of the Month, a World Series MVP, home run champ, and a few other things, but never the allegedly best player in a semi-arbitrary 7-day span before.

Nothing good ever happens in Boston – although this time we merely ruined our draft position with a sweep and a 5-game winning streak. Oh well, maybe playing the Elks and Indians in the final week will put this right again. Right now we’re merely in line for the #11 or #12 pick, and an unprotected pick was just one game away. 11 games under .500 and it might not amount to a protected pick – if that doesn’t fit seamlessly onto the rest of this perfectly bleak season, I don’t know what would.

Lonzo won’t win that ROTY title, either. Batting for a .668 OPS is usually not a qualifying mark, give or take 60-ish stolen bases.

And Merino won’t even lose 20 games now! What is there even to look forward to anymore??

Oh, I know. The peaceful quietness of the offseason. When Nick Valdes will slash our budget in half, probably…

Fun Fact: Ivan Villa is six away from yet another new single-season RBI record.

And that with four against the Warriors on the plate. Villa has 144 RBI at this stage, a.k.a. “two Matt Waters’ worth”.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-83) @ Canadiens (99-56) – September 26-29, 2050

One more week of pain. I took Honeypaws from the office, went by the nearest cookie store, filled the trunk, and went home to try and suffer through it with a modicum of dignity. The back-to-back CL North champs were first in runs scored and second in runs allowed, and were up 9-5 on the Coons this year.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (13-7, 3.56 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (13-6, 3.04 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-1, 5.26 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (2-3, 4.95 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-11, 3.93 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (16-12, 3.86 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-18, 4.35 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (22-7, 2.49 ERA)

Two from the right, two from the left, and probably 30-10 runs for *those guys*.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – P Salcido
VAN: CF Escobido – 1B J. Wheeler – LF Toohey – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – SS Mullen – RF Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P Godinez

The first crate of cookies was opened in the second inning, in which the damn Elks put a 3-spot on Salcido, starting with a homer from Jesus Burgos. Tyler Tomasello singled, Nick DeMarco walked, Salcido threw away a grounder, and all in all three runs scored until Jeff Wheeler flew out to Lamotta in center. Lamotta also scored the first run for Portland, being singled home by Lonzo with two outs in the top 3rd. That was it for offense for most of the game. Through six innings, both sides had just three base hits cobbled together, and the score was still 3-1. Crispin made it four hits for Portland with a leadoff single in the seventh, but was stranded on second base eventually once Tomasello dashed into the gap to retire Ruben Gonzalez by snagging his liner. The Elks also got their fourth hit in the seventh inning, but it was a 2-run homer by Nick DeMarco after Tomasello drew a leadoff walk. Salcido retired Godinez, then from the game, and Danny Cancel gave up another run by putting on Angel Escobido, and then a 2-out RBI single by former Critter Bryce Toohey, who was hitting .254 with 14 homers and was lusting for more rings.

Top 8th, Godinez out of the blue put Watt, Lamotta, and Samples on in sequence *and* to begin the inning. I had my reservations, but Honeypaws got his hopes up once more. And we got closer – Puckeridge drew a bases-loaded walk, Lonzo plated a run with a groundout, Crispin added an RBI single, and Maldo a sac fly at least, but that was still a run short – but that tying run was at third base with two outs. Matt Waters walked against Sam Heisler, but Ruben Gonzalez flew out to Tomasello. Sterling Henderson’s 2-out RBI single, pinch-hit, drove in a run against Eloy Sencion that went on Danny Landeta’s ledger in the bottom 8th, though, to the deficit deepened again to two runs, and Sam Gibson didn’t even give up one to the Coons in the ninth. Ricky Lamotta hit a 1-out single, everybody else just made easy outs. 7-5 Canadiens. Crispin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Lamotta 3-4; Samples 1-2, BB; Puckeridge (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI;

(looks over to Honeypaws’ spot, which is empty)

(looks around)

Honeypaws, I know you’re in my cookie bag. I can see your tail.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – CF Lamotta – 1B Van Hoy – P Brobeck
VAN: CF Escobido – 1B J. Wheeler – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – SS Mullen – LF Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P Drury

A first-inning, 2-out rally scored a run for Portland as the Coons got a Crispin single, Gonzalez walk, an RBI single from Pucks, and another walk from Castner before Ricky Lamotta left the bases loaded with a groundout. Elk City got a leadoff double in the bottom 1st from Angel Escobido, who then got himself caught stealing third base right away. Julio Diaz hit another one of those in the second though, and he was not inclined to tempt fate that way anyway. A Jesus Burgos single and a groundout from Dan Mullen brought in the tying run instead, but at least Burgos was stranded on base.

Brobeck hit a single in the top 4th, but that led nowhere as usual, while he gave up four straight hits in the bottom 4th to get whacked for three runs by Burgos, Mullen (triple), Tomasello, and DeMarco. Add in a run-scoring wild pitch, and there went another bag of cookies. And another bottle of Capt’n Coma for me, and because I was kind, I also poured some in a bowl for Honeypaws. Brobeck shone more with offense – after Ricky Lamotta bounced a ball off the warning track and into the stands for a ground-rule double to open the top 6th, and advanced on Evan Van Hoy’s groundout, Brobeck hit a fly to deep right to give Jerry Outram, the menace, something to do, but Lamotta easily scored from third base for a sac fly.

The rookie Brobeck went seven innings in the end and remained on a 4-2 hook, but he also finished the outing by striking out the side of Drury, Escobido, and Wheeler – after getting only two strikeouts in the previous six frames. The Raccoons got a Pucks triple into the right-center gap to begin the eighth, but then Castner and Lamotta made embarrassing outs. (gulp-gulp-gulp!) But Van Hoy was alert and snapped a 2-out RBI double, putting himself in scoring position as the tying run. Matt Waters pinch-hit for Brobeck… but popped out to end the inning. Sam Heisler put the Critters away in the ninth. 4-3 Canadiens. Watt 2-4, BB; Crispin 2-5; Puckeridge 2-4, 3B, RBI;

Sigh.

From here, it was the final outing for all the starting pitchers.

Quick glance at the draft board. We currently held the #8/9 pick tied with the Knights, and were half a game behind the Loggers and two ahead of the Indians in fifth place in the North.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – C Jimenez – LF Sivertson – P Wheatley
VAN: SS Mullen – 1B J. Wheeler – RF Outram – LF Toohey – C Julio Diaz – 3B Burgos – CF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P Orozco

A throwing error by Maldonado allowed Tim Burkhart to score in the third inning for the first run in the game, after Burkhart had snuck a single through the right side to begin the inning. Orozco had yet to concede a base runner, but did so by allowing a single to Lonzo in the top 4th. Maldo doubled home the runner to tie the game, and Orozco then lost the next two batters in full counts to bring up… ugh, Glodowski. Another full count – another walk, and a 2-1 lead…! Yay, Glodowski! …and then Juan Jimenez spanked a ball to short for an inning-murdering double play, and Outram, the old terror, drew a leadoff walk, Toohey singled, and a Burgos single got the tying run home off Wheats in the bottom of the same inning anyway… Burkhart hit into a double play to kill that inning with runners on the corners as well, at least, but with a DeMarco double and a Mullen single the damn Elks took a 3-2 lead in the fifth…

Top 6th, and with a third cookie bag ready to be torn open and gobbled as animalistically as possible and necessary, the Coons opened with a soft Lamotta single, and then a Maldo wallbanger in left for a double. The tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with nobody out. Waters struck out. Pucks struck out. I tore the bag open and stuck my head in it, only to find Honeypaws had already nibbled his way into it from the other side. Mutual hissing ensued, while unwatched and almost forgotten, Matt Glodowski beat Burkhart in deep center for a 2-out, 2-run double…! YAY, GLODOWSKI!!

Wheats tip-toed his way around two singles in the bottom 6th, then bunted Sivertson and his leadoff walk to second base in the top 7th. A scratch single by Lonzo put runners on the corners. Lamotta, the miserable bum, found another double play to fail into, and in turn DeMarco reached on a Maldonado error in the bottom 7th, pinch-runner Alex Soto stole second, reached third on Jimenez’ piss-poor throw, Wheats nicked Tomasello in the #9 hole, and a sac fly by Mullen tied the score at four. I screamed into the cookie bag. Jeff Wheeler found a 5-4-3 double play which Lamotta turned vigorously to save his bacon from impending wrath waiting for him 300 miles due south.

With Tim Abraham pitching in the eighth, Matt Waters drew a 1-out walk. Seymour batted for Pucks against the righty, but popped out. Oh well, no decision for Wheats…! Unless Glodowski found a silly lucky hit for a third time in the g-LODOWSKI! Homer to left! Coons on top again!! And Jimenez hit another one right after! Maybe Wheats would now finish .500 after all (what a success that would be…..), but the Coons needed another six outs from Sencion, who got two before putting Julio Diaz on with a 2-out single in the eighth, and then Willie Cruz, who was called on without much fuss or middle relief. Burgos hit a single off him, but Burkhart flew out casually to end the inning. Doubles by Crispin and Lamotta even added a run against right-handed Nate Henderson in the ninth inning, while Cruz retired the Elks in order. 8-4 Raccoons! Lavorano 2-5; Lamotta 2-5, 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Glodowski 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; Crispin 1-1, 2B; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (11-11);

Mikio Suzuki was added to the roster off the DL at this point, although he didn’t actually fly out to Vancouver with a lefty on the mound and would instead go straight from Portland to Indy with me.

Game 4
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – LF Samples – P Merino
VAN: CF Escobido – 1B J. Wheeler – 3B Burgos – LF Toohey – SS Mullen – C T. Phillips – RF Burkhart – 2B DeMarco – P McMichael

Lonzo stole his 64th bag in the first inning, but was left on base when Waters whiffed, while Merino, up against an all-righty lineup, saw Escobido reach on a Maldo error, steal second, and get home on a 2-out single by Toohey that got through between Waters and Lonzo. Mullen singled, Merino walked Tims Phillips and Burkhart to walk in a run as well, DeMarco hit an RBI single, and when McMichael grounded to Waters, he threw the ball away for a 2-base, 2-run error. Escobido struck out to end the inning, the Elks up 5-0 (all runs unearned), still laughing over all the Raccoons’ ***********. It was hard times for cookies and booze around me now for sure.

Merino was gone after 85 pitches in four innings, giving up an earned run in the final frame he pitched for the Coons in 2050 – or ever, if he stepped near a window or on a balcony with me in sight during out weekend in Indy. The hole only deepened after his departure. Tim Phillips took Mike Snyder deep for a run in the fifth, and Snyder and Porter conspired to give up three more runs in the sixth. By the eighth I was on the way to the airport. I missed all of the Coons barely breaking up McMichael’s shutout with an out to spare when Puckeridge landed a pinch-hit sac fly in the ninth inning… 10-1 Canadiens. Castner (PH) 1-2;

By the time the weekend arrived, the Raccoons had clinched at least a tie for fifth place if they got swept by the Indians, who were three games back by then. We entered the weekend tied with the Loggers for fourth.

The best pick still obtainable was the #6 selection, and we split the #8 and #9 picks with the Loggers right now, but could still accidentally win our way to an unprotected pick.

Raccoons (73-86) @ Indians (70-89) – September 30-October 2, 2050

Misery. What else was there to say? Indy has lost five in a row, but they led the season series, 8-7, and were somehow rather respectful in terms of runs scored and surrendered, seventh in the CL in each and with a -30 run differential that was far less rancid than the Coons’ -77 marker coming in.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (6-13, 4.22 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (5-7, 6.04 ERA)
Victor Salcido (13-8, 3.63 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (12-12, 3.38 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-2, 5.23 ERA) vs. Bill Quinn (5-6, 3.10 ERA)

Only right-handers in that injury-ravaged rotation, with Bill Nichol and Paul Medvec both on the DL, along with certified pest and kitten-drowner Aaron Brayboy and Hugo Acosta.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Van Hoy – CF Suzuki – SS Sivertson – C Raczka – P Wolinsky
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B M. Gilmore – LF R. White – C Poindexter – 2B N. Fernandez – P Llamas

Both teams scored their first runs with a 2-run single by their catchers, Raczka putting the Coons ahead in the second, while Manny Poindexter got teams even in the fourth, until Nick Fernandez whacked him home with a double to un-tie the game. Ed Crispin drove in the tying run with two outs in the fifth – that tying run was actually Wolinsky, who had drawn a 2-out walk – but also cocked up a new 4-3 lead for the Arrowheads with a throwing error in the bottom 5th. Your basic last-place playoffs…

Except that the bottom dwellers in the Coons lineup kept stirring. Van Hoy and Suzuki reached base in the sixth, and Mitch Sivertson tied the game with a sac fly. Raczka singled home Suzuki, 5-4, and Bubba even draw another walk, but was forced out by Watt and Crispin struck out to leave runners on the corners. Wolinsky failed to see out the bottom of the inning, however, putting Rusty White and Nick Fernandez on the corners with two outs. PH Vinny Marin singled the game tied again facing Hitchcock before Angel Mendez grounded out.

The seventh saw Martino Barbiusa nick Maldonado, which was the 26th time old Maldo got plunked on the season and by now he was getting grumpy. He stole second base out of spite – only his second theft of the season – but was stranded in scoring position anyway. Instead Alex de Castro and Bill Quinteros ticked singles off Hitchcock to begin the bottom 7th, went to the corners, and while Bobby Anderson found a 6-4-3 double play, that still got the go-ahead run home for Indy. Jeff Castner had an abortive pinch-hit single in the eighth, and the Coons were still a run in the rear in the ninth inning against September call-up Cesar Suarez (they really weren’t trying to win, huh?). The Coons’ 2-3-4 went in order… 6-5 Indians. Raczka 2-4, 3 RBI;

First loss of the year for Hitchcock, and the second game in which Lonzo didn’t appear.

The Loggers lost as well, and we were still in reach of tying Indy for the #6 pick, while actually tying the Loggers and Scorpions for the #7 through #9 picks. The Rebs, Condors, and Knights were all just one game ahead, but the unprotected pick threat was gone now with a Caps win on Friday.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – RF Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Salcido
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – LF R. White – 1B E. Ortiz – 2B N. Fernandez – P Brink

The middle game was about who could scatter the most runners in the least helpful fashion, and through five innings, both teams were level with five runners and zero runs scored. The Coons had four hits and a walk off Brink, but had not even reached third base, including a double play hit into by Suzuki and a runner caught stealing in … Suzuki.

Salcido’s season ended with one out in the bottom 6th when he suddenly walked four in a row, although he didn’t walk in a run. He *balked* in a run, which was infinitely more stupid and thus better. Ponce struck out Rusty White, but gave up a 2-out, 2-run single to Edwin Ortiz before restoring whatever order there was still to restore, now down 3-0. Puckeridge got on, stole a base, and scored on a Suzuki groundout in the top 7th, but that was of course not gonna make up the deficit. The eighth and ninth were wholly wasted, however, and the game (and the season series) was lost. 3-1 Indians. Puckeridge 2-4;

Still in reach, the #6 pick. We held sole custody of the #7 pick ahead of the season close-out. Three teams, the Loggers, Condors, and Scorpions, were all a game ahead, so the worst we could end up with now was a miserable dice roll for the #10 pick.

Polibio O’Higgins reported back for duty ahead of the finale. My, wasn’t I thrilled…

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – LF Sivertson – P Brobeck
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B Briscoe – LF Hare – 2B N. Fernandez – P Quinn

Brobeck’s first few starts had been nice, the last few not so much. Here he had a clean first inning, then filled the bases in the second without allowing a hit, drilling Bobby Anderson and walking Joe Briscoe and Josh Hare. Nick Fernandez hit into a double play to kill the effort for the Indians, though. Angel Mendez also found a double play in the third after Bill Quinn’s leadoff single to center. Speaking of double plays, when Crispin drew a leadoff walk in the top 4th, Maldo found one to smack a grounder into as well…

A Puckeridge bomb to lead off the fifth actually broke the ice, and remained the only run for a while longer as nobody could hit anything much. The Coons had three base hits through seven innings, and the Indians didn’t even get that far. When Bobby Anderson landed a 1-out single in the bottom 7th, which was the Arrowheads’ second knock in the game, but was then also doubled up by Ray DeFrank. Brobeck got three groundouts for a quick eighth, and technically had enough juice left to send him back out for the ninth inning, but, man, wouldn’t we like a tack-on run? Quinn finished nine with a 3-hitter, though, and Philip Locke pinch-hit for him to begin the bottom 9th. And Brobeck? Ah, Bro-what-the-heck! He was back out there too, entering on 96 pitches. Locke flew out to Pucks. Rusty White struck out. And Alex de Castro…? Fly to shallow right, Pucks coming on – and the snag! It was a shutout!! 1-0 Blighters! Puckeridge 1-3, HR, RBI; Brobeck 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (3-2);

In other news

September 26 – The Miners clinch the FL East by just sitting idle, as the Blue Sox split a double-header with the Capitals when they would have needed a sweep to stay alive.
September 27 – CIN RF/LF/1B Sal Montecino (.285, 11 HR, 32 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in a 1-0 win over the Miners.
September 29 – Titans and Indians establish a 1-1 tie by the second inning and don’t resolve it until the 16th with a 2-out RBI single by BOS 1B Elias Rodriguez (.265, 2 HR, 19 RBI) for an eventual 2-1 Boston win.
October 2 – The Canadiens’ regular season ends with a walkoff homer by OF/1B Tyler Tomasello (.253, 10 HR, 60 RBI) to beat the Crusaders, 1-0.

