Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (91-58) vs. Thunder (93-56) – September 22-24, 2053

Final regular season home series! The Thunder could easily clinch their division in our park, but the Raccoons’ chance of clinching their own in the same were zilch. Anyway, the Thunder were first in runs scored and runs allowed, with a staggering +214 run differential. It was hard to make out weaknesses aside from a genuine lack of speed, with the team having only stolen 48 bases all year, second-lowest total in the Continental League. But if you’re heading for 800+ runs scored anyway, you’re probably doing *something* right. The season series stood in Oklahoma City’s favor, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (14-10, 2.78 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (12-11, 4.26 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-5, 2.89 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (13-11, 3.60 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (10-4, 4.29 ERA) vs. David Barel (21-7, 1.99 ERA)

Right, left, left, and don’t you think Barel was leading that team in wins. Zach Boyer was 23-4 with a 2.70 ERA, but had pitched on Sunday and was not on the menu.

The Coons would give out a few select days off this week despite the off day on Thursday. Trying to keep everyone fresh – the important games would probably be the last three on the calendar.

Game 1
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – CF M. Allen – C Adames – 3B Sowards – P Llamas
POR: 3B Malkus – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – SS Knight – RF Rivera – P Taki

Taki would in the future probably pitch from the second inning on in his starts, offering a leadoff walk to Ryan Cox and singles to Jonathan Ban and David Worthington for a quick 1-0 deficit before the Thunder stranded runners on the corners. Not that it got much better after that inning this time. He walked a pair in the third inning, and in the fourth allowed singles to Chris Sowards and Alfredo Llamas with two outs. Cox hit a belter to right – foul past the pole! All back to their marks, please. Nevermind, Cox hit another belter, this time the fair side of the right foul pole, 4-0. All this was against a Raccoons teams with no hits until Ramsay chipped a single in the bottom 4th. Matt Knight offered a single in the fifth. Neither hit led to much glory. Taki went back out for the sixth, gave up another hit to Llamas in loading the bases, then an RBI single to Jonathan Ban, then got yanked. Raul Cornejo replaced him, had nothing better to do than to give up another RBI single to Soberanes, and then was dumb/lucky enough that Ban ran himself and the rest of the Thunder out of the inning by getting caught in a rundown. The game was in the bin of course; the Coons’ third hit was not to occur until the eighth inning when Lonzo pinch-hit for Ryan Harmer, doubled, reached third on a wild pitch… and was stranded. Llamas threw another wild pitch after walking Ramsay with one out in the ninth, which ended up wrecking his shutout bid. Chris Gowin doubled to center, and Ramsay scored from second base. Knight singled home another run with two outs against Alex Mancilla, but that was it for rally qualities. 6-2 Thunder. Knight 2-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2B;

This putrid loss reduced our lead to five games, the Crusader knocking off the Condors in the meantime, 7-2.

Game 2
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – C Burnham – CF M. Allen – 3B Sowards – P Zeigler
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Lopez – C Philipps – CF Thomason – P Wheatley

While the Raccoons didn’t have a hit through three innings once more, Wheats retired the first seven batters in a row before Chris Sowards dinked in a single in the top 3rd. That was it, though, two pops getting him out of the inning. The sky only fell in the fourth inning, but when it fell, it *fell*. Leadoff walk to Ban, doubles smacked by Soberanes and Mike Harmon, and singles for Mike Allen and Sowards – three runs scored before Zeigler struck out to end the miserable inning. For Portland, Lonzo opened the bottom 4th with a single to right, stole second… and was stranded.

Uh-oh.

Ban’s double and Worthington’s single added another run in the fifth inning and the Thunder had Wheats chewed up by the sixth, although he finished the inning, despite a Sowards single and a walk to Zeigler (…), running three full counts but getting Cox to fly out to right to end the inning. Phil Baker then pitched two scoreless innings afterwards, because the baseball gods clearly had a wicked sense of humor. But Zeigler, too, would not finish the shutout, of which he had the 2-hit variant going into the ninth inning. Waters flew out to left to begin the inning, but Ken Crum snuck a single through the infielders to reach base. Ramsay then cranked a homer to right, cutting the 4-0 deficit in half. Gone was Zeigler – left-hander Gustavo Chapa replaced him. Tony Lopez’ groundout to third base and Pucks’ K ended the game anyway. 4-2 Thunder. Ramsay 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Baker 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Phil Baker as Game 1 starter! At least the Thunder would be in the CLCS – they clinched their division with this victory.

The good news? The Condors won against New York, 5-4. Lead still five, magic number down to seven.

Game 3
OCT: LF R. Cox – CF M. Allen – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – RF Harmon – C Burnham – 2B E. Martin – 3B Sowards – P Barel
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – RF Rivera – P Brobeck

By Wednesday, the Raccoons were much closer to the Thunder’s offensive prowess! This time, NEITHER team got a base hit in the first three innings, which passed scorelessly as a consequence. It wasn’t until Soberanes hit a leadoff single in the fourth that somebody entered the H column, although Worthington, still day-to-day, but refusing to sit down, grounded into a double play to clean up the bases. Brobeck was less lucky, or should we say, more **** in the fifth inning, giving up a howling double to Sowards, which was one thing, and then an RBI single to Barel, which was entirely another. The Coons still had no hits, getting their first base knock only when Pucks singled to right to begin the bottom 5th, putting the tying run on base. Barel nicked Gowin with an 0-2 pitch, then hung a 2-0 to Marroguin that got taken into the gap for an RBI double. Pulled a bit harder, it would have been a 3-piece. The Thunder gave Oscar Rivera, the old .115 menace, directions to first base, preferring to pitch to Brobeck (.348, 0 HR, 6 RBI) with the bases loaded and nobody out. Brobeck promptly rapped a zinger over Sowards’ glove and into leftfield for a single. Gowin scored and Marroguin pressed on right behind him, giving the Coons a 3-1 lead before Malkus popped out and Lonzo cracked a sharp ball into a double play.

The Thunder pulled back a run right away in the sixth. Brobeck put Soberanes and Allen on the corners, then gave up a 2-out RBI single to Luke Burnham, a 3-2 pitch crammed through the left side to get the score to 3-2 as well, but Eric Martin whiffed to park a pair. The rest of the lead was blown with two outs in the seventh. Cox doubled off Brobeck to end his day. Vic Flores came on for Allen, was instead met by Jesus Adames, offered a walk, and then was replaced with Hitchcock in a double switch, but Hitchcock blew the lead anyway when Soberanes whacked an RBI single to left. Worthington grounded out to enter stretch time, all even at three. The Coons had a Waters single and a walk drawn by Naughty Joe, pinch-hitting in the spot vacated by Crum on the earlier double switch, but Pucks and Gowin couldn’t get the ball to fall in and the runners were stranded. Kevin Daley held the fort in the ninth inning, while Mancilla pitched for the Thunder in the home half of the inning. Run or extras! Marroguin struck out, but Crispin and Ramsay went to the corners with singles! Knight batted for a listless Malkus (0-for-4), but popped out, and Lonzo’s fly to deep right was snared by Mike Harmon, the nasty…!

Thus, extras. Daley was good for a second scoreless inning, and the Thunder went back to Mancilla in the bottom 10th as well. Waters whiffed, but Raczka singled for the pitcher. Pucks scratched out a walk, moving the winning run to second base, but there was no speed left on the bench and Raczka remained the winning run out there. Instead Tony Lopez batted for Gowin in the vain hope to stay out of the double play. And he did – he popped out instead! …as did Marroguin, extending the game further. Lillis pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th, with righty Ryan Moore taking over for Mancilla for the Thunder. He threw just four pitches to Ed Crispin, the last of which was pounded out of the park to get the Thunder outta town. 4-3 Coons. Waters 2-5; Raczka (PH) 1-1; Marroguin 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crispin (PH) 2-2, HR, RBI; Daley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The Crusaders also won by one, holding off the Condors’ late charge for a 5-4 win. The magic number went down to six.

For funsies: the Elks were mathematically eliminated on this day.

On the way to Indy, Mikio Suzuki joined us from the DL for an extra left-handed outfield option.

Raccoons (92-60) @ Indians (77-75) – September 26-28, 2053

Road trip! Three cities to go to, four if we played our cards right in these last ten games. The Arrowheads were sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +2 run differential. The Coons led the season series, 9-6.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (11-8, 4.05 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (12-8, 3.91 ERA)
Victor Scott (11-7, 3.94 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (13-10, 2.99 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (14-11, 2.96 ERA) vs. James Powell (13-10, 3.53 ERA)

Another southpaw in this set, which would be Malla in the middle game.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – RF Lopez – C Raczka – P Salcido
IND: LF R. White – SS A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – CF C. Morris – 2B de Castro – 1B Alex Ramos – P Broad

For the fourth time in four games this week, the Raccoons had no base knock the first time through, and no run in the first three innings, either, but at least Salcido held his post against the Indians similarly. Ed Crispin popped a jack to right for the game’s first run in the fourth inning, which gave Crispin two go-ahead homers in his last three at-bats. Suzuki and Lopez went to the corners afterwards, only for Raczka to wrap up the inning with a double play grounder. That was about it, while Salcido blew the skinny lead in the bottom 6th, giving up a double to Alex Ramos before conceding the run on Broad’s groundout and a passed ball charged to Raczka. It remained 1-1 through eight innings, all offered up by the starters, with both sides only putting up five hits each, and making the very least of them. Righty David Williams got the ninth inning, with Crispin leading off, but the Coons went in order. Vic Flores came out for the bottom 9th – and much the opposite didn’t record an out. Antonio Rios doubled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Bill Quinteros’ single up the middle. 2-1 Indians. Lopez 2-4; Salcido 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

New York? Smothered the Loggers, 12-5. Four games now, that lead…

Game 2
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – RF Thomason – P Scott
IND: CF C. Morris – SS Llampallas – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF Ragen – 1B de Castro – P Malla

Rain messed with the game from the start, with a brief delay as early as the second inning, while the Raccoons for once even managed a damn base hit the first time through, a Gowin single, but couldn’t get close to sniffing a run. Everything else was just as annoying, like Scott giving up hits to the 8-9 batters the first time through without allowing a run, then Malkus throwing away Bobby Anderson’s 2-out grounder in the third inning for two bases, which Manny Poindexter immediately pounced on and slapped an RBI single to center.

Down 1-0, the Coons got a leadoff single from Lonzo in the fourth inning, soon followed by Waters doubling to right. Lonzo had to hold with Quinteros getting close to the ball, but there was a pair in scoring position to begin the inning. Crum crummily popped out, but Pucks, who had yet to get an RBI or much of a hit this week, singled to center to flip the score to 2-1 Coons. He scored with two outs following singles for Marroguin to left and Thomason to right; the inning ended with Scott grounding out to Bobby Anderson. He then twiddled the fourth together, but in the fifth walked the ******* bases full and gave up four runs in a space of four pitches on Poindexter and Rios drives for a 2-run single and a 2-run double, respectively. Ryan Harmer replaced him, but gave up an RBI triple to de Castro before the inning was over, putting the Coons in a 6-3 hole.

Somehow, the game wasn’t quite in the bin yet – the tying run would be on base with nobody out in the seventh, for example. Marroguin and Thomason reached base to begin the inning, and Tony Lopez hit an RBI single in the pitcher’s spot. Malkus dropped another one of those in between Quinteros and Morris, 6-5, and then Bill McMichael struck out Lonzo and got a double play grounder from Waters. (groans!) The Raccoons went to Hitchcock with the game tight. He also didn’t retire any of the first four batters, which was such a thrill. Single, single, single, walk… and after a Morris sac fly, eventually, a 3-run homer by Quinteros. It was the second 5-spot for the Indians in the ******* game, while somehow Bobby Anderson managed to get ejected after striking out against Medrano afterwards. Medrano, too, didn’t retire any of the first four batters in the eighth inning. He was yanked for Cornejo, who kept ******* around, and gave up a grand slam to Juan Llampallas (who?) after two runs were already home. Eric Reese finished the ******* game. 17-5 Indians. Marroguin 2-4; Thomason 2-3, BB, RBI; Lopez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Bit of a **** show.

The Loggers offered up a 9-5 win over the Crusaders, so the Coons remained up by four. The magic number was five.

Maybe the Loggers could win one more on Sunday. We could really use that.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C Gowin – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Taki
IND: LF R. White – SS Clover – RF B. Quinteros – C Poindexter – 3B B. Anderson – 2B N. Fernandez – CF Ragen – 1B Alex Ramos – P J. Powell

Naughty Joe’s leadoff single in the third inning narrowly avoided not getting a hit the first time through FIVE times in a week. A bunt and a pop followed, but Lonzo beat Allen Ragen’s reach for a triple in the deepest part of centerfield for the game’s first run. Pucks singled him home, too, but then was caught stealing to end the inning. It was the Arrowheads that didn’t get a base knock for a while. Quinteros hit a single off Taki, who otherwise had only a walk against him, in the bottom 4th, but was doubled up by the catcher Poindexter to kill the inning. It was a single per inning for the Indians in those middle innings; Ragen singled in the fifth and stole second, but was left on, and when Rusty White singled in the sixth, he was also doubled up by Chase Clover. The Coons were mostly silent in the middle innings, although Ramsay had a deep fly out, being retired by Quinteros right against the fence, and Quinteros opened the seventh with a deep fly to left, but that one was also snatched on the track by Ken Crum. Taki retired the next two in order as well, and needed only 69 pitches through seven innings.

The Raccoons could not get some tack-on offense mounted, but Taki retired Nick Fernandez, Allen Ragen, and Alex Ramos in order in the bottom 8th on just 13 more pitches mostly to Ragen, who struck out in a full count. Crum’s 1-out walk in the ninth was all that was going on there, and so the score remained 2-0 into the bottom 9th. (gleans at the scoreboard) And the Crusaders were leading in Milwaukee. But Taki had needed just *82* pitches on a 3-hitter…! SURELY he had that one! Josh Hare struck out. Rusty White popped out, though both fought for six pitches each. Clover for the gold! …full count, walk, and Quinteros up as the tying run, which was a situation where we wouldn’t necessarily want to throw in Daley either. But whom? Flores had already crapped on a game this week, and Sencion… I don’t know, Sencion was suspect to me now, despite a very decent season after being recalled from AAA early. Taki though also walked Quinteros, and now the Coons had to move. Daley came out to face Poindexter. Full count, single. Clover scored, Quinteros to second with the tying run. Bobby Anderson shot a spanker to the left side, Lonzo lunged, plunged, lobbed to second – and Matt Waters contained the ball for the third out. 2-1 Blighters. Taki 8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (15-11);

In other news

September 23 – 60 (!) players are involved in the Titans’ 10-9 win over the Bayhawks that takes a whopping 16 innings to complete after the Titans secure a tie in the ninth, both teams score in the 13th, and INF Jose Alvarez (.278, 1 HR, 8 RBI), a 23-year-old rookie, secures the W with a walkoff single in the 16th inning.
September 24 – A concussion ends the season of Pacifics infielder Gustavo Miguel (.306, 9 HR, 44 RBI).
September 24 – Also done for 2053 is CHA LF/RF Danny Ceballos (.336, 4 HR, 52 RBI), who had suffered an oblique strain.
September 25 – The career of MIL OF/1B Phil Steinbacher (.252, 8 HR, 73 RBI) ends with a skull fracture after running into the outfield wall in a 6-3 loss to the Knights the day before. The 25-year-old would survive, but would surely be told to lay off the contact sports from here on out. Steinbacher batted .264 with 15 HR, 116 RBI, and 45 SB in a career spanning just 235 games.
September 26 – VAN SP Anton Jesus (11-9, 4.70 ERA) shines in a 1-hit shutout of the Titans, who only get a double from Angel Montes de Oca (.279, 1 HR, 12 RBI) and nothing else in a 5-0 loss.
September 26 – Condors rookie 1B John Rosenstiel (.327, 1 HR, 8 RBI) grabs his first major league homer in the most welcome spot – a walkoff blast to end a 15-inning affair against the Knights for a 8-7 win.
September 27 – Another September call-up delivers a late walkoff knock when WAS 2B Jake Ritter (.263, 0 HR, 4 RBI) walks off the Capitals against the Rebels, 2-1 in 16 innings.
September 27 – Dallas right-hander Preston Porter (3-3, 7.02 ERA) will undergo surgery to repair a tear in his rotator cuff, but should be ready for Opening Day.

FL Player of the Week: DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.323, 12 HR, 66 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC RF/LF Danny Rivera (.297, 17 HR, 110 RBI), hitting .600 (12-20) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders held on in Milwaukee on Sunday, winning 4-2, which left the gap at four games, which was just one more than the Crusaders had games left against the Coons, and all that AFTER a four-game set in Elk City.

POR (93-62) – VAN (4), NYC (3) – .548 – 95.1% (-1.9%)
NYC (89-66) – IND (4), POR (3) – .548 – 4.9% (+1.9%)

Also, perhaps unnoticed in the tumultuous final inning in Indy, Lonzo complained of pains after making that lunge and plunge for the final out, so that was something to be concerned about. We already scored negative six runs this week. With Lonzo out, we can just as well let the Crusaders mess around with the Thunder…..

I have to fly home to Portland now. I need to seek comfort from Honeypaws.

And Capt’n Coma.

Fun Fact: Victor Salcido’s 11-2 win over the Aces last week was the 6,500th regular season W for the franchise.

I guess that went under a bit in everything else.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (93-62) @ Canadiens (82-73) – September 29-October 2, 2053

The damn Elks had nothing left to play for except to ruin the Raccoons’ season, which was likely a goal motivating enough to give it all once more. Despite nine games over .500, they had a -5 run differential. Pitching remained a problem up there, with the fourth-most runs surrendered by that team. Both the rotation and bullpen were crummy and also ranked ninth in ERA in the CL. I guess breaking pitches don’t break that well at -20F° …? The Coons were up 8-6 against them this year, and more importantly, led the closing Crusaders by four games with seven to play – including the last three in New York.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (11-6, 2.99 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (12-13, 4.86 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (10-4, 4.28 ERA) vs. Juan Arrocha (7-12, 4.83 ERA)
Victor Salcido (11-8, 3.93 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (11-9, 4.70 ERA)
Victor Scott (11-8, 4.09 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (13-10, 3.97 ERA)

Only right-handers going for them up there. Meanwhile, the Coons were provisionally without Lonzo, who was still cranky on Monday, so immediately one of the teeth from the lineup was missing.

I couldn’t watch these games alone at home; I needed the comfort of the office so Honeypaws and me went there. Also, a paper bag to breathe into. And, if things went poorly enough, a plastic bag as well.

Oops, no, Maud confiscated that one right away.

Game 1
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – CF Marroguin – C Raczka – 2B Boese – P Wheatley
VAN: LF Magnussen – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – CF D. Moreno – 1B Liberos – C L. Miranda – RF A. Walker – 3B Guillory – P Bulas

Ed Crispin homered on the first pitch of the game, which was good news, especially given that he was only batting up there because nobody else was reaching base at a decent rate, and Malkus was in a terrible slump right at crunch time. Waters’ walk and Pucks’ single put two more on base, but only one of them scored on a Crum groundout before the inning fizzled out with meek outs. That gave a 2-0 lead to Wheats, who was far from whatever your definition of “hot” was, walked the bases full with one out in the bottom 2nd, and gave up three runs on a Landon Guillory single and Bulas’ groundout to find himself a 3-2 hole to live in.

(pops a bottle of One-Eyed Jack’s)

Wheats never found any sort of groove in the game and was knocked from it in the fifth inning on another depressing sequence of walking Adam Magnussen, who stole second, giving up an RBI single to Dan Mullen, and an RBI triple to the CL home run leader with 27 bombs, Tony Aparicio. That was the end, down 5-2 with nobody out in the bottom 5th. Ryan Harmer replaced him, but surrendered that sixth run on a sac fly. I covered my striped face with Honeypaw’s fuzzy belly, which soon got wet.

Ramsay’s and Marroguin’s singles put runners on the corners in the sixth inning. Jeff Raczka hit a sac fly, but then Marroguin was caught stealing to end the inning in a 6-3 game. Then Harmer loaded the bases in the bottom of the same inning, giving up a single to Bulas (…) before walking the bases full as quickly as possible. Raul Cornejo was once again absolutely useless, giving up two runs on an Aparicio single before the inning wound down with a pop and a groundout. From there, Raul Medrano got the game over with on the pitching side, while Harry Ramsay whacked his 20th homer of the season in the eighth inning, but that, too, was a solo shot and still left the Coons four short. They didn’t come particularly close to making those up… 8-4 Canadiens. Crispin 3-5, HR, RBI; Ramsay 2-4, HR, RBI; Medrano 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The Crusaders squeezed out the Indians, 2-0, on a 5-hit shutout by Edwin Sopena (16-6, 3.90 ERA) and thus the lead was down to three games.

Tuesday. Still no Lonzo. Still no plastic bag in sight.

Game 2
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C Gowin – RF Lopez – SS Knight – P Brobeck
VAN: LF Magnussen – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – CF D. Moreno – 1B Liberos – C L. Miranda – RF A. Walker – 3B Guillory – P Arrocha

The Elks went up 1-0 in the first when Brobeck walked Dan Mullen and Tony Aparicio, then gave up a bloop RBI single into shallow center to Damian Moreno. Manny Liberos hit into a double play to end the inning, while Brobeck came to bat in the second after Tony Lopez and Matt Knight had taken to the corners with a pair of 2-out singles, but struck out in a full count. He proceeded to walk Luis Miranda and Aaron Walker to begin the bottom 2nd, which gave him four walks and myself heart palpitations. Landon Guillory’s groundout advanced the runners, while Arrocha flew out to Pucks in center. Miranda went for home – and was thrown out! 8-2 double play to end the inning!