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC LF/RF/1B Alex Marquez (.324, 17 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .410 with 5 HR, 17 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT OF Juan Benavides (.279, 20 HR, 97 RBI), batting .292 with 4 HR, 24 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: WAS CL Ryan Dow (7-8, 2.74 ERA, 37 SV), closing for a 2-0 record with 2.16 ERA and 15 SV
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Bill McMichael (23-7, 2.44 ERA), dominating for a 5-1 record with 2.51 ERA, 20 K
FL Rookie of the Month: WAS SP Troy Ratliff (5-0, 3.63 ERA), hurling for a 4-0 record with 1.93 ERA, 19 K
CL Rookie of the Month: NYC UT Omar Sanchez (.294, 1 HR, 39 RBI), poking for a .369 mark with 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Well, wasn’t that an unlikely highlight to finish the season from Kyle Brobeck, only acquired in June for Armando Herrera? Didn’t make the previous six months of pain worth it at all, but I’m not complaining… any more *now*.

We did finish tied with all of the Loggers, Scorpions, and Condors, though, so knowing our luck we’d have the #10 pick out of the #7 through #10 picks…

Now, would the Thunder please knock off the damn Elks?

Fun Fact: Lonzo has four stolen bases for every walk drawn for his career.

81 bags to 20 walks, precisely. It got a *wee* bit better in the second half with him drawing the odd walk, and while he’s generally enjoyable and a plus defender at short anyway, it would be really great if he could figure out either of how to draw another 30-40 walks or to hit at least .300 …

[Westheim]

2050 ABL PLAYOFFS

For the 74th time, the ABL had whittled its field of teams down to four for the pair of League Championship Series.

The top record in the league once again belonged to the title defenders, the 108-54 Gold Sox. Offense was the name of the game here, with a blinding 910 runs scored – not that the pitching was terrible, with the second-fewest runs allowed in the FL, and a +267 run differential. The team led in batting average and home runs, however, even though there was not much going on with stolen bases. But that middle of the order…! Ivan Villa (.312, 41 HR, 149 RBI) tied the single-season RBI mark once again and put up a season tying for an all-time top 10 in home runs, but the team had another THREE guys with 100 RBI in Tylor Cecil (.310, 24 HR, 113 RBI), Raul Sevilla (.285, 29 HR, 103 RBI), and Mike Preble (.300, 28 HR, 105 RBI). Rick Price was hitting .328, three of the guys were switch-hitters, and there was just no fun to be had pitching to that team. Gary Perrone (21-8, 3.56 ERA) led a strong rotation even though they were aceless, having lost John Kennedy (16-6, 3.16 ERA), their ERA leader, to injury in September. Another .300 hitter in Sandy Castillo was also out for the year.

Up against them were the 91-71 Miners, who were likely afraid already. They had come second in runs scored in the FL (but with a respectful distance to the Sox being kept), but the cookie began to crumble with the pitching, with the seventh spot taken in runs allowed by them. Their run differential was +94, which sort of paled compared to Denver. And while the Miners led the league in OBP and stolen bases, they didn’t hit for power, didn’t have got defense, and weren’t even healthy. Pitchers Joe Feltman and Bobby Freels, and hitters Mario Briones and Justin Waltz were out for the year, and Tony Aparicio (.336, 7 HR, 67 RBI) would miss at least the start of the FLCS. What was left, was still decent, with Ed Soberanes (.319, 23 HR, 109 RBI) and Victor Corrales (.312, 11 HR, 114 RBI) being respectful in their own right. But the pitching was just not there. Brian Jackson (16-10, 3.86 ERA) was their ERA leader of the guys still standing.

Over in the CL, the 104-58 Canadiens had home field advantage for the CLCS, having distanced the competition by 14 games and really by June. Nobody on the team had more than 14 homers, nobody had even reached 100 RBI, but they had still led the CL in runs, average, OBP, and had somehow been third in homers. They were not base stealers as a group, but they had stingy defense, a strong pen, and the best rotation by ERA. Bill McMichael (23-7, 2.44 ERA) led the league in wins, but had come second in ERA and had been nowhere near on strikeouts. Mario de Anda and Mario Godinez were a strong support, and Sam Gibson (8-5, 1.26 ERA, 38 SV) had not given up ANYTHING all year. Apart from that they had Dan Mullen (.339, 2 HR, 75 RBI), and otherwise a full lineup where everybody (almost) was hitting .280, .290 with 9 to 14 homers. They were just relentless and could go on and on and on.

Opposite them sat the 101-61 Thunder, who had come second in runs scored, OBP, and homers, but could as well be legless, being bottoms in stolen bases. They were tops in defense though, with a pen just as sturdy (but without that murder closer, Mike Lynn having 46 saves, but a 2.48 ERA), and a rotation that was not far behind, and led by the perpetual Juan Ramos (18-7, 2.97 ERA) and J.J. Hendrix (15-9, 3.47 ERA). Juan Benavides (.274, 20 HR, 97 RBI) led the team in homers and RBI, while the team lacked a .300 hitter, but David Worthington (.297, 19 HR, 78 RBI) and Jonathan Ban (.294, 8 HR, 64 RBI) were nothing to sneeze at.

The Thunder led the participating teams in playoff appearances, this being their 19th, just one off the top dog Raccoons. The Miners had their 15th October ticket, the Canadiens their 13th, and the Gold Sox kept rallying from decades of oblivion with their ninth appearance.

In terms of championships, the Sox and Canadiens had three each, while the Thunder had two. The Miners had never won the championship, one of three teams thus buried.

The Thunder and Canadiens met each other for the third time in the CLCS. The Thunder had won both of the previous matchups. The Miners and Gold Sox, despite one of them featuring in the FLCS for the last five years straight, had actually met each other there only one, all the way back in 1985, when the Gold Sox won the series and the championship (over the Canadiens!).

Conventional wisdom put the Gold Sox and Canadiens in the World Series. It would be the third such pairing after 1985 and, well, 2049. The Canadiens won the only other prior World Series matchup possible, against the Miners in 1982.

+++

OCT @ VAN … 7-5 … (Thunder lead 1-0) … OCT Jonathan Ban 3-5, 2 2B; OCT David Worthington 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; VAN Jerry Outram 2-4, RBI; VAN Bryce Toohey 2-4, BB, 2B; VAN Julio Diaz 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI;

PIT @ DEN … 1-2 … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) … PIT Jayden Ward 2-4, 2B, RBI; DEN Ivan Villa 3-4, HR, RBI; DEN Mike Preble 3-4; DEN Blake Mickle 2-3, BB;
OCT @ VAN … 0-5 … (series tied 1-1) … VAN Bryce Toohey 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; VAN Danny Orozco 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Orozco spins a 3-hit shutout, conceding only three singles and facing only two over the minimum.

PIT @ DEN … 3-8 … (Gold Sox lead 2-0) … DEN Ronnie Thompson 3-5, 2B, RBI; DEN Ivan Villa 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI; DEN Tylor Cecil 2-4, BB, 3B; DEN Tim Turner 2-2, 2 BB; DEN Dave Hils 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);

VAN @ OCT … 2-4 … (Thunder lead 2-1) … VAN Jesus Burgos 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Juan Benavides 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

DEN @ PIT … 2-6 … (Gold Sox lead 2-1) … PIT Alex Abecassis 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; PIT Jayden Ward 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; PIT Brian Jackson 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);
VAN @ OCT … 5-4 (12) … (series tied 2-2) … VAN Jesus Burgos 3-5, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; OCT Steve Humphreys 3-5, 2B, RBI;

Brian Grohoski gives up the game-winning homer to Burgos in the 12th inning. The Thunder clutter 11 singles to no great effect.

DEN @ PIT … 6-2 … (Gold Sox lead 3-1) … DEN Ronnie Thompson 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; DEN Blake Mickle 3-4, BB; DEN Jose Rodriguez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);
VAN @ OCT … 1-3 … (Thunder lead 3-2) … OCT Juan Ramos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (2-0);

DEN @ PIT … 3-0 … (Gold Sox win 4-1) … DEN Gary Perrone 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

OCT @ VAN … 1-5 … (series tied 3-3) … VAN Angel Escobido 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; VAN Julio Diaz 3-4, 2B, RBI; VAN Tim Burkhart (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; VAN Terry Herman 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

OCT @ VAN … 5-4 (10) … (Thunder win 4-3) … OCT David Worthington 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; OCT Juan Benavides 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; VAN Nick DeMarco 2-5, 2 2B;

The Canadiens have Tyler Tomasello single home the tying run off Mike Lynn in the bottom 9th, but leave the bags full after Bryce Toohey walks against his old team mate and Julio Diaz grounds out. Benavides hits a 2-run homer to break the tie in the top 10th, after which Bob Montana singles off Lynn, who strikes out Jerry Outram and Nick DeMarco, concedes two more singles to allow a run against Angels Quintana and Escobido, and then finally gets Tomasello to fly out to end the game with the tying and winning runs in motion.

+++

With that, it was the Gold Sox and Thunder. And merely a 99-run difference in run differential. Run differential differential. Huh.

Neither team had suffered any more injuries, and besides the Gold Sox’ super offense, they were remarkably similar in that both teams had a very mixed lineup with several switch-hitters, only one left-handed starter in their playoff rotation, a very stiff bullpen, and the best defense in their respective leagues.

Nevertheless, the Gold Sox still looked like winners. *910* runs scored…!

+++

2050 WORLD SERIES

OCT @ DEN … 2-5 … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) … OCT Ryan Cox 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; DEN Tylor Cecil 2-4, HR, RBI; DEN Blake Mickle 1-3, HR, 3 RBI; DEN Dave Hils 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

OCT @ DEN … 6-4 … (series tied 1-1) … OCT Juan Benavides 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; DEN Ivan Villa 2-4, HR, RBI; DEN Tylor Cecil 3-4, 2B, RBI;

The Thunder trail through seven, but put four runs on Gary Perrone, Jim Cushing, and Brian Shan in the eighth inning to flip the score around and tie the series.

DEN @ OCT … 4-2 … (Gold Sox lead 2-1) … DEN Ronnie Thompson 3-4, BB; DEN Ivan Villa 3-5, RBI; DEN Marcus Wilkins 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, 2B; OCT Mark Harmon 2-3, HR, 2 RBI;

DEN @ OCT … 10-1 … (Gold Sox lead 3-1) … DEN Mike Preble 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Ten different Gold Sox batters get at least one hit in an all-out assault on the Thunder, who crumple and get put with their backs against the wall.

DEN @ OCT … 6-3 … (Gold Sox win 4-1) … DEN Rick Price 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; OCT Jonathan Ban 3-5, 3B; OCT Mike Allen 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Juan Ramos 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-3, RBI;

Juan Ramos puts a 3-2 lead together through eight innings that gets handed off to Mike Lynn. Sabotaged by a Dave Worthington error, Lynn loads the bases with one out, then walks virtually unknown pinch-hitter Justin Bator on four straight pitches to tie the game. Eight tense pitches later, Ronnie Thompson pops out to shallow center, and all the runners hold. But all the runners score when Rick Price rushes the gap with a 1-0 fastball, plating Mickle, Turner, and Bator, and putting the series away.

+++

2050 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Denver Gold Sox
(4th title)

[Westheim]

I was still busy composing a 480-line poem in six-footed iambic hexameter to praise the Thunder’s elimination of the damn Elks in the CLCS when Nick Valdes’ angry notes about the 2050 season fluttered in.

In short, he wasn’t any happier than me about how the season had gone. He did appreciate being rewired an amount in excess of $10M that hadn’t been used from the 2050 budget, and to encourage further savings in the future (in spendings; not necessarily in wins), he slashed the new budget from $53M, which had been seventh in the league, all the way down to $45.5M, merely 14th in the league.

Yey.

This would be the Coons’ lowest budget in six years, although in all fairness they were also at their low point for the last six years (and beyond). In fact, it had been *17* years between seasons of 88 losses or more, with that absolutely putrid 68-94 campaign in 2032 being the low mark prior to 2050. Back then we had not had any pitching whatsoever, and 2050 hadn’t been too dissimilar.

Anyway, in blunt money and budget terms, the Raccoons were no longer a big-buck team, although we knew that it wasn’t about having the biggest, it was more about technique! …and we had also shrunk our payroll in the last few years and it was expected to go down even further, but more on that later on. First, a look at the other teams in the league in terms of disposable dosh:

Top 5: Gold Sox ($71M), Miners ($67M), Canadiens ($64M), Thunder ($64M); Stars ($60M),

The bottom of the league was brought up by the Falcons ($36M), Wolves ($34M), Aces ($33M), Indians ($32.5M), and Loggers ($28M).

Missing from the CL North at this point were only the Titans (8th, $49M) and Crusaders (t-11th, $46.5M).

The average budget for a team in the league rose to $47.61M, up $610k from last season. The median team budget was $46.25M, up $1.5M from last season.

+++

There weren’t many free agent and arbitration cases coming up this year. Only three free agents, in fact, and none of them considered a key to success right now. Danny Landeta had always just been a toss-in from the Thunder that was dutifully used by a bottom-feeding team and could now go wherever he damn well pleased. Preston Porter had been a staple of the ring-gobbling Coons, but had been through a wretched couple of years since. And Matt Watt had worked quite well as leadoff man for a few years, but in 2050 had dumped his slash line to .220/.346/.262, a drop of 66 points of OBP compared to ’49, and 114 points of OPS. He *was* a switch-hitter, and for that alone was maybe still gonna get an offer, but the voices in my head were still feverishly debating that one.

As far as arbitration candidates were concerned, there were only four of those either, including three pitchers and defensive backup catcher Juan Jimenez. No big complaints about Jimenez; he had not been expected to hit for a Platinum Stick, and that was about that. Anything that could keep the pitching in shape, really. So he would be back. Same for Bubba Wolinsky and Kevin Hitchcock, both being no-brainers.

And then there was Bob Ibold. He, too, like Porter, had been a key part to success in the seventh/eighth inning area of Raccoons’ championship teams of the previous decade, and then basically his arm came off. He pitched like arse coming off almost a full season on the DL in September 2049, and then for another 40 innings in 2050 before being dumped to the Alley Cats, where, plainly, it didn’t get any better. He was all over the place, Pat Degenhardt had some harsh words about him, as did Dr. Padilla, and the Raccoons at this point had to sigh and let him go. Or so you’d think. Might he get an offer still? (twitches)

Meanwhile, the books were almost clean. Ignoring minimum contracts and arbitration cases, the Raccoons entered the offseason with just SIX guaranteed contracts totaling $19.58M exactly, which was frighteningly close to half the budget. Those six were starters Jason Wheatley ($3.5M) and Victor Merino ($1.5M), reliever Julian Ponce ($1.7M), catcher Ruben Gonzalez ($1.4M), middle infielder Matt Waters ($1.98M), and old man Jesus Maldonado ($5.5M). This was to be the final guaranteed season on Maldo’s big 7-year deal. (pretends that Maldo wouldn’t fire the 2052 player option)

To be honest, of those six contracts, about four look pretty dodgy at this point…..

So, give or take a Matt Watt, half the roster is gonna be minimums next season unless we can find some neat things on the market. And, ho, do we need neat things…

The Critters came tenth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed in the CL in 2050, with a -79 run differential. Our expected record would have been 72-90, last in the North when we actually came tied for fourth with the Loggers and two ahead of the Indians. (As an aside, while we got allocated a worse pick than the Loggers for the 2051 draft, we still lucked into beating out the Condors and Scorpions, who also finished 74-88, and got the #8 pick for our troubles) Bottoms in extra-base hits, second from the bottom in OBP and slugging, bottoms in walks… the only upsides with the stickmen was that they didn’t strike out (third in CL) and stole just nine tenths of a bag per game (second in CL), with almost half the thievery committed by Lonzo.

Pitching-wise we came second in strikeouts, fifth in balls, fifth in pen ERA, and virtually all other stats were essentially crummy, ninth in the league, give or take a spot. The rotation and pen needed makeovers, but so did the lineup. The outfield was an embarrassment especially. How much of an embarrassment? Well. Matt ******* Glodowski led the outfielders in OPS. By *a lot*.

Matt ******* Glodowski!!

Jesus H. Christ……

[Westheim]

So, acquiring a capable outfielder, just to maintain sanity, was right at the top of the offseason to-do list, and then the question was about the rotation, too. Wheats had posted his worst season since ’44, but had also been forced to fight a .330 BABIP for the whole year. Bubba and Merino had also been above .300, with weirdly enough a .263 BABIP for Salcido. And yet, they were *all* groundballers…!

(looks skywards and shakes fist at the surely snickering baseball gods)

Merino had lost 19 games, second-most for a Raccoons pitcher ever in a season (and that said something), and had not gotten near 100 strikeouts in a season for the third straight year. It was probably better to move him to the bullpen at this stage, because besides a good slider he really didn’t have much. The fastball was a ho-hum 91, and the other pitches were just not convincing anybody. The next step then would be getting rid of Ponce, because there was only so many left-handed relievers we could be bothered to carry, and we were not going to get rid of Eloy Sencion for sure…

Trading Merino would be something we’d be open to, but … (points) … well … (points again, then shrugs) … who would? – Exactly.

Getting rid of Merino altogether might also help solve the clubhouse mood that had suffered during the second half of the season. There were quite a few malcontents in there, and Merino was one of them. Others included Maldo (grumpy old man), Glodowski (glares), and quite a few relievers, including Willie Cruz.

Early attempts at a trade were met mostly with disinterest by the other teams, so the Raccoons were left to sign 1-year deals with players they already had for the rest of October. Kevin Hitchcock signed for $430k. Juan Jimenez would take $825k. Bubba Wolinsky put an ink paw under a $625k deal. Bob Ibold would not agree to a sensible extension and since I didn’t trust the arbitrator further than I could toss him (which wasn’t very far), Ibold would be non-tendered and granted free agency along with Landeta, Porter, and Watt. In Watt’s case, the Coons wanted a 1-year deal, and Watt wanted three, and especially a guaranteed 3-year deal. No thanks.

All these (non-)moves would reduce the number of ring-bearing Critters, especially ones that wore our own rings, and not including f.e. Willie Cruz, who got a ring with the 2049 Gold Sox (Miles and Ponce had also won rings elsewhere). Only five three-ringed Coons would remain: Wheats, Waters, Maldo, Gonzalez, and Merino; two more had been awarded a ring twice (for 2046 and 2047): Bubba, and Hitchcock; and three strays had wound up with a ring for partial services in one season or the other and were still hanging around the fringes of the 40-man roster for reasons that were hard to explain: John Castner had gotten one in 2046, and in 2047 rings had been made for Evan Van Hoy and Danny Cancel, who had pitched in all of four games that year. Well, if the players thought he was worth it, who am I to judge…

Maud, we need to check the water, whether there’s weird stuff in there.