And for what? For the bags to be loaded with nobody out in the bottom 3rd. Hit batter, single, walk, three on, no out, Moreno batting. Gowin then lost the 1-1 pitch and chased it down to the dugout, allowing a run to score right away. Moreno hacked out, but Liberos drew the sixth and final walk off Brobeck, who was unceremoniously yanked and disposed off in the nearest polar bear den. The inning ended like the last two, on a double play, but not until after Luis Miranda had doubled home a pair against Antonio Alfaro to run the score to 4-0. The only consolation was that by then we knew that the Indians had won the game against the Crusaders, so the Coons would hold their 3-game lead no matter how badly they’d lose this one.

They lost it pretty badly. Alfaro scattered five hits and a run through 2.2 innings and a snow delay to complete five innings. At that point the Coons were still shut out. The delay led to Arrocha getting lifted in the sixth inning after walking Pucks and Crum, but Ben Arner got Gowin to pop out on a 3-1 pitch to end the inning. Aparicio drove home another run against Eric Reese in the bottom 6th, then mashed a 3-run homer (…) off Phil Baker in today’s episode of late-game, multiple-inning garbage relief. 9-0 Canadiens. Knight 2-4;

The only saving grace here was a strong start from Arrowhead Enrique Ortiz three time zones to the East, beating the Crusaders 3-1 to keep the lead at three games.

More good news / bad news? Lonzo was ruled out for the rest of the week with back soreness, but Dr. Padilla called and promised he could crank him back into shape for the CLCS, maybe even for the first game of the series.

What CLCS, I replied, then hung up and returned to crying into the nearest pillow.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C Gowin – RF Rivera – SS Knight – P Salcido
VAN: LF Magnussen – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – CF D. Moreno – 1B Liberos – RF A. Walker – C Julio Diaz – 3B Guillory – P A. Jesus

October 1 was Snowman Day in Frozen Tundra province, so we were having a day game, while the Crusaders played at night against Indy. So it was imperative to put down a good result to keep the pressure up! Salcido walked Adam Magnussen to begin his game, but that inning dissolved in a double play again. In the second inning, he walked two more, and conceded four runs on a Landon Guillory double, Anton Jesus’ single, Magnussen’s double to center, and then Aparicio almost hit another bomb, but Pucks scratched it against the fence in centerfield. Too high, not enough depth – true both for that ball and the brown-clad team as a whole.

With the Coons hitless and down 4-0 through two innings, I started to comply a kill list with Honeypaws. It surely contained Salcido, who allowed a single to Damian Moreno, who stole second, and scored on Julio Diaz’ single to make it 5-0 in the bottom 3rd. He was yanked after Magnussen and Mullen went to the corners on more and more and more hits in the bottom 4th. Not that we had any other brilliant idea than to send in Cornejo once again. He gave up a sac fly to Aparicio, 6-0, walked Moreno, nailed Liberos, and somehow was spared when Aaron Walker popped out to Crispin.

The Raccoons actually reached the ******* scoreboard in the fifth inning when Ken Crum hit a leadoff double to right – and yes, I only mean the H column here. Rivera singled, and they were stranded on the corners by Knight’s pop and Malkus’ K. The top 6th began with the 1-2-3 batters all reaching base on two singles and a walk, which made it three on and nobody out, which meant that all hopes were misplaced here. Ramsay struck out. Crum barely got ONE run home by legging out a grounder to short just in time to break up a double play. And Gowin calmly lifted an easy fly to Walker in right to end the inning. And that was more or less the game. The Elks didn’t do much against the Raccoons’ pen after Cornejo’s departure, and certainly scored no more runs, while the Coons’ offense in the last three innings was largely limited to a solo homer for Matt Waters, which technically kept him in touch with Aparicio. Apart from that? Misery, parte tres. 6-2 Canadiens. Waters 2-3, HR, RBI;

The good news was that at the seventh-inning stretch in New York, the Indians were leading the Crusaders 11-2 after murdering Jim White and several relievers.

Then the Crusaders scored six in the bottom 7th, one in the eighth, two in the ninth, and one in the 11th for a 12-11 walkoff win.

The lead is now two.

And then it got even more complicated. Thursday’s game was postponed thanks to heavy snowfall with whiteout conditions. The Crusaders won their game against the Indians, 5-4, reducing the gap to 1 1/2 games. But that also meant that the division was potentially not going to be decided in New York, but when the Raccoons had to go BACK to Elk City on the Monday after…!

Oh dear baseball gods, why!?

Raccoons (93-65) @ Crusaders (92-67) – October 3-5, 2053

Second in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, and a 9-6 edge against the Raccoons. What else was there to really want to know about the Crusaders? The only notable injury for them was Prince Gates, while the more interesting thing was the maths involved:

With the makeup game in Elk City on Monday, the Crusaders had to sweep the Raccoons to seal the division here and now. If the Crusaders won two of three, the Coons could still clinch the division by winning the Monday game against emotionally distant Elks. The Coons could still win the division outright by winning this series.

Projected matchups:
Victor Scott (11-8, 4.09 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (16-6, 3.90 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (15-11, 2.89 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (13-13, 3.68 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-7, 3.22 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (12-12, 4.39 ERA)

Why exactly the Crusaders started Sopena on short rest in the opener when both Seiter and Washington were well rested, was beyond me, but perhaps they had read that in some animal sacrifice. Washington was the only southpaw in their rotation.

Game 1
POR: 3B Malkus – SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Lopez – C Raczka – 2B Boese – P Scott
NYC: 2B Russ – 3B Haney – SS O. Sanchez – LF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Caballero – RF Bednarz – P Sopena

Scott offered 2-out walks in the first two innings, but Omar Sanchez was caught stealing by Raczka, and Mike Seidman was simply stranded by Oscar Caballero. The only person on either team to land a base hit the first time through was in fact Scott, hitting a single in the third inning that led absolutely nowhere. Ramsay singled and Crum walked with two outs in the fourth inning, but Tony Lopez remained a grave for millions and grounded out easily to Andrew Russ (hiss!). Also, from time to time, I would hear later, the cameras would cut to a very weird man sitting in the fourth row behind the visiting dugout, rocking back and forth and clutching a stuffed toy raccoon.

The fifth inning finally saw the scoreboard get active. Raczka and Naughty Joe got the corners with a walk and a single to begin the inning, and then Scott zinged a ball up the rightfield line for an RBI double! Malkus brought home Joe with a groundout, and then Waters popped his 28th homer to left, 4-0! At that point the Crusaders didn’t have a base hit, but that changed with Raul Sevilla’s leadoff single in the bottom 5th. Seidman whacked an RBI double off the fence, Caballero buried a drive in the gap for an RBI triple, and the Raccoons had to very suddenly scramble to get their pen up. A sac fly to left by Mike Bednarz scrubbed the lead down to 4-3, but at least emptied the bases of distractions, at least until Andrew Russ singled with two outs. Scott threw over to first base four times, never picked him off, then served up a gapper for an RBI double to Mark Haney. The very weird man in the fourth row behind the visiting dugout stopped rocking back and forth.

Scott was yoinked after walking Sanchez, despite left-hander Danny Rivera coming to the plate. Yes yes, the Raccoons were discombobulated enough to change lefty for lefty!! Lillis secured a groundout from the only batter he faced in the game. The Coons then went back up, 6-4, on a myriad of singles for Suzuki, Malkus, Waters, and Ramsay, the latter two each driving in a run. Alfaro pitched a clean sixth, then gave up a leadoff single to Bednarz. Vic Flores entered against pinch-hitter Aaron Kissler, but nailed him, putting the tying run on base. Hitchcock next – but Russ’ first-pitch groundout advanced those tying runs, although Haney’s grounder to third would pin them unless Malkus would throw the ball awa– … (ducks under a sharply zinged baseball that keeps caroming around the stands) …!! OH **** YOU, TRAVIS!!

That one tied the game at six, and the Raccoons dumped Hitchcock, arguably their second-best weapon, with left-handers back at the plate and the go-ahead run in scoring position. It was Sencion now, and he walked the bags full against Sanchez, and *Arturo Carreno*, who batted for *Danny Rivera*, the ******* CL Hitter of the Month for September. ELOY!! ARE YOU ******* ******* ME???

The switch-hitting Sevilla then spanked a ball into a double play to kill the inning, somehow. Somehow even Raul Cornejo held the tie in the eighth inning. The top 9th saw Sang-hoon Kim retire a pair before he nicked Tony Lopez and allowed a single to Raczka. The Coons sent Ed Crispin to pinch-hit for Naughty Joe, he hit a liner to right – but Russ leapt and snared it!! Nooooo!!!!

The Coons, in despair, then went to Daley in a tied game on the road, but Andrew Russ, who led off the bottom 9th, mustn’t reach base. Daley got him to ground out to Malkus, who was now at second base. He also gave up a double to Haney. And a single to Omar Sanchez. Haney around third, Haney for home, where’s the ball, I don’t see the ball, who has the ******* ball, oh nevermind, he’s scored and they’re in a huddle. 7-6 Crusaders. Malkus 2-5, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Ramsay 3-5, RBI; Raczka 2-5; Suzuki (PH) 1-1;

Coons hits: 14. Crusaders hits: 8.

(dead-eyed stare)

Game 2
POR: 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C Gowin – CF Suzuki – SS Knight – P Taki
NYC: 3B Russ – C Seidman – SS O. Sanchez – LF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – RF Bednarz – CF Caballero – 2B Haney – P Seiter

Seiter allowed four straight runners and two runs in the top 1st, giving up singles to Pucks, Crum, and Gowin, while plunking Ramsay in between. A leadoff walk to Matt Knight in the second was cashed in by Waters with a 2-out single, and that made for a quick 3-0 lead. Taki didn’t allow a hit the first time through, then gave up a leadoff single to Seidman in the fourth. Oh well, how bad could it become from there? A Sanchez triple and Rivera’s run-scoring groundout gave an answer of “two now, maybe more later”, and indeed Bednarz hit a 2-out double to left in the inning, advanced on a wild pitch, but was stranded when Suzuki caught up with a Caballero drive to center. Crispin hit a leadoff double to left-center the next inning, but the 2-3-4 batters croaked hard and left him on base. Taki struck out two against the bottom of the order in the bottom 5th, but then walked Seidman and Sevilla in the sixth. Bednarz grounded out to Matt Knight to keep the Coons afloat.

Then Caballero opened the bottom 7th with the exact same drive that Crispin had opened the fifth with, a double into the left-center gap. That was the tying run on second base then. After two manageable fly outs, the Crusaders batted the left-handed Kissler again, this time for Russ, which was a weird choice. The Coons twitched and sent Sencion, who secured a K in a full count to stave off the Crusaders for another inning. Crum came close to a solo homer in the eighth, but was denied at the fence by Rivera, who was then up third in the bottom 8th, still with Sencion pitching. He disappeared the 2-3-4 in order.

Top 9th, Gowin drew a leadoff walk from Ryan Sullivan, only for Suzuki to spank into a double play to Sanchez. Matt Knight grounded out to third-sacker Jesus Nunez, and then Daley got the ball again. Arturo Carreno grounded out. Bednarz struck out. Caballero fell to 1-2 then hit a fly to left. Crum over – game over! 3-2 Coons! Gowin 2-3, BB, RBI;

Alright. The Crusaders now *had* to win their last game, against Wheats who had been shredded by the Elks on Monday, and then had to hope for the Elks to win the makeup game on Monday (against Brobeck, who was… Brobeck) and *then* would have to win a tie-breaker against Salcido. In other words, the Coons had to lose three in a row now. With the same pitchers that lost three in a row in Elk City.

Dun-dun-duuuuuuh.

Where do those chimes of doom always come from?

Game 3
POR: 3B Malkus – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – CF Marroguin – SS Knight – P Wheatley
NYC: 3B Russ – CF Caballero – SS O. Sanchez – LF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Skelly – RF Fellows – 2B Haney – P Washington

The start wasn’t great. Caballero doubled, stole third base, and came home on Sanchez’ groundout for a quick 1-0 New York lead, while Rivera also hit a double, but was left on when Sevilla made the third out at short. The Coons started slowly, but made up the deficit in the third inning. Matt Knight singled, was bunted over competently, and scored on Malkus’ single to left. Waters hit into a fielder’s choice, while Pucks hit a mighty drive to right-center, and naughty Brandon Fellows tracked it down on the run to end the inning. (angrily shakes Honeypaws at Fellows)

Bottom 3rd. Caballero singled, stole second, and Sanchez eeked out a walk. That put two on for Danny Rivera, who had yet to inflict much pain on the Raccoons, but launched a triple into the gap for two runs, three once Sevilla plated him with a single. That was it through five, with the Raccoons scattering a few hits, but Fellows also robbed Malkus on a drive in the gap and the 4-1 score stood through five innings. Gowin hit a double to left in the sixth that went uncommented by the rest of the lineup, while Wheats nicked Sevilla in the bottom 6th and gave up a single to David Skelly. A run would come home on Haney’s groundout, extending the Crusaders’ lead to slam range.

The Coons seemed to not have many ideas about solving Washington until Tony Lopez pinch-hit for the smothered Wheatley in the seventh inning and socked a solo homer, 5-2. A walk to Malkus, a wild pitch, and then Waters’ grounder to short was peppered away by Sanchez (ducks under another wayward ball) to bring in the runner. But Pucks flew out and Crum whiffed, and the tying run never made it from the dish to the board in the inning.

Alfaro and Flores then pieced a scoreless seventh together, barely scoring Russ and his leadoff infield single (hiss!!) at third base in the process. Neil Hamann was in for the New Yorkers in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single, but to Gowin, who was no threat to run, and then Ramsay hit into a fielder’s choice, while being no more of a threat to run. Marroguin popped out. When righty Felix Alvarez replaced the left-handed Hamann, Crispin batted for Matt Knight, but flew out to Caballero. Hitchcock got the bottom 8th, starting with Sevilla, whom he drilled. Fellows singled with one out, Haney walked, and with the bases loaded, he nicked Aaron Kissler. Brilliant. At that point the Raccoons had no other dumb ideas besides bringing in Cornejo again. Russ hit a 2-0 pitch at Waters, who went home for a force out at the plate, and Caballero grounded out to fir– oops, no, Ramsay slobbered the ball into foul ground when it spilled out of his mitten and all runners were safe. Exit Cornejo, enter Lillis, and Sanchez ticked a ball to center for two more runs. Rivera flew out. The Coons didn’t come particularly close to making up six runs against Sang-Hoon Kim in the ninth inning, even though Ken Crum doubled home two (unearned) runs with two outs. Gowin then made the last out of the game. 9-5 Crusaders. Gowin 3-5, 2B; Knight 1-2, BB; Lopez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1;

Now the question was – was it worth flying back to Portland now? In other words, did I have confidence for the Coons to *win* their way into the playoffs in Elk City? Or should I stay here for the tie-breaker game on Tuesday?

Raccoons (94-67) @ Canadiens (88-73) – October 6, 2053

The Elks had won six in a row. The Coons – not so much. The Coons needed a W to tie the season series and to avoid a tie-breaker in New York. Two right-handers were up for this crucial game, with Juan Arrocha (8-12, 4.67 ERA) going for Elk City, and Kyle Brobeck (10-5, 4.47 ERA) being all the Coons had to spare.

The sole good news were that the Raccoons were actually able to pry Lonzo off the stretcher and stick him into the lineup for this game after having gone lonzoless for all of last week.

POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – C Gowin – CF Suzuki – P Brobeck
VAN: LF Magnussen – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – CF D. Moreno – 1B Liberos – C L. Miranda – RF K. Hawkins – 3B A. Soto – P Arrocha

Tony Aparicio drew a walk in the first, the only batter to reach base in the opening frame – him and Waters were tied on homers with 28 each. Pucks with 26 still had a theoretical chance to join them. The first homer of the game was a 2-run bomb to right by Kyle Hawkins in the bottom 2nd, however, after Manny Liberos had already opened the inning with a double. The much maligned Brobeck did what he did best and singled in the third inning. Waters did the same with two outs, but Pucks found Aparicio with a grounder and the inning ended without the tying runs going anywhere nice. Magnussen and Moreno reached base in the bottom half of that inning, but were stranded when Suzuki ran down a Liberos liner in left-center…

Bottom 4th, the first three Elks reached base. Miranda singled, Hawkins and Alex Soto walked, and after Arrocha picked up a K, the Coons dumped Brobeck. Vic Flores came in to face Magnussen, but his first pitch was brutalized some 390 feet to left and the Elks lead was up to 6-0. Watching from a hotel room in New York with the blinds drawn, I calmly put Honeypaws on my face so I didn’t have to see their shame anymore, while also knowing that I had done everything right in staying put.

Maybe not at the deadline, but that was an entirely different can of worms to open.

The Raccoons proceeded to feed Raul Medrano to the flames for three scoreless innings, which gave me the cocky idea that he should start the tie-breaker tomorrow. While that was going on, Crispin hit a double and was driven in with a single by Gowin. And that was about it for the offense. Eric Reese loaded the bases in the bottom 8th, was left to his own devices, and actually got out of it, so he was also automatically a valid candidate to start the tie-breaker game tomorrow. Dan Lawrence axed Pucks, Ramsay, and Crum in order in the ninth to completely humiliate the Critters. 6-1 Canadiens. Crispin 2-3, 2B; Medrano 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

In other news

September 30 – WAS INF Jose Rivas (.239, 0 HR, 42 RBI) lands his 2,500th base hit in a 3-1 loss to the Buffaloes. The milestone for the 34-year-old is an eighth-inning single off TOP SP Hiroyuki Takagi (12-10, 4.33 ERA). Despite piling up so many hits, Rivas has always been regarded as a glove-first shortstop, winning three Gold Gloves despite hitting .319 for his career, while eschewing both walks and home runs for a .319/.346/.393 slash line. He has hit only five homers in 2,024 games, driving in 805 runs. He has stolen 402 bases.
October 1 – The Capitals lock up the FL East with an 11-8 win over the Buffaloes.
October 3 – Warriors LF Mario Villa (.360, 19 HR, 110 RBI) continues to be awesome by hitting for the cycle in an 11-0 rout of the Gold Sox, going 4-for-5 with two RBI. This is the first cycle in October since 2008, when Salem’s Pat Buckholtz cycled against the Scorpions on October 2.
October 4 – SFW SP Ricardo Montoya (12-6, 2.70 ERA) and three relievers pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Gold Sox for a 2-0 win. DEN 2B/SS Shane Larsen (.251, 4 HR, 22 RBI) lights up the H column with a single.
October 4 – Regardless, the Wolves’ 2-1 loss to the Pacifics seals the FL West for the Gold Sox.

FL Hitter of the Month: SFW LF Mario Villa (.358, 18 HR, 108 RBI), rapping .418 with 2 HR, 17 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: NYC RF/LF Danny Rivera (.296, 17 HR, 110 RBI), batting .354 with 6 HR, 25 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP/MR Nelson Moreno (11-8, 3.88 ERA), hurling for a 4-0 record in six starts, with a 2.25 ERA, 36 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: CHA SP Art Schaeffer (19-7, 2.75 ERA), tossing for a 4-1 mark in six games, with a 1.76 ERA, 32 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B/RF/LF Angel Angulo (.271, 4 HR, 15 RBI), batting .316 with 3 HR, 13 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.250, 19 HR, 85 RBI), whacking .292 with 4 HR, 15 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A meltdown for the ages, that much is certain. I feel a bit like General Lee at Appomattox, with Union campfires in every cardinal direction and nowhere to go.

I mean, I literally don’t have to. The Critters will rejoin me for the tie-breaker game on Tuesday.

It will be splendid.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons led the Crusaders by 10 1/2 on June 26, 2007, and lost the division anyway.

This year, we led by 7 1/2 on August 27.

And… (looks at Salcido slumbering face down in a bowl of soup) … we’re gonna lose the division anyway.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (94-68) @ Crusaders (94-68) – October 7, 2053

The Raccoons arrived with Victor Salcido (11-9, 4.14 ERA), who had won only one of his last eight starts. The Crusaders picked Edwin Sopena (16-6, 4.03 ERA) to go on short rest again, which hadn’t been a great detriment for him the last time out, and had netted them a W anyway.

No more excuses. Win or go home.

And be drowned in the Willamette.

POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – 3B Crispin – C Gowin – CF Marroguin – P Salcido
NYC: 3B Russ – C Seidman – SS O. Sanchez – LF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – RF Bednarz – CF Caballero – 2B Haney – P Sopena

Lonzo singled to open the game and was caught stealing after Waters popped out, so that was a nice start. Salcido struck out the first two, then gave up a single to right to Sanchez. Rivera walked. Raul Sevilla singled home a run, and then Mike Bednarz lifted a 3-2 pop to short that Lonzo meandered under, lost it in the lights, and it dropped to fill the bases, at which point I gave a roll of dollar notes to a vendor to leave his foodstuffs with me and Honeypaws in the same fine seat behind the visiting team’s dugout, and get me as much of the thin piss they called beer here as he could.

Stunningly, Caballero popped out to Waters to strand all the runners. Even more amazing was the top 2nd, with Ken Crum’s single leading to a tied game once Crispin stuck a triple into the corner in right, then a 2-1 lead on Gowin’s groundout up the middle.

The joy was short-lived, thanks to Raul Sevilla’s long 2-out double and Bednarz’ RBI single in the bottom of the third, which neatly tied up the game at two. Caballero grounded out to strand Bednarz, while Crum singled in the fourth and was also largely ignored. Crum began the bottom of the inning with a sliding catch to rob Haney of extra bases, but Salcido waved Russ on base with a 2-out single. The miserable *********** stole second base, but with two outs fell victim to Mike Seidman’s groundout to Crispin.

Top 5th, leadoff walk to Marroguin, and he stole second base! Never mind that Sopena struck out two of the next three, and got a pop from Lonzo to strand the go-ahead run on second base. Salcido then fell apart. Sanchez opened the bottom 5th with a double, and while Bednarz’ homer to left didn’t exactly end the inning, it sure ended Salcido’s turn on the hill. Invariably, the Coons wound up with Cornejo pitching, who with the game potentially in the bin anyway logged four outs from four batters. In between, the Coons made up a run when Ramsay, Crum, and Gowin all reached, the catcher singling home the first-sacker, but Marroguin popped out to strand the tying and go-ahead runs.

Malkus batted for Cornejo to begin the seventh and whiffed, after which Lonzo hit another single off Sopena. He would be caught stealing again, then with two outs and Pucks batting. Harmer and Lillis turned the Crusaders away in the home half of the inning, but the Coons still had to make up a run.

Pucks’ and Crum’s singles put them on the corners with one out in the eighth inning, with the Crusaders still holding on to Sopena, way beyond reason. But he also struck out Crispin, his 10th K on the day, so what the **** did I know? That was his last batter though, with Hamann replacing him against Gowin, which was another peculiar choice. But Gowin poked a 2-0 pitch at Sevilla for the third out, so what the **** did I know…

Lillis hung around for switch-hitter Raul Sevilla to begin the bottom 8th, bouncing him out to Crispin. Hitchcock took over then, entering in a double switch with Dave Blackshire and going into Crispin’s spot to potentially have him do five outs. Groundouts he picked up from Bednarz and Caballero, both to second, were a nice enough start.

But the Raccoons now faced Ryan Sullivan with a 1-run deficit, and with the bottom of the order leading off. Suzuki batted for Marroguin and flew out to left, but Dave Blackshire walked and put the tying run on base. Lonzo’s fly to left also ended up with Alejandro Mendoza, which brought back Waters, who had already secured a tie for the homer crown, the second of his career (crown, not tie), although I wouldn’t mind him dumping Tony Aparicio right here and now. He didn’t get it up though. He hit it hard – and right at Sanchez. Sanchez snatched the liner. The Coons’ season was over. 4-3 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5; Crum 4-4;

[Westheim]

Okay, I think the tears are dry now.

+++

2053 ABL PLAYOFFS

After 162 games and change, the ABL had been whittled down to four teams to compete for the World Championship again.

Overall home field advantage was clinched by the 100-62 Thunder of the CL South, who led the league in runs scored and runs allowed with a +223 run differential and ran away from the field by 13 games. David Barel (21-8, 2.14 ERA) and Zach Boyer (24-4, 2.85 ERA) dominated on the mound, and Ed Soberanes (.305, 23 HR, 93 RBI) and Dave Worthington (.265, 24 HR, 120 RBI) destroyed opposition pitching all year long, with a huge supporting cast to play along. Five different players drove in 85+ runs for that team, the rotation was the best in the league, and the bullpen was rock solid, even though they perhaps lacked that absolute lights-out closer, going with Gustavo Chapa (6-3, 3.02 ERA, 35 SV).

Perhaps their greatest relief was that the 95-68 Crusaders had knocked off the Raccoons in a tie-breaker game for the CL North. While New York had finished second in runs scored in the CL, they had given up the sixth-most runs and had only a +93 run differential, with the rotation notoriously wobbly and finishing with a combined ERA over four. Their best starter by ERA was Jeff Johnson (14-8, 3.35 ERA). And while the offense was very productive, it was low on power, with only three guys managing double-digit homers: Raul Sevilla (.267, 21 HR, 104 RBI), Danny Rivera (.297, 19 HR, 119 RBI), and Prince Gates (.308, 14 HR, 97 RBI), although the latter was still laboring on a groin strain and was uncertain for the start of the CLCS. The lineup also contained CL batting champ Omar Sanchez (.343, 1 HR, 58 RBI), but thinned out at the bottom. The back end of the pen with Ryan Sullivan (6-5, 2.37 ERA, 42 SV) appeared a bit more resilient than the Thunder’s though.

The Capitals took the FL East with a 92-70 record, finishing 3rd in runs scored and 5th in runs allowed, with just a +39 run differential. They were not excelling in any one category; the only major rankings where they even squeezed into the top 3 in the Federal League were runs scored (somehow) and defense. They offered two .300 hitters in Mitch Korfhage (.319, 11 HR, 85 RBI) and Dan Martin (.307, 21 HR, 85 RBI), but their best batter Neville van de Wouw (.289, 27 HR, 79 RBI) was still hampered by a sore shoulder and might not be able to play in the FLCS. On the hill, Bruce Mark jr. (18-7, 2.41 ERA) was as solid as anybody, but after that problems would quickly arise, while in the pen they had a solid back end, but middle relief was a problem, with several guys sporting ERA’s (well) over four in there.

And opposing the Capitals were the 88-74 Gold Sox, who were the four-times defending champions, but clearly on the way out of contention. Except for the Stars, every team finished within nine games of them, and they beat the Wolves by only one game. They clearly had issued, finishing *10th* in runs scored, bailed out by stoically solid pitching that allowed the second-fewest runs in the league, but overall also only amounted to a +30 run differential. In the lineup, Ivan Villa (.281, 29 HR, 102 RBI) was without doubt, and Sandy Castillo (.323, 12 HR, 66 RBI) was a force whenever they could put him on the field without his legs buckling out under him. Notably though, no qualifying batter hit .300 for them, and except for Villa nobody hit more than 13 homers (Blake Mickle, Bill Ramires both hit 13). And despite no injuries to position players to complain about, the bottom of the order looked decidedly makeshift, although shortstop Brent Andrews (.198, 3 HR, 26 RBI) and outfielder Omar Gonzalez (.266, 2 HR, 43 RBI) were the only regulars that had not taken part in at least three of the Gold Sox’ four straight championships. The low runs conceded total was also due to an exceptionally stingy bullpen headed by stalwart Mike Lynn (2-5, 1.64 ERA, 35 SV), while the rotation was decidedly “mid”, with Nick Robinson (14-12, 3.46 ERA) heading the crowd, while Gary Perrone, he of SIX Pitcher of the Year awards, had torn his flexor tendon on Opening Day and had not been seen since, and Tony Negrete was also out.

+++

In terms of playoff appearances, the Thunder tied up with the league-leading Raccoons with 21 October tickets, while the Crusaders and Gold Sox both played their 12th postseason, and the Capitals made their 13th playoffs. There was no shortage of actual silverware assembled here; the four teams combined for 19 previous championships, headed by the Crusaders (7) and followed by the Gold Sox (6), Capitals (4), and Thunder (2).

The Sox were of course in their fifth straight playoffs (and had won four straight titles), and their eighth postseason since 2044, but the Crusaders on the other hand ended a staggering 36-year playoff drought with their tie-breaker win. They previously had won their division eight times between 2007 and 2016, taking two three-peats (2007-09, 2013-15) in that period. The Thunder had most recently played in the postseason in ’51 and had seven participations in the last 11 years, but had not won a championship since 2000. The Caps ended a 17-year drought and a run of 12 straight second-division finishes, with their last playoff appearance in 2035 also marking their most recent championship.

The Crusaders and Thunder had fought for the CL pennant twice before, in 2011 and 2013, with the Thunder ending up with the short end of the stick both times. The Gold Sox and Capitals had never met in the FLCS.

The only prior World Series matchups between those four teams was in 2050, when the Gold Sox defended their title by beating the Thunder in five games.

Consensus was that this was the Thunder’s year, and perhaps they wouldn’t make it close either. Opinion about the FLCS leaned towards the Gold Sox finding some more of that veteran savvy to pip the Capitals, but that they’d definitely come up short against Oklahoma.

+++

2053 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

DEN @ WAS … 2-5 … (Capitals lead 1-0) … WAS Chris Lowe 2-5, 2 RBI;

DEN @ WAS … 3-6 … (Capitals lead 2-0) … WAS Jason Monson 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; WAS Dan Martin 2-3, 2 BB, 2B;
NYC @ OCT … 5-7 … (Thunder lead 1-0) … OCT Luke Burnham 3-5, 3 RBI;

David Barel (1-0, 3.38 ERA) struggles, allows eight hits and six walks, and somehow the Crusaders can’t knock him off that mound for eight innings. Three double plays hit into don’t help the New Yorkers’ cause.

NYC @ OCT … 1-8 … (Thunder lead 2-0) … OCT Jonathan Ban 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; OCT David Worthington 4-5, HR, 3 RBI; OCT Mike Harmon 2-5, 2 RBI; OCT Alfredo Llamas 9.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

WAS @ DEN … 2-5 … (Capitals lead 2-1) … DEN Sandy Castillo 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

Castillo almost single-handedly wills the Gold Sox to a Game 3 win after starter John Kennedy leaves with a neck injury in the third inning, while long man Jesus Cardenas puts 3.2 innings of 2-run ball together.

WAS @ DEN … 7-3 … (Capitals lead 3-1) … WAS Chris Lowe 4-5, 2B, RBI; WAS Dan Martin 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;
OCT @ NYC … 17-7 … (Thunder lead 3-0) … OCT Ryan Cox 3-6, BB, 3 RBI; OCT Jonathan Ban 4-5, 2 BB, RBI; OCT David Worthington 3-4, 2 BB, HR, 5 RBI; OCT Mike Harmon 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Luke Burnham 3-4, 2 BB, 2 RBI; OCT Mike Allen 3-6, 2B, RBI;

Despite the blowout to zoom out to a 3-0 lead, the Thunder nevertheless have a gear broken out of the clockwork with an injury to SP Zach Boyer (0-0, 6.23 ERA), who is lost for the rest of the campaign with a sore shoulder.

WAS @ DEN … 6-8 … (Capitals lead 3-2) … WAS Mitch Korfhage 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; DEN Ronnie Thompson 2-3, 2 BB; DEN Ivan Villa 2-4, HR, 4 RBI;
OCT @ NYC … 8-6 … (Thunder win 4-0) … OCT Ed Soberanes 2-5, HR, 5 RBI; NYC Omar Sanchez 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; NYC Aaron Kissler (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

DEN @ WAS … 1-4 … (Capitals win 4-2) … WAS Dan Martin 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; WAS Charlie Hudson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-2;

The four-peat Gold Sox manage only four hits against Charlie Hudson (1-0, 1.13 ERA), who went 5-12 with an ERA over five in the regular season.

+++

2053 WORLD SERIES

(looks at the two rosters) Yeah. Thunder all the way. Despite the injury to Zach Boyer. Thunder all the way.

+++

WAS @ OCT … 1-3 … (Thunder lead 1-0) … WAS Bruce Mark jr. 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, L (2-1); OCT Luke Burnham 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; OCT David Barel 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (3-0);

Five walks don’t help Bruce Mark jr.’s cause, but three errors behind him surely didn’t make it any easier on him. The Thunder meanwhile win the battle, but lose Mike Harmon (.368, 0 HR, 6 RBI) to a torn hamstring.

WAS @ OCT … 7-8 (12) … (Thunder lead 2-0) … WAS Chris Lowe 2-4, 2 BB, 3B; WAS Scott King 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; OCT Ryan Cox 5 BB; OCT Fernando Bonilla 2-2, RBI; OCT Mike Allen 3-5, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Ryan Cox sets a league record with five walks in a playoff game before being replaced with Bonilla, who keeps the leadoff spot going 7-for-7 in reaching base *and* walks off the Thunder with a single off Jake White (0-2, 4.91 ERA) in the 12th inning.

OCT @ WAS … 7-6 (Thunder lead 3-0) … OCT Mike Crenshaw 3-5, 2B; OCT Jonathan Ban 2-4, 2 RBI; WAS Jimmy Reed 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI;

OCT @ WAS … 7-5 (12) … (Thunder win 4-0) … OCT Ed Soberanes 4-5, BB, 2B, RBI; OCT Mike Allen 3-5, BB, RBI; OCT Danny Guzman 2-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI; WAS Mitch Korfhage 3-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; WAS Willie Hernandez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

The champagne is ready to be popped when Willie Hernandez hits a game-tying, sweep-stalling homer off Gustavo Chapa (0-0, 5.14 ERA, 3 SV) to send the game to extra innings, tied at three. Two scoreless innings later, the Thunder obliterate principally Dave Serio (0-1, 9.00 ERA) in the 12th inning, driving four runs across. The Caps can claw back only two in the bottom 12th against Brian Grohoski and Ben Lehman.

+++

2053 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Oklahoma City Thunder
(3rd title)

[Westheim]

Three days after the end of the World Series, I was still rolled up in my corner on the trusty brown couch. The pillows were all wet still. Some had stains, usually from spilled booze. Some might be drool. I was also in my underwear. It was bad. It was so bad, even Slappy had moved to one seat further away.

12 losses in their last 15 games. Including the tie-breaker game.

Three percent my furry bum cheeks!!

No, Maud, I don’t feel like eating. Please remove your home-baked muffins from underneath my pokey black nose. – When did I last eat, Maud? When was the last time we were in first place? – Two days before that.

(sigh)

The wicked Raccoons would get through the offseason well enough without me. The last three winters I had had a game plan, and the season every time went completely off the rails and into the opposite direction:

2051: not gonna go anywhere – won the pennant
2052: contenders! – crashed into last place
2053: probably needs another year – well turns out that was not so far from the truth as I thought…

Besides the CL North tie-breaker game, the Raccoons lost head scout Pat Degenhardt, who was over 70 and went into retirement, and several minor league coaches. I wasn’t into doing much of a competition for replacements. I put Cristiano Carmona to work, he picked people, and I just put my paw print on the papers to sign off. Why can’t you lot just leave me alone?

Also not going to leave me alone any time soon was Nick Valdes, who had apparently traveled to Oklahoma City for the CLCS opener, only to find the Crusaders playing there. I wasn’t returning his calls.

Nevertheless, the explodable Raccoons got a new budget for the 2054 season, and it was going to be $53M, which was $2M more than last season. That didn’t improve our situation in comparison to the other teams. We had been 11th with the old budget of $51M, but now slid to a tie for 12th with the last-place Titans.

Top 5: Thunder ($74M), Gold Sox ($68M), Canadiens ($64M), Miners ($62M), Crusaders ($60M)
Bottom 5: Bayhawks ($41.5M), Warriors ($39.5M), Wolves ($39M), Aces ($33.5M), Loggers ($32M)

The division-winning Crusaders went up three spots and $6M there. The only other CL North team, the Indians, were on the short end of the list, sitting 19th with $42M.

The average budget for a team in the league rose to $51.08M, up $1M from last season, but the median team budget was $53M, jumping a whopping $4.75M compared with last season.

We’d go into salary arbitration and free agency soon (though the data would be below), even though, if I had my way, they could all go where the sun don’t shine. Speaking of which, Maud, would you kindly draw the blinds? I would like to lie and weep in utter darkness.

[Archelirion]

That tie breaker was just... appalling. To have it so close. I guess it's why we love the game and the sport though - for the stories. I'm sure a Crusader fan would've talked about it for years ("hey, remember that tiebreak game back in '53? My heart was in my mouth, the relief I felt when that line drive was caught... Hm? Yeah that WAS the year we got routed by OKC but we're not gonna talk about that").

Playoffs next year!!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

That tie breaker was just... appalling. To have it so close. I guess it's why we love the game and the sport though - for the stories. I'm sure a Crusader fan would've talked about it for years ("hey, remember that tiebreak game back in '53? My heart was in my mouth, the relief I felt when that line drive was caught... Hm? Yeah that WAS the year we got routed by OKC but we're not gonna talk about that").

Playoffs next year!!

Yeah, maybe next year!

Side note: I caught a severe case of the man flu and might only have hours left. I find it hard to concentrate, so any gross nonsense below is PERHAPS owed to that.

+++

Some things happened by themselves, for example the final year of Wheats’ contract had been a vesting option, but triggered since he had pitched at least 140 innings despite early injury woes. So that was another $3.5M for him.

Let’s then talk about the upcoming free agents, several of whom were mid-season additions that totally moved the team forward. Victor Scott had a 3.52 ERA for the Falcons, and just mildly changed that up to pitch to a 5.32 ERA with the Coons. Raul Cornejo had a 3.61 ERA, but somehow I remembered nothing but fireworks from him. Jordan Marroguin shaved 40 points off his batting average, and almost 140 points off his slugging percentage after being acquired from the Condors. They could all go where the pepper grew…

Vic Flores was generally solid as a mostly situational lefty in the pen, and Kevin Hitchcock was a steady right-handed reliever, even though the ERA was occasionally wonky. Travis Malkus had started well in the first half, but the second half was an endless slump for him and he ended up batting only .245/.344/.343, sending the Raccoons back to the drawing board for a leadoff batter.

The only one in this group of six that might get resigned was Hitchcock, but Scott would get an arbitration offer considering he was eligible for a compensation draft pick.

There were also six arbitration cases, including two more left-handers in Brett Lillis jr. and Eloy Sencion. The former had missed almost the entire season with injury and was wonky when he was around, and the latter had plunged to the depths of Ham Lake last year when he couldn’t buy a strike (he posted an 8.04 ERA for the Coons that year in between 2.73 and 3.13 marks in ’51 and ’53 respectively), but then was rolled back onto the roster largely due to the Lillis injury and managed to draw little to no ire while making 52 appearances the rest of the way. Truth be told, those two were probably going to be the left-handers in the pen anyway going forward, with Eric Reese a close third, so why make much fuss about arbitration. Only on one-year deals, though. We’re not a charity.

The other four were batters. Chris Gowin did good, even hitting better than as a Falcon; Ed Crispin hit above the league in average in OPS, but needed a new righty partner for a third base platoon; Mikio Suzuki I don’t know why we keep dragging along on the roster, but he’s a nice defensive outfielder anyway; and Pucks of course broke out quite formidably, bashing .312/.374/.508 with 26 homers, 27 stolen bases, and was an All Star for the first time at age 25, though this was his fourth season in the majors. All of these would be retained, even though Suzuki was 30, wouldn’t get any better, and I just said we’re not a charity.

Also, what the heck do I know, maybe Taki needs a friend to talk Japan things with. Can’t afford to make Taki sad.

In miscellaneous administrative proceedings, the Raccoons waived and designated Oscar Rivera for assignment – we needed a roster spot on the 40-man for Raffy de la Cruz, and a badly fielding right-handed outfielder that had just batted 4-for-40 against mostly lefty opposition seemed like a cut choice to axe. Rivera was batting .225/.319/.369 across three seasons and nearly 300 PA. He was 28. He was done here.

Binning Rivera leaves Eloy Sencion and outfield prospect Trent Brassfield as returns for a series of failed trades with the Federal League the last few years. Rivera and Sencion, next to Willie Cruz, came from Denver in a trade mostly for Dave Hils. Cruz sucked as closer and was flung to the Stars with Bubba Wolinsky (soon to be dismantled by injury) and Juan Mercado for the half-season crushing disappointment that was Juan del Toro, who was then dumped onto the Cyclones for Brassfield in ’52. Brassfield batted .270/.364/.375 for the Ham Lake Panthers as a 20-year-old this year and will move up to AAA in 2054, but we don’t know yet whether that will be at the start of the season. In the end, he’s another right-handed outfielder that is a rather indifferent defender, but at least it looks like he’ll be able to whack the baseball.

Since we brought up Raffy already, he’ll miss the start of the season and with a full rehab run in AAA after recovery from Tommy John surgery will probably only rejoin the team in late May or early June. So a starting pitcher is definitely on the offseason shopping list, because we have seen how far we can get with just Taki, Wheats, and the mercy of the baseball gods. That very much includes Salcido, who pitched to ERA’s of 2.73 and 2.76 in April and May this year, then posted marks over four in each month thereafter, including going 0-2 with a 11.25 ERA in October. Make no mistake – he was in the doghouse now.

Brobeck was doing Brobeck things… if he didn’t walk so many batters (4.9/9 this year, and even more in AAA) he might be a good option to sign to a longer deal, especially since he was Jonny Toner Reborn at the plate. He hit .367/.404/.429 this year, with 8 RBI. Yes, small sample size. For his career? .357/.378/.500 with 3 HR, 16 RBI, in 112 at-bats.

He was also a switch-hitter, although better against righty pitchers. Pat Degenhardt had opined that he could probably hold down a corner on the infield. Should Brobeck make the roster, we might engage in some third base shenanigans with him after all, f.e. on the two days that were not before or after his start on the mound.

At least the pitching problems were on paper solvable. Some other things were not solvable. For example, Tony Lopez would be a $4M millstone around our neck this year, occupying a roster spot to hit for a .600 OPS – and even getting it that far up had required some decent rally in the last few months: .877 in August and .798 in September. At that point, of course, he was only a bit player anymore, thanks to four months of .553 or worse to begin the season.

The backup infield spots were very much up in the air at this point. Dave Blackshire had had his moments. Matt Knight had mostly subbed well when Lonzo was on the DL. Naughty Joe had been dismal. Add Suzuki and Lopez to that mix, plus whoever emerges as backup catcher from that particular morass, and we have a bench assembled that you’d rather not go to. Definitely work to do here!

[Archelirion]

Originally Posted by Westheim

[i]Side note: I caught a severe case of the man flu and might only have hours left.

Man flu? Heck, my condolences.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

Man flu? Heck, my condolences.

I was mostly in bed on Monday, half-conscious, but I think I'll pull through after all.

As the saying goes over here: "Weeds don't perish that easily"

+++

The Raccoons found a new head scout as one of the first new measures in the offseason, after Cristiano Carmona pointed out a local Gobble “media personality” that would be a nice addition, 58-year-old Eric Hartwig, who had this and that many followers. According to his online profile he liked eviscerating players and finding out every single negative about them, up to and including bad taste in underwear, and disliked nonsense. (pats Cristiano so hard on the back he rolls three feet forward) That’s my guy!

Then we also signed out arbitration cases to extensions. The first were Ed Crispin ($460k) and Chris Gowin ($1.1M), then Mikio Suzuki, who signed for $666k. He already made more than he merited, so I was trying to low-ball him of course, but he wouldn’t sign for $620k, or 640, or 650, or 660… or even 665. But he signed for 666.

We’ll have to watch that one.