+++

October 23 – The Knights acquire SP Sam Geren (19-19, 4.13 ERA) from the Condors for #73 prospect SP Omar Arreaga.
October 26 – Washington picks up SP Nick Young (42-43, 3.92 ERA) from the Cyclones in exchange for two prospects.
October 26 – The Condors trade for left-hander George Youngblood (12-20, 3.86 ERA, 22 SV) from the Rebels, parting with two prospects.
October 28 – The Knights remain busy and trade for the Capitals’ infielder Chris Strohm (.286, 115 HR, 840 RBI), surrendering a package of three prospects with #194 prospect SP Ben Akman.
November 6 – The Cyclones trade RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.266, 25 HR, 77 RBI) to the Wolves for 3B Seth Lyon (.333, 2 HR, 12 RBI) and 2B Jordan Stinson, the #180 and #187 prospects, respectively.
November 6 – The Rebels acquire LF/RF Bobby Grewe (.235, 6 HR, 38 RBI) from the Pacifics for two prospects, including catcher and #102 prospect Ben Bodkin.
November 8 – The Blue Sox add CL Tommy Gardner (40-32, 2.57 ERA, 258 SV) from the Condors, paying with five prospects, including #85 OF Danny Hildebrand.

+++

2050 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.312, 41 HR, 149 RBI) and LVA CF Brent Cramer (.340, 15 HR, 84 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: DEN SP Gary Perrone (21-8, 3.56 ERA) and NYC SP Jeff Johnson (19-6, 2.04 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: SFW 1B Dale Haracz (.323, 9 HR, 40 RBI) and BOS SP Thomas Turpeau (8-6, 2.12 ERA)
Relievers of the Year: TOP CL Trent O’Sullivan (9-8, 2.49 ERA, 43 SV) and VAN CL Sam Gibson (8-5, 1.26 ERA, 38 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P DEN Gary Perrone – C NAS Jose Cantu – 1B NAS Alejandro Ramos – 2B DEN Ivan Villa – 3B DEN Ronnie Thompson – SS PIT Ed Soberanes – LF CIN Eddie Moreno – CF DEN Tylor Cecil – RF RIC Chris Morris
Platinum Sticks (CL): P ATL Brian Buttress – C SFB Sean Suggs – 1B OCT David Worthington – 2B SFB Sergio Quiroz – 3B VAN Jesus Burgos – SS VAN Dan Mullen – LF NYC Danny Rivera – CF LVA Brent Cramer – RF IND Bill Quinteros
Gold Gloves (FL): P SAL Manny Vasquez – C DEN Blake Mickle – 1B SAC Steve Wyatt – 2B DEN Ivan Villa – 3B DAL Felix Marquez – SS CIN Juan Ojeda – LF DEN Tim Turner – CF PIT Jayden Ward – RF DAL Celio Umbreiro
Gold Gloves (CL): P MIL Noah Hollis – C VAN Julio Diaz – 1B OCT David Worthington – 2B VAN Nick DeMarco – 3B NYC Prince Gates – SS VAN Dan Mullen – LF BOS Ruben Mangual – CF BOS Jason Monson – RF BOS Tony Lopez

The most valuable player in the Continental League played on the least winningest team. The mind boggles.

…and wanders…

What’s there to know about Brent Cramer? Fifth-year player, strong defense in center, and good aptitude for stealing bases, a bit like a prime Armando Herrera. But the stick came around *massively*. He was brought up at 21 in 2046 and hit in the high .600s for OPS for two and a half seasons. Last year injuries limited him to 87 games, but he batted for an .824 OPS with a .275/.373/.450 slash, up .029/.044/.117 from ’48. He also hit 12 homers that year, more than his first two-and-a-half seasons combined. This year he exploded to hit .340/.438/.514 with 15 homers and 22 stolen bases in 152 games. Is that gonna be permanent?

However, we have nothing to trade for him, so the point is really moot.

[Westheim]

The offseason proper began with a few surprises. First was that until the very end the damn Elks and their career coonskinner-in-chief, Jerry Outram, failed to negotiate a new contract and Outram became a free agent after 16 big league seasons and five Player of the Year awards and a stinking pile of other accolades, batting .330/.447/.515 with 288 HR and 1,133 RBI. Six batting titles, more All Star Games than I actually remember, one ring, your stock-standard inner-circle Hall of Famer, I guess.

And while I was a vengeful, bitter, miserable, stubborn sucker, and would develop eternal hate for those Aaron Brayboys, those run-of-the-mill players that for some reason would hit .500 against the Raccoons with at least 10 RBI per year, I was able to acknowledge superior talent. I’d even vote for Outram on the Hall of Fame ballot. I’d rather hack all my paws off before I’d vote for Brayboy (or countless others that came and went before him). That being said, the Raccoons would not pursue Outram. He was 36, his defense had let up years ago, and while he was still hitting for a 140 OPS+, he came with a price tag suitable for an inner-circle Hall of Famer, and we had to be a tad more selective.

The second was a real scarcity for free agent outfielders, at least those that would actually help a team find some offense. The best free agents on the market would be Outram, Armando Herrera, and Eddie Moreno, who was a defensive liability even at age 32. And while we had enjoyed Herrera being on the Coons overall, he was *also* 36 and there was a certain half-life on centerfielders, and he wouldn’t be able to pull that position off forever.

And again, we had nothing to trade with, really. Who’d be dumb enough to take on Victor Merino, who had $4.5M left on his contract and couldn’t even strike out 4.5 batters per nine innings?

+++

November 22 – The Miners sign former Knights 3B/SS/LF/CF Anton Venegas (.312, 20 HR, 332 RBI) to a 7-yr, $34.96M contract.
November 23 – Make it a double: Pittsburgh also inks ex-DAL SP Matt Sealock (199-119, 3.37 ERA) for two years and $7.92M.
November 24 – The Raccoons strike a deal with the Bayhawks to acquire OF/1B Ken Crum (.282, 71 HR, 387 RBI) for SP Victor Merino (76-68, 3.65 ERA), AA UT Adam Peltier, and AA SP Bernaldin Boas.
November 26 – Topeka snatches up 36-year-old former Pittsburgh 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.288, 201 HR, 1,108 RBI) on a 2-yr, $6.88M deal.
November 29 – The Miners console themselves with the third type A free agent signed in a week, 32-year-old outfielder Eddie Moreno (.276, 313 HR, 1,030 RBI), who comes off two and a half years with Cincinnati.

+++

That answers the question above. Merino was done in Portland. Peltier was part of that big Thunder deal last year that further got us Danny Landeta, Prospero Tenazes, and – what is so far looking like the best value in the package – a cool $750k in dosh for chiefly Mike Lynn and Alex Adame. He was stuck in AA all year, broke a rib, but probably would have been called up to AAA this season. He’s a prospect for sure, but not high on anybody’s radar. Boas was a toss-in. Throwing Peltier onto the pyre prevented us from trading a pitching prospect we actually like, f.e. Brobeck, Salcido, the always popular Rafael de la Cruz, or Duarte Damasceno.

And Crum? Solid corner outfielder, can fill center in a pinch, and is an above-average batter for sure. He led the league in OPS in ’49, but regressed in the just completed season. But he has power, he hits for average, he has speed, he’s a switch-hitter, he’s pleasant to be around, he’s only 28, and I frankly don’t know why the Baybirds are giving up so easily. He’s due $9.94M, escalating, over four years from here on out, but that doesn’t seem like particularly bad value if he hits like in 2048 and 2050, and phenomenal value if he’d hit like he did in 2049!

And while the Raccoons are not going to contend in 2051, we want to prevent a plunge under the 90-loss mark and turn this stupid ship around. Given the amount of young pitching we have coming up – de la Cruz! (jumps up and down giddily) – I don’t think it’s hysterical to say that we’d be able to compete again by 2053. Which is also why Wheats and Waters are not going to be dealt (except for stupendous returns). Both are signed through 2054 at least – they will be part of a competing Coons team in ’53.

…if there is such a thing of a competing Coons team in ’53…

That was all for November, except that the Loggers were busy snapping up Bob Ibold for two years and $764k already. Yes, if you have the smallest budget, it’s imperative to go for the most broken reliever out there…..

[Westheim]

While the Winter Meetings are usually about who signs a nice new toy or breaks it all down in a slurry of deals for prospects, this time it was also about who *wouldn’t* go to a new place. After a month in free agency, Jerry Outram signed with the damn Elks again, for a rather modest two years and $8.88M. Outram, 36, was a .330 hitter with 288 homers and 1,133 RBI – about 72% of those runs had been driven in against the Raccoons.

+++

December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 19 players are selected across three rounds. The Raccoons lose OF Curtis Scholl to the Falcons.
December 4 – Outstanding CF Armando Herrera (.314, 40 HR, 840 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $10.32M contract with the Thunder. The 36-year-old split 2050 between the Raccoons and Knights.
December 4 – Ex-OCT 3B/SS Angel Montes de Oca (.253, 69 HR, 440 RBI) gets a 3-yr, $3.66M contract from the Titans.
December 4 – 2B/3B Travis Malkus (.258, 56 HR, 410 RBI) is with the Blue Sox again, arriving in a trade from Topeka. The Buffaloes receive outfielder Pat Stipp (.245, 37 HR, 267 RBI) in exchange.
December 5 – Former Canadiens starter Mario de Anda (72-48, 3.75 ERA) gets a 3-yr, $10.08M contract from the Scorpions.
December 5 – 37-year-old former Stars INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.279, 175 HR, 862 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $5.28M deal with the Cyclones.
December 5 – The Warriors sign ex-DAL C Anton Mercado (.265, 111 HR, 538 RBI) to a 4-yr, $5.68M contract. The 33-year-old can surely hit, but he also has a reputation as a real clubhouse cancer.
December 6 – The Raccoons acquire INF/LF Brian Kaufman (.273, 28 HR, 288 RBI) from the Falcons in a trade for 2B John Castner (.251, 3 HR, 41 RBI).
December 13 – The Thunder land one of the biggest free agents on the market, winning over former Miners 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.314, 128 HR, 609 RBI) with a 6-yr, $41.1M offer. For the last three years of the deal, the now 27-year-old Soberanes will earn a record $7.6M annually.

+++

Kaufman for Castner is swapping a 30-year-old right-handed infielder for a 30-year-old right-handed infielder… except that Kaufman actually plays four positions where Castner only plays one, and I was trying to get more flexibility on the roster, and one good move in that regard was to find a good alternative for Ed Crispin to face lefty pitching. Kaufman was ticking that box really well, and he could also spell the other regulars in the middle infield or sub in the outfield if push came to shove, although he was really an infielder at heart. He was signed cheaply for 2051.

Scholl was the #32 pick in the 2047 draft, and he hit a bit in Ham Lake last year, but not so much after a promotion to St. Pete. He missed a whopping 135 games this year with a broken kneecap, and the Raccoons preferred to protect players that hadn’t suffered potentially career-drowning injuries, f.e. Rafael de la Cruz, Tyler Philipps, and Oscar Rivera.

In terms of prospects, rarely hailed Duarte Damasceno was emerging as a popular commodity, with both the Condors and Falcons making (bad) offers to grab him right at the start of the winter meetings. Damasceno had already been a talking point of the Baybirds in the Ken Crum deal. The Coons had signed him for $590k as an 18-year-old in the 2049 July IFA period, which was relatively old to be signed out of Venezuela. The righty had four good pitches and had already spent a full season in Aumsville, pitching to a 4.28 ERA in 30 games. He had already been ranked the #37 prospect before this season, so maybe that hadn’t been a complete waste of Nick Valdes’ money.

One other former Raccoon has found new employment: Eddy Luna, who got $894k over two years from the Caps;

And of course there is also a Hall of Fame ballot out there, including a few more former Raccoons. Cosmo Trevino spent quite some time in Portland. Ryan Bedrosian’s time was shorter, but he brought back a huge haul in a dismantling deal ten years ago: Wheats and Waters.

[Westheim]

December 16 – The Canadiens sign ex-OCT SP Juan Ramos (163-117, 3.53 ERA) to a 3-yr, $17.7M deal.
December 19 – The Miners keep making additions with ex-LAP/SAC SP Brad Blankenship (71-94, 3.81 ERA), who signs for three years and $8.72M.
December 20 – Similar story for former Knights SP Brian Buttress (88-60, 3.24 ERA), landing with the Miners on a 2-yr, $11.6M contract.

+++

By Christmas, the Miners had managed to forfeit two first-round picks to the Knights. They had forfeited their own #20 pick by signing Anton Venegas, and gave up the #22 pick originally owned by the Thunder when they signed Brian Buttress as well. The Thunder had given up their first-round pick to the Miners in the interim by adding Ed Soberanes. The Thunder still had a first round pick, the #23 surrendered by the damn Elks for signing Juan Ramos.

Yes, this is the sort of stuff we employ Cristiano Carmona for, because I can’t be bothered to track that…

The Raccoons were trapped for a bit in second gear. I offered up Bubba Wolinsky, Julian Ponce, and a few other non-trivial pieces (I’d get sneered at for even shopping Matt Glodowski f.e.) repeatedly during and after the winter meetings, but no good deal materialized. There was no interest in Ponce, Lamotta, and a few others. Bubba had suitors, but the returns were not *great*.

+++

December 23 – The Pacifics sign free agent OF/1B Celio Umbreiro (.214, 10 HR, 283 RBI) to a 2-yr, $4.56M contract. The 33-year-old Umbreiro spent the last two years with Dallas.
December 24 – Pittsburgh again – this time they add C Dan Whitley (.247, 49 HR, 297 RBI) for 2-yr, $8.24M. Whitley split 2050 between the Crusaders and Rebels.
December 26 – Who else, the Miners! One of the more lopsided offseasons continues with the addition of ex-BOS UT Chris Jimenez (.275, 49 HR, 360 RBI) on a 7-yr, $30.12M contract.
December 30 – Former Bayhawks SP Kevin Nolte (96-72, 3.77 ERA), the 2048 CL Pitcher of the Year, signs a 5-yr, $27.5M contract with the … yes, Miners.

+++

Not sure when the last time was a team forfeited a fifth-round pick, but that’s what the Bayhawks got for their type A free agent. At that point the Miners' total added salary commitments since the offseason properly began mounted up to $139.26M …

The Coons? A sly $6,123,000.

Hey, it was enough to be ranked third in offseason WAR gains by BNN as the year ended.

+++

2051 HALL OF FAME VOTING

The Hall of Fame found four new members in 2051, two of them former Raccoons:

Alberto Ramos spent almost his entire professional career with the Raccoons, save for a few ill-advised pinch-hitting assignments by the Thunder at age 37. The Raccoons signed him out of the Dominican Republic, then gradually watched him debut at 19 years old in ’25, and go from agile shortstop and base-stealing threat of the highest order to a mortally obese defensive liability in his later years. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2026, World Series rings in that year and 2028, a batting title in 2033, and six stolen base titles between 2028 and 2035. He earned himself three Platinum Sticks and six All Star nominations, but never a Gold Glove. For his career he batted .299/.388/.362 with 20 HR and 703 RBI, but stole 677 bases.

The career profile of Enrique Trevino was not at all dissimilar to that of Ramos. Here was another singles-slapping, base-stealing pain in the bum, and for six years, from 2037 and 2042, him and Ramos even overlapped in their Raccoons tenures. Debuting two years after Ramos, Trevino also held on for two years more, with the bulk of his career spent with the Capitals. He never won a batting title, but eight stolen base titles, six with the Caps and two with the Coons. He led the FL in hits three times, won three Platinum Sticks (consecutively for second base in the FL from 2029-31), and a World Series with the 2035 Caps. He was an All Star four times and batted .319/.363/.408 for his career, with 47 HR and 955 RBI, as well as 708 stolen bases.

Danny Cruz spent 17 years in the majors, the majority of those as a Thunder first baseman before quickly visiting three other towns at the end of his career. He made a single appearance away from first base (third), while being one of the prime power hitters in the 2030s. He won the 2039 CL Player of the Year award, which was also one of two times he led the league in OPS, and one of five times he won the home run title in the CL. He also led the league twice in doubles and RBIs, but never seriously challenged for a batting title, topping the .300 mark in a qualifying season just twice in his career. Defensively he was adept enough to notch a Gold Glove as a 27-year-old, and in 2043 he snatched a ring with the Bayhawks, which was also the last season he was a full-time player. Overall he batted .273/.371/.460 with 355 HR and 1,230 RBI.

Andy Hyden had the career of a journeyman closer, at least after he spent his first eight years with the Cyclones, after which he also appeared for the Miners, Warriors, Crusaders, Bayhawks, and Capitals. He was a high-strikeout closer in his earlier years before getting finer at the end, topping 10 K/9 seven times before age 34. He was the 2036 CL Reliever of the Year, an All Star seven times, and won three saves titles with three different teams, and in both leagues (2034 Cyclones, 2038 Miners, 2043 Crusaders). The right-hander appeared in exactly 1,100 major league games, all in relief, and struck out 1,164 batters in 1,173.1 innings. Unusual for a closer, he finished his career with an even record, 88-88, and a 3.05 ERA along with 538 saves.