The left-handed pair of Brett Lillis jr. and Eloy Sencion resigned for $470k and $450k, respectively, while the Raccoons managed to buy out Alan Puckeridge’ team control years and two years of free agency for a flat 5-yr, $10M contract. We keep making bargains on that kid! Besides arbitration cases, Kevin Hitchcock signed a 3-yr, $4.5M extension. It was flat, except that the third year was a player option.

Another thing from last year continued, as the Miners – who some years back had signed everything with a pulse to huge deals over the winter – continued to try and unload the contract of 3B Anton Venegas. They usually asked for something with a pulse, which was a bit of a problem, because while Venegas, age 32, was by no means washed up (he batted .303/.362/.386 with 3 HR, 44 RBI in a partial effort, making only 73 lineups all year as the tablecloth between him and management was thoroughly torn), he had a difficult me-first attitude, and came with a contract that had the weight of several cannonballs. He had signed for 7-yr, $34.96M, of which there were 4-yr, $22.8M left to pay. The last year, which would be for his age 36 season, was a player option on top of that.

The boons of a deal? He was a right-handed third baseman, so we could keep Ed Crispin around in a partial platoon (meaning Venegas would even play most of the games against right-handers, but you could sprinkle in Crispin once or twice a week to keep things fresh). Third base was an obvious target for the Coons. The Coons also needed a leadoff batter, and Venegas had a career .364 OBP, which wasn’t *great*, but with the Knights, when he had played every day, he had also stolen up to 43 bases a year, so he was certainly not going to clog up the bases in front of Lonzo.

The other boon? The first year was gonna be basically free, because the Miners would kindly absorb the contract of Tony Lopez. So it wasn’t the worst of proposals, but I was still sore from the R.J. DeWeese disaster of old when it came to huuuge contracts to a certain type of player.

+++

October 27 – The Pacifics acquire SP Larry Broad (39-54, 4.39 ERA) from the Indians in a deal for two prospects. Broad is traded for the third time in under 18 months and has now played for teams in all four divisions in that time span. Included in the return to Indy is #79 prospect SP Juan Vasquez.
November 1 – The Miners acquire CL Ross Mitchell (71-55, 3.11 ERA, 167 SV) from the Cyclones, who receive five prospects, none of them ranked.
November 2 – The Indians send OF Josh Hare (.239, 8 HR, 87 RBI) to the Blue Sox for LF/RF Jose Garza (.269, 6 HR, 115 RBI).

+++

2053 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.318, 22 HR, 124 RBI) and VAN 2B Tony Aparicio (.317, 28 HR, 123 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (18-7, 2.41 ERA, 1 SV) and OCT SP David Barel (21-8, 2.14 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: SFW SP Ricardo Montoya (12-6, 2.70 ERA) and SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.257, 19 HR, 87 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: DEN CL Mike Lynn (2-5, 1.64 ERA, 35 SV) and NYC CL Ryan Sullivan (6-5, 2.37 ERA, 42 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P WAS Charlie Hudson – C TOP Matt McLaren – 1B SAC Steve Wyatt – 2B PIT Alex Vasquez – 3B PIT Victor Corrales – SS CIN Juan Ojeda – LF SFW Mario Villa – CF WAS Dan Martin – RF DAL Dario Martinez
Platinum Sticks (CL): P OCT Alfredo Llamas – C OCT Luke Burnham – 1B OCT David Worthington – 2B VAN Tony Aparicio – 3B NYC Prince Gates – SS OCT Ed Soberanes – LF NYC Danny Rivera – CF ATL Jon Alade – RF IND Bill Quinteros
Gold Gloves (FL): P SAC Craig Czyszczon – C NAS Jose Cantu – 1B SAC Steve Wyatt – 2B PIT Alex Vasquez – 3B PIT Victor Corrales – SS CIN Juan Ojeda – LF DEN Omar Gonzalez – CF SAC Steve Royer – RF PIT Tyler Tomasello
Gold Gloves (CL): P NYC Jeff Johnson – C MIL Chris Thomas – 1B OCT David Worthington – 2B OCT Jonathan Ban – 3B NYC Prince Gates – SS VAN Dan Mullen – LF ATL Chris Kirkwood – CF TIJ Danny Hildebrand – RF ATL Jushiro Wada

Good for Aparicio, who’d be *40* in April, for getting his first Player of the Year award.

Slightly miffed however that the Coons went home with absolutely nothing.

[Westheim]

To Venegas or not to Venegas – that was the question in early November. It was sure taking on a bit. Not that Tony Lopez would be grandly missed…

Filling the 3B hole was important, though, just as well as filling the leadoff spot with something of quality. If Travis Malkus had kept up his first half form in the second half, we might have gone there, and then Cristiano pointed out that we had a right-handed third baseman with a good OBP clip of our own in Dave Blackshire, but the former first-rounder, who turned 26 in November, had never gotten much of a shot in the majors. In ’53, he had batted .253/.365/.356 in just 104 plate appearances, mostly rotting on the bench when he was up. In 40 games (all starts) with the Alley Cats, he hit .267/.367/.407, which wasn’t exactly overwhelming either. Also, there was the old clogging problem again. Blackshire had little speed, and I didn’t want him ahead of Lonzo on a permanent basis. He was surely in the running for a bench job, along with Matt Knight, and might actually win that one on account of being able to play three infield positions, while Knight only played short. So the likelihood was that Knight would be sent back to AAA to learn second base, which was always a good thing for a 26-year-old to do.

The Miners initially asked for a AA pitcher named Geoff Sather in the Venegas/Lopez deal, but that turned out to be a bluff. They were so desperately eager to get rid of Venegas, they’d to the deal straight up, too. So you’re flexible, you’re saying?

(whiskers twitch)

I wasn’t naturally opposed to further cramming the lineup with goodness, and the Miners had hemorrhaged money ever since their big spending spree in the 2050-51 offseason. Word was that the owning McQueen family was injecting up to $5M annually just to balance the books. If anything, they’d like to shed even more salary. At the same time, the Miners had no pitching to speak of, having finished ninth in runs allowed in the FL last year, and four games behind the Capitals, who won the division. Their rotation had been the third-worst in the FL.

Which got me to Victor Salcido. The kid had two no-hitters. He also had a 2-8 record with 5.57 ERA in 2052, and an 11-10 season with a 4.22 ERA in 2053. Now, that sounded like improvement, but we had already gone over how he had posted ERA’s of 2.73 and 2.76 in April and May, respectively, and then had basically stunk of the joint ever since with a best of 4.03 in June. He got lit up again and again despite finishing fifth in strikeouts in the CL this year. Looking a few years back, he somehow only made it through the year in decent shape when his BABIP was no more than .280, which was a tall ask.

And the free agent class proved to be not exactly starved of starting pitchers. Hmm…!

+++

November 9 – The Raccoons trade 27-yr old SP Victor Salcido (44-47, 3.93 ERA), 31-yr old OF Tony Lopez (.245, 114 HR, 573 RBI), and 26-yr old OF Nick Thomason (.186, 0 HR, 5 RBI) to the Miners for 32-yr old 3B/LF Anton Venegas (.313, 26 HR, 465 RBI) and 27-yr old OF Matt Cox (.258, 82 HR, 341 RBI).

+++

Well, that made some noise. The Raccoons surely thickened the lineup with that move! Now you had Venegas and Lonzo on top, followed by however you wanted to stack Waters, Pucks, Crum, Ramsay, and Cox; nevermind that we still had Chris Gowin behind that. Chris Gowin batted .282/.345/.422 last year and might now actually be the #8 hitter…!

Slight issues here: there was no natural centerfielder in that mix. Pucks and Cox could play there, but the results had never been pretty for either one. Crum played there in his younger years, but the same had been true even then and he had lost a step since then. Also, our rotation was quickly becoming a lot of thin air. Wheats and Taki weren’t going anywhere, but assuming that Victor Scott would decline arbitration and seek his luck in free agency, the Raccoons – until the return of Raffy de la Cruz not before two months into the season – would have behind them, in order of prowess: Kyle Brobeck (4.57 ERA in 53 games/53 starts), Phil Baker (5.13 ERA in 21/18 games), and, uh, nobody else on the extended roster, actually. The next guys in line had all remained in AAA to finish the year: Cameron Argenziano (4.66 ERA in 18/17 games), Josh Mayo (4.82 ERA in 6/6 games), Matt Dixon (5.20 ERA in 14/3 games), who would be 29 in April, and the particularly infuriating case that was Valentino Prada, who had a 3.73 ERA in the majors, but had been nothing but whacko-ed after coming over from the Wolves and didn’t figure into anybody’s ambitious plans.

This was perhaps the best time to mention that 2051 #8 pick Matt Walters just couldn’t get a third pitch that wasn’t completely crap added to his arsenal, had posted a 5-7 record and 4.54 ERA in St. Pete this year, and would transition to the bullpen. Now, the fastball had zoom on it and the curve was devastating, so there was still a chance he would become an elite closer, but none of that solved our current problem of having nobody to start a ballgame by day 3 of the new season.

Yeah, you could probably scrape by with Brobeck. But the Raccoons needed two pitchers. Urgently.

At least money was still available (roundabout $6M at that point); we had already talked about the eye-watering $22.8M owed to Venegas through 2057, while Cox came with a new 3-year deal from the Miners, totaling $7.86M; $1.38M in ’54, which would have been his last year of team control, and $3.24M for two years of free agency. Besides $30.66M in obligations, the Raccoons had also taken one two difficult me-first characters, but that would only end up being a problem once they ended up on the bench and/or the team wasn’t winning. Which isn’t something I wanted to concern myself with right now.

Adding Cox added an urgent need for a right-handed batting centerfielder, too. Marroguin was departing and Suzuki was a left-hander. That wasn’t a hole torn by trading Thomason, either. Thomason had never been in our plans to begin with. If push came to shove, Venegas also played leftfield, but that only meant we had an extra warm body in the equation, not that we had an actual right-handed batting centerfielder. Making a last-ditch effort to keep Marroguin wasn’t gonna solve anything, since he was weaker against lefty pitching.

November 17 was the official day players became free agents this year – and that included Victor Scott, who declined arbitration.

With dismay I registered, that the top six free agent starting pitchers were all type A, coming with the forfeiture of the first round draft pick. These were Brad Blankenship, Chris Ferguson, Brian Jackson, Carlos Malla, Josh Swindell, and Victor Mondragon – the last of whom was in the Raffy camp of missing at least two months to begin the 2054 season due to torn elbow ligaments.

Malla was a real shame – the Raccoons had been after him at various times before, and while he had become a bit of a village bicycle in the last years, pitching for five different teams in three seasons, thanks to signing a 1-year deal late and then being traded mid-season, and his stamina was on the lower end of the acceptable range, the Dominican left-hander still had it. Ferguson, who’d turn 30 in February, was also an interesting target (and had also been traded during the 2053 season), although he had led the FL in home runs surrendered at one point.

An interesting option that did not entail giving away the first round pick was Arthur Pickett. The Coons had been after the English right-hander at various points in the previous decade. He had gone 6-5 with a 4.13 ERA with the Cyclones in ’53, and while the stuff was no longer what it was for the 35-year-old groundballer, he sure looked like he could still put in long hours and many a productive inning with the right defense behind him – which we had.

[Westheim]

Additional housekeeping notes from the beginning of offseason proper with the filing of free agents included that Antonio Alfaro was now firmly ours after spending the entire season on the roster as a Rule 5 pick after having been selected from Sacramento. He pitched 80.1 innings doing mostly long relief and some spot starts, appearing in 48 games (3 starts), and going a steep 9-2 with 3.47 ERA and a save. He was not a candidate for the back end of the rotation – his stamina was on the very low side and you could not expect him to pitch more than five innings, although he went seven against the Indians in one of his three starts, but that game saw him face 25 batters on just 82 pitches, with a staggering 14 groundouts. Alfaro was rewarded with a new uniform number, being assigned #41 after previously wearing “you’re going to extended training camp” #84.

At the same time, Polibio O’Higgins remained with the Warriors after having been taken from us in the Rule 5 draft. He went 0-3 with a 1.97 ERA in 23 games, being used sparingly.

Besides the major league free agents (Scott, Flores, Malkus, Cornejo, Marroguin), the Raccoons also shed a number of minor league free agents, including some try-and-try-again recurring guests like Rich Seymour, a .205 batter in the majors. Steve Richardson, Shane Honig, Matt Dixon, Bryan Lenderink elected minor league free agency as well, as did 31-year-old running gag Roberto Medina, .235 with 2 HR, 21 RBI in the majors. Somebody had awarded him a ring for that 2047 championship. He had collected roughly half of his 214 major league plate appearances in ’47, and both homers, but had been back every year from 2048 through 2052 after that, sometimes for as few as three at-bats.

Only 28 players (including Raffy) remained on the extended roster, with 17 in AAA initially, although a few Ham Lake players were going to advance for next year, including Trent Brassfield.

Then, to get the juices flowing in everybody’s snout, here’s a first look at the likely Coons lineup against right-handed pitching – probably needs some work against left-handers – with their 2053 production and their career numbers:

3B Venegas – .303, 3 HR, 44 RBI – .313, 26 HR, 465 RBI
SS Lavorano – .309, 2 HR, 46 RBI – .284, 12 HR, 206 RBI
2B Waters – .281, 28 HR, 110 RBI – .264, 207 HR, 782 RBI
RF Puckeridge – .312, 26 HR, 107 RBI – .305, 53 HR, 301 RBI
1B Ramsay – .291, 20 HR, 72 RBI – .284, 24 HR, 86 RBI
LF Crum – .254, 17 HR, 87 RBI – .283, 116 HR, 632 RBI
CF Cox – .266, 21 HR, 81 RBI – .258, 82 HR, 341 RBI
C Gowin – .282, 11 HR, 60 RBI – .260, 22 HR, 185 RBI

Crum ahead of Cox, because we don’t want three left-handers in a row. Although Pucks and Waters could also be flipped to achieve that goal, each time moving a switch-hitter into the all-lefty sequence of Pucks, Ramsay, and Cox.

Ramsay? “Rams”? He rams balls outta here for sure.

Another look? Here’s the 2053 and career OPS+ values for the bunch.

3B Venegas – 109 – 118
SS Lavorano – 104 – 94
2B Waters – 130 – 119
RF Puckeridge – 145 – 128
1B Ramsay – 130 – 128
LF Crum – 104 – 123
CF Cox – 139 – 119
C Gowin – 114 – 95

That should do for offense! (It better would – that lineup would cost well north of $16M)

Just gotta twist that bench into shape. Crispin (99 career OPS+) and Suzuki (73) will probably be there (Suzuki being a late-inning CF replacement with that lineup especially), and maybe Blackshire, but after that we really need a right-handed centerfielder, and then there’s the question of what to do with the backup catcher spot. Philipps and Raczka basically failed their way through the 2053 season. They had a combined 111 OPS+ … if you added up their 59 and 52 values, respectively.

Never mind that we have glaring holes in the rotation, so the additional bench pieces better don’t cost substantial money.

What about the bullpen actually? Not as stacked as you’d think. The Raccoons had only a dozen healthy pitchers on the extended roster: Baker, Brobeck, Taki, and Wheats in the rotation. Then Daley and Hitchcock at the back end of the pen, with the lefty pair of Sencion and Lillis, and Alfaro. … and then? The leftovers: Harmer, Reese, Medrano. The Raccoons probably also needed to find one or two right-handed relievers that wouldn’t cost any money. Shoutout though to AAA right-hander Reynaldo Bravo, 22, who had gone 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA and 39 SV for the Alley Cats this year, but had walked 5.5 per nine innings. He was surely on the radar. Same for Matt Walters, the failed starter mentioned before.

Trade chips? None. It’s a top-heavy team, and we’ve been lean on prospects for a few years now. I mean, Trent Brassfield is always popular. Wheats, Daley, Crum were all free agents after 2054. Was this an all-in effort for an eighth ring?

+++

He Shui had just won his third Pitcher of the Year award in the Taiwan League, and had also just turned 28 while getting himself out of his contract and making himself a rookie free agent for the ABL. Eric Hartwig filed a scouting report that contained none of the usual “sucks”, “can’t do anything”, “miserable”, and “kill with fire” rhetoric, so I was naturally interested. Rated 13/13/15 with four good or very good pitches, the righty groundballer was perhaps the best available starting pitcher that would not cost a draft pick. The price was rumored to be steep, and the Coons had only about $7.3M to begin the offseason. And the starting bids to Shui and Arthur Pickett alone would come to $4.7M.

Those tack-on relievers and centerfielders and what-not better be content with soup and plain white bread…

Unrelated – the Miners had more things to give away. They had already dumped Venegas and Cox on the Coons – thanks guys! (waves) – and were now trying to rid themselves of CF Jayden Ward, too. They’d give him away for (sorta) free, much like Venegas, but he had two years of $1.78M left and while being a switch-hitter, he was very much better against right-handers, which he wouldn’t get to see a lot, so this was a freebie the Raccoons had to pass on.

+++

November 22 – The Titans trade LF Josh Spath (.300, 1 HR, 16 RBI) to the Scorpions for two prospects including #46 SP Will Glaude.
November 25 – The Falcons snatch ex-OCT C Kevin Weese (.305, 75 HR, 530 RBI), committing $16.36M over four years to the 31-year-old backstop.
November 25 – The Blue Sox sign another former Thunder, CL Gustavo Chapa (22-21, 3.29 ERA, 74 SV), to a 2-yr, $4.56M contract.
November 25 – The Titans take on ex-TIJ/POR OF/2B Jordan Marroguin (.263, 83 HR, 440 RBI) to a 3-yr, $4.86M contract.
November 27 – 32-year-old 2B/3B Lance Harrison (.303, 145 HR, 711 RBI), who split time between the Rebels and Knights in 2053, signs a 2-yr, $6.48M contract with the Stars.
November 29 – Dallas also signs ex-RIC/SFB CL Sam Gibson (48-49, 2.51 ERA, 287 SV) to a 3-yr, $8.96M contract.
November 30 – The Raccoons sign 28-year-old Taiwanese free agent SP He Shui to a 6-yr, $18M contract.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 18 players are taken in the draft. The Raccoons draft 25-yr old MR Jason Terrell (2-3, 3.99 ERA, 2 SV) off the Pacifics.

+++

Yeah, if Shui’s not gonna pan out, it’s gonna suck!

Terrell is another shot at somebody to eat innings when innings need to be eaten, but I was considerably less confident in that one turning the corner, despite him having some major league experience. He had been in a total of 31 games with the Pacifics since 2050, but we wouldn’t have made that pick if we had any confidence in the likes of Harmer and Medrano to turn the ship, either… With the addition of a Rule 5 pick, there was still a bullpen spot open.

[Westheim]

It wasn’t the most exciting winter meetings session – except for that one night where everybody thought the Aces’ GM was drifting dead in the pool in the basement of the hotel, but it turned out it was a plumber from Dayton, Ohio that attended the ABL GM Look-alike winter meetings in the same hotel. He was – posthumously – awarded second place in the final of the Looking-Most-Alike contest, behind some other sore loser with black rings under his eyes and a generally scattered appearance that looked a whole lot like –

(suddenly realizes something)

I need a shave.

Anyway, a few interesting free agents resigned with their own former teams, most notably during the meetings Matt Diskin, who went back to the Pacifics for 5-yr, $17.8M. Diskin, 32, was a lock for 20 homers and a batting average north of .300, but he was also a casual defender and had played only 123 games on average in the last four seasons with a low of 84 in ’52.

+++

December 5 – The Indians trade SP Thomas Turpeau (34-25, 2.94 ERA) to the Stars for two prospects.
December 7 – The Falcons pick up catcher Luis Miranda (.261, 6 HR, 69 RBI) from the Canadiens in exchange for SP Andy Overy (55-55, 3.92 ERA).
December 9 – The Warriors send SP Hiroyuki Takagi (84-68, 3.70 ERA) and cash to the Buffaloes for infielder Jon Elkins (.244, 28 HR, 209 RBI) and #177 prospect LF/RF/1B Cesar Santiago.
December 9 – L.A. gets right-hander Jameson Monk (43-43, 4.78 ERA) from the Cyclones for #139 prospect OF Tony Volker.
December 10 – 26-year-old OF Mario Ceballos (.232, 13 HR, 156 RBI) returns to the CL North in a trade from the Gold Sox to the Indians in exchange for swingman Adam Foley (17-15, 4.21 ERA, 1 SV) and a prospect. Ceballos was traded to Denver from New York in the middle of 2053.
December 10 – The Titans sign 1B Larry Rodriguez (.255, 142 HR, 480 RBI) again, half a year after trying him to the Cyclones. Rodriguez, age 33, will earn $3.2M over two years.
December 11 – The Raccoons sign 35-year-old former Cyclones SP Arthur Pickett (148-94, 3.74 ERA) to a 1-yr, $1.7M contract.
December 11 – The Canadiens sign 40-year-old ex-TOP INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.275, 190 HR, 975 RBI) to a 1-yr, $2.44M contract.
December 16 – Portland signs 26-year-old OF Dave de Lemos (.251, 3 HR, 117 RBI) to a $550k contract for the 2054 season. De Lemos had been non-tendered by the Loggers.
December 17 – The Condors add ex-CHA/POR Victor Scott (50-46, 3.48 ERA, 8 SV) to a 2-yr, $4.32M contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick in compensation.
December 17 – 38-year-old 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.282, 204 HR, 1,076 RBI) signs with the Thunder again, agreeing to $4.56M over two years. Sifuentes had been traded from the Thunder to the Buffaloes in the middle of 2053.
December 19 – The Raccoons add 26-year-old Korean import Hyun-soo Bak, a right-handed reliever, on a $350k contract.
December 22 – The Thunder acquire CF Jayden Ward (.264, 39 HR, 379 RBI) from the Miners for MR Brian Grohoski (29-33, 3.46 ERA, 60 SV) and a prospect.
December 23 – The Wolves sign ex-NAS SP Victor Mondragon (99-107, 4.17 ERA), who would not be available until at least June, for 2-yr, $5.84M.
December 23 – Former Rebels and Indians outfielder Chris Morris (.295, 91 HR, 508 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $8.76M contract with the Blue Sox.
December 26 – 29-year-old ex-SAL/BOS SP Chris Ferguson (54-74, 4.20 ERA) inks with the Buffaloes for 6-yr, $24.24M.
December 26 – Former Blue Sox and Canadiens SP Cory Ellis (49-55, 3.48 ERA) signs with the Cyclones for 4-yr, $22.02M.
December 26 – Washington signs 37-yr old ex-VAN 1B Manny Liberos (.245, 297 HR, 1,172 RBI) to a $1.66M contract for 2054.

+++

Yes, de Lemos sounds a bit like we’re shopping in the dented can isle, but he’s actually pretty much what we’re looking for. A right-handed, defensively capable centerfielder that will probably only get 150 at-bats anyway, and we can’t afford to fork over $2M for a backup outfielder. There were only about $2M in budget space still available at this point.

The Pickett signing completed the Raccoons’ rotation to begin the season with Brobeck in the fifth spot. Brobeck would get shifted out by the time Raffy would return, but that was at least two months and baseball-gods-know-how-many old-man injuries into the season. Still tweaking that bullpen, though…

The Titans are funny – signing Rodriguez again after trying to trade him for two years. – Maud, if Boston calls this year, we’ll not pick up the phone.

The Blue Sox tried to trade Mike Pfeifer to the Coons in exchange for a prospect or two. Pfeifer had hit .297 with 11 homers this year, but he’d replace Suzuki, still not get more than 200 at-bats, and we’d pay over $2M for the privilege, and the budget just wasn’t there for that sort of extravaganza.

Former Raccoons with new contract: the Thunder restocked their pen with Vic Flores for $600k, Raul Cornejo for $498k, and Preston Porter for $464k; the Condors signed Eddy Luna for $520k; Victor Merino joined the Miners for $770k;

+++

There’s also a Hall of Fame ballot out, and there’s a few people on there that we know, especially Manny Fernandez and Antonio Prieto. Yes, only one of them had even theoretical chances. And if we’re really honest, Manny doesn’t have the numbers. But I know at least one crazy hoot that’s gonna vote for him anyway!

Isn’t that right, Honeypaws?

(pets Honeypaws)

[UltimateAverageGuy]

Live look at me running to my phone to read a new Wetheim post


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[Westheim]

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

Live look at me running to my phone to read a new Wetheim post

If our 2054 lineup doesn't get you running around, noisily and bare-chested, nothing will!

[Westheim]

January was really calm in Portland. The Raccoons were trying to find an edge on a small trade here or there, but it would mostly involve spare bullpen pieces that were potentially out of options, and nobody was too keen on those.

No deals were really done, although we did sniff around Tyler Cass for a while. The Stars were paying him $1.42M to be the backup catcher, which was not a role he was happy with and which would be the same role he’d have with us, so we steered clear of that, even though he was a career .308 batter.

Apart from that Taki had food poisoning, Harmer had the flu, and I had still no final design on what the bullpen would *really* look like in 2054. Five spots were taken, but was Terrell, the Rule 5er, gonna make it? Was Bak, the Korean import? Or did we go out once more and get another arm to add to the puzzle that also included Harmer, Medrano, Reese, Baker, and others?

+++

January 1 – The Pacifics sign 37-yr old ex-PIT SP Brad Blankenship (108-122, 3.80 ERA) to a 2-yr, $7.04M contract.
January 2 – Former Condors middle infielder Chris Navarro (.291, 12 HR, 370 RBI), who has 1,237 career hits at age 27, signs with the Crusaders for four years and $10.56M.
January 10 – A 2-year deal worth $6.64M buys the Knights a left-handed starter in former Stars and Indians pitcher Carlos Malla (57-72, 3.98 ERA).
January 12 – New York comes up with 36-yr old veteran ex-DEN 3B/2B Ronnie Thompson (.282, 12 HR, 691 RBI) on a $1.6M deal for 2054.
January 16 – The Titans grab a new closer in former IND David Williams (55-47, 3.19 ERA, 223 SV), who signs on for $9.36M over three years.
January 20 – NAS MR Dusty Gaddy (17-19, 4.13 ERA, 18 SV) is reported to have been involved in a gnarly domestic violence incident. The bruises on his chest and his swollen-shut left eye should heal in time though to not affect his season preparation.
January 27 – 31-yr old outfielder Pedro Leal (.266, 126 HR, 537 RBI) joins the club of players returning as free agents to their former teams after half a season away, signing a 3-yr, $5.1M contract with the Rebels after briefly being a Scorpion.

+++

2054 HALL OF FAME VOTING RESULTS

Two new players were added to the Hall of Fame in the most recent round of voting, both of them in their first year on the ballot.

Dan Schneller was a #2 pick in the 2025 draft, and made his debut with the Indians at age 29. A skilled second baseman and slugger, Schneller took home a lot of silverware in his 20 years in the league, the first of which was the CL Rookie of the Year award in 2029. He would take two Gold Gloves, 14 Platinum Sticks, 12 All Star decorations, and the 2037 Player of the Year award, which was also his last season with the Indians. He also had extended stints with the Bayhawks and Canadiens, but never managed to win the World Series with anybody. He did hit double digit homers for 17 straight seasons, though, and won two home run crowns, an RBI title, and led the league in OBP twice and slugging once, so it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Overall he batted .289/.390/.441 with 2,842 hits, 319 homers, 1,314 RBI, and 101 stolen bases.

To a degree, the Blue Sox’ Billy Bouldin is a perfect match with Schneller. Like Schneller, he was a #2 pick in the draft, albeit in 2029, and debuted in the same season with the Blue Sox, and eventually also played the same 20-year string in the ABL, from 2029 through 2048. He never won a home run title though – in fact, Dan Schneller once hit 36 in a season, more than Bouldin’s career total of 24 longballs. Bouldin took two World Series titles with the Blue Sox in 2037 and 2039, however. A speedy guy (at least until his mid-30s), Bouldin would lead the FL in hits twice and triples three times, and stole bases by the dozen for a while, although he ever led the league in stolen bases. He won the 2037 batting title with a .378 clip, and took three Gold Gloves, three Platinum Sticks, and was an All Star three times. He spent all but two of his 20 seasons with the Sox, touring through three cities in two years in his late 30s before a farewell of just four games with the 2048 Blue Sox at the age of 40.

Full results:

IND 2B Dan Schneller – 1st – 98.7 – INDUCTED
NAS SS Billy Bouldin – 1st – 87.0 – INDUCTED
??? CL Josh Boles – 5th – 51.0
??? CL Chris Henry – 3rd – 50.7
POR LF Manny Fernandez – 1st – 49.0
SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann – 3rd – 25.0
PIT SP Roberto Pruneda – 1st – 19.7
LAP CF Justin Fowler – 9th – 15.0
TOP 1B Chris Delagrange – 1st – 10.7
BOS SP Rich Willett – 2nd – 8.7
DAL SS Jon Ramos – 1st – 8.3
DAL SP Eric Weitz – 3rd – 7.7
VAN C Timóteo Clemente – 1st – 7.7
SAC SS Jesus Banuelas – 1st – 6.3
??? C Adam Horner – 2nd – 3.7 – DROPPED
IND 3B Dan Hutson – 1st – 3.7 – DROPPED
BOS LF Willie Vega – 6th – 3.7 – DROPPED
TOP SP David Elliott – 8th – 3.7 – DROPPED
SFW 2B Mario Colon – 4th – 2.7 – DROPPED
SAC CF Mark Vermillion – 2nd – 1.7 – DROPPED
LVA SP Oscar Valdes – 1st – 1.0 – DROPPED
LAP SS Brian Bowman – 1st – 0.7 – DROPPED
ATL RF John Marz – 1st – 0.7 – DROPPED
POR CL Antonio Prieto – 1st – 0.7 – DROPPED
VAN MR Alexander Lewis – 1st – 0.0 – DROPPED
NAS SP Kevin Stice – 1st – 0.0 – DROPPED

[Westheim]

February 2 – Former Wolves catcher Jose Ortiz (.263, 87 HR, 478 RBI) gets a 2-yr, $3.84M contract from the Rebels.
February 12 – The Buffaloes ink ex-SFB OF/1B/3B Gil Cabrera (.292, 44 HR, 548 RBI) to a 2-yr, $3.96M deal.
February 13 – The Knights spill a 4-yr, $16.12M contract on former Blue Sox SP Jeremy Baker (69-71, 3.92 ERA).
February 21 – Dallas scoops up ex-TOP SP Josh Swindell (55-69, 4.33 ERA) with a 3-yr, $10.08M offer.
March 13 – The Gold Sox sign former Titans 3B/SS Angel Montes de Oca (.254, 77 HR, 519 RBI) to a 2-yr, $2.92M contract.
March 30 – The Buffaloes acquire the Bayhawks’ 2B/LF/CF Nick Roseto (.265, 7 HR, 80 RBI) for RF/LF Willie Gutierrez (.292, 7 HR, 34 RBI).
April 2 – The Cyclones flip SP Austin Wilcox (95-98, 4.13 ERA), who led the FL with 20 losses last year, to the Rebels for INF Guillermo Leon (.225, 0 HR, 30 RBI) and a prospect.

+++

New employment opportunities for ex-Coons: Shuta Yamamoto signed for $440k with the Crusaders; Wade Gardner cashed $2.84M over two years from the Caps; the Wolves took on Bryce Toohey for $498k; the Buffaloes signed Josh Rella for $510k; Eduardo Avila joined the Thunder for $520k; the Stars threw $1.98M at Justin Johns just for 2054; Travis Malkus went back to the Blue Sox for $454k; the Gold Sox signed Arturo Carreno for $450k;

The Critters never got the solutions for the backup catcher spot or maybe a backup infielder upgrade. The Thunder would keep asking for Antonio Alfaro, but wouldn’t give up a catcher for him, and the Titans and Bayhawks wouldn’t let go of Raul Salas and Keith Redfern, respectively, for reasonable returns. The Rebels would make Steven Acosta available, even a left-handed hitting catcher, but he was known to be a bit of a **** and we weren’t interested.

[Westheim]

2054 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2053 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Seisaku Taki, 26, B:R, T:R (16-11, 2.88 ERA | 32-19, 2.81 ERA) – right-handed groundballer that was imported from Japan to some success, like, uh, winning both Rookie of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in addition to a Gold Glove in his debut season. Taki has three very good pitches, throws 95, and should continue to be a delight. For starters, he ends Wheats’ string of eight consecutive Opening Day starts.
SP Jason Wheatley, 33, B:R, T:R (11-8, 3.35 ERA | 142-96, 3.36 ERA) – Fall from grace! …or at least to the #2 starter spot. Wheats recovered nicely from an annus horibilis in 2052, although the nagging little injuries seem to be piling up by now. One of only two three-ringed Coons remaining (Waters). He has five good to very good pitches, and when he mixes them well can breeze through innings untouched. Which didn’t happen a lot last year. New scout Eric Hartwig doesn’t like his arsenal and sneers that he used to be better, but don’t we all?
SP He Shui *, 28, B:R, T:R (no stats) – the Coons threw a 6-year contract at this Taiwanese veteran, who comes with four pitches, a 94mph fastball, and allegedly excellent control foremost. Won several awards in Taiwan, and isn’t known to talk a lot. Does his business.
SP Arthur Pickett *, 35, B:R, T:R (6-5, 4.13 ERA | 148-94, 3.74 ERA) – blimey! The Raccoons sign the 35-year-old English veteran, who spent his entire career in the FL so far, to a 1-year deal. Groundballer with four pitches, always looking for an edge and studying opposing lineups several starts in advance.
SP Kyle Brobeck, 26, B:S, T:R (10-6, 4.68 ERA | 19-19, 4.57 ERA) – casual pitcher, although remarkably consistent given that he always comes out at about a 4.50 ERA, 5 BB/9, and 6 K/9, maybe should transition to hitting every day after all (.357/.378/.500 in 127 AB). Basically makes the roster as injury replacement for Raffy de la Cruz.

MR Jason Terrell *, 26, B:R, T:R (1-3, 4.38 ERA, 2 SV | 2-3, 3.99 ERA, 2 SV) – Rule 5 pick from the Pacifics, where he made odd appearances over the last four years; sinker, cutter, and keeping it on the ground. Whether he walks too many batters to become an annoyance remains to be seen.
MR Antonio Alfaro, 25, B:R, T:R (9-2, 3.47 ERA, 1 SV | 9-2, 3.47 ERA, 1 SV) – was used mostly in long relief as a Rule 5 pick in his debut season, but made a few spot starts, too. Ultimately lacks the stamina to be a consistent starter, but could appear in less deadbeat situations this year, f.e. when the Coons hold a lead.
SP/MR Hyun-soo Bak *, 26, B:S, T:R (no stats) – the second Asian import of the season comes from Korea and has a fastball, slider, and splitter to offer. Is an option to gobble up starts at the back end of the rotation, too, although we’re only modestly confident that that would lead anywhere nice.
MR Eloy Sencion, 27, B:L, T:L (6-0, 3.13 ERA, 1 SV | 10-3, 3.35 ERA, 6 SV) – fastball, vicious slider, but if you were to look for him in last year’s Opening Day roster rundown, you’d be out of luck. Nothing worked for Eloy Sencion in 2052, posting an 8.04 ERA in the majors after a flashy pair of seasons in 2050-51. He dropped as far as AA, and was not remotely near the big league portion of the depth chart as the 2053 began, starting out in AAA. When Brett Lillis jr. went down to injury early on, he was somewhat reluctantly recalled and somehow just worked again, making 52 appearances without major complaints.
MR Brett Lillis jr., 28, B:L, T:L (1-1, 1.84 ERA, 1 SV | 6-10, 3.59 ERA, 4 SV) – second-generation lefty reliever in the Coons pen – well, whenever he’s not injured. Pitched only 14.2 innings in ’53, spending most of the year on the DL.
SU Kevin Hitchcock, 31, B:R, T:R (4-1, 3.36 ERA, 7 SV | 18-19, 3.08 ERA, 70 SV) – the German right-hander had to slot into the eighth inning role after the Raccoons added Daley in 2053, and pitched largely without complaints thanks to a 1.8 BB/9 mark and allowing only three homers in 61.2 innings. Very good cutter/slider combo, generating groundball after groundball.
CL Kevin Daley, 31, B:R, T:R (3-6, 2.70 ERA, 43 SV | 81-84, 3.49 ERA, 55 SV) – last year’s free agent addition won the CL saves title in his first year as a full-time closer following being a starting pitcher early in his career, winning an ERA title and Pitcher of the Year as a Condor in 2049 before losing his changeup and leading the league in losses the year after. Contract year, and it will be interesting to see whether the Coons want to hang on to him long-term.

C Chris Gowin, 27, B:R, T:R (.282, 11 HR, 60 RBI | .260, 22 HR, 185 RBI) – very fine defensive catcher the Falcons didn’t know what to do with and dumped onto the Raccoons for odd bits and pieces that didn’t fit anyway. Had a very good first season with the Critters, hitting for a 115 OPS+, and yes, he might very well bat eighth anyway in that stacked lineup that we have this year.
C/1B Tyler Philipps, 27, B:R, T:R (.194, 0 HR, 7 RBI | .235, 2 HR, 25 RBI) – excellent defensive catcher that debuted late in the 2051 season, then made the Opening Day roster behind Sean Suggs in ’52, but ended up spending most of his time in AAA again after an early demotion. 2053 saw him mostly as the (poor) backup to Gowin, a role he will resume in 2054. While the lineup might be stacked, the bench (like the pitching) might be decidedly less so…

1B Harry Ramsay, 26, B:L, T:L (.291, 20 HR, 72 RBI | .284, 24 HR, 86 RBI) – that’ll do for a first full season! … and when we say full we mean he missed over 30 games to injury and still hit 20 homers. We expect more of that. No complaints on defense, although he’s slower than a dead snail on the bases, so he has to bat behind some of the faster power elements like Pucks if at all feasible.
2B/SS Matt Waters, 33, B:S, T:R (.281, 28 HR, 110 RBI | .264, 207 HR, 782 RBI) – Home Run King! For the second time – well, a share of a crown at least. But it counts. Steady second baseman that can be a complete torture on opposing pitchers, but semi-randomly takes years off every 3-5 seasons. His last one was three years ago. Speaking of three – there’s also three years left on that 10-year contract he once insisted on signing and which probably cost him $20M in career earnings.
SS/3B Lorenzo Lavorano, 26, B:R, T:R (.309, 2 HR, 46 RBI | .284, 12 HR, 206 RBI) – Everybody loves Lonzo! If you don’t love Lonzo, you can’t be my friend…! Has won three stolen base titles in three full seasons, a Gold Glove at least once… but after making all games for two straight seasons, injuries culled him to 114 games and just (“just”) 46 stolen bases in 2053.
3B/LF Anton Venegas *, 32, B:R, T:R (.303, 3 HR, 44 RBI | .313, 26 HR, 465 RBI) – the Miners finally succeeded in dropping Venegas and his rather extravagant contract on the Raccoons, but then they wanted almost nothing for him, dropped in another certified hitter in Matt Cox, and the Raccoons needed both a third baseman and a leadoff hitter. Too many itches scratched to not give in – and besides, it’s not like I’m burning $5.7M of *my* money here.
3B Ed Crispin, 27, B:L, T:R (.270, 6 HR, 34 RBI | .254, 29 HR, 175 RBI) – once upon a time one of the returns from the Rebels in the deal that sent Josh Rella away, Crispin’s a good defender at the hot corner, which is about as many good things I have to say about him. Nice complement to the right-handed Venegas, though, so he might get the regular one or two starts each week after all.
3B/2B/SS Dave Blackshire, 26, B:R, T:R (.253, 1 HR, 6 RBI | .236, 2 HR, 7 RBI) – further convoluting the situation at the hot corner is 25-year-old Blackshire, whose claim to fame might also be his defense, which isn’t boding well. His middle infield defense is nothing to write home about, and the Coons might want to keep looking for a defensive middle infielder to replace one of the third basemen. That is last year’s blurb, and somehow it’s still true.

1B/LF/RF Ken Crum, 31, B:S, T:L (.254, 17 HR, 87 RBI | .283, 116 HR, 632 RBI) – will he ever get back to the 27 homers he hit with the Bayhawks in 2049? Maybe not, maybe that was a fluke. He also sagged quite a bit with the batting average in 2053, despite being a switch-hitter and all. His fourth year in Portland is a contract year.
LF/1B/RF/CF Alan Puckeridge, 26, B:L, T:R (.312, 26 HR, 107 RBI | .305, 53 HR, 301 RBI) – the Aussie nearly doubled his career homer total in 2053, appearing in all 163 games the team played in while hitting for a .312/.374/.508 slash line. Right now threatens every which way, even though he has to start in his worst defensive position to get everybody into the lineup.
LF/RF/CF Matt Cox *, 28, B:L, T:L (.266, 21 HR, 81 RBI | .258, 82 HR, 341 RBI) – acquired from the Miners, Cox offers another left-handed power bat with solid corner outfield defense, but little in terms of speed. Can fill in some in centerfield, but it’s not necessarily advised.
RF/LF/CF Dave de Lemos *, 26, B:R, T:R (.209, 1 HR, 22 RBI | .251, 3 HR, 117 RBI) – the Raccoons picked up a Loggers discard for a backup outfield spot, which is one sign that the budget was running thin. He’s the most competent defensive centerfield option, along with Suzuki, and sadly none of those two are hitting a lick ever. De Lemos is likely to start against all left-handed pitchers, with Pucks, Cox, or Ramsay rotating out of the order then.
RF/CF/ LF Mikio Suzuki, 30, B:L, T:L (.224, 0 HR, 18 RBI | .242, 8 HR, 93 RBI) – four years after getting signed on the cheap out of Japan, Suzuki is somehow maintaining his spot on the far end of the bench, despite hitting for a 74 OPS+ for his meager career, and with a 60 OPS+, 2053 was his worst season yet.

On disabled list:
SP Rafael de la Cruz, 23, B:L, T:R (5-2, 2.31 ERA | 23-22, 3.49 ERA) – still not all golden for golden boy, who continued to struggle to pitch more than six innings at a time with various command issues, then went down to a torn UCL nine starts into his second full season. The good news is that when he pitched, he didn’t allow a lot in terms of runs, and that his recovery looks to have gone very well and that he can return earlier than previously thought; he could potentially rejoin the Coons in early May.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Phil Baker, 25, B:R, T:R (4-3, 5.43 ERA | 7-7, 5.13 ERA) – optioned to AAA; supplemental-round pick from 2050, who debuted on the fast track and overall held his own on a team that didn’t hold onto much of anything in 2052. Was in the rotation to begin the 2053 season, but pitched so badly that he was disposed of within a month. Made some odd appearances at the end of the season.
MR Ryan Harmer, 26, B:L, T:R (1-1, 3.53 ERA | 2-2, 4.01 ERA) – optioned to AAA; unspectacular righty with control issues that made his debut in 2052 and didn’t always keep me calm. Pattern developing hear soon.
MR Raul Medrano, 26, B:R, T:R (0-1, 4.71 ERA | 0-1, 3.65 ERA) – optioned to AAA; unspectacular righty with control issues that made his debut in 2052 and didn’t always keep me calm.
MR Eric Reese, 26, B:L, T:L (0-0, 3.55 ERA | 0-1, 3.89 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; ghastly control problems even for a left-hander, despite appealing stuff … on paper. Struck out only 5.7/9 in his 14 appearances with the Coons in 2053. If we had somehow been able to keep an additional pitcher on the roster, it would be him, because his stuff (on paper) might get him snatched up on waivers.
C Jeff Raczka, 30, B:L, T:R (.229, 0 HR, 7 RBI | .222, 4 HR, 28 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; good old boy that has made scarce appearances as third and fourth catcher for five years running, but never makes an impact. All of a .594 OPS for his career, spanning 103 games.
1B/3B/2B Joe Boese, 25, B:R, T:R (.200, 2 HR, 9 RBI | .200, 2 HR, 9 RBI) – optioned to AAA; decent defensive infielder that can neither run nor hit, but has options and might make appearances if injuries hit.
SS Matt Knight, 26, B:R, T:R (.250, 2 HR, 25 RBI | .250, 2 HR, 25 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; nice defensive shortstop, but mostly a singles hitter, and not very prolific at that, and no speed either.