Full voting results:

POR SS Alberto Ramos – 3rd – 91.4 – INDUCTED
WAS 2B Enrique Trevino – 1st – 88.4 – INDUCTED
OCT 1B Danny Cruz – 1st – 81.5 – INDUCTED
CIN CL Andy Hyden – 1st – 77.5 – INDUCTED
??? CL Josh Boles – 2nd – 39.4
SFW 2B Mario Colon – 1st – 14.9
LAP CF Justin Fowler – 6th – 12.9
SFW C Ethan McCullar – 1st – 10.6
TIJ SP Jeff Little – 9th – 8.6
SAL SP Ryan Bedrosian – 1st – 7.6
BOS LF Willie Vega – 3rd – 7.3
TOP SP David Elliott – 5th – 5.6
SFB SP Josh Long – 1st – 4.6 – DROPPED
??? CL Ray Andrews – 3rd – 4.6 – DROPPED
??? SP Andy Bressner – 4th – 4.3 – DROPPED
IND CL Tim Thweatt – 1st – 1.3 – DROPPED
SAL SP Brandon Nickerson – 1st – 1.0 – DROPPED
??? CL Steve Bailey – 1st – 1.0 – DROPPED
CIN LF Dick Oshiita – 1st – 1.0 – DROPPED
TIJ SP Juan Garcia – 2nd – 1.0 – DROPPED

[ayaghmour2]

Ramos! Well deserved induction

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Ramos! Well deserved induction

Time to double-retire that old #7 uniform!

+++

The new year began for the Raccoons with a waiver claim, nipping 25-year-old right-handed OF Aaron Walker as the Thunder tried to outright him off the 40-man roster. Injuries had been a thing for the former first-rounder in the past, including playing in only 36 games in 2050 for triple-A Anaheim before snapping a achilles tendon and spending the rest of the season laid up. When his limbs weren’t coming off, he was an agile defender with a killer arm and speed on the bases, all let down by a rather “eh” bat.

The move filled up the Raccoons’ own 40-man roster, two days before we then had to make our own waiver move after signing a new right-handed reliever, who, funnily enough, also came from the Thunder. Another right-handed reliever, Danny Cancel, ended up on waivers to make up the numbers at that point. He went unclaimed.

+++

January 7 – The Raccoons ink ex-OCT MR Willie Maldonado (40-27, 3.89 ERA, 16 SV) to a $1M contract for 2051. Portland will be the fourth ABL team for the 31-year-old Maldonado.
January 12 – INF Doug Clevidence (.262, 46 HR, 376 RBI) is traded back to the Capitals by the Cyclones, along with a prospect, for SP/MR Raul Cornejo (65-71, 4.25 ERA, 10 SV).
January 29 – The Titans sign up former Condors 2B/OF Miguel Martinez (.297, 5 HR, 365 RBI) to a 3-yr, $5.22M contract.
January 31 – No, the Miners aren’t dead or bored or broke, they just signed ex-TOP SP Jose Arias (65-53, 3.45 ERA, 2 SV) to a 3-yr, $16.52M deal.
February 1 – The Condors sign 31-year-old right-hander Elijah Powell (52-51, 4.66 ERA, 1 SV) to a 3-yr, $6.84M contract. Powell split 2050 between the Raccoons and the Capitals.
February 3 – The Raccoons acquire OF/1B Cullen Tortora (.257, 55 HR, 418 RBI) from the Condors in a straight exchange for OF/3B Ricky Lamotta (.266, 5 HR, 57 RBI).
February 14 – The Canadiens add firepower with 30-yr old ex-DEN LF/CF Tim Turner (.297, 67 HR, 556 RBI), who signs on for a 7-yr, $41.6M contract.
February 15 – The Miners again – this time they snatch up former Canadiens closer Sam Gibson (39-28, 2.67 ERA, 189 SV) for just one year and $1.36M.

+++

The Tortora deal was the Condors’ idea, more or less. They wanted Juan Jimenez originally, but if we added an outfielder, I wanted to get rid of an outfielder… or of one of the myriad of mediocre relievers hanging around the 40-man roster. It added a left-handed bat, and while Tortora usually just failed to hit for a 100 OPS+, Lamotta hadn’t been an offensive force either after coming over by means of waivers off the Loggers’ roster.

Tortora was due $1.96M for each of the next two seasons, but it could really be worse.

The Buffos got a sixth-round pick for Arias. I’m sure they’re thrilled! Also, it wasn’t like the Miners were pickles – they had gotten a supplemental round pick and those were not forfeitable.

Still beat what the damn Elks got for Sam Gibson. Yes. A seventh-round pick. The Miners – who got a second first-round pick, and forfeited that one, too – signed EIGHT TYPE A FREE AGENTS this offseason…!! Many teams in the past have been accused of trying to buy a championship, but this was a bit more. This was trying to buy the championship, and the entire state of Nebraska, too…!

Further former Furballs finding fresh food bowls: Jeff Wilson got $472k from the Rebels; the Stars wanted Preston Porter enough to give him a 3-yr, $3M deal; the Titans added Angelo Zurita for $416k;

[Westheim]

The early spring brought no real great or nasty surprises anymore, except for that one day Maud came in with a new haircut and I didn’t notice, because I wasn’t particularly looking, which saw my homemade muffin allowance slashed to zero for the rest of the week. That, admittedly, was rough.

Not so rough – these new deals for former Critters: the Knights took on Eduardo Avila for $1.54M; Pat Gurney got on the Scorpions for $444k; the Cyclones acquired the services of Rikuto Ito for $416k, and those of Nate Norris for $510k; Danny Landeta went to Topeka for $1.08M;

Apart from that the Raccoons made another waiver claim of a minor leaguer that was going to be outrighted off the 40-man roster, in that case Matt Knight, a former third-rounder in the Elks organization. Strong defensive shortstop with a bit of power, but he also spent four years in single-A, and hit .238 in AA as a 22-year-old in ’50, so there was that. The Raccoons put Tim Rogers on waivers in turn; the 27-year-old went unclaimed.

The damn Elks decided to get back at me with a trade proposal, offering Tyler Tomasello for Paul Miles and Rafael de la Cruz (as usual) just on the eve of the new season. I was already gearing up my booze intake at that point, but I wasn’t *that* drunk… yet.

We finished the offseason with $4.9M of unspent budget space. While we only had the 14th-biggest budget by now at $45.5M, we also only had a payroll just a sliver above $29M, 16th in the league.

[Westheim]

2051 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2050 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jason Wheatley, 30, B:R, T:R (11-11, 3.88 ERA | 105-71, 3.40 ERA) – 2045 Pitcher of the Year! Wheats roared from #5 starter in April of 2045 to the highest honor the CL had to dole out to pitchers (at least regularly), doing it with a perfectly balanced approach, keeping things on the ground and walks to a minimum (2.1 BB/9 last season). He has five pitches, some very good, and sort of broke the old Opening Day Curse in 2047; suffered through continuous defensive sabotage in 2050 (.330 BABIP) and otherwise posted his usual numbers.
SP Victor Salcido, 25, B:R, T:R (13-9, 3.67 ERA | 21-20, 3.71 ERA) – cost almost half a million to sign as international free agent in 2044, and found an opening in the rotation in 2048, immediately sticking in it. Could be a bit better in terms of control of his otherwise undisputable stuff.
SP Bubba Wolinsky, 28, B:L, T:L (6-13, 4.28 ERA | 45-32, 3.81 ERA) – former #12 pick pitched in a career-high 33 games in 2050, but also had his worst season by ERA (though also BABIP-“assisted” like Wheats). Led the league in homers allowed in ’49, but rallied to get that value down again in ’50 despite pitching more innings. Five pitches, with a treacherous forkball his best asset.
SP Kyle Brobeck, 23, B:S, T:R (3-2, 4.10 ERA | 3-2, 4.10 ERA) – groundballer acquired in a trade with the Knights for Armando Herrera, he made only seven starts in various cups of coffee, but already flicked a casual 2-hit shutout at the Indians. Five pitches in the arsenal, but still finding both control and strikeouts. Notably a very good hitter by pitchers’ standards.
SP Danny Hall, 26, B:L, T:L (2-3, 2.92 ERA | 2-3, 2.92 ERA) – lefty groundballer, came up for a few cups of coffee in 2050 after spending three years in AAA with mixed success. Well, sometimes they find it at 25! Good fastball, curve, and changeup, but struggles with command.

SP/MR Paul Miles, 27, B:L, T:L (4-3, 4.17 ERA | 4-3, 4.11 ERA) – claimed off waivers by the Stars in June 2050, Miles made 17 appearances (one start) for a 2.79 ERA with the Critters, so he either figured something out or we’re in for some nasty surprises. Throws 92 with a flyball tendency.
MR Mike Snyder, 24, B:S, T:R (3-0, 4.26 ERA | 3-0, 4.26 ERA) – devastating curveball with a 95mph cutter, not bad a for a “failed starter” who was a first-round pick (#21 at least) in the 2045 draft. Quite serious control problems, though, walking almost six batters per nine innings in 52 appearances across AAA and the majors in 2050.
MR Julian Ponce, 38, B:R, T:L (2-1, 2.84 ERA, 1 SV | 112-89, 3.47 ERA, 127 SV) – cutter, curveball, and a groundball tendency should fit him in really well with the rest of what we have. Used to be a starter before transitioning into the bullpen with the Wolves in ’44. Actually led the CL in innings pitched as a 2040 Crusader. Has been silent and steady out of the pen for two years here, but we wouldn’t have minded trading him for something crisper or at least younger. No takers, though.
MR Willie Maldonado *, 31, B:R, T:R (2-1, 4.08 ERA, 2 SV | 40-27, 3.89 ERA, 16 SV) – signed as free agent off the Thunder, Maldonado throws a cutter and curve with groundball tendency and bouts of wildness to him.
MR Eloy Sencion, 24, B:L, T:L (0-0, 2.74 ERA, 2 SV | 0-0, 2.74 ERA, 2 SV) – acquired from the Gold Sox a winter ago, Sencion debuted early in the season and spun 60 appearances without a decision despite appearing in some high leverage spots towards the end of the year. Here’s another applicant for late-inning relief work for sure. Vicious slider.
SU Kevin Hitchcock, 28, B:R, T:R (6-1, 1.89 ERA, 5 SV | 9-8, 3.30 ERA, 6 SV) – the German right-hander seems to have finally figures his own stuff out and pitched a splendid year in 2050 after several false starts earlier in his career. Towards the end began to challenge Willie Cruz for the closer role, and he might be closer to that than many around this team think.
CL Willie Cruz, 25, B:R, T:R (6-6, 3.63 ERA, 32 SV | 6-6, 3.66 ERA, 32 SV) – Cruz showed flashes of brilliance with his plus-plus curve and the 96mph cutter, often decimating the opposition in the ninth inning … but he also had his fair share of blow-ups, perhaps not a shocker with a 24-year-old and completely unproven closer. The competition is on his heels for sure.

C/1B Ruben Gonzalez, 29, B:R, T:R (.239, 6 HR, 43 RBI | .244, 48 HR, 232 RBI) – pretty good defense and a fine throwing arm, but apart from that he managed to shave nearly 200 points off his 2047 OPS in just two years and saw no meaningful recovery last year either – two more years on that deal…
C Juan Jimenez, 29, B:R, T:R (.226, 4 HR, 15 RBI | .253, 26 HR, 167 RBI) – mostly a defensive catcher, and hitting like one, although his OPS was actually a bit better than Gonzalez’ …

RF/1B/LF Jesus Maldonado, 37, B:R, T:R (.281, 12 HR, 68 RBI | .293, 211 HR, 1,081 RBI) – two (probably long) years left on this contract; missed half the season with injuries in ’49, and when he played, the power wasn’t there, but came back to play all but seven games in 2050, and even improved slightly on the OPS for his 13th straight season over 100. One of the three-ring Coons (who are becoming fewer on the roster), Maldo still holds the biggest contract ever doled out by the team ($38.5M over 7 years, or roughly half the annual GDP of his home country of Venezuela).
SS/2B Matt Waters, 30, B:S, T:R (.261, 17 HR, 72 RBI | .260, 138 HR, 537 RBI) – Home Run King! …in 2048. Has since returned to his career mean after a .910 OPS season in ’48, but for a while had no challengers for cleanup duties on this roster. Ken Crum perhaps? Significant power aside, he’s a good defensive shortstop that can also totally steal 20 (and probably 30) bases in a season, but was moved to second base with the arrival of Alex Adame (since gone), and has been kept there with the timely emergence of Lorenzo Lavorano; also signed a long-term deal on his own volition during ’47, and which probably cost him eight figures with what he hit in ’48 (again, .910 OPS anyone?).
SS/3B Lorenzo Lavorano, 23, B:R, T:R (.279, 4 HR, 48 RBI | .289, 5 HR, 61 RBI) – Lonzo had a thunderous debut in 2049 and stole 16 bases in just 36 games, then swiped himself a stolen base title with 65 bags in his first full season, although a 90 OPS+ bat prevented him from winning Rookie of the Year honors.
3B Ed Crispin, 24, B:L, T:R (.273, 7 HR, 44 RBI | .267, 12 HR, 75 RBI) – once upon a time one of the returns from the Rebels in the deal that sent Josh Rella away, Crispin’s good defender at the hot corner, with a middle of the road bat that might see him hit 12-15 homers in a full season, but so far all we’ve gotten is the typical output of the average player on a roster losing 88 games a year.
2B/3B/SS/LF Brian Kaufman *, 30, B:R, T:R (.295, 7 HR, 48 RBI | .273, 28 HR, 288 RBI) – super utility (more or less) that was acquired from the Falcons this offseason. Kaufman figures to be a bit of a rover, spelling Crispin against left-handers and giving the middle infielders regular rest.
1B/LF/RF Evan Van Hoy, 29, B:L, T:L (.237, 3 HR, 23 RBI | .247, 3 HR, 25 RBI) – defensive first baseman that can’t hit much at any level and has a total of 162 at-bats to his name in the majors. How he made it onto the Opening Day roster FOR A SECOND TIME is mesmerizing.

LF/1B/RF/CF Ken Crum *, 28, B:S, T:L (.279, 9 HR, 62 RBI | .282, 71 HR, 387 RBI) – unquestionably our biggest offseason addition, acquired in a trade with the Bayhawks. Led the league in RBI and OPS in 2049, but had a major regression episode in ’50. Oh well, all he had to do was to outhit Matt ******* Glodowski to get star stickers in his personnel file…
RF/LF/CF/1B Cullen Tortora *, 32, B:L, T:L (.243, 5 HR, 33 RBI | .257, 55 HR, 418 RBI) – able outfielder that used to be quick on the bases and steal 20+ a year, but was now on his fifth ABL team and well on the wrong side of 30. Nevertheless was mostly offered up for free by the Condors and we obliged. Should get a lot of playing time in centerfield especially.
LF/1B/RF Alan Puckeridge, 23, B:L, T:R (.273, 6 HR, 51 RBI | .273, 6 HR, 51 RBI) – one of 250 debutees with the Raccoons in 2050 (I counted), Pucks offered good defense, some threat on the bags, and otherwise mostly singles and a few DL stints sprinkled in. Figures to be the dominant end in a platoon with Glodowski.
RF/LF Matt Glodowski, 31, B:R, T:R (.274, 4 HR, 23 RBI | .274, 6 HR, 33 RBI) – he’s the guy I’m pointing at whenever Nick Valdes asks why we’re losing so much; absolute filler material, at an age when teams should have disposed of their filler material. No speed, dubious defense, and yet somehow he ******* led the Coons outfielders in OPS in 2050.
CF/RF/LF Mikio Suzuki, 27, B:L, T:L (.251, 0 HR, 9 RBI | .251, 0 HR, 9 RBI) – signed out of Japan for not a lot of dosh, Suzuki was advertised as a versatile defender and potential base stealer, while probably having mostly a singles bat. What we got was a snuff movie of injuries, not hitting, more injuries and more not hitting. It can hardly get much worse than his .613 OPS in 59 games in 2050…..

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Polibio O’Higgins, 24, B:R, T:R (0-2, 21.00 ERA | 0-4, 8.10 ERA) – optioned to AAA; loves to fire his 97mph heater, and hitters love to see that. Looks like he’s turning into a grave that took a bleeping $570k to dig.
MR Jim Larson, 24, B:R, T:R (0-0, 3.86 ERA | 0-0, 3.86 ERA) – optioned to AAA; filled in for some games in September; pretty good cutter, but as a whole he’s rather underdone.
MR Bryan Lenderink, 27, B:R, T:R (0-0, 3.52 ERA | 0-0, 4.58 ERA) – optioned to AAA; 11th-string reliever that is routinely hard to watch despite a pretty good curveball – the “pretty good” part also extends to how it’s hit if he hangs it, which happens more often than it shoud.
MR Brett Lillis jr., 25, B:L, T:L (1-0, 4.57 ERA | 2-2, 4.50 ERA) – optioned to AAA; his father was a fairly pleasant presence on some Coons rosters that never progressed past the CLCS, but the offspring had quite the hard time of it in odd bits of major league playing time the last two years. 95mph cutter, scooping curve, and a hard time trying to keep it all under wraps with 6.4 BB/9. Would have made the roster if he hadn’t been the fourth-best left-handed reliever and we weren’t going to carry more than three.
C Jeff Raczka, 27, B:L, T:R (.263, 0 HR, 4 RBI | .208, 1 HR, 6 RBI) – optioned to AAA; defensive catcher, hits like one, too. Keen eye is of note, but putting himself on first base just increases the likelihood of a double play.
2B Rich Seymour, 24, B:R, T:R (.250, 0 HR, 0 RBI | .213, 0 HR, 10 RBI) – optioned to AAA; young second-sacker that basically can’t hit and probably never will.
3B/SS/LF/RF/2B Mitch Sivertson, 25, B:R, T:R (.213, 0 HR, 5 RBI | .213, 0 HR, 5 RBI) – optioned to AAA; super-utility player with a singles stick and quick hindpaws that was thoroughly out-hit by most of our pitchers.
RF/LF/1B/CF Adam Samples, 22, B:R, T:L (.190, 0 HR, 11 RBI | .190, 0 HR, 11 RBI) – optioned to AAA; quite adept outfielder, especially at the corners, but without much speed. Exposing him to 132 major league plate appearances in 2050 yielded perhaps expectable results, and he’ll be allowed to sort himself out in AAA.

Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived, reassigned, or turned into duck food during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

The Raccoons had their top of the order semi-surgically removed, with neither Matt Watt nor Armando Herrera still available. Lonzo was allergic to walking and not the greatest option for leading off, and in fact, we had no great option for leading off. Cullen Tortora had never beaten the .360 mark for OPS in a qualifying season, but it was really the best we could do. Depending on how well Maldo was holding up at this point, the middle was still formidable, though, and there was some hope in those #6/7 slots.

Or maybe it’s a wing and a prayer, we’ll see.

Vs. RHP: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado (Van Hoy) – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P
(Vs. LHP: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – RF Glodowski – P)

Again, Kaufman will sub regularly, and Suzuki might get a share of starts from Tortora and rest Crum, but there’s no natural right-hander in that trio. Van Hoy would of course bat further down the order, with Ken Crum up to #3 whenever he spells Maldo.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

Five years, five pennants, three rings! What a dynasty!

I like to say that but it is increasingly receding into the history books and there’s hardly any personnel left that has any rings from that era…!

In fact, after posting a 74-88 record in 2050 and thus our first losing season since 2042, we’re also a solid bet to post back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2030-32.

Ken Crum is strong addition for any team at any time, and I wouldn’t sneeze at Kaufman and Tortora (although he was not exactly a target before the Condors shoved him onto us). Half the roster is quite young, which explains perhaps some of the teething problems in 2050 and gives some promises that better days lie ahead?

Despite a modest effort and only a handful of additions, the Raccoons scored in the top 5 in the offseason WAR gains according to good old BNN:

Top 5: Miners (+22.2), Canadiens (+7.6), Thunder (+6.1), Cyclones (+4.2), Raccoons (+3.1)
Bottom 5: Rebels (-4.7), Gold Sox (-5.2), Bayhawks (-7.3), Knights (-7.6), Stars (-15.1)

The other four CL North teams all had crummy offseasons according to the ranking, none of them gaining WAR: the Crusaders were 12th with -0.4 WAR, with the rest even further behind in 14th (IND, -0.6), 17th (BOS, -3.0), 18th (MIL, -3.1).

PREDICTION TIME:

I predicted 90 losses last year and it’s not like we were far away.

But I think some of the young talent on the roster will definitely be better than last year and that should help. On the other paw, there’s two completely unproven starters in the rotation and our backup concept mostly revolves around Paul Miles.

Rafael de la Cruz might make an appearance in the second half if all things go well for him, however, and he’s the most anticipated thing in Portland since the divine intervention that disposed of R.J. DeWeese’s contract and “character” 30 years ago.

Nevertheless, there’s too many Matt Glodowskis on the roster, and the Raccoons will still lose 86 games this year. It should get better by 2052/53.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

For the third straight year, the Raccoons had the #6 farm in the league this season.

We had eight ranked prospects (four in the top 100, three in the top 50) last year, but this time managed to fill out our franchise top 10 with ranked prospects entirely, having exactly ten of them. Six of these were in the top 100, and four in (or juuust outside) the top 50.

This was despite some of the previous ranked prospects getting shed on the way: #153 Alan Puckeridge exceeded rookie limits; #112 Dave Blackshire had a soft season in AAA and dropped out of the rankings; and #195 Curtis Scholl was taken by the Falcons in the Rule 5 Draft (but dropped out of the top 200 anyway) after missing most of 2050 with a busted knee;

5th (-3) – AAA SP Rafael de la Cruz, 20 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons
37th (0) – AA SP Duarte Damasceno, 19 – 2049 international free agent signed by Raccoons
46th (new) – ML SP Kyle Brobeck, 23 – 2048 first-round pick by Condors, acquired in trade from Knights for Armando Herrera
54th (new) – A SP Kenneth Spencer, 19 – 2050 first-round pick by Raccoons
78th (-15) – AAA C/1B Tyler Philipps, 24 – 2047 fifth-round pick by Raccoons
125th (new) – AAA SP Phil Baker, 22 –
184th (new) – AAA SP Carmen Argenziano, 22 –
197th (-158) – AAA RF/LF Oscar Rivera, 25 – 2042 scouting discovery by Gold Sox, acquired in trade with Willie Cruz, Eloy Sencion for Dave Hils, Andrew Clarke, Justin Brooks
198th (-37) – AA CL Reynaldo Bravo, 19 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons

Finally, the top 10 overall prospects this year are:

1st (new) – MIL A SP Tyler Riddle, 19
2nd (-1) – ATL AAA C Pedro Almaguer, 22
3rd (new) – LVA AA CF Dan Martin, 23
4th (+64) – ATL AAA 2B/SS Willie Acosta, 21
5th (-3) – POR AAA SP Rafael de la Cruz, 20

6th (-3) – TOP ML C Matt McLaren, 23
7th (-3) – TOP AAA SP Bill Hernandez, 21
8th (new) – SFW AAA CL Ricardo Montoya, 20
9th (new) – LAP AA UT Jeremy Lindauer, 21
10th (+3) – LAP AAA OF/1B Noah Caswell, 21

Riddle was the top pick in the 2050 draft and made a top impression on the prospect ranking right away. Similarly, Dan Martin was the #3 pick in the 2050 draft. Lindauer was also a top pick in the most recent draf,t, being selected at #5. Montoya has been around for a while, signing a minor league contract with the Canadiens in 2047, but was never ranked until the Warriors got him in a trade last August.

That left the bottom six from last year’s top 10, none of whom made the list anymore.

#5 OF Josh Abercrombie went from AA to the majors with the Miners last year, hitting .268 with no homers in 42 games. He was on their loaded Opening Day roster, same as the old #6, Canadiens reliever Anton Jesus, although he will be a debutee.

#7 Falcons corner infielder Rich Fish slid 48 spots to #55 after hitting .252 in AA for most of the year. It was 22 spots down from #8 to #30 for Gold Sox SP Josh Gowin, who would make his AA debut this year after pitching to a 3.00 ERA in single-A in 2050. Loggers OF/1B Phil Steinbacher dropped from #9 to #14 with a lackluster AAA campaign. And #10 Edwin Flores lost two spots to #12. The 20-year-old outfielder and first baseman split time between single- and double-A in 2050.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) vs. Loggers (0-0) – April 4-5, 2051

The season opened with a short series against the Loggers, two games facing a team the Raccoons had taken the season series from for seven years running, with a 12-6 outcome in 2050. Neither team figured to go anywhere in particular this year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Noah Hollis (0-0)
Victor Salcido (0-0) vs. John Morrill (0-0)

Only right-handed hurlers were tapped for this series.

Game 1
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Callaia – C C. Thomas – RF McIntyre – LF C. Lowe – P Hollis
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley

Milwaukee scored first, and in the first, with Nick Jackson burying a double in the gap and scoring on Zach Suggs’ groundout and a 2-out infield single by Ricky Lopez, which sugged for sure. The Raccoons were not idle in the bottom 1st, though, with Maldo hitting a 2-out double, Matt Waters working a walk, and Ken Crum wonking a 3-run homer in his first Raccoons at-bat, which was a debut I could find myself approving of. He’d probably go 0-for-his-next-16, but for the time being the Raccoons were up 3-1.

Wheats wasn’t nearly perfect, or even particularly good, but it was the first half again, huh? At least he got the ones that counted, double play grounders to a middle infielder with two Loggers on base in both the third and fourth innings, then singled home a 2-out run himself in the bottom 4th. Pucks had reached, stolen second base, and that had prompted an intentional walk to Ruben Gonzalez. Wheats didn’t have to be invited twice, split Jackson and Suggs on the left side, and made it 4-1 Critters. Also, yes, that was the team’s first stolen base of the year and it was not a Lonzo base! Cullen Tortora struck out, while Ed Crispin had a bleak day at the office as well, being on two errors by the fifth inning, in which the Loggers had Dave de Lemos on third with the error, and Nick Jackson on first with an infield single, and two outs. Suggs hit a mighty deep one to center, but Tortora caught up with it at the edge of the warning track to end the inning. Crispin also found a double play to hit into in the bottom 6th. Not the best first day of a season ever!

Lonzo eventually reached base with a single in the seventh, then stole his first base and the team’s second. Maldo was nicked, and Waters hit an RBI double to left-center. Ten years ago, Maldo would have scored from first on that one; these days he barely reached third, huffing and puffing. Being 37 years old – nothing but joy. Crum was walked with intent, but Pucks hit an RBI single to right, knocking out Hollis. Brian Kaufman hit for Crispin against lefty Julian Villarreal, and got a sac fly to center for a debut RBI. Gonzalez walked, but Glodowski flew out for Wheats, who thus ended his day after seven decent-to-good innings. One run allowed anyway. Also, a victory, with no serious threats emerging anymore against the shallow end of the pen, Snyder and Miles. 7-1 Raccoons. Crum 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 3-3, BB, RBI; Gonzalez 0-1, 3 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

Tortora went 0-for-5 with 2 K in his debut. I maturely chose not to panic, yet.

Game 2
MIL: CF de Lemos – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Callaia – C C. Thomas – RF McIntyre – LF C. Lowe – P Morrill
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido

The first inning was a bit of a massacre on Wednesday. Salcido was whacked for three sharp hits and two 2-out runs in the first inning, Ricky Lopez getting an RBI double and an RBI single for 24-year-old Gaudencio Callaia. The Coons answered with four, and broke Morrill in half when he left with an injury just after Waters had driven home Tortora (double) and Lonzo (walk!) with one out. Crum doubled, Pucks and Crispin both got an RBI, and Gonzalez ended the inning with a double play grounder, 4-2.

Salcido then missed generously, walking three Loggers the second time through, none of which scored, while the weather also chipped in some additional annoyances with an on-and-off drizzle starting in the third inning. By the end of the fourth we had a full-blown rain delay, which lasted north of an hour and knocked out Salcido as well. Maldo was also no longer in the game by the fifth; Evan Van Hoy pinch-hit for an infield single in the #9 hole in the bottom 4th, moving Gonzalez into scoring position, and Tortora would score him from there for a 5-2 lead, but the inning continued through Maldo’s spot, who ended it with a groundout, then was replaced with Van Hoy at first. No injury concerns or anything – but he was old enough that he didn’t smell very pleasant anymore when damp, and it was quite damp outside. Instead, Willie Maldonado entered the game for his Raccoons debut, facing the 2-3-4 and giving up a single in the top 5th to Suggs. Julian Ponce took over for the mostly left-handed bottom half of the order, K’ing Callaia to end the inning. He grabbed four outs in total, and Hitchcock added a scoreless seventh. That same inning, Ken Crum hit a 2-run homer off Nick Pollock to extend the lead to five runs. Eloy Sencion pitched the eighth, Matt Waters added a run with a bases-loaded sac fly in the eighth, and then the cheerful umps had everybody sit through *another* hourlong rain delay, despite an 8-2 score on the board and only three outs left for the Loggers to fool around with. When play eventually resumed and concluded mercifully, the Loggers didn’t get past first base against Mike Snyder. 8-2 Raccoons. Tortora 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, 3 RBI; Crum 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, RBI;

Three starters, closer Willie Cruz, and backup catcher Juan Jimenez all saw no action in this opening series and with the Thursday also off, would not see any action until Friday at least.

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Thunder (2-1) – April 7-9, 2051

The Thunder had taken two of three from the Condors to begin the series, scoring and allowing 13 runs each. They were no pleasure to face for a left-handed pitcher, with Juan Benavides the sole true left-handed batter in that lineup. The Raccoons had lost the season series four straight years, going only 3-6 last year against Oklahoma.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Angel Velasquez (0-0)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0) vs. Felix Alvarez (0-0)
Danny Hall (0-0) vs. J.J. Hendrix (0-1, 13.50 ERA)

Still only right-handed opposition for us.

Game 1
OCT: SS Adame – CF A. Herrera – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – RF Benavides – LF Humphreys – 2B Ban – P A. Velasquez
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky

I somehow remembered that Thunder top of the order from better times for the home team. Better yet, they went in order in the first, Bubba becoming the first Raccoons starter of the year to have a clean first inning. He gave up a run on hits by Dave Worthington and Benavides in the second instead…

The score remained 1-0 into the fourth when Lonzo got on base … and was caught stealing ahead of a Maldo double, Waters walk, and Pucks RBI double. Crispin popped out in foul ground to strand a pair in scoring position in a 1-1 tie, which didn’t last much beyond the end of the fourth inning. Benavides, the old troublemaker, landed a hit and was singled home by Jonathan Ban in the second, and Wolinsky gave up an RBI double to the pitcher Velasquez to put two in scoring position then. However, Adame was out to Crispin, and so seemed Herrera to be – except that Maldo dropped the throw to first, allowing a runner to score and the Coons to fall 3-1 behind. Ed Soberanes then flew out to actually end the top 5th. It didn’t get better from there, with straight doubles by the Thunder’s 4-5-6 batters adding two runs in the sixth, which saw Bubba yanked for Willie Maldonado, who finally exited the inning. The Raccoons struggled to put anything together as they found out that the Thunder were not the Loggers. Maldo had a double, but apart from that we didn’t stroll around scoring position particularly much after initially tying the contest.

It was still 5-1 in the bottom 9th, and it was still Velasquez on the mound, at least until he offered a leadoff walk to Waters and Adame fumbled a 1-out grounder from Pucks to put a second runner aboard. At that point the Thunder went to lefty Mike Lynn, another ex-Critter, while the Coons sent Brian Kaufman to hit for Crispin, but he hit into a fielder’s choice at second. Ruben Gonzalez flew out to Steve Humphreys to end the game. 5-1 Thunder. J. Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
MIL: LF R. Cox – SS Adame – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Benavides – C Adames – 2B Ban – CF M. Allen – P F. Alvarez
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – P Brobeck

Two scoreless from Brobeck and a Matt Waters homer in the bottom 2nd actually meant that the Raccoons opened the scoring for the first time this year. The Coons tacked on a run on back-to-back doubles by Tortora and Lonzo in the bottom 3rd, and Brobeck proved stingy with the lead. He pitched around a 1-out triple by Mike Allen in the third, getting a K from Alvarez and a pop from Ryan Cox, and also got around Jonathan Ban’s fifth-inning double and a walk to Allen, starting an inning-ending 1-5-3 double play when Alvarez knocked a hard bunt back at him.

Nothing came of a leadoff walk Brobeck drew in the bottom 5th, and his strong start ended in a deadlock suddenly in the seventh. He hit leadoff man Worthington, Benavides singled, and Adames drew a walk – bases loaded, no outs in a 2-0 game. The Raccoons went to Eloy Sencion, who imploded. He walked in a run facing Ban, gave up an RBI single to PH Steve Humphreys, and a sac fly to the pitcher. Cox walked, and PH Mike Harmon added another sac fly against Willie Maldonado to turn a 2-0 lead into a 4-2 cookie box opener. Oklahoma added another run in the eighth, charged to Paul Miles, who faced two and retired none, with the run scoring on a sac fly off Hitchcock, the third Thunder sac fly in the game. The Coons got Maldo and Crum on base in the bottom 8th, but didn’t get beyond a pinch-hit RBI single by Crispin as the Coons emptied their bench and the Thunder emptied their pen, with five separate moves in the inning, all to shorten the score to 5-3. Willie Cruz made his season debut in the ninth, holding the Thunder to their 2-run lead, but while Mikio Suzuki hit a leadoff double in the bottom 9th, the Raccoons never got another base knock or runner, and didn’t even score Suzuki as Jimenez, Lonzo, and Maldo went in order. 5-3 Thunder. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-2, 2B;

Everybody that hadn’t gotten a start yet got one on Sunday then. Just our hunch to try and get everybody at least a token amount of feeling like belonging here. Well, except for Glodowski. He’d have to wait for an actual left-handed pitcher.

And no, I don’t particularly like him being here in the first place.

(Glodowski stops munching from his food bowl and looks down, whiskers hanging)

Game 3
OCT: SS Adame – 2B Ban – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – LF R. Cox – C Adames – RF Humphreys – CF A. Herrera – P Hendrix
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – 1B Van Hoy – C Jimenez – P Hall

The Thunder scored four runs in the first inning, all unearned, thanks to another capital throwing error by Ed Crispin, giving him three errors for the week in really just four games. That wasn’t to say that Danny Hall hadn’t had a paw in the early explosion – he walked a pair and gave up a few screamers, including a 2-out, bases-clearing double to Jesus Adames. By the second inning it was 7-0, ALL unearned, on ANOTHER throwing error by Crispin, and then the assorted 2-out damage, like a Worthington homer to left. Hall then walked Cox and Adames, then was disposed of in favor of Paul Miles. He got out of the inning with a Humphreys fly to Suzuki, then gave up a run in the third inning, walking one, two, three Thunder … AFTER an initial error by Lonzo.

So that was three innings, three errors, eight runs, all unearned. A very bored Hendrix had retired six of six. And me? (breaks neck off Capt’n Coma bottle by slamming it against the edge of the table) I was kinda miffed.

Miles was a gassed mess after the fourth inning, followed by Snyder for two innings. Van Hoy staved off the no-hitter with a fifth-inning double, not that a run resulted from that, nor would a run have helped the miserable Raccoons at this point. Now, the good news? We didn’t have to waste any more pitching. The baseball gods had mercy on us, sent more rain, and we got a rain delay and eventually a rain-shortened game before the sixth inning was over. The bad news was that we didn’t get there until AFTER Ken Crum tweaked a hammy legging out an infield single… 8-0 Thunder. Van Hoy 1-2, 2B;

Rough.

Ken Crum would be day-to-day with a tight hamstring, and would probably not be in the lineup for any games against the Falcons, that series starting on Monday.

Raccoons (2-3) vs. Falcons (4-3) – April 10-12, 2051

The Falcons had so far scored the most runs in the CL (over seven per game), but I pretended it was early days and this didn’t faze me. They had allowed just 24 runs, sixth in the CL. Unsurprisingly they were at or near the top in most offensive categories, but also in defense. We had won last year’s season series, 5-4, after four year of losing it by the same margin.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Juan Arroccha (0-0, 8.44 ERA)
Victor Salcido (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. TBD
Bubba Wolinsky (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (0-1, 6.00 ERA)

Tuesday would be Chris Jones (0-1, 2.57 ERA), who was questionable after having a ball lined off his leg in his first start and listed as day-to-day. In any case – still on left-handed starter anywhere in sight.