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

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

My, that lineup is something!

Vs. RHP: 3B Venegas (Crispin) – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – C Gowin – P
(Vs. LHP: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge (Cox) – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay (Cox/Puckeridge) – CF de Lemos – P)

True, the bench is weak, and not all positions have a plethora of defensive options. Blackshire f.e. has to cover the middle infield spots when his best position is third base. Too many third basemen on the roster? And too many centerfielders that can’t really hit.

But would you look at that lineup against right-handers especially??

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

In the end, BNN didn’t really like our offseason, ranking the Raccoons 15th with -2.7 WAR lost this winter. This however neglects that while we had some significant departures on paper – over 6 WAR anyway in free agents, two of our free agent signings didn’t give us any WAR at all, coming out of Asia as they are. There’s not a lot of WAR to be found on de Lemos, either. The Miners trade for Venegas and Cox was good for almost +2 WAR, though.

Top 5: Stars (+10.8), Rebels (+9.4), Capitals (+8.1), Pacifics (+6.0), Crusaders (+5.1)
Bottom 5: Loggers (-5.0), Buffaloes (-5.2), Cyclones (-5.3), Bayhawks (-6.3), Indians (-9.2)

The remaining CL North teams were ranked 17th (VAN, -3.1) and 18th (BOS, -4.0).

PREDICTION TIME:

Wild fluctuations continued. The Coons sucked in April and May, then rose with force throughout the summer, only to come crashing down by losing 12 of their last 15, including their tie-breaker game against the Crusaders. Granted, my prediction had been “maybe above .500”, so the result wasn’t wrong, it just hurt a lot more to arrive there…

This year the Raccoons might have the best lineup in the league, but the bench is thin and the pitching staff is mostly made of pious thoughts and well wishes. Some question marks, too.

Should be good for 88 wins, but there could be too many meltdowns for it to be actually enjoyable and/or catch the Crusaders.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons had a sharp rise in the farm rankings for this year, going from 20th up to 9th in the span of 12 months. Last year, we had been able to claim nine ranked prospects, four of those in the top 100. Two of the nine were no longer eligible: both #98 Nick Thomason and #145 Dave Blackshire had turned 26, and besides that Blackshire had exceeded rookie limits, and Thomason had been traded to the Miners besides that. Besides that, #118 Brian Moore was no longer ranked in the top 200, but still in the organization.

25th (+23) – AAA CL Matt Walters, 23 – 2051 first-round pick by Raccoons
29th (new) – A SP Chance Fox, 19 – 2053 first-round pick by Raccoons
37th (+84) – AAA LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield, 21 – 2051 first-round pick by Cyclones, acquired for Juan del Toro
40th (+25) – AA LF/RF David Flores, 22 – 2052 second-round pick by Raccoons
80th (+1) – A SP Ramon Carreno, 18 – 2051 international free agent signed by Raccoons
90th (new) – A C Marcos Chavez, 21 – 2050 scouting discovery by Stars, signed as free agent by Raccoons
98th (new) – A SP Jose Villegas, 21 – 2050 scouting discovery by Raccoons

104th (new) – AAA SP Josh Mayo, 23 – 2049 supplemental round pick by Raccoons
137th (new) – A CL Alex Rios, 20 – 2053 fifth-round pick by Raccoons
149th (-21) – AA 3B/2B Richard Anderson, 21 – 2050 supplemental round pick by Raccoons
156th (new) – AA CL Ricky Herrera, 22 – 2053 second-round pick by Raccoons
170th (new) – INT SP Javier Simo, 16 – 2053 international free agent signed by Raccoons
175th (+23) – AAA CL Reynaldo Bravo, 22 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons

13 total ranked players, including even one of four trash heap signings off other teams’ minor league discards made in late March and early April!

Finally, the top 10 overall prospects this year are:

1st (+14) – LVA AA OF Jose Ambriz, 20
2nd (new) – TOP ML 3B Alex de los Santos, 23
3rd (+4) – SAL AA SP Josh Elling, 19
4th (new) – TIJ AA SP Jay Everett, 21
5th (new) – LAP A CF/LF Mike Walker, 18

6th (new) – SFW SP AA Levi Harre, 21
7th (-1) – WAS INT 3B/2B Diego Mendoza, 19
8th (new) – SAC AAA CL Justin Round, 22
9th (+14) – OCT AAA SP Aaron Harris, 22
10th (+9) – NYC AAA SP Joel Luera, 22

De los Santos had been signed out of Cuba just this winter. Everett was the #1 pick in the 2053 draft. Out of the same draft came Harre (#7), Walker (#10), and Round (#19).

With almost the entirety of the top 10 turned over – only Elling and Mendoza returned from last year’s edition – that meant that eight of last year’s top 10 were no longer ranked as highly or at all.

Some had made it to he majors with varying success and had exceeded rookie limits, starting with #5 SFW righty Ricardo Montoya, who not only debuted on the Opening Day roster for the Warriors, but after a few relief appearances found his way into the rotation and went 12-6 with a 2.70 ERA for the season, well good enough to win FL Rookie of the Year honors!

Then there was #1 prospect Ken Hummel. Drafted in 2052, he made his debut halfway through 2053, and hit .256 with four homers for the Aces, returning to the Opening Day roster this year. #2 Tyler Riddle made 12 appearances for the Loggers, going 1-0 with an 0.77 ERA exclusively in relief, but one wonders when they’d make actual use of him and his four-pitch arsenal. He was on the Opening Day roster, too. #3 Hector Weir shot from single-A to the Titans last season, where he batted .292 with two homers in 57 games, good enough to be back on the Opening Day roster, as well. #4 Bill Hernandez was promoted to the majors a month into last season and made 65 appearanes out of the pen for the Buffos, going 4-2 with a 4.08 ERA, but as with Riddle, he looks like he’s made for the rotation. Also back on the Opening Day roster was last year’s #10 prospect Nick Nye of Nashville. The middle infielder made 100 appearances batting .287 with five homers and is expected to yet develop more power.

An unfortunate plunge was taken by last year’s #8 prospect (and 2052’s #1 prospect!) Brett Hamill, a former #4 pick by the Pacifics, who hit .165 in Laredo, .206 in Loganville, and was back with the AAA Bombardiers now, albeit with his stock price somewhere in the deepest crater. He was no longer ranked at all. It wasn’t quite as bad for the Pacifics’ other top 10 prospect from last year, but #9 righty Jose Reyes sagged to #66. The swingman made nine appearances for the Pacifics, posting a 5.23 ERA, but missed the first half of the season with a ruptured UCL, so it could have come worse. He was not on the Opening Day roster.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 7-9, 2054

The season started in Milwaukee with a 3-game set against the Loggers, beginning on Tuesday. They had lost 95 games last year, had not posted a winning record in a decade, and there was little reason to hope that it was gonna get better any time soon. The Coons had taken 14 of 18 games from the Loggers last year.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (0-0) vs. Angelo Munoz (0-0)
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Josh Costello (0-0)
He Shui (0-0) vs. John Morrill (0-0)

Only right-handed starters coming up in this set.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – C Gowin – P Taki
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P Munoz

Taki nicked Joe Gragg to begin the bottom 1st, although the runner was caught stealing, though it didn’t get much better for Taki. Zach Suggs drew a leadoff walk in the second inning, Ricky Lopez doubled, and Chris Thomas’ groundout and a Bryant Law single put home two early runs for the Loggers. The Raccoons’ much-praised lineup produced zero hits the first time through; Ken Crum drawing a walk was as good as it got. Not for the Loggers, though: Joe Gragg opened the bottom 3rd with a homer, and Taki listlessly loaded the bases before long, then gave up a 2-out, bases-emptying double off the wall in leftfield to Thomas. Taki would come in for the fourth, gave up a single to Gragg, and was yanked before the inning was over. Lillis kept the runner on base, not that it mattered greatly in the 6-0 drubbing that was going on.

The Coons finally did something in the fifth. Harry Ramsay doubled to right to begin the inning and scored on productive outs by Crum and Cox – what a raging success! – before Gowin and Suzuki hit more singles but ended up being stranded on Venegas’ groundout. The next two innings were fruitless again, while the Coons used the lop-sided game to test out their debutees after Lillis retrieved Taki from the fourth inning. Bak and Terrell pitched three scoreless innings in total, while the Coons still trailed by five runs entering the eighth inning. Matt Waters hit a solo homer off Munoz there to narrow the score to 6-2, but that was still plenty. Dave Lister got the ball in the ninth. Ken Crum led off with a jack to right, 6-3. Interesting. Cox was out, however not Gowin: the catcher socked another solo homer to left. Now only two back, Dave de Lemos grounded out for the second out, having previously entered in a double switch. Venegas walked, his first time on base as a Critter, but Lonzo grounded out to end the game. 6-4 Loggers. Ramsay 1-2, BB, 2B; Crum 2-4, HR, RBI; Gowin 3-4, HR, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Terrell 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – C Gowin – P Wheatley
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P Costello

Both teams returned the identical lineup on Wednesday. An obviously miffed Wheats held the Loggers hitless through two innings, then opened the top 3rd with a single over the shortstop Zach Suggs, who had been remarkably silent in the drubbing of Taki in the opener. Venegas and Lonzo chipped more singles, loading the bases with nobody out in a so far scoreless game. Waters then chumped a 3-2 pitch into a double play, which at least scored Wheatley from third base, but Pucks’ fly to center ended the inning. The Loggers didn’t get a hit until Suggs doubled with two outs in the fourth, but remained off the important part of the board with a groundout for Gaudencio Callaia.

Wheatley looked very good through five innings, allowing only that one hit and a one walk, but then drilled Costello out of the game to begin the bottom 6th. Nick Carr ran for the injured pitcher, but was forced out at second base on Gragg’s comebacker to Wheats. Gragg then stole his way to third base, while Wheats struck out Kelton Archer. Perry Pigman rolled a sorry grounder near the third base line, and that one was just unplayable. Venegas had to put it in his pocket, and the tying run scored. Suggs grounded out to end the inning, now all even at one. After a fruitless top 7th, Wheats gave up a 1-out infield single to PH Ryan Bishton, at which point I wondered who all these people in the forest-green hats were, and why they were beating up on the Coons so badly? Chris Thomas singled, Dale Haracz was nicked, and with the bags full, Nick Carr struck out for a key second out. Gragg though beat Pucks in center for a 2-run double, and Wheats threw a wild pitch that brought in Haracz before whiffing Archer again. That was the end for Wheats, who got hung with an L just like Taki the day before, since the Raccoons only mustered one more meager single in the last few innings. The valiant Crum hit it, then was doubled off by the pinch-hitting Ed Crispin to end the game. 4-1 Loggers. Lavorano 3-4; Crum 3-4;

Costello (0-0, 1.50 ERA) was diagnosed with a broken foot by Thursday and placed on the DL, but before Thursday’s series finale was paraded around the ballpark on the electric stretcher vehicle wearing a shiny plastic boot in front of cheering Loggers fans to crank the guilt up to ten.

As if the Coons didn’t feel miserable enough after starting the season 0-2 against the Loggers.

The Loggers…!!

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – C Philipps – P Shui
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P Morrill

Harry Ramsay very nearly hit a 3-run homer with Waters and Pucks on the corners in the first inning, but the already pestering Gragg picked it off the top of the fence to end the inning instead. Gragg, who had batted .125 with no homers and two RBI in spotty service (24 AB) in ’53, had already scratched up the Coons for three each in hits, RBI, and stolen bases in just two games, but had his liner snatched by Crum to begin the bottom 1st. The Loggers didn’t score in the inning, but the Coons went up 1-0 in the second thanks to Crum’s leadoff double and two productive outs. Shui though walked a pair in the bottom 2nd and ended up giving up a game-tying single to Thomas before the Loggers wobbled themselves out of the inning with a caught stealing at third base.

Venegas and Lonzo were on base to begin the top 3rd, but Waters hit into a double play and the inning amounted to nothing. Shui in turn walked Morrill (!) to begin the bottom 3rd, then gave up a loud single to Gragg. I was beginning to start to feel unwell. Archer and Pigman made outs, but doubles for Suggs and Callaia plated three runs to get the Loggers up 4-1 and turned Shui into $18M worth of chopped liver.

Morrill struggled likewise, walking Crum and Cox to bring the tying run to the plate in the fourth inning. Philipps popped out, leaving things to Shui with two outs. The Coons were tempted to pinch-hit, but felt it was a bit early – also having in mind that we started the season with two-and-a-half weeks without a day off. Shui promptly doubled through the left side to get a run home, but Venegas grounded out to Callaia to strand the tying runs in scoring position. In hindsight, though, batting for Shui might have been better. When he returned for the bottom 4th, Law singled with one out, reached third when Philipps fired to center on a stolen base attempt, and singles by Morill (…) and Gragg ran the score to 5-2 and Shui from the game after all. The Coons went to Alfaro, who gave up an RBI single to right-center to Kelton Archer, a run-scoring groundout to Pigman, and another RBI single when facing Suggs. By then, the Coons were down by six, and somehow I could hear the phone in Portland ring angrily from two time zones away.

As far as the Coons were concerned, they continued to hit homers in the worst possible moments, f.e. Lonzo whacking one to right to lead off the top 5th, 8-3. He was back at the plate in the sixth, then with two outs and Philipps and Crispin on base, then buried a gapper in left-center for a 2-run double. Waters flew out to strand him and keep the score at 8-5. Bak turned in a scoreless sixth, but the right-handed Suggs and Ricky Lopez hit doubles off Sencion in the seventh to get the Loggers back to slam distance in the seventh. Hitchcock pitched a scoreless eighth, but the Raccoons couldn’t get any hits together anymore. Their biggest success in the last innings was Bryant Law leaving the game with an abdominal strain after retiring Lonzo with a lunging grab to lead off the ninth, to be replaced by Travis Edwards. 9-5 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Crum 2-3, BB, 2B; Crispin (PH) 1-2;

The … Loggers…?

Raccoons (0-3) vs. Falcons (1-2) – April 10-12, 2054

It didn’t surprise me much to find two things in Portland as we came there for the home opener: first, the Falcons, who had dropped two of three to the Bayhawks to begin the season, and second, Nick Valdes, who had a head as red as the circle on the Japanese flag after the Raccoons had been swept quite forcefully out of Portland. We had won seven of nine games against the Falcons in 2053.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (0-0) vs. Felix Castano (0-0)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0) vs. John Scott (0-0)
Seisaku Taki (0-1, 14.73 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (0-1, 11.12 ERA)

Still no southpaw in sight. The Coons would nevertheless rotate everybody out of the lineup at least once and maybe twice during this season-opening string of 16 games without a day off, beginning with Matt Cox on Friday to open this series.

Yes, Nick, I can hear you breathing. I could hear you from Milwaukee.

Game 1
CHA: 3B Arreola – C L. Miranda – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – 2b E. Stevens – 1B Allegood – CF F. Perez – P Castano
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – C C. Gowin – CF Suzuki – P Pickett

I desperately needed Arthur Pickett to hold up in this game, and he opened with two scoreless innings before coming to the plate with the bases loaded with the 6-7-8 batters in the bottom 2nd and only one out on the board. A sac fly to Fernando Perez gave the Coons a 1-0 lead, but was also all they would get in the inning, while Nick Valdes kept complaining to Maud about how I was wasting his money to put together the worst team ever. Lonzo singled and stole a base to begin the bottom 3rd, which was actually the first stolen bag for the team this year. Waters’ scratch single put runners on the corners, but again the Coons held themselves to a sac fly, by Pucks this time, before Ramsay rammed a ball into a double play to kill the inning.

Pickett looked good for a while, but the tying runs were on to begin the fifth inning. Mike Allegood singled, Fernando Perez walked, and the pitcher was ready to bunt them into scoring position… except that Castano bunted badly, Gowin was able to pounce on the ball right in front of the plate, and zinged it to third base to get a force out there. And then Juan Arreola’s double, Luis Miranda’s single, and Danny Ceballos’ grounder all scored a run and the Falcons took a 3-2 lead anyway….. Nick Valdes was gasping for air and Maud called for Dr. Padilla. It only got worse when the Coons opened the bottom 5th with straight hits from their 1-2-3 batters, tying the game, then had Pucks smash into a double play and Ramsay fly out to Billy Hester to kill another effort.

Pickett came out for the sixth, retired nobody, and left three hits and a run later with Erik Stevens and Allegood on the corners and nobody out. Lillis and Bak managed to extricate the Coons from that sticky situation with a pop, a K on Castano, and a groundout, limiting the deficit to 4-3, not that this made Valdes any happier. – I don’t know what to tell you, Nick, but we have the best lineup in the league. It will come through at some point! … I think. – Now that was uncalled for, Nick, and remember, there’s children present! (covers the fuzzy ears of Cristiano with both paws) – What do you mean, Cristiano, you’re 32…??

Matt Cox pinch-hit in the bottom 6th for Bak when the Raccoons had packed the bases with nobody out against Castano, and tied the game by ticking the first pitch he saw up the middle for a single. Venegas grounded to third base, getting Gowin forced out at home, but Lonzo pushed the go-ahead run across by drawing a walk. That was the end for Castano, but Waters got home one more run with a groundout against Alfonso Jewel before Pucks popped out to shallow center to strand a pair. Sencion and Alfaro then defended the lead by getting four and two outs, respectively, without conceding a run, while the bottom 8th saw three on and nobody out again for the Portlanders after singles for Dave Blackshire and Anton Venegas, and Lonzo reached on an error. The return, again, was minimal. Two strikeouts around a Pucks sac fly was all we got from the vaunted middle of the order. – I know, Nick, a grand slam would have been better. – Yes, that would have counted for four points.

The ninth went to Kevin Daley, who had been left to picking his nose for three days in Milwaukee, but now struck out two in a perfect inning to get the Coons into the damn W column. 7-4 Critters. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Lavorano 3-4, BB, RBI; Waters 2-5, 2 RBI; Crum 2-2, 2 BB; Suzuki 2-3; Cox (PH) 1-1, RBI; Blackshire (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
CHA: 3B Arreola – C L. Miranda – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – 2b E. Stevens – 1B Allegood – CF Whitehead – P J. Scott
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C C. Gowin – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – P Brobeck

Brobeck singled with two outs and two aboard, but unfortunately that was with Ramsay being the leading runner on second base, and he had no means of scoring against Danny Ceballos’ arm in rightfield. The bags were loaded and remained loaded once Venegas struck out, and the game remained scoreless. – No, Nick, they didn’t hit a grand slam this time, either. – Yes, Nick, it’s the best lineup in the league. – I know, Nick, *I* am the one that makes no sense…

The Falcons left the sacks full in the third inning, getting on Miranda with a 2-out walk and Ceballos and Hester with singles, but Ian Woodrome then struck out. Brobeck kept the bases busy, allowing three walks against four strikeouts in the first three innings, and his pitch count was already almost at 50. He ended up pitching five shutout innings before he got washed away, along with Scott, when the moody gray clouds over the ballpark opened and sent everybody seeking cover for a rain delay of over an hour. From there, Lillis (abused for four outings in five games) and Terrell kept the game scoreless for Portland, while Alfonso Jewel held the Coons away. The Falcons eventually got through against Hitchcock in the eighth inning; Luis Miranda hit a double to center, and with two outs Billy Hester chased home the run with a single through the right side.

Bottom 8th, Joe Gowin, Chris’ brother, walked Waters and Crum on base before being replaced with lefty Matt Malone. His first pitch to Ramsay was taken to the bottom of the fence in center for an RBI double, tying the game. Chris Gowin was walked intentionally, and the Coons sent Tyler Philipps to pinch-hit for Cox in search of a right-handed base knock. And they got one! Down 1-2, Philipps dug out a low fastball and slung it over Woodrome’s head for a go-ahead RBI single…! Blackshire batted for Suzuki and hit a 2-run double to left, at which point the Falcons brought in right-hander Koichi Miyatake. Crispin thus batted for Hitchcock, but lined out, yet Venegas and Lonzo churned the Japanese righty for two doubles and three more runs as the Coons exploded for a 7-spot after seven innings of spotty presence. Waters struck out, and a Lonzo error led to an unearned run on Hyun-soo Bak in the ninth inning, but the Raccoons managed to put their first winning streak of the year together. 7-2 Coons! Venegas 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Philipps (PH) 1-1, RBI; Blackshire (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Game 3
CHA: 3B Arreola – C L. Miranda – RF D. Ceballos – LF Hester – SS Woodrome – 2b E. Stevens – 1B Allegood – CF Whitehead – P Schaeffer
POR: SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – CF Cox – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – P Taki

Schaeffer lasted only one inning before departing for injury concerns, but by then was trailing 1-0 thanks to a Ken Crum bomb that made the leftfielder the first Coon to have a multi-homer season in 2054. Kyle Zanni replaced Schaeffer, while Taki allowed a single to Stevens and nothing else the first time through the Falcons order. Ceballos singled in the fourth and was stranded, and Stevens drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and was immediately doubled off by Mike Allegood. Which was about the point at which Nick suggested that the Raccoons might want to tack on an insurance run. Thankfully we had such a quick thinker for a team owner!