Game 1
CHA: 1B Allegood – 2B E. Stevens – RF Ceballos – SS Woodrome – 3B Wilken – C M. Castillo – CF Whitehead – P LF O. Caballero – P Arrocha
POR: LF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 3B Kaufman – P Wheatley

While Maldo put the Coons in front with a sac fly in the bottom 1st, Ethan Whitehead took Wheatley deep to left in the second to get us all even at one again. Also, the weather remained absolutely awful and more rain was in the forecast. Wheats struggled to remove people with two strikes and had a long and awful, yet scoreless third inning, in which Mike Allegood and Erik Stevens hit a pair of 0-2 singles off him to create pointless and frustrating traffic, but he did remove the Falcons for the minimum in the middle innings. Ian Woodrome drew a walk in the sixth and was doubled up by Randy Wilken, and that was that. His pitch count was even still in decent order, but the Raccoons were struggling to get any sort of offense going, which was same old, same old ‘round here.

When Lonzo slapped a leadoff single to left in the sixth and stole second, the go-ahead run was at least in scoring position with nobody out. Maldo wasn’t gonna be asked twice, pushing an RBI double up the leftfield line to get Portland in front. Waters got four wide ones, Pucks flew out, but that at least moved Maldo to third base, from where Ruben Gonzalez then singled him in with a soft wailer behind Woodrome. Suzuki sent a 1-out grounder at Woodrome, but a slight bobble by Erik Stevens cost the Falcons the inning-ending double play. Kaufman then grounded to Stevens, who bobbled that one, too, this time for a run-scoring error, 4-1. Wheats flew out for himself, then resumed pitching, giving up a run in the seventh on a duck snort single for Oscar Caballero and a pinch-hit 2-out double by Chris Gowin. Allegood flew out to Suzuki easily to keep it 4-2. Stevens flew out to Puckeridge to begin the eighth, which was the last batter for Wheatley. Ponce (and rain) replaced him and faced the 3-through-6 batters, all lefty hitters minus Wilken. Woodrome reached, but didn’t score, and then there were only two outs left to collect for Willie Cruz. Whitehead singled. Caballero singled. Eric Miller flew out to Suzuki. It was raining. The tying runs were on the corners, and .448 batter Mike Allegood was in the box. Cruz nailed him, loading the bases, which at least brought up a .286 hitter in Stevens, who was having a rotten day. Stevens fell to 1-2, hit a fly to right then, but Pucks barely had to move to make the catch. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 4-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

So, Wheats, what do you think. Can you make 150 starts this year?

Art Schaeffer started on short rest on Tuesday, but then again he had been bombed out of his first start early…

Game 2
CHA: 1B Allegood – 2B E. Stevens – RF Ceballos – SS Woodrome – 3B Wilken – C M. Castillo – LF Scholl – CF O. Caballero – P Schaeffer
POR: LF Tortora – SS Lavorano – RF J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 1B Van Hoy – 3B Kaufman – P Salcido

Salcido had another bad start to his outing, missing every which way, and giving up two runs on two hits and a walk in the top 1st. At least he retired Curtis Scholl, their Rule 5 pick off our AAA roster, who had only gotten two at-bats and no hits so far, the first time through.

Salcido struggled on, and couldn’t retire Allegood, the leadoff batter, at all. Allegood led off the first, third, and fifth innings, always reached, and scored in the third after a leadoff walk and two singles, 3-0. He was stranded at third base after hitting a single to center in the fifth, but Salcido walked Woodrome with two outs in that inning. He was basically awful, with five hits and three walks against him in five innings, and only two strikeouts. With a fresher pen, he’d have been done at that point. Instead he was dragged into the seventh, where he faced Allegood leading off for the FOURTH time and this time whiffed him…! …and then gave up two runs on three sharp hits after that, and required rescue by Sencion. And “Short Rest” Schaeffer? No walks, nine strikeouts, three hits in eight shutout innings. Not bad for three days’ rest. (sticks neck of fresh bottle of Capt’n Coma deeper into his snout) With his disappearance, the spell was somewhat broken, as Tortora and Maldo hit singles off Carlos Castillo in the bottom of the ninth… but by then there were two outs. Waters flew out to left, where a hitless Scholl dropped the ball for a run-scoring error. Glodowski batted for Puckeridge – and homered to left…! All of a sudden, a one-run game…! So of course Ruben Gonzalez wasted no time with grounding out to Woodrome… 5-4 Falcons. Lavorano 2-4; Glodowski (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

Ken Crum was still no good on Wednesday (although he pinch-hit on Tuesday) and the Raccoons continued to sag in the runs scored rankings. Tied for 10th by the rubber game of this series.

Also still no good: Chris Jones. The Falcons went to right-hander Armando Romero (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who would make his first ABL start, having lived full time in the Falcons pen for the last two years, but who had been a starter up to AAA in the minors.

Game 3
CHA: RF Ceballos – 2B E. Stevens – LF Marroquin – 3B Wilken – 2B E. Miller – CF O. Caballero – C Gowin – 1B Allegood – P A. Romero
POR: LF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky

Romero didn’t allow a hit in the first two innings and almost hit an RBI double in the top 2nd against Wolinsky, getting robbed but barely by Cullen Tortora to end the inning. Ironically, Wolinsky landed the first single for the Coons, but that didn’t lead anywhere nice in the bottom 3rd, either. Waters and Pucks went to the corners with a 2-out walk and single, respectively, in the bottom 4th, but Suzuki grounded out easily and the game remained scoreless. Both sides had three hits and no runs through five frames.

Eric Miller nearly hit a homer in the sixth, but Tortora picked that one at the fence. Romero singled against Bubba in the seventh, but that was with two outs and Danny Ceballos didn’t make much noise afterwards, going down with an easy groundout. For the Raccoons, the bottom 7th saw another pair of runners on the corners with a walk and a single, this time with Suzuki and Crispin and one out. This brought up Jimenez, who was 0-for-4 on the season, and with Ken Crum getting ready to pinch-hit – but for Bubba. Unfortunately, Jimenez left nothing to pinch-hit around for Crum, slapping a ball into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Top 8th, leadoff double to right for Erik Stevens, but then Omar Marroquin and Randy Wilken made really poor outs and the runner was still on second. Maybe Bubba could find his way throu- oops, no, Miller singled to left with two outs. Stevens was going for home, but a THROW from Tortora, and Stevens was out at the plate! Eight scoreless for Bubba Wolinsky…!

Ken Crum did *not* hit for Wolinsky in a leadoff situation, and instead Glodowski hit a double to left to open the bottom 8th against Romero. Tortora, still amped up from his defensive heroics, added offensive vigor with a gapper in right-center for an RBI double, the first run in the damn game. Lonzo was walked intentionally (!?), Maldo hit an RBI single, and Waters grounded out, advancing the runners. When Pucks was walked intentionally, and the Falcons went to righty Ray Thune, Ken Crum *did* pinch-hit after all, now for Suzuki. He clubbed an RBI single to shallow right on the first pitch, then was run for by Van Hoy, with his job well done. Crispin added a run with a groundout, while Jimenez left two again with a fly to center. For the ninth, Van Hoy took over first, and Glodowski took over right amidst an outfield shuffle. Hitchcock took the ball with a 4-0 lead, gave up a single to Gowin with one out, but rung up Allegood and got Woodrome on a groundout to end the game and grab the rubber match. 4-0 Coons. Crum (PH) 1-1, RBI; Crispin 2-4, RBI; Glodowski (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-1) and 1-2;

In other news

April 3 – If nothing else, the Miners’ record-breaking offseason nets them a 6-5 Opening Day win over the Buffaloes authored by 38-yr old SP Matt Sealock (1-0, 7.50 ERA), who takes the 200th win of his career. The two-time Pitcher of the Year has a 3.38 career ERA and 1,879 strikeouts along with his 200-119 record.
April 4 – The Thunder win a 1-0 game against the Condors, but it takes them 13 innings to do so, and the cooperation of Condors reliever George Youngblood (0-1, 0.00 ERA), who drills OCT 1B Dave Worthington (.286, 0 HR, 1 RBI) with the bases loaded, to get a run across at all.
April 5 – 18 innings, 49 hits, 29 runs, and eventually a 3-run homer by SAL RF/LF/1B Sal Montecino (.389, 2 HR, 8 RBI) to beat the Pacifics, 16-13. Montecino had five hits with two homers in the game, driving home six.
April 5 – PIT 3B/SS/LF/CF Anton Venegas (.462, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak that began in the other league and in the prior season. He puts up two singles against the Buffaloes to reach the mark.
April 7 – The hitting streak of Pittsburgh’s Anton Venegas (.353, 0 HR, 2 RBI) ends at 20 games with a quiet appearance in a 6-4 win over the Gold Sox.
April 8 – A strained MCL is expected to cost LVA CF Brent Cramer (.333, 1 HR, 4 RBI) six weeks of the season.
April 12 – The Loggers have to shut down OF Dave de Lemos (.294, 0 HR, 1 RBI) at least until the end of May with a partial tear discovered in the 23-year-old’s labrum.

FL Player of the Week: LAP C Eric Monaghan (.419, 4 HR, 15 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: OCT C Jesus Adames (.545, 0 HR, 8 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Mike Snyder led the team in strikeouts after the first week, whiffing five batters while appearing in all but one game. Nobody else even had four. And I am very much including the whole starter cast here…! Salcido and Wolinsky have since taken over, with a whopping seven apiece. These are not the Toner-Abe-Santos Coons… far from it.

But the pen was stingy in the first three sets here, with the bullpen ERA at 0.79. With the starters middling, the pen was good enough to put us at third in runs allowed so far, and with a +3 run differential despite not a whole lot of offense ever since the Loggers left town.

The Raccoons will stay home for a bit longer, hosting the Crusaders for four over a long weekend. After that, it will be a 2-week road trip right away. Well, a week and a half for me. The trip will start in Elk City, and continue through Tijuana, Atlanta, and Milwaukee. And that will already be all of April.

Fun Fact: The season series with the Falcons is the most nothing matchup we have every year.

It’s been 5-4 or 4-5 for a whopping *20* out of the last 23 seasons. Almost evenly split. Just one 6-3, and two 7-2 years in there, all of them in the Coons’ favor.

Sometimes you wonder why we even play them.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-4) vs. Crusaders (2-7) – April 13-16, 2051

The Crusaders had started out 2-0, and had since not won even a consolation place, crashing into last place in the division. They were not scoring at all, with just 24 runs from nine games, while their pitching was solid, fifth in runs allowed, but “solid” was not going to rescue a 2.7 R/G offense. The Raccoons had lost the season series last year, taking only six games.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Danny Hall (0-1, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jim White (1-1, 5.25 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-0, 1.88 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (1-1, 0.55 ERA)
Victor Salcido (0-1, 5.91 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (0-2, 5.73 ERA)

Malla proved to us that, yes, left-handed starting pitchers do exist – but he’d also be the only one coming up this week.

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – C O. Ramirez – 1B Haertling – CF M. Ceballos – RF Garris – P Malla
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – RF Glodowski – P Brobeck

The series started with a 3-2 single by Omar Sanchez, who stole second, a walk to Andrew Russ (gnashes teeth), a wild pitch, and from 0-2, another walk to Danny Rivera. Prince Gates scored a run with a fielder’s choice, and Omar Ramirez hit into a double play to limit the actual damage to one run, but … oh boy. While Tortora drew a leadoff walk, Lonzo spanked a ball at Sanchez for a double play, just before senior citizen Jesus Maldonado could lift his first homer of the season. Mario Ceballos and Brian Kaufman sponsored double plays in the second inning, with Kaufman now a crisp 0-for-11 to begin his Coons tenure. Brobeck bunted into a force at second in the bottom 3rd, erasing Glodowski’s leadoff walk, but, hey, upsides – no double play! (groans)

The Coons *did* take a 2-1 lead in the bottom 4th on another solo homer, this time by Matt Waters. Brobeck meanwhile calmed himself down for a while and a had a few nice innings before Omar Sanchez whacked a leadoff single in the sixth and stole second. Andrew Russ (hiss!) walked, but Prince Gates found another double play to kill the inning. There was a Maldo double in the bottom 6th that went nowhere nice, and Kaufman led off the seventh with a bloop double that Josh Garris misplayed from what should have been his 0-for-13. Glodowski singled past Omar Sanchez, and the Coons were on the corners with nobody out. They also had one of the better-hitting pitchers in the league at the plate, although Brobeck was almost at 100 pitches. Earlier in the game – yeah, whack away. But now, Malla was already out of the game, and right-hander Jeff Frank begged for a bench piece. Pucks grabbed a stick, and hit the first of three absolutely pathetic groundouts in a row, none of which got Kaufman home from third base.

After Sencion and Willie Maldonado held the Crusaders one run down in the top 8th, the bottom 8th began with Jesus Maldonado, lashing a zinger up the rightfield line, where it bounced fair, hit the sidewall, and then rushed gigglingly into the gap, hotly pursued by an unlucky Josh Garris. Maldo legged out a triple, which put him a single short of the cycle. Matt Waters wasn’t taking chances, crushed a 2-run homer to right, and handed off a 3-run lead to Willie Cruz, who brought back a 2-run win when it was all said and done, courtesy of an Angel Lara homer, pinch-hit with two outs. 4-2 Coons. J. Maldonado 3-4, HR, 3B, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Glodowski 1-2, BB; Brobeck 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – CF P. Leal – C O. Ramirez – 1B Haertling – RF Mills – P J. White
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Kaufman – C Jimenez – P Hall

Maldo kept raking, doubling home Lonzo with a drive to deep center in the first inning; Lonzo had also hit a double, but to the left side. Crum and Pucks left Maldo stranded, with Matt Waters getting a scheduled day off (Lonzo was pencilled in for tomorrow, despite an off day on Monday). Prince Gates erased the lead with a leadoff jack in the top 2nd, but Danny Hall drove home the go-ahead run himself in the bottom 2nd, cashing Brian Kaufman from second base with a 2-out single to right, 2-1! His pitching was not nearly as clutch, though, and he gave up the lead again at the first opportunity, offering a leadoff walk to Ken Mills in the third, and with a single by Sanchez and a Russ sac fly (growls!) the Crusaders tied it up at two. Portland answered with two immediately: doubles by Maldo (!) and Crum, singles by Crispin and Kaufman, and Juan Jimenez popping out to strand two on the corners in a 4-2 game.

However… Hall was just ****. The Crusaders opened the fourth inning with straight clean singles, and while Ed Haertling initially popped out with three on and nobody out, a bases-loaded walk to Mills and a 2-run single by White flipped the score to 5-4 New York. He dragged his sorry bum through six innings, but remained on the hook, with the Raccoons’ sticks now apparently empty. The Coons didn’t get another runner into scoring position until the bottom 8th, which Ken Crum opened with a double to left. Pucks grounded out, Crispin struck out, Kaufman lined out, and the tying run was stranded at third base. While Synder and Ponce provided three innings of scoreless relief, the Raccoons arrived in the bottom 9th to see Melvin Lucero, and still down by a run. Mikio Suzuki batted for Jimenez to begin the inning and was drilled right away. Van Hoy batted for Ponce, and in case you wondered where Waters was, he had already pinch-hit for Hall earlier with Kaufman on first in the bottom 6th, whiffing to end the inning, so he already had a cold one and his hindpaws up. Van Hoy grounded out to Russ, but at least Suzuki advanced, as he did when Tortora advanced. Lonzo flew out to Mario Ceballos, resulting in the tying run being stranded at third base *again*. 5-4 Crusaders. J. Maldonado 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Crum 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Kaufman 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Six doubles, no cigar in the game.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – C O. Ramirez – CF P. Leal – RF M. Ceballos – 1B Haertling – P J. Johnson
POR: RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – SS Kaufman – P Wheatley

Pucks, Crum, and Gonzalez all hit singles in the bottom 1st, with Waters adding a walk, and the 5-6 hitters both drove home a run for a quick 2-0 lead against Johnson. Wheats had a shaky first two innings, each time putting a New Yorker on third base, but they never scored… at least until Matt Waters put on Omar Sanchez with a 2-base throwing error in the third inning and Danny Rivera singled him home. In the fourth, Pedro Leal whacked a leadoff double to left, but again, if not sabotaged by his own team, Wheats allowed them to third base, and no further! Not that he was in peak form in his third start of the year, either, sitting on only two strikeouts through four innings.

And then the rest of my house of cards of “oh it’s all fine and just barely half bad” came crashing down in the fifth inning. Leadoff walk to Sanchez, Rivera drew a walk, and with two outs, Omar Ramirez singled in the tying run. Leal’s infield single filled the bases, but Mario Ceballos was out to Kaufman to strand three. And where were the Raccoons the whole ******* time? (expressively shrugs)

Wheats held a tie through six innings, which took him over 100 pitches, with the Raccoons offense remaining completely absent ever since the first inning – they had only two base knocks in the five innings after that. More trouble in the seventh, in which Eloy Sencion loaded the bases with PH Art Bent (double), Gates (walk), and Ramirez (single) before getting a nice comebacker from Leal for a 1-2-3 double play, then got Ceballos to float out to Puckeridge in right. Pucks led off the bottom 8th after a scoreless appearance by Paul Miles against the 8-9-1 batters, and out of the blue nothing socked a go-ahead homer to left-center, his first of the year. And that was all it took. Three Coons went down after this, and Willie Cruz did the same to the Crusaders’ Russ, Lara, and Gates. 3-2 Raccoons. Puckeridge 2-4, HR, RBI; Crum 2-3, RBI;

A win’s a win’s a win…

But I am already starting to not like our infield setup. Only four guys really for the three spots left of first base. Some tweaking might be required.