Crispin, who had hit a triple that had led nowhere in the bottom 2nd, singled with one out in the fifth, but was caught stealing then. Taki was looking to have a quick sixth with retirements of former Coon Fernando Perez and Juan Arreola, but then Luis Miranda doubled to left. Ceballos’ single tied the game, and Hester legged out an infield single. Uh-oh. Woodrome’s 3-run homer to right made the Falcons leaders in the game, 4-1. Oh for the love of Cookie…!

And despite the Falcons’ loss of their starter after one inning, the Coons couldn’t get through the bullpen. Zanni threw three scoreless innings, and Miyatake added two more. Joe Gowin was back out for the bottom 8th, and the Raccoons seemed to be able to sniff a comeback when he walked Philipps and Venegas to put the tying run in the box with nobody out. Lonzo flew out in a full count, Crum hit into a fielder’s choice, and Waters hit a crappy roller on the infield… and nobody got a grab on that one, RBI infield single…! The Falcons yanked Gowin for Malone, who had had every single feather plucked out of his body by the Coons on Saturday, and now walked Pucks to fill the bases. The Coons boldly sent Chris Gowin to bat for Ramsay against the left-hander, but the Falcons countered with righty Joe Thomlinson, who ran a full count on the Coons’ catcher, who had to evade an errant 3-2 pitch. The walk completed, a run was forced home, and the score was narrowed down to 4-3 with Cox now batting. He hit a drive to deep left … but Jalen Buckner made a running grab and the Coons were turned away. In response the Coons’ pen collapsed, Sencion and Hitchcock giving away four hits for three runs to the Falcons in the road half of the ninth inning. Sencion put Stevens and Allegood on the corners, and Hitchcock did little to keep them from scoring, with Ethan Whitehead and Arreola getting additional hits. 7-3 Falcons. Crispin 2-3, BB, 3B;

What do you mean, Nick, why aren’t the Raccoons high-fiving now that the game is over? – Because WE ******* LOST!!

In other news

April 8 – In the first overly long game of the year, the Thunder beat the Condors, 6-4 in 15 innings.
April 11 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (1-0, 0.00 ERA) fires a 2-hit shutout against the Bayhawks for a 4-0 Crusaders win.
April 12 – TOP SP Kennedy Adkins (2-0, 1.35 ERA) and TOP CL Trent O’Sullivan (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 1 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Wolves for a 3-0 Buffos win. The only Wolves hit is a single by catcher Valentino Sicco (.200, 0 HR, 1 RBI), who only enters the game in a double switch.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.500, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B/LF/RF Ken Crum (.476, 2 HR, 2 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Thankfully Nick Valdes has to leave now to attend an evil overlord conference in Lubumbashi, because otherwise I would have had to throw myself out the nearest window. He’s a lot to take. The Coons’ pitching is a lot to take. I can’t take both of them at the same time.

Bright spots? Few. Terrell and Bak pitched 7.1 innings without giving up an earned run so far. That’s… I don’t know, that’s all I have. When Lonzo leads the team in RBI and Brobeck all starters in ERA, you know things are going pear-shaped.

Matt Knight, Eric Reese, and Jeff Raczka – approximately in the order in which I would have hated to lose them on waivers – all arrived safely in AAA.

One more home series against the Baybirds, and then we’ll have a 2-week road trip upon us, the first station of which will by New York City.

Fun Fact: The last Opening Day starter for this team that wasn’t Wheats? Sadaharu Okuda in 2045.

Okuda came off a really good debut season then while Wheats had suffered through a second full season that saw him posting a 4.69 ERA – the worst of his career. In the end Okuda ended up falling from favor rather fast after this, while Wheats went from the #5 starter (!) in 2046 to winning his first ERA title the same year and then taking the ball first time out on the hill for eight straight seasons.

Yeah, Coons, go ahead and anger your rotation stalwart to begin a contract year!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (2-4) vs. Bayhawks (3-3) – April 13-15, 2054

The Baybirds had finished last in the South in 2053, but had a decent start to the new year. Scoring 28 and conceding 31 runs in their first six games, they were right around the middle of the league so far. There were some signs of trouble already, though, f.e. a league-worst 8.49 bullpen ERA after a week of play. The Coons had gone 7-2 against the Bayhawks last year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 5.14 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
He Shui (0-1, 18.90 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (0-1, 1.00 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (0-1, 15.00 ERA)

The 33-year-old Martinez would be the first southpaw opponent for Portland this year, and the only one coming up in this series.

Game 1
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – CF M. Brown – LF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – SS Peltier – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 3B Wiener – P Koga
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Cox – C Gowin – P Wheatley

Wheats struck out five the first time through the Bayhawks lineup, but he had also been perfectly fine through six against the Loggers, and then **** had hit the fan. The Coons gave him a 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st with a Venegas walk, Lonzo triple, and Waters single, but things started to fall apart rather quickly. Matt Waters left the game in the third inning with elbow soreness, to be replaced by Dave Blackshire, who immediately opened a defensive black hole on the right side that the Bayhawks hit a pair of singles through in the same inning, Matt Brown and Sam Witherspoon doing the honors. Danny Munn drew a walk in between, and Brown scored on Witherspoon’s ball past Blackshire. Adam Peltier then singled to center, Munn went for home from second base, but was thrown out by Matt Cox, ending the inning with the Coons still up 2-1.

The Raccoons remained stuck on three base hits through five innings, while the Bayhawks got Witherspoon on with a single in the sixth, and then Adam Peltier, former Coons farmhand, homered to left to flip the score to 3-2 San Francisco. Wheats was hit for to begin the bottom 6th, not that the move got the Coons anywhere nice. Pucks hit a single in the seventh, was forced out by Crum, and Ramsay rammed into a double play started by Peltier, whose very presence made me increasingly nauseous. Alfaro kept the Bayhawks in check for two innings, but Bobby Wiener and Matt Brown scratched out an insurance run against Kevin Daley in the ninth inning. Venegas led off the bottom 9th with a single to center, bringing the tying run to bat against righty Patrick Jones. Lonzo hit into a fielder’s choice, but Blackshire found a single to put Pucks into a walkoff position. He flew out to center, Crum found ******* Adam Peltier for a groundout, and the Coons kept losing. 4-2 Bayhawks. Lavorano 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waters 1-1, RBI; Alfaro 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Dr. Padilla reported that Waters might miss several games, up to the weekend, which sucked. Here was a problem with the roster – the middle infield backup was really just Dave Blackshire, and he was not a good middle infielder. There was now also no further middle infielder on the roster and Lonzo couldn’t get a day off.

Game 2
SFB: 2B A. Montoya – CF M. Brown – LF Munn – 1B Witherspoon – SS Peltier – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 3B Waldman – P T. Martinez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – RF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Philipps – CF de Lemos – 2B Blackshire – P Shui

To make it brief, Tony Martinez went 3-for-3 with the stick against He Shui, who was not quite as dismal as in his debut, but still sufficiently dismal to warrant boozing. Martinez opened a 4-run riot in the third inning by singling, followed by more singles by Armando Montoya and Matt Brown, who drove in the pitcher for the game’s first run, and then a 3-piece to left for Danny Munn, 4-0. That 4-0 score remained intact through six innings, with the Coons managing as many hits off Martinez as Martinez had against Shui. Martinez then doubled off Shui in the seventh, Brown drove in that runner, too, and Brett Lillis jr. completed the inning. The Coons got a run in the bottom 7th on Chris Gowin’s leadoff double and two productive outs (yey!), and in the eighth got Venegas and Lonzo into scoring position with a pair of singles and a team effort of a bobbled ball for an extra base for the runners. Ken Crum flew out to Jorge Felix on a 3-2 pitch, Venegas went home – and was thrown out for an inning-ending 9-2 double play. Rob Waldman in turn took Jason Terrell deep in the ninth inning, while the visitors’ Cody Lovett walked Pucks and gave up that run on a 2-out triple by Mikio Suzuki, but rung up Blackshire to end the game. 6-2 Bayhawks. Venegas 2-4; Lavorano 2-4; Suzuki (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI;

Eight games in, we had the worst rotation by ERA, the second-most runs allowed, and we had the tied-worst record in the league.

And according to Maud we had Nick Valdes back on line 3, so I had to duck for the nearest bathroom. Arthur Pickett suggested getting an answerphone, but I wondered whether he shouldn’t be worrying about his pitchcraft more.

Game 3
SFB: RF Felix – SS Peltier – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – C J. Ortiz – CF M. Brown – 1B Caban – 3B Waldman – P Ruggiero
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Blackshire – P Pickett

The Coons found themselves behind again in the second inning, when Matt Brown singled, stole second, and scored when Pickett, Sheffield’s finest, had a throw by Ramsay skip by him at first base to allow the runner home on a 2-base error. Blimey! At least the Coons tied it up quickly. Ramsay doubled to left to begin the bottom 2nd, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on Gowin’s groundout.

When Pickett wasn’t missing picks at first, he wasn’t half as bad as the top 3 in the rotation had been – so far 0-6 with an ERA of glob. Pickett whiffed seven through five innings against three base hits, the same amount the Coons got off Ruggiero. That was before the Bayhawks added three more hits in the sixth inning. Munn singled, Jorge Ortiz doubled, and Matt Brown singled home the go-ahead run, all to left or left-center, before Armando Caban grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Pickett got through seven for one more hit by Rob Waldman to lead off the top 7th, from where the Bayhawks hit into two fielder’s choices and grounded out again with Peltier after that, but Portland’s 5-6-7 batters went in order in the bottom 7th and Pickett remained on the hook. Top 8th, Bak struck out two in retiring the 3-4-5 batters in order, and when Pucks hit for him in the bottom 8th, he turned an 0-2 from Ruggiero around for a homer to right, taking Pickett off the cleave with the game tied at two – not that Pickett noticed; after leaving the game he had gone to the loo in the clubhouse and was now stuck there as the bumf had run out.

Daley kept the game tied in the top of the ninth, while Ruggiero was still going on 111 pitches against the meat of the order in the bottom of that inning. He retired them in order, and the game went to extras. Daley, who had gone through the ninth on eight pitches, did the 10th, as well, getting around a leadoff single by Chris Baker with the help of Lonzo, who started a double play on Peltier’s grounder to short. It was then Peltier’s cockup that would give the Coons the winning run at second base with nobody out in the bottom 10th, throwing away Cox’ grounder for two bases behind Patrick Jones. Suzuki was half-heartedly walked, while Blackshire was asked to bunt, and did so very badly, getting Cox forced out at third base. Crispin hit into a fielder’s choice, but Venegas ended the game with a walkoff single to center. 3-2 Raccoons. Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Pickett 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K and 1-2; Daley 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (3-6) @ Crusaders (5-3) – April 16-19, 2054

Pickett was eventually rescued and made it to New York with the rest of the team, where the third-place Crusaders awaited for a four-game dance card. They were seventh in runs scored, and third in runs allowed, with a +6 run differential so far. They had won 12 of 19 games against the Coons in 2053, a factoid I was not yet ready to talk more about. Their bench was potentially short to begin the series, with both Oscar Caballero and Raul Sevilla laboring on nagging injuries.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (0-2, 8.44 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (0-1, 13.50 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-2, 4.85 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (0-1, 3.71 ERA)
He Shui (0-2, 10.80 ERA) vs. Jim White (0-0, 1.13 ERA)

Only right-handers again? Where did all the southpaws go…!?

The Coons were of course in with a short bench of their own, with Waters still out for at least the opener. He had gotten an injection into the elbow on Wednesday in Portland, and I got myself an injection at the liquor store opposite the ballpark before that series even began…

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C Philipps – 2B Blackshire – P Brobeck
NYC: CF Kissler – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 2B C. Navarro – LF Foss – P Seiter

The Raccoons loaded the bases in the second inning when Seiter walked Cox and Philipps, and Blackshire snuck a single through the right side, but Brobeck whiffed and Venegas grounded out, and nobody scored. The Coons’ offense was two Lonzo singles and twice Lonzo being caught stealing by Mike Seidman before Crum and Ramsay went to the corners in the top 3rd and Matt Cox powered a homer to left for a 3-0 lead. Brobeck went on to knock Prince Gates out of the game by drilling him right in the funny bone with a fastball. The Crusaders were assured of vengeance, given that Andrew Russ replaced Gates. Russ stole a base right away, but was stranded with two groundouts.

Seiter again issued consecutive walks in the fourth inning, but this time to the 8-9 batters in the Coons’ lineup and to begin the inning. Venegas grounded out, advancing the runners, but Lonzo grounded out to Russ and Ken Crum’s foul pop stranded them right there. By the way, did I mention vengeance earlier? The bottom 4th began with two outs before Chris Navarro singled off Brobeck. Aaron Foss drew a walk. Seiter singled home a run, which was when I started to drink. Brobeck walked Aaron Kissler to fill the bases, then issued three straight bases-loaded, full-count walks to the 2-3-4 batters to find himself 4-3 behind… and yanked from the game. Alfaro replaced him and got Raul Sevilla to fly out to right, ending the ******* inning. Brobeck left with six ******* walks issued, a number also reached by Seiter once he shuffled Pucks to first base at the start of the fifth inning. Pucks stole second, then scored on a pair of groundouts, tying the score at four, with all Portland RBI’s going on Cox’ ledger.

That didn’t last long. Alfaro batted for himself and made the third out after Philipps and Blackshire reached base in the top 5th, then offered two leadoff walks in the bottom 5th and got burned for three runs on three hits by Foss, Mike Bednarz, and Russ, that ******* skunk *********. Aaron Kissler would add two more with a homer off Terrell in the seventh inning, and the Raccoons just kept getting kicked and pummeled: Eloy Sencion gave up another homer to Aaron Foss in the bottom 8th, that one being a solo shot. 10-4 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-5; Philipps 2-3, BB; Blackshire 2-3, BB;

…

Game 2
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Cox – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – 2B Blackshire –
P Taki
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena

Lonzo actually managed to not get thrown out after singling in the first inning, but was also stranded on second base. The Coons took a lead in the top 2nd, though. Gowin and Ramsay went to the corners, and the catcher scored when Ed Crispin snuck a single through between the middle infielders. Blackshire, Taki, and Venegas in that order lined out, struck out, and grounded out, stranding a pair, and there was no further scoring until the fifth inning, when Blackshire and Venegas got on base and Lonzo beat Kissler in left-center for a 2-run double, extending the lead to 3-0. And it wasn’t as if Taki had suddenly found peak form, but at least he kept the bombardment to a minimum. The Crusaders had only one base hit through four innings, although he had also walked a pair, and Blackshire had made an error for some more traffic. Five strikeouts, though. Taki returned to the mound with a 4-0 lead, Pucks having driven in Lonzo in the top 5th, gave up a leadoff single to Kissler, but Foss grounded right at Blackshire and the Coons turned two on that ball. Then Sopena singled. Oh splendid – a 2-out single by a pitcher. Nothing wrong has ever happened after THAT…! Taki walked Ronnie Thompson, Prince Gates, bum elbow or not, singled home a run, and Sanchez walked to fill the bases, and then somehow Danny Rivera grounded out to let Taki go.

Top 6th, Sopena filled the bases with the 6-7-8 batters on two walks surrounding an Ed Crispin hit, but thought he’d get an out from Taki. But Taki slapped the first pitch through the right side for an RBI single, giving himself a 5-1 lead. Only one more run scored on Venegas’ 5-4-3 double play, and Lonzo struck out. Taki gave up a single to Seidman and a homer to Foss in the bottom of the inning to soil his line after all, leaving in a 6-3 game. As if that would stop the meltdown! Bottom 7th, Alfaro got one out from Thompson before nailing poor Prince Gates, who this time stayed in the game. Lillis took over tossing, giving up a double to Omar Sanchez, who tore out a leg and was replaced with Navarro, then got a grounder to Blackshire, which was lobbed past Ramsay for a run-scoring error. JESUS H. CHRIST!! With the tying runs on the corners, the switch-hitting Sevilla struck out before the Coons made a double switch to get Hitchcock on the hill. Cox was out of the game, with Dave de Lemos going into center. Hitchcock struck out Seidman, which was at least ending the damn inning.

Navarro lobbed away Crispin’s grounder for a 2-base error to begin the eighth inning, and were those really the teams that had tied for first place last year? None on the Coons ever managed to advance Crispin, which gave me harder headaches than any booze ever could, but at least Hitchcock had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom 8th. Daley struck out Thompson to begin the bottom 9th, then had Gates tick a single and Navarro scratch out a walk to put the tying runs on base. Ramsay made a nifty pick on a Rivera bouncer, though, fired to second for the out, and the return throw to first base was in time to end the game with a 3-6-3 double play…! 6-4 Coons. Venegas 2-5; Crispin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Blackshire 1-2, 2 BB;

Omar Sanchez, hitting .316 with 6 RBI, was expected to miss at least a week with a hamstring strain, only deepening the Crusaders’ injury woes. They kept him on the roster, where they now had three dinged-up position players, even when Oscar Caballero reported for duty again on Saturday. Same for Matt Waters – after missing four games, he was back on his hindpaws on Saturday. Blackshire remained in the lineup – Lonzo had yet to get a day off after starting all 11 games so far without an off day.

I had also threatened it for a while – but Kyle Brobeck would make his first career start at third base on Saturday.

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – 2B Waters – RF Crum – CF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – SS Blackshire – P Wheatley
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B Russ – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P A. Murillo

Alex Murillo had been acquired only this week by the Crusaders in a trade that sent Mark Haney and a prospect to the Buffaloes. He didn’t allow much in the first two innings, and while Brobeck didn’t immediately kill Wheats on D, Blackshire did, fumbling Caballero’s double play grounder for an error after Prince Gates had opened the bottom 2nd with a single. Foss hit a 1-out RBI single to get New York ahead before Murillo bunted a hard comebacker at Wheats, who took it to third base to start a 1-5-3 double play. The Crusaders went on to chip three singles to load the bags with Thompson, Russ, and Rivera in the bottom 3rd. Gates flew out to right, where Crum fired home, but couldn’t get Thompson, not even close, and then left the game with a bum shoulder. Kissler doubled, Foss walked, the Crusaders put up a 4-spot, and the Raccoons were drowning early again. Wheatley allowed another run in the bottom 5th, that one coming on two singles and a Brobeck error. (bites into his fist)

At the same time the Raccoons had one hit off the occasional reliever Alex Murillo in the first five innings, from which they seamlessly went into pounding the right-hander for a 5-spot in the sixth. Starting with Waters, the first five Raccoons all rapped base hits, plating two and putting three aboard. Brobeck’s groundout scored a run, but Blackshire whiffed. Lonzo batted for Wheatley, singled home a pair, and then was caught stealing again. The Crusaders answered with Bednarz and Sevilla singles to hang a sixth-inning run on Terrell, which Waters clawed back with a homer to left in the seventh, 7-6. Suzuki grounded out, Pucks doubled, and Gowin hit a soft single, but Pucks was stopped at third base with the tying run, where he remained when Neal Hamann got Ramsay to ground out. Terrell, Lillis, and Hitchcock pieced together the seventh and eighth innings on the hound while keeping the Crusaders to a 1-run lead, but the Coons were held away by Eddie Sotelo in the eighth inning before facing Ryan Sullivan in the ninth. Venegas, Waters, and Suzuki struck out in order, ending the game. 7-6 Crusaders. Waters 2-5, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gowin 3-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Ken Crum would miss at least a few days with a sore shoulder now, similar to the Waters deal that we had just gotten through. Ah, the joys of a short bench and a completely braindead rotation…

Game 4
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Shui
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B Russ – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P J. White

The Coons went up 1-0 with a leadoff double by Venegas and two helpful outs from Lonzo and Waters, which was better than nothing, and it became 2-0 in the third inning when Lonzo doubled home de Lemos with two outs. Lonzo, by far the team RBI leader at that point, because baseball tended to be funny like that, got one more in the fifth, again with two outs, singling to left-center to get in Venegas, who had also singled and stolen second base, his first theft as a Critter. There was not much more going on; the Coons had no other base runners than those mentioned through five, while He Shui looked like he had his crap together now. Sevilla had a hit in the first, Thompson had one in the third, but he struck out four in as many shutout innings before being given the extended 3-0 lead. Bottom 5th, Kissler and Foss went to the corners with 1-out singles, and White swung away, but hit into a fielder’s choice. Thompson eeked out a walk, loading the bases, making me queasy, especially with Andrew ******* Russ up, but the dismal stinker flew out easily to de Lemos to end the inning and sink the tying runs.

Lonzo was batting again with two gone in the seventh, but this time with nobody on. He reached with a single anyway, stole second, and was then singled home by Waters, 4-0. Pucks grounded out, but after Shui added another shutout inning, Chris Gowin opened the eighth with a homer to left. Devin Crawford issued a 2-out walk to de Lemos, who was running with Shui batting and scored when Shui buried a double in the left-center gap. Venegas grounded out, giving the ball back to Shui, who entered the bottom 8th on 99 pitches, so a shutout was unlikely. Navarro flew out, but Thompson, while whiffing, ran a long at-bat and Shui was then lifted with 109 pitches and four outs still to go. Bak would get the last four outs for the Coons for an all-Asian combined 5-hit shutout. 6-0 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2B, RBI; Shui 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1-2) and 1-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

April 13 – MIL SP Jeff Fox (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and MR Tyler Riddle (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Falcons. The Loggers win, 4-0, opposed only by a single by Juan Arreola (.219, 1 HR, 4 RBI).
April 13 – OCT 1B/LF/RF Ryan Cox (.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI) could miss three months with a torn meniscus.
April 13 – Titans INF Adriano Chavez (.214, 0 HR, 2 RBI) could be done with baseball for the year after breaking his kneecap.
April 14 – ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.417, 1 HR, 5 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 4-3 loss to the Crusaders. The 34-year-old goes 4-for-4 with one RBI in the losing effort.
April 15 – The Crusaders trade INF Mark Haney (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to the Buffaloes, along with #73 prospect C Jerry Martinez, for MR Alex Murillo (0-1, 0.00 ERA).
April 16 – DAL 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.313, 0 HR, 2 RBI) might be out for the season after tearing his UCL.
April 17 – Gold Sox closer Mike Lynn (1-0, 1.17 ERA, 4 SV) puts away his 300th game in a 4-1 win over the Warriors. The 36-year-old three-time Reliever of the Year, has saved games for four different teams in his career, going 63-53 with a 2.46 ERA and 877 K in 766 innings.
April 18 – TOP SP Bill Hernandez (1-0, 4.91 ERA) 1-hits the Cyclones in a 4-0 shutout. The lone Cyclones base knock is a single by SS/3B Juan Ojeda (.353, 0 HR, 4 RBI) to begin the ballgame. Hernandez then retires the next 27 batters in order.
April 18 – The Warriors trade 3B/1B Doug Triplett (.278, 1 HR, 2 RBI) to the Miners for 2B/SS Ryan Harris (.297, 0 HR, 2 RBI).
April 19 – The Condors get 3B Mike Crenshaw (.500, 1 HR, 3 RBI) from the Thunder in exchange for OF Ricky Lamotta (.333, 0 HR, 4 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: PIT INF Victor Corrales (.382, 4 HR, 12 RBI), batting .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.429, 1 HR, 8 RBI), hitting .611 (11-18) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Huh? What? Sorry, I was scouring the waiver wire for a new roster.