Game 4
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – CF P. Leal – RF Garris – 3B Bent – 1B Haertling – P Sopena
POR: CF Tortora – SS Lavorano – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido

Salcido hit a double in the bottom 2nd with two outs and Gonzalez on first, but it didn’t amount to a run. Leal cut off the ball before it could reach the warning track, Gonzalez had to throw the anchor at third base, and Tortora struck out. In turn, Salcido offered leadoff walks to Art Bent and Ed Haertling in the top 3rd, and gave up both runs after a Sopena bunt and Sanchez single. It didn’t get much better from there. Ramirez singled and Leal homered off Salcido in the fourth, 4-0, and Tortora hurt himself on a defensive play in the same inning, requiring replacement by Suzuki. The Coons meanwhile just couldn’t score – Crispin hit a 2-out triple in the bottom 4th, but with nobody on and Gonzalez wouldn’t drive him in, either. Through four, we were up 6-4 in hits, and down 4-0 in runs…

Two more singles were added with one out in the bottom 5th by Suzuki and Lonzo, but Maldo’s liner to right was snagged by Garris. Waters walked, bringing up Crum as the tying run with two gone, but he hit the 0-1 pitch down, not up. It still went through the right side for a 2-run single, but Pucks then grounded out to first base to strand the tying runs. New York recovered a run right away, as Salcido got no outs in the sixth before getting yanked for Ponce, who surrendered a run on a Leal sac fly, and the inning after Snyder and Miles exploded for three more runs as the Crusaders firmly marked a series split in their books. Ed Crispin hit a stray homer in the bottom 8th. That was that. 8-3 Crusaders. Suzuki 1-2, BB; Maldonado 2-5; Crum 3-5, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B; Van Hoy (PH) 1-1;

Monday was then off, and by Tuesday, the Raccoons scratched Cullen Tortora, probably for the balance of the season, with a tear in his labrum that needed stapling, or whatever the current state of technology was. Dr. Padilla, I saw something on TV on that Star Trail show, where they take what looks like a flashlight and just shine on the spot, and that … – That doesn’t work here? – Bummer.

Tortora, batting .179 with 2 RBI at the time of his demise, he was replaced with Mitch Sivertson, who had gotten off to a .407 start in AAA this year and could play corner outfield as well.

Raccoons (6-6) @ Canadiens (7-5) – April 18-20, 2051

The team then went north, where the damn Elks were up to a shaky start, ninth in runs scored, fifth in runs allowed, with a -3 run differential (Coons: zip). They were probably going to rally, and I hoped they wouldn’t do it before the weekend, because all those mean tools they had on the roster last year? Mostly still there. And Jerry Outram was hitting .375 again, too. The Coons had lost 12 of 18 games to the damn Elks for two years in a row.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (1-1, 2.63 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (2-0, 4.11 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (1-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (1-0, 3.14 ERA)
Danny Hall (0-2, 5.87 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (1-1, 3.00 ERA)

Might be two southpaws from them to open this series.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Glodowski – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Wolinsky
VAN: CF Escobido – LF T. Turner – 3B Burgos – 1B Toohey – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – RF Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P McMichael

The Elks went up 1-0 in the first on … basically nothing. Wolinsky snapped a fastball into Angel Escobido’s belt buckle, which led to some displays of physical discomfort, but Escobido eventually crawled to first base, advanced on a pair of wild pitches, and eventually scored on Jesus Burgos’ sac fly. McMichael however lasted only four outs before leaving with an injury, righty Anton Jesus taking over, which made me even less confident about our lineup. And it wasn’t even the lineup that buried the Raccoons in the third inning. A throwing error by Kaufman, three singles, another wild pitch, and the damn Elks put up a 4-spot, with Angel Escobido driving home two, former Critter Bryce Toohey singling home one run, and the fourth came around on Wolinsky’s third wild pitch of the game. All runs were unearned. What a relief.

…and we had yet to talk about the non-offense, which didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning, but then got two singles at once from Ken Crum and Mikio Suzuki, the latter singling home the former, to rally all the way to 5-1, and no damn further. For the balance of the game, that was. The Raccoons had only one more hit, a pinch-hit single by new arrival Mitch Sivertson that opened the ninth inning. Sivertson also ended the game by getting caught stealing. 5-1 Canadiens. Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Suzuki 1-2, BB, RBI;

Each team had three hits in this game. (waves arms) Somehow. (looks at Honeypaws looking for an explanation, but none was forthcoming)

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Glodowski – 3B Sivertson – C Jimenez – P Brobeck
VAN: SS Mullen – CF Tomasello – 1B Toohey – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – C Julio Diaz – LF Escobido – 2B DeMarco – P Orozco

Alan Puckeridge hit a single in the first inning, which led nowhere once again, and that was it for hits in the game for the next hour. Brobeck got through the innings, but with a quickly building pitch count, while the Raccoons made excessive weak contact, or when they did reach base on a walk like Waters in the fourth, where caught stealing. A 1-out single by Escobido in the bottom 5th was the first H for either team after Pucks’ single, but he was left on by Nick DeMarco and Orozco.

Brobeck, amped up after five shutout innings, then opened the sixth by slicing a triple into the left-center gap. I would muse thoughts about the young Jonny Toner, if Brobeck’s pitching was even remotely up to snuff. And yes – Brobeck might be stealing a base here or there, eventually. Not home, though, in a scoreless ballgame… For reasons best known to them, the Elks walked Lonzo to get to Pucks, but Pucks singled to shallow right-center, where an array of Elks defenders got into each other’s antlers, conceding not only the run, but also allowing both back runners into scoring position. I then groaned loudly back home in Portland as Maldo hit a comebacker for no gains, Waters struck out for no gains, and then Ken Crum ran a full count before FINALLY singling through the left side to get the two runners home, 3-0. Glodowski grounded out to end the inning.

We were back with runners on second and third and no outs in the seventh, though. Sivertson singled, Juan Jimenez hit a double to center, and Brobeck then dropped a dying quail in front of Outram for an RBI single, and on a 1-2 pitch! Lonzo added an RBI single to center, and Orozco disappeared after walking Puckeridge to load the bases. Maldo hit a sac fly, Waters popped out, and Crum hit another RBI single, 7-0. Glodowski grounded out to end yet another inning.

And Brobeck? Stumbled to allow two walks in the bottom 6th, which dragged on despite only four batters coming to the plate, the last of which, Escobido, chopped into a 5-4-3 double play to take the scare off. Brobeck got one more out from DeMarco in the eighth, then was lifted with Giampaolo Petroni pinch-hitting from the wrong side. He had thrown 105 pitches. Sencion threw 16 more to get out of the inning, with Pucks’ error putting Petroni on base. Dan Mullen singled and sent the lead runner to third base, but Tyler Tomasello flew out to Glodowski, who threw out Petroni at the plate for a 9-2 double play. Willie Maldonado then croaked in the bottom 9th, filling the bags with walks to Toohey and Outram plus a Jesus Burgos single. Out with him, in with Ponce against Julio Diaz, who chopped into a double play, with Toohey scoring. Escobido struck out to end the game. 7-1 Raccoons! Puckeridge 2-4, BB, RBI; Crum 2-4, 3 RBI; Jimenez 2-4, 2B; Brobeck 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (2-1) and 2-3, 3B, RBI;

Yeeeah, yeeeah, Honeypaws, yeah, I can see some young Jonny Toner in that final line for Brobeck.

No, I won’t call him Bro. I have standards.

Fine, Honeypaws, I’ll call him Bro when he wins the Pitcher of the Year scepter.

The Elks had three hits for the second straight game, this time even in a loss. They also made a change for the rubber game, sending right-handed Terry Herman (1-2, 6.88 ERA) instead.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – 1B Van Hoy - P Hall
VAN: CF Escobido – LF T. Turner – 3B Burgos – 1B Toohey – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – RF Tomasello – 2B DeMarco – P Herman

On Thursday, the Elks had three hits before they made a fourth out, but also stranded three runners against Danny Hall and didn’t score the first time through, with Herman rung up with runners on the corners to end the bottom 2nd. And then Angel Escobido and Tim Turner raked back-to-back bombs to begin the bottom 3rd, 2-0 Elks…

Hall wouldn’t see the end of the fifth, departing with Burgos and Toohey on the corners and one out in a 3-2 game. Escobido had doubled home a run in the fourth, but a Suzuki homer, a Hall single, and a Lonzo RBI double had made up two runs for Portland in the top of the fifth. But Hall’s pitching woes didn’t stop, and he was yanked after 87 pitches for just 13 outs. Hitchcock couldn’t keep Burgos on base, surrendering the run on Dan Mullen’s sac fly to right, and it was 4-2 Elks through five. And while the Raccoons couldn’t get unglued, the Snyder/Miles combo gave up another run in the seventh inning.

The tying run actually came to the plate in the eighth inning, but with two outs after a Crum single and Waters walking. Crispin softly looped out to second baseman Jorge Uranga off Ruben Mendez. The Elks tacked on a run, though, on a single off Miles and errors by Crispin and Van Hoy… The Coons continued to have no sensible answers, and lost. 6-2 Canadiens. Suzuki 2-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons (7-8) @ Condors (9-7) – April 21-23, 2051

The Condors were third in the South, but further out than the Raccoons were in their own division (two games at this point). The Condors were second in runs scored, but eighth in runs allowed. They had the third-highest batting average in the CL, but were in the bottom quarter in home runs so far. The Coons had won this series for six years running, 5-4 in 2050.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-0, 1.77 ERA) vs. Garrett Giustino (1-0, 6.55 ERA)
Victor Salcido (0-2, 6.89 ERA) vs. Aaron Erwin (0-1, 5.14 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-2, 2.29 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (2-1, 4.88 ERA)

Only righty pitchers scheduled to appear for the Condors on this weekend.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – P Wheatley
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B G. Cabrera – 2B Whitehurst – 3B Riario – CF Ransford – P Giustino

A Maldo single and a Waters triple gave the Coons a quick 1-0 lead, but Ken Crum flew out to Dustin Ransford to leave Waters on third base. Ransford was the only lefty hitter in the lineup that came up to face Wheatley, which made me dangerously confident in my box. Of course, the Raccoons croaked on another chance in the second, where Gonzalez singled and Crispin doubled with one out, but Wheats whiffed and Lonzo grounded out. Wheats then gave up the lead on a Gil Cabrera triple and a Nathan Whitehurst single in the bottom of the same inning.

A Suzuki homer made it 2-1 in the third, but the Coons also got to 3-for-3 in ending the inning with a runner on third base, this time Waters again, reaching on a soft single and advancing on a grounder and a wild pitch before being left on when Pucks flew out to Ransford. Crispin reached third base in the fourth inning on a single, stolen base, and deep fly to right by Wheats that was caught by Brian Blackburn. Lonzo dutifully grounded out. Pucks came up with Suzuki (single) and Crum (fielder’s choice) on the corners and two outs in the fifth, and grounded out to Cabrera. It was borderline ridiculous. At this stage, the 7-8-9 hitters disappearing in order in the sixth was ALMOST welcome. ALMOST. Jon Mittleider almost homered the game tied in the bottom 6th, but was retried by Pucks at the fence, but Vittorio Riario did the actual honors in the bottom 7th, hitting a belter to left that went well over the fence to level the score at two. That was also Wheats’ last inning.

He did get another lead, though, posthumously attained by Waters singling, stealing a base, and scoring on a Puckeridge sac fly in the eighth inning, 3-2. The eighth inning went to Hitchcock then, who walked Mittleider, but pulled through, and the ninth went – with no add-on cushion – to Willie Cruz. Whitehurst struck out. Danny Diaz grounded out to Van Hoy at first base, there for defense. Ransford singled to right, but Ryan Robbinson bounced out to Crispin to end the game. 3-2 Blighters. Suzuki 2-4, HR, RBI; Waters 3-4, 3B, RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (3-0);

Still .500, but almost last in runs scored now…

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – P Salcido
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B G. Cabrera – 3B Riario – 2B C. Lara – CF Lamotta – P Erwin

Salcido had scuffled in his first few starts AND now faced a lineup without a left-handed batter, so I was naturally worried. So of course he sat down the Condors in order the first time through, striking out four, because baseball made no sense. The Raccoons’ offense remained quadriplegic, refusing to move on its own, with only two hits for the team in the first four innings, and nobody even getting stranded at third base.

The Condors were 12 up, 12 down through four, and Salcido then laid down a beauty of a bunt coming to the plate in the top 5th with nobody out and Gonzalez (single) and Crispin (walk) on base. Both got into scoring position, after which Lonzo got another intentional walk to fill the bases. Suzuki flew out to shallow left, Maldo struck out, and nobody scored. (deep breath) Tim Duncan then mashed a leadoff jack in the bottom 5th, Two walks to Riario and Carlos Lara followed, and with two outs, Erwin grounded to Crispin, who threw to second base for some reason, and Waters dropped the ball, for some other reason. Bases loaded for the top of the order, and Chris Navarro grounded to Crispin again. This time he threw to first, and Maldo held on to strand the full set.

Salcido threw over 30 pitches in the fifth, and a good 20 more in the sixth, and was hit for in the top 7th with Gonzalez on first and one out. Glodowski singled, but Lonzo whiffed, however, Suzuki came through with a 2-out RBI single to left, tying the game and sparing Salcido the loss. Maldo couldn’t find it in his heart though to give him a win, striking out. Namesake Willie Maldonado got the ball for the bottom 7th, got through it, and then resumed pitching in the bottom of the eighth, trying to coax a lefty pinch-hitter out of the Condors to make a switch. The ploy didn’t work. He walked Mittleider, then got taken deep by Duncan. Snyder then picked up the pieces, and Dusty Gaddy’s 1-2-3 ninth put the Coons away for good. 3-1 Condors. Glodowski (PH) 1-2; Salcido 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K;

Now tied for last in runs scored – with the Baybirds of all teams.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – LF Crum – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Van Hoy – 3B Sivertson – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – CF G. Cabrera – 1B Whitehurst – 2B D. Diaz – 3B A. Lopez – P Colwell

It didn’t look like Bubba was taking well to that mostly lefty lineup; the Condors hit three straight 2-out singles off him in the first, with Mittleider being thrown out at home on Cabrera’s single to end the inning without a score. The Coons would then score first, Puckeridge leading off the second with a triple to right and coming in on Evan Van Hoy’s groundout. But after Crum and Pucks reached scoring position with a double steal in the fourth, Van Hoy was rung up for the second out. Sivertson worked a walk to fill them up for defensive catcher Juan Jimenez, who grounded out all too easily to Danny Diaz.

The 1-0 lead didn’t hold up for much longer, but aggravatingly Bubba blew it against the bottom of the order, putting both Diaz and left-handed batter Alex Lopez on base. They were bunted over and while Navarro popped out, Blackburn singled to left. Diaz scored to tie it, and Lopez was thrown out by Crum trying to take a lead, ending the fifth inning. Mitch Sivertson to the rescue – with Waters (walk) and Van Hoy (single) on base, the backup infielder slashed a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run single to left-center to give Wolinsky a new 3-1 lead. Jimenez also singled, allowing us to clear the pitcher’s spot with Bubba flying out to left.

But the Condors appeared to be zeroing in on Bubba. They lined out three times in the sixth inning, and in the seventh Lopez zinged a double and scored on a 2-out single by Navarro, 3-2, which ended the outing by Wolinsky. Hitchcock retired Blackburn to escape the inning, getting a groundout to Sivertson, who then singled home Puckeridge again in the eighth inning with a single to center, 4-2. When Jimenez also singled again, Hitchcock was retained to bunt, doing so successfully, but Lonzo grounded out to short to end the attempt. And then Mittleider clobbered a leadoff jack in the bottom 8th to right away get us back to a 1-run lead. Hitchcock retired the next three, however, and the 2-3-4 didn’t put an insurance run together either in the road half of the ninth inning. At least Willie Cruz went 1-2-3 on the Condors, finishing it up with a K on pinch-hitter Dustin Ransford. 4-3 Raccoons. Crum 3-5, 2B; Puckeridge 1-2, 2 BB, 3B; Sivertson 2-3, 3 RBI; Jimenez 2-4; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (2-2);

In other news

April 13 – SAL CL Josh Rella (0-1, 4.91 ERA, 2 SV) puts away his 300th career save in an 11-8 win over the Stars. Rella, 36-35 with a 3.36 ERA for his career, was in his 11th major league season.
April 14 – ATL SP Kodai Koga (2-0, 0.35 ERA) spins a 2-hit shutout against the Aces for a 6-0 win.
April 14 – Loggers 3B/2B Nick Jackson (.364, 0 HR, 1 RBI) would miss the rest of the season with a busted kneecap.
April 14 – The Gold Sox would be without LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.265, 0 HR, 5 RBI) for at least three weeks. The 30-year-old was out with a torn ankle ligament.
April 14 – TIJ OF/1B/3B Gil Cabrera (.444, 0 HR, 2 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak originating in 2050 following a first-inning single in a 7-5 win over the Bayhawks.
April 15 – The hitting streak of Tijuana’s Gil Cabrera (.408, 0 HR, 2 RBI) is the second of the year to end before reaching 21 games. Him and the rest of the team are held cold in a 6-2 loss to the Bayhawks.

April 16 – On a Sunday with three 1-0 games, the one in which the Thunder beat the Falcons stands out, for it takes *19* innings until Thunder outfielder Mike Allen (.182, 2 HR, 4 RBI) ends everybody’s misery with a walkoff home run off Falcons swingman Alfonso Jewel (1-1, 2.57 ERA).
April 18 – The Blue Sox’ 1B Alejandro Ramos (.300, 3 HR, 17 RBI) drives in eight runs in a losing effort as the Blue Sox blow a lead in the ninth and fall to the Cyclones, 14-13.
April 19 – NAS SP Luke Moses (2-0, 0.89 ERA) is out for the year with a torn UCL.
April 21 – The Canadiens trade outfielder Tyler Tomasello (0-for-10, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to the Miners for MR Lazaro Ochoa (0-2, 20.77 ERA) and a prospect on nobody’s wishlist.
April 22 – VAN SP Bill McMichael (2-0, 3.78 ERA) is out for the year to fix a stretched elbow ligament.
April 23 – CHA SP Chris Jones (1-2, 2.28 ERA) 3-hits the Crusaders for a skinny 1-0 shutout win.
April 23 – The Wolves blow a 5-run lead in the ninth inning, then play a full ten innings more with the Miners without anybody scoring. Pittsburgh actually scored six in the top 9th, but the game was extended by SAL C Jose Ortiz (.254, 3 HR, 5 RBI) with a solo homer. It also ends with a Jose Ortiz solo homer in the 20th inning for a 10-9 Wolves win. Ortiz comes to the plate ten times in the game, and is retired every time except for the two home runs.

FL Player of the Week (2): TOP 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.429, 2 HR, 5 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week (2): TIJ C/1B Jon Mittleider (.385, 2 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

FL Player of the Week (3): CIN INF Juan Ojeda (.446, 0 HR, 14 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week (3): OCT SS/LF/1B Ryan Cox (.314, 4 HR, 12 RBI), swatting .429 (12-28) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We have now reached bottoms in runs scored in the league, with only 63 runs from 18 games, 3.5 per game precisely. That is of course… not exactly a delight. We don’t walk (we never do) but we also don’t hit (we sometimes do). The pitching is really keeping this team together so far, despite Danny Hall being a giant black hole for confidence right now.

At least Brobeck looks like he might actually stick here. But Hall? Miles is an option. In AAA, of course everybody’s waiting for Rafael de la Cruz, but he was still coming to terms with AAA hitting.

And why is Lonzo stuck on three stolen bases? First, he had a *really* bad week. Second, he’s been thrown out four straight times trying.

Third base and catching are offensive black holes so far, and Ed Crispin with SIX errors in three weeks also isn’t gaining any popularity with management.

Nevertheless, the road trip continues through Atlanta and Milwaukee.

Fun Fact: Ken Crum leads the batting race in the CL by one skinny point.

I guess, “it’s early” has never been a more apt remark. He hit .318 once. And that was 40 points above his second-best season.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-9) @ Knights (13-5) – April 25-27, 2051

Perhaps a bit surprisingly, the Knights were off to a .722 start after losing 86 games in 2050. They had the second-most runs and the fewest runs allowed in the league with a whopping +45 run differential through 18 games. We had lost five of nine games to them in ’50, and I had a hunch we’d get a head start on another dropped season series this week.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (2-1, 1.77 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (2-0, 2.38 ERA)
Danny Hall (0-3, 6.75 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (2-1, 0.52 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-0, 1.98 ERA) vs. Sam Geren (1-1, 3.62 ERA)

The Knights did not have a left-handed starter and only a single left-handed reliever. I hesitate to call that a weakness.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Brobeck
ATL: CF Royer – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – LF E. Avila – C Cass – 2B Crim – SS Housey – 1B de Luna – P J. Byrd

The opener hardly qualified as a contest after Kyle Brobeck was blown out for eight hits and eight runs in less than four innings. The barrage began with a solo homer by Eduardo Avila in the second and ended with a 3-piece by Jon Alade in the fourth. In between the Knights whacked him around at will, and especially a walk and a single conceded to the ******* opposing pitcher didn’t help either. The Raccoons had five hits in the first six innings, four of them in the top of the fourth inning for a 3-run rally that was all but evaporated on the Alade homer. With Brobeck gone, the Coons went on to Mike Snyder, who got further obliterated for another five runs, four of them earned as Ed Crispin also chipped in another error, his seventh of the year. By that point the Raccoons were down by ten runs. And that was before Paul Miles walked Bill Reeves and Tyler Cass to begin the bottom 8th, allowed a single to Joe Crim, and nailed Matt Housey. The pitching coach was sent out to explain in frank terms that he wasn’t gonna be picked up by Mommy any time soon, but could happily take the bus down I-75 to St. Pete if he continued to not end everybody’s misery. The next batter, Rich de Luna, lined into a 4-6 double play, and PH Joe Besaw flew out to Suzuki. Thank ******* goodness. The Coons made up a couple o’ runs in the ninth against John Steuer, unearned as they were thanks to a Ted Del Vecchio (hiss!) throwing error. No RBI’s were awarded; Ed Crispin scored on the error, and Mitch Sivertson, who reached on it, came home on a wild pitch. Pucks hit a 2-out triple after that, but was of course stranded by Maldo to complete a wholly forgettable game. 14-5 Knights. Suzuki 2-4; Crispin 2-4, RBI;

Mike Snyder (0-0, 6.10 ERA), who had nine walks in 10.1 innings, was optioned to AAA after the game. The Raccoons brought up Polibio O’Higgins, because maybe the 15th time was the charm.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – CF Suzuki – 3B Kaufman – C Jimenez – P D. Hall
ATL: 1B de Luna – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – 2B Crim – CF Royer – C Cass – LF E. Avila – SS Housey – P Koga

I marked an L in my schedule as soon as Rich de Luna opened the bottom 1st with an infield single. He stole second and was duly singled home by Jon Alade, 1-0 Knights. Despite my usual optimism and Hall sprinkling four hits in the first run through the Knights lineup, the Coons actually erased the deficit in the third inning, which defensive catcher Juan Jimenez, intentionally paired with the foundering Hall, began by drawing a walk. Hall bunted him to second, and scratch singles by Lonzo and Maldo brought him around to score before Waters floated out to strand a pair.

Now, to Hall’s credit, he held out way longer than I anticipated – not that that would result in a potential W, but both teams were equally guilty of putting a guy on first and then hitting into a double play in this game, with two on each side through five innings. It was still 1-1 in the sixth, although then the Knights reeled off three singles with Alade, Tyler Cass, and Ex-Coon Avila. With two outs, Eloy Sencion was called on to face the switch-hitting Matt Housey, secured a strikeout, and a no-decision and another five days on the major league roster for poor young Danny Hall. Kaufman got on in the top 7th, clearing the pitcher’s spot against our wishes, and the Coons didn’t score either, with Glodowski flying out in the #9 hole. Bottom 7th, Polibio O’Higgins’ first ABL at-bat of the year was a 4-pitch walk to the ******* opposing pitcher, and he was yanked with two outs for Ponce to face the lefty Alade, the go-ahead run then on second base. The Knights countered with Chris Strohm to bat from the right side, but he grounded out to Lonzo and the score remained locked.

The Coons continued to be held to just three base hits through nine innings, and tried to be held to three base hits for much longer, shuffling things around for Kevin Hitchcock to potentially pitch two innings beginning with the ninth. He entered in the #6 hole, with Ken Crum to center and Sivertson batting ninth and playing left. The arrangement lasted all of eight pitches, which was enough for Avila to chop a leadoff single, get bunted to second, a wild pitch, and a walkoff single for de Luna. 2-1 Knights.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Crum – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Sivertson – P Wheatley
ATL: CF Royer – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – C Cass – 2B Crim – SS Housey – LF Reeves – 1B de Luna – P Geren

Wheats retired five in a row before getting taken deep by Housey, so that was that. The Coons at that point had already put out three base hits, frittering away all of them, including having Crum and Sivertson on only to bring up Wheatley with two outs in the top 2nd. He popped out.

At this point, Lonzo and Maldo and Waters were all in a deep slump, but in the top of the third at least briefly twitched. Lonzo singled, stole second, and was singled home by Maldonado to tie the score at one. After a wild pitch and a groundout by Waters, Ken Crum even singled to center for a 2-1 lead. The lead didn’t last, being collectively fudged in the fourth inning with a leadoff walk to Alade, a Sivertson error, and a poor Suzuki throw on what became a Housey sac fly to get even at two before Bill Reeves turned it over for an easy grounder to end the inning.

Wheats went on to hold the 2-2 tie for seven innings and 109 pitches, whiffing four in a row at one point and nine in total, but would there be any reward for that, like a 4-0 record as the end of the month approached rapidly? The “meat” of the order was up in the top of the eighth at least, facing Knights right-hander Mike Hall. Pop, fly, whiff – the Coons went in order. Willie Maldonado took over, allowed a leadoff single to Steve Royer and a walk to ********** Del Vecchio, then got grounders to middle infielders, finally. The Coons couldn’t turn two on Alade’s grounder to Waters, but the middle man, yet when Tyler Cass rolled over to Lonzo, the 6-4-3 ended the inning and kept the game tied. The Raccoons didn’t make it past a Ruben Gonzalez single in the top of the ninth, though, while O’Higgins didn’t make it past a single out in the bottom of it. Crim walked, advanced on a Housey groundout, and was singled in by Reeves. Sweep. 3-2 Knights. J. Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Crum 3-4, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

3.4 runs per game, bottoms in the league.

Raccoons (9-12) @ Loggers (8-13) – April 28-30, 2051

Maybe facing the Loggers would help? Because I didn’t know what else would. They were seventh in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed with a -30 run differential, so basically the antithesis of the Raccoons’ rotten offense and decent pitching (mostly). The Loggers had the worst starting ERA (6.05) in the league and the defense was also nothing to be proud of. They had no homers, but the most stolen bases. Portland led the season series 2-0. Dave de Lemos and Nick Jackson were on the DL for Milwaukee, the latter like Tortora most likely for the rest of the season.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (0-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. John Morrill (0-3, 12.64 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (2-2, 2.39 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (1-2, 4.85 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. Bubba Poss (2-1, 5.14 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday – and while Poss was their only left-hander in the rotation I also wouldn’t have minded an all-Bubba matchup.

Matt Waters (.179, 3 HR, 9 RBI) was due a day off just to have a brainwash, but I kinda wanted him to face “Mincemeat” Morris… He could still carve himself a new bat on Saturday… Ken Crum moved up to the #3 spot, though.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B J. Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido
MIL: CF Callaia – RF McIntyre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – LF C. Lowe – 1B E. Hernandez – 3B Barrington – P Morrill

A Pucks single and a throwing error by Ricky Lopez put two Coons in scoring position in the first inning. Maldo popped out in helpful fashion, and Waters rolled one over to Zach Suggs for the third out, which sugged. Instead, Suzuki doubled to open the second and scored on a Gonzalez single, 1-0, but in the third inning Pucks was in scoring position again for Maldo, who struck out, and Waters, who popped out to Suggs, which sugged just the same. The Loggers then got Jack Barrington on base in the bottom 3rd with a 1-out single, their first base runner against Salcido. In true “no you won’t” fashion, Barrington stole second, and Morrill chopped a single to left-center. Barrington turned third, Crum heaved the ball into no man’s land somewhere between home plate and Minnesota, and the Loggers tied it up, with their pitcher reaching second base on the throwing error, although he’d be left stranded. Gaudencio Callaia singled to move Morrill to third, but was then caught stealing, and Will McIntyre made an easy third out, keeping things even at one through three innings.

While the Coons gave their best attempt at making John Morrill look like the second coming of Martin Garcia, the Raccoons’ efforts at being halfway-decent were dealt another blow in the bottom of the fourth. Salcido walked Ricky Lopez, then got taken yard by Chris Lowe. Ernesto Hernandez walked, and Barrington tripled him home. Whoop, 4-1! Morrill was out to Waters to strand the runner at third. Salcido wasn’t seen after the fifth inning, followed by Miles for five outs, but being charged a run when he put Barrington on in the bottom 7th and Willie Maldonado conceded the runner with two outs on a McIntyre single, 5-1. And Morrill? Worked wonderfully on his Hall of Fame application with a complete-game 7-hitter, choking the Raccoons for their fourth straight loss. 5-1 Loggers. Puckeridge 3-4, 2B; Suzuki 2-4, 2B; Kaufman 1-1;

(sigh)

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – 1B Van Hoy – 2B Kaufman – C Jimenez – P Wolinsky
MIL: CF Callaia – 3B Barrington – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – RF McIntyre – LF C. Lowe – C Cadena – 1B E. Hernandez – P A. Munoz

The innings blitzed by in the middle game, neither team hitting anything much. Bubba allowed three hits, no walks, and struck out four through five innings, which somehow still amounted to 77 pitches with a bunch of full counts in there. The Coons had even less, just two base hits, and one of those that got on – Crum – was caught stealing on a failed hit-and-run with Crispin in the fourth.

When Jimenez drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, Wolinsky bunted into a force at second base. Lonzo singled, but of course now the pitcher was blocking his advance. Suzuki worked a walk, filling the bases for Alan Puckeridge. The count to Pucks ran full before he slapped a ball to right for a 2-run double near the line, breaking up the scoreless tie. Crum got four wide ones to reload the bags for Crispin, who was batting .255 as the last line of defense ahead of the sea of .160-somethings that composed the bottom half of the order. He hit a sac fly to center, 3-0, and Van Hoy struck out. Bubba had another fine sixth, then bunted into a double play after Jimenez drew another walk in the top 7th, at which point I went to have a brew or two. A German one. Those actually give you a proper knock…

Chris Lowe doubled home a run off Wolinsky in his seventh and final innings, shortening the score to 3-1, but was stranded by Jose Cadena and Hernandez. Top 8th, Crum got another intentional walk with Lonzo on third and two outs, and Crispin flew out to Callaia in center again, but of course this time it ended the inning as the third rather than the second out. Hitchcock had a scoreless eighth, but Willie Cruz was greeted by Zach Suggs hitting a rocket for a leadoff jack in the bottom 9th, 3-2, which sugged. The next three Loggers went in order, though… 3-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Crum 1-2, 2 BB; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-2);

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – 1B J. Maldonado – LF Crum – 2B Waters – RF Glodowski – 3B Kaufman – C Gonzalez – P Brobeck
MIL: CF Callaia – RF McIntyre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – LF C. Lowe – 1B E. Hernandez – 3B Barrington – P Poss

Both teams got a leadoff hit in the first, then some knucklehead hitting into a double play. That was Crum for the Coons and McIntyre for the Loggers. Kaufman found another double play in the second after Waters’ leadoff walk, while Brobeck nailed Ricky Lopez with an 0-2 pitch to begin the bottom 2nd. Lopez didn’t approve, stole second, and scored on a Chris Lowe single with two outs for the game’s first run.

The score remained 1-0 Loggers through four, neither team managing to topple the other pitcher. Maybe a pitcher could do it, though – Brobeck hit a 2-out single with nobody on in the fifth, raising his average to .400. He also went on first movement on the 1-0 pitch to Lonzo, which Lonzo belted into the gap for a double. Brobeck, a sprinter by pitcher’s standards, dashed around to score, and Pucks came up with a triple, breaking the still-warm tie for a 2-1 lead, but was stranded when Maldo flew out easily. And all for what? Will McIntyre’s 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run, score-flipping homer in the bottom 5th, a 450-foot monster blast to right. Brobeck then allowed another four base runners in the same inning; single, single, walk, 2-run single by Lowe. (strolls to the nearest concession stand for another German brew)

Ponce surrendered a run in the sixth as the team fell to the edge of slam range, 6-2. The Coons didn’t blink until the eighth, when Pucks, Maldo, and Crum all reached in order… sorta… with Pucks thrown out at home trying to score from second on Crum’s single, and Waters then stranded the remainders with a pop to Lowe in shallow left. No runs scored, and no feelings of young Loggers fans were harmed. 6-2 Loggers. Lavorano 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Jimenez (PH) 1-1, 2B;

In other news

April 27 – CHA OF Omar Marroquin (.184, 1 HR, 4 RBI) announces his retirement after suffering terminal labrum damage in a game earlier this month. Marroquin was playing in his sixth ABL season despite being only 25 years old. He batted .256 with 31 HR and 243 RBI in his career.
April 27 – The Titans send infielder Nate Massey (.338, 1 HR, 10 RBI) to the Pacifics for 1B Larry Rodriguez (.261, 4 HR, 6 RBI).
April 28 – SAL INF Kenny Leon (.339, 2 HR, 14 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak, the third of the month, after hitting a sixth-inning single in a 5-2 win over the Pacifics.
April 30 – And another one bites the dust: the hitting streak of Salem’s Kenny Leon (.314, 2 HR, 14 RBI) ends at 21 games with an 0-for-4 against the Pacifics. The Wolves still win, 2-1.

FL Player of the Week: NAS OF/1B Mike Pfeifer (.379, 5 HR, 17 RBI), batting .538 (14-26) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 2B/SS Ricky Lopez (.348, 6 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .391 (9-23) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS OF/1B Mike Pfeifer (.379, 5 HR, 17 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL 2B/SS Ricky Lopez (.348, 6 HR, 21 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Tony Martinez (4-0, 1.50 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Tan Brink (4-1, 2.63 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC C Mike Seidman (.345, 1 HR, 6 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ INF Nathan Whitehurst (.298, 2 HR, 18 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Trading for Ken Crum this offseason was a great move! … We were just the wrong team to do so.

We finish the month with just barely over 3.2 runs per game, which is of course not a mark of a team anybody wants to watch. But my schedule says there are another 138 games to play, so there’s that.

So what can we do to fix this, besides me freaky-fridaying into the body of the Gold Sox GM and being done with this stuff? Well, the only three batters hitting an interesting amount in AAA so far are Rich Seymour, Oscar Rivera, and Aaron Walker. Seymour as a second-sacker is hard to work into the lineup to begin with (especially as a righty batter), so we might have to try and work out something for the two outfielders. Walker, the waiver claim from the Thunder, was at .289 with a homer and 10 RBI, while Rivera, a major trade piece from the Gold Sox the prior winter, was hitting .232, but with 7 HR and 17 RBI. You could even park Walker in center and get away with that. Both were right-handed hitters.

By the way, note the Miners having spent about $150M this offseason and languishing in fifth place in a division without a winning team.

The new month will start at home with a 4-game set against the Arrowheads. We’ll be in Nashville on the weekend then.

Fun Fact: The Knights, who haven’t had a winning season since 2045, have the best record in baseball.

Also 5.25 runs per game, while giving up just under 2.5 themselves. Is any of that going to last?

Are the Coons going to even score 2.5 runs per game by the end of May…?