The top 3 in the rotation all had three cracks at it, and apart from Taki and Shui in New York now and Wheats for six innings against the Loggers (but not seven…) have been atrocious. 2-7 with a 6.36 ERA in total. Yikes!

Compared to that disaster, the pen has mostly held up, despite being asked to pitch a lot of innings already. Still – most runs allowed in the league, exactly five per game, and it’s mostly on the rotation, which has the worst ERA in the CL, and the defense is wickedly also rated like a snuff movie… how much of that is Waters missing for most of this week? Blackshire just isn’t a second baseman. If he was hitting under .273 I’d have a bit of an excuse to drop him for a proper middle infielder.

What else is going wrong? Crum is probably going to missing all of the following series in Elk City, and Matt Cox, despite a neat 3-run homer this week, so far is Tony Lopez 2.0, which sounds as bad as it is. Pucks and Venegas, and especially Ramsay, are also not clicking yet.

And despite all of that rah-rah about everything wrong with the lineup, we’re at least in third place in runs scored in the CL. It could be worse.

But not by much.

Three more cities on the road: Elk City, Atlanta, Vegas. And that would already be the end of April then.

Fun Fact: Leo Villacorta hit for his second career cycle this week. He had previously done so as a member of the Dallas Stars.

That was all the way back in 2042! This makes Villacorta the player with the farthest-apart individual cycles, at 11 years, 7 months, and 8 days, beating out the previous record of Bruce Boyle, whose two cycles came 10 years, 10 months, and 4 days apart, but with the same team, the 1992 and 2003 Condors.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-8) @ Canadiens (9-2) – April 20-22, 2054

The only thing worse than starting the season like the Coons had done was to see the damn stinking Elks in first place with an excellent start… and then having to send the boys up there, where judging by how it had been going so far (splendidly! No panic whatsoever!), they’d catch at least frostbite and perhaps a few more digits for that ghastly rotation ERA… The Elks had beaten the Coons 10-8 last season, and so far had allowed the fewest runs in the CL, while scoring the fifth-most, with a +18 run differential (Coons: -9). The Elks had Dan Mullen on the DL, while the Raccoons carried around Ken Crum on the roster. He was unlikely to appear in this series at all.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (0-0, 3.75 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (0-1, 1.20 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (1-0, 4.72 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (1-2, 7.02 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (2-0, 2.02 ERA)

Overy would only be the second left-handed opponent we came up against this year.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF Suzuki– P Pickett
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 1B Wheeler – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF Magnussen – 3B F. Marquez – LF T. Turner – SS Uranga – P Herman

Lonzo hit a single and stole second in the opening inning, but was left on base. Things went better in the second inning, with Gowin, Ramsay, and Suzuki loading the bases with a bunch of singles before Tony Aparicio dove but missed a Pickett grounder for another single, that one scoring the game’s first run. Herman walked in the second run against Anton Venegas, but then Lonzo popped out to Aparicio and Waters flew out to Adam Magnussen to strand three runners. It didn’t take long for the gobby Elks to draw even again facing Tommy Pickett, who gave up a leadoff double to Tristan Waker in the bottom 2nd, conceding that run on two groundouts, and then Pickett blundered a Jose Uranga grounder to begin the bottom 3rd, and the Elks would push that run around to score as well with the help of a Damian Moreno single. Finally in the bottom 4th, Waker walked and Tim Turner cranked a 2-run six-pointer to dead-center, giving the Elks a 4-2 lead, and leaving me back home in Portland with a desire to call 9-9-9 for assistance…

Assistance was duly rendered by the top of the order to begin the fifth inning. Venegas singled, Lonzo got nicked, a double steal put them in scoring position, and Matt Waters obliged with a 2-run single to right, evening the score at four. Another double by Pucks put two in scoring position again. Gowin’s sac fly gave the Coons a 5-4 lead, but the inning fizzled out from there. The union jack would be lowered in the bottom 6th; Waker singled to right to lead off, but was forced out by Magnussen. Ball four to Felix Marquez ended Pickett’s day before tea time, however, and the ball went to Sencion for the left-handers at the bottom of the pile. He got Turner to ground out before inexplicably walking both Jose Uranga and PH Ricky Jimenez (!) to tie the game. Pucks secured a Moreno fly to end the inning, all even at five. Alfaro also walked a pair in the bottom 7th, but had Mikio Suzuki haul in a couple of dangerous fly balls to at least not allow any runs… Dan Lawrence and Brett Lillis jr. exchanged scoreless eighth innings, but the Coons still couldn’t reach base against Ruben Mendez the inning after. The Elks then walked off against Jason Terrell, who retired nobody. Moreno singled to center, Jeff Wheeler walked, and Aparicio hit another single to center that brought the curtains down. 6-5 Canadiens.

Everybody in the lineup – including Pickett – had exactly one base hit. I would have preferred a W.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – 2B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 3B Crispin – P Brobeck
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 1B Wheeler – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF K. Hawkins – RF Magnussen – 3B F. Marquez – SS Uranga – P Bulas

Brobeck got a 2-0 lead when he took the mound, courtesy of the 3-4-5 batters cluttering the bases in the top 1st after two outs were made, and then Ramsay finding a cozy spot to hit a single to in shallow rightfield, plating a pair to triple his annual RBI total to three. Brobeck promptly walked two Elks in the bottom 1st, although a double play bailed him out there. Felix Marquez drew a 2-out walk in the bottom 2nd and went for third base on Uranga’s single to right, but was thrown out there by Matt Cox. Tony Lopez 2.0 then doubled with one out in the fourth inning, but Crispin couldn’t get him home. Brobeck did, though, singling to center to extend his lead to 3-0. Lonzo reached on an error, but Suzuki grounded out to end the inning. Ed Crispin was batting again with the bases loaded in the fifth after the 5-6-7 batters had all flocked on base with two outs, but again had nothing countable to offer, grounding out to Aparicio.

The Elks reached the scoreboard in the bottom 5th then, getting going with 2-strike leadoff singles by Marquez and Uranga. The runners were in motion on a 3-2 pitch to Bulas (which in itself was a sad point to reach), who struck out, but Gowin for reasons only sounding logical in his own numb skull tried to throw out Marquez at third base. Instead he fired the ball past Crispin for an error, a run scored, and Uranga moved to third base. Damian Moreno’s wallbanger triple in right-center narrowed the score to 3-2, Brobeck fumbled Wheeler on base with four balls, and then somehow bailed out when Aparicio found another 6-4-3 double play to hit into, with the Critters still 3-2 ahead.

Top 6th, Brobeck led off and reached base when Uranga threw away his grounder for two free bases. The Elks walked the Coons’ RBI leader, Lonzo, but Bulas got burned by Suzuki with an RBI double to left, 4-2. Two in scoring position, nobody out, the Coons managed to not score any more runs with three absolutely pathetic groundouts in a row, at which point I tried to suffocate myself with a pillow, which somehow refused to work, and Honeypaws was unwilling to render assistance either. At least Brobeck retired another eight Elks before Tristan Waker’s 2-out single in the bottom 8th sent him to bed after 111 pitches. Kyle Hawkins flew out to left against Sencion to end the inning. Sencion also collected a groundout from Magnussen before Daley entered the bottom 9th with a third of the job already done. Marquez hit a single, but Uranga and Dan Riley grounded out to end the game and level the series. 4-2 Raccoons. Puckeridge 2-5; Ramsay 2-4, 2 RBI; Brobeck 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, W (1-0) and 1-4, RBI;

Brobeck’s performance is only worth mentioning because we’ve been fiendishly starved for ANY pitching performance that didn’t move one to tears…

For the rubber game, the Coons managed to put Ken Crum together so far that he could at least man first base, where not a lot of throwing duty was to be expected, giving Ramsay the day off against the southpaw.

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Blackshire – C Philipps – CF de Lemos – P Taki
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 1B Wheeler – 2B Aparicio – LF K. Hawkins – RF Magnussen – 3B F. Marquez – C Julio Diaz – SS Uranga – P Overy

Crum singled to begin the top 2nd, but was forced out by Pucks and the inning led nowhere in particular. The Coons would do the double steal with Venegas and Lonzo and then a 2-run single by Waters again in the third inning, but by then that merely tied the game at two after Taki had taken another one to the snout in the bottom 2nd, offering a single, a walk, and then having Philipps bobble a pitch for a passed ball. Bobbleheads, all o’ them! – The Elks went on to plate both runners on a sac fly by Uranga and a 2-out single by Overy (…), then took a 5-2 lead in the bottom 3rd on a huge homer by Marquez. (picks up the phone to call the office) – Yes, Cristiano? Can you check the contract with… yes, do we have a return policy for Taki to send him back to the Fukushima Lemon Biters? – I thought so. – (calmly puts down the phone and cries into a pillow)

Taki fooled his way into the fourth, but was sent packing with 2-out singles by Wheeler and Aparicio. Hawkins grounded out against Lillis, while the Coons made up a run in the top 5th with some sod or other on base (it was hard to see with wet eyes) and Hawkins dropping a fly ball for a 2-base error. Top 6th, a Venegas triple and Lonzo single narrowed the score further to 5-4, but Lonzo was left on base. The tying run was on again in the eighth inning when the Elks still had Dan Lawrence left over from the seventh, but once Suzuki batted for de Lemos, they went to Bernardino Risso. Suzuki reached, if only on an error, then was thrown out at second base on a failed hit-and-run with Ramsay hitting for the pitcher in the #9 hole. Both Ramsay and Venegas made outs to end the inning. Hitchcock held the Elks to their 1-run lead in the bottom 8th, while it was Ruben Mendez against the 2-3-4 batters in the ninth. Lonzo grounded out, but Waters singled. Crum forced out the lead runner with another grounder, but Pucks singled and sent Crum to third base with two outs. Ed Crispin batted for Blackshire against the right-hander Mendez, but struck out, and that was that… 5-4 Canadiens. Venegas 2-5, 3B; Lavorano 2-3, RBI; Waters 2-5, 2 RBI; Crum 2-5, 2B; Bak 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Blargh.

Raccoons (6-10) @ Knights (9-7) – April 24-26, 2054

The Knights had a negative run differential (-6) with the third-most runs allowed in the CL, but the Coons were still worst in that regard. With them, it was a highly explosive bullpen though, the rotation ranked second in ERA. They ranked fifth in runs scored (Coons: 3rd). The Raccoons had won the season series three years running, 6-3 in 2053.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-3, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (1-1, 4.05 ERA)
He Shui (1-2, 6.11 ERA) vs. Matt Weber (2-1, 3.60 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (0-0, 4.67 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (2-0, 4.08 ERA)

Here came the southpaws – ex-Coon Baker to start the series, and almost-Coon Malla to end it with a Southpaw Sunday.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – C Gowin – 3B Blackshire – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Wheatley
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – 3B Villacorta – 2B Housey – P J. Baker

While Wheats walked the leadoff batter Jon Alade and bailed out with a 4-6-3 double play hit into by Pedro Almaguer in the first, the Coons couldn’t score in the second with the benefit of a leadoff walk to Ken Crum, a passed ball AND a wild pitch on the Knights’ confused battery. Jay Rogers’ leadoff double to left in the bottom 2nd did lead to a run on two productive groundouts, and here Wheats was, trailing again. And, Wheats, honey, I don’t want to sound smart or anything, but maybe try to NOT put the leadoff man on base from time to time? The Knights’ leadoff batter reached in EVERY ******* INNING (but the fifth), with leadoff walks in the third and fourth, the latter leading to the Georgians’ second run with a wild pitch and two more HELPFUL outs, and again in the sixth, although then Rogers found another double play to wobble into. Baker by then was in a real groove, holding the Raccoons to two hits and a walk, and certainly no runs. Wheats pitched the seventh, putting on the leadoff batter the sixth out of seven times, this time, uh, only briefly, as Chris Kirkwood went all the way ‘round with a leadoff jack to left. Terrell pitched a scoreless eighth, while the Knights had David Hardaway in against the top of the Portland lineup in the ninth inning. Venegas flew out to right, Lonzo flew out to left, and then Waters flew out to center – all the way out, 430 feet and clonking high off the batter’s eye to break up the shutout. Crum’s grounder ended the crummy game. 3-1 Knights.

Wheats allowed three hits, but five walks, and I’m currently a bit cautious with offering him a 5-yr, $25M extension…

Dr. Padilla, I could use something to pull up the old corners of the snout. – What do you mean, you already took it all yourself??

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – P Shui
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Wada – 3B Villacorta – 2B Housey – P Weber

Kirkwood lasted only an inning and a half before tearing out a limb on a headfirst slide and catch of a Chris Gowin liner, to be replaced by Dylan Wright, who threw poorly to home on Venegas’ single to left in the third inning, allowing Matt Cox to score from second base for the first run of the game. Shui survived scattering three hits and a Lonzo error the first time through the Knights order, as well as nicking Rogers and walking Wright in the bottom 3rd. Light rain started in the fourth, as did the Knights rallying to make up the narrow deficit with a leadoff triple for Leo Villacorta. Matt Housey popped out, but Weber’s sac fly tied the game at one.

Shui would face only one more batter, walking Almaguer to begin the bottom 5th before the rains got too heavy and a rain delay of over an hour knocked him from the game. When play resumed, Eloy Sencion walked Rogers and gave up a double to Wright, and Hitchcock threw a wild pitch that almost took Jushiro Wada’s legs off, plating a total of two runs before Villacorta grounded out to end the damn inning.

Top 6th, Eli Dupuis gave up a leadoff double to Lonzo and walked Pucks with one out. Crum popped out, but Gowin singled to left, allowing Lonzo to reach home plate and narrow the score to 3-2. A walk to Ramsay loaded the bases for Tony Lopez 2.0, who nevertheless dumped a single into shallow right to tie the game. Crispin batted for Hitchcock and made him a potential winner with a 2-run single through the left side. The Knights brought a new pitcher, and Bill Quinn secured a groundout from Venegas to end the 4-run inning, although Hyun-soo Bak gave back one run right away. Pat Stipp singled to right, Cox overran the ball for an extra base, and Almaguer singled with two outs, 5-4, but Bak and Lillis held the score from here until Lonzo got on with a single in the ninth inning, stole two bases, and scored on Pucks’ sac fly for an insurance run, 6-4. Daley began the bottom 9th on the wrong paw right away, with a sharp single for Jon Alade, and another sharp liner by Almaguer that somehow ended up in Crispin’s glove at third base. Daley balked the runner into scoring position, then conceded the run on a 2-out single by Jay Rogers. Oh my, thank golly goodness we got that insurance run just five minutes earlier…! What would we have done without that one…!?

Turns out we would have lost just as ******* badly on Dylan ******* Wright’s 2-strike, 2-out, 2-run walkoff bomb, 439 ******* feet into the nearest ******* peach orchard. 7-6 Knights. Lavorano 4-5, 2B; Gowin 2-4, RBI; Cox 3-4, RBI;

(staggers into the visitors’ clubhouse with a bottle in his paw, glimmering cigarette in the corner of his snout, wearing very dark shades and no pants) **** peaches!! And… (wobbles up to Kevin Daley and starts kicking him) AND **** YOU!!!

Daley survived, but only because Ken Crum and Matt Waters pulled me off him when I was already on his neck. Eric Hartwig opined they should have let me have a go, though, since according to him, Daley was just as useless as any other player on the roster.

…

Before the Sunday game I shared a cancer stick with Arthur Pickett, who wondered out loud whether the team was always this dysfunctional. – Nah, only when we’re playing .333 ball…

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF de Lemos – P Pickett
ATL: CF Alade – 3B Villacorta – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – RF Woden – C S. Suggs – LF Wada – 2B Housey – P Malla

The Raccoons ran up four in the first inning, which started innocently enough with Venegas walking. Malla then threw away a pickoff attempt, and Waters doubled home the runner, taking over the team RBI lead from Lonzo with 14. Gowin walked with two outs, Pucks singled to right, and Waters bid for home from second base on the play. The throw was well late, but allowed the trailing runners to reach scoring position, from where Kyle Brobeck, making another excursion to third base, singled them home to get to 4-0 – with Monday off, we were still two days away from his next scheduled start. Brobeck also shone on the other side of the box score with a 5-U double play in the bottom 1st, when the Knights had Alade and Acosta in scoring position and one out and Rogers lined right into his mitten. Alade had left the base and was casually doubled up when Brobeck clawed the bag ahead of him.

Malla didn’t make it out of the second inning, in which Lonzo also took back the team RBI lead with a triple to left-center when Pickett and Venegas were on the corners. Waters popped out, but Crum singled home Lonzo, 7-0, which was the end for Malla, and maybe now Pickett could get his first decision as a Raccoon! …especially since the team produced yet more offense. Lonzo batted with Pickett (who had bunted badly to force out Brobeck) and Venegas on the corners yet again in the third inning, and that time around settled for a 2-out RBI single to center off Sam Geren. Waters flew out to strand two, but another pair was in scoring position with nobody out in the fourth as Crum walked and Gowin doubled. Pucks was half-heartedly walked, but Brobeck hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 9-0. De Lemos struck out, but Pickett’s sac fly and Venegas RBI single added two more runs before Lonzo was retired on a grounder to short to end the inning. Pickett shuffled the bags full with the 3-4-5 batters to begin the bottom 4th, but then got a Sean Suggs grounder to short for a run-scoring double play, which sure sugged for the former Raccoons catcher. Wada’s groundout ended the inning.

Right-hander Jeff Frank, who had been on the Crusaders for a number of years, then shut down the offense for a while, but three innings into his outing ran into Waters and Gowin on base and Pucks singling to center with two outs. Waters went for home and scored when Alade’s throw was cut off, 12-1. Brobeck hit a hissing liner, but that one went right to Alade for the third out. The Coons then removed some regulars at the seventh inning stretch, while Pickett would be done after seven innings and 98 pitches. Sencion and Alfaro pitched the rest of the way. 12-1 Raccoons. Venegas 3-5, BB, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Blackshire 1-1; Waters 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Gowin 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Brobeck 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Pickett 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

In other news

April 20 – The Thunder are going to lose SP David Barel (3-0, 0.75 ERA) for at least two months with a herniated disc in the 32-year-old’s back.
April 23 – IND SP Jimmy Charles (1-1, 2.18 ERA) collects his first major league win at age 33, shutting out the Loggers on three hits in his third career start. The Indians run away with it, too, winning 8-0.
April 25 – The Crusaders trounce the Falcons, 14-5, including an 11-spot in the fourth inning. NYC INF Prince Gates (.485, 0 HR, 10 RBI) has four hits with a double and two RBI, the only Crusaders hitter to have more than two in hits or RBI or runs scored.
April 26 – Gold Sox SP Chris Jones (2-2, 1.69 ERA) throws a no-hitter in a 4-0 win over the Rebels! Jones walks two and strikes out eight Rebs in the triumph. This is the second Gold Sox no-hitter in just over eight months after Nick Robinson no-hit the Stars on August 23, 2053.

FL Player of the Week: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.353, 4 HR, 15 RBI), batting .429 (9-21) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Prince Gates (.486, 0 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .654 (17-26) with 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Is it getting late early?

The rotation remains the worst in the league, but at least we scrubbed the ERA down to 5.27 this week and everybody but Wheats has won a game by now. Wheats remains a soggy 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA. Too many walks, but also too many hits and an unkind BABIP. There’s definitely room for improvement.

Besides, we know he’s totally a second half pitcher. (takes another big gulp from a bottle with a label reading just “XXX”)

We’re in Vegas on the way home, then will host the Loggers and Titans during a 7-game homestand. The Coons will not cross the Mississippi in all of May – only three road series, and the furthest east there would be Dallas. In fact, our next series in the eastern half of the country won’t be until June 16, the start of a 6-game trip to Nashville and Indy. Don’t get me started on the travel itinerary in the second half of the year, though… Those New York / Elk City road trips just never get old…

Fun Fact: The Rebels have been no-hit three times in the last seven seasons.

There’s Jones on Sunday, and then there was a pair of no-hitters that the Buffaloes hung on them in the 2047 season: Jose Arias’ perfect game on April 30, and then a more standard no-no by Kuniyoshi Nagai on September 8, both taking place in Topeka.

The most recent Rebels no-hitter took place, funnily enough, against the Gold Sox: Todd Wood did the honors to them in Denver on July 25, 2025. That one came in between two perfect games in three years against the Rebels: WAS Eric Williams’ on September 8, 2024, and IND Chris Sinkhorn’s on August 17, 2027. Or in other words, there have been only four perfect games in league history, and three of them were against the Rebels.

The fourth, but chronogically first, perfect game was Cincy’s Juan Garcia’s on May 19, 2008 against the Buffos.